T H U 



T H U 



to make wicks for lamps. It is not eafy to conceive iiow 

 Linnaeus came to apply this name here, nor can we trace 

 out any thing to account for his having done fo. We moll 

 readily agree with De Theis, that the (lirub about to be 

 defcribed has nothing in common with Verbafcum but its 

 yellow rtowers. (See Diofcorides, book 4. chap. 104. ) — 

 Linn. Gen. 213. Schreb. 289. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 570. 



Mart. Mill. Did. ■». 4. Juif. 251 Clafs and order, 



Decatidria Monogyma. Nat. Ord. Trtcoccit, Linn. Acera, 



juir. 



Gen. Ch. Cat. Perianth inferior, in five deep, lanceolate, 

 ereft, permanent fegments. Cor. Petals five, roundifh, 

 fpreading. Stam. Filaments ten, awl-Hiaped, longer than 

 the calyx ; anthers roundifli. Pijl. Gcrmen obtufc ; ilyle 

 thread-fhaped, the length of the ilamens ; lUgma limple. 

 Peru. Capfule with three lides, and three angles, obtiile, 

 feparable into three parts ; its cells burfting at the external 

 angle. Seeds fohtary, very fmooth, obovate ; obtufe at the 

 bafe, with an incurved point. 



I. Th. brafillenjts . BrafiHan Thryallis. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 554. Willd. n. I. (Fruticefcens herba ; Marcgr. Braf. 79. 

 f. 3. ) — Native of Brafil. A \M\fiJJ:nih, with round, jointed, 

 reddi(h branches. Leaves on reddifh footftalks, oppofite, 

 ovate, entire, about an inch long ; pale green above ; whitilh 

 beneath, with a flender mid-rib. Stiptilas brillle-lhaped. 

 CliiJIers terminal, folitary, from fix or feven inches to a foot 

 long, with very (lender partial _/?a/ij', longer than the Jlonvers, 

 and very fliort fetaceouo ireiHeas. Flowers fmall, elegant, 

 yellow, bordered with red, with which colour alfo their 

 Ye\[o^N Jlamens are fpeckled. Fruit three -lobad. Neither 

 the plant nor its flower has any remarkable odour. — Lin- 

 naeus appears to have examined a dry fpecimen of this plant, 

 but it is wanting in his herbarium, as well as in every other 

 that we have feen. His idea of its natural order is furely 

 lefs corrcd; than Juffieu's. Specimens without fruit are 

 not unlikely to have been overlooked for fome nondefcript 

 Bann'i/hria or Malpighia. 



THRYANDA, in Jncient Geography, a town of Afia 

 Minor, in Lycia. Steph. Byz. 



THRYOCEPHALUM,in5»/«nj.,agenusofForfter's, 

 named from SfKo., a fort of riij]}, and xf^'aX^i, a head, becaufe 

 of the habit of the plant, and its little round head of flowers. 

 This genus is the fame as Kyllingia. (See that article.) 

 The only fpecies mentioned by Forfter, is there confidered 

 by us as K. monocephala. Vahl, in his Eniim. Plant, v. 2. 381, 

 refers it to K- triceps, probably becauie he faw a fpecimen with 

 a compound head. This very circuniftance ftrengthens his 

 own fufpicion, that thefe two fuppofed Ipecies of KyUinvia 

 are not, in reahty, diftinft. Our fpecimen from Forller 

 liimfclf has a very flight indication of a fmall lateral head, 

 by the fide of the principal one, nor can it be otherwife 

 diftinguilbed from K. monocephala. In the ftruiture or 

 appearance of any other part, we cannot difcern the leail 

 difference between monocephala and triceps, in feparating 

 which we confided more in thofe who have originally de- 

 fcribed thefe plants, than it feems they deferved. 



THRYOESSA, or Tiiryon, in Ancient Geography, 

 called from the time of Strabo Epitalium, fituated on the 

 left banks of the Alpheus, E. of Olymnia. 



THUAREA, in Botany, bears that name in honour of 

 M. Aubert du Petit Thuars, a French botaiiifl of the pre- 

 ftjnt day, who is cited for the genus itfelf in P."rf. Syn. v. i. 

 1 10. — Brown Prodr. Nov. FIoll. v. 1. 197. — Clafs and order, 

 Triandria Digynia. Nat. Ord. Gramina. 



Elf. Ch. Calyx-glumes of one valve, two-flowered, fpiked, 

 unilateral, on a dilated common ftalk ; the lowermoil ones 

 only partly perfeft ; the reft male only ; the inner floret of 



the lowermoft glume male, its outer valve refembiing the 

 calyx. Neftary of two fcales at the bafe of the germen. 

 Stigmas feathery. Seed wrapped in tlie corolla, and en- 

 folded in the hardened, clofed, involute ilalk. 



The ^('mj- are creeping, very long, with eretl, (liort, un- 

 divided, leafy branches. Spike folitary, terminal, flaort, for 

 a long time half enclofed in a leaf-like (heath. The common 

 Jlalk is thick and coriaceous, not membranous, as M. du Pe- 

 tit Thuars terms it, he having, as Mr. Brown fuppofes, 

 confounded that part with the flieath. Flowers feffile, in a 

 fimple row, one or two of the loweil only being perfeft, the 

 remaining four, five, or fix, in the contradcd portion of the 

 fpike, males. 



Mr. Brown obferves, that this genus of grafles is not 

 very diftantly related to Paxicum (fee that article) ; efpc- 

 cially to P. dimidiatum, Retz. Obf. fafc. 6. 23 ; but in 

 Thuarea, the calyx-glumes are, with refpeft to the Jlalk, in- 

 verted, and want an outer value. In ilru6ture this genus 

 agrees, in many particulars, with Spinifex, (fee that arti- 

 cle,) in which the fexes are indeed more feparated, and 

 therefore a requifite abundance of males is provided. The 

 figure and economy of the common-Jlalk, or rachis, too is 

 different ; though that part is permanent in both genera, 

 and affifts in both, though not in the fame manner, to dif- 

 perfe \\\<i feeds. 



The only fpecies of which we can give an account are 

 the three following, though Mr. Brown mentions alfo a 

 2'. farmentofa. 



T. latifolia. Br. n. I. — " Perfeft flowers two. Stems 

 downy. Leaves lanceolate, filky on both fides." — Ga- 

 thered by fir Jofeph Banks, in the tropical part of New 

 Holland. 



T. media. Br. n. 2. — " Perfeft flowers folitary. Leaves 

 linear-lanceolate ; their under fide fmooth, as well as the 

 ftem." — Found by Mr. Brown, in the tropical part of New- 

 Holland. 



T. in-voluta. (Ifchjemum involutum ; Forft. Prodr. 73. 

 WiUd. Sp. PI. V. 4. 741.) — Perfea flowers folitary. 

 Leaves lanceolate, nearly fmooth on both fides. — Gathered 

 by Forfter in the Society Ifles, and fome other places within 

 the tropics. The fpecimen given by him to the younger 

 Linnaeus is marked Taheite. The ere£l Jlems, or branches, 

 are but two or three inches high, fimple, ftriated, fmooth, 

 each bearing at the bottom one lanceolate, acute, ftriated 

 leaf, about its own length ; (heathing at the bafe ; becoming 

 involute in drying. Sometimes there is another leaf, about 

 half as long, with a fheath almoft an inch in length, near 

 the middle of the branch. Spihe fcarcely an inch long, ter- 

 minal, of about iowT Jloiuers, fpringing lateraUy from the 

 hollow of a concave pointed leaf, rather ihorter than the 

 reft. Calyx ribbed. Corolla fmooth. Feathery Jligmas 

 very confpicuous in the lowermoil^owcr. 



THUBUNA, TuBNAB, in Ancient Geography, a town of 

 Mauritania Sitifenfis, according to Ptolemy ; fituated in the 

 mountains, between two rivers, S.W. of Igilgili. 



THUBURSICA, a town of Africa, in New Numidia. 

 Ptol. 



THUBUTJS, a town of Africa Propria, near Bullaria. 

 Ptol. 



THUCCA, or TuccA, Dugga, a town of the interior 

 of Africa, mentioned by Ptolemy ; fituated at the extremity 

 of a fmall chain of hills about two miles S. of Tiburficum- 

 bure. On this fcite were found many maufoleums, and the 

 portico of a temple ornamented with beautiful columns. 

 Here was alfo an aqueduft. 



THUGYDIDES, in Biography, a celebrated Greek 

 hiftorian, was born in the 77th Olympiad, about 470 B.C. 



The 



