V A R 



V A R 



Menipean. ) Such and fo pre-eminent was the reputation 

 of Varro, that when Afinius PoUio, in the reign of Au- 

 guftus, opened the firft public library at Rome, and placed 

 in it the effigies of various learned perfons, he was the only 

 living writer who had the honour of this diftinftion. The 

 only relics of his numerous works are fix books, in an im- 

 perfed Hate, out of twenty-four, which he compofed on 

 the Latin language, with three books on agriculture, and 

 a few fragments of his fatires and epigrams. The former 

 are printed among the " Auftores de Lingua Latina," 

 and the latter among the " Auftores de Re Ruftica." 



A contemporary of the preceding, named P. Terentius 

 Varro Atacinus, has been confounded with him. He 

 was a native of Atace in Gallia Narbonnenfis, and wrote 

 ai, efteemed poem " De Bello Sequanigo," and tranflated 

 into Latm verfe the " Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius." 

 Some fragments of his poetry are publifhed in the " Corpus 

 Poet. Latin." Volfius. Tirabofchi. Gen. Biog. 



VARRONIA, in Botany, is fo called in memory of 

 Marcus Terentius Varro, (fee that article,) whofe 

 tr.atife Dc Re Ruflicd has procured him this botanical tribute. 

 The name originated with Browne, but was fpeedily adopted 

 bv LinnsEus and Jacquin — Browne Jam. 172. Linn. Gen. 

 102. Schreb. 140. Willd. Sp. PI. v. i. 1079. Mart. 

 Mill. Dift. v. 4. Jacq. Amer. 40. Ait. Hort. Kew. 

 V. 2. II. JufT. 129. Lamarck Dift. v. 4. 262. Illuftr. 

 1. ,^r. — Clafs and order Pentandrla Monogynia. Nat. Ord. 

 yljperifoUa, Linn. Borrnginete, JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Cnl. Perianth of one leaf, inferior, tubular, 

 with five long, (lender, recurved teeth, permanent. Cor. 

 of one petal, tubular ; tube cylindrical ; limb in five deep 

 I ; reading fegments. Stam. Filaments five, awl-(haped, the 

 length of the corolla, inferted into its tube ; anthers oblong, 

 incumbent. Pijl. Germen fuperior, ovate ; ftyle thread- 

 fliaped, the length of the corolla ; lligmas four, briftle- 

 iliaped. Peru. Drupa ovate, of one cell, inclofed in the 

 !\velling calyx, but not connefted with it. Seed. Nut 

 r.iLindiili, of four cells. 



EfT. Ch. Corolla five-cleft. Calyx tubular. Drupa 

 ^}perior, covered with the permanent calyx. Nut of four 

 cells. 



A Weft Indian genus of flirubby plants, with fimple, 

 alternate, rarely almoft oppofite, rough leaves ; and terminal, 

 aggregate, rather ornamental, foivers. They are little 

 known in our ftoves, nor has any one fpecies as yet been 

 exhibited in our popular periodical works. Farroiiia is 

 next akin to Tournefortia (fee that article) ; but the 

 lefs deeply divided ira/y.v, and four Render Jligmas , are fufii- 

 tient to mark the prefent genus, without adverting to their 

 fruits, which are not in all cafes well underilood. 



1. V. lineata. Round-fpiked Varronia. Linn. Sp. PL 

 275. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. I. Swartz Obf. S". (V. 

 fruticofa, foliis rugofis, ovatis, fubhirfutis, ferratis, alternis, 

 capitulis fubrotundis ; Browne Jam. 172. t. 13. f. 2. V. 

 humilis ; Jacq. Amer. 41. Ulmi anguftifolix facie Bac- 

 cifera jamaiccnfis, fohis fuperne fcabris fubtils villofis, 

 floribus flavis perpufilhs, fruttu botryoide monofpermo ; 

 Pluk. Alraag. 393. Phyt. t. 328. f. 5.)— Leaves lanceo- 

 late, minutely hairy, marked with ilraight deprefled veins. 

 Flower-ilalks moftly axillary, combined with the footftalks. 

 Spikes globofe. — Common in the lower woody lands of 

 Jamaica. Thepm is three or ^our feet high, with many 

 flender, round, downy, crooked, entangled, leafy branches. 

 Leaves fpreading, or rather dependent, two inches long, 

 taper-pointed, diftantly and irregularly fen-ated ; roughifli, 

 like a very fine file, with minute rigid hairs, above ; denfely 

 downy and hoary beneath. Footftalks hairy, a quarter of 



Vol. XXXVL 



an incli long, united for half tlicir length, to the bafe of 

 each fimple, fohtary, downy fluiuer-Jlalk, which is about 

 half the length of the leaf, and bears a round head of fmall 

 whitifh or yellowifh Jloivers. Plukcnet's figure is a much 

 better reprefentation of the Linnxan fpecimen from Browne 

 himfelf, than his own plate, particularly with refpeft to the 

 fituation of the flowers. We cannot but fufpeft fome error, 

 and that the faid plate may reprefent a fpecies not hitherto 

 well defined. 



2. V. bullata. Blillered Varronia. Linn. Sp. PI. 276, 

 excluding Jacquin's fynonym. Am. Acad. v. 5. 394. 

 Willd. n. 2. Swartz Obf. 88 ? — Leaves ovate, veiny, 

 rugofe, rough with cijlous tubercles and briftles. Spikes 

 globofe, on long rough ftalks, from the forks of the ftem. — 

 Native of Jamaica. The Linnxan fpecimen is from Browne, 

 but does not anfwer to the delcription of either of his 

 fpecies. The branches are forked, extremely rough witli 

 minute warts, and rigid afcending briilles, as are likewife 

 the footjialks zxiAJlonvir-Jlalks. Leaves an inch and a half 

 or two inches long, about four times the length of their 

 ftalks, nearly elliptical, acute, ferrated, reticulated with 

 copious veins, and minutely bhftered in the interftices ; be- 

 fprinkled on the upper fide with callous tubercles and 

 briftles, which turn white by age, when the leaf becomes 

 tawny ; paler, with hairy veins, beneath. Floiver-ftalks 

 from the forks of the branches, folitary, from one inch to 

 two inches and a half long, ereft, fimple, vei-y rough, quad- 

 rangular upwards. 6'/>!/'f globoie, of fix or e\g)M Jloivers. 

 Calyx corrugated, briftly, with linear recurved teeth. Co- 

 rolla not much longer than the tube of the calyx, with five 

 plaits in the hmb. Fruit tuberculated. Many doubts have 

 arifcn refpefting this fpecies. What we have here, with 

 all poflible precifion, defcribed, is certainly the Linnaean 

 authentic fpecimen, which we flioidd fufpeft to be the 

 Lantana Radula of Swartz, Ind. Occ. 1057. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. V. 3. 3 1 7, to judge at leaft by the defcription, not having 

 feen the plant. Neverthelefs our's has the calyx and corolla 

 of a Varronia, and the habit of the plant is fo near V. mira- 

 bi/oides, as figured by Jacquin, that Linnseus may well be 

 excufed for fuppofing them one and the fame. In the 

 Liimsean herbarium are two other fpccimens, fent by Ro- 

 lander, and marked likewife V. bullata. It muft be to 

 thefe that Swartz alludes, when he fays, in his Ol>/. 88, 

 " there is a fpecimen of F. glolofa in Herb. Linn, under 

 the name of bullata.^'' Whether this be correft or not, 

 thefe have never been defcribed as bullata, though, by mif- 

 take, fo named. 



3. V. nnrabiloides. Salver-flowered Varronia. Jacq. 

 Amer. 41. t. 33. Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 2. Swartz Ind. 

 Occ. 465. — Leaves ovate, rough, ferrated. Spikes roundilh, 

 unequal. Corolla falver-ftiaped ; its tube thrice the length 

 of the calyx. — Native of Hifpaniola, even in hedges near 

 the town of Port-au-Prince. Jacquin. The moft elegant 

 of its genus, often twelve feet high. Leaves two inches 

 long, rongh on both fides. Floiver-Jlalks latertl and ter- 

 minal, meafuring three or four inches, and bearing each a 

 fimple or divided round-headed fple, of num.erous while 

 inodorous Jloivers, very handfome, the fize of Marvel of 

 Peru. Segments of the calyx fmall, ovate, ending in long 

 briftles. Drupa red, the fize of a pea, full of fvveet gluti- 

 nous pulp. Nut deprefled. Such is the plant of Jacquin, 

 and we muft fuppofe Swartz's the fame, in fpite of fome 

 flight incongruitiea of defcription. We have never feen 

 either. 



4. V.martinicenfis. Martinico Varronia. Jacq. Amer. 41,. 



t. 32. Willd. n. 4. Ait. n. 3 -Leaves ovate, pointed. 



Spikes oblong, denfe. Caly^-teeth hnear, half the lengtli 



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