V E L 



V E L 



VeleZ el Rub'io, a tov/n of Spain, in the province of Gre- 

 nada, near the Guadalentin. This town was, in the time of 

 the Moors, a Itrong place, and furnifhed with a garrifon ; 

 !4 miles S. of Hucfca. 



VELEZAR, a river of Spain, formed by the union of 

 the little rivers Burcia and Sil, on the confines of Leon, 

 which, after receiving feveral other fmall ftreams, unites 

 with the Minho, a little above Orenfe. 



VELEZIA, in Botany, was fo named by Linnseus, at 

 the recommendation of his pnpil Lcefling, in honour of 

 Dr. Chriftoval Velez, examiner, firft phyfician, and dcmon- 

 ftrator of botany, at Madrid, who fhewed Lcefling his ma- 

 nufcript Flora of the environs of that capital, which we do 



not find to have ever been publifhed Linn. Gen. 176. 



Schreb. 174. Willd. Sp. PL v. i. 1329. Mart. Mill. 

 Did. v. 4. Sm. Prodr. Fl. Grasc. Sibth. v. i. 283. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. v. 2. 109. Juff. 302. Lamarck Illuftr. 

 t. 186. Gffirtn. t. 129. — Clafs and order, Decandria Di- 

 gyn'ta. (Pentandria, or Hexandria, Digynia, Linn. ) Nat. 

 Ord. Caryophyllc^. 



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

 long and flender, with five angles, five intermediate furrows, 

 and five pointed, ereft, fmall teeth, permanent, without any 

 appendages at the bafe. Cor. Petals five ; claws linear, 

 ereft, very narrow, the length of the calyx ; limbs fpread- 

 ing, oblong-wedgefhaped, cloven or toothed, hairy at the 

 bafe, much fhorta- than the claws. Stam. Filaments ten, 

 capillary, about the length of the calyx, hiferted into the 

 receptacle ; anthers roundifh, incumbent. Pij}. Germen fu- 

 perior, cylindrical, ftiort ; ftyles two, thread-ihaped, haudly 

 fo lone as the ftamens ; ftigmas fimple. Perk. Capfule 

 cylindrical, flender, of one valve and one cell, opening with 

 four teeth at the fummit. Seeds numerous, oblong, alter- 

 nate, imbricated downwards, concave in front, convex at 

 the back, inferted in a fimple row, by the dorfal fear, into 

 a thread-lhaped, unconnefted receptacle. 



Efl". Ch. Calyx of one leaf, nearly cylindrical, furrowed, 

 naked. Petals five, with very long claws ; limb bearded 

 at the bafe. Capfule fuperior, cylindrical, of one cell. 

 Seeds imbricated. 



A fmall genus of flender campion-like plants, with nu- 

 merous little pink flowers, nearly related to Saponaria, 

 (fee that article,) and certainly to be placed next to it in the 

 artificial, as well as natural, lyllem. Linnseus knew but 

 one fpecies. We have a new one found by Dr. Sibthorp 

 in Afia Minor. 



I. V. r'lgida. Rigid Velezia. Linn. Sp. PI. 474. 

 Willd. n. I. Ait. n. i. Sm. Fl. Grsec. Sibth. t. 390, 

 unpubl. (Knawel majus, foliis caryophylleis ; Buxb. 

 Cent. 2. 41. t. 47. Lychnis minima rigida Cherleri ; 

 Bauh. Hift. V. 3. 352. L. corniculata minor ; Bocc. 

 Muf. 50. t. 43. Barrel. Ic. t. 1018, and probably t. 1017.) 



Calyx thread-fliaped, downy. Petals cloven — Native 



of the fouth of France, Italy, Crete and Cyprus, flower- 

 ing in fummer. A hardy inconfpicuous annual, fometimes 

 introduced, for the fake of curiofity, into our botanic 

 gardens. Root long and thread-ftiaped, tough. Stems 

 feveral, diffufe, hairy, zigzag, about a fpan long, leafy, 

 many-flowered. Leaves linear, awl-fliaped, feflile, oppo- 

 fite at each joint of the ftem, a little downy or hairy, 

 hardly an inch long. Fh-wers axillary, folitary, feflile. 

 Calyx extremely flender, and of uniform ihicknefs, near an 

 inch long, ftriated. L'lmh of the corolla fpreading fcarcely 

 a quarter of an inch, pink, with a deep crimfon angular 

 mark on each petal-, forming a central ft;ar. Five of the 

 ftamens longer than the refl;. Capfule flender, fmooth, femi- 

 pellucid. Seeds black. 



1. V. quadridentata. Four-toothed Velezia. Sm. Prodr. 

 Fl. Grxc. Sibth. n. 954. Fl. Grxc. t. 391, unpubl. — 

 Calyx club-fliaped, fmooth. Petals with four teeth. — 

 Gathered by Dr. Sibthorp in Afia Minor, and, if we sxt 

 not miilaken, in the ifle of Patmos. This has the precife 

 habit of the foregoing, but is rather larger, and quite 

 fmooth. iLheJloivers are ftalked. Calyx angular, fwcUing 

 upwards. Limb of the corolla marked like F. rigida, with 

 a central fl:ar ; but each petal has four fl;rong teeth, or 

 acute lobes, inflead of being only fimply cloven. Each 

 claw is crowned, in both fpecies, with a tranfverfe row of 

 wliite hairs. Stamens in the prefent all of equal length. 

 Capfule rather fl;outer, ftiorter, and lefs accurately cyhndri- 

 cal, than the foi-mer. 



We have no doubt of this genus being equally dift;inft 

 from SapOiVARIA and Gypsophila, (fee thofe articles,) 

 though the firft fpecies betrays moft aifinity to the former, 

 the fecond to the latter. An ovate, even calyx, and oblong 

 capfule, are proper to Saponaria ; a bell-fliaped angular calyx, 

 and almoll globular capfule, to Gypfophtla. Velexia is perhaps 

 more naturally akin to Dianthus, but wants the fcales at 

 the bottom of the calyx. 



VELHAS, in Geography, a river of Brafil, which runs 

 into the Parana. 



VELIA, or Helia, in Ancient Geography, a town of 

 Italy, in Lucania, weftward, on a fmall gulf of the fame 

 name, formed by the fmall fl;ream Heles, from the Greek 

 Helia, fignitying a marfli — Alfo, a town of Hifpania 

 Citerior, belonging to the Carifti. Ptolemy. 



VELICALA, in Geography, a town of California, near 

 the coaft of the Pacific ocean. N. lat. 20° 35'. W. long.' J 

 115° 50'. 1 



VELIDIA, a town of Morocco, on the coaft of the 

 Atlantic ; 25 miles S.W. of Mazagan. 



VELIKA, a town of Morlachia ; 25 miles S.E. of 

 Segna. — Alfo, a river of Croatia, which runs into "the 

 Save, near Cratiova Velika. — Alfo, a river of Rufiia, which 

 runs into the Viatka, 10 miles N.E. of Orlov, in the go- 

 vernment of Viatka. — Alfo, a river of Ruilia, which runs 

 into the Tchudllvoi lake, near Pfl<ov. 



VELIKIE LuKi, a town of Ruflia, in the government 

 of Pfl<ov, on the Lovat ; 124 miles S.E. of Pflcov. N. 

 lat. 56° 28'. E. long. 30° 14'. 



VELIKOI, a fmall ifland of Ruffia, in the White fca. 

 N. lat. 66° 45'. E. long. 32° 20'. 



VELILLA, a town of Spain, in the province of Ara- 

 gon. The author of the " Continuation of Mariana's 

 Hiftory of Spain," fpeaks of a bell in this town of great 

 celebrity, which rung fometimes without the help of man ; 

 and that a particular defcription of its wonders was printed 

 at Madrid in 1657. 



VELINO, a mountain of Naples, in Abruzzo Ultra; 

 12 miles S. of Aquila. This is one of the Apennines, 

 and probably the higheft of them. Its fummit, 8397 feet 

 above the Mediterranean, is covered with fnow in June : 

 about 46 geographical miles N.W. of Rome. — Alfo, a 

 river of the Popedom, which runs into the Nera, about 

 four miles from Terni, in the duchy of Spoleto. 



VELINUS, (Velino,) in Ancient Geography, a fmall 

 river in the country of the Sabines, in the northern part : 

 its fources were about twenty miles from Reate, towards 

 the E., in mountains abounding with water. It pafled 

 fouthward, by a place called Vacunis, afterwards by Inte- 

 rccrea, where it turned towards the W., to the plain on 

 which was ^fituated Cutihx. Changing its direftion to- 

 wards the N.W., it entered an immenfe plain, in which 

 were high mountains, and formed a large lake. Thefe 



ftagnant 



