V I s 



V 1 s 



foliis latiffimis ; Plum. Ic. 256. t. 258. f. 4. V. racemo- 

 lum ; Aubi. Guian. v. 2.895. ) — Leaves ovate, five-ribbed, 

 veiny. Spikes axillary, from one to four at each fide. 



Flowers whorled Found on trees in the Weft Indies, 



cfpcciaily near the fea. Two feet high, with round, livid, 

 loughiih branches. Leaves two inches or more in length, 

 bluntiih, of a livid hue. Spikes ttalked, fometimes folitary. 



16. v. latifolium. Broad-kavcd Mifletoe. Swartz I::d. 

 Occ. 268. Willd. n. 16. — Leaves roundifh-ovate, acute, 

 flat, obfcurely veined. Spikes axillary, ftalked, folitary 



or in pairs On trees in Jamaica. Two feet high, fmooLh. 



Leaves contrafted at each end, browniih-green, on very lliort 

 ftalks. Flowers minute. Berries oblong. 



17. V. •verticillatum. Whorled Mifletoe. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1452. Willd. n. 17 ; excluding the fynonyms of Browne 

 and Plumier. ( V. ramulis et foliis longis, denfiflimis, ftri- 

 atis et radiatis ; Sloane Jam. v. 2. 93. t. 201. f. 2.) — Ulti- 

 mate branches aggregate, imperfeftly whorled, toothed at 



the end Native of Jamaica, where it hangs from the 



branches of trees. The main Jlem is divided, angular, ftri- 

 ated, fmooth, befet here and there with whorls of fimple 

 fpreading branches, an inch and half or two inches long, def- 

 titute of leaves, tipped with a few fcales. Nothing is known 

 of the frudlification, fo the genus is very doubtful. It may 

 turn out a CaSus, or at leall of the fame genus as C. pen- 

 dulus above-mentioned under n. 13. What we here defcribe 

 is, however, the plant intended by Linnaus, though he has 

 confounded with it one altogether different, and has thence 

 perverted the fpecitic character. 



18. V. capitellatum. Capitate Mifletoe. — Leaves wedge- 

 fhaped, concave, obtufe. Berries capitate, on axillary 



ilalks Gathered in Ceylon by Koenig, \vho fent fpecimens 



to Linnaeus, but the pkmt has remained hitherto undefcribed, 

 though certainly very diftinft. . The Jlems are three inches 

 high, branchL-d, roughllli to the touch. Leaves an inch 

 long at moft, fmooth, flefliy. Flo-wer-Jalis rather fliorter, 

 crowned with two thick bra8eas under the little head of four 

 or (nejlowers. Berries oval, crowned with a blunt calyx. 



Willdenoi,v rightly obferves th.it V. terrejlre, Linn. Sp. ' 

 Fl. 1452, is no other than Lvfimachia Jlricla, Willd. Sp. 

 PI. 818. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. i. 314.. (L. bulbifera ; 

 Curt. Mag. t. 104.) — Kalm gathered it in Philadelphia, and 

 whether the miltake were his own, or his great preceptor's, 

 it is one of the moft reprehenflble that ever was made. 



Several fpecics of Vifcum probably are ftill undefcribed 

 among the botanical treafures of the Weft, and perhaps Eaft, 

 Indies. 



VISCUM, in Gardening, furnilhes a plant of the under- 

 ftirub, evergreen, curious, parafitic kind, of which the fort 

 m.ide ufe of is, the white -berried or common mifletoe (V. 

 album). 



It has a woody branchy growth and yellov/ifli-green ap- 

 pearance, producing white tranfparent berries 01 a conli- 

 derable fize, which ripen themfelves in the winter. 



It is a remarkable plant, as not growing in the earth or 

 foil, but upon the trunks or branches of other plants, moftly 

 on thofe of the foft-wooded tree forts, being often found in 

 woods and orchards, on the alh, the hazel, the maple, the 

 crab, and the apple-tree. 



Method of Culture. — It is for the moft part increafed by 

 the feeds which are accidentally dilpcrfed and depofited 

 upon fome parts of the trees by means of birds, commonly 

 taking root and fixing themfelves on the under fides of the 

 boughs or branches, to which parts they have been waihed 

 by the rains or in other ways, being kept in fuch fituations 

 until they flrike root, or plant their radical fibres in the bark 

 between it and the wood, by their foft glutinous quality ; 

 6 



the yoimg plants growing downwards in a pendulous maniicr . 

 The plants may alfo be propagated in garden or orchard 

 plantations, by procuring fome fully ripened berries or feeds 

 m the winter, and flicking or rubbing them on the fmooth 

 parts of the under fides of the brandies of fome of the 

 above kinds of trees, where they will grow as already 

 noticed. The outer bark,^ in fome caies, is cut or rubbed 

 off in the part before this is done, in order to make it more 

 certain. 



The want of fuccefs, in particular inttances, is to be 

 afcribed to the defeftive fecundation of the plants from 

 which th.e berries or feeds were taken whicli are employed. 

 They Should of courfe always be gathered from plants where 

 different forts grow together. 



They are chiefly grown for curiofity ; but fometimes for 

 medicinal purpofes. ■ 



ViscuM is alfo ufed for bird-lime. This was efteemed a 

 poifon among the ancient Greeks, and is feldom omitted 

 under the clafs of deleterious things enumerated in their 

 writings. 



It is called By thefe authors ixias ; but this word has oc- 

 cafioned great errors in late writers, the word ixias having 

 been apphed to the white chamaeleon thiftle, not becaufe of 

 any poifonous quahty it had, for they all declare it to be 

 innocent, but becaufe of its yielding a vifcous or clammy 

 juice. The black chamseleon thiftle was always efteemed 

 poifonous among them ; and hence fome have fuppofed the 

 word ixias to be applied to that, and the poifon ixias, men- 

 tioned by the Greeks, to be the root of th.it plant. Paulus 

 jEgineta, indeed, feems to have underftood it fo, the poifon 

 ixias being by him placed among the roots ; but Galen, who 

 calls it a flow poifon, and fays that it kills by flopping up 

 and gluing together the inteftines, plainly enough means 

 bird-lime, not the root of any plant. 



ViSCUM Caryophylloides, a name given by fir Hans Slpane, 

 and many other authors, to a genus of plants of a very pe- 

 culiar kind. 



They are called vifcum, from their growing upon other 

 trees, in the manner that the mifletoe does with us ; and 

 caryophylloides, from their leaves, in fome degree, refembhng 

 thofe of our pinks or carnations ; but the plant itfelf, in all 

 its fpecies, is wholly different, both from the mifletoe and 

 pink, in all other refpefts. 



The feveral fpecies of thefe plants differ greatly alfo 

 from one another ; the moft fragrant fpecies in Jamaica is 

 a very large one, called by the common people the wild 

 pine. See the defcription of it in Phil. Tranf. N° 252. 

 p. 114. 



VISCUS, and Viscosity. See Viscera and Viscidity. 



VISEGLIA, m Geography. See Biseglia. 



VISENTIUM, or Visentum, in Ancient Geography, a 

 town of Italy, in Etruria, upon the wcftern bank of the 

 lake Thrafimene. Pliny fiiggefts that this town belonged 

 to the Vifentini who inhabited the vicinity of the Vulcinian 

 lake : it is the prefent Bifentio. 



VISET, in Geography, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Ourthe, fituated on the E. fide of the Meufe. 

 It was furrounded with walls in the year 1338, by Adolphiis 

 de la Mark, bifliop of Liege. John de Heinft)erg, the 

 fifty-fecond bifliop, granted it many privileges, in the year 

 1429 ; among others, the liberty of choofing their own ma- 

 giftrates ; 6 miles S. of Maeftricht. 



VISEU, a town of Portugal, in the province of Beira. 

 This town was founded by the Romans, and by them caUed 

 " Vifontium." It is the fee of a bifliop, contains three 

 parifli churches, an hofpital, and three convents. In 1027, 

 Alphonfo V. king of Leon, was killed by an arrow before 



this 



