WEI 



WEINHEIM, a town of the duchy of Baden, fituated 

 in the Bergftrafle, and famous for its wine. The Roman 

 Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Calvinifts, have each a 

 church ; 9 miles N. of Heidelberg. 



WEINITZ, or ViNizA, a town of the duchy of Car- 

 niola, on the Kulp ; 10 miles E.N.E. of Gotfchee. 



WEINMANNIA, in Botany, a name which feems to 

 have originated with Dr. Patrick Browne, who, without 

 due attention, called it Windmannia. The perfon whom he 

 defigned to commemorate was John William Weinmann, an 

 apothecary of Ratifbon, author of a huge botanical German 

 work, enUiledPhylanthozaiconographia, confiding of four thick 

 folios, with 1025 large coloured engravings of plants. The 

 firft volume appeared in 1 737, the laft in 1 745, after the au- 

 thor's dcceafe. There is a preface to the latter by Haller. 

 Dieterich and Bieler co'ntributed part of the text, and there 

 are ample indexes, in various languages. The plates are 

 rude, and gloomily coloured. Trew, whofe candournever- 

 thelefs is allowed by Haller, fays, " varieties are not diftin- 

 guifhed," in this work, " from fpecies, the ftrufture of the 

 flowers is fcarcely exprefled, nor was the author competent 

 to refer his plants to their true genera." Burmann began a 

 Dutch edition, with fome additions, in 1736. The book is 

 neceiTarily expeniive, on account of its bulk, and is rare in 

 England. We have feldom had occafion to confult it, nor 

 have we ever done fo without difappointment. — Linn. Gen. 

 195. Schreb. 263. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 436. Mart. Mill. 

 Dift. v. 4. JulT. 309. Poiret in Lamarck Dift. v. 7. 578. 

 Lamarck Illuftr. t. 313. (Windmannia; Browne Jam. 212.) 

 — Clafs and order, Oaandria Digynia. Nat. Ord. akin to 

 Saxifrage, Juff. ; or rather, we (hould think, as he himfelf 

 hints, to his Rhododendra. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of four ovate, fpreading, 

 permanent leaves. Cor. Petals four, equal, undivided, larger 

 than the calyx. Neftary glandular, furrounding the bafe 

 of the germen. Stam. Filaments eight, ereft, thread-fhaped, 

 longer than the petals ; anthers roundifh, of two cells. Pifl. 

 Germen fuperior, ovate, acute ; ftyles two, fomewhat fpread- 

 ing, the length of the ftamens, permanent ; ftigmas obtufe. 

 Perk. Capfule elliptic-oblong, with two points, two cells, 

 and two valves, whofe inflexed margins form the double par- 

 titions. Seeds about eight in each cell, roundifh. 



Efl". Ch. Calyx of four leaves. Petals four. Capfule 

 fuperior, with two beaks, two cells, and two valves with 

 inflexed margins. Seeds feveral. 



A very handfome genus of extra-European ftirubs, with 

 oppofite, compound or fimple leaves, accompanied by inter- 

 foliaceous deciduous fl;ipulas. The flowers are fmall, copi- 

 ous, racemofe, rarely panicled. Capfules permanent long 

 after the feeds are fhed. Cusonia, (fee that article,) ap- 

 pears to diff'er from this genus, merely by adding one-fifth 

 to the parts of fruftification, which in this cafe is of no 

 avail whatever. 



Seft. I. Leaves compound. 



I. W. glabra. Smooth Pinnate Weinmannia. Linn. 

 Suppl. 228. Willd. n. I. Swartz Obf. 151. (W. pin- 

 nata ; Linn. Sp. PI. 515, excluding the reference to Browne. ) 

 — Leaves pinnate ; leaflets obovate, crenate, fmooth on both 

 fides. Capfule roundifli-eUiptical, bluntifh. — Native of the 

 Weft Indies. The Jletn, ufually fhrubby, fometimes be- 

 comes a /rff, forty feet high, with round, vnggtA branches ; 

 when young angular, and coarfely downy. Leaves of fix 

 pair, more or lefs, with an odd one, of obovate, abrupt 

 leaflets, half an inch at raoft in length, all nearly equal, fur- 

 nifhed with one rib and feveral tranfverfe veins ; entire and 

 wedge -(haped towards the bafe. Common footflaJi jointed, 



WEI 



each articulation, between the leaflets, winged with a leafy 

 rhomboid expanfion, tapering moll downward, and hairy at 

 each end. Clujlers oppofite, at the end of each branch, on 

 hairy axillary ftalks, denfe, about an inch long when in 

 flower ; twice as long, and much more lax, when in fruit. 

 Floiuers very fmall, white, on fafciculated, fliort, thick, 

 hairy partial ftalks. Capfules about half the fize of hemp- 

 feed, brown ; their Jlalks elongated ; their valves obtufe, 

 tipped with the Jlyles, and, as they ripen, turning their pale 

 narrow edges, which had formed the partitions, outwards. 

 Permanent Jlyles moftly recurved, rather ftiorter than the 

 valves. We have not feen the feeds. 



2. W. tindoria. Red-tan Weinmannia. (Weinmannia ; 

 Lamarck t. 313. f. i. Tan-rouge; Commerfon MSS.) — 

 Leaves pinnate ; leaflets elliptical, crenate, fmooth on both 

 fides. Capfule ovato-lanceolate, taper-pointed. Seeds hairy. 

 — Gathered by Commerfon in the ifle of Bourbon, where it 

 is known by the name of Tan-rouge, becaufe the bark ferves 

 to dye leatlier of a red colour. The flowers are fuppofed 

 to furnifli the bees with much of their honey. French bo- 

 tanifts appear to have confounded this plant with the pre- 

 ceding. It is certainly what Lamarck has figured, and 

 what Poiret has quoted, for IV. glabra, the latter having 

 taken Tan-rouge from hence, for his French generic name of 

 the whole genus, though without adverting to its ufe in the 

 ifle of Bourbon, or its being a native of that country. The 

 leaves are full twice the fize of IV. glabra, with elliptical, 

 not obovate, leaflets : wings of then footjlalis fimilar to the 

 laft. Clujlers oi flowers much more lax, and lefs hairy, 

 three or four inches long ; the flowers twice as large. Cap- 

 fules of a very diff^t'rent fhape, and paler redder hue, taper- 

 ing into the ftraiglit ereSt flyles, which are not a quarter fo 

 long as the valves, nor are the edges of the latter ever 

 turned outward, or flattened. The cluflers of ripe capfules 

 are cylindrical, denfe, four or five inches in length. Seeds 

 clothed with a few long prominent hairs. 



3. W. hlrta. Hairy-leaved Weinmannia, or Baftard Bra- 

 filetto. Swartz Ind. Occ. 691. Willd. n. f. Poiret in 

 Lam. n. 3. — Leaves pinnate ; leaflets elliptic-ovate, crenate, 

 hairy at the back. Capfules oblong. — Native of lofty moun- 

 tains in the fouth part of Jamaica, in St. Andrew's parifh, 

 near Coldfpring, the rcfidence of Matthew Wallen, efq, 

 (See Wallenia.) This, according to Dr. Swartz, from 

 whom we have a fpecimen, is a very rare fpecies. It is 

 either ^ fljrub, or a handfome tree, from forty to fifty feet 

 high, crowned at the very top of its fmooth trunk with lax, 

 hairy, or fomewhat downy, rufty-coloured branches. The 

 leaves moft refemble the laft in fhape, but are clothed be- 

 neath, fometimes on both fides, with coarfe, fcattered, pro- 

 minent hairs. The leafy borders of each joint of the com- 

 mon footflalk are narrower, and lefs angular, than thofe of 

 our firft or fecond fpecies, and their midrib is very hairy 

 beneath. Cluflers alfo very hairy, an inch or two in length, 

 in pairs at the fummits of the branches. Flowers the fize 

 of the laft, white. Capfule, according to Swartz, fmall, 

 oblong, rather pointed, with feveral fmall roundifh feeds. 

 This tree flowers in September and Odober. Some fpeci- 

 mens, in the herbarium of the younger Linnaeus, excite a 

 doubt whether the hairinefs of the fohage may invariably be 

 relied on. Still we have no doubt of the diftinftnefs of 

 thefe three fpecies. The third is perhaps moft allied to the 

 fecond, which appears to be what Dr. Swartz faw marked 

 JV. arborea, and which Commerfon was faid to have gathered 

 in the ifle of Mauritius. We do not at all comprehend how 

 the joints of the covamon footflalk can be termed " fomewhat 

 heart-fliaped," in JV. hirta; they are rather more truly obo- 



1 1 vate 



