X E R 



tances. It is reckoned a good year if it gives tlirec butts 

 per acre, middling if two, and bad if but one : fome years, 

 however, it yields four or five. The number of inhabitants 

 is eftimated at 40,000, of whom one-twentieth, Mr. Swin- 

 burne fays, are rehgious ; 15 miles N.N.E. of Cadiz. N. 

 lat. 36^41'. W. long. 6- 15'. 



Xeres Ji la Frontcra, a town of Mexico, m the province 

 of Zacateca?, with a garrifon of Spaniards to proteft the 

 mines ; 25 miles S. of Zacatecas. 



Xeres Je Guadiana, a town of Spain, in the province of 

 Seville, near the frontiers of Portugal j 74 miles W. of 

 Seville. 



Xeres Nueva, a town of South America, in the province 

 of Venezuela. 



Xeres. Sec Ciiuluteca. 



XERICA, a town of Spain, in the province of Valencia ; 

 7 miles N.W. of Scgorbe. 



XERIFF, in Commerce, a money of account in Morocco, 

 which is divided into eight paels. 



XERITO, in Geography, a fmall river of Spain, which 

 runs into the Alagon. 



XEROCHLOA, in Botany, from |n»o,-, dry, and jcXoa, 

 a graft .—'Qrown Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. i. 196— Clafs and 

 order, Triandria Digynia. Nat. Ord. Gramina. 



Efl". Ch. Calyx two-flowered, of two unequal valves, 

 parallel to the hollow of the receptacle, and half funk. 

 therein ; the outer valve fmalletl. Corolla of both flowers 

 longer than the calyx, of two valves, awl-(haped, mem- 

 branous, awnlefs. Stamens in the outermoft flower. Styles 

 in the inner one, combined at the bafe. Ncftary none. 

 Seed enclofed in the inner, paper-like, valve of the corolla. 



This genus confifts of perennial, rufliy, dry, fmootli 

 graffes. Leaves awl-(haped, ftraight and ftiff, with a very 

 (hort Jlipula. Stem terminated by alternate flieaths, each 

 containing from two to four ftiort fpikelets, of few Jloivcrs. 

 Xerochloa is akin to Apluda, whofe charadler requires cor- 

 reAion. Brown. 



1. X. imberbis. Beardlefs Xerochloa. Br. n. I. — 

 Spikelets awl-(haped, (lightly curved. Inner valve of the 

 male flowers fmooth. — Gathered by Mr. Brown, in the 

 tropical part of New Holland. 



2. X. barbata. Bearded Xerochloa. Br. n. 2 — Spike- 

 lets lanceolate, ftraight. Inner valve of the male flowers 

 bearded. — Native of the fame country. Brown. 



XERODES, in Jnimals, a term which is applied, and 

 which ferves to exprefs any fort of tumour that is attended 

 with the property of exficcation or drynefs. See Tumour. 



XEROMYRON, formed of |>i»o.-, dry, and ;ui;fov, oint- 

 ment, a word ufed by the ancients to exprefs what they do 

 at other times call in exprefs words a dry ointment. It was 

 a compofition of warm aromatic drugs, or of other things 

 fit for external ufe, but without the fatty ingredients, by 

 which they were ufually reduced into the form of oint- 

 ments. 



XEROPHAGY, Sr.^o^xyix, formed of |>ifo.-, dry, and 

 (fxyu, I eat, among the Ancients, the feeding only on dry 

 viftuals, which was the pratlice of the alhletx. 



In the firft ages of the church, fome, not contented with 

 fimple fafting, added the xerophagy thereto ; abftaining 

 not only from flefh and wine, but alfo from all frefli, fuc- 

 culent, and vinous fruits. And fome even brought them- 

 felves to bare bread and water. 



TertuUian, in his book De Abftinentia, cap. 9. fpeaks 

 of the xerophagia as a thing commendable in time of per- 

 fecution. 



XEROPHTHALMIA, Ei^o(p8«^,x.a, compounded of 

 Jip9;-, dry, and o^fla^pof, eye, a kind of ophthalmia, in 



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which the eyes itch, and are red, but without fwelling or 

 watering. 



XEROPHYLLUM, in Botany, from ^.fo-r, dry, and 

 ^uXXov, a leaf, a genus founded by Michaux upon Hehniai 

 afphodeloides of Linnasus. — Michaux Boreal. -Amer. v. I. 



2 10. Willd. Enum. 402 We confefs ourfelves unable 



to make out any fufficient reafon for this meafure, either 

 in the author's defcription, or in the plant itfelf. Mr. 

 Purfh probably was equally puzzled ; for he has not even 

 cited the Xerophyllum of Michaux, as a fynonym under the 

 above Helonins. It feems the bafes of the Jlamens are 

 dilated in the afphodeloides, more than in other fpecies of 

 Helonias. See that article. 



XEROPHYTA, fo named by Juffieu, from lipo;, dry, 

 and pJlov, a plant, alluding to the arid habit of this little 

 flirub.— JuiT. Gen. 50. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 15. La- 

 marck Illuftr. t. 225. — Clafs and order, Hexandria Mono- 

 gynia. Nat. Ord. Bromelis, JufT. 1 



Gen. Ch. Cal. none. Cor. of one petal, fuperior : 

 limb in fix deep ovate-oblong, acute, permanent fegments ; 

 the three outer ones narroweft, fpinous-pointed, ftouteft, 

 externally glandular. Stam. Filaments fix, inferted into 

 the lower part of each fcgment, thread-fhaped, very fliort, 

 equal ; anthers ereft, linear, half as long as the corolla. 

 Fiji. Germcn inferior, turbinate ; llyle one, (hort ; ftigma 

 tumid, oblong, undivided. Feric. Capfule oval, rough, 

 crowned with the faded corolla, with three cells, and many 

 feeds. 



EfT. Ch. Corolla in fix deep fegments, permanent ; 

 three outermod narroweft, fpinous-pointed. Stamens in- 

 ferted into the bafe of each fegment. Stigma club-lhaped. 

 Capfule inferior, of three cells, with many feeds. 



I. a. pinifolia. Fir-leaved Xerophyta. Willd. n. I. — 

 Gathered by Commerfon, in Madagafcar. A hard rigid 

 (hrub, whofe Jlem is round, alternately branched ; the wood 

 formed of parallel tubes, as in the generality of the mono- 

 cotyledonous tribe : branches quarter of an inch in diameter, 

 tliickly clothed with the imbricated, deeply furrowed, per- 

 manent (heaths of the laft year's foliage, each crowned with 

 the reflexed bafe of a leaf, by which the whole branch 

 alTumes a Angular fcaly appearance. Leaves alternate, 

 two inches, or more, in length, linear, rigid, channelled, 

 ftriated, with thick entire edges, and a pungent fpinous 

 point ; their bafe (heathing, fibrous, and fomewhat woolly. 

 Flowers terminal, one or two at the end of each branch, 

 on fimple ftalks, an inch long, rough, like the germen, 

 with minute prominent glands, of which fome traces are alfo 

 found on the backs of the three outward fegments of the 

 corolla. The colour, of the inner fegments at leaft, appears 

 reddi(h. Each Jlower is about half the fize of a fnowdrop. 

 Nothing is known of the ripe fruit, in which perhaps fome 

 better marks, than have hitherto been given, may be found, 

 to diftingui(h the elTential charafters of this genus from thofe 

 of Hypoxis. See that article. 



XEROPKIN, in Commerce, a filver coin of Goa, in 

 the Eaft Indies, which is worth ^s. i\d. fterling, nearly. 



XE ROTES, in Botany, l^foTns, drynefs, a name chofen 

 by Mr. Brown to exprefs the arid ru(hy habit of this 

 genus, in preference to Lomandra, by which it is defig- 

 nated in the work of M. Labillardiere. This latter ap- 

 pellation, formed of y^ni-a, a border, or rather /r/nfi», and 

 an^, a male, is defigned to indicate the occafionally bordered 

 anthers. It might perhaps have been allowed to remain, as 

 well as many other names which are liable to fome exception, 

 though the anthers are not properly fringed. — Brown 

 Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. t. 259. (Lomandra; Labill. Nov. 

 HoU. v. I. 92.) — Clafs and order, Dioecia Hexandria. 



Nat. 



