the plants formerly referred to it being 

 placed in new or neighbouring genera. It 

 is an erect glabrous herb from China, hav- 

 ing the habit of Argylla, with alternate 

 bipinnatisect leaves, and large scarlet 

 flowers in terminal racemes. [W. C] 



INCENSE. Frankincense, the modern 

 Olibanum. 



INCENSE TREE. Idea gitianensis. 



INCENSE WOOD. Idea heptaphylla. 



INCISED, INCISUS. Regularly divided 

 by deep incisions. Hence inciso-serratus, 

 having deep slashed serratures; inciso-den- 

 tatus, having slashed toothings, &c. 



INCLINING. Falling back considerably 

 from the horizontal line. 



INCLUDED. Enclosed in anything. 



INCOMPLETE. Deficient in some of its 

 parts, as a flower with out corolla, or a calyx 

 with only a part of its sepals. 



INCONSPICUOUS. Small in size, not 

 readily observed. 



INCRASSATE. Thicker than usual in 

 proportion to its area ; as the leaves of the 

 houseleek. 



IXCRUSTATE. A term applied to seeds 

 which grow so firmly to their pericarp as 

 to appear to have but one integument. 

 Also coated with earthy matter. 



INCUBOUS. A name employed in de- 

 scriptions of Jungermanniaceaim contradis- 

 tinction to succubous, to indicate that the 

 leaves are imbricated over each other from 

 the base towards the apex, whereas in suc- 

 cubous leaves they are imbricated in a 

 contrary direction. [M. J. B.] 



INCUMBENT. Said of an embryo when 

 its radicle is folded down upon the back of 

 the cotyledons. 



INCURVED, INCUR VUS, INCURVATE 

 Curved inwards. 



INDEHISCENT. Not splitting in a de- 

 finite manner when ripe. 



INDIAN HEART. Cardiospermum Corin- 

 dum. 



INDIAN RUBBER. The inspissated 

 juice of Ficus elastica, Siphonia elastica, 

 and other plants : see Caoutchouc. 



INDIAN SHOT. Canna. 



INDIGO. A blue dye yielded by several 

 plants, as Indigofera, tinctoria and argentea, 

 Wrightia tinetoria, Harsdenia tinctoria, 

 Gymnema tingens. — , BASTARD. Amorpha, 

 fruticosa. — , CHINESE. Isatis indigo- 

 tiea. — , EGYPTIAN. Tephrosia Apollinea. 

 — , FALSE. An American name for Baptisia. 

 — . INDIAN. Indigofera tinetoria. — , NA- 

 TIVE. I sot is tinctoria. — , "WEST INDIAN. 

 Indigofera Anil. — , WILD. Baptisia tinc- 

 toria. 



INDIGO-BERRY. Bandia latifolia. 



INDIGOFERA. A very extensive tropi- 

 cal or subtropical genus of leguminous 



plants, valuable on account of the blue 

 colouring material, called Indigo, afforded 

 by several of the species, of which upwards 

 of two hundred are described, the greater 

 number belonging to the African conti- 

 nent, but abounding also in both America 

 and Asia, and a few extending to Australia. 

 They are either annual or perennial herba- 

 ceous plants or shrubs, and have pinnate 

 leaves, which, however, are occasionally 

 reduced to three or one leaflet only. The 

 flowers are usually of a rose-purplish or 

 bluish colour or white, and are borne in 

 racemes from the angles of the leaves ; 

 they have a broad five-toothed calyx, a 

 papilionaceous corolla having the upper 

 petal curved backwards ; and ten stamens, 

 one of which is free. The fruit is a cylin- 

 drical or four-sided, straight or curved pod, 

 containing numerous (rarely one or two) 

 angular seeds. 



/. tinctoria, the species most commonly 

 cultivated, is a native of the East Indies 

 and other parts of Asia, but it has been in- 

 troduced into and become naturalised in 

 Africa and America. It is a shrubby plant 

 growing about three or four feet high, 

 having oval or inversely egg-shaped leaf- 

 lets, and long narrow pods. I. Anil, the 



Indigofera tinctoria. 



West Indian Indigo, is a larger plant, at- 

 taining a height of five or six feet, and is 

 a native of the West Indies and America, 

 from Carolina to Brazil, but has become na- 

 turalised in Asia and Africa. Its leaflets are 

 of a spathulate form, and its pods short 

 and thick. 



The use of Indigo as a dye is of great an- 

 tiquity. It is mentioned by Dioscorides 

 and by Pliny, and is supposed to have been 

 emplo5 T ed by the ancient Egyptians. It 

 was not, however, much used in Europe 

 till about three centuries ago, and for a 

 long time it experienced considerable op- 

 position on account of its interference with 

 the domestic manufacture of woad (see 

 Isatis), and in several European countries 



