629 



€f)C EreaSurp of 330tang. 



[isoc 



plant in the north of China, where It is 

 called Tein-ching. It is a small half- 

 shrubby plant, with a decumbent stein, 

 bearing at its extremity several long 

 drooping racemes of small yellow flow- 

 ers, and smooth black fiddle-shaped pods 

 about half an inch long. The lower leaves 

 are rather fleshy, oh long stalks, oval, 

 lauce-shaped, and pointed, with the edges 

 slightly toothed, the upper ones very much 



Isatis indigotica. 

 narrower and smaller. In the north of 

 China, this plant takes the place of the 

 indigo of the south, and its colouring mat- 

 ter is obtained by a process closely analo- 

 gous to that employed in the preparation 

 of indigo, but instead of being thoroughly 

 inspissated, so as to form solid cakes, it is 

 used by the Chinese dyers in a semi-liquid 

 or pasty state. It is commonly employed 

 for dyeing cotton cloth, to which it im- 

 parts a dark-blue colour. [A. S.] 



ISATJXIS. A genus of Indian trees, be- 

 longing to the Dipterocarpacece, and dis- 

 tinguished from Yateria, by the flowers 

 being arranged in short axillary panicles, 

 the segments of the calyx increasing in 

 size as the fruit ripens, by the petals which 

 are sickle-shaped and larger than the 

 sepals ; by the fifteen stamens, which have 

 oblong anthers ; and by the short style 

 and club-shaped stigma. [II. T. M.] 



ISCTT.TOIUM. A genus of grasses be- 

 longing to the tribe Andropogonece, now 

 included in Andropogon. [D. MJ 



ISCHAR.UM. Biarum. 



ISCHXIA. A genus of Pedaliacece, con- 

 taining a single species, a native of Mexico. 

 It is an erect herb, with opposite petiolate 

 ovate acute leaves, and pale violet flowers 

 on long opposite and axillary peduncles, 

 arranged in loose racemes. The calyx is 

 five-toothed and persistent; the corolla 

 tube slightly curved, and its spreading 

 limb obscurely five-cleft. The nut-like 

 fruit is indehiscent, and furnished with 

 four long divaricate horns. This genu3 



has an herbaceous flower, but the fruit is 

 that of Pedalium. 



ISERTIA. A genus of Central American 

 shrubs or small trees, belonging to the 

 Cinclionacece. The flowers have a long tu- 

 bular corolla, the limb of which is divided 

 into six woolly segments ; the anthers are 

 six, sessile, concealed within the corolla ; 

 the ovary has six compartments, each con- 

 taining several ovules. The species have 

 handsome scarlet flowers. [M. T. M.] 



ISIDIUM. A corolla-like elevation of 

 the thallus of a lichen, bearing a globule 

 at its end. 



ISKEEL. Scilla indica. 



ISMENE. A small genus of pancrati- 

 form Amaryllidacecc, consisting of bulbous 

 plants of South America, mostly Peruvian. 

 They have lanceolate leaves sheathing at 

 the base, and tall scapes bearing at top 

 an umbel of few or many flowers, the peri- 

 anth of which has an elongated three-cor- 

 nered tube curved in the upper part, and 

 broader in the throat, a si x-parted limb wi th 

 narrow spreading segments, and a fun- 

 nel-shaped six-lobed lacerately-toothed 

 coronet, each lobe deeply emarginate and 

 having an antheriferous filament projected 

 inwards from the sinus. The ovary is 

 three-celled with two ovules in each cell, 

 and supporting a filiform declinate style 

 with a globose stigma ; and the seeds are 

 few, green, and bulb-like. I. Amancaes is 

 the Peruvian Daffodil, and the name of 

 Sea Daffodil is given to I. calathina, both 

 very beautiful plants. [T. M.] 



ISNARDIA. A genus of aquatic or marsh 

 herbs belonging to the order Onagracece, 

 of which the characters are : stamens four ; 

 calyx four-parted persistent ; capsule not 

 tapering to a point ; seeds many, destitute 

 of any feathery or hairy appendage. I. 

 palustris is remarkable only for having 

 been found growing in the south of Eng- 

 land about the middle of the seventeenth 

 century, and for having been subsequently 

 lost sight of until it was rediscovered in 

 1827. It is frequent in the continent of 

 Europe, in North America, and the tem- 

 perate parts of Asia. [C. A. J.] 



ISOBRIOUS, ISODYNAMOUS. Growing 

 with equal force ; two of the names of the 

 dicotyledonous embryo. 



ISOCARPHA. A genus of tropical Ame- 

 rican plants of the composite family, near- 

 ly related to Ageratum, but differing in 

 the achenes being destitute of pappus, 

 and having interspersed among them on 

 the conical receptacle numerous chaffy 

 scales like those composing the involucre. 

 They are branching weeds, with lance- 

 shaped or linear leaves, and solitary or 

 corymbose flower-heads. [A. A. BJ 



ISO-CHIEFS. A few epiphytal orchids 

 of tropical America, usually with slender 

 erect stems, twelve to eighteen inches 

 long, furnished with broadly linear two- 

 ranked leaves, and terminating in a very 

 short bracted spike of small dingy 



