natives of India and the Indian and East- 

 : em Islands, one or two being also found 

 in the Mascaren Islands, and in the 

 j Feejees. [T. M.] 



HUMBERTIA. A genus of Convolvu- 

 ! lace-ce, containing a single species from 

 Madagascar. It is a tree with obovate 

 petiolate leaves, and single-flowered pe- 

 duncles. The calyx consists of five sepals, 

 , the corolla is fire-cleft, the five stamens 

 are much exserted, and the ovary is sur- 

 I mounted by a curved style, and a flat 

 I hollowed-out stigma. The baccate ligneous 

 j capsule is two-celled, with two seeds in 

 I each cell. [W. C] 



j HUMBLE PLANT. Mimosa pudica. 



| HUMBOLDTIA. A genus of the Ccesal- 

 j pinia group of Leguminosce, consisting of 

 j two elegant scrambling shrubs, found in 

 I Malabar and Ceylon. They have curiously 

 i tumid branchlets, furnished with un- 

 ! equally-pinnate leaves, at the base of which 

 I are remarkable leaf-like stipules, trans- 

 I versely dilated at their point of attach- 

 ment. The numerous scarlet flowers are 

 ! disposed in axillary racemes, and have a 

 four-toothed tubular calyx supported by 

 two bracts, three or five petals and sta- 

 mens, and an ovary which becomes an 

 oblong compressed pod, with numerous 

 seeds. Prom Jonesia it differs in the 

 presence of petals, and from other allied 

 genera in the nature of the stipules. The 

 name of the illustrious Humboldt is per- 

 petuated in the genus. [A. A. B.] 



HUMEA elegans, so well known and so 

 frequently cultivated in gardens, is the 

 only species of this genus, which belongs 

 to the Composites, and is remarkable for 

 its minute and extremely numerous 

 flower-heads, each of which contains but 

 three or four tubular and perfect florets. 

 This plant, found in a wild state in South- 

 east Australia, is in our gardens an erect 

 unbranched biennial, attaining a height of 

 four to eight feet, the stems furnished 

 below with ample dock-like leaves, and 

 terminating in a beautiful pyramidal 

 panicle, consisting of myriads of drooping 

 rose-coloured heads, not much larger than '■ 

 the flowers of some grasses. The whole 

 plant is somewhat glutinous, and, espe- ' 

 cially when bruised, emits a strong and J 

 peculiar balsamic odour. [A. A. B.] 



HUMIFTTSE. Spread- over the surface 

 at the ground. 



HUMILIS. Low. When the stature of j 

 a plant is not particularly small, but much j 

 smaller than that of kindred species ; 

 thus, atree twenty feet h ten maybe called 

 low, if the other species of its genus are i 

 forty or fifty feet high. 



HUMIRIACE.E. (Eurniriads.) A natural | 

 order of thalamifloral dicotyledons in- 

 cluded in Lindley's erical alliance of hypo- 

 gynous Exogens. Balsamic trees or shrubs 

 with alternate simple exstipulate leaves; 

 calyx in five divisions ; petals five, imbri- 

 cate ; stamens numerous, monadelphous, J 



■ the anthers two-celled with a membranous 

 connective, extended beyond the lobes; 

 disk often present; ovary five-celled. 

 Fruit a drupe; seed albuminous ; embryo 

 orthotropal. They are natives of tropical 

 America. The genera are: Vanturiea., 

 Eumirium, and Saccoglottis. [J. H. B.] 



HUMIRIUM. This and two other ge- 

 nera of small trees or shrubs form the 

 I order Humiriacece, all the species of which 

 ! belong to tropical South America. Eumi- 

 \ rium is distinguished by its flowers being 

 small and arranged in cymes ; by their sta- 

 ; mens being twenty in number, either all 

 bearing a single anther, or, in a few spe- 

 cies, five of them larger with three-forked 

 filaments bearing three anthers ; and by 

 the disk being ten-lobed. About a dozen 

 species are described. 



E. balsamiferum, the Houmiri of French 

 Guiana, is a tree growing about forty feet 

 high, and having smooth, egg-shaped or 

 oval-oblong, stalkless leaves, with the 

 base half clasping round the stem. It pro- 

 duces a red-coloured wood, useful f or house- 

 building; and its bark, when wounded, 

 yields a reddish balsamic juice, possessing 

 an odour like that of storax, and which 

 after a time becomes hard and brittle, and 

 is then burnt as a perfume. An ointment 

 is also prepared from it, and used for 

 pains in the joints, besides which it is 

 given internally as a remedy for tape-worm 

 and other complaints. E. floribundum is 

 a small tree common in Brazil, where it 

 is called ' Umire,' and its wood is used for 

 the rafters of houses. Its bark is greatly 

 esteemed as a perfume by the Brazilians, 

 and when wounded a fragrant yellow bal- 

 sam, termed balsam of TJiniri, flows from 

 it. [A. S.] 



HUMMING-BIRD BUSH. Mscliynomtne 

 montevidensis. 



HUMULUS. The common Hop (E. Lupu- 

 lus), belonging to the Cannabinacece, is the 

 sole representative of this genus. It is a 

 perennial, producing annually long, weak, 

 roughish twining stems, and lobed coarsely- 

 toothed leaves, which bear a general re- 

 semblance to those of the vine, but are 

 harsh to the touch ; each pair of leaves 

 has two forked curved stipules between 

 them. The male and female flowers are 

 produced on separate plants. The males 

 grow in loose, drooping panicles from 

 the axils of the leaves, and have five se- 

 pals and five stamens; while the females 

 form green scaly cones or catkins, which 

 are produced either singly or in clusters, 

 and are composed of a number of broad 

 concave scales, partly overlapping, each 

 having two inconspicuous flowers at its 

 base. After flowering and during the 

 period of ripening, these cones increase 

 in size, and when full grown constitute 

 the well known 'hops' used by brewers. 

 The scales also become covered with small 

 grains of a resinous substance, called lupu- 

 line ; and the ovary changes into a small 

 nut which is enveloped in the enlarged 

 sepal, and is the true fruit. 



