599 



ULlyz Crtas*urn at 230tane. 



[hove 



is but one species, E. floribunda, found in 

 Ceylon. [J. H. B.] 



HORTUS SICCUS. The same as Herba- 

 rium. 



HOSACKIA. A genus of pretty dwarf 

 pea-flowered annual or perennial herbs, 

 found in Oregon, California, and Mexico. 

 Though ailied to, and having much the 

 appearance of, Lotus, they differ in the 

 minute (not foliaceous) stipules. The 

 leaves are in many species unequally pin- 

 nate, in others trifoliolate ; the flowers 

 are mostly yellow mixed with white and 

 purple, usually disposed in umbels, which 

 are often stalked. Upwards of twenty spe- 

 cies are known. [A. A. B.] 



HOTTENTOT BREAD. Testudinaria 

 Elephanlipes. 



HOTTOXIA. Aquatic herbaceous plants 

 distinguished among the Primulacece by 

 their capsules, which, when ripe, split 

 into five valves connected at the base and 

 summit. H. palustris, the Water Violet, is 

 a singular and beautiful plant found in 

 ditches and pools in many parts of Eng- 

 land, and is not unfrequently cultivated. ' 

 The roots are long and silvery, and are j 

 either suspended in the water or strike 

 deep into the muddy bottom. The leaves, 

 wholly submersed, are finely pinnated 

 or pectinated, and grow in tufts, from the 

 midst of which rises a long cylindrical 

 solitary stalk, bearing a pyramid of hand- | 

 some light purple and white flowers, which 

 are disposed in whorls. French, Plume 

 d'eau ; German, Wasserviole. [C. A. JJ 



HOUBLON. (Fr.) LTumulus. 



HOULLETIA. The name of a few epi- 

 phytal orchids of tropical America, having 

 ovate or conical pseudobulbs with one long 

 membranaceous plaited leaf at the apex, J 

 : and from the base of the bulb erect, or j 

 i drooping spikes, ending in a raceme of j 

 j rather large and handsome nodding flow- j 

 i ers. In H. Brocklehurstiana, the erect j 

 j flower-scape is a foot and a half high, and j 

 the individual flower two inches in dia- 

 meter, and deliciously sweet ; the sepals | 

 and petals spreading, nearly equal, yellow, 

 mottled with blood-red; the lip purple at j 

 the apex, and furnished with two horn-like 

 processes directed towards the column. 

 The genus is related to Stanhopea, differ- 

 ing, according to Brongniart, in the spread- 

 ing sepals and petals, and in the lip being 

 articulate in the middle, with two horns 

 on its lower half directed towards the 

 column. It has been named after M. 

 Houllet, a French gardener. [A. A. B.] 



HOUXDSBERRY, or HOUNDS-TREE. 

 The Dogwood, Comas sanguinea. 



HOUNDS-TONGUE. Cynoglossum offici- 

 nale. 

 HOUQUE. (Fr.) Holcus. 

 HOUSELEEK. Sempervivum tectorum. 

 HOUSELEEK-TREE. Monium aroo- 



HOUSTONIA. Eedyotis. 



HOUTTEA. One of the generic or sub- 

 generic groups, separated from Gesxera : 

 which see. 



HOUTTUYNIA. A genus of marsh 

 plants, inhabiting Japan and tropical Asia, 

 and belonging to the Saururacece. They 

 have a creeping jointed rhizome, a wavy 

 herbaceous stem, heart-shaped leaves, with 

 a large sheathing stipule above them, and 

 flowers placed on a spike surrounded at 

 its base by a ring of a few white bracts. 

 Perianth none ; stamens three, adherent 

 for some distance to the ovary ; fruit cap- 

 sular, of three carpels, with three parietal 

 placenta? and numerous seeds. H. cordata, 

 a curious and not inelegant plant, is occa- 

 sionally met with in cultivation ; its 

 leaves are accounted serviceable as a 

 medicine in Cochin China. [M. T. M.] 



HOUX. (Fr.) Ilex Aquifolium. — DE 

 MAHON. Hex balearica. — FRAGON, 

 FR&LON, or PETIT. Ruscus aculeatus. 



HOVE. Nepeta Glechoma, sometimes 

 called Glechoma Tiederacea. 



HOVEA. A genus of handsome blue- 

 flowered evergreen bushes, belonging to 

 the Leguminosce, differing from its allies in 

 having turgid nearly orbicular pods as large 

 as good-sized peas. Of about twenty known 

 species, the greater part are confined to 

 Western Australia, the rest occurring in 

 South-eastern Australia and Tasmania. 

 The leaves are mostly lance-shaped or 

 linear, with the margins entire and rolled 

 back, and both surfaces smooth, or the 

 lower clothed with rusty down. II. ilici- 

 folia, sometimes called Plagiolobium ilici- 

 folium, has holly-like leaves. B. Celsi is 

 one of the best known, and a very common 

 and beautiful greenhouse plant, flowering 

 like most of the species in spring. This 

 plant exhibits ' the peculiarity of the flower- 

 buds of the preceding year appearing at 

 the base of those expanded during the 

 present— a common condition of leaf-buds, 

 which are always visible the season pre- 

 ceding their expansion, but not frequently 

 so with flower-buds, which, though they 

 may be formed several years before their 

 development externally, generally remain 

 concealed till the period of their unfold- 

 ing.' The genus bears the name of M. 

 Hove, a Polish botanist. [A. A. B.] 



HOVENIA. A genus of Rhamnacew, 

 nearly allied to Ceanothus, i rom which it is 

 readily recognised by the short footstalks 

 of the minute whitish flowers (which are 

 in axillary or terminal forked panicles) 

 becoming much thickened after the flower 

 withers. Two species are known, H. dulcis 

 and in&qualis, the former found in Japan, 

 the latter in the Himalaya. Both are 

 trees with alternate heart-shaped serrated 

 leaves. The round fruits about the size of 

 a pea, are seated on the end of the recurved 

 fleshy peduncle, which is cylindrical, about 

 an inch long, and contains a sweet red 

 pulp which is eaten. [A. A. B.j 



