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KEBOO. An Indian name for the Lemon. 



NEBULOSE. Clouded. 



NECKERA. A beautiful genus of mosses, 

 the type of the Neekerei, which are distin- 

 guished from Hookeriei by the pinnate 

 branching, and the cuculliform frequently 

 pilose veil. The peristome is double or 

 single, and the branches almost always 

 flattened. The foliage is peculiarly elegant, 

 and is frequently beautifully undulated, as 

 in N. crispa, which is one of our finest 

 mosses. Neckera, however, obtains its 

 maximum in hotter countries, though JV. 

 pennata, which is almost cosmopolitan, 

 occurs as far north as Scotland. [M. J. B.] 



NECKLACE-SHAPED. The same as Mo- 

 niliform. 



NECKLACE-TREE. Ormosia. 



NECKWEED. Cannabis sativa. 



NECROSIS. Canker. A drying and dying 

 of the branch of a tree, beginning with the 

 bark and eating gradually inwards. 



NECTANDRA. A considerable genus of 

 Lauracece, abounding in Peru, Guiana, and 

 the West Indian Islands. The species all 

 form large forest trees, with alternate 

 leaves, and loose axillary panicles or co- 

 rymbs of perfect flowers, having a six- 

 parted wheel-shaped calyx, the segments 

 of which fall away, while the tubular part 

 increases in size and ultimately forms a 

 cup, surrounding the lower part of the 

 one-seeded fruit; the twelve stamens are 

 arranged in four series, the nine outer 

 fertile, and the three inner sterile. 



The Greenheart or Bibiri tree of British 

 Guiana, named Nectandra Rodicei by Sir R. 

 Schomburgk, but by some botanists con- 

 sidered a variety of JV. leucantha, is a large 

 tree sixty or seventy feet high, frequently 

 without branches for the first fifty feet, 

 the trunk being between two and three 

 feet in diameter and covered with an ash- 

 coloured bark, which, under the name of 

 Bibiru bark, is used medicinally as a tonic 

 and febrifuge, its properties being due to 

 the presence of an uncrystallisable alka- 

 loid, found likewise in the seeds. These 

 latter, however, are more remarkable for 

 containing upwards of fifty per cent, of 

 starch, which the Indians mix with rotten 

 wood, and make into a bitter disagreeable 

 kind of bread. The most valuable part of 

 the tree is its timber, large quantities of 

 which are regularly imported for ship- 

 building purposes, its great strength and 

 durability, together with the long lengths 

 in which it is obtainable, rendering it well 

 suited for beams, planking, and similar pur- 

 poses ; and its reputation is so high that it 

 is placed in the first or twelve-year class 

 in Lloyd's list of shipbuilding woods, 

 though it is by no means free from the 

 attacks of the ship-worm, or of the fungi 

 which are such a fertile cause of decay in 

 ships* timbers. [A. SJ 



NECTAR. The honey of a flower; the 

 superfluous saccharine matter remaining 



after the stamens and pistil have con- 

 sumed all that they require. 



NECTARILYMA. A collection of long 

 hairs found on the inner surface of some 

 flowers, as Menyanthes, 



NECTARINE. A smooth-skinned variety 

 of the Peach, Amygdalus persica. 



NECTARIUM, NECTARY. A place or 

 thing in which honey is secreted. Some- 

 times also applied to any supplementary 

 or anomalous organ in a flower. 



NECTAROSCORDUM. A genus of bulb- 

 ous Liliacece founded on Allium siculum, 

 which differs not only from Allium, but 

 from the great majority of the order, in 

 having the ovary adhering to the perianth 

 at the base so as to be partly inferior ; the 

 perianth also differs from that of Allium 

 in being somewhat bell-shaped, with a 

 short pear-shaped tube, and a six-parted 

 limb. In its habit, odour, and umbellate 

 flowers, it quite agrees with Allium. The 

 leaves are linear-lanceolate, channelled ; 

 and the scape two or three feet high, with 

 a loose umbel of green and purplish flowers 

 on drooping pedicels. [J. T. SJ 



NECTAROSTIGMA. A gland secreting 

 honey in certain flowers, as in Ranunculus. 



NECTAROTHECA. Literally, a honey or 

 nectar case ; the spur of certain flowers. 



NECTRIA. A genus of ascomycetous 

 Fungi closely allied to Sphceria, and com- 

 prising all the species which have naked 

 bright-coloured perithecia. Several ex- 

 hibit the most brilliant tints. N. cinha- 

 barina occurs in every garden on dead 

 currant twigs, always succeeding the 

 common Tubercularia, which is supposed 

 to be merely a young state of the Kectria. 

 The species are numerous, and abound in 

 temperate regions in either hemisphere, 

 though not confined to them. [M. J. B.] 



NEEA. A genus of tropical American 

 trees and shrubs belonging to the Nycta- 

 ginacece. The flowers are panicled, with- 

 out involucre, but having a tubular peri- 

 anth, within which are included five to 

 eight stamens of unequal length; the 

 ovary contains a single erect ovule. The 

 fruit is contained within the hardened 

 persistent base of the perianth, but is not 

 united with it. [M. T. IvL] 



NEEDLES, SPANISH. An American 

 name for Bidens bipinnata. 



NEEDLE-SHAPED. Linear, rigid, taper- 

 ing to a fine point from a narrow base, as 

 the leaves of juniper. 



NEELA. An Indian name for Indigo. 



NEELE. Lolium temulentum. 



NEEM, or NIM. Melia Azadiraclita. 



NEEMOOKA. An Indian name for Cly- 

 pea hemandifolia. 



NEESIA. A genus of Sterculiacece, of 

 the tribe Bombacece, very nearly allied to 

 Durio ; but the numerous filaments are 



