Cijc Crcas'urn at 23ntany. 



[nefh 



. ing carinate serais with saccate bases and 

 ■ a bisaccate lip. Only one species is known 

 Ccelogyne (,§ Neogyne) Gardneriana, a very 

 j fine plant of Nepal and Khasya, with long 

 | flask-like pseudobulbs, very large flve- 

 I nerved lanceolate leaves, and dense nod- 

 dins terminal or radical racemes of large 

 I pure white flowers, with a yellowish stain 

 on the lip, each flower having beneath it a 

 j conspicuous petal-like bract. [A. S.J 



j NEOTINEA intacta is the Aceras intacta 



i or Aceras secundiflora of most botanists, a 



| common South European orchid, which 



, has recently been found jyild in Ireland. 



i It was first separated as a distinct genus 



j by an Italian botanist, and named Tinea, 



j which name has been changed to Neotinea 



[ by Reichenbach. [A. S.] 



NEOTTIA. With the exception of the 

 longer column and the generally cucullate 

 anther-bed, there are no technical charac- 

 ters for separating this genus of orchids 

 from Listera ; but it is well marked and 

 easily distinguishable by the habit of its 

 species, all of which are leafless brown- 

 stemmed plants with sheathing scales in 

 place of leaves. Only about four species are 

 known, one of which, a peculiar withered- 

 looking plant, JN". Nidus-avis, is the Bird's- 

 nest Orchis of this country.while the others 



j belong to Northern Asia. Owing to confu- 

 sion in nomenclature, a large number of 



i species of Spiranthes erroneously bear the 

 name of Xeottia in many works. [A. S.] 



NEOTTOPTERIS. Thamnopteris. 



NEOWIEDIA. Apostasia. 



NEOZA. An Indian name for certain 

 edible Pine seeds. 



NEP. Xepeta Cataria. 

 nia dioica. 



WILD. Bryo- 



NEPENTHACE.E. A natural order of 

 nionochlamydeousdicotyledons,belonging 

 to Lindley's euphorbial alliance of dicli- 

 nous Exogens. They consist of herbs, or 

 half-shrubby plants, with alternate leaves, 

 slightly sheathing at the base, and form- 

 ing an ascidium at the extremity. Flowers 

 dicBcious, the perianth four-parted, infe- 

 rior; males : stamens united in a solid cen- 

 tral column, anthers about sixteen, form- 

 ing a spherical head, extrorse ; females : 

 ovary free, four-cornered, four-celled, stig- 

 ma sessile ; capsule four-celled, f our-valved, 

 with loculicidal dehiscence, and indefinite 

 ascending seeds. They are natives of 

 swampy ground in the East Indies and 

 China, and have no known properties. 

 The pitchers have been found to contain a 

 solution of binoxalate of potash, and some 

 chemists have detected muriate of soda, 

 malic, and other acids in them. Spiral ves- 

 sels abound in all parts of pitcher plants, 

 and the woody bundles are without concen- 

 tric zones. [J. H. B.] 



NEPENTHES. The sole genus of Xepen- 

 thacere. About twenty species are known, 

 by far the greater part of which arenatives 

 of Borneo, Sumatra, and the adjacent is- 

 lands of the Indian Archipelago ; but a few 



extend to Continental Asia, and one to as 

 far north as the Khasya mountains, and an- 

 other to China. One is confined to Ceylon, 

 and two to Madagascar. The oddity of the 

 foliaceous organs in this genus, with their 

 remarkable terminal pitcher-like append- 

 ages, has given rise to some difference of 

 opinion amongst botanists as to which 

 part of the leaf is the petiole or stalk, and 

 which the lamina or blade. It has been 

 commonly stated that the broad part at 

 the base is a leafy stalk, and that the lid of 

 the so-called pitcher is the true lamina. 

 The recent investigations of Dr. Hooker, 

 however, have confirmed the statement 

 long ago made by Griffith, that the basal 

 portion, that which appears like an ordinary 

 leaf, is the true lamina, tapering down- 

 wards into a more or less evident stalk ; 

 and that the pitcher-like appendage is a 

 modification of the prolonged midrib of 

 the leaf, or, rather, of a gland situated at 

 the apex of the midrib. 



The size and shape of the pitchers differ 

 considerably in the different kinds. Dr. 

 Hooker has described one species from Bor- 

 neo, and named it after Rajah Brooke (N. 

 Rajah), in which the blade of the leaf is 

 eighteen inches long by seven or eight 

 broad, the exeurrent midrib or tendril 

 twenty inches long and as thick as the 

 finger, and the pitcher twelve inches long 

 by six inches in diameter, of a broad am- 

 pulla form.with two fringed wings in front. 



One of the species sometimes seen in hot- 

 houses in this countrj r is N. Rafflesiana, a 

 native of Singapore, Malacca, Sumatra, 

 and Borneo. This, like many others, has 

 two kinds of pitchers. Those on the lower 

 leaves are of an ampulla form, with two 

 fringed wings in front, about four inches 

 long by two wide, and beautifully spotted 

 with rich brown ; while those on the upper 

 leaves are less beautifully coloured, a good 

 deal longer, and funnel-shaped, narrowing 

 gradually to the base, where they gracefully 

 curve upwards. N. distillatoria, the Cin- 

 galese species, is so called because its 

 pitchers are partly filled with water before 

 they open ; but that is also the case with 

 the other species. The Cingalese use the 

 tough flexible stems as withes. [A. S.] 



NEPETA. A genus of the labiate order, 

 distinguished by the calyx having about 

 fifteen ribs, and an oblique five-toothed 

 mouth ; and the corolla with the upper lip 

 straight and notched, and the lower usually 

 three-cleft. The species are natives of Eu- 

 rope and the temperate parts of Asia; they 

 are numerous, and owing to differences in 

 character have been divided into several 

 subgenei-a. [G. DJ 



NEPHELAPHYLLI7M. A small genus 

 of terrestrial orchids belonging to the 

 tribe Epidendrea, and mostly natives of 

 the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The 

 plants belonging to it have creeping sheath- 

 ed stems, stalked ovate or cordate leaves, 

 usually purplish beneath and spotted or 

 clouded above, and flowers in racemes on 

 terminal scapes. [A. SJ 



