NEPII 



Efje (ErouJurj? of Botany. 



•84 



NEPHELIUM. Three celebrated Chinese 

 and Malayan fruits, the Litchi, the Longan, 

 and the Rambutan, are produced by differ- 

 ent trees belonging to this genus of Sapin- 

 clacece, which contains in all about twenty- 

 five species, and is confined to Southern 

 Asia and the Indian Archipelago, except a 

 single species found in the Peejee and 

 neighbouring islands. They are mostly 

 trees of small size, with alternate pinnate 

 (rarely simple) leaves, and panicles of small 

 flowers at the ends of the branches, pro- 

 ducing bunches of globular or egg-shaped 

 warted or rough prickly fruits, which do 

 not open in a regular manner when ripe ; 

 each fruit contains a single seed covered 

 with a fleshy arillus. Their flowers have 

 from four to six sepals, sometimes united 

 into a cup-shaped calyx, as many petals or 

 none, twice as many stamens inserted in- 

 side the ring-like disk, and a short-stalked, 

 two-lobed, two-celled ovary occupying the 

 centre of the flower. 



N. Litchi, the Litchi, or, as it is variously 

 written, Litschi, Li'tchi, Lichi, Leechee, or 

 La'tji, is the most celebrated of the indi- 

 genous fruits of China, and is now frequent- 

 ly imported to this country, and sold in the 



Nephelium Litchi. 



fruit shops. There are several varieties, 

 but the most common is nearly round, 

 about an inch and a half in diameter, with 

 a thin brittle shell -of a red colour covered 

 all over with rough wart-like protuber- 

 ances ; others are larger and heart-shaped. 

 When fresh, they are filled with a white, 

 almost transparent, sweet jelly-like pulp, 

 surrounding a rather large shining brown 

 seed ; after they have been gathered some 

 time the pulp shrivels and turns black, 

 and then bears some resemblance to prunes. 

 The Chinese are very fond of these fruits, 

 and consume large quantities of them, 

 both in a fresh state and when dried and 

 preserved in various ways. The tree, which 

 grows about twenty feet high, is a native 

 of Southern China, but is only known in a 

 cultivated state. It has abruptly pinnate 

 leaves composed of from two to four pairs 

 of oblong or lance-shaped, pointed, shining 

 leaflets about three inches long and of a 

 thick leathery texture, and bears panicles 

 of small flowers which are without petals, 

 having only a small cup-shaped slightly 

 four or five-toothed calyx. 



N. Longunum, the Longan tree, is like- 

 wise a native of Southern China, where, 

 like the last, it is much cultivated for the 

 sake of its fruit. Its leaves have generally 

 five pairs of leaflets much resembling those 

 of the Litchi, but it is readily distinguished 

 by its flowers having a deeply five-parted 

 calyx and five narrow hairy petals about 

 the same length as the calyx. The Longan 

 is a smaller fruit than the Litchi, varying 

 from half an inch to an inch in diameter, 

 and quite round, with a nearly smooth 

 brittle skin of a yellowish-brown colour. 

 It contains a similar semitransparent pulp, 

 of an agreeable sweet or subacid flavour, 

 and is largely sold in the Chinese markets. 



oV. lappaceum yields the Rambutan or 

 Itamboostan, a well-known and favourite 

 fruit in the Malayan Archipelago. It is a 

 small tree, with leaves composed of from 

 five to seven pairs of oblong leaflets ; and 

 its flowers have a five or six-cleft calyx and 

 no petals. The fruit is of a bright red 

 colour, about two inches long, of an oval 

 form and slightly flattened, and covered 

 with long soft fleshy spines or thick hairs, 

 from which circumstance it takes its name, 

 ranibut signifying hair in the Malayan lan- 

 guage. Like the two above mentioned, 

 the Rambutan contains a pleasant acidu- 

 lous pulp very grateful in tropical coun- 

 tries. [A. SJ 



NEPHRODIUM. A genus of aspidioid 

 ferns, distinguished among their near 

 allies by their reniform indusia, and their 

 connivently anastomosing A-eins. In the 

 former peculiarity they agree with Lastrea, 

 which has free veins; and some botanists 

 unite both these groups under the present 

 name, distinguishing Aspidium (including 

 Poli/stichum) by its peltate indusia. As 

 limited by the characteristics of reniform 

 indusia and connivently anastomosing ve- 

 nation, Ncphrodium is still an extensive 

 genus, distributed freely over the wanner 

 parts of the Old and New Worlds, and con- 

 sisting mostly of species which have more 

 or less the aspect of the common male 

 fern. The most familiar species is N. 

 I molle, which is everywhere met with in 

 ■ collections of cultivated plants, as well 

 ' as among dried ferns from nearly all parts 

 of the world. [T. M.] 



NEPHROID. Kidney-shaped. 



NEPHROLEPIS. A genus of polypodia- 

 ceous ferns belonging to the tribe Aspi- 

 diece, and to that section of it with free 

 veins and reniform indusia. They are pin- 

 nate ferns, with narrow elongate fronds, 

 and articulated pinnce ; and produce from 

 their crown long slender stolones, which 

 at intervals bear other fasciculate crowns, 

 and sometimes also develope fleshy tubers-. 

 One tuber-bearing species, N. vndulata, 

 has annual fronds ; but the majority are 

 evergreen, and are very easily recognised 

 by the features we have indicated. [T. MJ 



NEPHROPHYLLUM. A genus of Con- 

 volvidacece founded on a single species 

 from Abyssinia, a small humifuse plant, 

 with a slender creeping stem, rooting at 



