NERV] 



&i)t CreaSurp of 28atang, 



786 



species of the extensive family of which it 

 is a member. [M. T. M.] 



NERVATE, NERVED, NERVOSE. Hav- 

 ing several ribs. 



NERVATION. The manner in which 

 veins are arranged. 



NERVES, NERVURES. The ribs or 

 principal veins of a leaf. 



NES.EA. A genus of Lythracece, consist- 

 ing of perennial herbs, with opposite or 

 whorled leaves, and axillary flowers. These 

 have a short bell-shaped or cup-shaped 

 calyx with four to seven erect teeth, and 

 as many longer and spreading horn-like 

 processes between them ; five blue or pur- 

 ple petals, several exserted stamens, and a 

 roundish three to Ave- celled capsule. There 

 are two subgenera : Nescea, from Senegam- 

 bia and Morocco, with one-flowered pe- 

 duncles and usually twelve to fourteen 

 nearly equal stamens; and Decodon from 

 North America, with many-flowered pe- 

 duncles and ten stamens, the alternate 

 ones much larger than the others. To this 

 last section belongs iV. veHicillata, which 

 is said to be injurious to cows about to 

 calve. [J. T. S.] 



NESODAPHNE. Two very large ever- 

 green New Zealand trees, belonging to the 

 Lauracece, have been formed into a genus 

 under this name, which is derived from 

 the Greek words nesos, an island, and daph- 

 nos, a laurel. They have axillary and ter- 

 minal panicles of small greenish perfect 

 flowers with a six-cleft calyx ; twelve sta- 

 mens arranged in a double series, the outer 

 bursting inwards consisting of six fertile 

 ones without glands, and the inner burst- 

 ing outwards of alternating fertile and 

 sterile ones ; the former having two glands 

 opposite the bases of their filaments, and 

 a one-celled ovary with a short style and 

 simple stigma. iV. Tarairi, the Taraire of 

 the New Zealanders, is a tree varying from 

 fifty to eighty feet high, with a trunk about 

 three feet thick, prodncing a light spongy 

 white wood easily split but not durable, 

 and consequently seldom used except by 

 the natives for their fences. Its leaves 

 are five or six inches long, smooth and 

 shining upon the upper surface, but cover- 

 ed with a bloom on the under side, and 

 with prominent nerves clothed with red 

 or rusty-brown down, as also are the bran- 

 ches and panicles of flowers. 



iV. Tawa, called Tawa by the natives, is 

 distinguished from the former by its short- 

 er and narrower leaves having finely netted 

 veins on both sides, and being covered with 

 a dense bloom underneath, and by its pa- 

 nicles of flowers being more loosely branch- 

 ed, an* not clothed with down. The fruits 

 of both trees are ovoid and deep purple, 

 those of the Taraire being the largest, and 

 eagerly sought after by birds and by the 

 aborigines ; but as their seeds contain 

 a poisonous principle, they require to be 

 well boiled in order to deprive them of 

 their injurious property. . [A. S.] 



NETTED. Covered with reticulated 



lines which project a little ; any arrange- 

 ment of veins which irregularly anasto- 

 mose. 



NETTLE. Urtica. — , BEE. Galeopsis 

 versicolor. — , CHILI. Loasa. — , DEAD. 

 Lamium; also Galeobdolon. — , FALSE. 

 An American name for Bbhmeria cylin- 

 drica. — , GREAT. Urtica dioica. — , 

 HEDGE. StacJiys sylvatica. — , HEMP. 

 Galeopsis. — , HORSE. Solanum caroli- 

 nense. — , ROMAN. Urtica pilulifera. — , 

 SMALL. Urtica wrens. — , STINGLESS. 

 Pilea. 



NETTLE-TREE. Celtis. 



NETTLEWORTS. Lindley's name for 

 the Urticacece. 



NEUMANNIA. The name of a Mexican 

 herbaceous plant, constituting a genus of 

 BromeliacecE. The flowers are arranged in 

 a cylindrical spike, and nearly concealed 

 by the overlapping ovate pointed bracts. 

 The perianth is six-parted, with the outer 

 segments erect, convolute, and one of the 

 three inner ones larger than the other 

 two, and flat. There are six free stamens ; 

 and a three-celled ovary slightly adherent 

 to the base of the perianth, and containing 

 numerous ovules. The fruit is leathery, 

 three-valved. The name is also synony- 

 mous with Aphloia, a genus of Flacourtia- 

 cece. [M. T. M.] 



NEURACHNE. A genus of grasses be- 

 longing to the 'tribe Panicem. The inflo- 

 rescence is in simple oval solitary spikes ; 

 glumes nearly equal, nerveless and acute ; 

 exterior smallest, hardening about the 

 fruit ; flowers two, the exterior neuter, 

 and the interior hermaphrodite ; stamens 

 three; styles two, plumose. The species 

 are natives of New Holland. [D. M.] 



NETJR AD A procumoens. A prostrate an- 

 nual with pinnatifld leaves, small axillary 

 flowers, and a curious flattened circular 

 capsule, surrounded by the prickly calyx, 

 and divided into ten one-seeded cells. It 

 has been referred to various natural or- 

 ders, but is now usually associated with 

 Rosacece. 



NEUROCALLIS. A genus of acrosti- 

 chaceous ferns, containing a few tropical 

 species, of which the type is the pinnate- 

 fronded iV. pra?stantissima of the West 

 Indies. Like other acrostichoid ferns, 

 they are dimorphous, and their sori occupy 

 the whole under-surface of the separate 

 contracted fertile fronds. The veins, which 

 are best seen in the sterile fronds, are reti- 

 culated in a regular manner, forming hexa- 

 gonal meshes, which do not contain any 

 free veinlets within the areoles. [T. MJ 



NEUROL^NA lobata is a West Indian 



tall herb or undershrub, forming a genus 



of Composite, with the aspect and chaffy 



receptacle of the Helianthea>, but with the 



bristly pappus of Senecionece. The leaves 



I are alternate, the lower ones three-lobed, 



I the flower-heads without rays, in terminal 



I corymbs. 



