787 



EIjc CrraSurg of 33ntanm 



[nico 



NETROPELTIS. A genus of Convolvu- 

 1 lacece, containing two species, natives of 

 i India. They are spreading undershrubs, 

 i having the stem and branches whitish, and 

 covered with numerous white elevated 

 ! dots. The small flowers are in axillary ra- 

 cemes, and have a calyx consisting of five 

 persistent sepals ; a funnel-shaped corolla 



Neuropeltis racemosa. 



divided below the middle into five lanceo- 

 late acute lobes, which are valvate and not 

 j plicate in aestivation ; and a two-celled 

 ovary, with two ovules in each cell, and 

 bearing two styles with fleshy reniform 

 I stigmas. The capsule is one-seeded, at- 

 | tached by a decurrent pedicel, considerably 

 I below the centre of the floral bract, which 

 becomes enormously enlarged in fruiting, 

 and is very delicate in texture. [W. C] 

 NEUROSPERMA. Homordica. 



NEWCASTELIA, A low shrub with 

 crowded opposite entire leaves, thickly 

 hirsute with coarse woolly hairs, and small 

 flowers in terminal spikes remarkable for 

 the long rigid hairs coveringthe calyx, and 

 giving them the appearance of little hispid 

 balls. It is a native of the deserts of the 

 interior of South Australia, and has been 

 lescribed by F. Mueller as constituting a 

 senus of Verbenacem. 



KEZ-COUPE. (Fr.) Staphylea pinnata. 

 2JHANDIROBA. Feuillcea cardifolia. 

 NIBOXG. The Malay name for Oncosper- 

 ma filamentosa. 



NICANDRA. A genus of Solanacece, dis- 

 tinguished by its pentagonal calyx, which 

 is persistent and finally closes and becomes 

 inflated, with five compressed angles, and 

 encloses a juiceles3 berry. The flower 

 is broadly campanulate, indistinctly flve- 

 lobed, large, blue, white in the centre, where 

 it is marked with five dark- blue spots. N. 

 physaloides, so called from the resemblance 

 of its fruit to that of Physalis, is a stout an- 

 nual plant about two feet high, with smooth 

 deeply sinuated leaves, and a native of 

 Peru. [C. A. J.] 



1 NICARAGO, BASTARD. Ccesalpinia bi- 

 juga. 



NICARAGUA WOOD. An inferior kind 

 of Brazil-wood, the produce of Ccesalpinia 

 echinata. 



NICHOLSONIA. A genus of Leguminosaz 

 of the tribe Hedysarece, originally proposed 

 by De Candolle, but siuce reduced to a sec- 

 tion of Desmodium. 



NICKER-TREE. Guilandina Bonduc. 



NICOTIANA. A genus of Solanacea or 

 Atropacece, consisting of sticky-leaved her- 

 baceous plants, natives of tropical America 

 and Eastern Asia, several of which are ex- 

 tensively grown to furnish Tobacco. The 

 penus derives its name from Joan Nicot, a 

 Portuguese, who was the means of intro- 

 ducing the tobacco plant into France. The 

 generic characters are : calyx tubular, bell- 

 shaped, five-cleft ; corolla funnel-shaped or 

 salver-shaped, the limb five-lobed; stamens 

 five within the tube of the corolla : ovary 

 two-celled, the style simple, and the stigma 

 button-shaped. Fruit a two-valved capsule, 

 with numerous seeds. 



The best-known species, and that which 

 furnishes the largest quantity of Tobacco, 

 is N. Tabacvm, the specific name, according 

 to Humboldt, being derived from the Hay- 

 tian word for the pipe in which the herb 

 is smoked, and which has been transferred 

 from the instrument to the plant. It is a 

 handsome plant, attaining a height of three 

 to six feet, with large oblong lance-shaped 

 leaves, some of which are attached to the 

 stem for some distance before they are 

 given off (decurrent). These leaves are 

 covered with minute hairs, on the summit 

 of which a gland is placed, which secretes 

 the viscid fluid that invests the surface of 

 the plant. The flowers are in panicles on 

 the end of the stem. The corolla is more 

 I than an inch in length, funnel-shaped, with 

 a distended throat, and of a pretty rose 

 or pink hue. This species is largely culti- 

 | vated in the Southern States of America, 

 especially Virginia— also in China, Holland, 

 I various parts of Germany, France, &c. 

 With us tobacco cultivation is illegal, ex- 

 cept on a very restricted scale. N. rustica is 

 grown in all quarters of the globe. It is a 

 smaller plant than the preceding, has ovate 

 leaves, and a greenish corolla with a cylin- 

 drical tube. It grows more quickly, ripens 

 earlier, and is more hardy than N. Tabacum. 

 This species produces East Indian tobacco ; 

 also that furnished by the Manilla Isles, 

 and the kinds called Latakia and Turkish. 

 j N. persica, a species not in cultivation in 

 j Great Britain, yields Persian tobacco. N. 

 j repanda, a native of the Havannah, is used 

 1 in the manufacture of some of the most 

 1 highly esteemed cigars. Its leaves clasp 

 J the stem, and the corolla Is white with a 

 slender tube. Other species, sucha.sN.mirt- 

 tivalvis, N. quadrivulvis, N. latissima, are 

 also employed in the manufacture of va- 

 rious kinds of Tobacco ; the last-mentioned 

 yields the kind known as Orinoco. N.viul- 

 tivalvis and N. quadrivalvis have, as their 



