nige] 



€f)e GTreatfnrg of 3Sotang. 



790 



It is a native of Southern Europe, Egypt, 

 the Levant, &c.,and has rather hairy stems, 

 about a foot and a half high, with bluish 

 flowers destitute of an involucre, and cap- 

 sules connected almost to the top and co- 

 vered with short hard points. French 

 cooks employ the seeds of this plant under 

 the name of quatre epices or toute epice, and 

 they were formerly used as a substitute 

 for pepper. They have a strong pungent 

 fennel-like odour, and an aromatic some- 

 what acrid oily taste. In Eastern countries 

 they are commonly used for seasoning cur- 

 ries and other dishes, and the Egyptians 

 spread them over bread or put them on 

 cakes like comfits, the ladies considering 

 them to possessthe property of augmenting 

 the embonpoint so much admired by the 

 Egyptian male sex. They are also used in 

 India for putting among linen to keep 

 away insects ; and the native doctors em- 

 ploy them medicinally as a carminative in 

 indigestion and bowel complaints. [A.S.J 



NIGELLE AROMATIQUE. (Fr.) Nil 

 gella sativa. V 



NIGER. Black, or black a little tjnged 

 with grey. Nigrescens, or nigricans, sig- 

 nifies blackish ; and nigritus, blackened, 

 as when a portion only is black— like the 

 point of the glumes of a Carex. 



NIGER-SEED. The small black seed of 



Guizotia oleifera. 



NIGHTFLOWER. Nyctanthes. 



NIGHTSHADE. Solanum. —.DEADLY. 

 Alropa Belladonna. — , ENCHANTER'S. 

 Circrea. — , MALABAR. Basella. —, 

 THREE-LEAVED. Trillium. — , WOODY. 

 Solanum Dulcamara. 



NIGRITELLA. A genus of orchids pro- 

 posed by Richard for the Orchis or Habena- 

 ria nigra, a small Alpine species with a 

 dense head of remarkably dark-coloured 

 almost black flowers. It has most of the 

 characters of Orchis, but the glands of the 

 pollen-masses are half-exposed, almost as 

 in Gymnadenia. 



NILOUFAR DES EGYPTIENS. (Fr.) 



Nympha=a ccerulea. 



NIMA. Picrasma. 



NIMBLE WILL. An American name 



for Milhlenbergia diffusa. 



NIMBOOKA. An Indian name for the 

 Lemon. 



NIMMOIA floribunda was described as 

 a genus of Saxifragaceaz by Dr. Wight, but 

 is now referred to the meliaceous genus 

 Amoora. It is a much-branched herb, na- 

 tive of Bombay, and has alternate sessile 

 coriaceous cordate-lanceolate leaves, and 

 panicled corymbs of small rose-coloured 

 flowers. [A. S.] 



NINE BARK. Spiraia opulifolia. 



NINETY-KNOT. Polygonum aviculare. 



NIN-TOO DES JAPONAIS. (Fr.) Loni- 

 cera con/usa. 



NINZIN. (Fr.) Panax quinquefolium. 



NIOPO TREE. Piptadenia peregrina. 



NIPA fruticans, the only representative 

 of the genus to which it belongs, is a 

 palm-like plant, with creeping often fur- 

 cated trunk, feathery leaves, and large 

 round bunches of fruits. It is commonly 

 met with in the salt-marshes of the coasts 

 and islands of the Indian seas, and is gener- 

 ally classed with Pandanacece or Palmacece, 

 but does not quite agree with eitherof these 

 natural orders. A similar plant abounds in 

 the tertiary formations at the mouth of the 

 Thames, where its fruit must at one time 

 have floated about in as great profusion as 

 those oiN. fruticans do at the present day 

 in Indian rivers. This plant is called Nipa ' 

 and Susa in the Philippine Islands. The I 

 leaves are unarmed and pinnatisect, often 

 more than twenty feet long. The flowers ! 

 are monoecious, axillary, and enclosed in a 

 spathe, like those of genuine palms ; the 

 fruit is a one-seeded drupe, aggregated in 

 heads as large as those of a man. The fo- 

 liage, called Nipah, is used as thatch, and 

 when burnt yields a supply of salt. From 

 the spadix toddy is extracted, convertible 

 into syrup, sugar, vinegar, yeast, and a 

 strong spirit. The kernel of the fruit is 

 edible. [B. S.] 



NIPH^EA. A genus of Gesneraceai pecu- 

 liar to Central America and Venezuela, 

 comprising about half a dozen species of 

 small herbs with decumbent stems, and 

 more or less densely covered with hair. 

 The leaves are often crowded together, 

 forming rosettes ; the corolla is rotate (by 

 which Niphcea may easily be distinguished 

 from all other Gesneraceai), nearly symme- 

 trical, five-lobed, and of a snow-white co- 

 lour, sometimes marked towards the base 

 with yellow ; the stamens are four in num- 

 ber, and their anthers connected ; the stig- 

 ma is mouth-shaped (stomatomorphous), 

 and the fruit a capsule. All the known 

 species are favourites in our stoves. N. 

 oblonga was the first introduced ; N. rubi- 

 da, albo-lineata and its varieties, N.parvi- 

 flora, and N.caripensis are newer additions 

 to our collections. [B. S.] 



NIPHOBOLUS. A genus of polypodia- 

 ceous ferns, separated- from Polypodium 

 by their netted venation, and from other 

 netted Polypodiece by the ultimate areoles 

 of the venation containing free divaricate 

 veinlets, and by the surface of the fronds 

 being clothed with a felt of minute stellate 

 hair-scales of a brownish or whitish colour. 

 The round dot-formed sort are generally 

 numerous, and push out from amongst 

 this stellate pubescence. In some cases the 

 fertile fronds are contracted. One species, 

 N. angustatus, to which the name Niphop- 

 sis has been sometimes given, bears only 

 a single row, of very large size, on each side 

 the costa ; but it otherwise agrees entirely 

 with the genuine species, which are well 

 represented by the familiar N. Lingua and 

 N.pertusus. The species are chiefly east- 

 ern and tropical, but a few extend to Japan, 



