793 



Clje Crcatfwrg nf 23otan». 



[note 



NORONHIA. A traveller in Madagascar 

 - - ren his name to this genus of Oleacece, 

 whieb comprises a few shrubs, natives of 

 that island and of the Mauritius. The 

 leaves are opposite, entire, with thick 

 woody stalks ; and the flowers yellowish, in 

 axillary clusters. Calyx small, persistent : 

 corolla globular thick, four-cleft : anthers 

 two, sessile or nearly so within the tube 

 of the corolla: ovary two-celled, with two 

 rendulous ovules in each. Fruit drupe- 

 like, oue-seeded by abortion. [M. T. M.] 



NORRISIA. A genus of Loganiacew, es- 

 tablished by Gardner for a Malayan shrub, 

 1 which Wight had referred to the Brazi- 

 I lian genus Antonia, but which differs in 

 | the want of any imbricated bracts under 

 ! the calyx, in the slender tube of the corolla, 

 and in the linear placenta to which the 

 ovules and seeds are attached. 



NOSEBLEED. The Yarrow, Achillea Mil- 

 lefolium. 



NOSEBURN TREE. Daphnopsis tenui- 

 folia. 



N03TOC. A genus of green-spored Al- 

 ga?, consisting of gelatinous globose or 

 lobed, rarely forked masses, filled with 

 necklaces of globules, some of which, of a 

 larger size than the rest, reproduce the 

 plant by cell-division of the endochrome, 

 or propagate it by zoospores. They re- 

 semble so closely young fruitless Collemata 

 that they have been supposed to be merely 

 barren lichens. Ascigerous fruit, indeed, 

 has been figured by Bayrhoffer in the 

 Botamsche Zeitung for 1857, but the ob- 

 servation requires confirmation, to show 

 that there has been no delusion about spe- 

 cimens. Many of the species grow on the 

 naked soil on rocks, while others are as 

 constantly immersed in water, whether 

 fresh or brackish. Their colour is usually 

 green, but sometimes is of a decided blue. 

 A species which abounds in streams in 

 China, X edule, is dried, and forms a fa- 

 vourite ingredient in soup, for which its 

 gelatinous substance, rich in bassorin, 

 makes it appropriate. A closely allied 

 alga, Hormosiphon arcticus, abounds in 

 The Arctic regions, and affords a mass of 

 wholesome food, which is far preferable to 

 the Tripe de Roche, as it has none of its 

 bitterness or purgative quality. The most 

 singular species we have met with is N. 

 flagelliforme, which grows on naked alumin- 

 ous soil in Texas. This has a long forked 

 frond, and at first would not be taken for 

 a Xostoc, though its structure is precisely 

 similar. See Falling Stars. [M. J. B.] 



NOSTOCHINE.E. A natural order of 

 green-spored Algce, consisting of gelati- 

 nous fronds or masses made up of neck- 

 lace-shaped threads, some of whose joints 

 are larger than others. The gelatinous ele- 

 ment is more or less predominant, and ac- 

 cording to its firmness the forms assumed 

 are more or less definite. Anabaina, and 

 ore or two other genera, remarkable for 

 the different forms assumed by some of 

 the component joints, are mere floating | 



masses. Sphcerozyga spiralis forms clouds 

 in the water, tinging the whole body with 

 a delicate green. Monormia is singular, as 

 consisting of a single complicated thread 

 of immense length. The threads, after a 

 time, break up into their component joints, 

 which have been observed by Thuret to 

 have active motion— a fact which he finds 

 especially in aquatic species, enabling them 

 to contend against currents which would 

 otherwise carry them away. The larger 

 joints are often differently coloured from 

 the others. Derbes records their trans- 

 formation into zoospores. It is probable 

 that in many cases the endochrome is re- 

 solved into minute active bodies, and that 

 the cell-division which Thuret observed in 

 Kostoc is not a true mode of fructification, 

 but merely a case of multiplication. The 

 large connecting cells are sometimes pro- 

 vided with cilia. Occasionally there is an 

 external tube to the necklaces, in which 

 case we have a close approximation to Os- 

 cillariece. A few species occur in warm 

 springs, and these, possibly from the pre- 

 sence of iodine, are often used as an out- 

 ward application in glandular affections. 

 Nostochineai grow in all parts of the world, 

 and are capable of bearing a very low tem- 

 perature, while their addiction to warm 

 springs shows that they are not at all 

 averse to considerable heat. Where thecon- 

 trast of the component joints as to form, 

 size, and colour is great, they are charm- 

 ing microscopical objects. [M. J. B.] 



NOTCHWEED. Chenopodium Vulvaria. 



NOTEL.EA. A genus of Oleacea?, con- 

 sisting of six or seven species, which form 

 shrubs or small trees, with opposite entire 

 leathery leaves, and axillary racemes of 

 small yellowish-green flowers. The generic 

 name is derived from the Greek words vo- 

 tes, the south, and elaia, the olive, in re- 

 ference to the genus being confined to 

 Australia and Tasmania. Their flowers 

 havea very small four-toothed calyx ; four 

 concave petals cohering in pairs with the 

 two short stamens placed between them ; 

 a two-celled ovary, with two pendulous 

 ovules in each cell ; scarcely any style ; 

 and a notched, two-lobed, or undivided 

 stigma. The fleshy drupe is one-seeded by 

 abortion. 



N. ligustrina, the Tasmanian Ironwood 

 tree, is in general only a bush six or eight 

 feet high, but occasionally forms a tree 

 growing thirty feet or more, with a trunk 

 twelve or fourteen inches or sometimes as 

 much as a foot and a half in diameter, 

 yielding an extremely hard dense wood to 

 which the name of Ironwood has been 

 given by the Australian colonists, who 

 use it as a substitute for lignum-vitae, for 

 making sheaves for ships' blocks, and also 

 for turnery and inlaid work. It is common 

 in Tasmania, and found also in Victoria 

 and New South Wales. Other species yield 

 hard heavy timber, such as L. ovata,, the 

 Dunga-runga of New South Wales, a small 

 crooked tree, growing from fifteen to 

 twenty feet high, but as they are of small 

 size the timber is of limited use. [A. S.] 



