821 



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[OREO 



variegated flowers, and a rather short spur. 

 Ic is scarce in Britain, being limited to the 

 comities bordering on the Thames from 

 Berkshire downwards ; and on the conti- 

 nent is seldom found in large numbers, 

 usually scattered over hilly pastures or the 

 borders of woods. 0. ustulata is a small 

 species remarkable for the dense spike of 

 small flowers, the deep purple of the unex- 

 panded ones giving it a burnt or scorched 

 appearance. 0. Morio, one of the common- 

 est continental ones in meadows and pas- 

 tures, is only to be met with in some of 

 the southern counties of England. 0. co- j 

 riophora, a continental species with green- j 

 and-brown variegated flowers, is remark- ! 

 able for having three varieties, the com- 

 mon one with a strong smell of bugs, ' 

 another quite inodorous, and the third 

 sweet-scented. O. hircina, on account of 

 the shortness of its spur, is often placed 

 in the genus Aceras ; it has a curious strap- j 

 like linear greenish labellum, spirally 

 rolled inwards in the bud, and in the ex- 

 panded flower hanging down to the length 

 of above an inch. It grows usually in al- 

 most isolated specimens, and is scarce in 

 Britain. O. pyramidalis and O. conopsea, 

 with dense spikes of small pink flowers, 

 have a very long slender spur ; although ! 

 in many respects very nearly allied to each | 

 other, they are now usually placed in dis- 

 tinct genera, the one in Anacamptis, the j 

 other in Gymnaclenia. Both are natives of 

 Britain as well as of the greater part of Eu- 

 rope. The tubers of Orchises abound in a 

 nutritive starch, which is extensively pre- 

 pared in some parts of Turkey, from some 

 of our common species, and sent to 

 "Western Europe under the name of Salep. 



ORCHTS, BEE. Ophrys apifera. —, 

 BELL. Codonorchis. — , BOG. Malaxis, 

 — , BUTTERFLY. Habenaria. — , CRANE- 

 FLY. Tipularia. — , DOG. Cynorchis. 

 — , DRONE. Ophrys fucif era, — , EARLY. 

 Orchis mascula. — , FALSE. Platanthera. 

 —, FLY. Ophrys muscifera. — , FROG. 

 Peristylusviridis. — , GREEN-MAN. Aceras 

 anthropophora. — , HAIR. Trichosma. 

 — , HAND. Orchis maculata. — , LIZARD. 

 Orchis hircina. — , MAN. Aceras anthro- 

 paphora. — , MEADOW. Orchis Morio. 

 — , MEDUSA'S-HEAD. Cirrhopetalum Me- 

 dusce. — , MONKEY. Orchis tephrosanthos. 

 — , MUSK. Herminium Monorchis. — , 

 SPIDER. Ophrys araniferra and arachni- 

 tes. 



ORCHIS BARBE-DE-BOUC. (Fr.) Or- 

 chis hircina. — BOUFFON. Orchis Mo- 

 rio. — BOURDON. Ophrys arachnites. 



— MILITAIRE GRANDE. Orchis fusca. 



— MILITAIRE PETITE. Orchis ustulata. 



— PALME\ Orchis latifolia. 



ORDEAL ROOT. The root of a species 

 of Strychnos, used in Western Africa by 

 the natives. 



ORDEAL TREE. Erythrophlceum gui- 

 neense. — of Madagascar. Cerbera vene- 

 nifera. 



OREILLE D'ANE. (Fr.) Symphytum 



officinale. — D'HOMME. Asarum euro- 

 pceum. — DE JUDAS. Hirneola Auricula 

 Judw. — DE LIEVRE. Bupleurum falca- 

 tum. — D'OURS. Primida Auricula. — 

 DE RAT. Hier actum Pilosella. — DE 

 SOURIS. Cerastium tomentosum, and Myo- 

 sotis arvensis. 



ORELIE. (Fr.) Allamanda. 



OREODAPHNE. A considerable genus 

 olLauracece, principally inhabiting tropical 

 America. Most of the species form large 

 trees, occasionally upwards of a hundred 

 feet in height, with alternate leaves, and 

 panicles or racemes or sometimes small 

 umbel-like heads of unisexual or perfect 

 flowers, the sexes generally on different 

 trees. The flowers have a calyx with a top- 

 shaped tube and a six-parted limb, which 

 falls away after flowering,and the tube then 

 increases in size and ultimately surrounds 

 the lower part of the fruit; they contain 

 nine fertile stamens with short narrow fila- 

 ments in three series, and sometimes three 

 sterile ones forming a fourth inner series, 

 and their short style bears a disk-like stig- 

 ma. O. californica is a common tree in 

 the mountainous parts of California, where 

 it goes by a variety of names, such as Moun- 

 tain Laurel, Spice-bush, Balm of Heaven, 

 Sassafras Laurel, Cajeput-tree, Californian 

 Olive, &c. In some parts it attains a height 

 of fifty or seventy or even a hundred feet, 

 but in the southern districts it is seldom 

 more than fifteen or twenty feet high. When 

 bruised it emits a strong spicy odour which 

 is apt to excite sneezing, and the Spanish- 

 Americans use the leaves as a condiment. 

 0. opifera, a large tree found on the Ori- 

 noco, yields an abundance of volatile oil 

 from incisions made into its trunk, and 

 another kind is obtained from its fruits by- 

 distillation. The first is used as an appli- 

 cation to tumours, and the other in con- 

 tractions of the joints, pains in the limbs, 

 &c. [A. S.] 



OREODOXA. Some of the species of this 

 genus are among the most graceful of 

 palms, their slender ringed stems frequent- 

 ly attaining upwards of a hundred feet in 

 height, and bearing large terminal pinnate 

 leaves with long sheathing stalks forming 

 a cylinder around the summit. Six species 

 are described, all natives of the West Indies 

 and tropical America. The flower-spikes 

 are enclosed in double somewhat woody 

 spathes, the flowers being of separate sexes, 

 and surrounded by small bracts. 



0. oleracea, the West Indian Cabbage 

 Palm, a plant formerly included in the ge- 

 nus Areca, sometimes attains a hundred and 

 seventy feet high, with a trunk perfectly 

 straight and almost cylindrical ; but like 

 other palms it is quite useless as timber, 

 having but a thin outside layer of hard 

 wood, fit only for making ramrods or the 

 walking-sticks called cabbage-sticks, or, 

 when the soft inside is scooped out, for 

 gutters. The semicylindrical portion of 

 the leafstalks are formed into cradles for 

 negro children, or made into splints for 

 fractures; their inside skin, peeled off while 



