pods, which are flat and 'woody, split into 

 two valves when ripe, and contain from 

 two to four shining scarlet and black or 

 brownish-red seeds. 



O. dasycarpa is the West Indian Bead- 

 tree or Necklace-tree, the seeds of which, 

 and of other species, such as O. coccinea, a 

 native of Guiana and Brazil, are roundish, 

 beautifully polished, and of a bright scarlet 

 colour with a black spot at one end resem- 

 ! Dling beads, for which they are substi- 

 j tuted, being made into necklaces, brace- 

 i ' lets, &c, or mounted in silver for studs 

 and buttons. The name is derived from 

 the Greek ormos, signifying a necklace, in 

 allusion to this use of the seeds. The 

 timber of O. panamense, a tree of fifty feet 

 higb or upwards, native of Yeraguas, is 

 durable and used for building. [A. S.] 

 ORNE. (Fr.1 Fraxinus. 

 ORNITHIDIUM. A small genus of West 

 Indian and tropical American orchids. 

 Some species have ascending and others 

 root-like branching stems, sheathed with 

 imbricate scales, and bearing one-leaved 

 pseudobulbs. Their flowers are axillary, 

 and have erect siightly spreading free 

 sepals and petals, and an ascending cucul- 

 late lip, which is almost always connate 

 with the base of the column and parallel 

 with it. The anther is two-celled, with 

 four pollen-masses, oblong or linear cau- 

 dicles, and a minute gland. [A. S.J 



ORNITHOGALTTM. A rather large ge- 

 nus of lilyworts, the species of which are 

 for the most part confined to the South 

 European and West Asiatic regions and the 

 Cape of Good Hope. Three are admitted 

 into the British Flora, but it is question- 

 able whether any of them be truly indige- 

 nous, though O. pyrenaicum is so abun- 

 dant in the neighbourhood of Bath, that 

 its young shoots are collected in the 

 spring, and brought to the market for sale 

 as a substitute for asparagus ; and 0. um- 

 bellatum is a common weed in many parts 

 of England and Scotland. The last-named 

 species is commonly known as the Star of 

 Bethlehem, from its being abundant in 

 Palestine, and having star-like flowers. 

 It is also supposed to be the Dove's Dung 

 of Scripture (2 Kings, ch. vi.); and its 

 bulbs, which are wholesome and nutritious 

 when cooked, are eaten to this day in 

 Palestine. The genus is closely allied to 

 Scilla, from which it is distinguished only 

 by its flowers being persistent instead of 

 deciduous, and white greenish or yellowish 

 instead of blue. All the species are bul- 

 bous plants, with radical not stem-sheath- 

 ing leaves,and terminal racemes of flowers, 

 each flower with a withered bract beneath 

 it. Their perianth has six distinct seg- 

 ments, spread out star-fashion ; and their 

 six stamens have flattened filaments, and 

 are almost free from the perianth. [A. S.] 



ORNITHOGLOSSUM. A genus of Melan- 

 ilw.cvp, the four species of which belong to 

 the Cape Flora. They are bulbous plant's, 

 with simple or slightly branched leafy 

 stems, and long-stalked somewhat race- 



mose green and purple or white flowers, 

 which hare a perianth of six short-clawed 

 spreading pieces, with the stamens insert- 

 ed at their base, and a fleshy gland in the 

 centre, and three styles somewhat united 

 below. [A. S.] 



ORNITHOPUS. A genus of leguminous 

 plants of which one species, O. perpusillus 

 is a small prostrate herb well marked by 

 its umbellate heads of minute cream-co- 

 loured flowers veined with crimson, which 

 have a bract at the base ; and its jointed 

 curved pods, which bear a singular resem- 

 blance to the claws of a bird, whence the 

 name Omithopus, or Bird's-foot. It is not 

 uncommon on gravelly commons in Great 

 Britain, but owing to its small size is per- 

 haps often overlooked. O. sativus, the 

 Serradilla, by some considered a variety of 

 O. perpusillus, a native of Portugal, is a 

 valuable agricultural plant, introduced in 

 1818, and particularly worthy of attention 

 from the fact of its producing an abundant 

 crop of excellent fodder where nothing 

 else will grow to perfection. All the spe- 

 cies are annuals. French, Pied d'oiseau; 

 German, Vogelfuss. [C. A. J.] 



ORNUS. The species of Ornus are by 

 some regarded as forming merely a section 

 of Fraxinus, but others recognise them as 

 a distinct genus, and they are readily dis- 

 tinguished by their flowers having petals, 

 for which reason they gain the name of 

 Flowering Ash. About a dozen species are 

 known, all belonging to the temperate re- 

 gions of the northern hemisphere. They 

 are middle-sized trees with pinnate leaves 

 and terminal or axillary panicles of small 

 flowers, which are either perfect or of dis- 

 tinct sexes, and have a small four-parted 

 or four-toothed calyx, andfour long narrow 

 petals usually cohering in pairs, the perfect 

 ones containing two long stamens and a 

 pistil with a notched stigma. The fruit is 

 flat and two-celled, with a thin wing at top. 



0. europcea and 0. rotundifolia, both na- 

 tives of the South of Europe and Asia 

 Minor, are known by the name of Manna 

 Ash, from their yielding the saccharine 

 substance commercially known as Manna. 

 They form trees about twenty-five feet in 

 height, and chiefly differ in the leaflets of 

 the former being lance-shaped on short 

 stalks and tapering to both ends, while 

 those of the latter are egg-shaped or round- 

 ish, narrow at the base, and without stalks. 

 Manna is chiefly collected in Calabria and 

 Sicily, where the trees are cultivated in 

 square plantations for the purpose, and is 

 principally imported from Palermo, Mes- 

 sina, and Naples. It is obtained by making 

 incisions about two inches long in the stem, 

 with ahookedknife. Theflnest kind, called 

 ' flake manna,' or ' manna canellata,' is ob- 

 tained from incisions in the upper part of 

 the stem, and the inferior, or 'manna in 

 sorts,' from cuts near the ground. For 

 collecting the latter kind, leaves of the 

 ash are inserted into the incision so as to 

 conduct the juice into receptacles formed 

 of the flat joints of the Opuniia, or prickly- 

 pear cactus. [A. S.] 



