oxyd] 



Clje CrsaSurg flf 3o0tan|), 



832 



berry can be cultivated in England, and 

 was so very successfully by Sir Joseph 

 Banks and others. Downing, in his Fruits 

 and Fruit Trees of America, states that 'in 

 some parts of New England, low and coarse 

 meadows of no value have been drained 

 and turned to very profitable account by 

 planting them with this fruit. The average 

 produce is from eighty to one hundred 

 bushels of Cranberries [per acre], worth at 

 least one dollar a bushel.' As a large quan- 

 tity can be obtained from a small space, 

 and at little expense, the American Cran- 

 berry might be advantageously cultivated, 

 for private use at least, in this country, 

 where, by picking the berries only as they 

 became perfectly ripe, and carefully reject- 

 ing such as were but partially so, a pro- 

 duce of more uniform and better quality 

 would be insured. [R. T.] 



OXYDENDRON. A genus of heatbworts, 

 having the corolla ovate and five-toothed, 

 the filaments of the stamens hairy, and 

 the style thick and five-angled. The only 

 species is a native of North America, a 

 shrub with alternate acute and serrate 

 leaves. The name is from the Greek words 

 signifying ' sharp ' or 'acid,' and ' tree,' to 

 indicate the taste of the plant. [G. D.] 



OXYGONIUM. A genus of polypodia- 

 ceous ferns of the tribe Aspleniem, and 

 belonging to the diplazioid division, with 

 double sori, set back to back. Among 

 these it is known by its reticulated vena- 

 tion, which is of this form : the veins and 

 venules are parallel below, and on this 

 elongated parallel portion bear the sori, 

 exterior to which they become joined so 

 as to form near the margin one or two 

 series of small areoles, from which short 

 free veinlets point outwards. The few 

 species are tropical Eastern ferns, with 

 somewhat coarse simple or pinnate coria- 

 ceous fronds. [T. M.J 



OXYGONUM. A genus of Polygonacem 

 from the Cape of Good Hope, comprising an 

 annual plant with lanceolate leaves, and 

 pedunculated spikes of monoecious flowers, 

 the males with a four-cleft coloured peri- 

 anth, and eight stamens. The fruit is 

 oblong and trigonous, with membranous 

 wings at the angles. [J. T. S.j 



OXYLOBITJM. A genus of papiliona- 

 ceous Leguminosm of the tribe Podalyriece, 

 characterised chiefly by the calyx, which 

 has the two upper lobes larger and more 

 united than the others, forming a kind of 

 upper lip, by the ovary having always more 

 than two ovules, and by the pod, which is 

 more or less turgid, being usually coria- 

 ceous and not divided between the seeds. 

 There are nearly thirty species, including 

 Calli*tachys,v?hich has no sufficient charac- 

 ters to distinguish it. They are all Austra- 

 lian shrubs or undershrubs with opposite 

 whorled or sometimes scattered, simple 

 and entire leaves, usually silky underneath. 

 The flowers are yellow, in axillary clusters 

 heads or short racemes, or in terminal 

 racemes or spikes. Several species have 

 been occasionally introduced into our col- 



lections amongst ornamental Australian 

 shrubs, but they are generally less showy 

 than the Chorozemas, which some of them 

 much resemble. 



OXYPETALUM. A genus of Asclepia- 

 dacem composed of South American twi- 

 ners or erect herbs, with opposite gene- 

 rally pubescent cordate leaves, and inter- 

 petiolar rather large and often scented 

 white, yellow, blue, or greenish flowers. 

 The calyx is five-cleft, the tube of the 

 corolla bell-shaped, and the fruit smooth 

 or covered with soft prickles. O. cmru- 

 leum (Tweedia ccerulca of authors) is a 

 favourite in our gardens on account of its 

 fine blue flowers. The genus is a large one, 

 nearly fifty species being enumerated in 

 systematic works, but nothing seems 

 known about their uses. [B. S.] 



OXYRAMPRTS. A name given by Wal- 

 lich to those species of Lespideza which 

 have a very pointed keel-petal, and which 

 now form a section of the latter genus. 



OXYRIA. A genus of Polygonacem, dis- 

 tinguished from Rumex by having the 

 perianth with four segments only, the 

 inner pair enlarged over the lens-shaped 

 winged nut. They are small alpine acid 

 plants, found in Europe, Asia, and the 

 Arctic regions, and have stalked cordate- 

 reniform root-leaves, and paniculate flow- 

 ers, which are in half-whorls round the 

 branches of the panicle. One species, 

 0. reniformie, is not uncommon in alpine 

 districts in Britain. [J. T. S.] 



OXYSTELMA. A genus of Asclepiada- 

 cem, inhabiting tropical Asia, Africa, and 

 Australia, and consisting of climbing gla- 

 brous shrubs, with narrow linear or lan- 

 ceolate seldom ovate leaves, and racemose 

 purplish flowers. The calyx is flve-cleft, 

 the corolla rotate and five-lobed, and the 

 fruit oblong and smooth on the surface ; 

 whilst the seeds are small and have a fea- 

 thery appendix. There is some doubt whe- 

 ther 0. esculentum, termed Ourrii Palay by 

 the Malabar people, is really eaten. Both 

 Roxburgh and Wight assert that they 

 never saw the natives eat it ; but in decoc- 

 tion it is used as a gargle for aphthous af- 

 fections of the mouth and fauces. [B. S.] 



OXYSTYLIS. A North American her- 

 baceous plant, constituting a genus of 

 Capparidacece, and having small yellow 

 flowers arranged in axillary racemes. Se- 

 pals linear ; petals oval ; ovary two-celled, 

 with two ovules in each cell. Fruit two- 

 lobed, indehiscent, surmounted by the 

 persistent style. [M. T. M.] 



OXYTHECA. A genus of Polygonacem, 

 containing an annual from Western North 

 America and Chili, with the habit of the 

 pedunculate Eriogona, but having a four or 

 five-cleft involucre.with few flowers,which 

 have a four or five-cleft perianth, and twice 

 as many stamens as there are lobes. The 

 segments of the involucre and calyx are 

 spinulose-aristate. [J. T. S.] 



OXYTROPIS. An extensive genus of 



