having obovate entire leaflets. The flowers, 

 arising from the axils of the leaves, are 

 either solitary or two or three together, 

 and have yellow funnel-shaped corollas 

 with a border of five rounded lobes nearly 

 three-quarters of an inch across. The 

 fruits are thin compressed elliptical cap- 

 sules with two cells, separated from each 

 other by a partition which runs contrary 

 to the boat-like valves ; and each cell has 

 a number of flattened orbicular winged 

 seeds. [A. A. B.] 



RHIXACANTHFS. A genus of Acan- 

 thacece, containing a few Indian species, all 

 of them having the habit and structure of 

 Jv.stida, except that the small white flow- 

 ers are arranged in trichotomous terminal 

 spikes. The roots of R. communis, better 

 known as Justicia nasuta, are used by the 

 Hindoos for the cure of ringworm. [W. CJ 



RHIXACTIXA. This genus, belonging 

 to the same group of Composite as Aster, 

 differs from that in the rough pappus-hairs 

 being in two series, the outer shorter than 

 the inner ; and from its nearer ally, Diplo- 

 pappus, in the tubular florets of the disk 

 being somewhat two-lipped instead of re- 

 gularly five-toothed, one of the lips four- 

 toothed, the other narrow and undivided. 

 There are two species, R. uniflora and R. 

 limoniifolia, both natives of desert regions 

 along the Altai mountain range. The first 

 is a tufted nearly stemless perennial, with 

 a rosette of spathulate hoary leaves, and a 

 short flower-stalk bearing a single purple- 

 rayed flower-head; the other has branching 

 stems six to eight inches high. [A. A. B.] 



RHINANTHACE^I. An order of dicoty- 

 ledons, originally established by Jussieu 

 under the name of Pechculares, and adopted 

 by many subsequent botanists with some 

 modifications under that of Rhinanthacece, 

 but now with general assent incorporated 

 with SerophulariacecB. 



RHIXAXTHERA. Scolopia. 



RHIXAXTHUS. A genus of European 

 annuals belonging to the Scrophulariacece, 

 of which the characters are:— Stamens four, 

 two longer than the others; calyx with 

 four divisions; upper lip of corolla com- 

 pressed laterally ; calyx inflated. R. Crista, 

 galli, the Yellow Rattle, is a common weed 

 in meadows and pastures, with a rigid 

 smooth spotted stem, either simple or 

 branched, oblong tapering serrated leaves, 

 and yellow flowers in the axils of the upper 

 leaves ; these are made conspicuous by the 

 large light-green inflated calyx, which is 

 persistent, and if brushed against or shaken 

 when the seeds are ripe makes a rattling 

 noise : hence the name. R. angustifolius 

 grows in cornfields in the North of England, 

 and i3 distinguished by its more bushy 

 habit, and by the acuminated bracts and 

 upper leaves. French : Cocrete des pres ; 

 German : Eahnenkamm. [C. A. J.] 



RHIXOCARPUS. The name often given 

 to a noble tree of Columbia and British 

 Guiana, where it is called the Wild Cashew, 

 Like the common cashew, which it much 



resembles, it belongs to the genus Anacar- 

 dium. It grows to a height of 160 feet, 

 yields an excellent tough durable timber, 

 and a pleasant edible fruit like the cashew. 

 In Panama, according to Seemann, the tree 

 is called Espave, and its bark is said to be 

 used in stupefying fish. Caracoli is the 

 name of the tree in New Grenada : see 



ANACARDITJM. [A. A. B.] 



RHINOPETALTJM. A liliaceous plant 

 from the Ural Mountains, with the bulb 

 and habit of a small Fritillaria, but differ- 

 ing from that genus in the simple un- 

 divided stigma, It has not the beauty of 

 the majority of its allies. 



RHIPIDODENDRON. By some writers 

 separated from the genus Aloe in conse- 

 quence of the stamens not being adherent 

 to the tube of the perianth. The species are 

 natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and have 

 a woody forked stem, bearing towards the 

 extremities of the branches a number of 

 closely-packed fleshy tongue-shaped leaves, 

 arranged in two rows on either side of the 

 branch, so that a fan-like appearance is 

 presented by them: whence the name, from 

 the Greek words signifying 'fan-tree.' The 

 Hottentots extract a kind of aloes from 

 the leaves, and employ the stems as quivers 

 for their arrows. [M. T. M.] 



RHIPIDOPTERIS. A small group of 

 ferns of the section Acrostichece, allied 

 closely to Polybotrya in their free veins 

 and wholly fertile fronds, but differing 

 altogether in habit and aspect. They are 

 curious little creeping plants, with small 

 fronds from one to three inches high, 

 the sterile ones flabellately parted and 

 dichotomously wedge-shaped, and the fer- 

 tile ones either roundish and entire, or 

 two-lobed. The veins are flabellately fork- 

 ed. They are confined to the West Indies 

 and South America. [T. 31.] 



RHIPSALIS. One of the genera of Cac- 

 taeece, with rotate or wheel-like flowers, 

 that is, flowers with wide-spreading seg- 

 ments and scarcely any tube. The seg- 

 ments in the present genus vary from 

 twelve to eighteen, the outer ones or sepals 

 being small greenish and scale-like, and 

 the inner or petals larger and whitish. Its 

 flowers contain numerous stamens of 

 nearly equal length, and a narrow style 

 bearing a three to six-rayed stigma ; and 

 they are succeeded by little smooth berries 

 about the size of peas, bearing the withered 

 remains of the flowers and becoming pel- 

 lucid when ripe. It consists of a consider- 

 ablenumberof small fleshy jointed-branch- 

 ed leafless plants, usually growing upon 

 trees but varying considerably in general 

 appearance, some having cylindrical and 

 others angular stems and branches, while 

 those of others, again, are flat and leaf -like; 

 the flowers are produced from the sides 

 of the branches, or from little notches 

 along the edges in the flat-branched kinds. 

 All the species are natives of the warmer 

 parts of the Western Hemisphere, extend- 

 ing from Mexico to Buenos Ayres. Several 

 are met with in hothouses in this country. 



