ehyn] 



Wfyz <£rea£tirg at 3Sotani?. 



980 



five to seven pairs of leaflets and a termi- 

 nal odd one, the leaflets somewhat resem- 

 bling the leaves of the common elm. The 

 Sumach of commerce is the finely-ground 

 young leaves: it is extensively employed 

 for tanning and dyeing purposes, from 

 12,000 to 18,000 tons being annually im- 

 ported, chiefly from Sicily. 



B. Cotinus, another South European spe- 

 cies, called the Venus or Venetian Sumach, 

 yields the yellow dyewood called Young 

 Fustic, which in olden times was supposed 

 to be the young branches of the true 

 Fustic-tree {Madura). This is a shrub 

 with simple smooth shining green leaves, 

 and a very remarkable feathery inflores- 

 cence. 



The Japan wax recently brought in con- 

 siderable quantity to this country, is the 

 produce of the fruits of B. succedanea, a 

 | small tree or tallshrub, wi th smooth branch- 

 I es and leaves, the latter being pinnate, and 

 consisting of from eleven to fifteen shining 

 green leaflets from two to three inches 

 long, and of an oblong form with a long 

 taper point. B. vernicifera, another small 

 Japanese tree, yields the famous lacquer 

 so extensively employed by the inhabitants 

 of that country for lacquering various 

 ! articles of furniture and small-ware. It 

 exudes from wounds made in the tree, and 

 is at first milky-white, but becomes darker 

 1 and ultimately black on being exposed to 

 ! the air. Nothing certain is known re- 

 ' specting the mode of preparing it for use, 

 and it issaidthat the Japanese themselves 

 have lost the secret of its preparation, for 

 the lacquer-ware at present manufactured 

 is greatly inferior to the ancient. [A. S.J 



RHYNCHANTHERA. A genus of Me- 

 lastomacece, consisting of herbs under- 

 shrubs or shrubs, from Guiana, Brazil, 

 and other parts of tropical America, usu- 

 ally hirsute and glandular, with opposite 

 cordate or oblong leaves, and for the most 

 part showy flowers in the upper axils, or 

 in terminal panicles. They belong to the 

 tribe of Lauoisierece, in which the fruit is 

 free and capsular, and the seeds not 

 curved ; and are distinguished from allied 

 genera chiefly by the anthers, of which 

 five are perfect, ending in a long beak and 

 auricled at the base, whilst the other five 

 are small and often imperfect. One of the 

 j five perfect ones is also in many species 

 ! much longer than all the others. There 

 j are nearly thirty species known, several of 

 which might be ornamental if introduced 

 I to our hothouses. The name has also been 

 | given to an orchidaceous plant now re- 

 j ferred to Corymbis. 



RHYNCHOCORYS. A small genus of 

 i annuals from the South of Europe and 

 East of Asia, separated from Bhinantluts 

 because the flowers have a distinctly two- 

 lipped calyx. [W. C] 



RHYNCHOGLOSSUM. A small genus of 



Cgrtandraceee inhabiting the East Indies 



and Java, having a fleshy herbaceous stem, 



alternate ovate leaves, terminal racemes 



'. bearing blue flowers, a tubular five-cleft 



calyx, a tubular corolla with a bilabiate 

 border, two fertile and two sterile stamens, 

 and an ovate capsule. [B. S.] 



RHYNCHOLACIS. A genus of Podos- 

 temacece, consisting of aquatic herbaceous 

 plants, with very short thick hardened 

 stems, unbranched or repeatedly forked ; 

 flowers on long stalks or in whorls; and 

 broad membranous leaves, lacerated at the 

 margins. The principal diagnostic mark 

 of the genus resides in the capsule, which 

 consists of two equal valves, each provided 

 with a keel and projecting beak. The 

 species are natives of Guiana. [M. T. M.] 



RHYNCHOLEPIS. A genus of Pipera- 

 cece, the species of which are shrubs in- 

 habiting the Philippine Islands. The 

 branches are jointed, hairy ; the leaves 

 ovate and oblique, their stipules very 

 hairy ; and the flowers dioecious, borne on 

 cylindrical catkins, the bracts of which 

 are stalked, peltate, fleshy, and elongated 

 into a long thread-like process. [M. T. M.] 



RHYNCHOPETALUM. A genus of Lo- 

 beliacew, represented by an Abyssinian 

 herbaceous plant, with a hollow stem 

 about a foot high, bearing a crowded tuft 

 of lance-shaped leaves at the top, and 

 flowers in long clusters. The five lobes of 

 the calyx are leafy ; the tube of the corolla 

 is split on the upper edge, and its lobes are 

 confluent one with another so as to re- 

 semble the prow of a boat. This latter 

 circumstance has given the name 'beak- 

 petal * to the genus. [M. T. M.] 



RHYNCHOSIA. A genus of Leguminosce 

 the species of which are very numerous, 

 and occur in India and other parts of 

 Southern Asia, in Australia, the West In- 

 dies, and the warmer parts of America. 

 They are herbs or undershrubs, usually 

 with twining stems, and often sprinkled 

 with small yellow resinous or glandular 

 dots. Their leaves generally consist of 

 three leaflets, the middle one of which has 

 a long stalk, very rarely of a single leaflet ; 

 and their flowers are in most instances 

 disposed in racemes produced from the 

 angles of the leaves, and nearly always of 

 a yellowish colour. They have a bell- 

 shaped four or five-lobed calyx ; a papilio- 

 naceous corolla, the upper petal of which 

 is roundish, and has two round lobes or 

 ears at the bottom, but no hard swellings 

 as in some allied genera; ten stamens, 

 nine being united into a sheath, and the 

 tenth or upper one free from the bottom ; 

 and a stalkless ovary with a smooth style. 

 Their flattened unequal-sided or sickle- 

 shaped pods are without divisions, and 

 contain two (rarely one) round or some- 

 what kidney-shaped seeds. 



R.precatoria has pretty little half-black 

 and half-scarlet or yellow shining seeds, 

 which the Mexicans string into necklaces 

 and rosaries— whence its Latin name. It 

 is a tall climbing plant, with hairy stems, 

 and broadly egg-shaped or almost rhom- 

 boid three-nerved leaflets covered with 

 soft short hairs or down; its flower-spikes 

 are about the same length as the leaves, 



