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DOMINICA. The wood of Cordia Geras- 

 canthus. — , INDIAN. The timber of 

 Dalbergia latifolia and sissoides. — , JA- 

 MAICA. The wood of Amyris balsam ifera, 

 and Linociera ligustrina. — , MOULMEIN. 

 The timber of a species of Milletia. — , 

 NEW SOUTH WALES. The wood of Tri- 

 chilia glandatosa. — , TASMANIAN. The 

 wood of one of the Acacias. 

 ROSEWORT. Rhodiola rosea. 



ROSEWORTS. Lindley's name for the 

 Eosacece. 



ROSIER. (Fr.1 Rosa. — A ODEUR 

 DE REINETTE. Rosa mbiginosa. 



ROSIN- WEED. Silphium laciniatum. 



ROSMARINUS. The technical name of 

 the plants more familiarly known under 

 the name of Rosemary. The genus be- 

 longs to the Labiatce, and consists of but 

 one species, the Common Rosemary, R. 

 officinalis, a bush, native of the South of 

 Europe and Asia Minor, having narrow 

 stalkless greyish leaves, the edges of 

 which are rolled round on to the under- 

 surface ; and flowers with a purplish two- 

 lipped calyx, a white or pale-blue corolla, 

 from which protrude two stamens only, 

 each stamen having a toothed filament 

 and a two-celled anther. 



Owing to its agreeable fragrance, Rose- 

 mary has been used from time immemorial. 

 It was anciently employed in making 

 garlands, and was considered useful in 

 relieving headache and in stimulating the 

 flagging mental powers : whence it was 

 called Herb of Memory and Repentance. 

 Thus in Hamlet, Ophelia says— 



There's rosemary, that's for remembrance ; 

 and in Romeo and Juliet allusion is made to 

 the use of Rosemary as a token of re- 

 membrance at funerals- 

 Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary 

 On this fair corse. —Act iv. sc. 4. 



This custom has not wholly disappeared 

 from among us, though the employment 

 of Rosemary in weddmg-wreaths as a 

 symbol of fidelity is now obsolete. Rose- 

 mary lias slight stimulant properties, but 

 is rarely used internally. It is employed 

 in the form of lotion and wash for the 

 hair, and is useful in cases of baldness. 

 Its chief value, however, is as a perfume; 

 it enters into the composition of Hungary 

 Water, and other perfumes of a like na- 

 ture. [M. T.M.] 



There is a vulgar belief in Gloucester- 

 shire that the Rosemary will not grow well 

 unless in the house where the mistress is 

 'master;' and so touchy are some of the 

 lords of the creation upon this point, that 

 we have more than once suspected them 

 of privately injuring a growing rosemary 

 in order to destroy this evidence of their 

 want of authority. 



The use of a decoction of rosemary- 

 leaves in cider as a remedy for a cold, as 

 also of oil of rosemary in hair-washes, 

 no doubt depends upon the stimulating 



es-cntial oil which the plant contains so 

 abundantly. [J. B.] 



ROSO DO CAMPO. A Brazilian name 

 for Kielmeyera. 



ROSSOLIS. (Pr.) Brosera rotundifolia. 



ROSTELLATE, ROSTRATE. Termi- 

 nating gradually in a hard long straight 

 point— as the pod of radish. 



ROSTELLUM. A narrow extension of 

 the upper edge of the stigma of certain 

 orchids. 



ROSTRUM. Any beak-like extension; 

 as in the stigma of some asclepiads. 



ROSULA (adj. ROSULATE). A small 

 rose; a rosette. A collection of spreading 

 leaves or petals packed one over the other 

 in many rows ; as in double roses, or the 

 offsets of house-leek. 



ROSULiE. Little warts on the thallus 

 of lichens. 



ROTALA. A genus of Lythracece from 

 India, Australia, and Mexico, consisting of 

 small herbs, with opposite or whorled ses- 

 sile spreading leaves, and minute solitary 

 axillary flowers with a tubular three- 

 toothed (rarely five-toothed) calyx ; three 

 (rarely five) petals or none ; three or five 

 stamens; and a three-valved capsule, one- 

 celled by the obliteration of the partitions, 

 and many-seeded. [J. T. S.] 



ROTATE, ROT.EFORM. Resembling a 

 wheel ; a monopetalous corolla with a 

 spreading limb and very short tube. 



ROTATION. A motion of circulation 

 confined to the interior of the cells of 

 plants. 



ROTHIA trifoliata is a small prostrate 

 hairy annual, with three leaflets to its 

 leaves, and small yellow flowers on leaf- 

 opposed pedicels. It is a common weed 

 in many parts of India, and forms a 

 genus of Leguminosce of the suborder Pa- 

 pilionacece and tribe Genistece. It is allied 

 to Argyrolobium and to Lotononis, and 

 much resembles some species in habit, but 

 is readily distinguished by the keel-petals 

 being almost or quite free, and by the nar- 

 row linear pod. 



A few composite plants of the Mediter- 

 ranean region and the Canary Isles, closely 

 related to -ffieracuim, were also at one time 

 ranked as a genus under this name, but they 

 are now included in Andryala. They are 

 biennial or perennial herbs, with entire 

 toothed or pinnatifld leaves, often clothed 

 with soft rusty down; and their yellow flow- 

 er-heads, about the size of those of hawk- 

 weeds, are disposed in a corymbose manner 

 at the ends of the branches. [A. A. B.] 



ROTTBOELLIA. A genus of grasses 

 belonging to the tribe Rottboelliece. The 

 inflorescence is in round jointed spikes, 

 the spikelets inserted in notches on alter- 

 nate sides of the spike, one to two-flow- 

 ered, the lower male or neuter ; pales 

 membranaceous or shining ; upper flower 

 hermaphrodite; stamens three; stigmas 



