bour] 



0)e Creatfurg at 2Sotanp. 



994 



distributed chiefly in tropical Asia and 

 tropical America, one occurring in Africa. 

 It belongs with Connarus to the arillate- 

 seeded group of the tribe Connarece, and is 

 distinguished from that genus by its ses- 

 sile capsule, and by its calyx growing on 

 after flowering. They are trees or shrubs, 

 sometimes scandent, with alternate coria- 

 ceous imparipinnate leaves, and axillary 

 panicles of small flowers. [T. M.J 



ROUREOPSIS. A name proposed by 

 Planchon for two Malayan species of 

 Rourea, which have since been reunited 

 with the latter genus. 



ROU-ROU. A Mexican furniture-wood 

 resembling rosewood. 



ROUSSEA (or ROUSS^EAI simplex is 

 the sole representative of a genus of doubt- 

 ful affinity, lately classed with Brexiaceo?. 

 It is a scandent epiphytal shrub inhabiting 

 the Mauritius, with opposite oblong leaves, 

 and axillary flowers, which are white out- 

 side and purplish within. The calyx* is 

 deeply five-cleft ; the corolla monopetalous 

 five-lobed (or, as some would describe it, 

 having five petals growing together - ); there 

 are five stamens; and a fleshy five-celled 

 berry, containing numerous seeds. [B. S.] 



ROUVET. (Fr.) Osyris alba. 



ROUVRE. (Fr.) Quercus sessiliflora. — 

 DES CORROYEURS. Rhus Coriaria. 



ROWAN-TREE. A Scotch name for 

 Pur us Aucuparia. 



ROXBURGHIA, ROXBURGHIACE.E. 

 A genus of monocotyledons presenting so 

 many curious peculiarities in structure as 

 to be generally admitted as a distinct 

 order, the immediate affinities of which 

 are not yet satisfactorily settled. It con- 

 sists of three or four species from India 

 and the Indian Archipelago. They are 

 all tall twiners, with broad leaves, mostly 

 opposite, and marked by several longitu- 

 dinal ribs having transverse veins between 

 them. The axillary peduncles bear one or 

 very few green flowers, which are large 

 and handsome but very fetid ; the peri- 

 anth has four divisions ; there are four 

 stamens, and the ovary and fruit consist 

 of a simple carpel opening when ripe in 

 two valves, numbers all very unusual 

 among monocotyledons. The seeds are 

 long, hanging from long funicles, covered 

 towards the top with linear pellucid vesi- 

 cles. The thick tuberous roots, after a 

 previous preparation with lime-water, are 

 candied with sugar and taken with tea, 

 but are said to be insipid. 



ROYENA. A Cape genus of shrubs or 

 trees referred to the Ebenacece, numbering 

 about twenty species, and differing from 

 the true ebony (Diospyros), as well as 

 others in the family, in the flowers being 

 fertile and sterile on the same instead of 

 on different plants. They have alternate 

 simple entire smooth or downy leaves, 

 either willow-like spathulate or ovate in 

 form, bearing in their axils one to three- 

 stalked white or yellow flowers not unlike 



those of some Andromeda. These have 

 a five-lobed calyx, which in some continues 

 to grow after the flower withers ; a five- 

 parted bell-shaped corolla with obtuse 

 lobes ; ten stamens, two opposite each co- 

 rolla-lobe; and a hairy two to ten-celled 

 ovary crowned with two to five styles. The 

 fruits are globular or elliptical berries 

 about the size of damsons, usually with five 

 one-seeded cells. 



R. lucida is a pretty white-flowered bush 

 sometimes cultivated in greenhouses. Its 

 ovate leaves are at first slightly downy, 

 but glossy when mature; and the white 

 flowers are stalked and solitary in the axils 

 of the leaves. The wood of these plants 

 is of a like nature with ebony ; but 

 the trees do not grow to a great size. It 

 was named Royena by Linnaeus after 

 Adrien Van Royen, once Professor of Bo- 

 tany at Leyden. [A. A. B.] 



ROYLEA. The name of a genus be- 

 longing to the Labiate?, distinguished from 

 its congeners by having the border of the 

 calyx in five equal divisions, and the lower 

 lip of the corolla with its middle lobe 

 entire. The only species is R. elegans, a 

 native of India, an erect shrub having its 

 branches clothed with fine down, the 

 leaves hairy ovate or subcordate, and the 

 flowers varying in colour from white to 

 pale red. The genus is named in honour 

 of the late Dr. Royle, a well-known bota- 

 nist, author of Illustrations of the Botany 

 of the Himalaya, &c. [G. D.] 



ROZELLE. Hibiscus Sabdariffa: see 

 Roselle. 



RUAY. Seeds used as weights in India 

 andBurmah, the small Ruay being those of 

 Abrus precaiorius, and the large Ruay those 

 of Adenanthera pavonina. 



RUBAN D'EAU. (Fr/) Sparganium ra- 

 mosum. -, DE BERGERE. Digruphis 

 arundinacea picta. — , GRAND. Arimdo 

 Donax. —.PETIT. Bigraphis arundinacea. 



RUBANIER. (Fr.) Sparganium. 



RUBELLUS, RUBENS, RUBER, RU- 

 BESCENS. The same as Red, Reddish. 



RUBEOLE. (Fr.) Sherardia. 



RUBIAOE.E. Under this name those 

 botanists who think that each whorl of 

 leaves in Galium and its allies should be 

 considered as two opposite leaves and two 

 or more stipules, unite the two orders 

 Cinchonacece and Galiacece. The large or- 

 der thus formed would comprise all mono- 

 petalous plants with opposite leaves, in- 

 terpetiolar stipules, stamens inserted in 

 the tube of the corolla and alternating 

 with its lobes, and an inferior compound 

 ovary. 



RUBIA. One of the genera of Galiacece, 

 so named from the Latin ruber red, in 

 allusion to the colour of the roots. The 

 species are perennial herbs, occasionally 

 somewhat shrubby at the base, and rough 

 with stiff hairs. The flowers are axillary 

 or terminal; the limb of the calyx entire 



