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rated from it. Boroniece : eighteen genera, 

 all Australian, including Zieria, Boronia, 

 Phebalium, Crowea, Correct, &c. Xauthoxy- 

 lece : dispersed over the tropical regions of 

 both the New and the Old "World, seven- 

 teen genera, including Melicope, Evudia, 

 Choisya, Xanthoxylon, Esenbeckia, &c. Tod- 

 daliece : chiefly tropical in both the New 

 and tbe Old World, comprising nine genera, 

 of which the principal are Toddalia,Hortia, 

 AcronycMa, and Skimmia. Aurantiece : also 

 tropical, but almost limited to Asia, thir- 

 teen genera, including Glycosmis, Limonia, 

 Zlurroya, Claiisena, Atalantia, Citrus, &c. 

 The five first of the above tribes have their 

 ovary usually lobed, and their fruit capsu- 

 lar of dividing into cocci ; whilst Todda- 

 liece and Av.rantietediS.ev in their undivided 

 and indehiscent fruit, usually a berry or 

 rarely a drupe. The Aurantiece have until 

 lately been almost universally admitted as 

 a distinct order : see Auraxtiaceje and 



XA>"TH0XYLE.£. 



ETTA. This genus gives its name to 

 the order Eutacece. The species are herbs 

 or undershrubs, natives of the temperate 

 regions of the Eastern Hemisphere. The 

 leaves are beset with small glands, con- 

 taining a powerfully smelling oil ; they are 

 pinnate or much-divided. The flowers are 

 yellowish or greenish, and arranged in ter- 

 minal corymbs or racemes. The calyx has 

 I four persistent sepals ; the petals are four, 

 concave ; stamens eight ; ovary four-lobed, 

 on a short thick disk-like stalk, at the 

 base of which is a ring of eight glandular 

 pores; style one; fruit capsular, four- 

 j celled, with six to eight seeds in each cell. 

 The Common Rue, R. graveolens, a native 

 of the South of Europe, is commonly cul- 

 tivated in this country. It is a somewhat 

 shrubby plant, two to three feet high, with 

 pinnately divided bluish-green leaves, and 

 yellowish flowers disposed in corymbs. The 

 first flower that opens has usually ten sta- 

 mens, the others eight only. These sta- 

 mens are of unequal length ; each is bent 

 inwards in its turn to touch the pistil, 

 and after the pollen has been shed it bends 

 back again. The powerful fetid odour and 

 acrid taste of this plant depends on the 

 presence of a volatile oil. 



Rue is used medicinally as a stimulant 

 and narcotic in flatulent colic, hysteria, 

 &c. Its active properties are such as to 

 admit of its much more general use, but 

 practitioners have been perhaps deterred 

 from employing it, by the symptoms of 

 acrido-narcotic poisoning induced by an 

 overdose. Locally applied, Rue is a power- 

 ful irritant. One species indeed, E. mon- 

 tana, is said to be so powerful that it is 

 dangerous to handle the plant, even when 

 the hands are protected by gloves. Rue 

 was employed medicinally by the ancients; 

 for ages it was considered potent to ward 

 off contagion, and it is still employed to 

 keep off noxious insects. Rue enters into 

 i the composition of the French perfume, 

 : entitled Vinegar of the Four Thieves. The 

 Italians are stated to eat the leaves in 

 salads. Shakspeare speaks of Rue as Herb 



of Grace. Several species besides those 

 mentioned in this notice are cultivated in 

 gardens in this country. The name Ruta 

 is from the Greek mo, to preserve, in allu- 

 sion to the effects of the plant on the 

 health. [M. T. MJ 



RUTILANS, RUTILUS. Reddish, with 

 a metallic lustre ; also brick-red. 



RETOSMA. This name has been applied 

 to a herbaceous plant, B. texana, growing 

 in New Mexico, Texas, &c, and consti- 

 tuting a genus of Eutacece. It is a low- 

 growing plant, sending up many stems 

 from a thick root, having linear entire 

 strong-scented leaves, and flowers whose 

 structure differs from that of Ruta and 

 other adjacent genera in the petals being 

 comparatively flat, and in having an eight- 

 lobed disk without pores, a two^celled 

 ovary, and rough seeds. [M. T. M.] 



RETTON-ROOT. An Indian dye-root, 

 Maharanga Emodi. 



RETTYA. A genus of Acanthacece, from 

 South Africa, containing a single species. 

 It has four stamens, the two barren ones 

 being very short ; and the base of the an- 

 thers is mucronate. The capsule is four- 

 seeded; and the divisions of the calyx are 

 very long and slender. [W. O] 



REYSCHIA. A genus of Marcgraviacece, 

 containing about eight tropical American 

 species, mostly forming epiphytal or scan- 

 dent shrubs, which have thick quite entire 

 leaves, and terminal often very long ra- 

 cemes of flowers. It is distinguished from 

 the two allied genera Marcgravia and No- 

 rantea, by its petals being connate at their 

 bases, and by having only five instead of 

 an indefinite number of stamens. [A. S.] 



RYANIA. A genus consisting of half -a 

 dozen speciesfrom tropical America, chiefly 

 Guiana, properly belonging to Flacourtia- 

 cece, but on account of the cupular disk 

 surrounding the ovary in some species, 

 erroneously placed in Passifloracece by some 

 writers. The Ryanias are trees with alter- 

 nate almost entire leaves, axillary pedun- 

 cles, no corolla, numerous stamens, a 

 sessile ovary, and a capsule having three 

 to Ave cells and valves. [B. S.J 



RYE. Secede cereale. —.SPURRED. The 

 grain of Rye, in an ergoted condition. — , 

 WILD. Elymus. 



RYHAN. The Egyptian name for Basil, 

 Ocimum Basilicum, 



E.YKIA. A genus of Pandanacece, allied 

 to Pandanus. Its distinguishing charac- 

 teristics are : a one-celled fruit, with a 

 columnar top, hollow internally, aud sepa- 

 rated from the rest of the fruit ; while the 

 style grows out into a hard horny mass, 

 and is after a time divided into two branch- 

 es. R./urcata, a native of Java, is in cul- 

 tivation under the old name of Pandanus. 

 The present genus is named in compliment 

 to a Dutch naval officer. [M. T. MJ 



RYSSO PTERYS. A genus of MaJpighia- 

 cece, consisting of shrubs of a climbing 



