1119 



Ct)c Erca^ury at SBntanp. 



[tage 



of perennial herbs, sometimes large, with 

 a tuberous root. The leaves are all radical, 

 entire or divided ; the flowers are greenish 

 or brown, in an umbel on the top of a 

 simple leafless scape, surrounded by an 

 involucre of simple bracts. There are six 

 or seven species known, two from Tropical 

 America, the remainder African or more 

 especially Asiatic, extending over the In- 

 dian Archipelago and the Pacific Islands. 



The various species grow r in the oren 

 country. T. pinnatifida is generally found 

 in sandy places near the sea. The leaf- 

 stalks of this species are plaited into 

 bonnets by the Society Islanders, but the 

 principal use made of all the species is that 

 of their tubers, which, resembling new 

 potatoes, contain a great deal of starch 

 known as South-sea Arrowroot, and far 

 preferable to any other arrowroot in cases 

 of dysentery. The tubers are dug up 

 after the leaves have died away, and are 

 rasped and macerated four or five clays in I 

 water, when the feeula separates in the 

 same manner as sago does. It is largely 

 employed as an article of diet throughout ' 

 the Tropics, and is a favourite ingredient j 

 for puddings and cakes in the South Seas. 

 Tacca chiefly differs from its ally Ataccia l 

 in having a one-celled instead of a three- 

 celled fruit. The perigone is six-cleft, the j 

 stamens six in number, and the fruit a 

 berry. All the leaves are radical, and pal- j 

 mate or bipinnatifid. The flowers are ar- i 

 ranged in umbels at the end of a scape, 

 . green tingedwith purple— the umbels being i 

 surrounded by large bracts. [B. S.] j 



TACHIADENTS. A genus of Gentiana- I 

 cece, comprising some herbaceous or some- 

 what shrubby species, natives of Mada- 

 gascar. The flowers are white, with a five- j 

 | parted calyx, the segments of which are 

 frequently dilated towards the top : the 

 corolla has a slender elongated tube, ter- 

 minating in a bell-shaped five-lobed limb ; 

 the anthers are erect; the ovary is one- 

 celled, surrounded by a disk ; and the fruit 

 is capsular two-valved. [31. T. 31.] 



TACHIBOTA. A genus of doubtful 

 affinity, referred by some to Bizacece,from 

 which, however, it differs chiefly in its 

 three-celled ovary. The genus is peculiar 

 to Guiana, and only represented by one ; 

 species, a shrub with alternate simple ; 

 leaves, small axillary racemose flowers of I 

 a white colour, and a black capsular fruit. 

 The calyx is five-cleft, and the corolla com- : 

 posed of five petals ; the stamens are six in ! 

 number, and the stijrmas three, while the [ 

 capsule is three-cornered three-celled and 

 tbree-valved, and includes numerous mi- I 

 nute seeds. [B. S.] j 



TACSOXIA. A genus of shrubby Passi- I 

 flqrac&e, having the general appearance of 

 Posf;ifl ra, anil the same structure of sta- : 

 mens pistil and fruit, but differing in the j 

 usually long cylindrical tube of the calyx, j 

 which is furnished with two crowns, one 

 at the throat and the other near its base. [ 

 In T. mavicalfi, however, a very handsome 

 species, the tube scarcely exceeds in length 



that of a passion-flower. The species are 

 natives of Central America and the West 

 Indies. The fruits of several of them, as 

 T. mollissima, tripartita, and specioso, are 

 eaten. They are of a very ornamental cha- 

 racter. [W CJ 



TACUARI. The South American name 

 of certain species of Mabea, whose hollow 

 shoots are used as tobacco-pipes. 



TJENIOPSIS. A genus of polypodiaceous 

 ferns of the tribe Tcenitidece, and consist- 

 ing of species having a strong resemblance 

 to Vittaria, from which they differ in not 

 having the sori placed in an extrorse- 

 marginal furrow, but in a furrow at the 

 back of the frond. The fronds are simple , 

 or lobate, coriaceous, with the veins simple ' 

 or forked and obscure, and the sori linear 

 continuous submarginal, and either super- 

 ficial or immersed. They are found plenti- 

 fully in the tropical parts both of the Old 

 and New World. [T. M.j 



T^NIOPTEPJS. Tamiopsis. 



T.ENIOSTE3IA. The name of aMexican 

 herb, constituting a genus of Cistacece. 

 The leaves are entire, covered with some- 

 what woolly star-shaped pubescence; the 

 flowers are very small, borne on tufted 

 flower-stalks, and have a three-parted calyx, 

 no corolla, and three stamens standing 

 opposite the sepals, the filaments flattened, 

 somewhat spoon-shaped, and bearing very 

 small roundish anthers. The ovary is one- 

 ceiled, with three parietal placentas, each 

 with two ascending straight ovules near 

 the base. Fruit capsular. The generic 

 name is derived from the Greek tainia * a 

 band,' in allusion to the flattened filaments 

 of the stamens. [31. T. 31.] 



T^ENITIS. A net-veined genus of Tceni- 

 tidece, one of the tribes of polypodiaceous 

 ferns, and consisting of a few tropical 

 Asiatic and American species, having 

 simple or pinnate fronds, from a creeping 

 caudex, uniformly reticulated veins form- 

 ing long oblique or longitudinal areoles 

 without free included veinlets, and non- 

 indusiate linear submarginal or medial 

 sori, which are superficial "or somewhat im- 

 mersed. T. blechnoides is the type. [T. 31.] 



TAFE. A fermented liquor prepared 

 from rice in Java. 



TAFFIA. A spirit distilled from the 

 fermented juice of the sugar-cane. 



TAFGA. The fragrant North African 

 Ehaponticum acaule, which has the odour 

 of Acacia Farnesiana. 



TAGETES. Showy annuals much culti- 

 vated under the names of African and 

 French Marigolds. The characters of the 

 genus are :— Flowers compound ; involucre 

 simple, composed of five bracts, which are 

 united into a tube ; florets of the ray five 

 (in T. Jucicla three to four), persistent ; pap- 

 pus of five erect bristles. The species are 

 natives of Mexico Peru and Chili, but are 

 also grown in China and India, and in some 

 parts of the latter country are considered i 



