1137 



CIjc €nra£urji of 33otami. 



[thal 



! TETTEEWORT. Clielidonium majus. 



TETTIGAHA, or TETTIGASS. Cingalese 

 names for Tricliadenia zeylanica. 



TEUCRIDIUM. A genus founded on a 

 single plant from Xew Zealand, which re- 

 sembles a Teucrium, though it belongs to 

 Verbenac&B. It is an erect branching herb, 

 with a s'.ender stem, opposite petiolate 

 entire leaves, and solitary axillary flowers. 

 The calyx is bell-shaped, with five sharp 

 teeth ; the corolla is hairy, bell-shaped, and 

 divided into obovate marginal lobes ; the 

 four stamens are exserted, and have one- 

 ; celled anthers ; the ovary is four-lobed and 

 i two-celled ; and the fruit is a small four- 

 j lobed hispid nut buried in the persistent 

 calyx, and consisting of four one-seeded 

 achenes. [W. C] 



TEUCRIUM. The Germanders and their 

 allies form a most extensive genus of herbs 

 and shrubs belonging to the Labiata, com- 

 prising nearly a hundred species, widely 

 dispersed throughout the world, but 

 abounding chiefly in the northern tempe- 

 rate and subtropical regions of the Eastern 

 Hemisphere. Their flowers have a five- 

 toothed calyx, either with the teeth all 

 equal or the upper one much broader; a 

 short-tubed corolla, with the four upper 

 lobes short erect or bent forwards, and 

 nearly equal, and the lower ones much 

 larger, spreading and often concave ; foiir 

 stamens in two pairs, projecting between 

 the two uppermost lobes of the corolla, 

 the lowermost pair being the longest ; and 

 a style divided at the apex into two nearly 

 equal prongs. The nuts forming the fruit 

 are netted or wrinkled, and attached near 

 the base of their inner sides.; 



Several species of Teucrium were for- 

 merly reputed to possess medicinal virtues, 

 and found a place in the Materia Medica, 

 but they are now discarded by all except 

 rustic practitioners. There are three Bri- 

 tish species :— T. Chamcedrys, the Common 

 or Wall Germander, at one time employed 

 in gout and rheumatism, and also as a 

 febrifuge; T. Scordium, the Water Ger- 

 mander, a creeping marsh-plant with a 

 disagreeable garlic-like odour whenbruised, 

 once highly esteemed as an antidote for 

 poisons, and as an antiseptic and anthel- 

 mintic; and T. Scorodonia, the Wood Ger- 

 mander or Wood Sage, an extremely bitter 

 plant, with the smell and taste of hops, 

 for which it is said to be substituted in 

 Jersey. Of the other species, T. Marum, 

 or Cat Thyme, causes sneezing, and was 

 formerly included in the London Pharma- 

 copoeia, and employed in the preparation 

 of compound powder of Asarabacca, but 

 lavender-flowers are now generally substi- 

 tuted for it. [A. S.] 



TEYL-TREE. Tilia europcea. 



TEYSMANNIA oltifrons, the sole repre- 

 sentative of this genus of palms, is a native 

 of the interior of the island of Sumatra, 

 where it was discovered in 1856 by M. Teijs- 

 maun, the director of the Botanic Garden 

 at Buitenzorg in Java, after whom it is 



named. In appearance it is very distinct 

 from the generality of palms, its leaves 

 bearing more resemblance in shape to 

 those of the plantain-tree than to either of 

 the ordinary forms of palm-leaves. It has 

 scarcely any stem above-ground, but forms 

 horizontal ones underground, with the 

 growing end turned upwards and bear- 

 ing a crown of leaves ; these being, in this 

 particular palm, of a simple somewhat 

 rhomboid form, rounded at the top and 

 narrowed to the base, measuring between 

 six and seven feet long by nearly one-and- 

 a-half wide, longitudinally plaited like a 

 fan, and upon stalks upwards of a yard 

 long, furnished with hooked spines along 

 the edges. The inhabitants of Sumatra 

 call this palm Beluwan or Belawan, and 

 use its leaves for thatching their houses, 

 for which, from their large size and entire 

 form, they are admirably adapted. As a 

 genus it is closely allied to Corypha, from 

 which, indeed, it differs mainly in habit ; 

 its technical characters, with the excep- 

 tion of some slight differences in the seed, 

 being almost identical with those of that 

 genus. [A. S.] 



THALAMIFLOR^E. One of the four 

 large classes into which Decandolle and 

 others divide dicotyledonous plants, in- 

 cluding all those orders in which the ma- 

 jority of genera have distinct petals, in- 

 serted with the stamens on the receptacle, 

 under or immediately around the ovary. 



THALAMIFLORAL, THALAMIFLQ- 

 ROUS. Having the stamens arising im- 

 mediately from the thalamus. 



THALAMIUM. A hollow case contain- 

 ing spores in algals ; also the disk or 

 lamina prolifera of lichens, and a form of j 

 the hymeniuni in f ungals. 



THALAMUS. The receptacle of a flower; ; 

 the part on which the carpels are placed, i 



THALASSIA. A small genus of marine | 

 plants found in the Red Sea and also ou j 

 the shores of some of the West Indian j 

 Islands, belonging to the Zosteracece, and j 

 closely allied to the well-known Sea- | 

 wrack or Grass-weed of our own shores, j 

 The/ have thin narrow very blunt entire 

 or fringe toothed leaves, with sheathing j 

 bases, in tufts at the top of the stems ; 

 and flower-stalks arising from the centre 

 of the leaves, and bearing a terminal spathe 

 consisting cf a single split leaf, the two 

 sexes being produced on different plants. 

 The male flowers are surrounded by three 

 scales, and have nine stalkless conniving 

 anthers shorter than the scales. The fe- 

 male flowers are undescribed. [A. S.] 



THALASSICUS. Seagreen. 



THALASSIOPHYLLUM. A most re- 

 markable genus of Algce belonging to the 

 same group as Laminaria, distinguished 

 by the frond being spirally wound round 

 the stem, like the network of Dictyurus, or 

 the frond of Riella. The following de- 

 scription is taken from a translation of 

 Merten's memoir as given in Hooker's Bota- 



