€t)e Ereatfttrp ai SSotauj). 



1176 



capable of exerting powerful emetic action, 

 at least on dogs, as we have seen these 

 animals vomit most violently in a few 

 seconds after eating two or three blades of 

 the common Couch. [J. B.] 



TRITOMA. This genus of Liliacece is 

 closely allied to Aloe, but in place of fleshy 

 leaves it has long linear grass-like root- 

 leaves, from the midst of which is thrown 

 up a scape, bearing at its summit an ovoid 

 or elongated spike of scarlet or yellow- 

 flowers. The perianth is tubular or bell 

 shaped, and six-parted; from its orifice 

 project six stamens ; the style is thread- 

 like, and terminated by a three-lobed stig- 

 ma; the capsule is three-celled, and splits 

 through the sutures into three valves. 

 The species are natives of the Cape of 

 Good Hope. Three or four are in cultiva- 

 tion as hardy plants, throwing up their 

 splendid flowers late in autumn to a height 

 of three or four feet or more. Few plants 

 are so effective when placed on a lawn or 

 in front of a shrubbery. The old name, 

 Kniphofla, has of late been sometimes re- 

 vived for them. [M. T. M.] 



TRITOMA FATJX-ALOES. (Fr.) Trito- 

 ma Uvaria. 



TRITOMODOK A Japanese shrub, of 

 the family Vacciniacece. Its stem is much- 

 branched ; the leaves clustered towards the 

 ends of the branches, wedge-shaped, hairy 

 on the midrib and leafstalk; and the flow- 

 ers grow in hairy racemes. The calyx is 

 five-parted, hairy ; the corolla membranous 

 white, bell-shaped, its limb divided into 

 five three-toothed segments ; stamens ten, 

 awl-shaped, the filaments with a narrow 

 wing, and the anthers ending in a re flexed 

 point, ovary free, five-celled. The generic 

 name was given in allusion to the three- 

 toothed lobes of the corolla. [M. T .31.] 



TRITONIA. A genus of Cape herbs, 

 with bulb-tuberous rhizomes, ensate 

 leaves, and a spicate inflorescence. They 

 belong to the Iridacece, and are allied to 

 Ixia. They have a two-valved spathe ; 

 tubular flowers, with a six-parted nearly 

 regular limb ; three stamens, three spread- 

 ing stigmas; and a many-seeded capsule, 

 the seeds being neither winged nor berried. 

 Many of them are very handsome. [T. M.] 



TRIUMFETTA. The numerous species 

 of this genus of Tihacece are widely dis- 

 persed over the tropics of both hemi- 

 spheres; and are either annuals or peren- 

 nial shrubby herbs, or rarely shrubs, more 

 or less clothed with star-shaped hairs. 

 Their leaves are alternate entire or pal- 

 mately lobed; and their yellow flowers 

 are solitary or in clusters in the leaf-axils, 

 succeeded by nearly globular unopening 

 fruits thickly beset with slender hooked 

 prickles, like the burrs of the burdock. The 

 flowers have five coloured sepals ; as many 

 petals, or rarely none ; indefinite or some- 

 times ten (rarely only five) free stamens, 

 rising from a short disk bearing five 

 trlauds opposite the petals ; and a two to 

 five-celled ovary bearing a slender style, 



each cell containing two ovules separated 

 by a spurious partition. 



All the species possess more or less of 

 the mucilaginous property of the order, 

 and several of them are on that account 

 employed medicinally in the tropics. In 

 Jamaica the name Paroquet Burr is com- 

 monly given to them, on account of the 

 green paroquets feeding on their ripe 

 fruits or burrs. The inner bark of some 

 species, particularly T. angulata and T. 

 semitrilnba, afford very good fibre, resem- 

 bling jute both in regard to appearance and 

 quality. The first of these is extremely 

 common in Tropical Asia, and is an annual 

 plant, with an erect branching stem be- 

 coming woody at the base, and usually pro- 

 ducing broad three-lobed leaves on long 

 stalks ; while the latter is more generally 

 distributed over the tropics of both hemi- 

 spheres, and is a shrub of about five or six 

 feet in height. [A. S.] 



TRIURIDACE.^. An order of mono- 

 cotyledons, consisting of small slender 

 colourless herbs, often almost transparent, 

 without any other leaves than small scales, 

 and small flowers either solitary or in ter- 

 minal racemes. In their usually six- 

 parted perianth, hypogynous stamens, dis- 

 tinct carpels, and apparently homogeneous 

 embryo, they are connected with Alisma- 

 cece, from which they differ chiefly in the 

 divisions of the perianth being always val- 

 vate in a single series, and in their embryo 

 not being curved. These curious little 

 plants are generally found, like the smaller 

 Burmanniacea?, on rotten leaves or other 

 decaying vegetable matter in the moist 

 tropical forests of both the New and the 

 Old World. They are distributed into five 

 or six genera, of which the principal are 

 Triuris and Sciaphila. 



TRIURIS. A genus of Triuridacece, dis- 

 tinguished by dioecious flowers, a perianth 

 with only three lobes ending in long fili- 

 form tails, three stamens, and styles aris- 

 ing from the base of the carpels. There is 

 but a single species known, a little Brazi- 

 lian leafless herb, with a slender stem a few 

 inches high, and a rather large terminal 

 flower. 



TRIXAGO. A genus of Scrophulariacece, 

 containing a single species found all over 

 the world. It is intermediate between 

 Eufragla and Bartsia, differing from both 

 however in its fleshy ovate-globose capsule, 

 and in its thick trifld placenta. [W. C.J 



TRIXIS. The name of a genus of com- 

 posite plants, consisting of herbs or shrubs 

 sometimes of twining habit, and natives 

 of the East Indies and the eastern shores 

 of South America. The heads of flowers 

 are in loose corymbs or panicles, and each 

 is sui rounded by a tubular involucre, con- 

 sisting of one or two rows of scales, the j 

 innermost of which are the longest: the 

 receptacle is either naked, or provided 

 with fine fringe-like hairs. The fruits are 

 striated hairy oblong, surmounted by a 

 lai-ge disk; and the pappus is in two or 

 more rows, scaly or somewhat feathery. 



