1189 



€l)c EreajJurrj of asatann. 



[UMBE 



nicies, to point out to us the garden opera- 

 tions for each month, the budding of the 

 Elm was a matter for the gardener to note 

 warily ; for, as say the old rhymes :— 



' '"'hen the Elraen leaf is as big as a farding 

 'Tis time to sow kidney beans in the garding.' 

 4 When the Elmen leaf is as big as a penny 

 You must sow kidney-beans if you aim to have 

 any.' 



So the farmer derived a lesson from the 

 Elm-leaf, as thus :— 



' When the Elmen leaf is as big as a mouse's ear 



Then to sow barley never fear.' 

 ' When the Elmen "leaf is as bi>r as an ox's eye 



Then say I, High boys, high ! ' 



The Ulmus montana is often called the 

 "Wych Elm and 'Witch Hazle, probably 

 from the similarity of its leaves to those of 

 the hazel-nut; and hence, like it, its twigs 

 were formerly employed as riding-switches 

 to ensure good luck on the journey. Had 

 Tam O'Shanter but possessed this, he 

 could not possibly have lost his horse's 

 tail! Forked branches of "Wych Elm, as 

 of hazel, were used as divining-rods, and 

 formed the virgula divinitoria of the ex- 

 perts. A more practical use for its branch- 

 es was that of converting them into long 

 bows, the archer esteeming the elm next to 

 the yew for that purpose. [J. B.] 



ULNA (adj. ULNARIS). The average 

 length of a man's arm ; about twenty-four 

 iuches. 



TJLSEE. An Indian name for Flax. 



ULYACE.E. A natural order of green- 

 spored Algce, characterised by their flat or 

 tubular green or rarely purple membran- 

 ous frond, which never throws out root- 

 lets at the base, consisting of cells which 

 are divided both vertically and horizontally, 

 and generally in fours. The fruit consists 

 of zoospores furnished with two or four 

 lash-shaped appendages. In same species 

 both these kinds of spores occur. T'nuret 

 has observed both germinating, but Robin 

 believes that these with two cilia have 

 the office of impregnation. In Prasiola 

 and Bangia the frond is very narrow and 

 sometimes filiform, but there is every 

 gradation, from threads with a single row 

 of uuaternate cells to the large frond of 

 Ulva latissirna. In Tetraspora the gela- 

 tinous element predominates so much that 

 we have a close approach to the palmelloid 

 Algce. Ulvacece are distributed all over the 

 globe, occurring both in salt and fresh wa- 

 ter, and afewgrow on the damp ground or 

 on rocks, where they are occasionally dry. 

 No Algce are more thoroughly citizens of 

 the world. [M. J. B.] 



ULVA. The typical genus of the natural 

 order Ulvacece. It is distinguished from 

 Porphyra principally by its green colour, 

 and from Enter omorpha by its fiat frond. 

 In one or two species, however, the frond 

 is shaped like a sac when young and be- 

 comes flat by the rupture of the apex, and 

 some state? of U. Linza come very near to 

 Enter omorpha intestinalis. Ulva is some- 



times divided into two genera : Ulva 

 proper, in which the frond consists of a 

 single stratum of cells, and Phycoseris, in 

 which there are two strata. Most of the 

 species are marine and very widely diffus- 

 ed, but U. bullosa (so-called from its being 

 swollen out with bubbles of oxygen dis- 

 engaged from its frond) and one or two 

 more grow in fresh water, and are very 

 nearly related to Tetraspcra. The most 

 familiar species is probably U. Lactuca, 

 which from its being frequently attached 

 to oysters is called Oyster Green. This and 

 77. latissirna are sometimes eaten like the 

 true Laver, under the name of Green Laver. 

 It is also used occasionally in Scotland as 

 a sort of water-dressing bound round the 

 temples, and is considered efficacious as 

 a remedy for headache. [M. J. B.] 



! ULVE MARINE. (Fr.) Ulva Lactuca and 

 j other seaweeds. 



I UMBAREE. An Indian name for the 

 ' fibre of Hibiscus cannabinus ; also for in- 

 | ferior hemp. 



j UMBEL. An inflorescence in which the 

 i stalks radiate from a common point, and 

 [ the expansion of the flowers is centripetal. 

 I UMBELLAT.E. The Linnasan name for 

 1 the Umbelliferce. 



UMBELLATE. Arranged in an umbel. 



UMBELLIFERCE. See APiACEiE. This 

 I is one of the most natural and, conse- 

 j quently.one of the most easily recognised 

 I of the orders of plants, but one of the most 

 I difficult to divide into well-defined genera. 

 J It consists of herbs, often stronglyscented, 

 i with small flowers, usually in a simple or 

 j compound umbel, which has given the 

 I name to the order, although this umbel is 

 ; sometimes contracted into a dense head, 

 | while in a very few species this normal 

 i inflorescence is departed from. The ovary 

 i is two-celled.with a single pendulous ovule 

 in each cell, and is crowned by two styles 

 on the top of the disk. The fruit always 

 separates into two dry one-seeded carpels 

 I or mericarps, resembling seeds, as they 

 i are popularly but erroneously called. The 

 j real seed is inside, closely adhering to the 

 j outer pericarp ; it has a minute embryo in 

 ; the base of the horny albumen. The meri- 

 carps are furnished with a definite number 

 of raised longitudinal ribs, and under- 

 neath the intervening channels are fre- 

 quently placed elongated receptacles for 

 essential oil, called vittse, remarkably con- 

 stant in each species in their number and 

 position. It is chiefly from the arrange- 

 ment of these ribs and vittse, and from 

 the shape of the enclosed albumen, that 

 modern botanists have derived the charac- 

 ters by which the numerous genera of 

 Umbelliferce are distinguished. 



Though mostly herbs, these plants some- 

 times attain gigantic size, as in some spe- 

 cies of Heracleum, and the Angelica repre- 

 sented in Plate 16. Dr. "Welwitsch, more- 

 over, mentions having found in Tropical 

 Africa, in the region of Golunsro Alto, an 

 arboreous umbellifer, with a stem one to 



