UTRl] 



Cije ®reMwp of 3Satann. 



1198 



membranaceous vesicles or small bladders, 

 which during the early stage of the plant 

 are filled with water, but when the flowers 

 are ready to expand become filled with 

 air. After the season of blossoming, the 

 vesicles become again tilled with water, 

 and the plant descends to ripen its seeds 

 at the bottom. There are many foreign 

 species, some of which are highly orna- 

 mental to the watery places in which they 

 grow, but they are rarely if ever cultivated. 

 The flowers are of delicate structure, and 

 turn black in drying. French : Utriculaire ; 

 German : Wasserschlauch. [C. A. J.] 



TJTR1CULIFORM. Having the shape of 

 a bottle. 



UVA DE GUANCHES. Sempervivum 

 uviferwm. — DEL MONTE. Chmidoden- 

 dron convolvulaceum. — MARITIMA. 

 Ephedra distachya. — URSI. Arctostaphy- 

 los uva-ursi. 



UVARIA. This name, derived from the 

 Latin uva 'a grape,' is applied to a genus 

 of Anonacece, in consequence of the resem- 

 blance presented by the fruit of some of 

 the species to a bunch of grapes. The 

 I species are numerous, all climbing plants, 

 ' covered with star-shaped hairs. They oc- 

 cur in the tropical and subtropical districts 

 of the Old World, from Western Africa to 

 the Philippine Islands. The principal cha- 

 racters by which the genus may be recog- 

 nised are the following :— Flowers herma- 

 phrodite, with thepetals equal, overlapping 

 one another in the bud, and the flattened 

 stamens arranged on a flat receptacle, which 

 bears also a number of linear-cylindrical 

 ovaries, each with a very short style. 



The roots of U. Narum are fragrant and 

 aromatic, and are used medicinally in India, 

 in intermittentfe vers and liver- complaints; 

 bruised in saltwater they are employed as 

 an application in certain skin-diseases ; 

 by distillation they yield a fragrant green- 

 ish oil. The bark of U. tripetaloidea yields 

 by incision a fragrant gum. U. triloba 

 is said to contain a powerful acid ; its 

 leaves are used as an application to boils 

 and abscesses, while its seeds are emetic. 

 U. febrifuga is so called from the febrifugal 

 properties ascribed to the flowers by the 

 Indians on the Orinoco. The fruits of 

 U zeylanica and V. cordata are edible. 

 Several of the species have very fragrant 

 flowers : and in Bourbon an oil is extracted 

 from those of U. longifolia, which is used 

 as a perfume. [M. T. M.J 



UVETTE. (Fr.) Ephedra. 



UVULARIA. A genus of Melanthacev, 

 the type of the suborder Uvvlarev. which 

 is intermediate between the true M elan tha- 

 cece and the Ltliacea>. They have sessile or 

 amplexicaul leaves, and solitary drooping 

 flowers, in which points they have consi- 

 derable resemblance to Polygonatum. They, 

 however, have the style more or less deeply 

 three-cleft, the anthers with their faces 

 turned outwards, and the fruit is a dry 

 three-celled pod. The perianth is narrowly 

 bell-shaped, usually pale-yellow, with spa- 



thulate-lanceolate segments having a 

 honey-pore at the narrow base of each. The 

 greater number of species inhabit North 

 America, but some occur in the mountains 

 of India ; they are astringent, and the 

 bruised leaves of U. gravdfftora are con- 

 sidered in the United States as a remedy 

 for the bite of the rattlesnake. [J. T. S.] 



VACCARIA. A genus of Caryophyllacea> 

 scarcely distinct from Saponaria, the chief 

 points of difference being that the calyx is 

 pentangular, and much enlarged after flow- 

 ering. From Gypsophila it differs in the 

 calyx, which is narrowed at the top, and 

 in the petals, which have their claws con- 

 ni vent at the throat. They are annuals, with 

 smooth connate leaves, and dichotomous 

 cymes of rose-coloured flowers. [J. T. S.] 



. V ACCINI ACE/E. ( Yaccin iece, Cranberries). 

 I An order of monopetalous dicotyledons, 

 closely allied to Ericaceae in their stamens 

 being free from the corolla, in the pecu- 

 liar form of their anthers, as well as in 

 most other characters, but separated by 

 almost all botanists on account of their 

 constantly inferior ovary and fruit. They 

 consist of much-branched shrubs or small 

 trees, often evergreen, with alternate un- 

 divided leaves, without stipules. The flow- 

 ers, growing solitary or in racemes, are 

 often richly coloured ; and the fruit, usually 

 a berry, is frequently edible. The species 

 are numerous in the temperate and colder 

 I parts of the world, especially in swampy or 

 I subalpine countries, as well as in high 

 | mountain-chains within the tropics; and 

 ' many of them are known as garden shrubs. 

 j They are distributed into about fifteen 

 I genera, the greater number of species 

 I being included in Vaccinium and Thi- 

 I baudia. 



I VACCINIUM. A name used by classical 

 | writers to designate some now-unknown 

 I plant, and applied in modern botany to a 

 i genus of low-growing heath-like shrubs, 

 which are found dispersed through a very 

 ! wide area in both the Old and New World, 

 j and generally in mountainous districts or 

 i moist heathy places. The genus is the type 

 I of the order Vacciniacea>. The leaves are 

 ] alternate, and are generally evergreen, and 

 l the flowers are solitary or clustered. The 

 I calyx is adherent to the ovary below.while 

 i its upper portion is divided into four or 

 five small teeth ; the corolla is generally 

 urn-shaped or bell-shaped, four or five- 

 toothed at the free edge, concealing eight 

 or ten stamens ; the anthers have each of 

 them two horns, and open by pores at the 

 summit; the fruit is a globular four or 

 five-celled berry, with several seeds in each 

 compartment, at least in the young state. 

 Three species are natives of Great Britain. 

 V. Myrtillus is the Whortleberry or Bil- 

 berry ; this is an erect little shrub, with 

 angular branches, and deciduous leaves of 

 a bright-green colour, but which turn red 

 in autumn ; the flowers are globular, pink- 

 ish, with two-awned anthers ; and the glo- 

 bular fruit is of a bluish-black colour. The 

 fruits are frequently made into preserves, 



