1205 



EI)e Crcas'urg ai JBotany. 



[VAUC 



highly ornamental white or yellow flowers. 

 The calyx is five-toothed striate and near- 

 ly bell-shaped ; the corolla funnel-shaped ; 

 the stamens are five in number and exsert- 

 ed; and the fruit a fleshy drupe, including a 

 two to four-celled nut, each cell containing 

 one seed. [B. S.] 



YARSAR. A Sanscrit name for the aro- 

 matic seeds of Cleome pentaphylla. 



VASA. The tubes which occur in the 

 interior of plants, and serve for the con- 

 veyance of sap or air. Y. laticis and pro- 

 pria are names given to the milk-vessels 

 or cinenchyma ; V. spiralia, chymifera, and 

 spiroidea are spiral vessels ; V. scalarifor- 

 mia, annulata, and moniliformia are modi- 

 fied spiral vessels or ducts ; Y. porosa and 

 punctata are the dotted vessels which con- 

 stitute bothrenchyma ; and Y. exhalantia 

 are the stornates. 



VASCO A. The two South African plants 

 to which this generic name was given by 

 M. De Candolle are now by most botanists 

 referred to Rafnia, of which they are al- 

 lowed to form a section, characterised by 

 the flowers having the lower or keel-petals 

 blunt instead of beaked as in the true 

 Bcfiiias, and by their leaves clasping the 

 stem. Both species are shrubs from two 

 to five feet high, with simple roundish 

 heart-shaped leaves, placed alternately 

 upon the lower parts of the branches and 

 oppositely upon the upper; the latter bear- 

 ing clusters of yellow pea-shaped flowers 

 in their axils— the genus belonging to the 

 pea-flowered section of Leguminosce. 



The Dutch colonists at the Cape of Good 

 Hope call V. amplexicaulis Zoethout-boschje 

 or Liquorice-bush, on account of its roots 

 tasting like liquorice, for which they are 

 a good substitute. A decoction of them 

 is also used as a demulcent in catarrh and 

 disorders of the chest ; while a similar 

 preparation of the other species (V. perfo- 

 liata) acts as a powerful diuretic, and is 

 considered serviceable in various forms of 

 dropsy. [A. S.] 



VASCULAR, VASCULOSE. Containing 

 spiral vessels or their modifications. 



VASCULAR SYSTEM. All that part of 

 the interior structure of a plant into whose 

 composition spiral vessels or their modi- 

 fications enter. 



VASCULUM. A pitcher-shaped leaf. 

 Also a case in which botanists place their 

 freshly-gathered specimens, when on a 

 journey. 



VASE-SHAPED. Formed like a flower- 

 pot. 



VASIFORM TISSUE. Ducts, that is 

 tubes having the appearance of spiral ves- 

 sels and bothrenchyma. 



VATAIREA. The name of a tree of the 

 papilionaceous subdivision of the Legumi- 

 nosce, having the leaves unequally pinnate, 

 and grey beneath ; and the pod leathery 

 roundish compressed, brown,, grooved at 

 the margins, indehiscent, and containing a 



large flattened seed. The flower is not de- 

 scribed. The seeds of Y.gmanensis are said 

 to be pounded and mixed with lard, as an 

 ointment in cases of ringworm and other 

 skin-diseases. The tree is, as its name 

 implies, a native of Guiana. [M. T. M.] 



VATERIA. One of the genera of the 

 Dipterocarpacece, comprisingcertain Indian 

 trees,whose flowers are of a whitish colour, 

 and borne on terminal or axillary panicles. 

 They have a five-parted calyx (.the segments 

 of which occasionally enlarge as the fruit 

 ripens), five petals, numerous stamens, 

 and a three-valved somewhat spongy 

 fruit containing a single seed, and par- 

 tially invested by the reflexed calyx. 



V. indica yields a useful gum-resin, call- 

 ed Indian Copal, Piney Varnish, White 

 Dammer, or Gumanine. The resin is pro- 

 cured by cutting a notch in the tree, so 

 that the juice may flow out and become 

 hardened by exposure to the air. It is 

 employed in India as a varnish for car- 

 riages, pictures, &c. On the Malabar Coast 

 it is made use of in the manufacture of 

 candles, which burn with a clear light and 

 an agreeable fragrance, and do not require 

 snuffing. The Portuguese employ the 

 resin instead of incense. Ornaments are 

 fashioned from it under the name of amber. 

 Medicinally it is employed in rheumatic 

 aud other affections. The seeds are used 

 to obviate nausea; while the timber is in 

 request for building purposes. [M. T. M.] 



VATICA. A genus nearly allied in bo- 

 tanical structure and other points to 

 Yateria. It consists of Indian trees, 

 abounding in resin. The flowers are yel- 

 low, in terminal or axillary panicles. The 

 five segments of the calyx become ulti- 

 mately enlarged and leaf-like, and sur- 

 | mount the leathery or woody fruit, which 

 ! contains a single seed, and opens partially 

 i by two valves. Y. Tumbugaia yields a large 

 : quantity of resin, and its timber, like that 

 of some allied species, is valued for con- 

 structive purposes. [M. T. M.J 

 VAUBIER. (Fr.) Hakea. 



VATJCHERIA. A genus of green-spored 

 Algce, named after the celebrated Genevan 

 botanist Vaucher, belonging to the natural 

 order Siphonece, characterised by simple or 

 slightly and irregularly-branched threads 

 producing short lateral curved antheridia, 

 which yield a multitude of minute sper- 

 matozoids (which move about by means 

 of two long cilia), and cysts in which a 

 single zoospore variously ciliate is formed 

 after impregnation. The species occur on 

 mud or stones in salt or fresh water, 

 forming generally dense spongy dark- 

 green tufts, or upon the naked soil in 

 fields and gardens, where they present a 

 web of matted threads. One or two are 

 very troublesome in greenhouses, by run- 

 ning over the soil in pots which contain 

 delicate seedlings. The changes in the 

 spores produced by impregnation, and the 

 consequent formation of a surrounding 

 membrane, have been closely observed by 

 Pringsheim, whose observations should be 



