vert] 



Ci)r &rea£ur» of 38a tang. 



1212 



majestica. The fruit is globose drupaceous, 

 with the scar of the stigma basilar ; the 

 endocarp is woody and rugose ; the seed 

 erect, with vertical furrows; the albumen 

 densely and profoundly anastomosanti- 

 ruminate; and the embryo basilar, erect. 

 The species, called V. splendida, has a simple 

 erect stem, clothed with spreading black 

 needle-shaped spines ; and the fronds are 

 broad and entire, with the apex, bifid, and 

 the edges serrated. [T. M.] 



VERTEBRATE. Contracted at intervals, 

 like the vertebra of animals, there being 

 an articulation at each contraction, as in 

 some leaves. 



VERTEX. The summit of any part. 



VERTICAL. Placed in a direction from 

 the base to the apex. 



VERTICIL. A whorl ; a ring of organs 

 on the same plane. A spurious verticil is 

 the same as a Verticillaster. 



VERTICILLARIA. The name of a Pe- 

 ruvian tree, constituting a genus of Clusia- 

 cece. The leaves are acuminate; the flow- 

 ers perfect ; calyx of two coloured sepals ; 

 petals four ; stamens numerous, in many 

 rows; ovary sessile, three-celled; stigma 

 three-lobed, concave ; fruit capsular, three- 

 valved, three-seeded. This tree yields an 

 abundance of balsamic resin. [M. T. M.] 



VERTICILLASTER, A false whorl form- 

 ed in labiate plants by the presence of 

 short-stalked or sessile cymes in the axils 

 of opposite leaves. 



VERTICILLAT^E. A Linnasan natural 

 order equivalent to the more modern La- 

 biates. 



VERTICILLATE. "When several bodies 

 form a ring round a common axis, as leaves 

 round a stem, or the sepals petals and sta- 

 mens round an ovary. 



VERTICORDIA. A genus of Chamcelau- 

 ciacece, consisting of shrubs, natives of 

 South-western Australia. Their leaves are 

 generally crowded small heath-like; and 

 the flowers are white pink or yellow, in 

 terminal corymbs, each flower protected 

 by two concave bracts, which ultimately 

 become spreading, and sometimes fall off. 

 Calyx adherent to the ovary, its limb five- 

 lobed, the lobes palmately-divided and 

 feathery ; petals Ave, entire or palmately- 

 divided ; stamens twenty, ten fertile, ten 

 sterile alternating with the fertile, and 

 having strap-shaped or three-cleft fila- 

 ments; ovary one-celled ; style filiform; 

 fruit dry one-celled, one-seeded, indehi- 

 scent. [M. T. M.] 



VERVAIN. Verbena. -, BASTARD. 

 Stachytarpha. 



VERVEINE. (Fr.) Verbena, — A BOU- 

 QUET or DE MIQUELON. Verbena Avble- 

 tia. — CITRONNELLE. Aloysia citrio- 

 dora. — PUANTE. Petiveria alliacea. —, 

 DE ST. DOMINGUE. Reliotropium, 



VESALEA. A genus of Capri foliacecc, 



scarcely if at all differing from Abelia, to 

 which the few species have been recently 

 referred. See Abelia. fW. C] 



VESCE. (Fr.) Vicia. —BLANCHE, or 

 DU CANADA. Vicia sativa. — EN EPI. 

 Vicia Cracca. — SAUVAGE. Vicia se- 

 pium. 



VESCERON. (Fr.) Vicia Cracca. 



VESI. Afzelia bijuga, one of the sacred 

 trees of the Feejeans. 



VESICARIA. A genus of Cruciferce, 

 natives of the Northern Hemisphere, dis- 

 tinguished by the globose or ovoid in- 

 flated pouch, with hemispherical valves, 

 and numerous seeds (generally four to six 

 in each cell). They are herbs, sometimes 

 shrubby at the base, with oblong or linear 

 entire or repand leaves, and terminal ra- 

 cemes of yellow flowers. V. utriculata is 

 generally distributed throughout Southern 

 Europe ; it has bladder-like pouches, some- 

 what larger than a pea. [J. T. S.] 



VESICLE. A little cell or bladder, one 

 of the ultimate atoms of which the bulk 

 of vegetable tissue is built up. 



VESICULA. An air-cavity. 



VESICUL.EFORM, VESICULAR, VESI- 

 CULATE. Inflated, bladdery. 



VESICULIFERI. A synonym of Physo- 

 mycetes, descriptive of those moulds which 

 have their spores inclosed at first in a 

 little globose transparent sac, as Mucor 

 and Ascophora. [M. J. B.] 



VESICULOSE. The same as Vesiculre- 

 form, &c. 



VESPERTINUS. Appearing in the even- 

 ing. 



VESSE-LOUP. (Fr.) Ly coper don Bovista. 



VESSELS. See Vasa. 



VESTIA. A genus of Sola,nacea>, con- 

 taining a single species from Chili, an 

 erect branching shrub, having the appear- 

 ance of and nearly related to Cestrum, from 

 which it differs chiefly in the fruit being 

 a dry capsule, and not a berry. [W. C] 



VETCH. Vicia sativa. — , BASTARD. 

 Phaca. — , BASTARD HATCHET. Biser- 

 rula Pelecinus. — , BITTER. Orobus; also 

 Ervum Ervilia, — , BLADDER. Phaca. 

 — , COMMON. Vicia sativa. -, CHICK- 

 LING. Lathyrus sativa. — , GRASS. La- 

 thyrus Nissolia. — , HATCHET. Biserrula. 

 — , HORSESHOE. Hippocrepis comosa. 

 — , KIDNEY. Anthyllis Vulneraria. — 

 MILK. Astragalus. — , SENSITIVE 

 JOINT. jEschyaomene. — , TARE. Ervum 

 hirsutum. 



VETCHLING. Lathyrus. 



VETIVER, or VETIVERT. (Fr.) The 

 Khus-khus grass, Andropogon muricatus. 



VETTILEI. An Indian name for 

 Chavica Betle. 



VEUVE. (Fr.) Scabiosa purpurea. 



