1221 



Efje dreasfurjj of JSatanj). 



[vita 



it by the Druids or priests, is certain, and 

 hence we may trace its use among ourselves 

 in Christmas decoration. The curious bas- 

 ket of garland with which ' Jack-in-tbe- 

 Green' is occasionally even now invested 

 on May-day, is said to be a relic of a 

 similar garb assumed by the Druidical 

 assistants when about to hunt for the 

 mistleto, which when they had found they 

 danced round the oak, to the tune of ' Hey 

 derrv down, down down derry ! ' which lite- 

 rally signified, 'In a circle move we round 

 the'oak." What gives countenance to this 

 is, that some oakwoods in Herefordshire 

 are called ' the derry,' and the following line 

 from Ovid shows that the Druids did sing 

 beneath the oak :— 



Ad viscum Druids cantare solebant. 

 Having found mistleto in the oak, or in 

 the next sacred tree, the apple, the priest 

 cut the branches with a golden sickle, and 

 distributed portions to the people ; and it 

 is suggested by Fosbrooke, that ' as the 

 Druids had an extraordinary veneration 

 for the number three, and as the berries of 

 the mistleto may be often found clustered 

 in threes, this may probably have enhanced 

 their esteem for the celestial plant.' 



The Mistleto has been highly extolled 

 for its medicinal virtues from a very remote 

 antiquity. The older writers seem to have 

 held it in esteem as ministering to fertility, 

 deriving the notion, in all probability, from 

 the multitude of berries which grow on I 

 the plant, a notion which may have some- 

 thing to do with some of our Christmas 

 observances. The mistleto of the oak had I 

 such repute for ' helping' in the diseases in- i 

 cidental to infirmity and old age, that it was 

 called Lignum SanctoB Cruris, Wood of the 

 Holy Cross; E.ndasthe parasite is the same I 

 on one tree as on another, we may infer 

 that the robust nature of the oak was sup- | 

 posed to impart to it strengthening proper- i 

 ties. Ray is, perhaps, the latest writer who 

 has greatly extolled mistleto. He mentions 

 it as a specific in epilepsy, and as useful in 

 apoplexy and giddiness. It is easy to see 

 that what gave countenance to this idea 

 has been the fact that the parasite grows, 

 from the under-part of the foster-parent, 

 with its head downwards. Alas for a plant 

 of such reputed powers— it is now excluded 

 from the Pharmacopoeias ! [J. B.] 



VISH, or YISHA. Aconitum ferox. 



VISHALA. An Indian name for the 

 Colocynth or Bitter Apple. 



VI8IANIA. Ligicstrum. 



VISMIA. With the exception of one or 

 two tropical West African plants, this 

 genus of Hypericacece, of which upwards 

 of twenty species are described, is confined 

 to the tropics of America. They are trees 

 or shrubs, with four-sided branches, oppo- 

 site often glandular dotted entire leaves, 

 and terminal panicles or cymes of yellow 

 or greenish flowers. These latter have 

 five or sometimes only four sepals; as 

 many petals clothed with hairs inside, and 

 dotted with black glands ; an indefinite 



number of stamens collected into five hairy 

 bundles, and placed opposite the petals, 

 alternating with as many scales ; and five 

 distinct styles. The genus is, however, 

 best characterised by its fruit, which is a 

 roundish five-celled berry with numerous 

 seeds in each cell. 



The yellow resinous juice common to the 

 order exists in greater abundance in the 

 plants belonging to this genus than in any 

 of its congeners, and possessesmore power- 

 ful purgative properties, resembling in 

 that respect, and likewise in its appearance, 

 the gamboge of the Old World— so much 

 so indeed, that that collected from V.guia- 

 nensis, a species found in Guiana Brazil 

 Surinam and Mexico, is called American 

 Gamboge. Other species, however, such 

 as the V. sessiliflora and V. cayennensis of 

 Guiana, and the V. mirrantha and V. longi- 

 folia of Brazil, also yield a similar resin, to 

 which the name American Gamboge is 

 equally applicable. [A. S.] 



VISNAGE. (Fr.) Ammi Yisnaga. 



VISNEA. The sole species of this genus 

 of TernstrbmiacecB was named Mocavera 

 by Linnasus on account of its fruit, being 

 supposed by some authors to have been the 

 Mocan, which was made into a kind of 

 syrup and much used, both with their 

 daily food and medicinally, by the Guan- 

 ches, the aboriginal inhabitants of the 

 Canaries, in which islands alone the plant is 

 found. Other authors, however, attribute 

 the Mocan to the Carob-tree (Ceratonw 

 fiiliqua) or to the MyricaFayal. The plant 

 is ashrub withsmooth branches and leaves, 

 the latter being alternate elliptic or lance- 

 shaped, the upper ones producing from 

 their axils two short recurved stalks, each 

 bearing a solitary flower. These have a 

 deeply five-parted calyx, with a couple of 

 bracts, five spreading petals coalescing at 

 the base and bearing twenty free stamens 

 shorter than the petals, and with long 

 taper-pointed anthers fixed by their broad 

 bases, a three-celled obscurely ten-angled 

 hairy ovary, with two pendulous ovules in 

 each cell, and three slender styles. [A. SJ 



"VITACEjE. (Yites, Ampelidece, Sarmenta- 

 cece, Leeacece, Vineicorts.) A small order of 

 polypetalous dicotyledons, nearly allied in 

 character to Celastracece and Hhamnacece, 

 but at once distinguished from the former 

 by their stamens being opposite the petals, 

 and from the latter by their valvate petals ; 

 and from both by their habit. With the 

 exception of the small genus Leea, they are 

 tall climbers, remarkable for the anomalous 

 structure of their wood. The lower leaves 

 are often opposite, the remainder alter- 

 nate, but opposite to them is either a 

 cyme or raceme of small green flowers, or 

 a branching tendril. Besides the great 

 genus Vitis, which is now made to include 

 all the species of Cissus and Ampelopsis, 

 whether natives of the New or of the Old 

 World, the order comprises only the small 

 genus Pterisanthes, with a remarkable flat 

 flower-stalk, and the slightly anomalous 

 Leca, both confined to the Old World. 



