vkonJ 



El)e Ercatfurg at Matmv. 



1226 



BATARDE. Polygonum Convolvulus. — 

 BATARDE GRANDE. Polygonum dume- 

 torum. 



VRONCELLE. (Fr) Convolvulus ar- 

 vensis. 



VULNERA. Plants are, like animals, 

 subject to injury from outward agents, and 

 the wounds produced are more or less 

 injurious according to their severity or 

 the nature of the plant. In the case of 

 large trees, wounds are injurious by ex- 

 posing the wood to the immediate decom- 

 posing agency of moisture and other 

 atmospheric conditions. The object in 

 such cases is to diminish the surface as 

 much as possible, which must be done by 

 pruning off all inequalities with a sharp 

 knife, and then to exclude the air by some 

 plaister or covering which will not injure 

 the tree, but permit the overlapping of 

 the surface by the new bark, without any 

 injurious decay. One of the best applica- 

 tions is Forsyth's mixture, consisting of 

 one portion of fresh cowdung, mixed with 

 half the quantity of lime-rubbish, the same 

 amount of wood-ashes, and one-sixteenth of 

 river-sand finely sifted. A powder of wood- 

 ashes mixed with burnt bones, in the pro- 

 portion of one-sixth of the latter to five- 

 sixths of the former, is then applied 

 with a dredger till the plaister is covered, 

 allowing it to remain half an hour to absorb 

 the moisture. More powder is then rubbed 

 on with the hand, till the surface be- 

 comes smooth. Where the bark has been 

 ! knocked off, new wood maybe generated 

 J from the medullary rays, if the surface is 

 j protected from drought by a suitable 

 j covering. In this case, however, the albur- 

 ! num must remain free from contact with 

 any strange matter. Trees, again, are 

 often injured by rabbits, mice, and other 

 animals. In such cases, as they often gnaw 

 round the tree, immediate steps must be 

 taken, or the injury will be past remedy. 

 Some substance must be applied which the 

 animals will not touch, but which at the 

 same time will not injure the tree. An 

 application of soot and sulphur mixed with 

 water, in which a small quantity of size 

 has been dissolved, is perhaps as good as 

 any. Gas-tar, which is sometimes used, is 

 too strong for such a purpose. [M.J. B.] 



VULNERAIRE. (Fr.) Anthyllis Vul- 

 neraria. 



VULPIA. A srenus of grasses belonging 

 to the tribe Festucece, now included in 

 Festuca. The species are mostly annuals, 

 some (as Festuca bromoides and F nviglu- 

 mis) being natives of Britain. [DM.] 



VTJLPIN. (Fr ) Alopecurus. 



VULVAIRE. (Fr.) Chenopodium Vul- 

 vavia. 



VIISHIRA, An Indian name for Pothos 

 officinalis. 



VUTSUNAB. The deadly Lagenandra 

 toxicaria. 



WAAK. The bark of Sida Abutilon. 



I WACHENDORFIA. A genus belonging 

 to the tribe Wachendnrfece, which is by 

 some botanists referred to Liliacece, but by 

 others to Htemodoracece. They are Cape 

 herbs, often hairy, with tuberous rhi- 

 zomes, and narrowly elliptical radical 

 leaves, sheathing at the base, and usually 

 nerved and plaited, in some of the species 

 resembling those of Plantago lanceolata. 

 The stein is round, with very small leaves, 

 and a terminal panicle of purple red or 

 yellow flowers, with large bracts. The 

 perianth is rough exteriorly, six-cleft, irre- 

 gular, with three of the segments more 

 spreading than the others— the posterior 

 one spurred at thebuse, the spur generally 

 adnate to the pedicel ; stamens six, three 

 of them sterile or absent, ovary free, 

 three-edged. [J . T. S.] 



WADADTJRI. A Guiana name for Lecy- 

 this grandiflora. 



WAGEN-BOOM. The wood of Protect, 



grandiflora. . 



WAGENERIA. One of the numerous 

 genera into which Klotzsch has divided 

 the old well-marked genus Begonia. The 

 species of the present group are trailing 

 undershrubs, natives of Tropical America. 

 Their chief distinguishing characteristic 

 lies in the male flowers, which have four 

 petals, while the females have five ; the fila- 

 ments are free, attached to a cushion-' 

 like receptacle, and bear oblong anthers ; 

 the style is persistent, covered with pim- 

 ples, and surmounted by a stigma, whose 

 two lobes are twisted spirally. The cap- 

 sule is winged, dehiscent, and contains an 

 entire stalked placenta. [M. T. M.] 



WAGWANT. Briza media. 



WAHAHE. The Maori name of Hartigh- 

 sea spectabilis. 



WAHLENBERGIA. An extensive genus 

 of Campanulaceai, abounding in the Cape 

 Colony and throughout the Southern 

 Hemisphere, and found also (though more 

 rarely) in extratropical regions. It differs 

 from Campanula only in the capsule, which 

 is somewhat globose and half-superior, 

 the free portion opening by three to five 

 valves within the persistent segments of 

 the calyx. [W. C] 



WAHOO. A North-wesL Indian name 

 for Euonymus atropurpureus. 



WAIATUMA. A name given "by the In- 

 dians of Rio Negro to the edible fruits of 

 Salacia dulcis. 



WAIE. (Fr.) Chamcedorea. 



WAI-FA, or WAI-HWA. Chinese names 

 for the unexpanded flower-buds of Sopho- 

 ra japonica, used for dyeing the silk gar- 

 ments of the mandarins a yellow colour, 

 &c. See Sophora. 



WAILESIA. A genus of epiphytal or- 

 chids, belonging to the tribe Vandew- The 

 plants have the habit of Vanda, with di- 

 stichous coriaceous channelled three-rib- 

 bed leaves, afoot or more in length ; and 



