1213 



Ei)£r Ercatfurjj of Matxiw. 



[yam 



bitter flavour as to be useless, and even 

 cockroaches will not touch the casks. The 

 bark and fruits are said to taste like 

 orange-seeds. X. aromatica, a native of 

 South America, furnishes fruits used bythe 

 natives instead of pepper— hence they 

 are sometimes spoken of under the name 

 of Ethiopian Pepper. X. sericea, a native of 

 Brazil, supplies aromatic pepper-like ber- 

 ries, which may be used as a substitute for 

 that condiment. The tough bark of this 

 tree is in esteem, owing to the excellent 

 cordage that is manufactured from its 

 fibres. Some of the Javanese species, ac- 

 cording to Blume, are not altogether free 

 from noxious properties, for if too often 

 or too largely partaken of they give rise to 

 vertigo, and haemorrhage. Two or three 

 of them are grown in this country as stove- 

 shrubs. Some of the species are often re- 

 ferred to Habzelia : which see. [M. T. M.] 



XYLOSMA (including E isingera, Myro- 

 xylon, Boumea, and Crcepaloprumnon) is 

 a genus at one time placed under Euphor- 

 biacece, but now more correctly ranked 

 amongst the Flacourtiaceo?. • It consists of 

 about twenty-five species, dispersed over 

 the tropical regions. They are either 

 shrubs or trees, often spiny, having ovate 

 generally dentate leaves, insignificant whi- 

 tish or greenish flowers, and small berries. 

 The calyx consists of from four to six sca- 

 ly sepals, the corolla is entirely wanting, 

 the stamens are numerous, the placentas 

 from two to six in number, the style either 

 long or wanting, and the stigma entire or 

 from two to six-lobed. [B. S.] 



XYLOSTEUM. A section of the Honey- 

 suckle genus {Lonicera) in which tbeplants 

 are twining or erect, and the flowers axil- 

 lary. Also the Fly Honeysuckle. 



XYLOTHECA Kraussiana, a native of 

 Natal, and the sole representative of a ge- 

 nus of Flacourtiacece, is a tall shrub with 

 obovate oblong smooth net-veined leaves, 

 fringed at the edges, and showy yellow 

 unisexual flowers, the males having a 

 three-parted deciduous calyx with concave 

 overlapping segments, nine spreading pe- 

 tals, and numerous stamens. Its fruits are 

 of an oval form, woody and one-celled, 

 and contain numerous seeds covered 

 with pulp, attached to the inside in three 

 or four rows. [A. S.] 



XYRIDACE.E. An order of monocoty- 

 ledons, consisting of rush-like or sedge- 

 like herbs, with fibrous roots, and long 

 narrow radical leaves, the yellow flowers 

 in heads enclosed in imbricated scales, at 

 the top of leafless scapes. The perianth 

 consists of three outer segments, of which 

 one is more petal-like than the others, 

 or of that one only, and either three or two 

 inner petal-like segments. There are 

 three stamens. The ovary is free, with 

 three parietal placentas ; and the capsule 

 opens in three valves, containing nume- 

 rous small albuminous seeds. The species 

 are almost all tropical, dispersed over both 

 the >~ew and Old Worlds, and comprised 

 in the two genera Xyris and Abolboda, to 



which some botanists add Phily drum, raised 

 by others to the rank of adistinct order. 



XYRIDANTHE. The name of a genus 

 of Composites* consisting of an herbaceous 

 species, native of Swan River. The leaves 

 are narrow entire membranous, and the 

 branches erect and destitute of leaves, 

 but bearing a terminal head of flowers of 

 a shining-brown colour, like those of Xyris. 

 The outer scales of the involucre are con- 

 cave, overlapping ; the inner spreading, 

 provided with a small white petaloid ap- 

 pendage ; the corollas are tubular; and the 

 anthers have numerous filamentous hairs. 

 The achenes are woolly, surmounted by 

 long feathery pappus-hairs. [M. T. M.] 



XYRIS. A genus of Xyridacem, the 

 principal one of the order, and comprising 

 above fifty species chiefly American, but 

 some also natives of Tropical Asia and 

 Africa. They are all sedge-like herbs, with 

 narrow radical leaves, and small flower- 

 heads terminating the simple scapes, the 

 yellow petals very fugacious. None of 

 them are of any special interest. 



XYSMALOBIUM. This genus is distin- 

 guished from Gomphocarpus, and other 

 genera of Asclepiadacece to which it is 

 allied, by the staminal corona being seated 

 at the top of the tube of the filaments, and 

 consisting of ten parts in a single series ; 

 the five parts opposite the anthers being 

 egg-shaped or roundish, fleshy, and without 

 hairs or other appendages inside, and the 

 other five much smaller. With the excep- 

 tion of one found in Senegambia and ano- 

 ther in Angola, the eight or nine known 

 species are confined to the Cape Colony. 

 All are erect perennial herbs, and bear 

 umbels of largish flowers between the leaf- 

 stalks; the flowers having a bell-shaped 

 corolla.with five spreading segments,which 

 are sometimes bearded at the top. The 

 genus is named from the Greek words 

 xysma'a shaving' and lobos 'a pod,' in 

 consequence of the fruits being covered 

 with scales, or ramenta. The Senegam- 

 bian species, X. Eeudelotianum, produces 

 a watery turnip-shaped root, called Yakhop 

 by the negroes, by whom it is eaten. [A. SJ 



YACCA WOOD. The ornamental timber 

 of Podocarpiis coriacect, which yields an 

 ornamental wood, used in the West Indies 

 for cabinet-work. 



t YAKA. A Peejean name for Pachyrhi- 

 zus angulatus. 



YAKHOP. The Senegambian name of 

 Xysmalobium Eeudelotianum. 



YAM. Bioscorea. — , CHINESE, Bios- 

 corea Batatas. —, COMMON, or CULTI- 

 VATED. Bioscorea sativa. —.GRENADA, 

 or GUINEA. Bioscorea bulbifera. — , IN- 

 DIAN. Bioscorea trifida. — , JAPAN- 

 ESE. Bioscorea Batatas. —, NEGP.O- 

 COUXTRY. Bioscorea alata. —, PORT 

 MONIZ. Tamus edulis. — , RED. Bios- 

 corea alata. — , WATER. Ouvirandra fenes- 

 trate. — , WHITE. Bioscorea alata. — , 



