dicl] 



Wfyz Creagury at Watmv. 



402 



the appearance of some bivalve shell. 

 The only known species, B. Richii, was 

 found by Mr. Rich in the Feejee Islands, 

 where it grows to a tree of forty feet high, 

 with oval entire nearly smooth leaves, hav- 

 ing two lateral ril;s at the base parallel to 

 the central one. The fertile flowers are 

 unknown. The sterile ones are small and 

 crowded in axillary cymes, which, as well 

 as the flowers, are clothed with minute 

 white down. [A. A. B.] 



DICLIDOPTERIS. A genus of poly- 

 podiaceous ferns belonging to the Pleuro- 

 grammece, having linear continuous sori, 

 sunk in a deep oblique furrow on each 

 side and near to the costa, towards which 

 the opening is directed. The veins are 

 reduced to the costa, and the intermar- 

 ginal receptacle parallel with it. The only 

 species, D. angustissima, found in the 

 Pacific Islands, is a very small plant, with 

 narrow simple fronds. The genus is re- 

 lated closely to Monogramma and Pleuro- 

 gramma. [T. M.] 



DICLIDOSTIGMA. A cucurbitaceous 

 plant of Cuba, with the aspect of Bryonia. 

 Both calyx and corolla are five-cleft, the 

 segments of the latter, in the male as well 

 as in the female flowers, being rough and 

 glandular : there are five stamens in three 

 parcels with separate wavy anthers ; in 

 the female flowers there is a five-lobed 

 glandular disk surrounding the base of the 

 style, which latter is terminated by three 

 stigmas, each of which is divided into 

 two plates. The fruit contains six to nine 

 seeds. [M. T. M.] 



DICLINOUS. Having the stamens in 

 one flower and the pistil in another. 



DICLIPTERA. A considerable genus of 

 Acanthacece, containing nearly seventy 

 species, dispersed over the tropical and 

 sitbtropical regions of the New and Old 

 "Worlds. They are herbs with entire leaves, 

 and with flowers in axillary clusters and 

 short cymes, usually surrounded by four 

 bracts, of which the outer two are the 

 larger. The calyx consists of Ave sepals ; 

 the corolla is two-lipped, and the tube is 

 so twisted that the upper entire or two- 

 toothed lip becomes the lower ; there are 

 two stamens whose anthers have each two 

 similar cells, but with the one inserted 

 much below the other. [W. C] 



DICLIS. A genus of Scrophttlariacece, 

 consisting of slender herbaceous creepers 

 resembling in habit Linaria Cymbalaria, 

 and with very similar corollas, but the 

 anthers have only one cell, and the capsule 

 is nearly globular, opening loculicidally 

 in two valves. There are three species 

 known, all from south-eastern Africa or 

 Madagascar. 



DICLISODON. A name proposed for a 

 curious genus of ferns, in which the sori 

 occupy small projecting marginal teeth, 

 and have scale-like covers. Hence it has 

 been regarded as having a two-valved in- 

 dusium, and as associating with the Bick- 

 soniece, the outer valve being described as 



a small rounded herbaceous projecting 

 lobe of the frond ; and the inner a proper 

 indusium, larger than the lobe, membra- 

 naceous, and distinctly renif orm, affixed by 

 the sinus. The sori,though not stalked, pro- 

 ject from the margin so as to resemble 

 those of Beparia, but instead of a marginal 

 cup, as in that genus, the involucre con- 

 sists of the two valves lying flat in the 

 plane of the frond ; the veins are free. Some 

 writers, however, regard the plant as a 

 Lastrea with exserted sori. B. deparioides 

 is a very beautifid bipinnate fern, found 

 in Ceylon. [T. M.] 



DICLYTRA. An erroneous mode of 



spelling sometimes adopted for Bielytra, 

 a synonyme of Bicentra. 



DICOCCOUS. Splitting into two cocci. 



DICOLORATIO. As petals are mere 

 modifications of leaves, we need not be 

 surprised if leaves, though not in a state 

 of transmutation to petals, occasionally 

 exhibit vivid coiours,especially in variegat- 

 ed plants. It does not appear, however, 

 that coloured varieties grafted on those 

 which are not coloured, communicate 

 their colour in the same way in which 

 variegated grafts affect the stock. The 

 change of colour in leaves as autumn ad- 

 vances, appears rather to be a chemical 

 than a vital action, and is owing to some 

 change in the chlorophyll on which the 

 healthy green tint of the leaves depends. 

 The contents of the cells, like the cell 

 walls themselves, have performed their 

 office, and are therefore, like other inert 

 bodies, subject to chemical changes, which 

 would not affect them while their vital 

 powers were active. pi. J. B.] 



DICORYNEA. A genus of large trees of 

 Brazil and Guiana belonging to the legu- 

 minous family. Some attain a height of 

 sixty, and a diameter of three to four feet. 

 All have pinnate leaves afoot or more in 

 length, made up of five or seven smooth 

 leaflets. The branches are terminated by 

 very large panicles of numerous white 

 flowers, which are interspersed with fawn- 

 coloured bracts. Each flower is about half 

 an inch long, and composed of a calyx of 

 three divisions ; five unequal petals, the 

 two exterior like the calyx leaves, the 

 upper broadly orbicular at the point and 

 narrowed below into a claw, and the two 

 lateral obliquely orbicular and shorter; 

 two stamens with broad and thick fila- 

 ments of unequal length; and an ovary 

 crowned by a curved style. The pods are 

 obliquely oval, thin, about one and a half 

 inch long, and contain one or two seeds. 

 Five species are known. [A. A. B.j" 



DICORYPHE. A genus belonging to 

 the order of witch-hazels. The name in- 

 dicates one of its obvious characters, viz., 

 the presence of two horn-like append- 

 ages on the upper part of the fruit. B. 

 xtipiilnta is a native of Madagascar, having 

 slender branches with oblong, entire, and 

 shortly-stalked alternate leaves, and below 



