didy] 



&l)z Erca^ttrg of 3Satang. 



406 



which is divided at the top into ten lobes, 

 and contains within it ten anthers. The 

 ovary is sessile, five-celled, surrounded by 

 a gourd-shaped five-lobed disk ; and the 

 fruit is berry-like. [M. T. M.] 



DIDYMOCHLvENA. A genus of poly- 

 podiaceous ferns, having indusiate sori of 

 an oblong form, attached longitudinally 

 along its centre to a crest-like elevation 

 of the receptacle, and free all round the 

 margin ; besides which the veins are free. 

 B. lunulata is a fine South American ar- 

 borescent fern with bipinnate fronds, the 

 articulated pinnules of which are dark 

 green, coriaceous, and shining. D. dimi- 

 diata, a South African plant, differs in 

 having ecostate pinnules. [T. M.] 



DIDYMOGLOSSUM. A division of the 

 genus Trichomanes, in which the funnel- 

 shaped involucres are two-lipped instead of 

 truncate at the mouth, which is, in fact, 

 an approach towards the two-valved in- 

 volucre of Hymeno'phyllum. The group is 

 considered by some writers to form a dis- 

 tinct genus. [T. M.] 



DIDYMOTHECA. A genus of Phytolac- 

 cacece, from Tasmania. A smooth-branched 

 undershi-ub with scattered linear semicy- 

 lindrical leaves and axillary divisions ; 

 flowers on short stalks ; the perianth four- 

 lobed, two of the lobes larger than the 

 others. [J. T. S.] 



DIDYMOTJS. Double ; growing in pairs, 

 as the fruit of umbellifers. 



DIDYNAMOUS. Having two stamens 

 longer than the two others. 



DIEFFENBACHIA. A genus of arads, 

 consisting of about fifteen species, all in- 

 habitants of tropical South America and 

 the West Indian Islands, where they 

 flourish in moist shady places in the woods. 

 Their stems are fleshj , and vary from two 

 to six or eight feet long, partly lying upon 

 the ground and partly erect, the erect por- 

 tion bearing the greatest number of leaves. 

 The leaves have fleshy foot-stalks, the lower 

 part of which expands and forms a sheath 

 round the stem ; they are generally of an 

 oblong form; inmost species they are green, 

 but some are marked or variegated with 

 white or yellowish irregularly shaped spots, 

 and all have numerous veins diverging 

 from the midrib, and running parallel 

 with each other until near the margin, 

 where they curve upwards and unite. The 

 spadix or flower spike is enclosed in a green 

 or yellowish spathe, which does not wither 

 like that of some allied genera, hut remains 

 fresh until the fruit is ripe ; the lower 

 part of the spike bears female flowers only, 

 each consisting merely of an ovary sur- 

 mounted by a stalkless stigma, and sur- 

 rounded by from two to four rudimentary 

 or imperfect stamens ; the upper part is 

 free and thickly covered with male flowers 

 only. 



D. seguina has acquired the name of 

 Dumb Cane in the West Indies, in conse- 

 quence of its fleshy cane-like stems render- 

 ing speechless any person who may happen 



to bite them, the juice of the plant being 

 so excessively acrid as to cause the mouth 

 to swell, and thus to prevent articulation 

 for several days. It is said that the West 

 Indian planters were formerly in the habit 

 of punishing their refractory slaves, by 

 cruelly forcing them to bite a piece of this 

 plant ; and accidents have occasionally oc- 

 curred with it in this country, where, how- 

 ever, it is only to be found growing in the 

 hothouses of the curious. The negroes in 

 the West Indies make an ointment for 

 rubbing dropsical swellings, by boiling the 

 juice of the plant in hog's lard; and a phy- 

 sician in the reign of Charles II. recom- 

 mended the juice to be administered in- 

 ternally as a cure for dropsy, but it is so 

 excessively acrid that it is almost impos- 

 sible to swallow it. Notwithstanding the 

 acridity, however, a wholesome starch has 

 been obtained from the stem. The plant , 

 grows from six to eight feet long, and has I 

 a stem an inch and a half thick, bearing 

 green leaves about ten inches long by four 

 broad. When the leaves are pulled away 

 the stem has a cane-like appearance. [A. S.] 



DIELLIA. Schizoloma. 



DIELYTRA. The name sometimes given 

 to a very handsome genus of Fumariacece, 

 made familiar in gardens by the beauti- 

 ful Chinese perennial called D. spectabilis. 

 It is sometimes called Diclytra, but more 

 correctly referred to Dicentra. [T. M.] 



DIENIA. A small genus of terrestrial 

 orchids, the species of which are found in 

 the Himalayas, Siberia, and Mexico. They 

 seldom exceed a foot in height ; the stems 

 in some being furnished with one leaf, in 

 others with several. These are membra- 

 naceous, plaited, and usually ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate in form. The flowers are minute, 

 green or yellowish, and disposed in slender 

 erect spikes. 



The four pollen masses are collateral 

 (oooo), while in the nearly-related British 

 genus Malaxis they are incumbent ( 8 8 )• 

 Microstylis, also nearly related, has the lip 

 at right angles to the column instead of 

 parallel with if, as in Dienia. [A. A. B.] 



DIERVILLA. A genus of caprifoils, 

 distinguished from the honeysuckle and 

 others allied to it, by its funnel-shaped 

 three-cleft corolla, and one-celled fruit. 

 The name was assigned by Tournefort in 

 compliment to Dierville, a Frenchman, 

 who discovered a species in Acadia, and 

 sent it to that botanist. The species are 

 erect shrubs, natives of North America 

 and of Japan. That best known in culti- 

 vation is D. canadensis, a shrub from three 

 to four feet high, with the leaves shortly 

 stalked, smooth, sharply ovate, the edges 

 serrate ; the flowers are yellow and appear 

 in early summer. In its wild state it is 

 widely distributed in Canada, and is found 

 about Hudson's Bay and on part of the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



Those which are natives of Japan are 

 reported by Siebold, in his account of the 

 plants of that country, as notable on ac- 

 count of the beauty of their flowers. These 



