India and Africa. They have entire or 

 generally spinose and dentate leaves, 

 and showy bracteate flowers in leafless 

 spikes ; the corolla consisting of a single 

 three-lobed lip enclosing four didynamous 

 stamens, with one-celled anthers, the mar- 

 gins of which are ciliated. LW. C] 

 DILL. Ayiethum graveolens. 



DILLENIACE^E (Dilleniads). A natu- 

 ral order of thalamifloral dicotyledons in- 

 cluded in Lindley's ranal alliance, con- 

 sisting of trees, shrubs, or undershrubs 

 with exstipulate alternate leaves ; five 

 persistent sepals in two rows ; five decidu- 

 ous imbricated petals ; stamens more than 

 twenty, often turned to one side. Fruit 

 consisting of two or five distinct or united 

 carpels ; seeds surrounded by an aril ; albu- 

 men homogeneous. There are about thirty 

 known genera and 230 species. They are 

 found chiefly in Australia, India, and 

 Equinoctial America. They have astrin- 

 gent qualities. Some are large timber 

 trees. Dillenia speciosa is an Indian tree 

 with showy flowers and an edible acid 

 fruit. There are two suborders : 1. Dil- 

 lenece, connective of the anthers equal 

 or narrow at the point, found in Asia and 

 Australia ; 2. Delimece, connective of the 

 anthers dilated at the point, found chiefly 

 in America. Illustrative genera : Dillenia, 

 Candollea, Delima, and Tetracera. [J.H.B.] 



DILLENIA. The species of this genus 

 of dilleniads are handsome lofty trees in- 

 habiting dense forests in India and the 

 Malayan Peninsula and Islands, one only 

 reaching as far as the base of the Himalayan 

 mountains. They have large alternate 

 generally oval or oblong leaves, strongly 

 marked with parallel veins running from 

 the midrib to the margin, where they form 

 the points of sharp teeth. The flowers, 

 which are frequently large and showy, 

 have five fleshy concave sepals, and 

 five white or yellow petals, the sepals 

 increasing in size after flowering and 

 eventually closely covering the ripe fruit. 

 The stamens are very numerous, and ar- 

 ranged in several series round the pistil, 

 those composing the inner rows facing 

 outwards, while the outer ones face in- 

 wards, the anthers opening by pores or 

 holes at the top. The fruit consists of 

 from five to twenty cells (or carpels) grow- 

 ing together round a fleshy centre, and 

 surmounted by as many radiating styles ; 

 each cell containing numerous seeds, sur- 

 rounded by a gelatinous pulp. 



D. pentagyna is common throughout the 

 peninsula of India, Birmah, and Malaya, 

 and forms a handsome forest tree, with a 

 broad spreading head. Its leaves are of 

 extraordinary size, averaging from one to 

 two feet long, but in young trees some- 

 times as much as four or five feet ; they 

 are pointed at the top, and gradually taper 

 from the middle to the base, the edges 

 being either toothed or waved. The flow- 

 ers are yellow, about an inch in diameter, 

 and produced in clusters upon the naked 

 branches before the appearance of the 



leaves ; they have only ten stamens and 

 five styles. According to Dr. Cleghorn, it 

 is probable that this tree, and not the Calo- 

 phyllnm Inophyllum, as generally supposed, 

 furnishes the valuable poon spars used for 

 Indian shipping. 



D. speciosa is also a very handsome tree, 

 growing about forty feet high, and com- 

 monly cultivated in India on account of its 

 ornamental appearance. It is found in all 

 parts of tropical India, as well as in the Ma- 

 layan Islands and peninsula. The leaves are 

 from ten inches to a foot in length seated 

 upon broad foot-stalks ; and the flowers are 

 produced at the same time as the leaves, 

 which are of great size and beauty, measur- 

 ing, when fully expanded, as much as nine 

 inches in diameter ; the petals white and 

 contrasting with the bright yellow sta- 

 mens, which are extremely numerous, and 

 form a dense globular mass in the centre 

 of the flower, with the stigmas radiating 

 like a white star upon the summit. The 

 fruit is about three inches in diameter, en- 

 closed in the swollen and fleshy calyx, 

 which, as well as the fruit, is eatable but 

 very acid, and is also said to be slightly 

 laxative. The natives in India use it in their 

 curries or for making jelly, and the acid 

 juice sweetened with sugar forms a cool- 

 ing fever drink. The hard tough wood, also, 

 is used for making gun-stocks. The fruits 

 and calices of another species, D. scabrella, 

 are likewise used in the same way as those 

 of the last species ; and the Cinghalese 

 employ a decoction of the leaves of D. 

 retusa, for cleansing foul ulcers. [A. S.] 



DILL-SEED. The name applied by Ben- 

 tham to Anethum graveolens. 



DILLWTNIA. A genus of pretty yellow- 

 flowered juniper-leaved bushes of the legu- 

 minous family, numbering about a dozen 

 species, three of which are found in Tas- 

 mania, and the remainder in the southern 

 and western parts of Australia. The leaves 

 have no stipules, the pedicels are furnished 

 with little bracts, and the vexillum or 

 upper petal is broad. These characters 

 taken together serve to distinguish the 

 genus from Pultencea, to which it is most 

 nearly allied. In a few the leaves are more 

 like those of a heath than a juniper ; they 

 are either smooth or slightly rough, and 

 sometimes covered with a grey pubescence. 

 The little yellow pea-flbvvers, scarcely half 

 an inch across, make up for their minute- 

 ness by their great profusion; they are 

 arranged in axillary or terminal clusters 

 which seldom exceed the leaves. The 

 minute pods, unless carefully searched for, 

 will be readily overlooked ; they are nearly 

 oval, ventricose, and one or two-seeded. 



A number of these plants have long 

 been in cultivation in greenhouses, and 

 richly repay the attention of the cultivator 

 in the great profusion of their yellow 

 blossoms. One of the best is D. ericcr folia, 

 which has solitary or twin bright yellow 

 flowers, arranged so closely towards the 

 ends of the branches as nearly to hide the 

 leaves : this plant is sometimes called D. 

 floribunda from the abundance of its 



