425 



&f)z STrca^iin? nt 23otan». 



[dott 



raents; the style is three-furrowed, with a 

 three-cornered stigma; and the ovary grows 

 into a three-celled turbinately oval capsule. 



Doryanthes exeeisa. 



It is a fine plant, sometimes met with in 

 cultivation. [T. M.] 



DORYCSIOI. A genus of Leguminosce, 

 comprising a few erect twiggy herbs, 

 nearly related to Lotus, from which they 

 may be recognised by the keeled petal 

 being obtuse, not beaked. Their leaves 

 are sessile, and made tip of three to five 

 linear leaflets about half an inch long. 

 The minute pink or white flowers are col- 

 lected into round stalked heads, a good 

 deal like those of the white clover, but 

 smaller. The pods are turgid, scarcely 

 larger than the calyx, and contain two to 

 four seeds. The species are confined to 

 the countries bordering on the Mediterra- 

 nean. - [A. A. BJ 



DORYCSOPSIS. A genus of Leguminosce, 

 with the habit of Dorycnium, but differing 

 in the stamens being of equal instead of 

 unequal length, as well as in the pod not 

 bursting when ripe. The only known spe- 

 cies is D. Gerardi, found in the south of 

 Europe, a perennial branching herb one 

 to two feet high, having slender stems 

 furnished with unequally-pinnate vetch- 

 like leaves, the twigs terminating in little 

 clover-like heads of small rosy flowers. 

 The minute one-seeded pod is quite hidden 

 in the calyx. [A A BJ 



DORYOPTERIS. A name proposed for 

 a group of ferns belonging to the Pteridecc, 

 and having uniformly reticulated venation, 

 which is sunk in the substance of the frond, 

 and is on that account generally obscure. 

 The genus is not, however, materially dif- 

 ferent from Litobrochia, with which it is 

 now frequently united. [T. M.] 



DORYPHORA. The generic name of 

 the Sassafras tree of Sew South Wales, 



which belongs to the Atherospermaeece, and 

 is somewhat nearly related to the Sassafras 

 of Tasmania, Atherospermum moschatum. 

 It differs, however, in having the anthers 

 prolonged into a tail-like process. D. 

 Sassafras, the only species of its genus, 

 grows to a fine symmetrical pyramidal 

 tree of sixty or one hundred feet high, with 

 a diameter of two to three feet ; and is fur- 

 nished with opposite smooth lance-shaped 

 or elliptical toothed leaves. The flowers 

 are small, perfect, and three together, sup- 

 ported on axillary peduncles shorter than 

 the leaves, and enveloped by two silky 

 bracts, each with a calyx border of six ; 

 divisions and twelve stamens, six fertile 

 and six sterile, the fertile ones having the 

 anthers prolonged into a tail. The ovaries j 

 are numerous and become one-seeded nuts, ! 

 the styles remaining attached to the ripe [ 

 fruits in the form of feathery awns. The 

 leaves, bark, and wood emit an agreeable j 

 aromatic odour which, when fresh, is said to I 

 resemble fennel. The bark is also said to | 

 be used by the colonists as a tonic, and is j 

 much esteemed. The wood is of little j 

 value, being extremely soft and light. It j 

 is sometimes used for making packing cases 

 and similar articles. [A. A. B.] 



DORYSTIGMA. A genus of Solanacece, 

 consisting of low-growing herbaceous 

 plants, with solitary extra-axillary flower- 

 stalks; the corolla is funnel-shaped, hairy 

 within, the anthers green, concealed with- 

 in the corolla; the ovary is two-celled. 

 They are natives of the Andes. [M. T. M.] 



DOSSISIA marmorata is the name of a 

 beautiful little Bornean orchid cultivated 

 in gardens for the sake of its olive-green 

 velvet-like leaves, the nerves and nervelets 

 of which are of a paler colour, thus giving 

 them a marbled appearance, whence the 

 specific name. The creeping stems have 

 five or six ovate leaves, two or three inches 

 in length by one or two broad ; and the 

 flower spike is about a foot high, bearing 

 a number of small white flowers tinged 

 with pink. The plant is sometimes called 

 Cheirostylis or Ma codes marmorata, as well 

 as Ancectochihis Lobbii ; it differs from 

 Ancectochilus in the absence of a bearded 

 fringe to the lower part of the lip, as well 

 as in the boat-shaped process of the column. 

 It is dedicated to E. P. Dossen, a Belgian 

 botanist. [A. A. B.] 



DOTHIDEA. A large genus of sphaeria- 

 ceous Fungi, differing from Sphceria and 

 its more immediate allies in not having 

 the walls of the fruit-bearing nucleus so 

 perfectly developed or so distinct in colour j 

 and structure from the stroma. D. ribesia 

 is one of our commonest Fungi, forming 

 little black spots on the dead stems of 

 currants, &c. ; the sporidia in Dothidea sel- 

 dom acquire complicated forms like those 

 which make Sphceria so abundant a source 

 of objects for the microscopist. [M. J. B.] 



DOTTED. Furnished with transparent 

 receptacles of oil, looking like dots ; 

 marked with punctures. 



