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£f)e Crcagurg of 3Sotang. 



[HELI 



minal racemes, and having a calyx of from 

 three to four sepals, a capitate stigma, a 

 triquetrous ovary, and a three-valved cap- 

 sule. Unlike their allies, the Cistuses, they 

 do not appear to have any active proper- 

 ties, hut it is stated of the common species, 

 H. vulgare, that the stamens, if touched 

 during sunshine, spread slowly, and lie 

 down upon the petals. Many double- 

 flowered varieties of the cultivated species 

 have been originated in gardens. [T. M.J 



HELIAXTHTTS. A genus of Composite 

 or Asteracece, consisting of coarse tall- 

 growing herbs, with large rough leaves 

 and yellow flowers. The greater portion 

 are natives of North America. 



The only species grown for culinary pur- 

 poses is H. tuberosus, the Jerusalem 

 Artichoke, which, although stated to be a 

 native of Brazil, is a hardy perennial at- 

 taining the height of six or eight feet, 

 and, with its large rough alternate heart- 

 shaped somewhat pointed leaves, has con- 

 siderable resemblance in habit and ap- 

 pearance to the common sunflower. The 

 name of Jerusalem Artichoke is considered 

 to be a corruption of the Italian Girasole 

 Articocco, or Sunflower Artichoke, under 

 which name it is said to have been ori- 

 ginally distributed from the Farnese gar- 

 den at Rome soon after its introduction 

 to Europe in 1617. 



The roots are creeping, and towards the 

 close of autumn produce, like the potato, 

 a number of round irregular reddish or 

 yellow tubers, clustered together and of 

 considerable size. They are used either 

 boiled and mashed with butter, or baked 

 in pies, and when nicely cooked are not 

 only well flavoured, but considered to be 

 both wholesome and nutritious— more so 

 even than the potato, as they may be 

 eaten by invalids when debarred from the 

 use of other vegetables. On the continent 

 they are in considerable demand for soups, 

 and before the potato became plentiful, 

 they were a good deal in use in this country 

 Parkinson, writing in 1629, says they were 

 then so common in London 'that even 

 the vulgar began to despise them : they 

 were baked in pies with marrow, dates, 

 ginger, sack, &c, and, being so plentiful 

 and cheap, rather bred a loathing than 

 a liking for them.' Hence it appears 

 that, as the culture of the potato extended, 

 it gradually displaced the Jerusalem Arti- 

 choke, and at the present time the latter 

 is only grown to a very limited extent in 

 first-class gardens. Since the failure of 

 the potato crops, the Jerusalem Artichoke 

 has been strongly recommended as a sub- 

 stitute for that vegetable ; but notwith- 

 standing all that has been said and written 

 in its favour, it is still far from common, 

 and by no means esteemed so much as it 

 deserves to be. [W. B. B.] 



J HELICHRYSUM. A genus of herba- 

 l ceous or shrubby plants belonging to the 



corymbiferous tribe of Composita, and of 

 , which the characters are: — 'Receptacle 

 i naked : pappus hairy or feathery; involucre 



imbricated, radiate, scanose ; ray coloured. 



Most of the species are natives of the Cape 

 of Good Hope. As the name 'gold of 

 the sun' indicates, the flower-heads are 

 beautifully radiated, and while some spe- 

 cies are of a brilliant yellow, others are 

 white, pink, or crimson. In all, the radiat- 

 ing involucre is very conspicuous, and re- 

 tains much of its elegantform and brilliant 

 colour when dried. H. macrantlium, an 

 Australian species, when first introduced, 

 bore only white flower-heads slightly tinged 

 with red outside, but varieties have now 

 been raised which have exchanged the pri- 

 mitive white hue for numerous shades of 

 red, orange, or rose-colour. Thus the plant, 

 originally worthy of note for the large size 

 of its heads, has acquired anew interest in 

 horticulture. H. orientals, a native of Crete 

 and Africa, is the Immortelle of the French. 

 The flower-heads of this species are yellow, 

 but are often dyed green, orange, or black, 

 and are much employed in the making of 

 wreaths intended to be votive offerings to 

 the dead. In drying the flowers of these 

 plants, they should be suspended head 

 downwards. German, Strohblume. [C. A. J.] 



HELICIA. A genus of Proteacece having 

 a cylindrical club-shaped calyx with four 

 slightly spathulate sepals, each of which 

 hears a nearly sessile anther a little below 

 its apex. The seed-vessel is a single-seeded 

 follicle which does not open by valves. The 

 leaves are ovate or oblong, five to ten inch- 

 es in length, simple, scattered, sometimes 

 opposite, herbaceous or leathery in tex- 

 ture, entire or toothed. The flowers grow 

 in axillary or terminal racemes. The spe- 

 cies form lofty trees or large shrubs of 

 tropical Asia; one of them, H. australa- 

 siea, has been found in Victoria. [R. H.] 



HELICOGYRATE. Having a ring or 

 gyrus carried obliquely round it ; as in the 

 spore-cases of Trichomanes. 



HELICOID. Twisted like the shell of a 

 snail. 



HELICONIA. A fine genus of herbaceous 

 plants, belonging to the Musacece, and 

 inhabiting tropical America. They are 

 distinguished from their congeners by 

 their fruit, which is capsular, separating 

 into three one-seeded compartments. The 

 shoots of H. psittacorum are eaten in the 

 West Indies, as also are the fruits of H. 

 Bihai. [M. T. M.] 



H. Marice Alexandrovnce, named after the 

 Empress of Russia, a remarkable New 

 Grenada species, with the habit of Musa, 

 produces a useful fibre Its trunk attains 

 twelve to fifteen feet in height, and is 

 formed of the sheaths of the leaf-stalks. 

 The peduncles project beyond the leaves, 

 and curving downwards bear a narrow 

 flattened spike two and a half feet long, 

 the red flowers of which are almost con- 

 cealed by the spathe and white bracts. 



HELICTERES. A genus of Stercidiacece, 

 containing upwards of thirty species, 

 mostly natives of the tropics of the West- 

 ern hemisphere. They are shrubs, usually 

 covered with rusty stellate down, the i 

 I 



