HELl] 



Qlyt {feagttrg at SSotang. 



576 



leaves simple, heart-shaped with the hasal 

 lobes unequal ; the flowers in little clusters 

 in the angles of the leaves, flve-petaled, 

 with the stamens unitedinto a long column 

 surrounding the stalk of the ovary, but 

 separating at the summit into from five to 

 fifteen filaments, partly sterile. The fruit 

 consists of five carpels, which are generally 

 twisted together in a screw-like manner. 

 E. Jsora is a native of Southern India, 

 where its singular twisted screw-like fruit, 

 about two inches in length, is called 

 ' twisted stick,' ' twisted horn,' or ' twisty,' 

 and, on account of its shape and name, is 

 supposed to be a sovereign remedy against 

 colic or twistings of the bowels. [A. S.] 



HELIOCARPUS. A genus of Tiliacece, 

 found in Mexico, Central America, and 

 New Grenada, readily recognised among 

 its allies by the fruits, which are thin 

 nearly circular bodies a quarter of an inch 

 in diameter, beautifully ciliated round 

 the margin with a row of radiating bristles. 

 The resemblance of the fruits to little 

 suns is expressed in the generic name. 

 The species, all very similar in appearance, 

 are shrubs, or some of them forest trees of 

 considerable size, furnished with alternate 

 long-stalked heart-shaped usually three- 

 lobed leaves. The minute densely clus- 

 tered yellow or green flowers are disposed 

 in panicles or cymes terminating the bran- 

 ches. They consist of four sepals, four 

 petals, twelve to twenty stamens, and a 

 bifid style surmounting a two-celled ovary, 

 which when ripe becomes a two-seeded 

 fruit. [A. A. BJ 



HELIOPHILA. A large genus of Cruci- 

 ferce, with twice-folded cotyledons. All 

 the species are from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and are annual herbs or under- 

 shrubs, with branched stems, and racemes 

 of yellow white rose-coloured or more 

 frequently blue flowers. They have a 

 more or less elongated pod with two flat 

 or (in the elongated pods) slightly com- 

 pressed valves. The calyx is equal at the 

 base, which distinguishes it from the allied 

 genus Chamira. [J. T. S.J 



HELIOPSIS. A perennial herbaceous 

 plant belonging to the corymbiferous 

 tribe of Composilcr. The involucre is im- 

 bricated, the florets of the ray long and 

 narrow, the receptacle chaffy, and the fruit 

 four-cornered without a pappus. E. Icevis, 

 the only species, is an American plant at- 

 taining a height of five or six feet, with 

 rather broad serrated leaves, and large 

 yellow flowers. [C. A. J.] 



HELIOSIS. A term applied to the spots 

 produced upon leaves by the concentration 

 of the rays of the sun through inequalities 

 of the glass of conservatories, or through 

 drops of water resting upon them. In the 

 latter case the destruction is seldom so 

 complete as in the former, and the chloro- 

 phyll is merely altered, especially in the 

 circumference, and not destroyed. Such 

 spots sometimes, on the contrary, arise 

 from the congelation or low temperature 

 of the drops. They afford a nidus for minute 



fungi, which are not in consequence to he 

 considered as the cause. [M. J. B.] 



HELIOSPERMA, or HELICOSPERMA. 

 A proposed genus of Caryoyhyllacece, which 

 may, however, be rather taken to represent 

 a section of Silene. The flowers are solitary 

 or cymose, long-stalked, with a clavate 

 campanulate calyx. The capsule is one- 

 celled, containing lenticular compressed 

 seeds, having a series of prominent points 

 round the back. S. alpestris and quadrijida, 

 natives of central and southern Europe, 

 belong to the section thus defined, which 

 is by no means a natural one. [J. T. S.] 



HELIOTROPE. Eeliotropium, especially 

 in a popular sense, E. peruvianum. — , 

 WINTER. Nardosmia fragrans. 



HELIOTROPE. (Fr.1 Eeliotropium. — 

 D'HIVER. Nardosmia fragrans. 



HELIOTROPIACE2E. A group of co- 

 rollifloral dicotyledons, considered by most 

 botanical writers as a suborder of Ehretia- 

 cece. The plants have a circinate inflo- 

 rescence, regular symmetrical flowers, 

 five stamens, and four united achenes 

 forming the fruit. They are found in 

 Europe and South America. SeeEHRETiA- 

 ckm. [J. H. B.] 



HELIOTROPIUM. The Heliotrope or 

 Turnsole, is a large genus of Ehretiacece, 

 differing from the greater number of gen- 

 era in having exalbuminous seeds ; from 

 Schleidenia, by having a salver-shaped, not 

 funnel-shaped corolla ; and from Tiaridium, 

 by the fruit not being two-lobed. They 

 are herbs or undershrubs found chiefly in 

 tropical and subtropical regions, but a few 

 species reach Europe, and one, E. euro- 

 pceum, is distributed over the greater part 

 of southern and central Europe. They are 

 furnished with strigose hairs, entire oval 

 oblong or lanceolate leaves, and terminal 

 or lateral one-sided usually circinate ra- 

 cemes of small white or lilac flowers. The 

 fruit is separable into four nuts, or drupes, 

 having a thin fleshy covering. Some of 

 the species are sweet-scented, as the E. 

 peruvianum, which is much cultivated on- 

 that account ; on account of their agreeable 

 scent, its flowers get the popular name of 

 Cherry-pie. [J. T. S.] 



HELIPTERUM. A considerable genus 

 of Compositce, separated from Eelichrysum, 

 to which a large proportion of what are 

 commonly known as everlasting flowers 

 belong, by having the hairs of the pappus 

 feathery (plumose) instead of rough (pi- 

 lose). They are annuals or perennials 

 found in South Africa, Australia, and 

 Tasmania, commonly furnished with lance- 

 shaped or linear leaves, thickly clothed 

 with short white wool, and usually having 

 each twig terminated by a, single flower- 

 head, though in a few species the heads 

 are numerous and corymbose. The thin 

 dry papery scales of the involucre, pink, 

 yellow, or white in colour, give beauty to 

 these flower-heads. The inner series of 

 scales are often spread out into a flat 

 border so as to have the appearance of 



