418 DICTIONAEY OF POPULAR NAMES TREBIZOND 



and produced from the centre as in Musa. The fruit consists 

 of a dry three-valved capsule, and the seeds are the size of 

 large peas, and are surrounded by a woolly coat of a beautiful 

 blue colour (ariilus). The stems harden, and are used in Mada- 

 gascar for house-building, making durable floors for warehouses, 

 etc.; for this purpose they are split in halves, and the convex 

 side is placed uppermost ; this soon flattens down and becomes 

 extremely hard. 



The broad leaves of this plant are well adapted for collecting 

 rain-water, which trickles down the leaf-stalk, and collects in 

 considerable quantities within its sheathing base. If the bases 

 of the leaf-stalks are pierced with a knife the water gushes out 

 like a jet, and on this account it has received the appellation of 

 Traveller's Tree. 



Trebizond Date* {See Oleaster.) 



Tree Hair. — Usnect larbata and Cornicularia julata^ fila- 

 mentous lichens growing in tufts on trees, and hanging down 

 from the branches, like bunches of thread or grey hair. They 

 are common, in this country, especially in damp woods, often 

 quite covering the trees, while in Lapland they are so abundant 

 as to give the fir forests quite a thick gloomy appearance. 



Trefoil, a name for Clover (which see). 



Tripe-de-Roche, or Rock Tripe, a name given by Arctic 

 navigators to Umbilicaria and Gyro^phora, genera of the Lichen 

 family, growing on rocks ; they are of a circular form, and 

 attached by the centre. In consequence of their mucilaginous 

 character, of the nature of Iceland moss, they have been of great 

 utility as food to Polar navigators. 



Truffle {Tuber cibaoium), a fleshy fungus of the Mushroom 

 alliance. It is common throughout temperate Europe, and in 

 this country it is chiefly found in Kent, Wiltshire, and Hamp- 

 shire. It is of a spherical shape, seldom exceeding the size of a 

 walnut, and when old is of a black colour veined with white ; 

 it grows just below the surface of the ground in calcareous soils, 

 generally under trees ; it emits a fleshy smell, which leads to its 

 place of growth being found by dogs scenting it ; it is now moie 



