DIOSMA. 



8i 



DITTANY OF CRETE. 



sand, and they should be 'well and 

 regularly watered ; but no water 

 should ever be allowed to stand in 

 the saucers if their pots should have 

 any, but they are much better with- 

 out. They are propagated by cut- 

 tings, which should be struck in sand 

 under a bell-glass. 



Dimorpho'theca.— Composites. — 

 Professor De Candolle's new name 

 for the Cape Marygolds, formerly 

 called Calendula pluvialis and C. 

 hybrida. (See Calendula.) 



Dion/e a . — Droseracece — Venus's 

 Fly-trap. A curious little American 

 plant, nearly allied to the common 

 Sun-dew, so often found in boggy 

 meadows iu different parts of Eng- 

 land. (See Dro'sera.) Dion&a 

 muscipula has a scaly root, almost 

 like a liliaceous bulb, and it sends 

 out few fibres ; it is therefore very 

 difficult to keep, but it does best iu a 

 green-house, grown in moss, with a 

 little mould at the bottom of the pot, 

 and the pot kept standing in water 

 and covered with a bell-glass during 

 the heat of the day. The glass is 

 generally taken off towards the even- 

 ing, and the plant allowed plenty of 

 fresh air, but some gardeners do not 

 think this necessary. It is supposed 

 that the flies this plant catches, are 

 useful in nourishing it, though not 

 essential to its support; and the ex- 

 periment has been tried of feeding it 

 with very small pieces of raw meat, 

 which in a few days appeared sur- 

 rounded by a kind of mucus and half- 

 digested. In the like manner, the 

 remains of the bodies of flies are often 

 found in the leaves of this plant, and 

 those of the common Sun-dew, 

 though both plants will thrive, if kept 

 sufficiently moist, without such nou- 

 rishment. 



Dio'sma. — Rutacece. — Cape shrubs 

 with hair-like roots, which require to 

 be grown in pots in a green-house, or 

 room, in sandy peat, well drained, 



and frequently watered. Like all 

 the Cape shrubs, they are easily 

 killed by too much or too little 

 water; and should never be suffered 

 to stand with water in a saucer, or to 

 get too dry. They have a very peculiar 

 smell, which some persons like, and 

 which is said to be very wholesome ; 

 but which is generally thought to be 

 very disagreeable, and which remains 

 in gloves or any other article of dress 

 that may have touched the plant for a 

 long time. The Hottentot belles are 

 said to use it as a perfume. The plants 

 have heath-like leaves and small but 

 pretty flowers ; they are propagated 

 by cuttings which root freely in sand 

 under a glass. 



Di'placus. — Scrophularince. — 

 The Monkey-plant. The shrubby 

 kinds of Mimulus, with yellow or 

 scarlet flowers ; which should be 

 grown in a mixture of sandy loam 

 and peat. They are natives of Cali- 

 fornia, and like all the plants from 

 that country they are easily killed by 

 the sun striking on the collar of the 

 root ; theylikewise suffer severelyfrom 

 drought, or too much moisture. They 

 are propagated by cuttings struck in 

 sand without bottom heat. 



Di'rca. — ThymelacecB. — Leather- 

 wood. This is the smallest of trees, 

 as though some of the kinds of willow 

 are of still lower growth, they are too 

 herbaceous in the texture of their 

 stems, to be legitimately entitled to 

 the rank of trees. The Dirca, on the 

 contrary, is as completely a tree as 

 an oak, though it seldom grows above 

 three feet high. It is a native of 

 America, and requires a marshy soil, 

 or to be grown in peat kept constantly 

 moist. 



Dittany of Crete. — Origanum 

 Dictamnus. — A kind of marjoram, 

 with pink flowers, a native of Candia, 

 which is quite hardy, but should be 

 grown in rich mould. On the conti- 

 nent, a branch of it hung up in a 



