DODECATHEO.N. 



86 



dortma'nnia. 



room, is said to keep away fleas and 

 other vermin. 



Division. — Plants are said to be 

 propagated by division when they are 

 taken up and separated into portions ; 

 each portion having part of the root 

 and one or more buds attached, if in 

 herbaceous plants ; or a root and part 

 of a stem if in shrubs, or other lig- 

 neous plants. Hence, almost all 

 herbaceous plants may be propagated 

 by division, as they generally send up 

 many stems from their roots ; and 

 also all those shrubs or low trees that 

 send up suckers. In one sense 

 almost all ligneous plants may be 

 said to be propagated by division ; as 

 cuttings are divisions of the stem or 

 branches. Indeed, as every bud has 

 the power, like a seed, of sending a 

 shoot upwards, and roots downwards 

 from its base, every plant may be di- 

 vided into as many new plants as it 

 has buds ; but the common application 

 of the term division is to the dividing 

 of those roots which send up many 

 stems or suckers. 



Dodder, See Cu'scuta. 

 Dodeca'theon. — Primulacece. — 

 The American Cowslip. A very pretty 

 plant, to which Linnaeus gave a very 

 strange name : Dodecatheon signify- 

 ing the twelve Roman divinities. The 

 plant is a native of Virginia, and it is 

 generally considered quite hardy ; but 

 it is very difficult to keep. It should 

 be grown in the open ground, in a 

 sandy loam, in rather a shady situa- 

 tion, and kept moist. One reason of 

 its being lost is, that if the roots are 

 once suffered to become too dry, they 

 wither ; and when moisture is given, 

 they rot instead of reviving ; and an- 

 other reason is, that as the stem and 

 leaves die away in winter, the root is 

 often dug up and thrown away as 

 dead, by jobbing gardeners, who are 

 unacquainted with the plants of the 

 garden they are working in. To pre- 

 vent this, a mark of some kind should 



always be fixed in the ground in small 

 j gardens ; or when a new gardener is 

 ' employed, its situation should be 

 pointed out to him. There are 

 several garden varieties. 



Dog-tooth Violet — Erythrb- 

 nium dens canis, is a pretty bulbous- 

 rooted plant with spotted leaves and 

 purple flowers. There is a variety 

 with white flowers ; and E. Ameri- 

 cana has large dark yellow flowers. 

 The European kinds will grow in any 

 common garden soil, and do not re- 

 quire taking up ; but the American 

 species, which is much the handsomest, 

 is apt to waste its strength in pro- 

 ducing roots instead of flowers. For 

 this reason, it does best grown in well- 

 drained pots, in rather poor soil, or 

 what is better, in sandy peat. 

 Dog-wood. See Co'rnus. 

 Do'lichos. — Leguminosce. — 

 Climbing annual and perennial plants, 

 from the East and West Indies, ge- 

 nerally with purple or yellow pea- 

 flowers. The pods and seeds are 

 eatable, and in some cases also the 

 roots. Soy is made from the seeds 

 of one of the East India species. 

 They are generally grown in a stove ; 

 but most of the kinds will thrive in 

 green-house heat, particularly if 

 planted in the free ground in a con- 

 servatory, and trained up a pillar, or 

 over trellis-work. The soil for all 

 the species should be sandy loam. Z>. 

 Ldblab L., {Lablavia vulgaris D. 

 Don,) the Egyptian Bean, has splendid 

 dark purple flowers, and will grow 

 well in the open air, if treated as a 

 half-hardy annual. 



Doro'nicum. — Compositae. — Leo- 

 pard's Bane. Showy perennial plants, 

 with large dark yellow flowers, which 

 look very well in a border, and which 

 will grow with scarcely any care in 

 any common garden soil. One spe- 

 cies, a native of Siberia, has white 

 flowers. 



DoRTMA / NNiA.--Z/o6e/iac^.— Pro- 



