Vl'SCTJM. 



301 



volkame'ria. 



moisture, but where their roots will 

 not be exposed to the effects of stag- 

 nant water. 



Viper's Bugloss — See Echium. 



Viper's Grass — See Scorzonera. 



Virgi'lia — Leguminosa. A very 

 handsome low tree, a native of North 

 America, with drooping racemes of 

 white flowers, resembling in form 

 those of the laburnum. It grows freely 

 in any sandy soil. 



Virginian Creeper — See A mpe- 

 lopsis. 



Virginian Poke — See Phylo- 

 lacca. 



Virgin's Bower — See Clematis. 



Vi'scum — Loranthacece. — The 

 Misletoe. This curious parasite can 

 hardly be called ornamental, though 

 it may be sometimes introduced with 

 effect, to give an air of antiquity to 

 newly planted pleasure-grounds. It 

 grows best on old cankered apple-trees, 

 but it may be made to take root on 

 even a young tree, by slightly wound- 

 ing the bark and inserting a ripe seed. 

 It must be observed, however, that as 

 the male and female flowers of the 

 misletoe are on separate plants, the 

 berries are not always fertile. It is a 

 vulgar error to suppose that the 

 misletoe grows generally on the oak, 

 as it is extremely rare on that tree 

 in England ; it is found most com- 

 monly on the apple, and next on the 

 hawthorn ; it is also found on the 

 lime, the sycamore, the willow, the 

 poplar, and the ash, occasionally on 

 the cherry, and sometimes, though 

 rarely, on pines and firs. When the 

 seeds begin to grow, they send out 

 first one or two roots, which ascend 

 for a short time, and then turn back 

 to the bark, on which they fix them- 

 selves, like the sucker of an insect. 

 The other end afterwards detaches 



itself from the tree, and becomes 

 leaves and shoots. The roots of the 

 misletoe descend between the bark 

 and the young wood, and no intimate 

 union takes place between the old 

 wood of the parasite and its supporter. 

 This is plainly shown in a piece of an 

 old thorn, given to me by H. Long, 

 Esq., of Farnham Lodge, to which a 

 misletoe of very large dimensions was 

 attached. The wood of the misletoe 

 is of a very fine pale yellowish tinge, 

 and it is as hard and of as fine a 

 grain as box, which it greatly resem- 

 bles, while that of the thorn is dark 

 brown. 



Vi^tex — VerbenacecB. The chaste 

 tree. The principal species are V. 

 Agnus-castus, which is a dwarf 

 shrub, with whitish flowers, which 

 will grow in any common soil, and will 

 generally stand out in British gardens, 

 though it is sometimes killed by a 

 severe winter ; and V. incisa, which 

 has pretty palmate leaves and purple 

 flowers, but it is so long before it puts 

 out its leaves in spring, and looks so 

 much as though it were dead before 

 its leaves expand, that it is often 

 thrown aside as worthless, when it is 

 in perfect vigour ; it is generally kept 

 in a greenhouse, and grows in peat 

 and loam. Besides these, there are 

 several hothouse species, natives of 

 the East Indies, which are not worth 

 cultivating. 



Vi x tis — AmpelidecB — See Vine. 



Volkame x ria — VerbenacecB. — 

 Nearly all the plants formerly in- 

 cluded in this genus have been re- 

 moved to Clerodendrum ; and it 

 now contains only two species ; one a 

 stove shrub with white flowers, from 

 the West Indies ; and the other a half- 

 hardy tree with purple flowers from 

 Nepaul. 



