It H U 
R I B 
ii r c 
long heart-shaped lobes. The dowers are 
produced in dose tufts at the end of the 
branches, and are succeeded by seeds, in- 
dosed in purple woolly succulent covers ; 
so that the bunches are of a beautiful purple 
colour in autumn; and the leaves, before 
they fall in autumn, change to a purplish co- 
lour at first, and before they fall to a feuilie- 
mort. It has got the name of the vinegar- 
plant from the double reason of the young 
gennen of its fruit, when fermented, pro- 
ducing either new or adding to the strength 
of old weak vinegar, whilst its ripe berries 
afford an agreeable acid, which might supply 
Itlie place when necessary of the citric acid. 
[The powerful astringency of this plant in all 
| its parts recommends it as useful in several 
[of the arts. As for example, the ripe berries 
I boiled with alum make a good dye for hats. 
The plant in all its parts may be used as a 
succedaneum for oak-bark in tanning, espe- 
cially the white glove-leather. It will like- 
wise answer to prepare a dye for black, green, 
and yellow colours ; and with martial vitriol 
it makes a good ink. The milky juice that 
flows from incisions made in the trunk or 
branches, makes, when dried, the basis of a 
[varnish little inferior to the Chinese. Bees 
fare remarkably fond of its flowers; and it 
j affords more honey than any of the flowering 
: shrubs. The natives of America use the 
j dried leaves as tobacco. 
3. The glabrum, with winged leaves, grows 
naturally in many parts of North America : 
this is commonly called by the gardeners 
New England sumach. The stem of this 
is stronger and rises higher than that of the 
former ; the branches spread more horizon- 
tally ; the flowers are disposed in loose pan- 
icles, which are of an herbaceous colour. 
4. The elegans, with sawed winged leaves, 
grows naturally in Carolina : the seeds of this 
were brought thence by the late Mr. Catesby. 
This is by the gardeners called the scarlet 
Carolina sumach: it rises commonly to the 
height of seven or eight feet, dividing into 
many irregular branches, which are smooth, 
of a purple colour, and pounced over with a 
greyish powder, as are also the footstalks of 
the leaves. The leaves are composed of 
seven or eight pair of lobes terminated by an 
odd one. The upper sides of the lobes are 
of a dark green, and their under hoary but 
smooth. The flowers are produced at the 
end of the branches in very close panicles, 
which are large, and of a bright-red colour. 
5. The copallinum, or narrow-leaved su- 
mach, grows naturally in most parts of North 
America, where it is known by the title of 
beach sumach, probably from the place 
where it grows. This is of humbler growth 
than either of the former, seldom rising more 
than four or five feet high in Britain, dividing 
into many spreading branches, which are 
smooth, of a light brown colour, with winged 
ieaves, compose-:! of four or live pair of nar- 
row lobes, terminated by an odd one ; they 
are of a light green on both sides. The 
flowers are produced in loose panicles at the 
end of the branches, of a yellowish herba- 
ceous colour. 
These are hardy plants, and will thrive in 
the open air here. The first and fourth sorts 
are not quite so hardy as the others, so must 
have a better situation, otherwise their 
branches will be injured by severe frost in 
the winter. 
6. Besides these, Linnaeus has- included in 
this genus lire toxicodendron, or poison-tree, 
under the name of rhus vernix, or poison-ashl 
This grows naturally in Virginia, Pennsylva- 
nia, New England, Carolina, and Japan, 
rising with a strong woody stalk to the height 
of twenty leet and upwards ; though in this 
country it is seldom seen above twelve, by 
reason of the plant's being extremely tender. 
The bark is brown, inclining to grey ; the 
leaves winged, and composed of three or 
four pair of lobes, terminated by an odd one. 
The lobes vary greatly in their shape, but 
for the most part they are oval and spear- 
shaped. The footstalks become of a bright 
purple towards the latter part of summer, 
and in autumn all the leaves are of a beauti- 
ful purple before they fall off’. 
All the species of sumach abound with an 
acrid milky juice, which is reckoned poison- 
ous; but this property is most remarkable in 
the vernix. 
The natives are said to distinguish this tree 
in' the dark by its extreme coldness to the 
touch. The juice of some kinds of sumach, 
when exposed to the heat of the sun, be- 
comes so thick and clammy, that it is used 
for bird-lime, and the inspissated juice of the 
poison-ash is said to be the line varnish of 
Japan. A cataplasm made with the fresh 
juice of the poison-ash, applied to the feet, 
is said by Hughes, in his Natural History of 
Barbadoes, to kill the vermin called by the 
West Indians chigers. The resin called gum 
copal is from the rhus copallinum. See Co- 
pa l. 
RHYME. See Poetry. 
RHYTHMICAL, in music, an epithet 
applied to the property or quality, in the an- 
tient melopoeia and modern melody, by which 
the cadences, accents, and quantities, are re- 
gulated and determined. 
RIAL, or Ryal. See Coin. 
Rial, or Royal, is also the name of a 
piece of gold, antiently current among us for 
ten shillings. 
RIBBAND, or Ribbon, a narrow sort of 
silk, chiefly used for head-ornaments, badges 
of chivalry, &c. 
RIBES, the currant and gooseberry-bush, 
a genus of the monogynia order, in the pen- 
tandria class of plants, and in the natural me- 
thod ranking under the 36th order, pomaces. 
There are live petals, and stamina inserted 
into the calyx ; the style is bilid; the berry 
polyspennous, inferior. The currant and the 
gooseberry were long considered each, as a 
separate genus ; ribes the currant, and gros- 
sularia the gooseberry ; but they are now 
joined together, the grossuiaria being made 
a species of ribes ; all the currant kinds hav- 
ing inermous or thornless branches, and race- 
mous clusters of flowers and fruit ; and the 
gooseberry having spinous branches, and 
flowers and fruit for the most part singly. 
There are ten species of the currant-tree, 
two of which, and their varieties, merit cul- 
ture for their fruit: all are inermous or un- 
armed, having no thorns on the branches. 
1. The rubrum, grows naturally in woods 
and the hedges in most parts of Europe, and 
comprises all sorts of red and white currants; 
as common small red currant, large-bunched 
red currant, Champaigne pale-red currant, 
common small white currant, large white 
Dutch currant, yellow biotched-leaved cur- 
rant, silver-strined-leaved, gold-striped-leaved, 
4 E 2 
587 
gooseberry-leaved. All these sorts are varie* 
ties of one species, ribes rubrum, or common 
red currant; it being the parent from which 
all the others were first obtained trom the 
seed, and improved by culture. 
2. The nigrum, or black-currant tree. 
The fruit of this species being of a strong 
flavour, and somewhat physical relish, is not 
generally liked: it, however, is accounted 
very wholesome. There is also made of it 
a syrup of high estimation for sore throats 
and quinsies. There is a variety called the 
Pennsylvanian black currant, having smaller 
shoots, and leaves not strong-scented, and 
small fruit but of little value. 
Of the gooseberry, there are seven species. 
Tiie most remarkable are, 
1. The grossuiaria, or rough hairy goose- 
berry bush. It consists of many varieties, 
of different sizes and colours. 
2. The reclinatum, or reclinated broad- 
leaved gooseberry bush. 
3. The oxyacanthoides, or oxyacaRtha- 
leaved gooseberry, with largish trilobate haw- 
thorn leaves. 
4. The uva crispa, or smooth gooseberry. 
5. The cvnosbati, or prirkly-fruited goose- 
berry-bush, has a shrubby stem and branches, 
armed with spines, mostly at the axiilas, and 
prickly fruit in clusters. 
RIBS. See Anatomy. 
RICCIA, a genus of the natural order of 
algae, belonging to the cryptogamia class of 
plants. There is no calyx, but a vesicular 
cavity within the substance of the leaf. 
There is no corolla; the anthers: are cylin- 
drical and sessile, placed on the germen, 
which is turbinated ; the stile is filiform, per- 
forating the anthera ; and the seed-case is 
spherical, crowned with the withered anthe- 
rs ; the seeds are hemispherical and pedi- 
ce Hated. There are five species. 
R1CHARDIA, a genus of the monogynia 
order, in the hexandria class of plants, and 
in the natural method ranking under the 47th 
order, stellats. The calyx is sexpartite ; the 
corolla monopetalous and subey linclricat ; and 
there are three seeds. There is one species, 
a herb of Vera Cruz. 
RICIIERIA, a genus of the class and or- 
der dioecia pentandria. The capsule is cor- 
tical, six-valved, three- celled ; seeds soli- 
tary ; stile trifiil. There is one species, a. 
tree of the West Indies. 
R ICINUS, or Palma Christi, a genus 
of the monadelphia order, in the monoecia 
class of plants, and in the natural method 
ranking under the 3-8 1 h order, tricocca?. The 
male calyx is quinquepartite ; there is no 
corolla; the stamina numerous. The female 
calyx is tripartite ; there is no corolla, but 
three bifid styles, with a trilocular capsule, 
and a single seed. There are six species, of 
which the most remarkable is the communis, 
or common palma Christi. I his tree is of speedy 
growth, as in one year it arrives at its full height, 
which seldom exceeds twenty feet. The 
trunk is subligiieous ; the pith is large; the 
leaves broad and palmated ; the flower-spike 
is simple, and thickly set with yellow bio - 
soms in the shape of a cone; the capsules 
are triangular and prickly, containing three 
smooth grey mottled seeds. When the 
bunches begin to turn black, they are g*- 
thered, dried in the sun, and the seeds picked 
