DIEFFENBA CHI A 
360 
is the ‘dumb cane’ of the W. Ind.; its juice is very acrid and renders 
speechless a person who chews a piece of the stem. It was formerly 
used in torturing slaves. 
Dielytra Cham, et Schlecht. = Dicentra Bernh. 
Diervilla Tourn. ex Linn. ( Weigelia Thunb.). Caprifoliaceae (4). 
8 sp. E. As., N. Am. D. florida Sieb. et Zucc., and others, are 
favourite garden shrubs. The fir. is adapted to bees and changes 
colour after fertilisation (? only the effect of age); see Ribes, Fu- 
maria, &c. 
Dietes Salisb. = Moraea Linn. 
Digitalis (Tourn.) Linn. Scrophulariaceae (ill. 10). 22 sp. Eur., W. 
As., Canary Is. D. purpurea L., the foxglove, is common in Brit. 
The firs, are in racemes, which become one-sided by twisting of the 
peduncles. They are adapted to fertilisation by bees. The leaves 
are officinal, containing the poisonous alkaloid digitalin. 
Digitaria Heist, ex Adans. = Panicum Linn. 
Digraphis Trin. = Phalaris Linn. 
Dillenia Linn. (excl. Wormia Rottb.) Dilleniaceae. 25 sp. trop. As. 
to Austr. 
Dilleniaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Parietales). 12 gen. with 180 
sp., trop. They are especially well represented in the Australian 
‘ scrub ’ vegetation. Most are trees and shrubs (many lianes) with 
alt. usually leathery leaves and cymose infl. Fir. £ . K 5, or 3, 4 or 
even 00, spiral, persistent after flowering; C usually 5; A 00 , hypo- 
gynous, free or united at base. Cpls. 00 — 1, free or more or less 
united; styles usually free. Ovules 00 — 1, erect, anatropous, with 
ventral raphe. Placentae usually inconspicuous, unthickened. Seed 
always with a funicular aril united to the testa. Endosperm copious ; 
embryo small, straight. Chief genera : Hibbertia, Dillenia. Placed 
in Ranales, with which they have much in common, by Benth.- 
Hooker, in Cistiflorae by Warming. For details of the interesting 
floral morphology see Nat, Pf. 
Dimorphandra Schott. Leguminosae (11. 1). 10 sp. trop. Am. 
Dimorphanthus Miq. =Aralia Tourn. 
Dimorphotheca Vaill. ex Linn. Compositae (x). 20 sp. S. Afr. 
There are two kinds of fruit on the head (cf. Calendula). 
Dionaea Ellis. Droseraceae. 1 sp. Carolina. D. muscipula Ellis, well 
known under the name of Venus’ fly-trap. It grows in damp mossy 
places on the ‘pine-barrens.’ There is a short rhizome bearing a 
rosette of leaves, which lie close to the soil. Each has a lower and 
an upper blade ; the former may be regarded as a winged petiole, the 
latter has a quadrangular shape and the margins project as long teeth 
close together like those of a comb. The two halves of this part of 
the leaf are bent upwards so as to present a flat V-form in section. 
The edge of each half is green, the inner part of the surface is covered 
with reddish dots, which under the microscope are seen to be diges* 
