Die 
dice: 1. By sticking a hog’s bristle in them 
so as to make them run high or low as they 
please, 2. By drilling and loading them 
with quicksilver ; which cheat is found out 
by holding them gently by two diagonal 
corners; for if false the heavy sides will 
turn always down. 3. By filing and round- 
ing themv But all these ways fall far short 
of the art of the dice makers; some of 
whom are so dextrous this way that sharp- 
ing gamesters will give any money for their 
assistance. 
DICERA, in botany, a genus of the Po- 
lyandria Monogynia class and order. Essen- 
tial cliaracter : petals four or five, obovate, 
trifid ; nectary four or five emarginate cor- 
puscles^ anthers two-horned. There are 
two species, D. dentata, is an elegant tree, 
bearing at the exti'femities of the branches 
almndance of leaves, which are alternate, 
oval, bluntish, smootli, petioled, with a 
double gland at their base ; flowers on very 
minute pedicles, nodding ; stamens sixteen 
when there are four, and twenty when 
there are five petals ; pistil single ; fruit an 
oval berry, with a hard stone in it. It is 
preserved in its unripe state in the manner 
of olives. It is a native of New Zealand. 
D. serrata, agrees in the structure of the 
flower with the preceding, but differs in 
the fruit. This is also a native of New 
Zealand. 
DICHONDRA, in botany, a genus of 
the Pentandria Digynia class .and order. 
Natural order of Asperifoliae. Borragineae, 
Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five- 
leaved; corolla rotate, inferior; capsule 
dicoccous. There is but one species, viz. 
D. repens, a native of Peru, Jamaica, and 
New Zealand. 
DICKSONIA, in botany, so called in 
honour of Mr. James Dickson, a genus of 
the Cryptogamia Filices class and order. 
Natural order of Filices, or Feras. Generic 
character : fructifications kidney-shaped, 
lying under the edge of the frond at the 
lower surface ; outer valve formed of the 
substance of the leaf itself ; inner membra- 
aiaceous ; involucre double, one from the 
surface, opening outwards ; the other from 
the inflated margin of the frond, often em- 
bracing the former, opening inwards. There 
are thirteen species, D. arborescens, tree 
dicksonia, was found by Sir Joseph Banks 
in the island of St. Helena. It flowers most 
part of the w’iuter. And D. culcita, shining- 
leaved dicksonia, is found in the island of 
Madeira, where it is called feila brom. 
The inhabitants make pillows and cusliions 
Die 
of the roots. It is supposed (Phil. Trans. 
1698) that this plant and the Scythian 
Lamb are one and the same, though they 
come from countries so remote. 
DICOTYLEDONS, plants whose seeds 
have two side-lobes, and consequently rise 
with two seminal leaves. Most plants are 
of this kind. See Cotyledons. 
In the lip and masqued flowere, the didy- 
namia of Linnmns, and in plants w'hOse 
seed-vessel is of the apple, cherry, or pod 
kind, the seqd-leaves rise unaltered; that 
is, without any farther extension or deve- 
lopement than when they made part of the 
seed. In the mallow, and the cross-shaped 
flowers, they appear double ; in buck- wheat 
they are rolled up; in cotton, folded or 
plaited; in salt wort and all the pot-herbs, 
they are spiral, or twisted like a screw. 
DICRANIUM, in botany, a genus of the 
Cryptogamia Musci class and order. Cap- 
. sule ovate, oblong ; fringe simple, of six- 
teen broadish, inflected, cloven teeth. This 
is a very numerous genus, divided into two 
sections : A. teeth of the fringe unconnect- 
ed at the base ; B. teeth of the fringe con- 
nected at the base. 
DICTAMNUS, in botany, English ^a.r- 
inellof a genus of the Decandria Monogynia 
class and order. Natural order of Multi- 
silique, Rutaceae, Jussieu. Essential cha- 
racter t calyx five-leaved ; petals five, patu- 
lous ; filaments having glandulous dots scat- 
tered over them; capsule five, conjoined. 
There are two species, of which D. albus, 
fraxinella, has a perennial root, striking 
deep into the ground, and the head an- 
nually increasing in size; stalks many, two 
or three feet high; flowers in a long pyra- 
midal loose spike, or raceme, nine ot ten 
inches long ; calyx deeply five-cleft ; seg- 
ments lanceolate, obtuse, the three upper 
red, the two lower green ; corolla large and 
handsome ; the natural Colour pale-purple, 
with dark purple veins,varying to white. The 
whole plant, especially when gently rub- 
bed, emits an Odour like that of lemon- 
peel ; when bruised it has something of a 
balsamic scent : this scent is strongest in 
tlie pedicles of the flowers, which are cover- 
ed with glands of a rusty red colour, ex- 
uding a viscid juice or resin, which exhales 
in vapour, and in a dark place may be seen 
to take fire. Fraxinella is a native of Ger- 
many, France, Spain, Austria, and Italy. 
It flowers with us about the end of May, 
or early in June ; the seeds ripen in Sep- 
tember. For its beauty and fine scent it 
deserves a place in every good garden. 
Kk2 
