D I O 
elliptic, obtufe, fmooth. 15. Diofma ciliata, or ciliated 
diofma : leaves lanceolate, ciliate, wrinkled. 16. Diof¬ 
ma ere nata, or crenated diofma : leaves lanceolate-oval, 
oppofite, glandular-crenate ; flowers folitary. 17. Diof¬ 
ma nniflora, or one-flowered diofma: leaves ovate-ob¬ 
long; flowers folitary, terminating. 
18. Diofma pulchella, or oval-leaved diofma : leaves 
ovate, obtufe, glandular-crenate ; flowers twin, axillary. 
Though this was placed among the hartogias, yet the 
flowers are hermaphrodite, but the fruit is three-celled. 
The horns of the germ are each of them terminated by 
two glands. The Hottentots life the leaves of this fpe- 
cies dried and powdered, under the name of bucku, to 
mix with the greafe with which they anoint themfelves. 
It gives them fo rank an odour, that Thunberg fays, he 
fometimes could not bear the fmell of the men who drove 
his waggon. 
19. Diofma Afiatica, or Afiatic diofma: leaves lan¬ 
ceolate, alternate; racemes fubterminating. This is a 
fmall tree, fix feet high, fpreading, and very much 
branched; flowers yellow ; feeds without any aril. Na¬ 
tive of Cochin-china. 
Propagation and Culture. Ail thefe plants are propa¬ 
gated by cuttings, which may be planted during any of 
the fummer months, in pots filled with light frefli earth, 
and plunged into a very moderate hot-bed, where they 
fliould be fliaded in the day-time from the fun, and fre¬ 
quently refreftied with water. In about two months the 
cuttings will have taken root, when they fliould be each 
tranfplanted into a fmall pot, and placed in a fliady fitua- 
tion until the plants have taken frefli root, when they 
may be placed among other exotic plants, in a flieltered 
fituation. Thefe plants may remain abroad until the 
beginning of October or later, if the feafon continues fa¬ 
vourable ; for they only require to be flieltered from 
froft, fo that in a dry airy green-houfe they may be pre- 
ferved very well in winter, and in fummer they may be 
expofed to the open air, with other green-houfe plants. 
The fecond fort frequently ripens its feed in England ; 
but, if the feeds are not fow'n foon after they are ripe, 
they rarely grew, or at lead lie a whole year in the 
ground. 
DIOS'POI.IS, in ancient geography, a city of the 
Delta or Lower Egypt, to the fouth of the Bulimic 
branch, before it divides into two. Another of Bithy- 
nia, in the territory of Heraclea. A third, called Magna, 
denoting Thebae of the Higher Egypt. A fourth, DioJL 
polis Parva, the metropolis of the Nomos Diofpolites of 
the Higher Egypt. A fifth, Diojpolis of Samaria, the 
fame with Lydda. A fixtli, Diojpolis, the ancient name 
of Laodicea of Phrygia on the Lycus. 
DIOSPY'ROS, J. [Aio; TTtpo;, Gr. corn or wheat of 
Jupiter, or divine wheat.] The Indian Date Plum : 
in botany, a genus of the clafs polygamia, order dioecia, 
(odtandria monogynia, Thunb. &c.) natural order bicornes, 
(guaiacanae, JuJJ.) The generic chara&ers are—I. Her¬ 
maphrodite female. Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, 
four-cleft, large, obtufe, permanent. Corolla: one-pe- 
talled, pitcher-fhaped, larger, four-cleft; divifions (harp, 
fpreading. Stamina : filaments eight, briftle-form, fliort, 
almoft inferted into the receptacle ; antherse oblong, un¬ 
productive. Piftillum : germ roundifli ; ftyle Angle, 
half four-cleft, permanent, longer than the ftamens; 
ftigmas obtufe, two-cleft. Pericarpium : berry globofe, 
large, eight-celled, fitting on a very large fpreading ca¬ 
lyx. Seed: folitary, roundifli, comprelled, very hard. 
I. Male in a diftinft plant. Calyx: perianthium one- 
leafed, four-cleft, fharp, upright, fmall. Corolla: one- 
petalled, pitcher-fhaped, leathery, four-cornered, four- 
cle.t ; divifions roundifli, rolled back. Stamina : fila¬ 
ments eight, very fliort, inferted into the receptacle ; 
antherae double, long lliarp; the interior fliorter. Pif¬ 
tillum: rudiment of a germ.— EJfential CkaraBcr. Her¬ 
maphrodite. Calyx, four-cleft; corolla, pitcher-lhaped, 
four-cleft; ftamina, eight; ftyle, four-cleft j berry, eighu 
Vol. V. No. 319. 
D I O S45 
feeded. Male. Calyx, corolla, and ftamina, of the 
other. 
This genus ought certainly to be reduced to the clafs 
odtandria, for there is a ftyle in all the flowers, though 
it is not always fertile; and all the flowers are herma¬ 
phrodite. Loureiro fays, that trees of this fpecies are 
fometimes found, though feldom, with male flowers only. 
Species. 1. Diofpyros lotus, or European date-plum ; 
the two furfaces of the leaves of different colours. The 
fmaller branches fpread a little, and are yellowifli; leaves 
oval-lanceolate, large, quite entire, paler underneath, 
fomewhat hoary, with the veins fomewhat hairy ; flowers 
fmall, reddifti-white, rotate ; fruit the fine of a cherry, 
yellow when ripe, fweet with aftringency, feflile in the 
bofom of the leaves, within the calyx, which is increafed, 
fomewhat cartilaginous, flatted, ufually five-cleft, feldom 
four-cleft. Thefe berries are recommended as a cure 
for the diarrheea. Loureiro deferibes it as a fmall tree, 
fix feet high, with fpreading branches ; leaves ovate-lan¬ 
ceolate, quite entire, large, alternate, fmooth, with ob¬ 
lique prominent ribs ; flowers pale, terminating, folitary, 
with a very large leafy calyx, four or five-parted, flat, 
permanent; berry round, half an inch in diameter, yel¬ 
low, lanuginole, one-celled, containing eight oblong- 
comprelfed bony feeds, with very little pulp. The 
broad-leaved variety grows up into very large trees in 
the fouthern parts of Caucafus. It is alfo abundantly 
native of the woods of Hyrcania and the whole coaft of 
the Cafpian. Gefner was informed that it grows on the 
mountains about Verona; and Mr. Ray is pretty confi¬ 
dent that he faw it in his way from Lerici to Lucca, not 
far from the latter. In the woods on the hills about 
Turin, plentifully about Lyons, and on the eaftern coaft 
of Africa, whence it is fuppoled to have firft come to 
Europe. 
2. Diofpyros Virginiana, or American date-plum : the 
two furfaces of the leaves of the fame colour. The 
wood of the American date-plum is very hard, but brit¬ 
tle and fomewhat white; the branches are many, and 
grow (lender to the end, covered with a very thin green- 
ifli bark ; leaves many, broad, green, without dent or 
notch on the edges, fo like the former, that it feems to 
be the fame. Our European lotus, however, has a 
lighter coloured bark, on the branches inclining to yel¬ 
low, on the twigs yellow and (hilling; the American has 
a dark brown bark on the branches, and on the twigs it 
is greyifli from pubefcence, fo that they are foft to the 
touch, whereas the others are fmooth. The leaves of the 
firft are in general much narrower, lefs pointed, more 
fliining on their upperfurface, not pubefeent on the under, 
but rather glaucous ; thofe of the fecond are grey on the 
back, and pubefeent, particularly the midrib and petiole; 
fruit in form and bignefs like a date, very firm like that 
fruit, and almoft as fweet, with a great flat thick kernel 
within, very like thofe of the former, but larger. It 
rifes (in England) to the height of fourteen or fixteen 
feet, but generally divides into many irregular trunks 
near the ground, fo that it is very rare to fee a handfome 
tree of this fort. It produces plenty of fruit in England, 
but it never comes to perfedlion. If it be eaten while it 
is green, (as captain Smith relates, in the difeovery of 
Virginia,) it draws the mouth awry by its harfti and bind¬ 
ing tafte, but when ripe it is pleafant. This is not the 
cafe till it has been mellowed by the froft; it is then 
very fweet and glutinous, with a little aftringency ; and 
a confiderable quantity may be eaten without inconveni¬ 
ence. In North America they make a palatable liquor 
with this fruit and malt; they alfo draw a fpirit from it. 
The time of ripening is from the end of September to 
December. The wood of this tree is very good for 
joiner’s tools, fuch as planes, handles to chifels, &c. but 
it foon rots if expofed to the weather. It fpreads very 
much, and is not eafy to extirpate ; but, in the northern 
provinces of the American States, it is often killed by 
froft in hard winters. In Virginia and Carolina there is 
to F great 
