HYP 
<542 
fhape and colour with the under ones ; from among thefe 
leaves come out the peduncles, each fuftaining one fmall 
yellow flower. The fruit is a capfule, fhaped like a lili- 
que or pod, long, bowing, comprefied and ancipital, 
jointed with tranfverfe knots, and grooved with longitu¬ 
dinal ftreaks, many-celled ; the cells in a Angle longitu¬ 
dinal row, and fcarcely feparating fpontaneoufly. Seeds 
from ten to twenty, roundifh, cut off as it were on one 
fide, comprefied like a lens, fomewhat wrinkled, dotted in 
relievo, very dark brown, inferted alternately into the 
outer and lower angles of the cells. 'Native of the fouth 
of Europe; and cultivated before 1597 by Gerarde. It 
flowers in June and July, and the feeds ripen in Auguft. 
2. Hypecoum pendulum, or pendulous hypecoum: fili- 
ques pendent, not jointed, bivalved, incurvated. The fe- 
cond fort has flender ftalks, which Hand more ereCt, and 
the fegments of the leaves are longer and much narrower 
than thofe of the firft; the flowers are fmaller, and come 
out at the divifions of the branches. This flowers and 
feeds at the fame time with the firft. The flowers are 
yellow, like thofe of greater celandine, but lefs. Native 
of the fouth of France. Cultivated here in 164.0. 
3. Hypecoum ereCtum, or upright hypecoum : filiques 
ereCt, round, torulofe. This has much the appearance of 
the fecond fort in leaf and flower, but the pods grow 
ereCt, and are writhed and twifted about. It flowers and 
feeds at the fame time with the others. Ammann received 
the feeds from Dauria, and Miller from Iflria. In the 
Syftema Vegetabilium it is obferved, that the ftamens ap¬ 
pear to be tetradynamous. The juice of thefe plants is 
of a yellow colour, refembling that of celandine, and is 
affirmed to have the fame effeCt as opium. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants, being all annual, 
are propagated by feeds, which fliould be fown foon after 
they are ripe, on a bed of light frefh earth, where they 
are to remain ; for they feldom fucceed if tranfplanted. 
When the plants come up, clear them from weeds, and 
thin them to the diftance of fix or eight inches. When 
the feeds are fown in the fpring, and the feafon proves 
dry, they will not grow the firft year; but if the ground 
be kept clear from weeds, and not otherwife difturbed, 
the plants will come up the following fpring. The feeds 
will fometimes lie even till the third fpring. It is there¬ 
fore belt to fow them in autumn in a warm border; for 
thefe will make ltronger plants, more likely to perfeCt 
feeds, than thofe fown in fpring. The feeds, when fown, 
ihould be di veiled of their fungous covering, which ad¬ 
heres fo clofe that it prevents their growing till it is de¬ 
cayed. If the feeds be permitted to fcatter, they will fre¬ 
quently come up of themfelves, without any care. Thefe 
plants are feldom cultivated but by thofe who are curious 
in botany ; lince, however, they require little trouble, 
they may have a place in large gardens for variety ; and, 
as they take but little room, they may be intermixed with 
other fmall annual plants in large borders, where they 
will make a pretty appearance. 
HYPEI/ATE, f. [fo named by Browne, from vno, Gr. 
and otaT-j, a fir-tree.] In botany, a genus of the clafs 
polygamia, order monoecia. The generic characters are— 
I. Hermaphrodite flowers. Calyx : perianthium five¬ 
leaved, feldom four-leaved ; leaflets ovate, concave, thread¬ 
ing, deciduous; two lefs than the others. Corolla: petals 
five, ovate, .a little lefs than the calyx, deciduous ; with a 
nectariferous umbilicus about the germ. Stamina : fila¬ 
ments eight, fpreading, round the bale of the germ, the 
length of the corolla ; anthers ovate cordate. Piftillum : 
germ globular, fuperior ; ftyle fliort, upright; fligma bent 
down, three-iided, three-grooved, acute. Pericarpium : 
drupe pulpy, roundifh. Seed r nut oval, very fmooth, 
with a Angle kernel. II. Male flowers, on the fame tree, 
but on a diftinCt panicle. Calyx: and corolla: as in the 
hermaphrodite. NeCtary alfo as in that; from the mid¬ 
dle pf this, the ftamina : filaments eight, converging at the 
bafe, from ereCt reflex and afcending, broader at the bafe ; 
anther® ovate cordate. Piftillum : three-cornered rudi- 
H Y P 
ment of a germ, ftyle awl-fhaped, very final!,— Rffentiai 
CkaraRer. Calyx five-leaved ; corolla five-petalled 5 ftig- 
ma bent down, three-cornered ; drupe one-feeded. 
Hypelate trifoliata, or three-leaved hypelate : a Angle 
fpecies. It is a fhrubby tree, with feveral trunks, each 
as big as the human leg, ftraight, eight or nine feet high, 
covered with a fmooth cinnamon-coloured bark. The 
branches, riling upright, are all round befet with leaves, 
coming out at intervals of an inch, three always together, 
at the end of a common footftalk, a little foliofe or flat, 
with extant narrow ala, each an inch long, half as 
broad near the farther end, where broadeft, and round, 
beginning narrow, and augmenting to the extremity, of a 
yellowifh green colour, very fmooth, having one middle 
rib, and fome tranfverfe ones. Browne obferves, that it 
is full of flender branches, and furnifhed with many leaves 
of the fame texture and grain with thofe of lignum-vitas, 
but remarkably different both in form and difpofition. 
He had never feen the fruit in a perfeCt ftate. Native of 
Jamaica, where it is very common in the low lands. 
HY'PER, a Greek prepofition frequently ufed in com- 
pofition, where it denotes excefs; its literal bonification 
being above, or beyond. 
HY'PER, f. [A word barbaroufly curtailed by Prior 
from kypercritic.'] A hypercritic ; one more critical than 
neceftity requires : 
Critics I read on other men. 
And hypers upon them again. Prior. 
HYPERAN'THERA,/ Nephritic Wood ; in bota¬ 
ny, a genus of the clafs decandria, order monogynia. Ge¬ 
neric eflential characters—Calyx five-parted; petals five, 
unequal, inferted into protuberances ; feeds winged. 
Species. 1. Hyperanthera decandria : flowers ten-male ; 
leaves moftly doubly pinnate ; lower leaflets ternate ; le¬ 
gumes about eight-fided. Inhabits India. 
a. Hyperanthera moringa: flowers half ten-male; leaves 
fub-bipinnate; lower leaflets ternate; legumes three- 
fided. Inhabits Ceylon and America. 
3. Hyperanthera lemidecandra flowers half ten-male ; 
leaves doubly pinnate, limply pinnate at the tip. Inha¬ 
bits Arabia. 
4. Hyperanthera Cochincliinenfis: flowers half ten-male; 
leaves doubly pinnate, Amply pinnate at the tip. Inha¬ 
bits Cochin-china. 
HYPER'BATON, / [from virs<>, Gr. over, and fixiva, 
to pafs.] A figure of fpeech in which there is a confufed 
arrangement of the thoughts, expreffive of fome ftrong or 
violent paffion of the fpeaker. 
HYPER'BOLA, f. [/ hyperbole , Fr. vxip, and / 3 aXA«, Gr.] 
In geometry, a feftion of a cone made by a plane, fo that 
the axis of the feCtion inclines to the oppofite leg of the 
cone, which in the parabola is parallel to it, and in the 
ellipfis interfeCts it. See the article Conic Sections, vol. v, 
p. 85. 
HYPER'BOLE, f. [ hyperbole , Fr. vireffio/ui, Gr.] A. 
figure in rhetoric by which any thing is increafed or di- 
minifhed beyond the exaCl truth : as, He runs /after than 
lightning. His pojfejftons are fallen to duft. He was fo gaunt 3 
the cafe of a fagellet was a manfon for him. Shakefpeare. 
An objeCt uncommon with refpeCt to fize, either very 
great of its kind or very little, ftrikes us with furprife 5 
and this emotion forces upon the mind a momentary 
conviftion that the objeCt is greater or lefs than it is in 
reality. The fame effeCl precilely attends figurative gran¬ 
deur or littlenefs; and hence the hyperbole, which ex- 
preffes this momentary conviction. A writer, taking ad¬ 
vantage of this natural delufion, enriches his defcriptiora 
greatly by the hyperbole ; and the reader, even in his 
coolelt moments, relifhes this figure, being fenfibie that it 
is the operation of nature upon a warm fancy. 
It cannot have efcaped obfervation, that a writer is ge¬ 
nerally more fuccefsful in magnifying by an hyperbole 
than in diminifhing. The reafon is, that a minute object 
contracts the mind, and fetters its powers of imagination; 
but 
