344 
NYC 
NYC 
fhaped; tube cylindric, the length of the calyx; border 
five-parted, fp reading, with the lobes two-lobed. Sta¬ 
mina : filaments two, in the middle of the tube, very 
(hort; antherae oblong, the length of the tube. Piftil- 
lum: germen fuperior, fubovate; ftyle filiform, the 
length of the tube ; ftigmas two, acute. Pericarpium : 
capfule obovate, comprefled, with an emarginate dagger- 
point, coriaceous, two-celled, bipartile ; cells parallel, 
oppreiTed, valvelefs. Seeds : folitary, obovate, convex on 
•one fide, flat on the other, faftened to the bottom of the 
cell. The corolla appears for the moft part to be five- 
parted ; but it is fometimes fix or feven parted, and Lin¬ 
naeus obferved it to be four-parted.— EJpmtial Character. 
Corolla falver-lhaped, with truncated fegments ; capfule 
two-celled, margined; feeds folitary. 
i. Nyftanthes arbor triltris, fquare-flalked nyftanthes, 
forrowtul tree, or Indian mourner: Item four-cornered ; 
‘leaves ovate-acuminate ; pericarpium membranaceous, 
comprefled. This is a flirub, with four-cornered rugged 
branches. Leaves oppofite, petioled, ovate, oblong, quite 
entire, longer than the branch-joints, rugged on both 
fides; peduncles axillary, oppofite, folitary, four-cor¬ 
nered, fliorter by half than the leaf, two-leaved at top, 
with three-flowered pedicels; leaflets obovate, the length 
of the calyxes, blunt, containing three feflile florets; co¬ 
rolla funnel-lhaped, with a fix or eight cleft border; cap- 
i'ule coriaceous, fuperior, obcordate or obovate, turgidly 
lenticular, in the twin middle ventricofe, and marked 
with a longitudinal elevated fireak, comprefled at the fides 
into a narrow fliarp margin ; the reft brittle, two-celled, 
bipartile; with the fegments plano-convex, of a brown 
cliefnut-colour on the outfide, pale within, quite entire, 
valvelefs. Receptacle none; feed faftened to the bottom 
of the cell, obovate, moderately acuminate downwards, 
convex on one fide, flat on the other, brown. Native of 
the Eaft Indies. Introduced in 1781, by fir Jofeph 
Banks. 
The other fpecies fliould have been united to Jasminum'; 
but, having been omitted under that genus, are given 
here rather than omit them entirely. 
. 2. Nyftanthes undulata, or wave-leaved nyftanthes: 
leaves ovate, acuminate, waved ; branches round. This 
is a flirub, attaining the height of a man. The young 
Ihoots are'hairy. Leaves fliining green, iinooth, even, in 
pairs from the joints, bitter, without any fmell. Flowers 
white, three or five together. Fruit fuperior, fmooth and 
black like a fmall cherry, with a thin fkin, and a foft 
dark-red fweetifh pulp, containing a round hairy feed. 
Native of the Eaft Indies, where it is much cultivated on 
account of the fweetnefs of the flowers, which the wo¬ 
men there wear in their hair. 
3. Nyftanthes fiirfuta, or hairy nyftanthes : petioles 
and peduncles villofe. This is a tall tree, with a thick 
trunk of a clofe white wood, covered with a dark purple, 
fmooth, inodorous, infipid bark. Leaves oppofite, de- 
cuflated, acuminate, foft, fmooth, (billing, dark green 
above, on round rufous lanuginous petioles. Flowers 
on the more tender branches, on long rufous lanugi¬ 
nous peduncles, from the axils of the leaves ; three, 
four, or more, together; white, fmelling very fweet, 
opening during the night, and fading at fun-rife. Native 
of the Eaft Indies and China. 
4. Nyftanthes anguftifolia, or narrow-leaved nyftan¬ 
thes : leaves obtufe, Lanceolate, and ovate. Rheede com¬ 
pares this with Jafminum fambac, and fays that the twigs 
are of a more dufky green approaching to brown ; the 
leaves fometimes more oblong, yet without any point, 
fometimes wider, oppofite, petioled, of a more dufky 
green than any of the reft, and of a bitter tafte. The 
fmell is very fine. Native of Malabar, in a fandy foil ; 
as about Cranganoor, Catoer, &c. flow'ering in June and 
July. 
5. Nyftanthes elongata, or long-leaved nyftanthes : 
leaves cordate lanceolate-ovate elongated and fmaller, 
branches round. Branches round, the upper ones villofe. 
Leaves fmooth ; the lower ones cordate, ovate. Flowers 
terminating, five or fix in a fort of umbel; calyx very 
fmall, with the fegments awl-fnaped, and hairy. Tube 
of the corolla thickened above. Native of the Eaft In¬ 
dies. This is (hown, of half the natural iize, on the pre¬ 
ceding Plate, at fig. 3. 
6. Nyftanthes vjminia, or ofier-like nyftanthes: 
branches round elongated, leavesovate acuminate; pedun¬ 
cles, axillary one-flowered; terminating ones three-flow¬ 
ered. This is a (hrub with weak fmooth branches, like 
ofiers. Koenig Cent it from Tranquebar. Retzius thinks 
that this may poftibly be the fame with N. grandiflora of 
Loureiro, which he thus defcribes : Stem flirubby, ereft, 
five feet high, thick, rugged; leaves ftellate by threes 
and oppofite, ovate, fubcordate, fubacute, wrinkled, 
fmooth; flowers white, double, terminating, one or two 
together, three times as large as thofe of Jafminum fam¬ 
bac, handfomer, but inferior in fragrance. Cultivated 
both in China and Cochinchina. 
7. Nyftanthes pubefcens, or hairy nyftanthes: branches 
round hirfute, leaves cordate pubefcent on both fides. 
This alfo is a fhrub with oppofite white-haired branches. 
Flowers in bundles, at the ends of the branches. Sent 
from Calcutta by Koenig. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants may be in- 
creafed by layers and cuttings. The layers may be laid 
down in the early part of the futfimer, in the ufuai me¬ 
thod, being made from the young branches, plunging 
the pots containing them in a bark hot-bed. And the 
cuttings fliould be taken from the young, (hoots, planted 
out at the fame time, and managed in the fame man¬ 
ner. The plants, when fully rooted in,either way, may 
be removed into feparate pots. They (hould have due 
fupplies of water, and be pruned and removed into 
larger pots, as there may be occafion. T hey will prove 
very ornamental and fragrant aipong other potted tender 
plants. For further directions, fee the cultivation of the 
Jasminum fambac, or Arabian jafmine, vol. x. p. 703. 
NYCTELE'A, /! in botany. SeeELLisiA. 
NYCTE'LIA, [from the Gr. kv|, night, and to 
perform.] Fealts in honour of Bacchus ; fo called becaule 
held in the night-time. A great part of the ceremony con - 
filled in running through the ftreets with the bottle and 
gdafs in hand, and drinking : but there was no impurity 
unpraftifed in them. The Athenianscelebrated the nyfte - 
lia every three years, at the beginning of the fpring. 
Chambers. 
NYCTERIB'IA, f. in entomology, a new genus of 
apterous infefts, fully defcribed in the Linn. Tranf. vol. 
xi. but firft noticed in the ixth vol. under the name of 
Celeripes. This curious inieft (for we have but one: 
fpecies to defcribe at prefent) is deftitute, not only of 
wings, but of eyes and head. Generic and fpecific cha- 
rafters—Without eyes, antennae, or anterior mouth ; 
but upon the top of the thorax a cylindric probofcis, or 
fucker : legs fix, each armed with two hooked claws. 
Nyfteribia vefpertilionis, the only fpecies. This ex¬ 
traordinary animal, hitherto only obferved to inhabit two 
fpecies of bats, Vefpertilio ferrum-equinum and mitrutus, 
is properly divided into two parts, the thorax and abdo¬ 
men being deftitute of head as well as of eyes, and the 
other appendages ufually attached to that part. It has 
only three pairs of long legs, which are affixed to the 
thorax, and are placed in a very unufual manner, origi¬ 
nating from the upper part, leaving the vifible part of the 
thorax very narrow above, but confequently much broader 
beneath ; and, when viewed in this laft pofition, it ob- 
fcures the firft joint of the legs; on this fide there is a 
longitudinal future. This will be more readily under- 
ftood by an infpeftion of the preceding Engraving, where 
fig. 4 reprefents the infeft in its narural pofition,and fig. 5 
(hows it lying on its back. It is of a yellowilh-brown 
colour, fainter underneath. 
The abdomen appears to have three divifions : the firft 
joint, or annulation, is by far thelargefton the upper part, 
4 but. 
