O N O 
499 
Englifh gardens were well {applied with other efettle nt 
plants j at prefent they are rarely eaten here. They re¬ 
quire no culture ; and, if the feeds are permitted to fall, 
the plants will come up fall enough. 
ONOP'TERIS. See Asplenium. 
ONO'RE, a feaport-town on the weft coaft of Hin- 
dooltan, in the country of Canara. It was the capital of 
a kingdom when the Portuguefe arrived in the Indies, 
who fir ft owned the prince for their ally, and afterwards 
made him their fubjedh They built a fortrefs to fecure 
their pepper-trade; but it was taken from them by the 
natives, with the affiftance of the Dutch ; and the influ¬ 
ence of the Portuguefe has long: declined. In 1783, the 
Britifh troops under Gen. Matthews took it by ftorm ; 
and in 1799 it was ceded to Great Britain. It is forty-fix 
miles north-weft of Bednore, and eighty fouth-fouth-eaft 
of Goa. Lat. 14. 13. N. Ion. 74. 12. E. 
ONOSAN'DER, a Greek author, and Platonic philo- 
fopher, concerning whofe time nothing certain can be af- 
certained, but that he flourifhed under the Roman em¬ 
perors. He wrote Commentaries upon the Politics of 
Plato, which are no longer extant. He was alfo the au¬ 
thor of a work of confiderable celebrity, entitled Ev§«- 
Asyoj, being a treatife on the duties and virtues 
of the general of an army. From the dedication of this 
piece to a Q. Veranius, it has been thought probable that 
his patron was the perfon of that name who is mentioned 
by Tacitus j which hypothefis would place our author’s 
time either under the reign of the emperor Claudius or 
that of Nero ; but this is merely conjecture. This trea¬ 
tife was fir ft given to" the public in a Latin, verfion, by 
Nicholas Saguntin, at Bafil, in 1541, 8vo. A new verfion 
of it, in the fame language, was afterwards made by Joa¬ 
chim Camerarius, and publifhed by his fons at Nurem¬ 
berg in 1595. In the year 1601, M. Rigault publifhed 
an edition of it at Paris, in Greek and Latin, in 410. with 
learned notes; and, fince that time, various editions and 
tranflations of it have appeared. 
ONOS'ERIS, J. in botany, a genus of plants formed 
by Willdenow of the two laft fpecies of the Linnssan 
genus Atractylis. See that article, vol. ii. p. 483. 
ONOS'MA, f. [the name of a plant mentioned by 
Diofcorides and Galen ; derived, as it feems, from the 
Gr. oo-jAij, a fweet fmell or favour. Linnaeus has arbitra¬ 
rily applied it to the prefent genus.] In botany, a genus 
of the clafs pentandria, order monogynia, natural order 
of afperifolise, (borragineae, Jvff.) Generic characters— 
Calyx : perianthium five-parted 5 fegments lanceolate, 
erect, permanent. Corolla : one-petalled, bell-fhaped ; 
tube very fliort 5 border tubular-ventricofe, a little thicker 
than the tube; mouth fubquinquefid ; throat naked, per¬ 
vious. Stamina : filaments five, awl-fliaped, very fliort | 
antherae fagittate, ereCt, the length of the corolla. Pif- 
tillum: germen four-parted ; ftyle filiform, the length of 
the corolla ; ftigma blunt. Pericarpium: none 5 calyx 
unchanged. Seeds : four, ovate. —EJfential Chara&er. 
Corolla bell-fhaped, with the throat pervious j feeds four. 
There are eleven fpecies. 
1. Onofma fimpliciflima, or fimple onofma : leaves cluf- 
tered, lanceolate-linear, hairy. Flowering-top nodding, 
yellowifh-white. Corolla of Symphytum, fcarcely five- 
cleft ; but it has none of the rays which that has, fo that 
the throat is naked, and conftantly white. The wild 
plant is never more than afoot high, and foft to the touch. 
Seeds, which Gaertner calls nuts, fmall, ftony, ovate, with 
a little beak, flightly convex on one fide, angular on the 
other, with a triangular little area at the bafe, not per¬ 
forated ; the reft highly polilhed and firming, whitifti alh- 
colour, variegated with teftaceous dots and very flender 
lines, one-celled, valvelefs. Seed ovate-acuminate, com- 
p re fled a little, brown-bay, faftened by a capillary chord 
at the apex. Native of Siberia ; abundant on the calca¬ 
reous rocks by the Wolga, but not defeending to the 
Ukraine. 
2. Onofma Taurica, or golden-flowered onofma; Items 
O N O 
fimple, riling from a fpreading bafe; leaves linear-lan¬ 
ceolate, with white hairs on both fides ; fruit eredh Fre¬ 
quent in the open hills of Tauria, as well as on the moun¬ 
tains of the Cafpian Caucafus; flowering in May and 
June. Root perennial. Stem upright, round, waved, 
hairy. Leaves folitary, alternate, fringed with hairs. 
Flowers in large handfome terminal drooping clutters, of 
a rich yellow or golden colour. 
3. Onofma Orientalise or Oriental onofma : corolla cy¬ 
lindrical, acute; leaves linear, hairy; fruit pendulous. 
Native of the Levant; it flowers in May and June. Stems 
round, hifpid. Leaves alternate, fellile, entire, hifpid, 
with green or whitifh hairs. Flowers on flalks, yellow, 
in a terminal double clutter. 
4. Onofma echioides, or hairy onofma; corolla cylin¬ 
drical, obtufe ; leaves lanceolate, hifpid ; fruit eredh Na¬ 
tive of the fouth of Europe; flowering from March to 
June. Root perennial, long, fimple, with a red bark. 
Stem generally a foot and a half or two feet in height, 
much branched in the upper part, covered with pellucid 
eredt hairs or briftles, each of which fprings from a cal¬ 
lous point. Leaves hairy; the lower ones attenuated to¬ 
wards the bafe; upper feflile, fomewhat heart-fhap.ed at 
the bafe. Flowers yellow, in clufters at the ends of the 
branches, refembling the flowers of a Symphytum. The 
whole herb is very hairy. 
( 3 . O. anchufa. This variety was obferved by John 
Bauhin between Vienne and Lyons, and on the Euganean 
hills by Padua ; by Ray near Lyons, on the road to Ge¬ 
neva. The roots, of both, yielding a very fine red dye, 
might ferve all the purpofes of Anchufa tindtoria, or al- 
kanet. 
Linnaeus mentions a variety of this fpecies, and quotes 
it as figured in Column. Ecphr. t. 183. Dr. Smith, how¬ 
ever, confiders the plant of Columna as a diftindt fpecies. 
See his Tour on the Continent, vol. ii. 
5. Onofma tindtoria, or deep-coloured onofma : Item 
branched in the upper part; leaves lanceolate-linear, hif¬ 
pid, green on both fides ; fruit eredl; corolla longer than 
the calyx. Native of pailures in Tauria; flowering in 
the fpring. This new fpecies of Onofma is greatly akin 
to the laft; but differs in ilze, being of a more humble and 
fimple habit. Root perennial, its bark ftaining of a blood- 
colour. Leaves fomewhat narrower than in the laft. 
Flowers fmaller, pale, of a lemon-colour when old. 
6. Onofma fericea, or filky-leaved onofma; leaves 
ftalked, oblong-lanceolate, covered with filky hairs. Na¬ 
tive of the Levant. Stem quite fimple, a fpan high, white 
with down. Leaves oblong, acute, attenuated at the bafe 
and tip, thickly clothed on both fides with hairs. Corolla 
dilated at the upper part. 
7. Onofma caerulea, or blue-flowered onofma: leaves 
feflile, lanceolate, hairy, and foft; ftamens longer than 
the corolla. Native of Armenia. Stem a foot high, fim¬ 
ple, white with down. Radical leaves ftalked; thofe of 
the item feflile, ciliated at the margin. Corolla cylindri¬ 
cal, blue, dilated above. Willdenow remarks that this 
is nearly allied to Anchufa lanata; but that its leaves are 
not fo woolly, nor is it furnifhed with a nedtary. 
8. Onofma tenuiflora, or flender onofma: leaves feflile, 
linear, obtufe, hairy; corolla cylindrical, a little longer 
than the linear calyx-leaves. Native of the Levant. Dif- 
tindl from every other fpecies in the fmall nefs of its leaves, 
which are linear, obtufe, hifpid, and fcarcely the third of 
an inch in length. 
9. Onofma Cafpica, or Cafpian onofma: ftembranched, 
divaricated ; leaves oblongo-lanceolate, hifpid ; flower- 
ftalks axillary, when bearing the fruit reflexed ; corolla 
obtufe. Found inafandy foil on the borders of the Caf¬ 
pian Sea. Willdenow fays this is perfedtly diftindt from 
Orientalis, in having a branched diffufe ftem, its flowers 
axillary, and fmaller. 
10. Onofma micrantha, or fmall-flowered onofma : ftem 
branched, divaricated ; leaves ftalked, oblong, white with 
hairs beneath; clufters naked. Native of fkndy places in 
Siberia. 
