720 N E P 
i2. Nepeta Virginica, or American catmint: heads ter¬ 
minating ; ftamens longer than the flower; leaves lanceo¬ 
late. Stems two feet high. Leaves hairy, l'omewhat like 
thofe of marjoram, but larger. Flowers in whorls, and 
terminating in a large roundifli head; ftamens longer 
than the corolla, which is of a pale flelh-colour. Native 
of Virginia ; flowers in Auguft. 
23. Nepeta MalabArica, or Malabar catmint: fpike 
whorled ; bradtes filiform ; leaves lanceolate, quite en¬ 
tire below. Native of Malabar; where it was found by 
Koenig. 
24. Nepeta Amboynica, or Amboyna catmint: leaves 
heart-fhaped, obtufe, notched ; bradles ovate. Native of 
Amboyna. Flowers whorled, of a violet and white colour. 
25. Nepeta Madagafcarienfis, or Madagafcar catmint : 
leaves ftalked, ovate or roundifli, notched, rather hairy; 
clufter terminal, naked. Native of the iflands of Mauri¬ 
tius and Madagafcar. Stem a foot high, herbaceous, 
llightly branched, downy. Flowers of a reddilh-violet 
colour. The root is like a turnip in flavour, and is eaten 
by the natives. 
26. Nepeta Indica, or Indian catmint. The fame with 
Lavandula carnofa. 27. Nepeta multifida, or perennial 
Siberian catmint: flowers in (pikes; leaves pinnatind, 
quite entire. Native of all Siberia beyond the river Je- 
nifea. 
28. Nepeta botryoides, or annual Siberian catmint: 
flowers in fpikes ; lateral lobes of the corolla fomewhat 
fpreading ; leaves pir.natifid ; fegments linear, almoft 
equal. Stems feveral, ereft, fcarcely a foot high ; branches 
oppofite, ereft. Spikes terminating, elongated, conical; 
in which are innumerable minute fnbfeflile flowers, ac¬ 
companied with briftle-fhaped braftes, arched upwards; 
corolla white, a little longer than the caiyx. Native of 
Siberia. Cavanilles faw it in flower at Madrid. Intro¬ 
duced in 1772 by Meffrs. Kennedy and Lee. It flowers 
in June and July. 
29. Nepeta lavandulacea, or lavender-leaved catmint: 
fpike compact; leaves ovate, gafh-ferrate, marked with 
lines. Stem ereft, round, purple with white hairs, afpan 
or a foot in height. Leaves bluntifli, deeply and bluntly 
ferrate, like thofe of Veronica ofllcinalis ; the lower ones 
quite entire. Flowers feflile; calyx of a dulky bluifli 
colour and hairy ; corolla violet-coloured, very large. 
Native of Siberia. 
30. Nepeta peflinata. See Bystropogon pe&inatum, 
vol. iii. p. 568. 
Propagation and Culture. All thefe plants are hardy 
herbaceous perennials, except one or two that are bien¬ 
nials. If the feeds be permitted to fall, the plants will 
rife without trouble; or, being fown either in fpring or 
autumn, will come up, and require only to be thinned 
where they are too clofe, and kept clean from weeds. 
Upon a poor dry foil they will not grow too rank, but 
continue much longer and appear handfomer than in rich 
ground, where they grow too luxuriant, and have not fo 
ftrong a fcent. See Bystropogon, Dracocephalum, 
Hyssopus, Lavandula, and Melissa. 
NEPETEL'LA, f. in botany. See Nepeta. 
NEPHA'LIA, feftivals in Greece, in honour of Mne- 
mofyne, the mother of the Mufes. 
NEPH'ELE, the firft wife of Athamas king of Thebes, 
and mother of Phryxus and Helle. She was repudiated 
on pretesce of being fubjeft to fits of infinity; and 
Athamas married Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, by 
whom he had feveral children. Ino became jealous of Ne- 
hele, becaufe her children would fucceed to the throne 
efore her’s, by right of feniority, and (he refolved to 
deftrov them. Nephele was app riled of her wicked inten¬ 
tions," and (he removed her children from the reach of 
Ino, by giving them a celebrated ram, fprung from the 
union of Neptune and Theophane, on whofe back they 
efcaped to Colchis. Nephele was afterwards changed 
into a cloud, whence her name is given by the Greeks to 
the clouds. Some call her Nehidu, which word is the 
N E P 
Latin tranflation of Nephele. The fleece of the rant, 
which faved the life of Nephele’s children, is often called 
the Nephelianfleece. 
NEPHE'LIUM, f. [from pupeAiosi, Gr. a little cloud, 
fpeck, or fpot; but of the reafon of its application to the 
plant in queftion we can offer no conjecture.] In botany, 
a genus of the clafs moncecia, order pentandria, natural 
order of tricoccae, (corymbiferae, Juff.) Generic charac¬ 
ters—I. Male flowers in a fpiked raceme. Calyx: pe- 
riunthium one-leafed, bell-ihaped, five-toothed. Co¬ 
rolla: none. Stamina: filaments five, awl-lhaped, longer 
than the calyx ; antheras blunt, two-parted at the bale. 
II. Female flowers in the fame raceme. Calyx: perian- 
thium one-leafed, bell-ftiaped, four-toothed, with two 
oppofite teeth more remote; Ihrivelling. Corolla: none. 
Piftillum: germens two, fuperior, roundifli, muricated, 
larger than the calyx : ftyles two to each, filiform, re¬ 
curved, fpringing up between the germens ; ftigmas 
thickifh, blunt. Pericarpium : drupe ovate, hairy, with 
a cartilaginous rind, and a watery pulp; (capfules 
two, muricated, one-celled, one-feeded. Gcertner.) Seed : 
nut folitary.— Ejjential Character. Male. Calyx five¬ 
toothed ; corolla none. Female. Calyx four-cleft; co¬ 
rolla none ; germens two ; with two ftyles to each ; drupes, 
or capfules, two, muricated, one-feeded. 
Nephelium lappaceum, a folitary fpecies; with leaves 
alternate, pinnate, two-paired, abrupt; leaflets obovate, 
the outer ones larger; raceme confiding of a few fpikelets, 
ereCf, Ihorter than the leaves. The fruit, according to 
Gaertner, cor.fifts of two capfules, one of which however 
is generally abortive, coriaceous, thick, ovate, turgidly 
lenticular, muricated on the outfide with awl-lhaped flexile 
briftles, within fcrobicular-rugged, one-celled, opening 
at the inner edge. Seeds folitary, large, ovate, very (lightly 
compreffed, fomewhat berried. Juflleu ranges this plant 
with Ambrofia and Xanthium; but the inverted fituation 
of the embryo alone, fays Gaertner, is fufficient to forbid 
this union, even if they agreed in all other circumftances. 
He thinks that it approaches nearer to the chefnut, be¬ 
caufe it has tw'o ftyles to each capfule, and no albumen, 
A confiderable affinity may be traced between the fruit of 
this plant and the Chinefe lee-chee : the habit of the leaves, 
the inflorefcence, pubefcence, and the form of this calyx, 
are all evidently akin to the Sapindus edulis, or rather to 
the Sapindus longan, which is perhaps a variety of it. 
The prefent Ihrub is a native of the Ealt Indies. See 
Euphorbia and Sapindus. 
NEPH'EW, [yiepos, Lat. neveu , Fr.] The fon of a bro¬ 
ther or After.—A nephew, according to the civil law, is in 
the third degree of confanguinity; but, according to 
the canon law, in the fecond. Chamhers.— I a(k, whether, 
in the inheriting of this paternal power, the grandfon 
by a daughter hath a right before a nephew by a brother ? 
Locke. 
Immortal offspring of my brother Jove; 
My brighteft nephew, and whom bell I love. Dryilen. 
The grandfon. Out of ufe. —With what intent they were 
firft publiftied, thofe words of the nephew of Jefus do plainly 
fignify: After that my grandfather Jefus had given him- 
felf to the reading of the law and the prophets, and other 
books of our fathers, and had gotten therein fufficient 
judgment, he propofed alfo to write fomething pertain¬ 
ing to learning and wifdom. Hooker. 
Her fire at length is kind, 
Prepares his empire for his daughter’s eafe. 
And for his hatching nephews fmooths the feas. Drydcn. 
Defcendant, however dillant. Out of ufe: 
All the fons of thefe five brethren reign’d 
By due fuccefs, and all their nephews late, 
Even thrice eleven defcents, the crown retain’d. Spenfer. 
NEPH'ILIM, in mythological hiftory, a name given 
both to giants and to perfons of diffolute manners. In the 
book of Genelis (chap, vi.) we read, that the Jons of God, 
that 
