52 R H E 
RHEXIA, [of Pliny ; from a rupture—which it 
was thought to cure.] in botany, a genus of the class 
octandria, order monogynia, natural order of calycanthemae, 
melastomae, (Juss.) Generic Character.—Calyx: perianth 
one-leafed, tubular, ventricose at bottom, oblong. With a 
four-cleft border, permanent. Corolla: petals four, roundish, 
inserted into the calyx, spreading. Stamina: filaments 
eight, filiform, longer than the calyx, and inserted into it. 
Anthers declining, grooved, linear, blunt, versatile. Pistil: 
germ roundish. Style simple, the length of the stamens, 
declining. Stigma thickish, oblong. Pericarp: capsule 
roundish, four-celled, four-valved, within the belly of the 
calyx. Seeds : numerous, roundish.— Essential Charac¬ 
ter. —Calyx: four-cleft. Petals: four, inserted into the 
calyx. Anthers declining. Capsule four-celled, within the 
belly of the calyx. 
1. Rhexia virginica. — Leaves sessile serrate, calyxes 
smooth. This rises with an erect, angular, hairy stalk, near 
a foot and half high. Leaves lanceolate, hairy, about two 
inches long. The stalk has two peduncles coming out from 
the side opposite to each other at the upper joint, and is ter¬ 
minated by two others; these each sustain two or three red 
flowers with heart-shaped petals, spreading open in form of 
a cross, and appear in June.—Native of North America. 
2. Rhexia mariana.—Leaves ciliate. This sends up an 
erect stalk about ten inches high. Leaves lanceolate, about 
an inch long, in pairs; the whole plant is thick set with 
stinging iron-coloured hairs. The stalk divides at the top 
into two peduncles, spreading from each other, having one 
or two reddish flowers on each, with a single subsessile 
flower between them; they have four heart-shaped petals 
which spread open as in the preceding. It flowers about the 
same time.—Native of Maryland, Brasil, Surinam. 
3. Rhexia trichotoma.—Flowers solitary, axillary and 
terminating; leaves sessile, opposite, lanceolate, hirsute. Stem 
frutescent. Branches four-cornered, with the corners rough¬ 
haired, trichotomous at bottom, dichotomous at top. Leaves 
an inch long, quite entire. Peduncles short, at the forks and 
ends of the branches. Petals ovate, ciliate. 
4. Rhexia Acisanthera.—Flowers alternate, axillary, pe- 
duncled, five-cleft. This seldom rises above fourteen or six¬ 
teen inches in height. The stem is square, and emits many 
square branches towards the top. The leaves are small, 
ovate. The flowers spring singly from the alternate axils. 
The calyx is deeply five-cleft at the mouth. Petals five ob- 
ovate, inserted into the throat of the calyx. Filaments ten, 
shorter than the corolla. Anthers oblong. Germ crowned 
with the calyx. Style short. Stigma sharp. Capsule two- 
celled, filled with two little placentas.—Native of Ja¬ 
maica. 
5. Rhexia Jussioides.—Leaves alternate, ribbed, rugged at 
the margin. This is a shrub four feet in height, pubescent, 
as are also the peduncles and fruit. Leaves subsessile, clus¬ 
tered, scarcely a finger’s length, minutely serrated. Flowers 
axillary, solitary, peduncled, scarcely the length of the leaves, 
yellow. Perianth almost superior, lanceolate, acute, spread¬ 
ing. Petals subovate, double the length of the calyx, sessile. 
Filaments shorter: anthers incumbent, the length of the ca¬ 
lyx or longer than the filaments. Germ inferior, the length 
of the calyx, a little prominent: style cylindrical: stigma 
warted. Capsule obovate, four-cornered, the length of the 
calvx, with four small laminae at top.—Native of Su- 
rinam. 
6. Rhe xiaglutinosa.—This is a small and very leafy tree, 
resembling the melastomas, with jointed branchlets, alternate¬ 
ly channelled. Leaves petioled, clustered, elliptic, an inch 
long. Flowers scarcely longer than the leaves, peduncled. 
Calyx bell-shaped. Capsule inferior, four-parted. The 
ends of the branchlets and the calyxes are glutinous, whence 
the name.—Found by Mutis in New Granada. 
7. Rhexia leucanlha.—Leaves opposite, cartilaginous- 
toothlettsd, coriaceous, shining, branchlets four-cornered, 
flowers terminating, ten-stamened. 
8. Rhexia purpurea.—Leaves opposite, toothletted, coria¬ 
ceous, branchlets round, flowers axillary, ten-stamened. 
R H I 
9. Rhexia. uniflora.—Stem herbaceous, four-cornered 
with four decurrent wings, having hairs glandular at 
the tip scattered over it, and viscid. Branches filiform. 
Leaves very small acute, having a few hairs pressed to 
the surface scattered over them, obscurely three-nerved, 
ciliate at the edge with glandular hairs: the uppermost 
narrower and sub-lanceolate. Petioles shorter than the 
leaf, ciliate, also with glandular hairs. Peduncles axil¬ 
lary, and at the forks of the branches solitary, very short. 
Calyxes hairy. Petals lanceolate. Stamens ten, longer than 
the petals. Capsules sub-bilobed, the size of coriander seed. 
—Found by Von Rohr in Cayenne. 
10. Rhexia inconstans.—Leaves ovate hispid, with close- 
pressed bristles, hoary, three-nerved, peduncles terminating, 
one or two-flowered. This is a small low shrub, with dif¬ 
fused ascending branches, the lower ones towards their base 
rooting, four-cornered, hispid with frequent ferruginous hairs 
pressed close: branchlets axillary, opposite like the branches, 
shorter than the leaf. Leaves opposite, bluntish, ciliate. 
Petiole short, hispid. Peduncles commonly three or tour, 
and sometimes five, hispid, ferruginous. Bractes two on 
each peduncle, a little above the middle. Calyx four or five 
cleft, obovate, having many bristles scattered over them, which 
are whitish with the tips purplish and glandular. Segments 
lanceolate, attenuated, ciliate with bristles. Petals four or 
five, obovate-roundish, rose-coloured, ciliate along the outer 
edge, with remote hairs, appearing to be terminated by a mi¬ 
nute gland when examined with a magnifier. Stamens 
eight or ten, upright, half the length of the corolla. Anthers 
oblong, blunt, sulphur-coloured, a little curved in at the base, 
undivided on the lower tip, shorter by half than the fila¬ 
ments. Style a little shorter than the stamens. Capsule glo¬ 
bular, smooth, shorter than the calyx in which it is enve¬ 
loped. 
11. Rhexia bivalvis.—Smooth, ash-coloured, ten-stamen¬ 
ed, leaves oblong sessile, obscurely crenate, blunt, peduncles- 
terminating, one-flowererl.—Native of Guiana- 12. Rhexia 
trivalvis.—Smooth, ten-stamened, leaves linear-lanceolate, 
sessile, dotted, above quite entire, peduncles one-flowered. 
13. Rhexia longifolia.—Hairy, ten-stamened, leaves lanceo¬ 
late, quite entire, five-nerved, peduncles axillary and termi¬ 
nating, dichotomous, shorter than the leaves. 
These plants are all found wild in America. Linnaeus 
constructed the character of the genus from the two first spe¬ 
cies: in most of the rest (4. 7. 8. 9. 11. 12. 13.) the calyx is 
five-cleft; the petals five; and the stamens ten ; in n. 10. the 
stamens are inconstant, from seven to twelve, the calyx four- 
cleft or five-cleft, the petals four or five. In n. 4. the cap¬ 
sule is two-celled; in n. 9. subbilobed; in n. 11. two-valved; 
in n. 13. five-valved. But notwithstanding these anomalies, 
they are evidently of the same natural genus, though allied 
to osbeckia and melastoma. 
Propagation and Culture .—These plants are propagated 
by seeds. If the seeds arrive before the spring, and are 
sown soon after, in pots filled with good fresh earth, and 
placed under a frame, to guard them from frost, the plants 
will come up the following spring; but when the seeds are 
sown in the spring, the plants rarely come up the first year. 
When they are fit to remove, plant part of them in an east 
border, and others in pots, to be sheltered under a frame in 
wdnter. The second year the plants will flower, and with 
care may be continued three or four years. 
RHEXIS, or Rhegma, [from the Gr. ‘gy ft?, rupture, of 
’o'/iyvvpt, I break,] in Surgery, denotes a rupture of the 
corner of the eye, i. e. fistula lacrymali?. 
RH1BII, a people of Scythia, on this side of the Imaus, 
near the river Oxus, to whom belonged the town of Dauaba. 
Ptolemy. 
RHIENECK, a petty principality in the north-west of the 
Bavarian states, in the circle of the Low'er Maine, belonging 
to prince Colloredo. Its area is about 24 square miles; its 
population 2000. It is only -a part of an ancient county of 
the same name, the rest of which now beloagsjmmediately 
to Bavaria. 
RHIG1A 
