R H I 
RHIGlA, a town situated in the interior of the eastern 
part of Hibernia, near Rhoebe, according to Ptolemy. 
RHIME'. See Rhyme. 
RHINANTHUS, [from the nose or snout; and ai/Qos, 
the flower, which is ringent, or like a snout.] in botany, a 
genus of the class didynamia, order angiospennia, natural 
order of personatae, pediculares, (Juss.j Generic Character. 
—Calyx: perianth one-leafed, roundish, inflated, compress¬ 
ed, four-cleft, permanent. Corolla: one-petalled, ringent 3 
tube sub-cylindrical, the length of the calyx; border gaping, 
compressed at the base; upper lip galeate, compressed, emar- 
ginate, narrower; lower lip spreading a little, flat, half- 
three-deft, blunt; the middle segment widest. Stamina: fi¬ 
laments four, about the length of the upper lip, under which 
they lie concealed; two of them shorter. Anthers incum¬ 
bent, bifid on one side, hirsute. Pistil: germ ovate, com¬ 
pressed, Style filiform, in the same situation with, but 
longer than the stamens. Stigma blunt, bent in. Pericarp: 
capsule blunt, erect, compressed, two-celled, two-valved, 
opening at the edges; partition contrary. Seeds several, 
compressed .—Essential Character .—Calyx : four-cleft, ven- 
tricose. Capsule two-celled, blunt, compressed. 
1. Rhinanthus orientalis.—The corollas with the upper 
lip awl-shaped, and curved in. The stems a foot and half 
high, hollowed, four-cornered. Leaves opposite, on short 
foot-stalks, hairy, veined. On the upper part of the stem the 
flowers grow opposite from the axils: the corolla is yellow, 
with a spot of feuille-mort colour on the lower lip, and the 
upper lip has two red spots on the top. The flowers have an 
agreeable scent. 
2. Rhinanthus elephas.—The corollas with the upper lip 
awl-shaped, straight. This has the habit of the preceding, 
but the calyx is trifid, with two of the segments bent back, 
and the third larger, erect, plaited, acute. It is an annual 
plant, a native of Italy, in shady places, and of Siberia. 
3. Rhinanthus crista galli, yellow rattle, or cock’s-comb. 
—Root annual, small, with few fibres. The whole plant is 
smooth. Stem a foot or more in height, four-cornered, 
mostly stained with dark purple. Leaves in pairs. Spike 
terminating, leafy. Bractes like the leaves, only broader at 
the base and more deeply cut in. Flowers not always 
strictly opposite, on short peduncles. Calyx remarkably 
large,, inflated, of a pale greenish yellow colour, with strong 
ribs and a network of veins. Corolla twice as long as the 
calyx, yellow except the tube, which is white, and the ante¬ 
rior edge of the upper lip, which is dirty blue. Anthers 
awnless, but very hairy. Germs smooth, surrounded at the 
base by a membranaceous nectary. Capsule rounded, emar- 
ginate at "top, two-celled, two-valved. Seeds from eight to 
twelve in each cell, kidney-shaped. 
Yellow rattle is common in pastures, and flowers early in 
June. It has this name from the rattling of the seeds, when 
ripe, in the capsule: for the same reason in Ireland it is called 
rattle-boxes. It is known in some counties by the name of 
penny-grass, and in Yorkshire by that of henpenny; from 
the shape and size of the seed-vessel, like a silver penny. Its 
other appellation of cock’s-comb is derived from the appear¬ 
ance of the upper leaves or bractes which accompany the 
flowers. Horses, sheep, and goats are said to eat it, and kine 
to refuse it. Others affirm that domestic quadrupeds in ge¬ 
neral, when at liberty, refuse it, but that they will eat it in 
the stall or stable 3 others again, that they will eat it when 
fresh, but reject it when dry among hay. As it comes early, 
except perhaps near London, it is usually far advanced when 
grass is mowed, and the leaves dropping off, nothing remains 
but the stalk and the membranaceous seed-vessels. The 
rattling of the seeds in these, indicates to the Swedish peasant, 
as Linnaeus informs us, the time of cutting his grass for hay. 
4. Rhinanthus trixago.—Calyxes hirsute-tomentose, leaves 
opposite bluntly serrate, stem quite simple. Root annual, 
though throwing out runners. Stem a cubit high or more, 
straight, firm, square, somewhat lanuginose. Leaves com¬ 
monly opposite, long, narrow, pale green, with few but 
very large teeth, as it were jagged. Spikes of flowers heaped 
Von. XXII. No. 1483. 
R H I 53 
at the end, large, square, lanuginose, and even somewhat 
viscid. Flowers, yellow, large. 
5. Rhinanthus capensis. — Calyxes tomentose, bractes 
ovate, leaves lanceolate toothed. This plant has the appear¬ 
ance of the preceding, and becomes wholly black in drying. 
The leaves have three or four teeth on each side. Spike ob¬ 
long, with tomentose bractes a little acuminate. Calyxes, 
four-cleft, blunt, as in the third species, but tomentose.—-Na¬ 
tive of the Cape of Good Hope. 
6. Rhinanthus trifida.—-Corollas spreading at the throat, 
leaves trifid. Root annual. Stem herbaceous, ascending, 
round. Leaves opposite, sessile, approximating, pubescent, 
nerved, deeply trifid. Flowers from all the axils, from the 
bottom to the top, solitary, opposite, sessile. Calyx ovate, 
pubescent, inflated, membranaceous, four-cleft 3 the segments 
linear-lanceolate, the length of the leaves. Corolla a little, 
shorter than the calyx, somewhat villose on the outside. Fi¬ 
laments smooth. Anthers cloven ..at the base, two-celled. 
Germ ovate-acuminate. Style the length of the corolla, li¬ 
near, sub-villose. Stigma truncate. Capsule ovate, acumi¬ 
nate.—Native of Armenia. 
7. Rhinanthus indica.—Leaves sub-lanceolate, hairy, quite 
entire.—Native of Ceylon. 8 . Rhinanthus virginica.—Co¬ 
rollas spreading at the throat, leaves sinuate-toothed.-—Native 
of Virginia. 
Propagation and Culture .■—These plants, being annual, 
can only be propagated by seeds, which should be sown soon 
after they are ripe, where they are to remain, for they will 
not bear removing. They require a moist rich soil, and a 
shady situation. If the seeds be permitted to scatter, the 
plants will come up better than when sown by hand 3 but 
they thrive best among grass. 
The common rattle (n. 3.) is a very troublesome weed 
among grass. In order to destroy it, the grass should be cut 
as soon as the flowers appear. 
RHINE, the greatest river in Europe, after the Danube 
and the Wolga. It has its source in the central and highest, 
part of Switzerland, on the north-east side of Mount Sf. 
Gothard, and is joined, almost at .the outset of its course, by 
a surprising number of rivulets. Flowing to the north-east, 
it receives two rivers, called by the Germans, from their 
situation, the Middle and Hither Rhine, the latter a large 
stream. The united waters now pass the Grison town of 
Coire or Chur, become navigable, and hold a northern course 
to the lake of Constance, which they traverse in all its 
length. Issuing from the lake with a copious current, the 
Rhine flows to the west, and receives a great addition to its 
volume, by the junction of the Aar, the Reuss, and the Lim- 
mat, whose united stream brings the tributary waters of the 
west and centre of Switzerland. It is now the third river in 
Europe, and continues to flow to the west, until it reaches 
Bale, when it takes a northern direction, and receives several 
rivers, of which the chief are the Neckar and Maine on the 
side of Germany, and the Moselle on that of France. Con¬ 
tinuing its course to the north, it enters the kingdom of the 
Netherlands, and turning to the west, divides into two great 
branches, of which the southern takes the name of Waal, 
receives the Maese , 1 becomes like an arm of the sea, and flows 
into the German ocean by Dort, Rotterdam, and William- 
stadt. The northern, or less considerable branch, is farther 
divided, first above, and afterwards below Amheim 5 and the 
name of Rhine is finally retained by a small slow flowing 
water, which passes Utrecht and Leyden in its way to the sea, 
or rather to the sands near Catwyk. From its source to 
Mentz, this great river is called the Upper Rhine, and from 
Mentz to Holland, the Lower Rhine. 
The course of the Rhine, about 700 miles, is not in pro¬ 
portion to the greatness of its volume. Its waters, unlike 
those of the Danube, are limpid, and of a beautiful green: 
its stream, rapid in the early part of its course, becomes after¬ 
wards deep and tranquil. During its course in Switzerland, 
the scenery of the Rhine is often bold and romantic 3 and 
below Schaff hausen it forms a cascade, which, though not 
the highest, is, in mass of waters, the largest in the civilised 
P part 
