a TE rT eee 
552 UROPETALON. 
itself by occasional retentions of urine, and by 
eruptions on different parts of the body; and, 
when it advances so far as to put a complete end 
to secretion, the animal soon dies. 
UROPETALON. A genus of exotic, orna- 
mental, bulbous-rooted plants, of the asphodel 
order. The name signifies ‘tailed petal,’ and 
is descriptive. Six species, varying in height 
from 8 to 24 inches, and mostly carrying green- 
ish flowers in the latter part of summer, have 
been introduced to British gardens, principally 
from Africa; and they require frame or green- 
house protection; and love a soil of loamy peat, 
and are propagated from offsets. 
URRY. A sort of blue or black clay, lying 
near a vein of coal. 
URTICA. See Nettie. 
URUS. See Ox. 
URVILLAIA. A genus of ornamental, tropi- 
cal, climbing plants, of the soap-berry family. 
Two species, the elm-like and the rusty, both 
white-flowered, and between 20 and 30 feet high, 
have been introduced to British gardens from 
South America; and they thrive best in a soil of 
sandy peat, and are propagated from cuttings. 
USNEA. A genus of lichens, of the homotha- 
lamous tribe. Three species, varying in height 
from 2 to 4 inches, and all having a greenish 
colour, flourishing in winter, and inhabiting old 
trees, are indigenous in Britain; and one of 
these, U. plicata, of a pendulous habit, compris- 
ing a hairy variety, U. p. hirta, of a nearly 
erect habit, is sometimes used as a dye-stuff. 
USTILAGO. A genus of minute fungi,—hy- 
podermous, eutophytous, and coniomycetous,— 
nearly allied to the uredines. They have a 
burned or scorched appearance, and were origi- 
nally identified with the cereal disease called 
burnt-ear, and may be regarded as more truly 
allied to smut than even any strict uredo. Five 
species occur in Britain; and infect the grains 
VACCINIUM. 
of wheat, the grains of barley, the fructification 
of some of the carices, and the herbage of the 
corn-field scabious and of various caryophyllea- 
cee ; and they have either a black or otherwise 
very dark colour; and in most instances, make 
their appearance and come to maturity in the 
latter part of summer. See the articles Minpew, 
Smut, Funevs, and Urepo. 
UTERUS. See Woms. 
UTRICULARIA. See Hoopzp Mitrorn. 
UVARIA. A genus of ornamental, tropical, 
evergreen, ligneous plants, of the custard-apple 
family. Seven or eight species, chiefly erect 
shrubs of about 6 feet in height, but one a twiner 
of about 20 feet in height, have been introduced 
to British gardens from India; and they love a 
soil of peaty loam, and are propagated from cut- 
tings. Most have brownish coloured flowers; 
and they take their name of uvaria from the cir- 
cumstance of their fruit having some resemblance 
to bunches of grapes. 
UVA URSI. See Arsurus. 
UVULARIA. A genus of ornamental, hardy, 
perennial-rooted, annual-stemmed, North-Ameri- 
can, herbaceous plants, of the melanthium family. 
Six species, varying in height from 6 to 15 inches, 
and chiefly carrying yellow flowers in May and 
June, have been introduced into Britain; and 
all love a soil of peaty loam, and are propagated 
from suckers. The earliest introduced may serve 
as a specimen of the whole. Its root comprises 
many thick fleshy fibres, and sends up several 
stems; its stems, for the most part, divide into 
two at a small height from the ground, and 
spread asunder; its leaves are connate, or sur- 
round the stem in a manner as if it went through 
them, and are broad-based, oblong, pointed, and 
smooth; and its fiowers come out on slender 
footstalks from the bosom of the leaves, and hang 
downward, and comprise each six oblong, acutely 
pointed, yellow petals. 
Vv 
VACCINATION. See Cow-Pox. 
VACCINIUM. A genus of ornamental, caly- 
ciflorous, ligneous plants, constituting, with the 
genus oxycoccus, the natural order Vaccinicee. 
This order is nearly allied to the heaths; and is 
characterised principally by its inferior berry ; 
and is diffused, in its natural state, throughout 
a large portion of Hurope, Asia, and North Amer- 
ica. Only four of its species belong to the genus 
oxycoccus. But two species of the genus vacci- 
nium grow wild in Britain, nearly fifty have been 
introduced from other countries, and a few more 
are known. ‘Two or three of the vacciniums in 
Britain are tender evergreen shrubs, a few are 
hardy evergreen undershrubs, and all the rest 
are hardy deciduous undershrubs, shrubs, or 
small trees. Several possess considerable repu- 
tation and value for sake of their esculent fruit ; 
and almost all are beautiful or more or less ele- 
gant. Two or three of the best known are de- 
scribed in the articles CowBeRRY, WHORTLEBERRY, 
and Myrtim Biuserry. The majority thrive 
