Loudon's encyclopædia of plants : comprising the specific character, description, culture, history, application in the arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants indigenous to, cultivated in, or introduced to Britain / [J.C. Loudon].

  • Loudon, J. C. (John Claudius), 1783-1843.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Loudon's encyclopædia of plants : comprising the specific character, description, culture, history, application in the arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants indigenous to, cultivated in, or introduced to Britain / [J.C. Loudon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    858/1618 (page 828)
    2046. WILLDENO'VIA. T/i. Willdenovia. 13823 teres W. *2047. RES'TIO. W.. 13824 tectorum IV. 13825 virgatus W. S13826 dicholomus W. 13827 paniculatus W. 13828 vaginatus W. round-stalked Mi lA] pr Rope Grass. thatch twiggy dichotomous panicled sheathed 2048. ELE'GIA. W. Elegia. 13829 juncea Thunb. Rush-like 13830 racemosa Lam. racemed 2049. PHCE'NIX. W. 13831 dactylifera W. 13832 reclinata JV. 13833 farinifera W. 13834 acafilis Roxb. 2050. STILA'GO. W. 13835 Bunius W. 13836 diandra W. 2051. OSY'RIS. W. 13837 alba W. * iAJ un * lAJ mi * lAJ un lllfe lAJ un * iA] un * iAI un * lAJ un ll_Jfr 11 I or 1 CDor J. □ or Date Palm. common reclining small 6temless Stilago. Laurel-leaved J □ un 20 diandrous J □ un 20 Poet's Cassia. white a i I or 3 Restiacece. Sp. 1—3. 2 jn.jl Ap C. G. H. 1790. R S.p Ac.h.l790.t.2.f.2 RcstiaceiC Sp 5 47 3 my.jn Ap C. G. H. 1793. II s.p Ro.gra.10. t.3.f.2 3 my.jn Ap C. G. H. 1824. R s.p Rot.gra.5. t.l.f.2 3 my.jn Ap C. G. H. 1823. R s.p Rot.gra.4. t.2.f.l 2 my.jn Ap C. G. H. 1824. R s.p Rot.gra.4. t.2. f.3 3 my.jn Ap C. G. H. 1820. R s.p Restiacece. Sp. 2—3. 1 jl.au Ap C. G. H. 1789. C tp Rot.gra.8. t.3. f.4 1 my.jn Ap C. G. H. 1804. c Lp Lam.ill. t.804.f.4 Palmer. Sp. 4. ... W.G Levant 1597. s r.m K.am8efi86t.l,2 10 ... W.G C. G. H. 1792. s IP Jac.frag. 27. t. 24 8 ... W.G E, Indies 1800. s r.m Rox. cor. 1. t. 74 6 ... W.G E. Indies 1816. s r.m au Ap ... Ap Santalaceee. ... W Sp. 2. E. Indies 1757. E. Indies 1800. Sp 1—2. S. Europe 1739. C p.l Rhee.mal.4. t.56 C p.l Rox. cor.2. t.lGd C l.p Lam. ill. t. 802 TETRANDRIA. 2052. AU'LAX. R. Br. Aulax. Protectee*. Sp. 2. 138.38 pinifolia R. Br. Pine-leaved «t □ or 2 jl s Y C. G. H. 1780. C l.p Bot. rep. 76 13839 umbel lata R. Br. umbelled « □ or 2 jn.au Y C. G. H. 1774. C l.p Bot. rep. 248 History, Use, Propagation, Culture, very common in the northern parts of Europe, in elevated situations, on dry, barren, moorish, or boggy soils. It is more patient of cold than even the common heath. The Highlanders' children eat the berries, but they are no very desirable fruit; and taken in large quantities, are said to bring on a slight head-ache. The Russian peasants, however, eat them, and the Kamtschadales gather great quantities of them to boil with their fish, or to make a sort of pudding with the bulbs of their lillies. They are esteemed antiscorbutic and diuretic. Grouse and heathcocks feed upon them, and they give the excrement a tinge of purple. Boiled in alum- water they afford a dark purple dye ; and boiled with fat, they are said to be used in dying otter and sable skins black. Cattle do not seem to browse on this shrub. The French word Cumarine, is an alteration of Cama- rinhas, the Portuguese name of E. album. 2046. Willdenovia. A rush-like plant, with long flexible slender shoots, named in honor of Charles Louis Willdenow, a celebrated Prussian botanist, whose edition of Linmeus's Species Plantarum is not only the best which has been published in modern days, but excellent in itself. 2047. Restio. From restis, cord; the supple shoots of many species are used as withs at the Cape of Good Hope. The houses of the Cape of Good Hope are commonly thatched with this plant both in town and country, and sometimes whole huts are built with it. A roof thatched with it will last twenty or thirty ye;irs, and would last much longer, if the south-east wind did not blow much dirt into it, which causes it to rot. 2048. Elegia. From iX'.yos, lamentation, in allusion to the sad or mourning color of the whole plant. A hard rushy plant, with the habit of a Restio. 2049. Phoenix. The Greek name of the date, and probably so called from Phoenicia, whence the best dates were brought Dactylifera is the Greek version of Palma, both signifying the hand, to the fingers of which the ancients likened the bunches of dates. P. dactylifera is a lofty palm, with a rugged trunk, on account ol the persisting vestiges of the decayed leaves. These leaves, when the tree is grown to a size for bearing fruit, are six or eight feet long, with pinnae three feet long, and a little more than an inch broad. The flowers of both sexes come out in very long bunches from the trunk between the leaves, and are covered with a spatha, which opens and withers; those of the male have six short stamina, with narrow four-cornered anthers filled with farina. The female flowers have no stamina, but have a roundish germ, which afterwards becomes an oval berry, with a thick pulp enclosing a hard oblong stone, with a deep furrow running longitudi- nally. The fruit of this tree makes a great part of the diet of the inhabitants of Arabia and part of Persia. In tipper Egypt many families subsist almost entirely upon it. They make a conserve of it with sugar; and even grind the hard stones in their hand-mills for their camels. In Barbary they turn handsome beads for paternosters of these stones. The date is said to strengthen the stomach and intestines, to stop looseness, and promote expectoration, for which purpose it is given in pectoral decoctions. It is also recommended in the piles, given in red wine. From the leaves of the tree they make baskets or bags in Barbary. In Egypt they make fly-flaps of them, and brushes to clean their sofas or clothes. The hard boughs are used as fences to their gardens, and cages to carry their fowls to market. The trunk is split for the same purposes, and is even used in small buildings. It serves likewise for firing. The threads of the web-like integument between the