VEL'LA.* (Pouch globular, entire, with a prominent, dilated, flat style, twice as long as the concave valves. E.)

long at the same place, but lead with their families a nomadian life, directed by their principal, wherever he may engage suitable land. The goodness of Woad depends on the luxuriance of the plant, especially on the size and thickness, (or fatness, as it is technically termed), of the leaves. E.) "It is sown about the beginning of March, and cropt about the beginning of May following. It is best in quality in a fair and dry summer, but most in quantity in a moist one. Then they crop it four or five times; the first crop is best. As soon as cut it is carried to the Woad mill, and ground as small as it can be, until it become fit to ball. The balls are laid on hurdles to dry, and when perfectly dried, they are ground to fine powder in the mill. Thus ground it is thrown on a floor and watered, which operation is called couching. It remains to smoak and heat, turned every day, until it be perfectly dry and mouldy, called silvering. It is then weighed by the hundred, and bagged, and thus sent for sale to the dyers. The best Woad is worth 201. or more per ton,” (and that quantity is considered a moderate produce from an acre.— Three or four gatherings may be expected from each crop, but the first and second are by far the most valuable, and the imprudent admixture of the latter gatherings, too often deteriorates the finer quality of the former. The price of Woad has declined since the general importation of indigo, not merely in England, but in other European countries; though it is generally admitted that Woad, under more careful management, would equal the colour of that foreign production, (which takes large sums of money out of this country), as it does already exceed it in perniarency. The improved culture of this staple British commodity, might be worthy the encouragement of the Society of Arts.-If the general idea be correct, that the aboriginal Britons stained their bodies with the blue colour obtained from this plant, we cannot refuse our assent to its claim to be deemed indigenous, notwithstanding some authorities have pronounced it merely naturalized.

"In times of old, when British nymphs were known
To love no foreign fashions like their own;

When dress was monstrous, and fig-leaves the mode,
And quality put on no paint but Woad:" Garth.

The relative importance of this article must have been nearly equal to what it now is: nor does any other plant so aptly claim this distinction, though we are fully aware of the difficulty of proving that the following, and other passages, refer solely to it. “Omnes verò se Britanni vitro inficiunt, quod cæruleum efficit colorem ; atque hoc horribiliore sunt in pugnâ adspectu." Cæs. Bel. Gal. lib. v. 10. All the Britons depict themselves with (Woad?) which yields a blue colour; and thus is their appearance rendered more terrific in battle." Simile plantagini glastum in Gallia vocatur, quo Britannorum conjuges nurusque toto corpore oblitæ, quibusdam in sacris et nude incedunt, Ethiopum colorem imitantes." Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxii. c. 1. In France, a plant, somewhat resembling Plantain, is called glastum, (Woad?) where with the Britons' wives, and their sons' wives, are coloured all over, and thus appear naked in some religious ceremonies, looking like Ethiopians. -The ancient British word glås, or glast, signifying blue or green, glass-coloured, (hence Glastonbury, from the verdant district around that noted spot, Glashampton, &c.) the more modern English term glass; and possibly the Latin glacies; are all found expressive of something like the same meaning; and are not less applicable to the colour of the plant (Woad) itself, " Glasti notæ sunt folia glauca, ad tingendum utilia," Ray; than to its dying principle: and this has been, with considerable plausibility, attached to Isatis. Bishop Gibson says, in Cæsar, Vitruvius, Pliny, and other Roman historians, we read of this same plant under the name of vitrum, (also yielding a blue colour, ut supra); and here again it is remarkable, we bare a word of somewhat similar signification, and possibly a translation on the part of Cæsar of the ancient British name. Thus may the synonymy of these obscure terms be reconciled, if not the application of them to our Woad be incontrovertibly established. Vid. Reseda Luteola.-It is cultivated on rather an extensive scale at Kesmark in Hungary, and appears equal to the best Spanish Indigo, but the price is as high. Townson's Travels. E.)-Cows eat it; horses, sheep, and goats refuse it.

(A name adopted by Galen, and latinized from the Celtic, signifying a sort of Cress. F.)

V. ANNUA. Leaves wing-cleft: pouches pendent.

(E. Bot. 1442. E.)-Kniph. 10—Clus. ii. 130. 1-Loh. Obs. 102. 3, and Ic. i. 205. 2-Ger. Em. 247. 4-Park. 830. 2-J. B. ii. 920-Pet. 50. 5Trew. Pl. Rar.

Stem (three or four inches high. E.) branches hairy. Leaves, segments strap-shaped, toothed, hairy. Petals white, (or yellowish, E.) with deep purple veins. Pouches bristly, egg-shaped, terminated by the extention of the petition. Woodw.

CRESS ROCKET. ANNUAL CRESSET. On Salisbury Plain, not far from Stonehenge. Ray. (Not found there since. An elegant little plant, whose delicate structure might readily cause it to be overlooked. E.)

SUBULA'RIA.*

A. June.

Pouch entire, transversely compressed: Valves tumid: Style shorter than the pouch: (Seeds numerous. E.)

S. AQUATICA.

Dicks. H. S.-(Hook. Fl. Lond. 135-E. Bot. 732. E.)-Fl. Dan. 35-H. Ox. viii. 10. 29-Pet. 48. 8-Pluk. 188. 5.

Flourishes and blossoms under water. Linn. Leaves green, semi-cylindrical, full of pith. Blossom white. Ray. (Flowers small, on fruit-stalks. Petals incurved, by which the tender parts of the flower are protected from injury under water. Seeds small, egg-shaped, yellow, compressed. Leaves all radical. Plant about one inch high. According to Mr. R. Brown scarcely distinct from Draba. E.)

WATER AWLWORT. (IRISH RUSH CRESS. Welsh: Myndwydlys dyfr drig. E.) Grows under water on a gravelly bottom in Lough Neagh, Ireland, on the side next Kilmore. Ray. (Lough Carban, a little northwest of the Gap of Barnesmore, Donegal. E. Murphy, Esq. E.) Loch Tay and Loch Carran, Scotland. Mr. Stuart. In lakes on the mountains near Llanberris. Hudson. Llyn y Cwn Snowdon. Pennant. Ffynnon Frêch near Snowdon. Llyn Aled, Denbighshire. Mr. Griffith. Llyn Llywenan, Bodedern, Anglesey. Rev. Hugh Davies. (In the Loch of Clunie, Perthshire, generally in about four feet water. Mr. Brown. E.) A. June-July.

A

DRA'BA.† Pouch entire, elliptic-oblong, compressed: Valves flat, parallel to the partition: Style none: (Seeds numerous. E.)

(D. AIZOIDES. Stalks solitary, naked: leaves lanceolate, rigid, keeled, fringed: petals notched, twice as long as the calyx.

E. Bot. 1271-Jacq. Austr. 2. 192-Ger. Em. 514.

Leaves all radical, forming dense round imbricated tufts, shining, strapspear-shaped, rigid, fringed with white hairs. Stalks terminal, simple, stiff, about an inch high. Flowers corymbose, bright yellow. Calyxleaves elliptical, concave. Petals twice as long as the calyx, inversely

(From subula, au awl; as having awl-shaped leaves. E.)

† (From Spo¤n, acrid; the leaves of some species being pungently so. E.)

egg-shaped, obtuse, with a slight notch. Anthers yellow. Pouch elliptical, flat, acute, crowned with an elongated style. Sm.

YELLOW ALPINE WHITLOW-GRASS. Discovered in the year 1795 by
John Lucas, Esq. of Stout Hill, near Wormshead, sixteen miles west of
Swansea. Abundant on walls and rocks about Pennard Castle, near
Swansea. Dr. W. Turton.
P. March-April. E)

D. VER'NA. Stalks naked: leaves spear-shaped, hairy, sparingly serrated: petals divided.

Fl. Dan. 983-Curt.—(E. Bot. 586. E.)-Thal 7. E.-Walc.-Dod. 112. 2 -Lob. Obs. 249. 2, and Ic. i. 469. 1—Ġer. Em. 624. 1-Park. 556. 3—Ger. 499. 1-Pet. 48. 6 and 7—J. B. ii. 937. 2—Seguier, i. 4. 3. at p. 328Kniph. 1.

Flowers hanging down at night. Linn. Stalks (scarcely a span high, E.) smooth after flowering, hairy when young. Leaves (all radical, forming a star on the ground, E.) sometimes entire. Flowers white, when in blossom in broad-topped spikes, about fifteen in each. It is difficult to find the full compliment of stamens when the flower is fully expanded, as they drop when the germen begins to enlarge.

COMMON WHITLOW-GRASS or CRESS. NAILWORT. (Welsh: Llys y bystwn cyffredin. E.) Walls, dry places, and pastures.

A. March-April.* (D. HIRTA. Stem seldom entirely naked: pouch spear-shaped leaves slightly toothed, fringed with (mostly, E.) simple hairs.

E. Bot. 1338-Fl. Dan. 143.

Leaves almost all radical, spear-shaped, bluntly toothed, or waved at the edge, fringed, sometimes hairy underneath. Stem from one to three or four inches high, upright, simple, cylindrical, slightly hairy, frequently bearing one leaf towards the bottom. Flowers small, white. Calyx expanding, hairy. Petals scarcely notched.

D. stellata of Jacquin, to which this plant was referred in the fourth edition of our work, differs in many respects. On re-examining our specimens, we find that Mr. Brown originally named those gathered and communicated by himself “ D. hirta of Linn." E.)

HAIRY ALPINE WHITLOW-GRASS. (D. hirta. Linn. Willd. Sm. D. stellata. Dicks. With. Hull. not of Jacq. D. rupestris. Br. De Cand. Hook. fid. Sm. E.) D. pyrenaica. Fl. Dan. (not of Linn. Sm. E.) Found by Mr. Dickson on rocks in the Highlands of Scotland. On Ben Lawers at great heights, and on the very summit. Mr. Brown. (On Ben Lonend. Mr. Winch. Limestone mountains of Leitrim and Sligo, plentiful Mr. Murphy. E.) P. May-June. E.)

D. MURA'LIS.

Stem branched: leaves egg-heart-shaped, sessile,

(Whether this be the apoia of the ancients, celebrated for curing the infirmity from which it derives its English name, must remain doubtful. It is about the earliest of our flowering plants, and though insignificant in itself, as an humble harbinger of the "formosissimus annus,” it is not devoid of attraction by its enlivening little blossoms, "While yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd." E.)

It is good as a salad. Goats, sheep, and horses eat it; cows are not fond of it; swine refuse it.

toothed, hairy pouch elliptical, blunt, flat, shorter than the partial stalks.

(Hook. Fl. Lond. 64-E. Bot. 912. E.)-Col. Ecphr. 272-Barr. 816Bauh, pr. 50-Park, 843. 13-H. Ox. iii. 20. 5-J. B. ii. 939. 1-Pet.

48. 5.

Root-leaves entire at the base, toothed upwards. Pouches exactly elliptical, ending in a short blunt knob which is the summit. Woodw, (Stem and leaves hairy. Stem-leaves rather heart-shaped. Petals very slightly notched at the end. Flowers white, small, numerous, forming a long flowering bunch. Stem a span to a foot high, scabrous. The calyx has been represented hairy; but Hooker and Lamarck determine it to be smooth. E.)

SPEEDWELL-LEAVED WHITLOW-GRASS. Fissures of rocks, mountainous and stony pastures, especially in calcareous soil, in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Westmoreland. Arnbar Scar, near Arncliff, Littendale and Malham Cove. Curtis. Near to a cotton manufactory a little below Malham Cove. Mr. Caley. (Wardon Hills, near Barton, Bedfordshire. Rev. Dr. Abbot. At Old Malton, on walls, Rev. Archdeacon Pierson. On dry banks at Emborough, Somersetshire. Mr. Sole. E.)

A. April-May. D. INCA'NA. Stem-leaves numerous, hoary, with starry pubescence: pouch oblong, oblique, nearly sessile.

(E. Bot. 388. E.)-Fl. Dan. 130-Pet. 48. 3 and 4-Pluk. 42. 1. Radical-leaves very numerous, disposed in a rose-like form, spear-shaped, cottony and somewhat hairy, entire, pointed; stem-leaves often upwards of thirty, sessile, with a few teeth, similar to the root-leaves, but shorter, the uppermost egg-shaped, on the lower part of the stem more crowded. Stem a hand's breadth long, straight, hoary, cloathed with leaves. Flowers in a small termiual corymbus, which, when the fruit is ripe, becomes a bunch. Petals white, slightly notched. Pouches upright, eggoblong, inclining contrary to the sun, compressed, naked. Fruit-stalks hoary, three times shorter than the pouches, stiff, approaching to the stem. Linn. Stems six to nine inches, slightly cottony, simple, crooked. Leaves oval-spear-shaped, a little hairy, the lower slightly, the upper deeply toothed. Fruit-stalks nearly as long as the pouches. Pouches · spear-shaped, smooth, twisted, terminated by the blunt summit. Woodw.

TWISTED-PODDED WHITLOW-GRASS. Fissures of limestone rocks, and moist mountainous meadows, Westmoreland, and Carnarvonshire. About Settle, (and various parts of Yorkshire. E.) Rock near the summit of Ingleborough, on the west side. Mr. Woodward. Side of Roseberry Coppin, Yorkshire. Mr. Robson. (Cronkley Fell. Rev. J. Harriman. On walls in Teesdale, Durham. Mr. Brunton. Bot. Guide. At Durness, Sutherland; and on Ben Lawers. Mr. Anderson. E.) B. May-July. LEPID'IUM.* Pouch notched at the end, compressed: Valves sharply keeled: one seed in each cell.

(From λenis, a scale; as an antiscorbutic formerly supposed to cleanse the skin even from leprosy. E.)

(1) Four stamens longer.

L. PETRE UM. Leaves winged, entire: petals notched, smaller than the calyx.

(Hook. Fl. Lond. E.)-E. Bot. 111-Jacq. Austr. 131-Col. Ecphr. 273— -Crantz. i. 2. 4. 5.

One of our smallest and most delicate plants, (only two or three inches high, branched. E.) Leaves dark green; leafits elliptical, tapering each way, on leaf-stalks, very entire, thickish, from six to twelve pairs, with an odd one. Flowers in a close corymb, which, as the fruit ripens, lengthens out into a bunch. Petals spatula-shaped, white, as long as, and narrower than the calyx; generally entire, but sometimes slightly notched. Pouches broad egg-shaped, blunt, convex underneath, flat above; valves keeled. Jacq. (Mr. Brown has suggested that the entire apex of the pouch, (not so when mature, Sm.) and each cell containing two seeds, (or rather, "more than one," the number not being limited precisely to two,) in this species, with accumbent cotyledons, are sufficient to constitute a new genus, designated Hutchinsia, after a lady whose memory will long be cherished by Botanists, and whose name has also been conferred still more appropriately, by Agardh, on a genus of marine plants; Conferva; Polysiphonia of some authors. E.) ROCK DITTANDER OF PEPPER-WORT. (L. petræum. Linn. Jacq. Willd. Fl. Brit. Huds. Purt. Hutchinsia petræa. Br. Sm. Hook.) Rocks, walls, and stony places. St. Vincent's Rock, near Goram's Chair, and on walls about Bristol. Sherard. Uphill, Somersetshire; Dovedale. Mr. Caley. (On a limestone wall near Pembroke. J. Adains, Esq. Fl. Brit. Rocks near the Waterfall at Burton, in Bishopdale, Wensley Dale, Yorkshire. Mr. Brunton. A weed on the walks at Scockpole, Pembrokeshire. Mr. Milne. Walls of Pennard Castle, Glamorganshire. Mr. Dillwyn, in Bot. Guide. E.) B. March-April.

L. LATIFO'LIUM. Leaves egg-spear-shaped, entire, serrated. Fl. Dan. 557-E. Bot. 182-Kniph. 3-Fuchs. 484-J. B. ii. 940. 1—Trag. 83-Matth. 609-Dod. 716. 1-Lob. Obs. 172. 4, and Ic. i. 318. 2—Ger. Em. 241. 2-Park. 855. 1-H. Ox. iii. 21, row 2. 1-Blackw. 448-Lonic. i. 161-Ger. 187. 2-Pet. 48. 10-J. B. ii. 940. 2.

Stem branched, flexuose, (leafy, three feet high, cylindrical, smooth. E.) Leaves smooth, entire, sometimes a little serrated about the middle part; lower ones five or six inches long, unequal at the base. Calyx leaves purplish, white at the edge. Pouch hairy. Flowers numerous, in panicles, white, (small. Petals longer than the calyx, entire. E.) BROAD-LEAVED PEPPER-WORT or DITTANDER. POOR-MAN'S PEPPER. (Welsh: Pybyrllys llydanddail. Berwr gwyllt. E.) Meadows and pastures. The Hythe, at Colchester; Heybridge, near Malden, and marshes near Grays, in Essex; Sheringham Cliffs, Norfolk; and between Beningborough and Mitton in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Ray. Near Seaton, plentifully. Mr. Robson. Near St. Asaph. Lord Lewisham. (On the Sea walls at Bradwell, near the Sea, Essex. Mr. Woodward. Near Durham Abbey, by the Wear. Mr. Robson. Winch Guide. In hedges at Aberfraw, and Llanrhuddlad, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. On the rock of Bothwell Castle. Dr. Walker. Hook. Scot. E.) P. June-July.

This is one of the acrid antiscorbutics. The roots were formerly used as Horseradish. An infusion of it vomits.