Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/484

 464 RUE RUFF era Asia ; it gives its name to the rutacece, a family of polypetalous exogens which, under the recent revision of Hooker and Bentham, is a large and important one, as they have in- cluded in it the orange family and others of less importance, and it now consists of over ff* Garden Euo (Ruta praveolens). 80 genera, numbering some 650 species. The only representatives of this family indigenous to the northern states are prickly ash and hop tree, which are described under their titles. The common rue, from the south of Europe, is hardy in the northern states ; it is a half shrubby plant, with alternate, pinnately di- vided leaves, which ave of a bluish green and strongly marked with transparent dots or glands containing an oil of a powerful and unpleasant odor ; the greenish yellow flowers are produced all summer in small corymbs, the first flower which opens in each cluster having its parts in fives, and all the others in fours; stamens twice as many as the petals, inserted at the base of a glandular disk which surrounds and elevates the compound pistil ; fruit a four- or five-lobed, many-seeded pod. Rue was formerly held in high repute, and was thought by the ancients to prevent con- tagion ; it is still somewhat employed in do- mestic medicine, though it is too dangerous to bo carelessly administered ; its properties are due to the oil contained in the leaves, which is so acrid that persons with delicate skin are blistered by handling it, and children in play- ing with it have suffered from its effects. Rue is at present comparatively little used. It is called antispasmodic, and has been used in hys- teria as well as in colic and in dysmenorrhcea. It has also been employed to procure abor- tion, acting like most drugs of this class with great and even dangerous violence. The fresh plant is eaten in some parts of Europe as a condiment and in salads, it being thought to strengthen the sight. The "vinegar of the four thieves," used by robbers in France to enable them to carry on their thieving during the plague, contained rue. Like rosemary, rue was formerly employed in religious cere- monies, for which reason Shakespeare speaks of it in two of his plays as "herb of grace." Meadow rue is a name for several species of thalictrum, of the ranunculus family, which have none of the properties of common rue. KMT, a wading bird of the subfamily trin- gincs or sandpipers, and the genus philomachus (Mohr.). The bill is as long as the head, straight, rather slender, with sides compressed and grooved, and slightly dilated at tip ; wings long and pointed, the first and second quills longest and equal; tail moderate and nearly even ; tarsi long and slender, covered in front with transverse scales; toes moderate, the lateral ones unequal, with the outer united to the middle as far as the first joint, and the hind one elevated and short. The ruff (P. pugnax, Gray) is about 10 in. long, and the bill 1 J in. ; above it is varied with black, ru- fous, and gray, arranged in oblique bands on the scapulars and tertiaries, and whitish be- low ; primaries dark brown, with green reflec- tions above and with inner webs finely mottled toward the base; the tail, except the three outer feathers, transversely barred ; sides of rump white, bill brown, and legs yellow. The males in spring have the feathers of the neck developed into a kind of ruff, whence the com- mon name, and the face is covered with red- dish papilla); they fight during the breeding season, unlike most wading birds ; they are also polygamous, and larger than the females, and in these three respects the ruff seems to form one of the links between wading and gal- linaceous birds; the females are called reeves. The colors of the ruff vary exceedingly, and Ruff (Philomachus pugnax). no two are precisely similar. They are na- tives of northern Europe and Asia, migrating southward during winter; they have been in- troduced into America, and are sometimes killed on Long Island. They are found chief- ly in flocks, in marshy and moist districts; thej