Rivina
(named in honour of A. Q. Rivinus, a native of Saxony, 1652-1722, for some time Professor of Botany and Medicine at Leipsic). Hoop Withy. SYN. Piercea. ORD. Phytolaccaceae. A genus comprising, according to Bentham and Hooker, one or two species of stove, erect, dichotomously-branched herbs, shrubby at base, natives of tropical and sub-tropical America. Flowers hermaphrodite, racemose; perianth corolla-like, four-parted; segments obovate-oblong, obtuse, concave, coloured, unchanged and erect or spreading during fructescence; stamens four. Fruit red, pisiform. Leaves alternate, slender-stalked, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or cordate-ovate, acute, obtuse, or long-acuminate, obscurely crenate, membranous. Rivinas may readily be propagated by seeds or cuttings, which, after being inserted during spring, should be placed in heat. The plants grow freely afterwards in any rich, loamy soil. When covered with berries in winter time, they are exceedingly attractive.
R. humilis (low).* Bloodberry; Rouge Plant. fl. whitish-rose, scarcely one line long, sub-reflexed; racemes longer than the leaves. January to October. fr., berries bright scarlet, disposed in racemes. l. (including the petiole) 1in. to 2in. long, ovate, acuminate, sub-entire, rather thick, slightly tomentose or densely pubescent. Stem shrubby; branches, petioles, and racemes slightly pubescent. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Caribbee Islands, &c., 1699. (B. M. 1781.) R. laevis (smooth).* fl. whitish-rose, small; racemes 1in. to 2in. long. February to September. fr., berries red. l. 2 1/2in. to 4in. long, sub-cordate-ovate, acuminate, slightly crenulated, slender, scarcely undulated, highly glabrous. Stem shrubby; branches glabrous. h. 7ft. to 8ft. West Indies, 1733. (B. M. 2333.) R. l. pubescens (downy). A form with white flowers and pubescent leaves and branches. 1699.