ADELIA, a genus of the monadelphia order, belonging to the dioecia class of plants; the characters of which are: The male calyx is a perianthium one-leaved, three-parted; the florets sublanced and concave: No corolla: The stamina consist of many capillary filaments the length of the calyx, conjoined at the base in a cylinder; the antheræ are roundish. The female calyx is a five-leaved perianthium; the leaflets sublanced, concave, persistent: No corolla: The pistillum has a roundish germen; the style is three, short, and divaricated; the stigmata lacerated: The perianthium is a three-grained, roundish, three-celled capsule: The seeds are solitary and roundish. In the natural
method, this genus belongs to the 38th order, Tricoccar. Of this genus there are three species; the bernardia, the ricinella, and acidoton, for which we have no proper names in English. They are natives of Jamaica, and are akin to the ricinus or croton, and may be propagated in hot-beds from seeds procured from Jamaica.