hamel

(ham’el), v. See hamble. hamelett, x. See hamlet. Hamelia (ha-mé‘li-i),. [NL., named after the French botanist Du Hamel (Duhamel-Dumoneceau, 1700-82).] A genus of tropical or subtropical American shrubs, founded by Jacquin in 1763, belonging to the natural order Rubiacee, and type of the tribe Hameliec, having a 5-lobed calyx, 5-ribbed corolla with stamens inserted at the base of its tube, a fusiform stigma, and the flowers arranged in scorpioid cymes. The genus embraces 6 or 8 species, several of which, especially H. patens, have handsome flowers, and are in cultivation as stove-plants. H. ventricosa, a native of Jamaica, is there called Spanish elm.