vesi (vas i)

[Polynesian.] A leguminous tree, Afzelia bijuga, found in tropical Asia, the Seychelles, the Malayan islands, and Polynesia. It is an erect tree 50 feet in height, with something of the aspect of the European beech. In the Fiji Islands this and the tamanu are the best timber-trees, its wood seeming almost indestructible, and being there used for canoes, pillows, kava-bowls, etc. The tree was held sacred by the natives. vesica (vē-sīkä), n.; pl. vesicæ (-sē). [L., the bladder, a blister, a bag, purse, etc.] 1. In an at., a bladder; a cyst; a sac; especially, the urinary bladder, or urocyst, the permanently pervious part of the allantoic sac. - 2. In bot., same as vesicle. - Trigonum vesicæ. See trigonum, -Vesica fellea, the gall-bladder or cholecyst; the hepatic cyst.-Vesica piscis (a fish's bladder), a symbol of Christ, a figure of a pointed oval form, made properly by the intersection of two equal circles each of which pa es through the center of the other. The actual figure of a fish found on the sarcophagi of the early Christians was replaced later by this figure, which was a common emblem in the middle ages, with reference to the Greek ἰχθύς (= fish), a word containing the initial letters of Ἰησοῦς Χρισ τὸς, Θεοῦ Υἱὸς, Σωτήρ (Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Saviour). It is met with sculptured, painted on gla , in ecclesiastical seals, etc. The aureola in representations of the members of the Trinity, of the Virgin, etc., is generally of this form. See cuts under aureola and glory. - Vesica prostatic a. Same as prostatic vesicle (see prostatic ). - Vesica urinæ, vesica urinaria, the urinary bladder. vesical (ves'i-kal), a. [= F. vésical; as vesica + -al.] Of or pertaining to a vesica; cystic; especially, pertaining to the urinary bladder: as, vesical arteries, veins, or nerves; vesical distention.- Vesical arteries, branches of the anterior division of the internal iliac artery distributed to the bladder. The inferior is distributed to the lower part of the bladder, to the prostate, and to the vesiculæ semina les, and is also called vesicoprostatic artery. The middle, a small branch of the superior, is distributed to the base of the bladder and the vesiculæ semina les. The superior, that part of the hypogastric artery of the fetus which is not obliterated, supplies the fundus and body of the bladder. Vesical calculus, stone in the bladder. - Vesical ligaments, the ligaments of the bladder, the anterior and lateral true ligaments. - Vesical plexus, sacculus, triangle. See the nouns. - Vesical synovial membrane. Same as bursal synovial membrane. See synovial. - Vesical trigone. Same as trigonum vesica. See trigonum. -Vesical uvula, the uvula vesicæ, or uvula of the bladder, a prominence situated at the inferior angle of the trigonum. - Vesical veins the veins collecting the blood that has pa ed through the capillaries of the bladder. They are more numerous than the corresponding arteries. vesicant (ves'i-kant), a. and n. [F. vésicant; as vesica + -ant.] -ant.] 1. a. Producing ducing a bleb or blister; blistering; epispastic; vesicatory. II. n. A vesicating agent; an epispastic or vesicatory, as cantharides; a blister. Vesicaria (ves-i-kā'ri-ä), п. [NL. (Rivinus, 1691), from the bladdery bladdery pod; 6738 It is characterized by a much-branched stem, stellate pubescence, and flowers which are usually yellow, and are followed by a globose many-seeded silicle with a slender style. There are about 32 species, mostly natives of the United States, with some in southern Europe, Syria, and Persia; a few occur in the mountains of Central America. They are herbs with entire sinuate or pinnatifid leaves, hoary with short forking or branching hairs. The flowers are large and golden-yellow in the American species; the others differ in habit, in their larger broadly winged seeds, and in their yellowish flowers, which become commonly whitish or purplish in fading. They are known as blad der - pod, especially V. Short i i, in America. V. utriculata of the south of Europe produces conspicuous fruit-pouches of the size of a large pea; V. vestita of Persia is peculiar in its large persistent sepals. The American species are particularly abundant in Texas; four occur in Colorado and Wyoming; one, V. arctic a, becomes, at latitude 81° 44', in Grinnell Land, one of the most persistent of arctic plants, and forms a dome-like tuft about 4 inches high, sending down very long deep roots. vesicate (ves'i-kāt), v. t.; pret. and pp. vesicated, ppr. vesicating. [ Celsus proposes that in all these internal wounds the external parts be vesicated , to make more powerful revulsion from within. Wiseman, Surgery. Vesicating collodion, collodion containing cantharides in solution, used as an external application to produce a blister.- Vesicating plaster. See plaster.