2 THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Fagrea—continue. ee 
F. zeylanica (Cingalese). M. white, large, few, terminal, umbel- 
late. l. crowded, obovate-oblong, — bracts ovate, obtuse. 
` Stem sub-quadrangular, shrubby, erect. A. 12ft. Ceylon, 1816. 
(B. M. 6080.) 
FAGUS (the old Latin name, akin to Greek Phegos, 
an Oak, and perhaps derived from phago, to eat; the 
nuts were used as food in the early ages). Beech. ‘ORD. 
Cupulifere. A genus containing about fifteen species of 
handsome, deciduous or evergreen trees or shrubs, widely 
distributed throughout the temperate and colder regions 
of both Northern and Southern hemispheres. Male 
flowers disposed in long-stalked, drooping heads; calyx 
four to seven-lobed. Female flowers two to four 
together, in a four-partite involucre of imbricating 
bracts. Leaves entire or toothed. The common Beech 
‘grows well in most dry soils, preferring a sandy 
- loam, with chalky bottom, and light loams generally, 
to heavier soils. Propagation is effected by means of 
the seeds or nuts, which ripen in October. In order 
to keep them in a fit condition for sowing during the 
ensuing March or April, they should, after being 
Fic. 1. BRANCHLET OF FAGUS SYLVATICA, showing Male 
and Female Flowers. 
thoroughly dried, be mixed with about double the quantity 
of dry sand, in tubs or barrels, and stored in a loft or 
some cool place. Provided mice can be kept off the 
ground, it is better to sow the nuts immediately after 
they have been collected; they may either be sown 
in drills or in beds, covering with about lin. of soil. As 
the Beech does not always transplant very readily, it 
will be necessary to replant in nursery rows every 
two or three seasons, until the seedlings have attained 
the desired size and are placed in the positions they 
are intended to occupy permanently. The numerous 
varieties of our native species are propagated by graft- 
ing on the type. The common Beech succeeds admirably 
as a hedge, which it is usual to trim close; and as the 
dead leaves cling to the stems in winter and during the 
early spring months, they give valuable shelter. An oil 
is expressed from Beech nuts. 
F. antarctica (Antarctic).* Z. ovate, blunt, glabrous, attenuated 
at the base, doubly dentate, alternate ‘petiolate, lsin. long. 
Tierra del Fuego, 1830. A deciduous shrub or tree, with rugged, 
tortuous branches. (H. F. A, 123.) 
a hand glass, in April by visions. 
Fagus—continued. 
F. betuloides (Birch-like).* Evergreen Beech. l ovate-elliptic, 
obtuse, crenulate, leathery, shining, glabrous, round at the base, 
nt short footstalks. Tierra del Fuego, 1850. An evergreen tree. 
(H. F. A. 124.) ‘ 
F. ferruginea (rusty).* Z. ovate, acuminate, thickly —— 
downy beneath, ciliate on the margin. United States, 1 
A large, deciduous tree, very closely resembling the — 
European species, from which it is distinguished by its longer, 
thinner, and tie shining leaves. 
F. obliqua (oblique). l. ovate-oblong, oblique, somewhat rhom- 
boid, blunt, doubly serrated, entire at the base, attenuated into 
we petioles, and somewhat downy. A. 50ft. Chili. Hardy, de- 
ciduous. 
F. sylvatica (sylvan). Common Beech. l. oblong-ovate, obscurely 
toothed ; margin ciliate. =k. 60ft. to 100ft. A triangular area 
between Norway, Asia Minor, and Spain, A large, deciduous 
tree. See Fig. 1. Of the numerous varieties of this splendid 
species, the following are the most important : argenteo-variegatis, 
leaves silver-striped ; asplenifolia, heterophylla, incisa, and querci- — 
Jolia, with more or less cut leaves; cuprea, leaves copper- 
coloured : aureo-variegatis, leaves gold-striped ; purpurea, leaves 
deep purple ; and the weeping or pendulous form, pendula. 
FAIR MAIDS OF FRANCE. See Ranun- 
culus aconitifolius and Saxifraga granulata. $ 
FAIR MAIDS OF KENT. See Ranunculus 
aconitifolius. ; 
FAIRY PRIMROSE. See Primula minima. 
FAIRY RINGS. Green circles, or parts of circles, 
seen in pastures, and produced by the peculiar mode of 
growth of several species of Agarics and other Fungi. 
Agaricus arvensis, A. gambosus, and Marasmius oreades, 
are good examples of those usually inhabiting Fairy 
Rings. 
FALCATE, FALCIFORM. Bent like a sickle. 
FALCONERA. This genus is now included under 
Albuca. - 
FALKIA (named after John Peter Falk, 1730-1774, 
a Swede, Professor of Botany at St. Petersburgh). ORD. 
Convolvulacee. A genus containing three or four species 
of greenhouse or half-hardy, herbaceous plants, from South 
Africa. F. repens is a very pretty, little, greenhouse, ever 
green creeper, thriving in a compost of loam and pe 
or any light soil. by cutting: 
(creeping).* fl. aler th 
campanulate, crena’ pea oo peduncles hardly iets than the leaves. 
May: 4, — petiolate, Lay tin obtuse, entire. 
ATETA —— after Fallugius, a Florentine 
botanist, who flourished about the end of the seventeenth 
century). ORD. Rosacew.. A monotypic genus. The 
species is an erect, much-branched shrub. For culture, 
see Sieversia (to which it is allied). 
F. paradoxa (paradoxical). M. white, large, showy, subok 
bose, pedicellate. Z. alternate, petiolate, irregularly three to 
five-lobed or pinnatitid, rarely entire; lobes linear, obtuse ; 
— recurved, snowy underneath. New Mexico. (B. M. 
FALSE ACACIA. See Robinia Pseudo-acacia. 
FALSE DITTANY. See Dictamnus albus. 
FALSE DRAGON-HEAD. See Ehysostegime 
FALSE LARCH. See Pseudolarix. 
FAME FLOWER. See Talinum teretifolium. 
FAN PALM. See Chamezrops, Corypha, and 
Sabal Blackburniana. 
FAN-SHAPED. Plaited like a fan; e.g., the — 
of Chamerops and Livistona. 
FPARAMEA (said to be the native name in Guiana). 
Syn. Tetramerium. ORD. Rubiacew. A tropical American 
genus, containing about forty species, only one of which, 
perhaps, is in cultivation. F. odoratissima is a very orna- 
mental, sweet-scented, stove, evergreen shrub, with flowers 
about the size of those of Jasmine. It thrives in fibry 
peat and loam, with the addition of a little silver sand 
