p 
4 
; 
å 
F 
4 
AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
Feronia—continued. 
F. elephantum, Elephant’s Apple. fl. white, with reddish 
anthers; panicle small, axillary, or terminal. jr. large, about 
the size of an apple, with a greyish rind; pulpy part edible. 
l. impari-pinnate; leaflets five to seven, obovate, sessile, crenu- 
lated, shining, A. 30ft. Coromandel, 1804. (B. F. S. 121.) 
FERRARIA (named after J. B. Ferrari, 1584-1653, 
an Italian botanist). Orn. Irideæ. A genus of half-a- 
dozen species of interesting dwarf bulbous plants, with 
curiously spotted evanescent blossoms, from the Cape 
of Good Hope. This genus belongs to the section 
Moreee; it has many-flowered spathes, the filaments 
united in a tube, and the petaloid stigmas fringed. In 
a warm, sunny situation, and if planted about 6in. deep, 
Ferrarias prove hardy. Increased by seeds and offsets. 
They rarely grow more than 6in. in height. 
F. antherosa (large-anthered). A synonym of F. Ferrariola. 
F. atrata (blackish). £ dark reddish-purple, fringed with 
brownish-green. (L. B. C. 1356.) 
F. divaricata (divaricate). jl. brown. May to July. Z. linear, 
acute, glaucescent. Stem branched at top. 1825. (S. B. F.G. 192.) 
F. Ferrariola (Ferrariolaą).*: jl. greenish-brown. March to July. 
l. equitant, ensiform ; lower narrow. Stem simple. 1800. SYN. 
F. antherosa. (B. M. 751.) 
F. obtusifolia (obtuse-leaved). fl. brown. May to July. 
l. distichous, ensiform, obtuse, keeled on both sides. Stem 
erect, branched, many-flowered. 1825. (S. B. F. G. 148.) 
F. uncinata (hooked). f. brown; spathe two-flowered; seg- | 
rianth involuted at apex. May to July. lingeri = bee, 
striated, hooked at top. Stem branched, shorter 
leaves. 1825. (S. B. F. G. 161.) epee ae 
F. undulata (waved).* f. greenish-brown. March and April. 
7. equitant, ensiform, wavy ; inner twice as narrow as the outer. | _ : 
Stem branched. 1755. See Fig. 8. (B. M. 144.) 
FERRUGINOUS. Iron-coloured, rusty. 
FERTILISATION BY INSECTS. It is only 
within comparatively recent years that the important 
part played by Insects in the Fertilisation of flowers, 
has been thoroughly realised. A goodly number of plants 
will be found, upon examination, to bear flowers mani- 
festly adapted for Insect visitations; and observations 
will prove that in the cases where precautions are taken 
to prevent these, Fertilisation does not occur, although 
the flowers in question may be hermaphrodite. As a rule, 
flowers of gay colours, those possessing much scent 
or secreting nectar, are more or less dependent upon In- 
sect agency. Most dimcious plants, or even hermaphro- 
dite ones, in the Fertilisation of which the wind is a 
necessary auxiliary, present peculiarities of structure which 
do not obtain in those which are now called “ entomo- 
philous;” they do not secrete nectar, the pollen is too 
dry to adhere to Insects, and the corolla is either absent, 
or possesses neither the colour, scent, nor nectar which 
attract them. Amongst hermaphrodite flowers which 
are homogamous—that is to say, those in which the 
stamens and stigma ripen together—there are some which, 
experiment has proved, are sterile with their own pollen, 
but fertile enough if furnished with pollen from the 
flowers of other plants of the same species. The scarlet- 
flowered Linum grandiflorum is, according to the obser- 
vations of Darwin, a case in point. The same authority 
has shown conclusively enough, by a series of carefully 
conducted experiments, that, in the case of the common 
Primrose, more capsules and larger seeds are developed 
as the result of Cross-fertilisation than when Self-ferti- 
lisation obtains. Therefore, unless the aid of the cul- 
tivator be called into requisition, in some cases Insect 
visits are absolutely essential, and in others of consider- 
able value, to the species. 
FERULA (the old Latin name, perhaps from ferio, 
to strike ; stems used as rods). Giant Fennel. Including 
the genera Ferulago and Narthex, which are- sunk under 
Ferula by the authors of the “Genera Plantarum.” ORD. 
Umbellifere. A genus of about forty species of splendid - 
hardy herbaceous plants, natives of Southern Europe,- 
Northern Africa, and Central and Western Asia. 
of many rays; lateral ones usually opposite or verti- 
Vol. II. 
Umbels © 
OF HORTICULTURE. 9 
Ferula—continued. 
cillate. Leaves supra-decompound ; leaflets usually cleft 
into linear segments. Stems tall. Roots thick. They 
are of very simple cultivation in almost any ordinary 
garden soil; and form admirable plants for growing near 
water, on banks and herbaceous borders, where their deep 
green, elegant foliage is produced almost in midwinter. 
It is important to plant them in permanent situations. 
The two best species are, perhaps, communis and tingitana, 
but all the others below named are well worth growing. 
F. Assafoetida (Aszfcetida), f. greenish-yellow ; umbels stalked. 
July. l, radical ones 14ft. long, stalked; cauline ones broadly 
sheathing; both cut into oblong-lanceolate, obtuse segments, 
lin. to 2in. long. h. Tft. Persia, 1855. 
F. a (Asparagus-leaved).* fl. yellow. l, radical ones 
(including the petiole) lft. to 2ft. long, broadly ovate in outline, 
quadripinnate, the divisions very narrow, linear, hairy; upper 
cauline leaves sheath-like; involucral ones numerous, oblong- 
lanceolate, acute, reflexed. h. 4ft. to 5ft. Asia Minor. 
FIG. 9, FERULA COMMUNIS. 
F. communis (common).* fi. yellow; central umbel nearly sessile ; 
pedunculate; involucre wanting. June. 
l. green ; leaflets linear-setaceous, flaccid; sheaths of eigi leaves 
ion, 1597. A very 
See Fig. 9. (S. F. G. 279, under 
F. Fe (Ferulago). f. yellow, in a large terminal umbel ; 
leaves of involucre numerous, oblong-lanceolate, reflexed. June. 
l, leaflets pinnatifid, divaricate; segments linear, cuspidate. 
Stem terete, striated. A. 6ft. to 8ft. Spain. (J. F. A. 5, under 
name of F. nodiflora.) 
F. glauca (glaucous).* fl. yellow; central umbel pedunculate ; 
lateral ones male, on longer peduncles ; involucre wanting. June. 
l. glaucous beneath ; leaflets linear, elongated, flat. Stem terete, 
branched. A. 6ft. to 8ft. South Europe, 1596. 
F. persica —— fl. yellow; involucre and inyolucels 
late infloresce' ? Turkestan, 1872. This species—re- 
markable for the feetid, musky, and milky juice of its root—was 
introduced into Russia in 1835, as a substitute for musk, and a 
remedy for cholera; thence the drug reached Germany and 
England, where it was admitted into the Pharmacopceia in 1867. 
(B. M. 6196.) a 
F. tingitana (Tangiers).* jl. yellow ; terminal umbels on short 
peduncles; lateral umbels few, male, on longer peduncles ; 
Cc 
