AMPELOPSIS 



THE BULB BOOK 



ANDKOCYMBIUM 



rotten fish and burnt sugar. {Hot. 

 Mnrj. tt. 7153-4-5.) 



A. .variabilis (Itrachj/spatha varia- 

 l>i/h).~ An East Indian fetid-smelling 

 species about 3 ft. high, with solitary, 

 much-divided leaves about 18 ins. 

 across, borne on spotted stalks. The 

 greenish-purple spathe encloses a 

 whitish spadix. (G'ard. Chron. 1876, 

 120.) 



A. virosus. — A Siamese species 

 resembling A. campamdatus, but 

 smaller. The spathes are pale green 

 spotted with white and edged outside 

 with ])urple. The inner surface is 

 purple and corrugated at the base, 

 creamy white in the centre, and 

 purple again towards the top, the 

 whole being about 8 ins. long, and 6 

 ins. across. The brownish or purple 

 spadix is about 7 ins. high, with a 

 roundish corrugated top or appendix. 

 U'ot. J/arj. t. G978.) 



A. zeylanicus. — This has a whitish 

 spathe Slotted with green, and a 

 yellow spadix ; is also known as Arum 

 si/lvaticum, and Synantherias sylva- 

 tica, the latter being now the accepted 

 name. (Hot. Mag. t. 7190.) 



AMPELOPSIS (Ampelos, a vine ; 

 o/tsis, resemblance ; in reference to the 

 vine-like appearance). Nat. Ord. Am- 

 pelidese. — There are only a couple of 

 species of garden note with tuberous 

 roots belonging to this genus, namely, 

 A. napiformis, with roundish corru- 

 gated roots, and five-lobed leaves, and 

 A. serjanicefolia (or A. ticherosa), hav- 

 ing dahlia-like roots, and palmately 

 lobed leaves. Both are climbers, the 

 first-named being a native of China, 

 the other from Japan. They are both 

 hardy, and ornamental in foliage, 

 like their relatives the Virginian 

 creeper (A. quinquefolia) and the 

 well-known yl. Veitchi. They flourish 

 in ordinary soil, and may be increased 

 by division of the roots, or by cut- 



tings of the ripened wood in autumn. 

 They are generally referred to the 

 genus Vitis. 



ANCHOMANBS (derivation un- 

 known). Nat. Ord. Aroideie. — A 

 small genus of hothouse tuberous 

 perennials closely related to Amorpho- 

 phallus, and requiring the same 

 cultural treatment. Outside botanical 

 collections the plants are practically 

 unknown. 



A. dubius. — A fine species, having 

 thick, fleshy tubers, from which a 

 much-divided elegant leaf is thrown 

 up. The spathe is very large and 

 recurved, about 1 2 in. long, the outer 

 surface being a pale olive purple, the 

 interior glossy, cream-coloured. The 

 spadix is over 6 in. long, and | in. 

 thick, the upper five-sixths being 

 densely packed with creamy male 

 flowers, while the basal portion having 

 the female flowers is a dull purple col- 

 our {Gard. Chron., ]May 1885, 668, f.). 



A. Hookeri (Caladium j^etioJatum). 

 — A remarkable plant from the Island 

 of Fernando Po, having poisonous 

 potato-like tubers marked with rings 

 and scars. The leaf-stalk is 3 ft. high 

 rounded, green blotched with purple, 

 especially below, where it is muricated. 

 The blade is divided into three 

 spreading branches, each being again 

 divided into smaller segments. The 

 flower-stem is about a foot high, and 

 bears a boat-shaped tapering spathe, 

 6 to 8 in. long, deep velvety purple 

 within, but greenish-purple outside 

 at the base. {Bot. Mag. t. 3728.) 



The variety pallida is larger, with 

 prickly leaf and flower-stems, and a 

 wider and paler purjjle and green 

 spathe enclosing a white spadix, 

 having a deep purple base {Bot. Mag. 

 t. 539 0. 



ANDROCYMBIUM {aner or awlros, 

 a man ; ri/inlKjx, a cavity ; in reference 



