15 



AMTGDALUS. 



grafting on the Hawthorn, and they 

 •will grow in any soil, and require 

 very little pruning. Like other 

 rosaceous shrubs, however, they are 

 very liable to have their foliage 

 injured by caterpillars. 



Ame'llus Bee. — Composifce. — 

 There are onh' two species, one a 

 greenhouse perennial, and the other 

 an aster-like annual, A melius dn- 

 nuus, which was formerly called 

 Kaulfussia amelloldes, and which is 

 a very pretty little plant, being re- 

 markable from the curious rolling iip 

 •of itspetals. Both species are natives 

 of the Cape, and will not grow in loam 

 without the addition of sand. 



American Aloe. — See AgaVe. 



American Convolvulus. — See 

 Caltste^gia. 



American Cowslip. — See Dode- 

 ca'theon. 



Ametht'stea. — Labia fee. — An 

 annual plant with blue flowers, a 

 native of Siberia, of easy culture hi 

 any soil or situation, except that it 

 will not bear transplanting, unless 

 when very young. 



Ammo'bium. — Compositce. — A 

 kind of Everlasting flower, with a 

 yellow disc and white ray like a 

 Daisy. A native of New South 

 Wales, where it was found growing in 

 pure sand. It is generally grown 

 from seeds as an annual ; but by 

 striking cuttings, it may be kept two 

 or thi-ee years. 



Amo'rpha. — Legummosce. — De- 

 ciduous shrubs, with pinnate leaves, 

 from North America, varying from 

 two to six feet in height, with showy 

 dark-blue and orange flowers in ter- 

 minal spikes. A . Lcv/ts ii hasflowers 

 of gold and purple of great beauty 

 when examined closely. All the 

 species are of comparatively short du- 

 ration ; their wood being soft, with a 

 large proportion of pith, and their 

 branches very liable to be broken ofi" 

 by high winds : ia other respects, they 



are of easy culture in sandy soil, and 

 they are readily propagated by cut- 

 tings or layers. Indigo is made from 

 the pulpy part of the leaves of A, 

 indigofera, an East Indian species. 



Ampelo'psis Mx. — Yitdcece. — A . 

 hederdcea is well known by its Eng- 

 lish names of Yu-ginian Creeper, and 

 Five-leaved Ivy. Its flowers have 

 no beauty, but it is worth cultivat- 

 ing as an ornamental plant, from the 

 brilliant scarlet which its leaves 

 assume in autumn ; and which look 

 particularly well at that season, when 

 intermingled with those of the com- 

 mon Irj, from the fine contrast they 

 afibrd. The plant is of very rapid 

 growth in any common soil, and it 

 is propagated by layers or cuttings. 



Amphi'come Eoyle. — Bignoni- 

 dcecB. — A very beautiful Nepal green- 

 house perennial, with tube-shaped 

 pink flowers. It may be propagated 

 by either seeds or cuttings, though 

 the first are sometimes two years be- 

 fore they vegetate, and the cuttings 

 are very difl&cult to strike. The soil 

 it is grown in should be loam, mixed 

 with peat and sand ; and to make it 

 flower well, very little water should 

 be given to it from the time of the 

 leaves dying down, till the yoimg 

 shoots appear in spring. 



Amy'gdalus. — i^osacece.— There 

 are two species of Almonds which are 

 highly ornamental, on account of their 

 flowers : A. nana, which does not 

 grow above two feet high, and pro- 

 duces its pink flowers in ^larch ; and 

 A. communis, which forms a small 

 deciduous tree, profusely covered 

 with flowers, in ]\Iarch and April, 

 before it expands its leaves. There 

 are several varieties of both species, 

 but the only one which is worth 

 notice is the large-flowered Almond, 

 A. c. macrocdrpa, which has much 

 larger flowers than the common kind, 

 though they are much paler. The 

 dwarf Almond is propagated by 



