26 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



ANT 



unpleasant to the taste. When boiled the 

 flavor is intermediate between that of the 

 chestnut and potato, in consequence of which 

 it has been recommended by English horti- 

 culturists for cultivation as a substitute for 

 the latter root. 

 Anthu'rium. From anthos, a flower, and oura, 

 a tail ; referring to the inflorescence. Nat. Ord. 

 AroidecB. 



This very large genus of stove and green- 

 house plants, natives of Central and Tropical 

 America, for the most part growing upon trees 

 or in their forks, is remarkable both for the 

 peculiar inflorescence, and often noble and 

 beautifully veined and colored leaves, and is 

 distinguished in structure from all the Europe- 

 an members of the family in the flowers being 

 hermaphrodite. Of those species most admired 

 for their flowers, A. Andreanum and A. 

 Scherzerianum, are the most noticeable. The 

 singular form and intense coloring of the 

 flowers, together with the gracefully -curved 

 foliage, and long duration of the flo^vers, render 

 them most valuable plants for the decoration 

 of the warm green-house. A. Splendidum, A. 

 Regale, A. Crystallinum, and many other 

 beautiful species are grown for their magnif- 

 icent foliage and are indispensable in a 

 collection of stove plants. 



Anthy'llis. From anthos, a flower, and ioulos, 

 down ; literally downy flower. Nat. Ord. 

 LeguminoHCB. 



A genus of trailing herbs or shrubs, annuals 

 and perennials. About twenty species are 

 known, chiefly from the countries bordering on 

 the Mediterranean Sea, most of which are 

 uninteresting plants. A. vulneraria, is a 

 native of Great Britain, and is frequently met 

 in dry pastures near the sea. The leaves are 

 large, of a bluish tinge and downy. The 

 flowers are yellow, and grow in crowded 

 heads, mostly in pairs. Its popular name is 

 Kidney Vetch, or Lady's Fingers. A. Barba- 

 Jovis, is an evergreen shrub, a native of 

 the South of Europe. It has pinnate leaves, 

 and yellow flowers, and the whole plant has a 

 silvery appearance, from which it has derived 

 its name of Jupiter's Beard and the Silver- 

 bush. This is a very handsome shrub, but not 

 hardy north of the Carolinas. 



Antia'ris. Upas Tree. Fi-om antja, its Java name. 

 Nat. Ord. Artocarpacece. 



A. toxicaria is the fabled Upas Tree of Java, 

 which furnishes a deadly poison in the form of 

 a milky juice that exudes when slightly bruised 

 or cut. The exaggerated accounts, that no 

 other plants, or animals, or birds could live 

 near the tree ; that the death penalty was 

 satisfied if the criminal would cut from the 

 tree a branch or collect some of its juices, 

 were effectually dispelled by Mr. Davidson, 

 author of Trade and Travel in the Far East, 

 who, with a number of friends, climbed up into 

 tlie tree, took lunch, smoked their cigars, and 

 enjoyed a few hours socially in its branches. 

 The Upas has undoubtedly derived its evil 

 reputation chiefly from its having been found 

 growing in the celebrated valley of Java, 

 where, through volcanic agency, there is a 

 constant evolution of carbonic acid gas, fatal 

 to air-breathing animals, and where both 

 man and beast frequently fall victims to this 

 invisible danger. "As if to prove the saying 

 that reality is more strange than fiction, at 



ANT 



least in botany, the very nearest plant 'n 

 affinity, to this deadly poisonous tree, is th« 

 Cow Tree of South America, whose milky juic<' 

 is as wholesome as that of an ' Alderney,' and 

 that the Bread Fruit Tree is also closely allied 

 to the Upas." 



Antigo'non. From anti, against or opposite, 

 and gonia, an angle. A splendid genus ol 

 green-house climbing plants, belonging to the 

 Nat. Ord. PolygonacecB. 



A. leptopus, a native of Nicaragua, is a 

 magnificent climber for the stove-house, rival- 

 ling the BougainviUea in the color and abund- 

 ance of its flowers. The chief attraction of 

 the flowers is afforded by the sepals, which are 

 half an inch long, of a brii^ht rose color. As* 

 the flowers are produced in such great pro- 

 fusion, the plant in its season of flowering 

 presents a brilliant and extremely showy 

 appearance. Its discoverer, Dr. Seeman, writes 

 respecting it : "I am well acquainted with the 

 contents of our gardens and the vegetation of 

 most parts of the world, but I have no hesita- 

 tion in giving it as my deliberate opinion that 

 there is no more graceful or beautiful climber 

 than Antigonon leptopus." 



Autigra'mme. From anti, like, and gramma. 

 writing. Alluding to the arrangement of the 

 sori. Nat. Ord. Polypodiacem. 



This genus is composed of two species of 

 tender ferns, natives of Brazil. A. Brasiliensis, 

 is a simple-fronded Fern, with something of 

 the habit of the Bird's-nest Fern, Aspknium 

 Nidus, but, in a mature state of a glaucous 

 opaque green-color, and remarkable in the 

 young plants, for having a broad band of 

 silvery-gray on each side of the central midrib 

 of the frond, giving it a variegated appearance. 

 Propagated by seeds. Introduced in 1780. 



This genus is now included under Scolopen- 

 drium, by some authors. 



Antirrhi'num. Snapdragon. Derived from 

 anti, similar, and rhin, nose. The flowers of 

 most of the species resemble the snout of 

 some animal. Nat. Ord. Scrophulariacece. 



Annual and perennial plants, natives of the 

 middle and south of Europe, and of which one 

 species, A. majus, the common Snapdragon, 

 is in every garden. There are many varieties 

 of this species, the finest of which, A. m. cary- 

 ophylloides, has the flowers striped like those 

 of a flaked Carnation. All the species of Snap- 

 dragon grow in any soil that is tolerably dry, 

 and they are readily increased by cuttings ; 

 for though they produce abundance of seeds, 

 yet the varieties can only be perpetuated 

 with certainty by the former mode of propa- 

 gation. The beautiful carnation-like variety 

 will, indeed, very seldom produce striped flow- 

 ers two years in succession from tlie same 

 root ; and thus a person who has purchased a 

 plant with beautifully-striped flowers will gen- 

 erally have the mortification, the second year, 

 of finding it produce nothing but flowers of 

 the common Snap-dragon, unless cuttings have 

 been made from the young shoots of the plant, 

 and the old root thrown away. As this plant, 

 in its wild state, is very commonly found 

 growing on the tops of old walls, it may be 

 considered as one of the most ornamental 

 plants for placing in such a situation. 



Ants. See Insects. 



