160 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



FUG 



The best history we have of this interesting 

 genus is from the pen of the Rev. C. A. Johns, 

 in the "Treasury of Botany." He says : "A 

 plausible story has often been printed, which 

 attributes the introduction of the Fuchsia into 

 England to a sailor, Avhosewife or mother was 

 induc(!d to sell it to Mr. Lee, a nurseryman, 

 who, in the course of the following summer, 

 made a profit of 300 guineas by the transac- 

 tion. This is said lo have happened about the 

 close of the last century. It was, however, a 

 hundred years before this time that a monk 

 named Father Plumier discovered the first 

 specimen of the family, which he afterward 

 dedicated to the memory of Leonard Fnchs. 

 This first species was named Fiwhsia triphylla 

 ^orecoccwi«a, and a description of it is to be 

 found in the works of Plumier, published in 

 17o3. With the exception of F. excorlicata and 

 F, procumbens, which are natives of New Zea- 

 land, all the species belong to the central and 

 southern regions of America, in shady, moist 

 places, in forests, or on lofty mountains of 

 Mexico, Peru and Cliili. The number of dis- 

 tinct species at present known is more than 

 fifty, which have been introduced from time 

 to time since the beginning of the present 

 century ; but the varieties most prized by flor- 

 ists date only from the year 1837, when F. 

 fulgens was introduced. The introduction of 

 this species, and soon afterward of F- corymbi- 

 Jlora, F. cordifolia and F. serratifolia, gave to 

 horticulturists the opportunity of hybridizing 

 these long-flowered species with the globose 

 kinds, and the result has been the annual 

 appearance of varieties which, from a garden 

 point of view have surpassed their predeces- 

 sors, to be themselves eclipsed in their turn." 

 The cultivation of the Fuchsia is quite simple. 

 Stock plants should be started in the green- 

 house in November or December, and cuttings 

 taken off as soon as large enough, which will 

 be in ten days or two weeks. In an ordinary 

 propagating house they will be sufliciently 

 rooted in two weeks to pot off ; after which 

 the growth is rapid, if given the four essential 

 elements, viz., light, air, heat and water. 

 They require to be re-potted often, never 

 allowing them to get pot-bound if large showy 

 plants are desired. By training up the lead- 

 ing shoot, and keeping it tied to a straight 

 stick, the plant will throw out side shoots in 

 the perfect order required for a graceful, sym- 

 metrical outline. Plants carefully grown in 

 this manner will, by the first of July, fill a 

 twelve-inch pot, which, if placed in a shady 

 situation and liberally watered with liquid 

 manure, will make a plant fully six feet high 

 by autumn, and all the summer be completely 

 cov'Cred with flowers. 



Fugacious. Soon falling off, or perishing very 



rapidly. 

 Fuliginous. Dirty brown, verging upon black. 

 Fuller's Teazel See Dipsacus Fullonum. 

 Fulvous. Tawny yellow or fox-colored. 



Fuma'ria. Fumitory. From fumos, smoke ; 

 referring to the disagreeable smell of the 

 plant. Nat. Ord. FwmariacexB. 



A genus of hardy annuals, mostly mere 

 weeds. One or two, however, are very pretty 

 climbers, ornamental when grown along 

 hedge-rows, for tlieir delicate foliage, and 

 small, pinkish white flowers.' 



FUS 



Fumaria'ceae. A natural order of herbs with 

 brittle stems, watery juice, alternate, cut, 

 exstipulate loaves, and irregular, unsymme- 

 trical flowers. They are chiefly natives of the 

 temperate regions of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, a few occur at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. They possess a slight bitterness and 

 acridity. There are eighteen known genera 

 and about 100 species ; Famuria, Dicentra and 

 Corydalis are examples of the order, which is 

 now included by Bentham and Hooker, as a 

 tribe of PapaveracefB. 



Fumigating. See Insects. 



Fumitory. See Fumaria. 

 Climbing. Adlumia cirrhosa. 



Function. The peculiar action induced by the 

 agency of vitality upon any part of a living 

 plant, when placed under certain influences. 



Fundamental. Constituting the essential part 

 of anything ; in a plant, the axis and its ap- 

 pendages. Fundamental organs, the nutri- 

 tive organs essential to the existence of the 

 individual. 



Funeral Cypress. A common name of Cupres- 

 sus funebris. 



Fungi Extensive groups of singular plants, 

 known as blights, blasts, mildews and mush- 

 rooms. 



Funnel-shaped. A calyx or corolla, or other 

 organ, in which the tube is obconical, gradu- 

 ally enlarging upward into the limb, so that 

 the whole re^sembles a funnel, as in the Con- 

 volvulus or Morning Glory. 



Fu'nkia. Day Lily. Plantain Lily. Named in 

 honor of Henry Funk, a German cryptogamist. 

 Nat. Ord. Lilkicece. 



A handsome genus of hardy herbaceous 

 plants, with bundled fibrous roots, from 

 Japan. It is nearly allied to Hcmerocallis, 

 and some of the sp<;cies first introduced were 

 included in that genus, which has caused 

 considerable confufcion in names. They are 

 remarkable for their neat habit, the fine 

 character of their foliage, and the delicious 

 fragrance of the flowers of some of the species. 

 F. albo-marginata and F. Sieboldiana have 

 beautifully variegated foliage, green and 

 white. As boi-der plants they are very showy 

 and attractive, and to mix with cut flowers 

 for vases the foliage is invaluable. F. sub- 

 cordata, or Japonica, the well-known white 

 Day Lily, is the largest growing of the species. 

 In rich soils they will, in a short time, make 

 immense clumps, that flower freely in August. 

 This species does best in partial shade. They 

 are readily increased by division of the roots, 

 which should be done in early spring. First 

 introduced in 1790. 



Furcate. Having long terminal lobes, like the 

 prongs of a fork. 



Furcrae'a. See Fourcroya. 



Furfuraceous. Scurfy, covered with soft 

 scales, which are easily displaced. 



Furrowed. Marked by longitudinal channels, 

 as the stem of the Parsnip. 



Fuscous. Brown, with a grayish or blackish 

 tinge. 



Furze. See Vlex. 



Fusiform. Spindle-shaped ; thick, tapering to 

 each end, like the root of a long Eadish. 

 Sometimes conical roots are called fusiform. 



