ADA 



A D E 



There is only one known species, which is the 

 A. disituta, Ethiopian Sour Gourd or Monkey's 

 Bread. 



In this species the young plants, and also most 

 of the new branches, have single spear-shaped 

 leaves towards their lower part ; but at their ex- 

 tremities the leaves have some three, and others 

 five lobes, of the same size and form as the 

 lower, which are disposed like a hand ; these are 

 entire, ending in a point, and fall oft' m the win- 

 ter season. The stems are large and woody, but 

 of a soft texture, and have generally a large swell- 

 ing near the root. According to the account 

 given bv monsieur Adanson, some of these trees, 

 m Senegal and other parts of Africa, measured 

 fi-om sixtv-five to seventy-eight feet in circum- 

 ference ; but their height was not extraordinary. 

 The trunks were tiom twelve to fifteen feet high, 

 before thev divided into diilerent horizontal 

 Jjranches w'hich touched the ground at their ex- 

 tremities ; these were from forty-five to fifty-five 

 feet Ions, and were so large that each branch 

 was equal to a very large tree : and where the 

 water of a neiiihbouring river had washed away 

 the earth, so as to leave the roots of one of these 

 trees bare and open to sight, they measured one 

 hundred and ten feet long, without including 

 those parts which remained covered by the earth. 



It aftbrds a fruit which, when fresh and eaten 

 with sugar, is said to be pleasant to the taste, 

 beino" of an acid flavour. 



Culture. — The method of propagating this tree 

 is by seeds, which must be procured from the 

 countn- where it grov. s naturally, for it does not 

 produce any in This climate: these should be 

 sown in pots, and plunged into a hot-bed, where, 

 in about six weeks, the plants will come up, and 

 in a short time afterwards be fit to transplant ; 

 when thev should be each planted in a separate 

 pot, filled with light sandy earth, and plunged 

 into a fresh hot-bed, taking care to shade them 

 until they have taken new root ; after which they 

 should have free air admitted to them every day 

 in warm weather, but must be sparingly water- 

 ed ; for as their stems are soft, especially when 

 young, too much moisture is apt to make them 

 rot. As the plants advance in growth they are 

 to be shifted into Lirger pots, but must con- 

 stantly be plunged into the bark -bed, being too 

 tender to thrive in this couutiy without this arti- 

 ficial heat : they must iherefme constantly remain 

 in the stove with other tender exotic plants. The 

 plants when young make great progress in their 

 growth where they are properly treated ; for in 

 three years many of them have been more than 

 six feet high, and have put out several lateral 

 branches ; their stems being in proportion ; but 

 after four or five years' growth they are almost 



at a stand, their annual shoots rarely exceeding 

 two or three inches. 



These trees are onlv cultivated in this country 

 for the singularity of their appearance, and the 

 variety which they afford in the hot-house or 

 stove. 



ADEN ANTH ERA, Bastard Flouer Fine, a 

 genus which contains plants of the tree, ever- 

 green, and exotic kinds ; and of Indian growth. 



It belongs to the class and order Decaudria 

 Moiiogi/nia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Lomentacece. 



The characters of which are : that the calyx is 

 a one-leafed, five-toothed, veiy small perian- 

 thium : the corolla is fivc-petalled, and bell- 

 shaped : the petals are lanceolate, sessile, convex 

 inwards, and conca\e underneath : the stamina are 

 subulate filameiits, erect, and somewhat shorter 

 than the corolla : the anthcrie are roundish, in- 

 cumbent, bearing a globose gland at the outer 

 tip : the pistdlum is an oblony; germen, gibbous 

 downwards ; style subulate, and as long as the-- 

 stamens : the stigma is simple : the pericarpium i* 

 a lone;, compressed, membranaceous legume, and 

 the seeds are very numerous, roundish, and re- 

 mote. 



There is onlv one species that has yet been in- 

 troduced into cultivation in this countiy, which 

 is the A. pavoJiiiia. 



It is a tree with prodigious decompound or 

 doubly pinnated leaves : the leaflets are ovate, ob- 

 tuse, quite entire, on ver)' short petioles, some- 

 times alternate, sometimes opposite: the panicle 

 consists of simple, thick racemes, witli the flos- 

 culcs on equal pedicels. The flowers are compara- 

 tively very small, and of a yellow colour. The 

 leguiiie is nearly afoot in length, repandat thcsu- 

 tures, and obscurelv torulose at the seeds, smooth, 

 one-celled, two-valved ; the valves after they 

 arc open being loosely and spirally twisted. The 

 seeds are few in proportion to the length of the 

 legume, obovate-roundcd, convexly Icns-shapcd, 

 highly polished, of a shining black colour, with 

 a circular streak in tlie middle on each side. 

 This is a tree which in its native state grows to a 

 very laree size, and the timber is in much use on 

 account~of its great solidity. It flowers in Sep- 

 tember, bears fruit at the beginning and end of 

 the year, and is never without leaves. The seeds, 

 besides being eaten by the common people, are 

 of great use, on account of their equalitv. for 

 \\eights, each of them wei'^hing four grains : 

 thev also make a cement by being beaten up 

 with water and borax. 



There is a variety of this plant which has vivid 

 scarlet seeds, but which Miller found to be ex- 

 tremely slow in its growth. 



lu this country it only rises to the state of ashrub. 



