A B R 



A C A 



Culture. — ^The propagation of the first, or tree 

 kind, is by cuttinsrs made in the spring, and plant- 

 ed out in pots inorder to be pkmged into a hot- 

 bed, where, after being well rooted, they should be 

 transplanted into single pots and placed in a bark- 

 bed in the stove, where they must constantly be 

 kept, as they require a pretty strong heat and nuich 

 water. The seeds do not easily become ripe in this 

 climate, seldom indeed arriving at a state proper 

 for vegetating without great attention. The se- 

 cond sort is not yet much known or cultivated. 

 ABROTANUiVI. See Artemisia. 

 ABRUS, JVi'ld Liquorice, a genus compre- 

 hending a plant of the perennial shrubby kind, 

 sometimes cultivated in the stove in this country. 

 It belongs to the class and order Diadelphia 

 Decandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Leguminosce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed, bell-shaped, obscurely four-lobed peri- 

 anthium ; the teeth blunt, and the upper the broad- 

 est : the corolla papilionaceous, having the ban- 

 ner roundish, entire, ascending, and flatted at 

 the sides, but longer than the wings and keel : 

 the wings oblong and blunt; and the keel ob- 

 long, sickle-shaped, gibbous, and longer than the 

 wings : the stamina nine filaments united into a 

 sheath, cloven above, free at the end, unequal, and 

 rising; with oblong erect anthera; : thepistillum 

 a cylindrical harry germ ; with the style subulate 

 and rising, but shorter than the stamina : the 

 stigma in the form of a head, but small : the 

 pericarpium a rhomblike, compressed, acumi- 

 nated legume, coriaceous, bivalved, four- or fiye- 

 celled, v.'ith a little subulate deflex claw; each 

 cell containing a subglobose seed. 



There is only one species; the A. precatmius, 

 Jamaica Wild Liquorice. 



This has a slender, shrubby, twining, branchy 

 stalk, rising when supported to eight or ten feet 

 in height, adorned with pinnate leaves which end 

 abruptly, and having from twelve to sixteen pairs 

 of small, smooth, oblong, blunt folioles, or leaf- 

 lets, set close together. The flowers are of a pale 

 purple colour, and come out in short spikes or 

 bunches from the sides of the stalks, having the 

 shape of the kidney bean; and are succeeded by 

 short pods, containing in each three or four hard 

 seeds of a bright scarlet colour, with a black 

 speck or eye on the sides on which they are 

 fastened to the pod. 



Professor T. Martyn, on the authority of 

 Gtertner, remarks, that the legume or pod is 

 occasionally found of an oblong iorm, containing 

 six seeds scarce apparently divided by a mem- 

 brane, which often disappears as the seeds be- 

 come ripe. The small Icallets have the taste of 

 liquorice, and arc used for the same purposes : 

 he;ice the plant seems to have obtained its name. 



There are two varieties of this plant — one that 

 has a white, and another a yellow, seed : but they 

 do not difler from the former either in leaf or 

 stalk. It is said to grow naturally in both the East 

 and West Indies, as well as in Guinea and Egypt. 

 Culture. — The propagation of this plant Is by 

 seeds ; which should be sown on a good hot-bei 

 in the spring, being previously soaked three or 

 four days in water, in order to promote their ve- 

 getating power. When the plants are come up 

 about two inches in height, they should each be 

 transplanted out into a separate pot filled with 

 light earth, and then plunged into a bark-bed in 

 the stove, keeping them well shaded from the sun 

 until they have struck or taken fresh root ; in 

 which situation they must be constantly kept : 

 after this they are to be treated as other tender 

 plants. They mostly flower in the second year, 

 and occasionally ripen their seeds even in this 

 climate. 

 ABSINTHIUM. See Artemisia. 

 ACACIA. See Mimosa. 

 ACACIA, False and Scarlet. See Roeixia. 

 ACACIA, Tkree-thorned. See Gleditsia. 

 ACANTHUS, Bear's Breecli, a genus which 

 comprehends several hardy herbaceous plants of 

 the perennial flowering kind, which arc in use 

 for the purpose of ornament in pleasure-grounds, 

 &c. and also one of the evergreen shrubby sort 

 for the stove. 



It is of the class and order Didi/uamia Angi- 

 ospermia, and ranks in the natural order of Per~ 

 sonat<s. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a peri- 

 anthium, with leaflets in three alternate pairs, 

 unequal, and permanent : the corolla single- 

 petalled and unequal, having a short tube closed 

 with a beard; no upper lip ; very large under lip, 

 which is flat, straight, very broad, three-Iobed, 

 obtuse, and of the length of the upper lip of the 

 calyx : the stamina have four filaments, subulate, 

 shorter than the corolla, the two upper rather 

 longer, recurved and incurved at the top : the 

 antherse are oblong, compressed, obtuse, the late- 

 ral ones parallel, and villous before : the pistillum 

 has a conical germ, a filiform style of the length of 

 the stamina, and two acute lateral stigmas : the 

 pericarpium is a subovate pointed capsule, two- 

 celled and two-valved, with a contrary partition, 

 alternate claws, cun'cd and fastened to the parti- 

 tion : the seed is ovate, gibbous and.singlc, but 

 sometimes double. 



The species most commonly cultivated are : 1 . 

 Jl. mollis, Smooth Acanthus ; 2. A. spinosus. 

 Prickly Acanthus; S.A.ilicifoUus, Holly-leaved 

 Shrubby Acanthus. 



The first, or Smooth Acanthus, according to 

 Miller, has the stem from two to three feet in 



height. 



The leaves are oblong, smooth on both 



