ARU 



ARIT 



tlie autumn or spring months, ^^'itll ihe hardy 

 sorts, as tlie three fu'st, the planting may he per- 

 tiirmecl in the common borders ; but in the ten- 

 der kinds, as tlie tburlh, frfth, sixth and seventh 

 species, it should be in pots of liglit earth, in 

 order to be promoted in their taking root by a 

 srentle hot-bed. They are afterwards to be kept 

 ni the bark-stove. When kept in slielves in the 

 dry stove they do not succeed so well. The 

 sixth and seventh sorts require to be guarded from 

 cold bvbeintr [jlaced in the tan-bed of the stove. 

 'J'he two last species may be propagated by 

 cuttings of the stems three or four joints in 

 lensrth, which, after being sufficiently dried, so 

 as to heal the cut parts, may be placed separately 

 in sn)all pots of light sandy mould, and plunged 

 in a moderate tan hot-bed, no water Ix-ing given 

 till they are well rooted. They should be eon- 

 stantlv retained in the stove. 



Such of the hardy kinds as produce seeds, 

 may also be raised by sowing them in pots in the 

 autunm, which should be placed in a gentle hot- 

 bed in the early spring months, to promote their 

 germination and growth. 



The three first are curious, and serve to afford 

 diversity in the borders and clumps of pleasure- 

 grounds ; but the Dracnuculus, though a singu- 

 lar plant, is disagreeable from its unpleasant 

 smell. The others are kept in the stove for the 

 purpose of variety. 



ARUNDO, a genus comprising plants of tlie 

 herbaceous, perennial, and reed kind, some of 

 which are of rapid growth. 



It belongs to the class and order Trlavilrin Di- 

 gynki, and ranks in the natural order of Gramivu. 

 The characters of which are : that the calyx 

 is a one- or many-flowered, two-valvcd, erect 

 filunie : the valves oblong, acuminate, awniess, 

 one shorter than the other : the corolla is two- 

 valved, the valves the length of the calyx, ob- 

 long and acuminate, a lanugo arising from their 

 base, almnst the length of tlie flower: thenectary 

 two-leaved, and very small : the slamiua con- 

 sist of three capillary filaments : the anthcrre 

 forked at both ends : the pistillum is an oblong 

 germ : the styles are two, capillary, reflex and 

 villose : the stigmas simple ; there is no peri- 

 carpium : the corolla adheres to the seed without 

 ga])ing: the seed is sinsile, oblong, acuminate 

 at both ends, and furnished with a long down at 

 the base. 



The species mostly cultivated are : I . ^-Z. Dmiax, 

 Cultivated Evergreen or Portugal Reed; •■2. A. 

 Bamlos, Bamboo-Cane, or Great Indian Reed; 

 ,y. A. colorata. Reed Canary-grass. 



The first, in its natural situation, has the cidm 

 six feet high or more, (ten, fifteen, antl according 

 to some authors twenty or thirty feet) hard, almost 



woody, with knots or joints and diaphragms. 

 Above each joint is a leaf, embracing the culm 

 with a yellow, hollow sheath, two feet long, and 

 three inches broad. The top of the culm ends 

 in a point, the leaves rolling up in form of a 

 cone. The panicle is a foot and half long, erect, 

 and many-flowered. There arc two flowers, 

 and sometimes three in one calyx, but two only 

 ripen. The calyxes are in general considered as 

 three-flowered; but in the late editions of the 

 Systimu FcgetahUiiim, Martyn observes, " that 

 tliey are given as five-flowered, on the autho- 

 rity of Tiirra." It is a native of the south of 

 Europe, &c. and flowers here in July and August. 

 There is a variety with variegated leaves called 

 Striped or Parti-cvloured Reed, but which never 

 grows to a third part of the height of the other, 

 and the leaves are narrower and much shorter. 



The second species has a woody, hollow, 

 round, straight culm, in its native situation, 

 forty feet high and upwards, simple and shin- 

 ing : the internodcs a foot in length and circmn- 

 feiTnce : sheaths thick, hairy, rough, convo- 

 lute, deciduous : branches alternate, slender, so- 

 lid, spiny, reclining, springing out from the 

 base to the very top ; the low cr ones being usu- 

 allv cut off": the leaves small, quite entire, lan- 

 ceolate, roundish at the base, striated, rough, 

 on alternate round petioles. The hollow inter- 

 nodes of the culm are frequently found filled with 

 a limpid liquor, which inlndiabeyond theGanges 

 is not condensed into the substance called T4- 

 i)axir or Tabasheer, as it is, though rarely, in 

 Malabar. The panicle of flowers is difluscd, in 

 spikes; spikelels oblong, imbricate: the calyx is 

 two-valved, one-flowered ; the valves acute, and 

 convolute : the corolla tw-o-valvcd, membranace- 

 ous, very small, and surrounded w ith hairs : sta- 

 mina six, filaments very short, antherK oblong : 

 stigmas three, subsessile, long and villose : seed 

 one, oblong. It is a native of most of the tropical 

 regions, and may be raised here in the stove. 



"The third has a perennial root, long, thick, 

 jointed, creeping, covered with whitish or 

 brownish scales : the culms from two or three 

 to five or six feet in height, upright, strong, 

 round, smooth, with six or seven purplish or 

 brownish knots ; at each of which is a leaf from 

 a hand to a span, a foot in length, and from 

 five to eisiht lines in breadth, smooth except to- 

 wards the end and on the sides, where they are 

 somewhat scabrous, bright green, white about 

 the edge, and with a white nerve : the sheaths 

 striated, smooth, ending in a whitish, cloven 

 ligule : the panicle from six inches to a foot iu 

 lenoth, much contracted at first so as to re- 

 senible a spike, but spreading out in flowering 

 time, branched, the branches crowded, closely 



