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AIT 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



A J U 



nicle spiked ; flowers awned on the middle; awn reflex, loose. 

 It is a perennial, and is found upon the mountains of 

 Switzerland, Savoy, Denmark, and Lapland. 



5. Aira Csespitosa; Turfy Aira-grass. Leaves flat; pa- 

 nicle spreading ; petals villous, and awned at the base ; awn 

 straight, short. The culm of this grass is about a yard high. 

 In marshes it is frequently viviparous, and growing in tufts 

 it occasions irregularities, tussocks, or hassocks, as they are 

 vulgarly called, in meadows. Cows, goats, and swine, eat 

 it, but horses are not fond of it. It is perennial ; and found 

 in meadows, fields, and woods. 



6. Aira Flexuosa ; Heath Aira-grass. Awned ; leaves 

 setaceous; culms almost naked ; panicle divaricated; pedun- 

 cles flexuose. Perennial ; and a native of heaths, barren pas- 

 tures, and rocky moors. Horses, kine, and sheep, eat it. 



~. Aira Montana ; Mountain Aira-graas. Leaves seta- 

 ceous ; panicle narrowed ; flowers hairy at the base, and 

 awned; awn twisted, and very long. This is a native of high 

 heaths and barren pastures : it is perennial, and sheep are 

 ver fond of it. Supposed to be a variety of the foregoing. 



8. Aira Alpina ; Alpine Aira-grass. Leaves subulate ; 

 panicle dense ; flowers hairy at the base, and awned ; awn 

 short. This species grows on the mountains of Germany, 

 Savoy, and Lapland. 



9. Aira Villosa ; Villose Aira-grass. Leaves subulate ; 

 panicle long and narrow ; flowers sesquialteral, shaggy, 

 awned ; awn straight, short. Native of the Cape. 



10. Aira Canescens ; Gray Aira-grass. Leave setaceous, 

 the upper one involving the panicle at bottom like a spathe. 

 This may be known at first sight from most other grasses 

 by its paleness. It is a native of sandy shores, the walls of 

 Basil, and the sandy fields of Germany and Piedmont. 



11. Aira Prsecox ; Early Aira-grass. Leaves setaceous; 

 sheaths angled ; flowers panicle-spiked, and awned at the 

 base. This species has a sweet taste ; horses and sheep eat 

 it, and cows are very fond of it. It grows in ditches, in 

 wet meadows, and on the banks of streams ; it flowers in 

 June and July. 



1'2. Aira Caryophyllea ; Silver Aira-grass. Leaves seta- 

 ceous ; panicle divaricated ; flowers awned, distant. This 

 is an annual plant; and is a native of the sandy pastures 

 and heaths of England, France, Switzerland, Piedmont, 

 Germany, and Denmark. 



13. Aira Antarctica; South Sea Aira-grass. Leaves flat; 

 panicle compound, spreading ; calices three-flowered ; flos- 

 cules awned in the middle ; awn elongated, straightish. 

 A native of New Zealand. 



14. Aira Involucrata; Itivolucred Aira-grass. Panicle 

 spreading, involucred, with bristles at the base ; floscules 

 awnless. Native of Spain, on the barren hills near Madrid ; 

 it is annual, and flowers in June and July. 



Aitonia; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order Octan- 

 dria. GENKHIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 erect, four-parted, short, divided into four ovate sharp seg- 

 ments. Corolla: has four, erect, equal, broadly-ovate, con- 

 cave, very obtuse, petals. Stamina : filaments joined as far 

 as the middle ; divided above into eight ; awl-shaped, fur- 

 rowed, standing out of the corolla ; and having ovate furrow- 

 ed antherae. Pistil : germ superior, ovate, smooth, subangu- 

 lar ; style one, filiform, of the same length with the stamina ; 

 stigma obtuse, undivided. Pericarp : an ovate, dry, mem- 

 branaceous, four-cornered, one-celled, brittle berry ; the 

 corners are produced and sharp. Heeds : many, fixed to a 

 column, globular, and smooth. Observe. It varies with five 

 cleft, teu-stamined flowers. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Style: 

 one. Calii : four-parted. Corolla : four-petalled. Berry 



dry, quadrangular, one-celled, many-seeded. Only one 



species is known, viz. 



1. Aitonia Capensis, This shrub is slow of growth with 

 us, and seldom exceeds three feet in height. It is raised only 

 from seeds, which are sparingly produced in this country; 

 and it must be kept in the greenhouse or cape-stove. When 

 it is of sufficient age, it produces flowers and fruit, which is 

 large, and of a fine red colour through most of the year. 



Ajuga ; a genus of the class Didynamia, and order Gym- 

 nospermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calit : perianth one-leaf- 

 ed, short, cut halfway into the five-clefts, with the segments 

 nearly equal. Corolla : monopetalous, ringent ; tube cylin- 

 dric, bent in ; upper lip very small, erect, bifid, obtuse ; 

 middle division very large and obcordate ; side ones small. 

 St/n/iina : filaments subulate, erect, longer than the upper 

 lip ; anthera? twin. Pistil : germ four-parted ; style filiform, 

 situation and length as in the stamina; stigmas two, slender, 

 the lowest shorter. Pericarp: none; the calix, which is 

 converging, fosters the seeds. Seeds : somewhat oblong. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla . upper lip very small 

 Stamina i longer than the upper lip. The species are, 



1. Ajuga Orientalis; Eastern Bugle. Flowers inverted. 

 The stem is a foot and half high : there are several varieties, 

 differing only in the colour of their flowers. It is found in 

 the Levant, Japan, and Cochin-China ; and requires a little 

 protection in winter, and as much free air as possible, ex- 

 cept in hard frosts. They are propagated by seeds, and also 

 by offsets ; but the latter is a very slow method. 



2. Ajuga Pyramidalis ; Pyramidal Bugle. Spike a quad- 

 rangular, villous pyramid ; leaves approximating; root-leaves 

 very large ; bractes nearly entire. The stem is four or five 

 inches high. The plant is biennial, and flowers in April. 

 It is a native of Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Swe- 

 den, Denmark, Wales, and Scotland. 



3. Ajuga Alpina; Alpine Bugle. Stem simple; stem- 

 leaves equalling the radical ones, This plant requires a 

 moist and shady situation ; it grows naturally on the Alps, 

 and is admitted into some gardens for the sake of variety, 

 where it propagates plentifully by its trailing stalks. 



4. Ajuga Genevensis ; Geneva Bugle. Leaves downy, 

 streaked with lines, lowermost narrower ; calices shaggy ; 

 bractes generally three-lobed. This species nearly resem- 

 bles the common Bugle. There are two varieties, one with 

 a white, the other with a red flower. It grows wild about 

 Geneva, and in many of the southern countries of Europe. 



5. Ajuga Reptans ; Common Bugle. Smooth, and creep- 

 ing by runners. This species is so plentiful in a wild state, 

 that it is seldom admitted into gardens. Its stalk is six inches 

 high, upright, hairy, and purple. The corolla is blue, coloured 

 with white veins. It flowers from May to June, and grows 

 naturally in woods and moist meadows, in most parts of Eng- 

 land, and of the south of Europe. There are two varieties, 

 one with a white, the other with a pale purple flower, grow- 

 ing in different parts of Westmoreland, but they only differ 

 in mere colour from the blue sort. It is numbered among 

 coolingand gently astringent vegetables, and is recommended 

 both as an internal and external vulnerary. The leaves, when 

 first chewed, have a sweetish taste, which soon changes into 

 an austere and bitter one. An infusion of them, or their ex- 

 pressed juice, is good for wounds and bruises, whether internal 

 or external, and is also esteemed a good diuretic. The leaves 

 are of a wild astringent corroborating nature, and may be 

 advantageously used in fluxes and all disorders of that kind, 

 as they do not, like many other plants of the same nature, 

 produce costiveness, but rather operate as gentle laxatives. 

 The roots of this plant appear to be more astringent than 



