A L Y 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



A M A 



83 



calix, very spreading; claws the length of the calix. Stamina : 

 filaments six, the length of the calix; two opposite, a little 

 shorter marked with a toothlet ; anther from erect, spread- 

 ing. Pistil: germ subovate; style simple, the length of the 

 stamina, longer than the germ ; stigma obtuse. Pericarp -. 

 a subglobose, emarginate silicle, with a style the length of the 

 silicle, two-celled ; partitions elliptic, valves elliptical, he- 

 mispherical. Seeds: fixed to filiform receptacles, issuing forth 

 at the end of the silicle, few, orbicular. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 KACTER. The shorter filaments marked with a toothlet ; 

 silicle emarginate. Every species of this genus may be pro- 

 pagated by seed, and most of them by slips and cuttings. 

 The seeds should be sown in a border of light earth in April ; 

 cuttings or slips should be planted in April or May, shaded 

 in the heat of the day, and gently refreshed with water. They 

 seldom survive an English winter, when planted in rich 

 ground ; but in a poor, dry, rubbishy soil, or on old walls, 

 they will abide the cold, and last much longer. The spe- 

 cies are, 



* Undershrubs. 



1. Alyssum Spinosum; Thorny Madicort. The old ra- 

 cemes thorny, naked. It has woody branches rising two 

 feet high, and armed with small spines ; the leaves are 

 hoary, lanceolate, and thinly placed on the stalks without 

 any order ; the flowers grow in small clusters at the extre- 

 mity of the branches. It grows naturally in Italy, Spain, 

 and the south of France ; seldom remains more than two or 

 three years with us, and must be often sown to preserve it ; 

 but if the seeds be suffered to remain, and fall upon the 

 ground, the plants will rise without any trouble. 



2. Alyssum Halhnifolium ; Sweet Madwort. Stems pro- 

 cumbent, perennial ; leaves lance-linear, acute, quite entire. 

 It spreads itself upon the ground, and never rises to any 

 height ; at the extremities of its branches it produces very 

 pretty tufts of small white flowers, of which the plant is sel- 

 dom destitute for six or seven successive months. It is a 

 native of the southern countries of Europe. 



3. Alyssum Saxatile : Yellow Madwort. Stems shrubby, 

 panieled ; leaves lanceolate, very soft, repand ; petals entire. 

 This plant has a fleshy stalk, seldom more than a foot high ; 

 the flowers are of a bright yellow colour. It is a showy and 

 hardy plant, very suitable to embellish rock-work. The seeds 

 ripen in July, but it is only from young plants that seeds 

 can be expected ; for the old plants, or those which are raised 

 from slips or cuttings, rarely produce seeds in England. 



4. Alyssum Alpestre ; Italian Madwort. Stems under- 

 shrubby, diffused ; leaves roundish, hoary ; calices coloured. 

 The flower is yellow; the plant perennial. Found on 

 Mount Cenis, and the mountains of Provence towards Italy. 



* * Herbaceous. 



5. Alyssum Hyperboreum ; Northern Madwort. Leaves 

 hoary, toothed ; stamina four-forked. Native of North 

 America. 



6. Alyssum Incanum ; Hoary Madwort. Stem erect ; 

 leaves lanceolate, hoary, quite entire ; flowers in corymbs ; 

 petals bifid. Grows to two feet in height, with small white 

 flowers. The silicle is entire, oval, and full of brown seeds. 

 It grows naturally in the south of France, in Spain, Italy, 

 Germany, Austria, and Sweden. Chiefly on rocky or gravelly 



It flowers from June to September, and the seeds 

 ripen soon after ; if these be permitted to scatter, the plants 

 will come up, and require little care. 



7. Alyssum Minimum ; Least Madwort. Stems diffused ; 

 leaves linear, downy ; silicles compressed. The petals are 

 yellow and submarginate. It is an annual plant, and grows 

 well in Spain. 



8. Alyssum Calycinium ; Calycine Madwort. Stamina 

 awl-toothed; calices permanent. Annual, found wild in 

 Austria, Carniola, France, Germany, and Switzerland. The 

 petals are yellow, but turn white with age. It should be 

 sown where it is intended to remain ; if thinned, and kept 

 clean from weeds, they will flower in July, and perfect ti.oir 

 seeds in autumn. 



9. Alyssum Montanum ; Mountain Madicort. Stems dif- 

 fused ; leaves sublanceolate, dotted, and echinate. This is 

 a perennial, and has dark yellow flowers. It grows natu- 

 rally upon the rocks of Burgundy and other parts of France 

 and is also found in Germany. 



10. Alyssum Campestre ; Field Madwort. Stamina guarded 

 with a pair of bristles ; calices deciduous. This much re- 

 sembles the eighth species ; but is more decumbent, and 

 has lance-ovate leaves. It is a native of the same countries,, 

 and requires the same treatment. 



11. Alyssum Clypeatum ; Buckler-podded Madwort. Stem 

 erect ; silicles sessile, oval, compressed-Hat ; petals pointed, 

 linear. A biennial plant, growing naturally in Spain and 

 Portugal. 



***Silicles inflated, or Calices oblong, closed. 



12. Alyssum Sinuatum ; Sinuate-leaved Madicort. Stem her- 

 baceous ; leaves lance-deltoid ; silicles inflated. A low 

 spreading plant, with flowers of a bright yellow colour. It 

 is annual or biennial, grows by way-sides in Spain, and in 

 the islands of the Archipelago, but will bear the open air 

 of England, in a dry soil and warm situation. 



13. Alyssum Creticum ; Cretan Madwort. Stem shrubby; 

 leaves lanceolate, a little toothed, downy ; silicles globular. 

 This species seldom continues more than two years in Eng- 

 land, and in a warm dry situation will live in the open air. 

 The seeds should be sown in August soon after they are ripe ; 

 and if a few of the plants be potted in October, and shel- 

 tered under a frame in winter, they will flower in the follow- 

 ing June, and produce good seeds in the same year. Found 

 in Spain and Candia. 



14. Alyssum Gemonense ; Gemona Madwort. Stem her- 

 baceous ; branches divaricated ; root-leaves obovate, rather 

 downy. Root perennial ; flowers of a deep yellow colour; stem 

 four or five inches long. It has its name from being disco- 

 vered on the mountain Delia Fontana, near Gemona in Italy, 

 in the clefts of rocks. It flowers in May and June. 



15. Alyssum Utriculatum; Bottle Madwort. Stem her- 

 baceous, erect ; leaves smooth, lanceolate, quite entire. 

 This species is well adapted to decorating walls, or rock- 

 work ; it grows in the vineyards of Savoy ; and is a hardy 

 and beautiful perennial, flowering from April to June, at 

 which time it begins to form its curiously inflated pods. 



16. Alyssum Vesicaria ; Bladder Mudwort. Leaves linear, 

 toothed ; silicles inflated, angular, acute. This has a trailing 

 stalk, and produces its flowers in loose spikes towards the 

 extremity. Found in the Levant. 



17- Alyssum Deltoideum; Deltoid-leaved Madwort. Stems 

 under-shrubby, prostrate ; leaves lance-deltoid ; silicles 

 shaggy. Flowers of a purple colour. Native of the Levant. 

 It rarely producing seed in this country, may be propagated 

 from its trailing branches ; which if planted in April will take 

 root and become good plants by the following autumn. It is 

 properly a rock plant, being hardy, forming with very little 

 care a neat tuft of flowers ; and is very valuable from its begin- 

 ning to flowerin March, and continuing through the summer. 



Amaranth, Globe. See Gomphrena. 



Amaranthus ; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Pen- 

 tandria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Mate flowers on the same 

 plants with the females. Calix : perianth five or three-leaved, 



