AND 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



AND 



97 



22. Andropogon Barbatum. Spikes digitate : calices per- 

 manent ; corollas ciliate. Culm a foot high. Found in the 

 East Indies. 



23. Andropogon Pubescens. Spikes digitate ; calices sub 

 triflorous ; outer petals awned ; keel and hedge of the her- 

 maphrodite flower ciliate. This species is perennial ; flow- 

 ers from July to September ; and is a native of Jamaica. 



24. Andropogon Nardus ; Indian Nard, or Spikenard. 

 Branches of the panicle superdecompound, proliferous. This 

 is said to be used as a spice among the Orientals : as brought 

 to us, it is a congeries of small tough reddish-brown fibres, 

 forming a bunch about the size of a finger, and is mode- 

 rately warm and pungent, accompanied with a flavour which 

 is not disagreeable. The whole plant has a strong aromatic 

 odour ; but both the smell and the virtues reside principally 

 in the husky roots, or lower part of the stalks, which in 

 chewing have a bitter, warm, biting taste, accompanied with 

 a slight degree of that glow in the mouth which cardamoms 

 occasion, and possesses a pungency to the taste little inferior 

 to the Serpentaria, and much more considerable than the 

 C ontrayerva. The Hindoos call it tcranlcus, (fever-restrainer) 

 from the virtues they attribute to it in that disease. They 

 infuse about a drachm of it in half a pint of hot water, with a 

 small quantity of black pepper. This serves for one dose, 

 which they repeat three times a day. It is esteemed a power- 

 ful medicine in all kinds of fevers, whether continued or in- 

 termittent ; and a work attributed to Galen, informs us, that 

 a medicine, composed of this and some other aromatics, was 

 found useful in long-protracted fevers, which are the cases in 

 which modern practitioners employ medicines of this class. 

 The ancients highly valued it as a luxury, as well as a medi- 

 cine, it being the favourite perfume which they used at their 

 baths and feasts ; and, from the following words of Horace, 

 it appears that it was so valuable, that as much of it as could 

 be contained in a small box of precious stone was considered 

 as a sort of equivalent for a large vessel of wine ; and, ac- 

 cording to the custom of antiquity, a handsome quota for a 

 guest to contribute towards an entertainment : 



" Nardo vina merebere, 



" Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum." 



Hon. lib. iv. rar. xii. v. 16, I/. 

 " To purchase wine with spikenard dost thou ask? 

 " A tiny box will bring a teeming cask." 



25. Andropogon Muticum, Spikes digitate, mostly three; 

 floscules alternate, sessile, awnless. Culms seven inches 

 high. A native of the Cape. 



26. Andropogon Ischaemum. Many digitate spikes ; flos- 

 cules sessile, awned and awnless ; pedicles woolly. This 

 species is found upon mountains and hills, and in dry situa- 

 tions, in the southern parts of Europe. 



27. Andropogon Fasciculatum ; Many-spiked Andropo- 

 gon. Spikes fascicled, very many, smooth ; calices two 

 flowered ; valves acute, smooth, and even, the outer like 

 petals and awned, the inner floscule oarren. Native of Ja- 

 maica, flowering from July to September. 



28. Andropogon Polydactylon. Spikes fascicled ; outer 

 petals awned ; those of the lower floscule ciliate-bearded. 

 Native of Jamaica. 



29. Andropogon Glaucum. Panicle leafy ; involucels and 

 calices two-flowered ; calices of the sessile flowers three- 

 valved, of the peduncled ones two-valved. Culm filiform, 

 a foot high, leafy. It is a native of the East Indies. 



30. Andropogon Serratum. Spike simple, imbricate, with 

 two rows of awned sessile flowers, and two of awnless pe- 

 dicelled ones; calices one-valved. Native of Bengal. 



31. Andropogon Incurvature. Spikes filiform, subdigitate; 

 TOL. i. 9. 



flowers twin, the female pedicelled and awned, the male ses- 

 sile and awnless j calices one-valved. Found near rivers in 

 Tranquebar. 



32. Andropogon Binatum. Spikes twin, woolly; one 

 valve of the calices acuminate, the other truncate, thrte- 

 toothed ; the larger petal awned. Found in the East Indie;;. 



33. Andropogon Aciculatum. Panicle contracted, upright ; 

 peduncles three-flowered ; male flowers two-pedicelled, acu- 

 minate, female sessile, awned. Native of the East Indie-:. 



34. Andropogon Bladhii. Spikes about eight ; herma- 

 phrodite floscule sessile, awned; neuter, peduncled, ciliate, 

 awnless. Native of China. 



35. Andropogon Provinciate. Spikes fascicled, smooth ; 

 floscules alternate, subsessile, directed one way, awned. 

 Root annual ; culms a foot high, leafy, branched at the .base. 

 A native of the south of France. 



Androsace ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : involucre manv- 

 leaved, many-flowered, very small ; perianth one-leafed, 

 five-cornered, semiquinquefid, acute, erect, permanent. Co- 

 rolla : monopetalous, salver-shaped; tube ovate, involved in 

 the calix ; border flat, five-parted ; divisions ovate-oblong, 

 obtuse, entire ; throat beset with glands. Stamina- filamenta 

 very short, within the tube ; antherae oblong, erect, included. 

 Pistil: germen globose ; style filiform, very short ; stigma 

 globose, included. Pericarp: capsule globose, sitting on a 

 flat calix, one-celled, opening into five parts at the top. 

 Seeds .- very many, roundish, gibbous on one side, flat on the 

 other. Receptacle: erect, free. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 An involucre to the umbel ; tube of the corolla ovate, with 

 a glandulous mouth ; capsule one-celled, globose. These are 

 low plants with small flowers, and make no great appear- 

 ance. They only require to be kept free from weeds, and to 

 be sown in a shady situation. They seldom appear the first 

 year, but if permitted to scatter themselves, often succeed 

 better than when sown. The annual sorts perish as soon ae 

 the seeds are ripe ; but the others will live in an open bor- 

 der for several years. The species are, 



1. Androsace Maxima ; Oval-leaved Androsace. Perianths 

 of the fruit very large. Root annual, slender. It flowers in 

 April or the beginning of May, the seeds ripen in June, and 

 the plants perish soon after. It grows naturally among the 

 corn in various parts of Germany and Italy. 



2. Androsace Elongata ; Cluster-lowered Androsace. 

 Leaves lanceolate-toothed; fruiting umbel elongate; corollas 

 shorter than the angular calix. Native of Austria, near 

 Vienna, growing up to the very suburbs. Its flowers, whicli 

 are white, appear in May, and the seeds are perfected in June. 



3. Androsace Septentrionalis ; Tooth-leaved Androsace. 

 Leaves lanceolate-toothed, smooth; perianths angular, 

 shorter than the corollas, annual. Native of mountainous 

 situations on all the northern parts of the Continent. 



4. Androsace Villosa ; Hairy Androsace. Leaves hairy : 

 perianths shaggy. Tube of the corolla yellow, spreading into . 

 a white border, which at length becomes purple. Common 

 in the Swiss Alps, the mountains of Austria and Carniola, the 

 Pyrenees, &c. Perennial. Flowers in July and August. 



5. Androsace Lactea; Grass-leaved Androsace. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, smooth ; umbel many times larger than the invo- 

 lucres. Root perennial. Tube of the corolla yellow, with 

 yellow glands at the throat ; segments obcordate; large, 

 emarginate, snow-white. Place of growth, and time of 

 flowering, the same as the fourth, or preceding species. 



6. Androsace Carnea; Awl-leaved Androsace. .Leaves 

 awl-shaped, smooth ; umbel equalling the involucres. Co- 

 rollas flesh-coloured. Native of the Alps and Pyrenew. 



2C 



