A P I 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



A P L 



many people fancy that it has the power of dissolving the 

 stone in the bladder ; hence its old name of Parsley Break- 

 stone. Culpeper calls this plant a very good sulad herb, and 

 says it were well that the gentry would pickle it up as they 

 pickle up samphire, for their use all the winter, because it is a 

 very wholesome herb, and it may be kept either dried or in a 

 syrup. He prescribes a drachm of the powder in white wine,4o 

 carry offgravel from the kidneys insensibly and without pain. 



Aphyllanthes ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mo- 

 nogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: glumes univalve, 

 lanceolate, several, imbricate. Corolla : petals six, ovate, 

 spreading in the border ; claws slender, erect, converging 

 into a tube. Stamina: filamenta setaceous, shorter than the 

 corolla, inserted into the throat ; antherae oblong. Pistil: 

 germen superior, three-cornered, turbinate ; style filiform, 

 the length of the stamens ; stigmas three, oblong. Pericarp : 

 capsule turbinate, triangular, trilocular. Seeds: ovate. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: six-petalled. Filamenta: insert- 

 ed into the throat of the corolla. Capsule: superior. Glume: 

 of the calix univalve, imbricate. One species only is known, 



1. Aphyllanthes Monspeliensis. Root creeping; culm 

 naked; glume two-ralved; two-flowered. Grows wild in 

 barren pastures and rocky places, about Montpellier and Nice. 



Aphyteia ; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order Trian- 

 ilria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth monophyllous, 

 semitrifid, funnel-shaped, large, fleshy, erect, permanent. 

 Corolla : rudiments of three petals, growing to the divisions 

 of the calix. Stamina: filamenta connate at bottom, short ; 

 antherae convex, cordate, striated. Pistil: germen inferior; 

 style thickish, short; stigma three-cornered, channelled. 

 Pericarp: berry one-celled. Seeds: numerous, nestling. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: large, funnel-shaped, semi- 

 trifid. Petals : three, inserted into the throat of the tube 



in the calix, and shorter than it. The only known species 



belonging to this genus is, 



1. Aphyteia Hydnora. A vegetable without leaves, stem 

 or root, being parasitical, terrestrial, consisting of a fructifi- 

 cation only. The smell of the flower and ripe fruit is not 

 unpleasant. The latter is much liked by foxes and weasels ; 

 and eaten both raw and roasted by the Hottentots. This 

 plant is parasitical at the root of Euphorbia, and was first 

 observed in the parched sandy plains of the Cape. 



Apios. See Glycine and Euphorbia. 



Apium ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : umbel universal, of fewer rays 

 than those of the partial ; involucre universal small, of one 

 or more leaflets ; partial similar : proper perianth obsolete. 

 Corolla: universal uniform; floscules almost all fertile; proper 

 petals roundish, inflex, equal. Stamina : filamenta simple ; an- 

 thera roundish. P'istil: germen inferior; styles reflex; stig- 

 mas obtuse. Pericarp: none ; fruit ovate, striated, splitting 

 in two. Seeds: two, ovate, striated on one side, plane on 

 the other. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Fruit : ovate, striated. 

 Inrolucre: one-leafed. Petals: equal. The species are, 



1. Apium Petroselinum ; Common Parsley. Stem-leaflets 

 linear; involucels minute ; stems round, smooth, striated ; 

 flowers pale yellow ; seeds short, turgid. There are three 

 varieties : the common Garden Parsley, the Curled, and the 

 Large-rooted Parsley. It is a biennial plant, cultivated for 

 culinary use. Parsley roots are sometimes used in decoctions, 

 and supposed to be aperient and diuretic, but liable to pro- 

 duce flatulencies. In distilling large quantities, two or three 

 drachms of essential oil separate from two hundred pounds : 

 the leaves, which are warmer but not so sweet as the roots, 

 yield about ten drachms from the same quantity. The seeds 

 are warmer and more aromatic than any other part, and are 



accounted to be carminative, resolvent, and diuretic, and are 

 recommended for destroying cutaneous diseases in children. 

 Parsley is said to be fatal to small birds ; and is accused of 

 causing epilepsies, or of increasing them where before ex- 

 isting, and also of injuring the eyes. A poultice of the leaves 

 is reported to be resolvent and discutient, if applied to glan- 

 dular tumors ; and also to be an efficacious remedy for the 

 bites or stings of poisonous insects. Independently of its 

 uses at table, the seeds disperse flatulencies in the stomach, 

 and relieve those who are troubled with the colic. A strong; 

 decoction of the roots is a powerful diuretic, and is excellent 

 in obstructions of the viscera, and such disorders as arise 

 therefrom ; and when drank for some time, will bring away 

 gravel and other sabulous concretions from the kidneys and 

 bladder, and is very serviceable in the jaundice and dropsy. 

 The distilled water of Parsley, says Culpeper, is a familiar 

 medicine with nurses, to give their children when they are 

 troubled with wind in the stomach or belly. The leaves, 

 laid to inflamed eyes, also are very efficacious ; and when 

 fried in butter, and applied to women's breasts, which are 

 hard through the curdling of their milk, will give speedy 

 relief; and also remove black and blue marks produced by 

 blows or falls. The Common and the Curled Parsley must 

 be sown early in spring, and, if for medicinal use, but thinly. 

 They only require hoeing and weeding. It is sown by skil- 

 ful persons in fields about the end of February, for the use 

 of sheep, and is a sovereign remedy to preserve them from 

 the rot, provided they are fed twice a week for two or three 

 hours each time. One bushel of seed will sow an acre of land. 



2. Apium Graveolens ; Smallage, or Wild Celery. Stem- 

 leaves wedge-shaped ; corolla small and white. It is biennial, 

 flowering in ditches und marshes, from July to September. 

 The varieties, according to Miller, are as follows : the 

 Upright Celery, the Turnip-rooted Celery, and Portugal 

 Celery. The fresh roots, especially in their native watery 

 places, are fetid, acrid, and supposed to be noxious : they 

 loose the greatest part of their ill flavour, and become sweet- 

 ish when dried, and in that state have been used for decoc- 

 tions as aperients and diuretics. The seeds have been some- 

 times used as carminatives and aperients ; they have a mo- 

 derately strong grateful smell, and a warm bitterish taste. 

 Culture corrects its noxious qualities, and renders it mild 

 and esculent. The lower part of the stem and leaf-stalks 

 blanched, by being covered up with earth, are eaten raw, 

 stewed, and boiled in soups, and are excellent antiscorbutics. 

 A strong decoction of the roots operates by urine, and is 

 good in fits of the stone or gravel : the seeds operate more 

 powerfully by urine than any other part of the plant. Cui- 

 peper recommends the juice, with honey of roses and barley- 

 water, as good to gargle within ulcerated sore throats ; and 

 says, that the seed kills worms, and sweetens a stinking 

 breath. Smallage is a common weed by the sides of ditches 

 and brooks of water. The seeds should be sown soon after 

 they are ripe, on a moist spot of ground ; and when the 

 plants have attained six or eight inches in height, they may 

 either be transplanted into a moister soil, or into trenches, 

 in order to be earthed up on each side as they advance in 

 growth, and have their stalks blanched or whitened, to 

 render them crisp and tender. 



Apluda ; a genus of the class Polygamia, order Monoecia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: involucre common, uni- 

 valve; valve ovate, concave, terminated by a very short point 

 or leaflet, two-flowered ; the inferior flower sessile in the 

 short, ovate, truncate, hollow base, which is continued into 

 opposite, glumaceous, linear, flat, vertical footstalks, on one 

 of which sits the superior flower, on the other a very short 



