114 



A R A 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



A R A 



are apt to degenerate, and produce plain flowers. Sow them 

 in a nursery-bed in August or September; they will appear in 

 spring, and in May should be transplanted, eight or nine inches 

 every way apart, upon beds of good fresh undunged earth ; 

 :ind in the following autumn will be strong enough to be 

 utken up, and placed in the borders of the flower-garden, 

 where they will flower in the summer following. To ensure 

 tjood flowers, let them flower in the nursery, and then select 

 the best for transplantation ; but the best way is to sow fresh 

 seeds every year. Take care that no seeds of the plain sorts 

 are mixed with the variegated kinds, or they will cause the 

 whole to degenerate. The species are, 



1. Aquilegia Viscosa ; Clammy Columbine. Stem almost 

 naked, with viscid hairs, and one or two flowers ; leaves sub- 

 trilobate. Root perennial ; stem a foot high. Native of 

 the south of France, and the mountains of Piedmont. 



2. Aquilegia Vulgaris ; Common Columbine. Nectaries 

 blue, yellow at the tip, and incurved. Stem three feet high, 

 erect, leafy, branching ; the flowers are produced from the 

 tops of the naked branches, and hang down. There are 

 many varieties. In a wild state, the flowers are usually blue : 

 red and white is common about Berne in Switzerland, and 

 also in Norfolk. Double flowers have been found in the Pays 

 de Vaud. Native of most parts of Europe, in woods, hedges, 

 and bushes. It is perennial, and the flowers vary much by 

 culture ; with us they appear in June, and are blue, white, 

 red, purple, flesh-coloured, ash-coloured, chesnut-coloured, 

 and striped or variegated blue and purple, blue and white, 

 and red and white. The root, herb, flowers, and seed, 1 are 

 recommended as medicines upon good authority ; but this 

 plant is of a suspicious tribe, and Linneus says, that children 

 have lost their lives by an over-dose of it. The sensible 

 qualities of the seeds, says Lewis, afford little foundation for 

 their supposed virtues in the jaundice, measles, and small- 

 pox, as they only differ from the cold seeds in being some- 

 what more mucilaginous, with a disagreeable relish. The 

 virtues ascribed to a tincture of the flowers, as an antiphlo- 

 gistic, and for strengthening the gums, and deterging scor- 

 butic ulcers in the mouth, are better founded. The tincture 

 is made with an addition of the vitriolic acid, and differs 

 little from our tincture of roses. Notwithstanding this, 

 Hill observes, that the seeds operate by sweat and urine, 

 open obstructions of the viscera, and are good in the jaun- 

 dice, in fevers, and in the small-pox and measles, to throw 

 out the pustules. A decoction of the leaves is good for sore 

 throats ; and a tincture of the flowers in brandy is recom- 

 mended by Tournefort as an excellent gargle for scorbutic 

 affections of the gums. 



3. Aquilegia Alpina; Alpine Columbine. Nectaries straight, 

 shorter than the lanceolate petal. Root biennial ; corolla 

 blue. Flowers in May and June. Said to be found in West- 

 moreland ; but is a native of the Alps. 



4. Aquilegia Canadensis ; Canadian Columbine. Nectaries 

 .straight; stamina longer than the corolla. Root perennial ; 

 stems very slender, redlth ; corolla reel without, and yellow 

 within. Native of North America; flowering in April, and 

 ripening seeds in August. It flowers a month sooner than 

 the other sorts. 



5. Aquilegia Viridiflora ; Green-flowered Columbine. Nec- 

 taries straight, thickened, and a little bent in at the tip ; 

 stimina nearly equal to the corolla. Root perennial ; pe- 

 tals pale green. It flowers in May, ripens seed in July; 

 and was found by Professor Pallas in Siberia. 



Arabis a genus of the class Tetradynamia, order Sili- 

 quosa. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth four-leaved, 

 deciduous ; leaflets from parallel converging, two opposite 



larger, ovate-oblong, acute, a little prominent at the base, 

 gibbose, concave ; the two others linear, erect. Corolla : 

 four-petalled, cruciform ; petals spreading, ending in claws 

 the length of the calix ; nectaries four, each from a little 

 scale, within the bottom of the calicine leaflet, affixed to Hit 

 receptacle, reflex, permanent. Stamina .- rilamenta subulate, 

 upright, two the length of the calix, four twice as long ; 

 anther cordate, erect. Pistil : germen columnar, the length 

 of the stamina; style none; stigma obtuse, entire. Pericarp: 

 siliqne compressed, very long, linear, unequal, with swellings 

 at the seeds ; valves almost the length of the partition. Seeds . 

 very many, roundish, compressed. ESSENTIAL CHARACTKH. 

 Nectareous glands four ; one within each leaflet of the calix, 

 like a reflex scale. They are all hardy plants, producing 

 seed plentifully, thriving in any situation, and may easily be 

 propagated by sowing the seed in autumn, or permitting 

 them to scatter themselves. The species are, 



1. Arabis Alpina; Alpine H r allcress. Leaves stem-clasping, 

 toothed ; root creeping, perennial. The flowers grow in 

 bunches towards the top; petals white; calix yellowish . 

 It increases with great facility, and is esteemed for its early 

 flowering, and the pretty appearance it makes in cold abject 

 situations, where few other things will thrive. Native of the 

 Alps, and other European mountains, upon rocks, and in 

 woods and caverns. 



2. Arabis Lucida; Shining ft 'ullcrfss. Leaves stem-clasp- 

 ing, shining : perennial. A native of Hungary. 



3. Arabis Grandifloni; Greut-fluicfred Waiterm. Stem 

 naked ; perennial, with a white corolla. Native of Siberia. 



4. Arabis Thaliana ; Common H'allcress. Leaves petio- 

 late, lanceolate, quite entire. This flowers in March and 

 April ; seeds in May ; and is common upon walls, and 

 among corn in sandy soils. 



5. Arabis Bellidifolia ; Daisy-leaved Wallcress. Leaves 

 subdentate, the radical ones obovate, those of the stem lan- 

 ceolate. Root perennial ; the flowers corymbed, inodorous, 

 white, appearing in May and June. Native of moist places, 

 near the Alps, and in Austria. 



6. Arabis Lyrata ; Lyrate-leaved Wallcress. Leaves smooth ; 

 the radical lyrate ; the stem leaves linear. Root annual ; 

 flower white. Native of North America. 



7. Arabis Hispida ; Rough Wallcress. Leaves wedge- 

 shaped, sublyrate, hispid ; the stem-leaves half stem-clasp- 

 ing, lanceolate ; iiliques stiff, ancipital. Root annual : 

 petals white. Native of the south of France, Switzerland, 

 and Austria : observed also upon Mont Saleve in Savoy, 

 near Geneva, by Mr. Ray, and upon St. Vincent's rocks 

 near Bristol : it flowers in May. 



8. Arabis Halleri ; Halter's H'allcress. Stem-leaves sub- 

 lyrate, those on the branches lanceolate, gashed ; stem 

 erect, six inches high ; petals white, with green claws. 

 Native of Germany, Carniola, and Piedmont. 



9. Arabis Canadensis ; Cdinid'nm H'allcrvss. Stem-leaves 

 lanceolate, toothed, smooth ; flowers pendulous, in lateral 

 racemes. Native of North America. 



10. Arabis Pendula; Penduloui H'allmss. Leaves stem- 

 clasping; siliques ancipital, linear ; calices subpilose. Stem 

 nearly a foot high ; corolla white. Native of Siberia. 



11. Arabis Turrita ; Tower Wallcress. Leaves stem- 

 clasping ; siliques bending down, flat, linear ; ralices subru- 

 gose. Root biennial ; stem from nine inches to two feet high ; 

 flowers white or yellowish, on short peduncles. Native ot 

 Austria, Switzerland, and Dauphiny. It flowers with us in 

 June, and grows upon the walls of St. John's College at 

 Cambridge, and of Magdalen College at Oxford. 



12. Arabis Saxatilis. Stem erect ; leave* stem-clasping, 



