A R A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



A R B 



116 



lanceolate, toothed ; siliques the length of the raceme. 

 Root annual; umbel of flowers terminating, nodding; petals 

 white : stem a palm or a palm and a half high. Found 

 upon rocks, in most parts of the south of Europe. 



1. Arabis Scabra. Root-leaves roundish, scabrous, 

 toothed ; stem-leaves embracing, hirsute. Stem six inches 

 high ; petals milky white. Native of the south of Europe. 



14. Arabis ISerpyllifolia. All the leaves elliptic, quite en- 

 tire; stem floxuose ; biennial. A Native of Dauphiny. 



15. Arabis Hecta. Stem straight; leaves rectangularly 

 toothed, and sessile; siliques from erect spreading. The 

 flowers are white. It grows upon rocks and walls about 

 Grenoble in France. 



Arach. See Atriplex. 



Arachis ; a genus of the class Diadelphia, order Decandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth two-parted, gap- 

 ing ; upper lip ovate, semitrifid ; the intermediate division 

 the largest, emarginate; under lip lanceolate, concave, acute, 

 rather longer than the upper. Corolla : papilionaceous, resu- 

 pine ; banner roundish, flat-deflex, very large, emarginate, 

 longer tlum the calix ; wings free, subovate, shorter than the 

 banner; keel subulate, incurved, the length of the calix, very 

 slightly bifid at the base. Stamina : filamenta ten, all united 

 at the bottom, subulate, the length of the keel ; anthera; alter- 

 nately roundish and oblong. Pistil : germen oblong ; style 

 subulate, the length of the germen, ascending ; stigma simple. 

 Pericarp : legume, ovate-oblong, columnar, valveless, gib- 

 bous, torulose, veined, coriaceous, one-celled. Seeds : two, 

 oblong, obtuse, gibbous, truncate at one end. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix : bilabiate. Corolla: resupine. Filamenta : con- 

 nected. Legume: gibbous, torulose, veined, coriaceous. 

 The seeds must be sown upon a hot-bed in the spring, and 

 kept under glasses till the middle of June, when, if the wea- 

 ther prove warm, they may be gradually exposed to the air. 

 The branches trail upon the ground, and, as soon as the 

 Ho .ver begins to decay, the germ thrusts itself into the ground, 

 nd there the pod is formed and ripened. The species are, 



1 . Arachis Hypogsa ; Common Earth, or Ground Nut. 

 Stem herbaceous, procumbent. Annual ; three feet high ; 

 flowers gold-coloured, growing singly on long axillary pe- 

 duncles. Native of the East Indies, and much cultivated in 

 China and Cochin-china. All the European settlements of 

 America now abound with this plant : in South Carolina the 

 inhabitants roast the nuts, as they are called, and use them 

 as chocolate. In the eastern countries they are a substitute 

 far almonds, and abound in a thin limpid oil, much used for 

 lamps in Cochin-china, where, though inferior in flavour, 

 it supplies the place of oil of olives for culinary use. 



2. Arachis Fruticosa; Shrubby Earth, or Ground Nut. 

 Stem shrubby, upright ; flowers of a yellow colour. Native 

 of the East Indies, in Tranquebar, and the island of Ceylon. 



Aralia ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Pentagynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: involucre very small, of a 

 globular umbellule ; perianth five-toothed, very small, su- 

 perior. Corolla: petals five, ovate, acute, sessile, reflex. 

 Stamina .- filamenta five, subulate, the length of the corolla ; 

 anthera roundish. Pistil : germen roundish, inferior ; styles 

 very short, permanent ; stigmas simple. Pericarp .- berry 

 roundish, striated, crowned, five-celled. Seeds: solitary, 

 hard, oblong. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Flowers in an umbel- 

 lule, with an involucre. Calix: five-toothed, superior. Co- 

 rolla .- five-petalled. Berry .- five-seeded. The species are, 



1. Aralia Spinosa; Thorny Aralia, or Angelica Tree. Ar- 

 borescent : stem and leaves prickly. Rises eight or ten feet 

 high ; and is a native of Virginia. It is propagated by seed, 

 which is easily procured from North America. Sow them in 



pots of light earth as soon as they arrive, and plunge them 

 during autumn either in an old tan-bed or a warm border, and 

 cover them with pease-haulm, if the winter be severe. When 

 they appear, water and weed, but do not disturb them the 

 first season. They are also easily increased by the roots. 



2. Aralia Pentaphylla ; Five-leaved Aralia. Arboreous, 

 prickly : leaves quinate ; flowers in umbels, peduncled. 

 Native of Japan ; flowering in May and June. 



3. Aralia Chinensis ; Chinese Aralia. Shrubby : stem and 

 petioles prickly ; leaflets unarmed, villose. Native of Mala- 

 bar ; found in China and Cochin-china. 



4. Aralia Japonica ; Japanese Aralia. Shrubby : leave* 

 lobate ; stem unarmed, six feet high ; flowering in Novem- 

 ber and December ; lias no involucre. Native of Japan. 



5. Aralia Racemosa ; Berry-bearing Aralia. Stem leafy, 

 herbaceous, smooth : height three or four feet. The flowers 

 are of a whitish colour. The French and Indians of Canada 

 eat the berries, and use both the leaves and roots as salads 

 and pot-herbs. This and the next sort should have their 

 seeds sown soon after they are ripe in autumn, and weeded 

 when they appear during the summer ; and in the next autumn 

 they may be transplanted where they are to remain. The 

 roots also may be parted in autumn, and planted well asunder ; 

 they are hardy plants, and will grow in any situation. 



6. Aralia Nudicaulis ; Naked-stalked Aralia. Stem naked; 

 leaves in pairs, ternate. The roots of this plant are used 

 by the Canadians for Sarsaparilla. Propagated like No. 5. 



7. Aralia Cordata; Heart-leaved Arulia. Herbaceous: 

 stem angular, unarmed ; leaves simple, heart-shaped ; 

 flowers axillary, umbelled. Native of Japan. 



8. Aralia Octophylla; Digitate-leaved Aralia. Stem ar- 

 boreous, unarmed ; leaves digitate, with eight leaflets ; pani- 

 cle umbelled. A tree ten feet high, with a yellow flower 

 sprinkled with red. It is cultivated in Cochin-china, where 

 it is a native, and used medicinally in dropsical cases. 



9. Aralia Palmate ; Palmate-leaved Aralia. Stem scan- 

 dent, prickly; leaves five-lobed; umbels simple, lateral. 

 Stem shrubby; flower white. Native of China ; where the 

 bark is employed in cutaneous and dropsical disorders. 



Arbor Vita. See Thuya. 



Arbutus; a genus of the class Decandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-parted, ob- 

 tuse, very small, permanent. Corolla : monopetalous, ovate, 

 flatfish at the base, diaphanous, with a quinquefid mouth ; 

 divisions obtuse, revolute, small. Stamina : filamenta ten, 

 subulate, swelling, very slender at the base, affixed to the 

 edge of the base of the corolla, and half the length of it ; 

 anthera? slightly bifid, nodding. Pistil : germen subglobu- 

 lar, on a receptacle marked with ten dots ; style cylindric, 

 the length of the corolla ; stigma thickish, obtuse. Peri- 

 carp: berry, roundish, five-celled. Seed: small, bony. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-parted. Corolla : ovate, 

 diaphanous at the base. Capsule: five-celled. The specie* 

 are, 



1 . Arbutus Unedo ; Common Strawberry Tree. There are 

 three varieties, viz. the common white-flowered Strawberry- 

 tree : flowers simple ; corollas whitish. The red-flowered 

 Strawberry-tree : flowers simple ; corollas reddish. And the 

 double-flowered Strawberry-tree : flowers full ; stem ar- 

 boreous; leaves oblong-lanceolate; panicles smooth, nodding. 

 The common Arbutus rises to the height of twenty or thirty 

 feet, and forms a great ornament, both with its flowers and 

 fruit, when other trees are past their beauty. Native of the 

 south of Europe, Greece, and Palestine ; and grows in the 

 west of Ireland, near the lake of Killarney, on barren lime- 

 stone rocks. The best way of propagating them is trom 





