A T R 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



A U B 



151 



resisting the force of medicines, more innocent indeed, but 

 of less powerful efficacy. Bergius relates, that he has often 

 given relief in epilepsy and convulsion by the internal use of 

 the powder of the leaves, taken in doses of from one to four 

 grains, twice a day ; and Gesner, in his Medical Epistles, 

 recommends the expressed juice of the berries, boiled with 

 sugar into a syrup, and given a tea-spoonful at a time, as 

 excellent in every case requiring an opiate, and as peculiarly 

 efficacious in the cure of the dysentery. It was some time 

 ago supposed to be a specific in cancerous complaints, and 

 in the Philosophical Transactions, there is a well-attested 

 case, of a woman that was cured of a cancer in her breast, 

 by taking a tea-cupful of an infusion of the dried leaves 

 every morning. The malady at first grew worse, but after 

 persevering some time in the use of the medicine, the symp- 

 toms abated, and in about half a year she was perfectly well. 

 The infusion was made by pouring ten tea-cupsful of boiling 

 water on twenty grains of the dried leaves, and letting it 

 stand to infuse all night in a warm place. In consequence 

 of this it was tried in many of our hospitals, and frequently 

 mitigated the symptoms, but without effecting the cure. 

 The leaves externally applied are cooling and softening ; 

 they are good against the ringworm and tetters, and against 

 hard swellings. This plant isanative of Europe, particularly 

 of Austria and England, in churchyards and on dunghills, 

 skulking in gloomy lanes and uncultivated places : in other 

 countries it is said to be common in woods and hedges. 

 With us, it is not so common in a wild state, but that the 

 places where it has been found may be set down. About 

 Fulborn, in Cambridgeshire ; near Wisbeach, in the isle of 

 Ely ; Holland, in Lincolnshire ; between Temsford-mills and 

 Welwyn, in Herts ; Charley forest and Grace Dieu, in Lei- 

 cestershire ; north Luffenham, in Rutland ; Sutton Colefield, 

 in Warwickshire ; Clifton Hill, near Nottingham and Mans- 

 field, in the same county ; and in Westmoreland. Mr. Miller 

 observed it in Woodstock-park in Oxfordshire, and in Up- 

 park in Hampshire. In the counties round London it is not 

 very common ; it has, however, been remarked about Ro- 

 chester, between that and Maidstone, and near Feversham, 

 in Kent ; about Harefield and More-park near Rickroans- 

 worth ; at Dorking, in Surry ; and, by old Gerarde, near 

 Highgate. This may be propagated both by its roots and 

 by seeds. It loves a shady situation, but, on account of its 

 deadly poison, is rarely admitted into gardens. It should by 

 no means be suffered to grow where children or common 

 people resort, because they are likely to be attracted by the 

 splendid black colour of the berries. 



8. Atropa Physaloules ; Peruvian Deadly Nightshade, or 

 Blue-flowered Atropa. Leaves sinuate-angular ; caiioes 

 closed, acute-angular; root fibrous, annual ; stem herba- 

 ceous, two feet high, spreading, erect ; branches angular. 

 The stem, though herbaceous, is very strong, in our gardens 

 four or five feet high, and of a purplish colour, dividing into 

 several branches, spreading out \vide on every side ; leaves 

 oblong, deeply sinuate, deep green ; peduncles short ; calix 

 large, bell-shaped ; corolla large, of the open bell-shape, of 

 a light blue-colour; berries about the size of common cher- 

 ries, enclosed in a large swelling bladder, having five sharp 

 angles. Native of Peru. It flowers in July, and the seeds 

 ripen in autumn ; and if permitted to scatter, the plants will 

 come up in the following spring ; or if the seeds be sown on 

 a bed of rich earth in the spring, the plants will rise easily, 

 and may be afterwards readily transplanted to the borders 

 of the pleasure garden, where they must be allowed room, 

 for if the ground be good, the plants will grow very large. 

 4. Atropa Solanacea. Stem shrubby; peduncles solitary ; 



corollas bell-shaped ; leaves subpvate ; stem six feet high ; 

 shrubby, somewhat branching, and angular; calix bell- 

 shaped, five-cleft ; corolla three times larger than the calix. 

 Native of the Cape of Good Hope. It may be propagated 

 by seeds, which should be sown in the spring, on a hot-bed ; 

 when they are fit to remove, they should be each put into a 

 separate small pot, filled with loamy earth, and shaded until 

 they take root ; and then placed in a sheltered situation. 



5. Atropa Arborescens ; Tree Atropa. Stem shrubby ; 

 peduncles crowded ; corollas revolute ; leaves oblong, in tufts 

 towards the ends of the branches ; flowers peduncled, white, 

 and fragrant. A small tree, or shrub ; native of South Ame- 

 rica, and Jamaica, on the temperate mountains. It must be 

 kept in the bark-stove, or it will not thrive.well in England. 



6. Atropa Frutescens ; Shrubby Atropa. Stem shrubby; 

 peduncles crowded ; leaves cordate-ovate, obtuse. This rises 

 with a shrubby stem to the height of six or eight feet, and 

 divides into many branches : the leaves are alternate, roundish, 

 in shape like those of the Storax tree. The flowers come out 

 between the leaves upon short peduncles, and are shaped like 

 those of Deadly Nightshade, but much smaller, of a dirty 

 yellowish colour, with a few brown stripes ; they are never 

 succeeded by berries in England. It is a native of Spain ; 

 and may be planted with other hardy exotic plants, in a shel- 

 tered situation, from whence it must be removed in October 

 into the green-house. See the fourth species. 



7. Atropa Herbacea ; Herbaceous Atropa. Stem herba- 

 ceous, channelled, about two feet high ; leaves ovate, nerved, 

 with waved edges ; root perennial. The flowers come out 

 from between the leaves, on short peduncles ; they are white, 

 and bell-shaped. It flowers in July and August, but seldom 

 ripens its fruit in England. It must be kept in a bark-stove, 

 or it will not thrive in this country. 



8. Atropa Procumbens; Wheel-flowered Atropa. Stem 

 procumbent, herbaceous; leaves twin, unequal, ovate, 

 smooth ; flowers in umbels ; root annual ; corolla herbaceous, 

 yellow, wheel-shaped, spreading very much, the border five- 

 cornered, rolled back a little with sharp angles. Native of 

 Mexico : cultivated in the royal garden at Madrid, where it 

 flowers and fruits in October. It must be kept in the bark- 

 stove, or it will not thrive well in this country. 



Aubletiq ; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calve : perianth five leaved,, 

 rigid, spreading, coloured within, pubescent without, de- 

 ciduous, five-parted ; parts linear-lanceolate, acute, with 

 thick margins, which before flowering arc contiguous Co- 

 rolla : petals five, roundish-oblong, smaller than the calix, 

 with very short claws. Stamina: filamenta very many, very 

 short. Anthera ovate-oblong, outwardly gibbous, gaping on 

 the inner side, foliaceous at the tip, acute ; the exterior ones 

 sterile, lanceolate, ending in a foliaceous point, shorter than 

 the corolla. Pistil: germen roundish, depressed. Style 

 long, striated, gradually thickening, slightly incurved. Stig- 

 ma spreading, perforated, ten-toothed. Pericarp: capsule 

 large, orbiculate, depressed, coriaceous, echinate ; ten-celled, 

 gaping at the base. Seeds: very many, small, roundish. 

 somewhat compressed. Receptacle of the seeds, fleshy. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix, five-leaved. Corolla, five-pe- 

 talled. Capsule, many-celled, echinate, with many seeds 

 in each cell. The species are, 



1 . Aubletia Tibourbou. Leaves acutely-serrate, hirsute. 

 This is a middling-sized tree, with a trunk seven or eight feet 

 high, about a foot in diameter, with an irregular .chopped 

 soft bark, fibrous, and fit for making ropes. Apeiba is the 

 Brasilian name, though it is called Tibourbou by the Carib- 

 bees, Aublet found it in flower and fruit from August till 



