A V E 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



A V E 



( >rtoher. It is a native of Brazil, Guiana, the islands of 

 Cayenne and Tobago. 



2. Aubletia Petoumo. Leaves elliptic-acute, serrulate, 

 hoary beneath. This is a large tree, being often forty feet 

 high, and a foot and a half or more in diameter, with a brown 

 thick filamentose bark, tit for making cordage. The wood 

 is light, and of a white colour ; the corolla yellow. It bears 

 flowers and fruit in October ; and is a native of Guiana, in 

 the vast forests of Sinemari. 



3. Aubletia Aspera. Leaves quite entire, pubescent be- 

 neath 5 fruit compressed. Also a large tree, from thirty to 

 forty feet high, and a foot and half or more in diameter, with a 

 grayish, irregular, thick, filamentose bark, proper for making 

 cordage : the wood is light and white ; corolla yellow, four or 

 five petalled. Native of Guiana, and the isle of Cayenne ; 

 flowering and bearing fruit in the month of May. 



4. Aubletia Lsevis. Leaves quite entire, smooth on both 

 sides; fruit rough, depressed. This is a middling-sized tree, 

 its trunk being from ten to twelve feet in height, and eight or 

 ten inches in diameter ; with a smooth, thin, greenish bark ; 

 the wood is white, tender, and so light that the trunk may 

 be easily carried in one hand ; corolla greenish. Native of 

 Guiana ; flowering and bearing fruit in the month of May. 



Aucuba; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Tetrandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male flowers. Calix : perianth 

 one-leafed, truncate, obscurely four-toothed, villose, very 

 short, permanent. Corolla: four-petalled. Petals ovate, 

 acute, spreading ; underneath concave, hairy ; above con- 

 vex, deciduous. Stamina : filamenta four, inserted into the 

 receptacle among the petals, thick, erect, very short. Antherae 

 ovate, twin, with four furrows. Receptacle plano-convex, 

 smooth, with a square hole impressed upon the middle. 

 Female flowers on the same Tree. Calix and Corolla as in the 

 male. Pistil: germen inferior. Style thick, short. Stigma 

 simple, capitate. Pericarp: nut ovate, one-celled. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Male. Calix: four-toothed. Corolla: 

 four-petalled. Berry : one-seeded. Female. Nut : one- 

 celled. The following species alone is known : 



1. Aucuba Japonica. A large tree ; branches and subdi- 

 visions dichotomous, smooth, rather fleshy, divaricate, erect, 

 angular, scarred from the falling of the leaves ; leaves aggre- 

 gate, at the tops of the branches, petiolate, opposite, oblong, 

 sharp, remotely serrate, smooth, pale underneath, a hand- 

 breadth long, nerved ; flowers terminal, panicled ; panicle 

 triehotomoiis, superdecompound ; peduncles and pedicles 

 villose ; bractes lanceolate. Native of Japan. 



Avena ; a genus of the class Triandria, order Digynia. 

 GKNKRicCuAHACTER. Calix : glume generally many-flowered, 

 two-valved, loosely collecting the flowers ; valves lanceo- 

 late, acute, ventricose, loose, large, awnless. Corolla : two- 

 valved ; lower valve harder than the calix, the size of the 

 calix, roundish, ventricose, acuminate at both ends, emit- 

 ting from the back an awn spirally twisted, reflex. Nec- 

 tary two-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, gibbous at the base. 

 Stamina: filamenta three, capillary. Antherae oblong, 

 forked. Pistil : germen obtuse. Styles two, reflex, hairy. 

 Stigmas simple. Pericarp .- none. Corolla: most firmly 

 closed, grows to the seed, and does not gape. Seed: one, 

 slender, oblong, acuminate at both ends, marked with a 

 longitudinal furrow. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix two- 

 valved, many-flowered ; awn from the back of the corolla, 

 jointed, twisted. For the propagation and culture of the 



grasses belonging to this genus, see Grass. The species 



are, 



1. Avena Siberica; Siberian Oat-grass. Panicled; calices 

 one-flowered ; seeds hirsute ; awns thrice the length of the 



calix ; culms from two to three feet in height, very slender. 

 It flowers in July and August. Native of Siberia. 



2. Avena Elatior ; Tall Oat-grass. Panicled : calices two- 

 flowered; hermaphrodite, floscule almost awnless, male 

 awned ; root perennial ; germen villose. It is common on 

 banks, in hedges, on the borders of fields, and sometimes in 

 meadows, especially wet ones ; flowering in June and July. 

 It is an early grass, very productive, and yields a plentiful 

 aftermath. The stem and leaves are by no means coarse, but 

 soft, tender, and of a pleasant taste ; and it may be propa- 

 gated with facility. It is cultivated in some places abroad, and 

 may perhaps be no bad substitute for Meadow Fox-tail Grass. 



3. Avena Stipifonnis. Panicled : calices two-flowered ; 

 awns twice the length of the seed ; culm branching, a foot 

 high, often reclining, smooth, with brown joints. Native 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. 



4. Avena Pennsylvania ; Pennsylvanian Oat-grass. Pa- 

 nicle attenuated ; calices two-flowered ; seeds villose ; awns 

 twice the length of the calix. Observed in Pennsylvania 

 by Kalm. 



5. Avena Loeflingiana ; Spanish Oat-grass. Panicle con- 

 tracted ; floscules in pairs, hirsute ; one-peduncled, with two 

 awns at the top, the middle awn largest ; root annual, capi- 

 lary. Found in a dry soil near Madrid, and at the Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



6. Avena Sativa ; Cultivated Oat. Panicled ; calices two- 

 seeded ; seeds very smooth, one-awned; root annual, fibrous 

 No botanist has been able to ascertain satisfactorily the 

 native place of growth of this, or any other sort of grain now 

 commonly cultivated in Europe. There are three sorts of 

 Oats cultivated in England, viz. the White, the Black, and 

 the Brown or Red Oat ; to which we may add the Blue, the 

 Poland, the Friesland or Dutch, and the Siberian or Tartarian 

 Oat. The White sort is the most common about London, 

 makes the whitish meal, and is chiefly cultivated where the 

 inhabitants live much upon oat-cakes. The Black is more 

 cultivated in the northern parts of England, and is esteemed 

 a hearty food for horses. The Red Oat is much cultivated 

 in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire, but is rarely seen 

 in any of the counties near London ; though, as it is a very 

 hardy sort, and gives a good increase, it would be well worth 

 propagating, especially in strong land ; the straw is of a 

 brownish red colour, as is also the grain, which is very full 

 and heavy, and esteemed better food for horses than either of 

 the former sorts. The Blue Oat is said, in Merrett's Pinax, 

 and Ray's Synopsis, to have been sown about Keighley, in 

 Yorkshire. It is probably the same with what is cultivated in 

 Lincolnshire, under the name of Scotch Grays. The Poland 

 Oat has a short plump grain, but the thickness of the skin 

 seems to have brought it into disrepute among farmers : 

 the grains are mostly single, it has nq awn, and the straw is 

 short. Friesland or Dutch Oats affords more straw, and is 

 thinner skinned : the grains are mostly double, the larger 

 one sometimes awned, with the awn placed high. Siberian 

 or Tartarian Oat, is, according to Mr. Marshall, a distinct 

 species, unnoticed by Linneus. Each flower frequently con- 

 tains three perfect florets, never less than two, with a pedi- 

 celled rudiment of a third. The Oat is a very profitable grain, 

 and esteemed the most wholesome food for horses, being 

 sweet, and of an opening nature ; other sorts of grain are apt 

 to bind, which is injurious to labouring horses ; but if they be 

 fed with this grain soon after it is housed, before it has had 

 a sweat in the mow, or has been otherwise dried, it is as bad 

 on the other hand, for it is then too laxative. This grain is 

 a great improvement to many estates in the north of Eng- 

 land, Scotland, and Waifs ; for it will thrive on cold barren 



