A V I 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



AYE 



165 



defence ; but yet is not to be left out of the number of trees 

 for avenues, because it is the quickest in growth of all the 

 forest trees, and will thrive tolerably well in almost any soil, 

 and particularly in wet ground, where few of the before- 

 mentioned trees will thrive, and this seldom fails in trans- 

 planting. As for the Alder, Ash, Platanus, and Sycamore, 

 they are hut rarely used for planting avenues. All the trees 

 that arc employed for avenues should be permitted to take 

 their natural growth, without being much cut or pruned. 



AKerrhoa ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Pentagy- 

 nia. GEN-ERIC CHARACTER. Cuiuc: perianth five-leaved, 

 erect, small ; leaflets lanceolate, permanent. Corolla: petals 

 live, lanceolate, the lower part erect, the upper spreading. 

 SliimiHit : fihunenta ten, setaceous, alternately the length of 

 the corolla, and shorter. Anthera: roundish. Pistil: ger- 

 nicn oblong, obscurely five-cornered. Styles five, setaceous, 

 erect. Stigmas simple. Pericarp : pome turbinate, five- 

 cornered, five-celled. Seeds: angular, separated by mem- 

 branes. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-leaved; petals 

 five, expanding above ; pome five-cornered, five-celled. 

 The species are, 



1. AverrhoaBilimbi. Trunk naked, fruit-bearing ; pomes 

 oblong, obtuse-angled. This tree is only about eight feet in 

 height, with a few reclining branches. It is a native of Goa, 

 and many parts of India, of both sides the Ganges. Burman 

 desciibes it as a beautiful tree, with green fleshy fruit, filled 

 with a grateful acid juice ; the substance and seeds not unlike 

 those of Cucumber : it grows from top to bottom at all the 

 knots and branches. They make a syrup of the juice, and a 

 conserve of the flowers, which are esteemed excellent in fevers 

 and bilious disorders. This and the following species are 

 singular for the fruit growing upon the trunk itself, below the 

 leaves. The flowers resemble that of Geranium, but the fruit 

 is widely different. The flowers (ire red purple, on oblong 

 small racemes, adhering to the trunk. The fruit is an oblong 

 pome, the thickness of a finger, smooth on the outside. 



2. Averrhoa Carambola. Axillae of the leaves fruit-bear- 

 ing ; pomes oblong, acute-angled. This is a tree above the 

 middle si/.e, with spreading branches, and a very close head ; 

 pome the size of a hen's egg, acutely live-cornered, five-celled, 

 many-seeded ; the rind is yellow, thin, and smooth ; the pulp 

 clear, watery, in many sweet, in others acid, with scarcely 

 any smell : seeds small, oblong, angular, flatted, and hrown. 

 Rheede relates, that the Carambola is twelve or fourteen feet 

 in height, scarcely a foot in girth, with a rough brown bark ; 

 that it bears three times a year from the age of three to fifty ; 

 that the root-leaves and fruit are used medicinally, either 

 alone or with areca or betel leaves; that the latter, when ripe, 

 nre esteemed delicious ; unripe, are pickled ; and that they 

 are also used in dyeing, and for other economical purposes. 

 Burman informs us, that the acid juice of this plant is not so 

 pleasant as that of the first species ; that the fruit is rather 

 Ucger, and is used for the same purposes ; and that it is a 

 very beautiful tree. The Bramins and Portuguese call this 

 tiv c'aramlioki ; the Malabars, tiimara-longa ; and in Bengal 

 it is called ramr&c, or camrunga. 



.-Jrin-nni'i ; a genus of the class Didyoamia, order Angio- 

 spernaia. GBNERIC CHARACTER. Gi/ir.- perianth five-parted, 

 permanent ; leaflets subovatc, obtuse, concave, erect, in- 

 crvaM'd by three scales. Corolla : monopetalous ; tube 

 *A-ll-shaped, short ; border bilabiate ; upper lip square, emar- 

 giiiate, flat ; lower trilid; divisions ovate, equal, flat. Sta- 

 >mtna: filamenta four, subulate, erect, the two front ones 

 rather shorter, bent back to the upper lip. Antherae round- 

 ;.-}\, twin. Pistil: gennen ovate ; style subulate, erect, the 

 length of the stamina; stigma bitkl, acute; the lower division 



bent down. Pericarp: capsule coriaceous, rhomboidal, 

 compressed, one-celled, two-valved. Heed : one, large, the 

 form of the capsule, constructed of four fleshy folds, germi- 

 nating. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : five-parted. Co- 

 rolla : two-lipped, upper lip square. Capsule: coriaceous, 

 rhomboidal, one-seeded. The species are, 



1 . Avicennia Tomentosa. Leaves cordate-ovate, tomcutoM* 

 underneath. This tree agrees mostly with the Mangrove, 

 rising not above sixteen feet high ; its trunk is covered with 

 a smooth whitish green bark ; and the twigs from the stem, 

 propagate the tree like those of the Mangrove. Native of 

 the East and West Indies. Dr. Patrick Browne says, Dial 

 it is frequent near the sea, both on the north and south ssiiif 

 of Jamaica, growing in low moist ground. 



2. Avicennia Nitida, Leaves lanceolate, shining on both 

 sides ; height forty feet. Native of Martinico. 



3. Avicennia Resinifera. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, tomea- 

 tose underneath. The green-coloured gum, so much r- 

 teemed by the natives of New Zealand, and which is so very 

 hot in the mouth, is supposed to be the produce of tha? 

 tree. Native of New Zealand. 



Awlwort. See Subularia. 



Axyris ; a genus of the class Moncecia, order Triandriu. 

 GENERIC CUAXAUTER. Muh Jtowers in an ameut. Cailiji : 

 perianth three parted, spreading, obtuse. Corolla .- nou<- 

 Stamina: filamenta three, capillary, spreading; anthene 

 roundish. Female flowers scattered. Calir : perianth five- 

 leaved, concave, obtuse, converging, permanent, the two 

 outer leaflets shorter. Corolla .- none. Pistil : gennen 

 roundish; styles two, capillary ; stigmas acuminate. Pyj- 

 earp: none. Calix : closely involving the seed with its jthcpe 

 leaflets. Seed: one, ovate, compressed, obtuse. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHAKAI.TEK. Male. Calix : three-parted. Corolla: 

 none Female. Calix: two-leaved. Corolla: none. Styles: 

 two. Seed : one. The species are, 



1. Axyris Amaranthoides ; Simple-spiked Axyris. Leamee 

 ovate ; stem erect ; spikes simple. The leaves are rugged, 

 with stellate hairs. Annual ; a native of Siberia. 



2. Axyris Hybrida. Leaves ovate; stem erect; spikes 

 conglomerate. An annual plant ; and a native of Siberia. 



3. Axyris Prostnila. Leaves obovate; stem subdivided, 

 much branched, six or seven inches high ; flowers capitated. 

 An annual plant ; a native of Siberia. 



Ayenia. ; a genus of the class Gynamlria, order Pentandria. 

 -GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, five- 

 parted ; parts ovate-oblong, acute, coloured in the middle, 

 reflex, withering. Corolla: pentapetalous : petals five, 

 united at the top to the nectary into a flat star ; claws capil- 

 lary, very long, bowed outward ; borders obcordate, resupi- 

 nate, with a clubbed point at the top, turned upward. Nec- 

 tary bell-shaped, sitting on a cylindric erect column, shorter 

 than the calix ; border five-lobed, lobes elevated, above tiat- 

 tish, with a longitudinal furrow, excavated underneath, and 

 sharp. Stamina : filamentu five, very short, inserted iuto 

 the margin of the nectary, on the top of the ribs, between 

 the divisions of the border, each bent downwards archwise, 

 through a notch at the end of each petal. Anthem- roundish, 

 under the borders of the petals. Phtil : germen roundish, 

 five-cornered, at the bottom of the nectary ; style cylindric ; 

 stigma obtuse, five-lobed. Seeds: solitary, rather oblong, 

 gibbous on one side, angular on the other. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Monogynous. Calix: five-leaved. Petals: 

 united into astar, with long claws. Antheree : five under the 

 star. Capsmle: five-celled. These plants are propagated 

 by needs, sown, upon -a moderate hot-bed early in the spring ; 

 when they come up, and have, four leavus, they should be 



