FOT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



FR A 



573 



1. Forskahlea Tenacissima; Clammy Forskahlea. Hairy- 

 hispid: leaves elliptic, awnless; calicine segments oblong- 

 lanceolate, sharp ; root annual ; stem nearly two feet high, 

 panicled, round, hispid, red, with alternate branches; pe- 

 tioles round, shorter than the leaves; flowers axillary, in 

 pairs, sessile, rough, hairy. The bristles of the stem and 

 leaves are finely hooked, by which they stick to whatever 

 comes in their way. It flowers in July and August. Native 

 of Egypt. 



2. Forskahlea Candida ; Rough Forskahlea. Scabrous : 

 leaves elliptic, waved, awnless; calicine segments ovate, 

 obt'ise; stem shrubbyish, smooth, resembling that of the 

 foregoing, whitish, and woody at the base ; flowers axil- 

 lary, sessile, smaller than in the first species; petals white. 

 Perennial: flowering in June and July. Native of the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



3. Forskahlea Angustifolia ; Narrow-leaved Forskahlea. 

 Strigose : leaves lanceolate, the teeth thorny-bristle-shaped ; 

 calicine segments lanceolate-subulate. Annual, adhering like 

 the others; stem red; pistils three. It flowers in July and 

 August. 



Forstera; a genus of the class Gynandria, order Diandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth double; outer 

 inferior, three-leaved, lateral; leaflets oblong, sharp; inner 

 superior, six-cleft; leaflets erect, oblong, concave. Corolla: 

 one-peialled, tubulous-bell-shaped ; tube length of the calix ; 

 border six-parted ; divisions oblong, obtuse, patulous, reflex 

 at the tip, equal ; nectary two small scales, obovate, petal- 

 form, fixed to the style on both sides under the stigma. 

 Stamina: filamenta two, very short, each fixed to the style 

 between the stigma and a scale of the nectary under the 

 stigma. Pistil : germen inferior, oval ; style cylindric, erect, 

 the length of the tube of the corolla; stigmas two, broad, 

 spreading, somewhat bearded. Pericarp: capsule oval, one- 

 celled. Seeds: numerous, shaped like saw-dust, fixed to a 

 columnar receptacle. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Perianth: 

 double ; outer inferior, three-leaved ; inner superior, six-cleft. 

 Corolla : tubular. The species is, 



1. Forstera Sedifolia. Stem herbaceous, ascending, a hand 

 in height, somewhat branched ; leaves imbricate, sessile, obo- 

 vate, sharpish, quite entire, smooth, pressed to the stem, from 

 spreading reflex at the tip, thickish, shining, with a broad 

 keel; peduncles solitary, one-flowered, terminating, erect, 

 red, long ; flowers white, except at the throat and inside of the 

 calix, where they are red. Native of New Zealand, where 

 it is found on the tops of the highest mountains. 



Fothergilla; (so called, in memory of John Fothergill, M.D. 

 an eminent physician, and patron of botany, who cultivated a 

 variety of the most curious plants in his garden, near London :) 

 a genus of the class Polyandria, order Digynia. GENERIC 

 CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, bell-shtiped, close, 

 truncate, short, permanent. Corolla: none. Stamina: fila- 

 menta very many, filiform, thicker at top, long; anthcrsB mi- 

 nute, erect, quadrangular. Pistil: germen ovate, bifid ; styles 

 two, subulate, terminating, the length of the stamina. Peri- 

 carp : capsule hardened, two-lobed, two-celled ; lobes two- 

 valved. Seeds: solitary, bony. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix : ament ovate ; scales one-flowered. Corolla : calix- 



form, one-petalled, five-cleft. The only known species 



belonging to this genus is, 



1. Fothergilla Alnifolia. This tree has the appearance and 

 leaves of Alder: leaves alternate, petioled, wedge-shaped, 

 entire, serrate at the tip; serrattires very large and few, the 

 upper surface green, the lower hoary, the younger ones 

 white, with nap underneath ; flowers in a close spike at the 

 end of the stem, like an oblong head, and white; capsules 

 VOL. i. 48. 



large, ovate, very hirsute, sharp, two-celled ; the valves open- 

 ing into four points until the seeds are ripe. The flower* 

 come out in the beginning of spring, at the ends of the 

 branches, in the form of white oblong spikes or catkins, 

 of no great beauty. Native of North America. There is a 

 variety called the narrow-leaved Fothergilla, which Jacquin 

 describes as a branching shrub, with ferruginous round 

 branches ; leaves oblong, obscurely crenate at top, on 

 short petioles, alternate, smooth ; spike at the end of the 

 branchlets, sessile, ovate, close; flowers sweet-smelling, 

 honied, sessile; capsule two-celled; seeds solitary. Native 

 of Carolina. 



Foxglove. See Digitalis. 



Fox-grape. See Vilus Vulpina. 



Foxtail-(/rass. See Alopecurus. 



Fragaria; a genus of live class Icosandria, order Polygy- 

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

 flat, ten-cleft; divisions alternately exterior, and narrower. 

 Corolla: petals five, roundish, spreading, inserted into the 

 calix. Stamina: filamenta twenty, subulate, shorter than the 

 corolla, inserted into the calix; antheree lunular. Pistil: 

 germina numerous, very small, collected into a head; styles 

 simple, inserted at the side of the germina ; stigmas simple. 

 Pericarp: none; common receptacle of the seeds (vulgarly 

 called a berry) ovate, pulpy, soft, law, coloured, truncate 

 at the base, and deciduous. Seeds: numerous, very small, 

 acuminate, scattered over the surface of the receptacle; 

 (according to Gaertner, a little compressed, smooth, glitter- 

 ing.) ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: ten-cleft. Petals: 



five. Receptacle of the seeds ovate, and like a berry. 



The species are, 



1. Fragaria Vesca; Esculent or Wood Strawberry. Creep- 

 ing by runners. This species is sufficiently distinguished by 

 the long slender runners which it throws out from the root, 

 and by means of which it increases abundantly, by its ter- 

 nate leaves, and its remarkably fleshy receptacle, commonly 

 called a berry, but having the outer surface studded with 

 the seeds. From the fiist and last of these characters, it 

 obtained the English name of Strawberry ; for it is a plant 

 whose running stems are strewed (anciently strawed) over 

 the ground, and the fruit of which is usually termed a berry. 

 Monsieur Duhamel observes, that in our European Straw- 

 berries there are generally four stamina to each petal, but 

 in the American five or six: so that when the flowers of the 

 latter have the regular number of petals, they have from 

 twenty-five to thirty stamina; but when they have seven 

 petals, the number of stamina is from thirty-five to forty-two. 

 In the European Strawberries, when any supernumerary 

 petal* are placed in a row before the regular ones, each dimi- 

 nishes the number of stamina by one or two; but when they 

 are placed behind the regular petals, the number of stamina 

 is not diminished. The common Wood Strawberry of Europe 

 has the leaflets oval-lanceolate, acutely serrate; the petioles 

 woolly, the runners slender, smooth, often tinged with pur- 

 ple; peduncles with two or more flowers. The fruit is small, 

 and usually red ; in England it seldom has much flavour, be- 

 cause the plants are generally too much shaded in woods and 

 hedges. The mountainous Strawberries of warmer and drier 

 countries, though they usually grow among bushes, yet en- 

 joying more sun and a drier soil, are much higher flavoured, 

 and larger, than ours. The subordinate varieties of this are, 

 I. The White Wood Strawberry, which ripens rather later in 

 the season, and is by many persons preferred to it for its 

 quick flavour; but as it seldom produces such large crops of 

 fruit as the red sort, it is not very generally cultivated. 2. The 

 Alpine Strawberry is a larger plant than that which grows 

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