U DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES ALTHEA 



Kew, both producing flower-stems at the same time, which grew 

 to the height of 36 feet, bearing numerous viviparous buds. 



Althea Frutex, an old garden name for HibisciLS syriacus, 

 better known by the name of Syrian Eose, belonging to the 

 Mallow family (Malvaceae), native of Syria ; a stiff, branched, 

 deciduous shrub, leaves tri-lobed, flowers strong, red, purple, 

 yellow, and white. Introduced at the end of the sixteenth 

 century. It is one of the very few shrubby species of the 

 family hardy in this country. 



Alum -root, a name in North America for Heuchera ameri- 

 cana, a herb of the Saxifrage family (Saxifragaceae). It is 

 astringent, and said to possess medicinal properties. 



Amadou. {See German Tinder.) 



Amanita {Amanita muscaria), formerly Agaric^is muscarius, 

 a fungus of the Mushroom family (Fungi), native of this country, 

 Europe, and JSTorthern Asia. Its pileus is bright red, the size of 

 a large mushroom, studded with white or yellowish warts ; it is 

 highly poisonous. In Siberia and Kamschatka, where it is 

 common, it is collected, strung on strings, and dried ; it is then 

 said to lose its poisonous properties, and is used as an article of 

 food. Its most important use in these countries is for its 

 intoxicating properties. The usual mode of taking the fungus 

 is to roll it up in a ball and swallow it without chewing ; the 

 desired effect comes on two hours after taking it. Pleasing 

 emotions are first produced, involuntary words and actions 

 follow, and sometimes an entire loss of consciousness. When 

 not taken in overdose it proves highly stimulant to muscular 

 exertion. Its effects on the nervous system are often ludicrous ; 

 the patient, for example, taking a long spring to jump over a 

 straw as though it were a log of wood. In this country tlie 

 Amanita, steeped ui syrup, is used for the destruction of house 

 flies. 



Amaryllis, the botanical and familiar English name of an 

 extensive, pretty-flowering genus of bulbous herbs of the Nar- 

 cissus family (Amaryllidacese), chiefly natives of Brazil, largely 

 cultivated in this country. The well-known Belladonna Lily 



