A B R 



Culture. — The propagation of the first, or'tree 



kind, is by cuttings made in the spring, and plant- 

 ed out in pots in order to be plunged into a hot- 

 bed, « here, after being well rooted, they should be 



transplanted into single pots and placed in a bark- 

 bed in the stove, where they must constantly be 

 kept, as they require a pretty 'strong heat and much 

 water. The seeds do not easily become ripe in this 

 elimate, seldom indeed arriving at a state proper 

 for vegetating without great attention. The se- 

 cond sort is not yet much known or cultivated. 



ABROTANUM. See Artemisia. 



ABRUS, Wild Liquorice, a genus compre- 

 hending a plant of the perennial shrubby kind, 

 sometimes cultivated in the stove in this country. 



It belongs to the class and order Diadelphia 

 Decandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Legunrinosce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed, bell-shaped, obscurely four-lobed peri- 

 anthium : the teeth blunt, and theupperthe broad- 

 est : the corolla papilionaceous, having the ban- 

 ner roundish, entire, ascending, and flatted at 

 the sides, but longer than the wings and keel : 

 the wings oblong and blunt ; and the keel ob- 

 long, sickle-shaped, gibbous, and longer than the 

 wings : the stamina nine filaments united into a 

 sheath, cloven above, tree at the end, unequal, and 

 rising; with oblong erect anthera; : thepistillum 

 a cylindrical hairy germ ; with the style. subulate 

 and rising, but shorter than the stamina : the 

 stigma in the form of a head, but small: the 

 pencarpium a rhomblike, compressed, acumi- 

 nated legume, coriaceous, bivalvcd, four- or five- 

 celled, with a little subulate deflex claw; each 

 .cell containing a subglobose seed. 



There is only one species; the A. precatorius, 

 Jamaica Wild Liquorice. 



This has a slender, shrubby, twining, branchy 

 stalk, rising when supported to eight or ten feet 

 in height, adorned with pinnate leaves which end 

 abruptly, and having from twelve to sixteen pairs 

 of small, smooth, oblong, blunt folioles, or leaf- 

 lets, set close together. The flowers are of a pale 

 purple colour, and come out in short spikes or 

 bunches from the sides of the stalks, having the 

 shape of the kidney bean; and are succeeded by 

 short pods, containing in each three or four hard 

 seeds of a bright scarlet colour, with a black 

 speck or eye on the sides on which they are 

 I 10 the pod. 

 sor T. Martyn, on the authority of 

 Gaertner, remarks, that the legume or pod is 

 lly found of an oblong form, containing 

 carce apparently divided by a mem- 

 brane, which often disappears as the seeds be- 

 come ripe. The small leaflets have the taste of 

 . and are used for the same pu 

 plant seems to have obtained its name. 



ACA 



There arc two varieties of this plant— one that 

 has a white, and another a yellow, seed : but they 

 do not differ from the former either in leaf or 

 stalk. It is said to grow naturally in both the East- 

 and West Indies, as well as in Guinea alidEgvpt. 



( kitture. — The propagation of this plant is by 

 seeds ; which should be sow n on a good hot-bed 

 in the spring, being previously soaked three or 

 four days in water, in order to promote their ve- 

 getating power. When the plants are come up 

 about two inches in height, they should each be 

 transplanted out into a "separate pot tilled with 

 light earth, and then plunged into a bark-bed ii> 

 tin- stove, keeping them well shaded from the sun 

 until they have struck or taken fresh root ; in 

 which situation they must be constantly kept: 

 after this they are to be treated as other tender 

 plants. They mostly flower in the second year, 

 and occasionally ripen their seeds even in this 

 climate. 



ABSINTHIUM. See Artemisia. 



ACACIA. See Mimosa. 



ACACIxV, False and Scarlet. See Robinia. 



ACACIA, Three-tharned. See GLEinrsrv. 



ACANTHUS, Bear's Breech, a genus which 

 comprehends several hardy herbaceous plants of 

 the perennial flowering kind, which are in use 

 for the purpose of ornament in pleasure-grounds, 

 &c. and also one of the evergreen shrubby sor> 

 for the stove. 



It is of the class and order Dich/namia Angi* 

 ospermia, and ranks in the natural order of Per* 

 sonatce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a peri- 

 anthium, with leaflets in three alternate pairs, 

 unequal, and permanent : the corolla single- 

 petalled and unequal, having a short tube closed 

 with a beard ; no upper lip ; very large under lip, 

 which is flat, straight, very broad, three-lobed, 

 obtuse, and of the length of the upper lip of the 

 calyx : the stamina have four filaments, subulate, 

 shorter than the corolla, the two upper rathej? 

 longer, recurved and incurved at the top : the 

 anthers are oblong, compressed, obtuse, the late«- 

 ral ones parallel, and villous before : the pistillum 

 has a conical germ, a filiform style of the length of 

 the stamina, and two acute Literal stigmas : the 

 pericarpium is a subovate pointed capsule, two- 

 celled and two-valved, with a contrary partition, 

 alternate claws, curved and fastened to the parti- 

 tion : the seed is ovate, gibbous and single, but 

 sometimes double. 



The species most commonly cultivated are : 1. 

 A. mollis, Smooth Acanthus ; 2. A. spinosusp 

 Prickly Acanthus; 3. A.ilicij'olius, Holly-leaved 

 Shrubby Acanthus. 



The first, or Smooth Acanthus, according to 

 Miller, has the stem from two to three feet in 

 height, The leayes are oblong, smooth on both 



