GENERAL DICTIONARY 



OF 



PRACTICAL GARDENING, &c 



A B R 



-txBELE, a general name applied to the White 

 Poplar Tree. " See Popi lus. 



ABIES, the Fir Tree. See Pinus. 



ABROMA, a genus comprehending a tree of 

 the exotic kind known in the East Indies, and 

 cultivated occasionally in the stove in this 

 country. 



It belongs to the class and order Polyadelphia 

 Dodecandria, and ranks in the natural order, of 

 Coin mniferce. 



The characters of which are : that the calyx is 

 a five-leaved perianthium, having lanceolate, 

 acute, spreading, permanent leaflets: the corolla 

 consists of five petals, larger than the calyx, 

 with obovate, arched, concave, and erect claws, 

 which are hairy at the ends, and inserted at the 

 base into the nectary; having oval, obtuse, spread- 

 ing ciliate borders, which are contracted at the 

 base into very short, ciliate, recurved, little claws, 

 on which the principal ones are placed : the nectary 

 is short, small, and pitcher-shaped; being divided 

 into five segments, which are obcordate, hairy, 

 and erect, being recurved, arched, and alternate 

 with the claws of the petals : the stamina are five 

 filaments, membranaceous, and very small, grow- 

 ing on the nectar)' between the emarginate trifid 

 segments, and topped with three twin kidney- 

 shaped antherae on each filament : the pistillum is 

 a subcylindrical germ, having five subulate ap- 

 proximating styles crowned bv acute stigmas : the 

 pericarpium is an ovate, membranaceous, veined 

 capsule, five-winged, five-beaked, and five-celled, 



taping at the top into five parts between the 

 eaks, having the partitions folded : the seeds 

 are many and subovate, contained within an ob- 



ABR 



lique membranaceous aril, and fixed in a double 

 row to the central edge of the partitions, which 

 is thickened and bearded longitudinally, but with- 

 out any receptacle for the seeds. 



The species are : 1 . A. angusta, Maple-leaved 

 Abroma ; 2. A. IFheleri, Wheeler's Abroma ; 

 the first of which only has been introduced and 

 cultivated here. 



It rises to the state of a tree, having generally a 

 straight trunk, and branches that are adorned with 

 someovate, spear-shaped, acuminated leaves; and 

 others which are angular, as those of the first 

 year, with five or seven lobes which are acute, 

 the anterior ones being most produced, all veined, 

 and alternate, of a green colour on both the 

 upper and under sides, but paler on the latter. 

 Even - part of the plant is covered by stiff, shining, 

 decumbent bristles, of a whitish cast, scarcely 

 observable by the naked eye, but readily sepa- 

 rating, and adhering to the fingers without injur)-. 

 The peduncles are mostly bifid, bearing two 

 flowers of a dark purple colour, which come out 

 on the ends of these bifid footstalks, nodding 

 elegantly downwards, but with little or no smell ; 

 continuing to appear from June to October, and 

 perfecting the fruit about the beginning of the 

 latter month. 



This plant grows naturally in New South Wales 

 and the Philippine Islands, and, when cut, yields 

 a kind of gum. It was introduced into this coun- 

 try about the year 1 779. 



The latter is a plant of the shrub kind, a native 

 of the East Indies, having a brownish-coloured 

 bark, and the extreme branches covered by a 

 woolly substance. 



