AME 



A M E 



spring months, and plunged into a good hot- 

 bed of tanner's bark, or placed in tan, under pots, 

 as their covers are very hard. The plants mostly 

 appear in about six weeks, when they must be 

 carefully treated, being very tender in their 

 early growth; they should have fresh air admitted 

 to them every day when the weather is warm, 

 and be frequently refreshed with water when 

 the earth in the pots becomes dry. In the course 

 of five or six weeks after the plants appear they 

 will be fit to transplant ; in doing which, they 

 should be carefully taken out of the pots and 

 separated, planting each into a small pot filled 

 with light rich earth, plunging them again into 

 the hot-bed, carefully shading them from the 

 sun daily, until they have taken root ; after which 

 they may be treated in the same manner as other 

 very tender exotics, by giving them fresh a : r 

 every day in warm weather, and watering them 

 once in two or three days gently; and when the 

 nights are cold, covering the glasses with mats. 

 In this hot-bed the plants may remain till au- 

 tumn, when they must be removed into the 

 stove, and be plunged into the bark -bed. 



At this time those plants whose roots have 

 filled the pots should be carefully shifted into 

 larger ones, before they are thus plunged: but 

 as the plants are not of quick growth while 

 young, they do not require to be often shifted 

 out of their pots. 



Through the whole of the winter season the 

 plants must be kept warm, especially the first 

 year, and have but little water, which in cold 

 weather should be given in very small quantities. 

 In case their leaves should be attacked by insects, 

 they must be washed with a sponge to clear them, 

 otherwise the plants will be much injured in their 

 growth, and become unhealthy. 



As these plants are very tender while young, 

 they will not live in the open air in this climate, 

 even in the warmest part of the year. They 

 must of course be constantly kept plunged in the 

 bark -bed, in the stove; in the summer season, 

 when the weather is warm, admitting a large share 

 of fresh air to the plants. In thesecond year, when 

 the plants have attained sufficient strength, they 

 may however be exposed for two or three months 

 in a warm situation in the summer season. 



According to Dr. Browne, the last sort is very 

 common in Jamaica, and other places in the West 

 Indies, where the wood is cut, and sent to this 

 country under the title of Ebony, though it is 

 not the true ebony, which is a native of the 

 eastern country, and a plant that belongs to 

 a different genus. The wood of the Ame- 

 rican Ebony is of a fine greenish brown colour, 

 and polishing very well is in much esteem by 

 the instrument-makers. It is of a very hard 



durable nature : but the small dimensions of 

 this tree render it fit only for few purposes; the 

 trunk seldom exceeding three or four inches in 

 diameter. The slender branches, being very 

 tough and flexile, are frequently used for riding- 

 switches. 



These plants may be cultivated for the sake of 

 curiosity and variety, among greenhouse and stove 

 collections. 



AMETHYSTEA, a genus comprising a hardy 

 annual plant of the flowery kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Diandric. 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Verticillalce. 



The characters are : thatfhecalyx isaone-leafed 

 perianthium : the tube bell-shaped angular, se- 

 miquinquefid, subequal, acuminate, and per- 

 manent : the corolla is one-petalled, ringent, 

 little longer than the calyx : border five-parted, 

 subequal : upper lip erect, rounded, concave, 

 two-parted, gaping; lower three-parted, the sides 

 rounded, erect, shorter; the middle quite entire, 

 concave, the length of the upper lip : the sta- 

 mina have filiform filaments, approximating un- 

 der the upper lip, and longer than it : the anthera; 

 simple and roundish : the pistillum is a quadrifid 

 germ : the style the size of the stamens : stigmas 

 two, and acute : no pericarpium ;but the calyx be- 

 comes more bell-shaped and spreading: the seeds 

 are four, shorter than the calyx, obtuse, and an- 

 gular within. 



The only species is the A. ccerulea, or Blue 

 Amethystea. 



It is a plant that has an upright stalk, which 

 rises about a foot high : towards the top it puts 

 out two or three small lateral branches, with 

 small trifid leaves, sawed on their edges, of a 

 very dark green colour. At the extremity of 

 the branches the flowers are produced in small 

 umbels, and are of a fine blue colour, as are also 

 the upper part of the branches, and the leaves 

 immediately under the umbel ; so that although 

 the flowers be small, from their colour, with that 

 of the upper part of the stalks, the plants make a 

 pretty appearance, during their continuance in 

 flower. 



The seed, when sown in the autumn, produces 

 plants the following spring, which flower the be- 

 ginning of June ; but that which is sown in the 

 sprinsz; uoes not flower till July. It is a native of 

 Siberia. 



Culture. — The propagation of this plant is ef- 

 fected without much difficulty by means of seed, 

 which should constantly be sown in the autumn, 

 as when this is deferred till the spring the plants 

 do not flower so early in the summer, if at all ; 

 for where the season has proved dry they have 

 been known to remain in the ground a whole year 



