AMELAXriillOR 



AMOMUM 



to olliptio-oblonp, acute or rouiulcil at the apox, ounpate 

 at the biise, 1 '4-2 in. loiisj;. sharply serrate to lielow tho 

 niuliile or nearly to t-lie l>:i.se, glalirous when yoinin: fls. 

 1-3. petlieels glabrous, '2-I '"■ li'nt;: jietals about 'sin. 

 long: top of oviiry woolly: fr. ])urplish blaek, bloomy. 

 Ma,\ : fr. in July and .Vug. Swjunps. Labrador to 

 Mieh. ;uul Minn., south in the mts. to Pa. G .F. 1 :217 

 ^adapted in Fig. 1S8). 



.4. Ciisickii. Fernald. Shrub, to 10 ft.: Ivs. suborbicular, about IH 

 in. long, gliibrous or nearly so: fls. large, petals oblong, about ^iin. 

 long; fr. scarlet, finally black. Ore. and Wa^^h. to Idaho. — Not in 

 cult., but ought to be intro.. a^ it has the largest fls. of all. — 

 A. utahcnsis, Koehue. Dwarf slirub with small obovate Ivs. scarcely 1 

 in. long, pube-scont on both sides; racemes slmrl . wilh very small fls. 

 Utah and Arir. — Not in cult.; the plant cult, under t his name belongs 

 to another species, to which could not be delermiiied. 



AURED ReHDER. 



AMELLUS (for the river Mclla). Compddta-. Nine 

 or 10 Cape of Good Hope annual and perennial herbs 

 allied to Aster. Lvs. hairy, oblong, opposite below: 

 heatis solitary and lerniiiutl or lateral; fls. blue-rayed; 

 pappus single. A. Lychnitis, Linn., sometimes grown as 

 an evergreen glasshouse plant, has hnear-lanceolate 

 hoary lvs. anil showy blue or violet fls. Summer 

 bloomer, a few inches Itigh, 



AMHERSTIA vCountess .\inherst and her daughter, 

 Lady Amherst, promoters of botany in India), Lcya- 

 miriuss. \ monotypic genus comprising A. nobilis, 

 \V;ill., one of the noblest of flowering trees, native to 

 Inclia, where it reaches a height of 40 ft, and more. 

 Fls. gaudy red, 8 in. long, with wide-spreading petals, 

 the upper ones gold-tipped, and colored petal-like 

 bracts, in long, hanging racemes: lvs. pinnate, nearly 

 3 ft. long. The tree first flowered in Eng, in 1849, It 

 requires hothouse treatment. The fls, last only 2 or 3 

 days. Demands rich, loamy soil, and abundant moist- 

 ure during the growing season, after which the wood 

 must be ripened firm. Propagation is by seeds, more 

 often by cuttings of half-ripened wood under a glass, 

 ■with bottom heat of about 80°, Thrives well in the 

 open in Jamaica, B.M. 4453. F.S. 5:. 513-516. 



N. TAYLOR.t 

 AMliNTHIUM: Zygadenua. 



AMICIA (named for J. B. Amici, Italian physicist, 

 bom 1786), Leguininbsse . Woody plants, one of which 

 is known in cultivation as a half-hardy greenhouse 

 subject, or in the open in warmer regions. 



Straggling pellucid-dotted shrubs, or sub-shrubs, 

 with alternate abruptly pinnate lvs, and few Ifts, : fls. 

 rather large, papilionaceous, yellow, in axillary or termi- 

 nal racemes or rarely solitary; calyx with 2 very large 

 tipper segms, and very small lateral segms,; stamens 

 equal: fr, very narrow, compressed, jointed. — About 5 

 epecies in the mts. of Mex, to Bohvia, 



Zygomeris, DC. Eight feet, pubescent: Ifts, 2 pairs, 

 obcordate or wedge -shape, mucronate: fls. large, pale 

 yellow with puq>le on the keel: pod 2-jointed, Mex. 

 — Intro, in S. Calif.; unusual in greenhouses, l. h, b. 



AMMOBIUM (Greek, living in sand). Campdsilx. 

 Hardy herb, cult, as an everlasting or immortelle. 



Florets perfect, yellow, surrounded by a dry, silvery 

 white involucre, and subtended by chafTy scales; 

 pappus of 2 bristles and 2 teeth. — Two or 3 Australian 

 species. Commonly grown as an annual, but seeds are 

 sometimes sown in Sept.. and the plant treated as a 

 biennial. Of easiest culture, the seeds b<!ing sown where 

 the plants are to grow. In the X., sow seeds in spring. 

 Cut the fls, before they are fully exp.andcd, and hang 

 in a dry, ,'ihafly place. They will then remain white, 



alStum, H, Br, Three ft, or l&ss high, erect and 

 branchy, white-cottony, the branche-s broadly wing(5d: 

 early root-lvs, ovate at the ends and long-tapering be- 

 low f javelin-shaped) ; st.-lvs, small and distant, entire 

 or nearly so: hearLs 1-2 in, across, the involucre becom- 

 ing pearly white, petal-like; fls, all tubular, V. 2:62. 



Austral. A large-headed form is var. grandiflorum, 

 Hort. L. H. B. 



AMMOCHARIS [<immos, s:md; chmis, beauty), 

 Aniiiriiltiit()cc;i . tireenhou.se bulb, ctdtivated for late 

 winter ;iiiil spring bloom. 



..Vlli(-d to Hrunsvigi:i, but the perianth regular, the 

 tube c^'liudrical anil straight, ovary flask-shaped and 

 narrowed t,o a neck. — Two species in Cape of Good 

 Hope region (by some reg:irded as forms of one species) : 

 A.falcata, Herb., with limb 4 times length of tube, and 

 A. coranica, Burchell, B.R. 1:39:1219 (as Amaryllis), 

 with limb only twice as long. 



falcata, Herb. Bulb ovoid, somelimes 6-9 in. 

 diam., with brown tuitics: lvs. 1-2 ft. long, 1 in. wide, 

 strap-shaped, spreading, produced in spring before the 

 bloom: fls. 20-40, in an umbel, bright red, fragrant.^ 

 A.Jalcdta requires rich, loamy soil. It starts to grow in 

 the spring. Give plenty of water during growing sea- 

 son in summer. It can be cult, out-of-doors. When 

 perfected and finished in autumn, the bulb may be put 

 under the greenhouse bench; keep moderately dry in 

 sand or earth; may be potted in January, after which 

 it will soon throw out its fine, fragrant blooms. 



L. H. B.f 



AMMONIACAL CARBONATE OF COPPER: Fungicide. 



AMMOPHILA (Greek, amnios, sand, and philein, 

 to love). Graminex. Perennial grasses, with long, 

 creeping rootstalks and spike-like panicles: spikelets 

 1-fld., awnless, the rachilla prolonged behind the palea 

 as a hairy bristle; lemma firm, about as long as the 

 glmnes, hairy at the base; palea as long as lemma — • 

 Species 1 or 2, on the sandj' seacoast of Eu., the 

 Atlantic Coast of N. Amer. and the shores of the 

 Great Lakes. 



arenaria, Link {A. arundinacea, Host). Beach- 

 Grass. Mahram-Grass. Sea Sand-Reed. Psamma. 

 One to 3 ft.: blades long, somewhat involute: panicle 

 pale, several in. or as much as a ft. long. Dept. Agric, 

 Div. Agrost. 7:167; 14:11. Sand-dunes along the 

 seacoast. — On accoimt of the long, hard, branching 

 rootstocks, it has been much used as a sand-binder in 

 Eu. and certain parts of Amer., especially Cape Cod 

 and Golden Gate Park in San PVancisco. 



A, S, Hitchcock, 



AMOMUM (Greek-made name, referring to the 

 qualities as antidote for poisons), Zingiheracex. Hot- 

 house ginger-like herbs with narrow entire leaves, 

 grown for the habit and foliage and for the flowers 

 in dense cone-like spikes, 



Amomums are aromatic tropical and subtropical 

 plants, spreading by means of hard rhizomes and form- 

 ing dense masses of handsome erect or spreadiiig 

 annual sts, and Unear, lanceolate or elliptic lvs, : fls, in 

 dense cone-hke spikes or racemes, half hidden in the 

 floral-bracts; calyx funnel-shaped, split down one side, 

 only slightly toothed; corolla-tube cyUndrical, httle 

 longer than the calyx, the upper lobe curved, the 2 

 lower spreading and narrow; lip (staminode) large 

 and petal-like, mostly obovate-cuneate; fertile stamen 

 with a narrow or a very slender filament: fr, ovoid, 

 with a thick and fleshy exterior. — About 50 species in 

 tropics of Asia, Afr, arid Pacific Isls,, aUied to Alpinia 

 and Elettaria, The "grains of paradise" are amomum 

 seeds, of several species, probably mostly of A. Grtmum- 

 Paradisii and A. Melegucla; they are used, or have been 

 used, for flavoring beverages. Cardamons (aromatic 

 tonic seeds) are secured from species of Amomum and 

 from Elettaria. 



Some of the amomums are extremely handsome as 

 foUage plants, apart from their flowers. IMany of the 

 species have been confused with and included with the 

 genus Alpinia, but may be readily distinguished from 

 the flower-clusters, being borne on erect-solitary pe- 

 duncles arising from the base of the leafy stem or direct 



