AMSONIA 



ANAGALLIS 



279 



AMSONIA, (named for Charles Amson, colonial 

 physician in eighteenth century). Called also Ansonia. 

 Apocynacccf. Plants sold for border planting, mostly 

 among shrubbery, but little known in cultivation. 



Tough-barked perennial herbs with alternate narrow 

 Ivs. and terminal panicles of blue or bluish narrow- 

 limbed small fls. in May and June, the inside of the 

 corolla-tube bearing reflexed hairs and also the 5 sta- 

 mens: fr. two long and slender many-seeded follicles. — • 

 About a dozen species in E. U. S. and E. Asia. Prop, 

 mostly by dividing the clumps; also by seeds, and by 

 cuttings in summer. 



Tabemaemontana, Walt. (A. salicifdlia, Pursh. A. 

 Ainsonia, Brit. Tabiriuemontona Amsbnia, Linn.). 

 Glabrous or nearly so, 2-3 ft. ; Ivs. willow-hke, ovate to 

 lanceolate, acuminate, alternate, short-petioled : fls. 

 many, with lanceolate spreading lobes, succeeded by 

 slender, milkweed-like follicles or pods 2-3 in. long. 

 Holds its foliage late. Pa. to Fla. and Texas. B.M. 

 1S73. L.B.C. 6:592. B.R. 151 (as .-1. toi/oKa). 



angustifolia, Michx. Villous when young, the st. 

 1-3 ft. : Ivs. linear to lance-linear, an inch or two long, 

 much crowded, margins becoming revolute: corolla- 

 lobes ovate-oblong to hnear-oblong. Dryland, N. C, 

 to Texas. L. H. B. 



AMYGDALOPSIS: Pranus. 



AMYGDALUS (Greek-made name, referring to the 

 furrowed pit). Rosaces. A name given to the peaches, 

 apricots and their kin, but here treated as a section of 

 the genus Pruniis, which see. 



AMYRIS (etymologically allied to myrrh, in allusion 

 to the odor). Ruiacex. Torch-wood. Some 10 species 

 of shrubs and trees ranging from the S. U. S. to Cent. 

 Amer. and W. Indies, a few of which have been men- 

 tioned as evergreen cult, plants in hothouses. Lvs. 

 alternate, compound but Ifts. sometimes reduced to 1 

 as in some other rutaceous plants: fls. white, in axillary 

 or terminal spikes; sepals and petals 4; stamens 8: fr. 

 an ovoid or globose drupe, with a single stone. — • 

 Apparently none of the species is in cult, in this country, 

 although A. balsamlfera, Linn., of S. Fla. and the W. 

 Indies, A. Plumicri, DC, of the W. Indies, and A. 

 braziliensis (properly Prbtium braziliense, of the Bur- 

 Beracea?) may occur. 



ANACAMPSEROS (Greek-made name, of no sig- 

 nificance here). F^ortulacacese. Love-Plant. Succulent 

 herbs, of a dozen 

 species, from the Cape 

 of Good Hope, but not 

 grown in this country 

 except in botanic gar- 

 dens. They are green- 

 house plants, with 

 ovate fleshy lvs. : fls. 

 racemose, expanding in 

 the sun; petals 5, fuga- 

 cious; sepals 5, oblong. 

 Prop, by seeds or Vjy 

 cuttings of sts. or h's. 

 The commonest species 

 is A. arachnoides, Sims, 

 a peculiar, cobwebbed, 

 green -Ivd. succulent, 

 with simple racemes of 

 white fls. B.M. 1368. 



A. Bdrderi, Hort., "is a. 

 Pyrenean alpine plant of 

 easy culture in border or 

 rockery: purple fl.s.; late- 

 bloominp." The name is 

 apparently unknown in 

 botanical literature, 



N. Taylor.! 192. Anacardium occidentale. ( X H) 



193. Anagallis arvensis. ( X K) 



ANACARDIUM (name refers to the heart-shaped 

 character of the nut). Anacardi&ceae . Eight species 

 native to the American tropics, of which one (yielding 

 the cashew nut) is widely culti- 

 vated in tropical countries. 



Trees and shrubs with 

 leathery alternate lvs.: fls. 

 small and numerous in pani- 

 cles, polygamous; calyx 5-cleft; 

 petals 5, very narrow; stamens 

 7-10: fr. kidney-shaped, borne 

 on a greatly enlarged hard 

 receptacle. 



occidentale, Linn. Cashew. 

 Fig. 192. A large, spreading 

 tree with milky juice, very im- 

 patient of frost, and therefore 

 adaptable only to extreme S. 

 Fla. in the U. S. : lvs. oval or 

 obovate, rounded, or even 

 emarginate at the top: fls. rosy- 

 tinted, fragrant, in clusters ter- 

 minating the young branches: 

 nut kidney-shaped or heart- 

 shaped, the size of a large 

 bean, the kernel edible. This 

 nut (about 1 in. long) is 

 borne on a fleshy recep- 

 bV^Sfes, tacle (the cashew apple, 



* Fig. 33) which is about 



3 in. high when mature, 

 white to yellow and red, 

 and is sweetish-sour and 

 edible, Gn. 11, p. 211.— 

 A vinous liquor is made from the apple. The kernel of 

 the nut .yields oil, and is edible when roasted; the shell 

 of the nut is exceedingly acrid, even the fumes from the 

 roasting being highly irritant. The tree yields a gum 

 which is the basis of a varnisli, being used to protect 

 books and woodwork from the ravages of white ants and 

 other insects. The tree grows 20-40 ft. high. Some- 

 times grown under glass in collections of economic 

 plants; prop, then by cuttings of mature wood with 

 lvs. retained. l H. B. 



ANAGALLIS (Greek, delighting). Prirnulacex. Pim- 

 pernel. Low annual, biennial or perennial herbs cul- 

 tivated in the open for their numerous bright-colored 

 blossoms. 



Stems mostly angular, bearing opposite alternate or 

 3-whorled entire lvs.: fls. axillary, mostly solitary, 

 usually not longer than the lvs., in shades of red, blue 

 or white, the corolla rotate or rotate-beU-shaped and 

 with lobes obovate or linear which are either entire or 

 toothed; stamens 5, attached in the base of the corolla, 

 the filaments usually bearded: fr. a globose caps., cir- 

 cumscissile. — Two dozen species of interesting httle 

 plants mostly with traihng or procumbent sts., in 

 many parts of the world. Pax and Knuth, Engler's 

 Pflanzenreich, hft. 22:321-334. 



The pimpernels are of simple culture. They thrive 

 in a warm soil, the seeds of the annual species being 

 planted where the plants are to grow. The perennial 

 kinds are increased by division, or by cuttings of young 

 growths started under glass. All of them are free-flower- 

 ing and attractive minor plants. The many forms in 

 gardens are probably all referable to two species. 



A. Lvs. ovate. 

 arvensis, Linn. {A. pulchella, Salisb. A. orientalis, 

 Hort. A. Moncllii, Bieb., not Linn.). Common Pim- 

 pernel, or Poor Man's Weatherglass (fls. close at 

 approach of bad weather). P'ig. 193. Annual: sts. 

 procumbent or ascending, the branches becoming long, 

 sliglitly winged: lvs. opposite or in 3's, sessile: fls, scar- 

 let varying to white, the lobes broadly obovate and 



