58 



AMES 



AMORPHOPHALLUS 



in the New World. His important services to botany and 

 horticulture are commemorated in Lcelia Amesiana, 

 Lcelia anceps var. Amesiana, Phalwnopsis F. L. Ames, 

 Cypripedium Amesianum, Cypripedium insigne var. 

 Amesianum, Vanda Amesiana, Stanhopea Amesiana, 

 Miltonia vexillaria var. Amesiana, Odontoglossum 

 Rossice var. Amesiana, and Cattleya Hardyana var. 

 Amesiana. C. S. SARGENT. 



AMHERSTIA (Countess Amherst and her daughter, 

 Lady Amherst, promoters of botany in India). Legu- 

 minbsce. One of the noblest of flowering trees, native 

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

 Gaudy red fls. 8 in. long, with wide-spreading petals, the 

 upper ones gold-tipped, and colored >petal-like bracts, in 

 long, hanging racemes : Ivs. pinnate, nearly 3 ft. long. 

 The tree first flowered in Eng. in 1849. It requires hot- 

 house treatment. The fls. last only 2 or 3 days. Demands 

 rich, loamy soil, and abundant moisture during the grow- 

 ing season, after which the wood must be ripened firm. 

 B.M. 4453. F. 8.5:513-516. 



AMIANTHIUM. See Zygadenus. 



AMMOBIUM (Greek, living in sand). Compdsitce. 

 Hardy herb, cult, as an everlasting or immortelle. Florets 

 Perfect, yellow, surrounded by a dry, silvery white invo- 

 lucre, and subtended by chaffy scales; pappus of 2 bris- 

 tles and 2 teeth. Commonly treated as an annual, but 

 seeds are sometimes sown in Sept., and the plant treated 

 as a biennial. Of easiest culture, the seeds being sown 

 where the plants are to grow. In the N., sow seeds in 

 spring. Cut the fls. before they are fully expanded, and 

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



alatum, R. Br. Three ft. or less high, erect and 

 branchy, white-cottony, the branches broadly winged : 

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

 low (javelin-shaped) ; st.-lvg. linear or linear-lanceolate, 

 entire or nearly so : heads 1-2 in. across, the involucre 

 becoming pearly white. Australia. A large-headed form 

 is var. grandifldrun. L. H. B. 



AMMOCHARIS (amwos, sand; charis, beauty). Ama- 

 ryllidacece. Greenhouse bulb from Cape of Good Hope. 

 J. G. Baker, Amaryllide, p. 96. For cult., see Bulbs. 



falcata, Herb. Bulb ovoid, sometimes 6-9 in. in diam., 

 with brown tunics : Ivs. 1-2 ft. long, 1 in. wide, strap- 

 .shaped, spreading, produced before the Ivs.: fls. 20-40, 

 in an umbel, bright red, fragrant. Winter. Probably 

 the fruit figured in B.M. 1443 is that of a Brunsvigid, 

 mismatched with the flowers. 



Ammocharis falcata requires rich, loamy soil. It 

 starts to grow in the spring. Give plenty of water during 

 growing season in summer. It can be cultivated out-of- 

 doors. When perfected and finished in autumn, the bulb 

 can be put under the greenhouse bench ; keep moder- 

 ately dry in sand or earth ; can be potted in January, 

 after which it will soon throw out its fine, fragrant 

 blooms. Cult, by H. A. SIEBRECHT. 



AMMONIACAL CARBONATE OF COPPEK. See 



Fungicide. 



AMM6PHILA (Greek, sand-loving). Graminece. A 

 coarse perennial, with long, hard rootstocks. Spikelets 

 1-fld., in large, spike-like panicles, jointed above the 

 empty glumes : flowering glume surrounded at the base 

 by a tuft of hairs : axis of spikelet terminating in a small 

 bristle-like rudiment. Species one. Eu. and N. Amer. 



arenaria, Link. (A. arundinacea, Host.). BEACH 

 GRASS. MARRAM GRASS. Abundant along the sandy 

 coasts of the Atlantic, and the great lakes. Adapted for 

 binding drifting sands of coasts. p fi KENNEDY 



AMOMUM (Greek-made name). Scitaminacece. Hot- 

 house ginger-like herbs, with narrow entire Ivs., and fls. 

 in dense cone-like spikes, which are usually near the base 

 of the plant or on a scape. Closely allied to Alpinia 

 (which see for culture). 



Cardamon, Linn. CARDAMON. Thick, spicy, lanceolate 

 Ivs. : plant 4-8 ft. : fls. brownish, in a recximbent com- 

 pound spike. E, Ind. Produces the Cardamon seeds of 



commerce. Not to be confounded with Elettaria Carda- 

 momum (which see). 



Other species d.reA.angustifdlium, Sonner,with linear-lanceo- 

 late Ivs. and yellow fls., Madag. ; A.-Ddnielli, Hook., Ivs. lance- 

 oblong and fl. large, red and yellow, Afr. ; A. Granum-Paradisi, 

 Linn. (A. grandiflomm, Smith), with colored stems and white- 

 tinted fls., Afr. ; A. magnificum, Benth. & Hook. (Alpinia mag- 

 nifica, Roscoe), 10-12 ft., fls. very numerous, in a gaudy bracted 

 head, large, red, Mauritius, B.M. 3192 ; A. vittdtum, Hort.=Al- 



Einia vittata ; A. vitellinum, Lindl., with oval Ivs. and yellow 

 s.,E.Ind. L. H. B. 



AMOEPHA (Greek amorphos, deformed; the fls. are 

 destitute of wings and keel). Legiiminosce. Shrubs : 

 Ivs. alternate, odd-pinnate, deciduous, with entire leaf- 

 lets : fls. in dense, terminal spikes, small, papilionaceous, 

 but without wings and keel ; stamens exserted : pod 

 short, slightly curved, with 1-2 seeds. Eight species, 

 6 in N. Amer. Hardy flowering shrubs, with graceful fo- 

 liage, well adapted for small shrubberies, especially in 

 somewhat dry and sunny situations. Prop, usually by 

 seeds ; also by greenwood cuttings under glass in early 

 summer, or by hardwood cuttings, placed in sheltered 

 situations early in fall and left undisturbed till the fol- 

 lowing autumn. They may be grown, also, from layers 

 and suckers. 



can6scens, Nutt. LEAD PLANT. Low shrub, 1-3 ft., 

 densely white-canescent : Ivs. sessile, 2-4 in. long, leaf- 

 lets 21-49, nearly sessile, oval or ovate-lanceolate, 4-7 

 lines long : fls. blue, the spikes crowded into terminal 

 panicles. June. S. states. Mn.5:707. B.M. 6618. R.H. 

 1896:280. Handsome free-flowering shrub of dense 

 habit, well adapted for rockeries and borders of shrub- 

 beries in sunny and well-drained situations. 



fruticdsa, Linn. BASTARD INDIGO. Shrub, 5-20 ft.: 

 Ivs. petioled, 6-16 in. long, leaflets 11-21, oval or elliptic, 

 mostly obtuse and mucronulate : spikes dense, 3-6 in. 

 long, usually in panicles ; fls. dark purple. From Wis. 

 and Pa. south. B.R. 5 : 427. Interesting ornamental 

 shrub of spreading habit, with fine, feathery foliage ; 

 remarkable for the unusual color of its dark violet- 

 purplish fls. A very variable species; slightly differing 

 forms have been described, and are cult, under many dif- 

 ferent names, as, e. g. : A. Caroliniana, Croom ; croceo- 

 lanata, Wats. ; dealbata, Hort. ; elata, Hort. ; fragrans, 

 Sweet; glabra, Desf . ; Icevigata, Nutt. ; Lewisi, Lodd.; 

 Ludoviciana , Hort.; mimosifolia, Hort. ; ornato,Wend.; 

 paniculata, Torr. & Gr. ; Tennesseensis, Shuttlew. ; 

 Texana, Buckl. 



A. Californica, Nutt. Allied to A. fruticosa. Pubescent : sts. 

 and leaf-stalks furnished with prickly glands : spikes usually 

 single. Calif .A. herbacea,Wnlt. (A. pubescens,Willd.) , 2-4 ft. : 

 Ivs. nearly sessile, pubescent or glabrous ; leaflets with black 

 glands beneath : spikes mostly panicled ; fls. blue or white. S. 

 states. L.B.C. 7: 689. A. microphylla, Pursh. (A. nana, Nutt.). 

 One ft. high : leaflets small, %in. long, crowded, glandular be- 

 neath : spikes usually single. From Minn, and Iowa west to 

 Rocky Mts. A. virgdta, Small. Allied to A. fruticosa. Peren- 

 nial, 2-6 ft., sparingly branched: leaflets broad, coriaceous': 

 spikes single or few. S. states. ALFRED REHDER. 



AMORPHOPHALLUS (Greek-made name). Aroldece. 

 Giant aroids, from the eastern tropics, grown as curiosi- 

 ties in hothouses. Spathe (or "flower") springing from 

 the great bulb-like tuber in advance of the Ivs., the latter 

 usually pedately compound: differs from Arum and re- 

 lated genera by technical characters. Monogr. by Engler 

 in De Candolle's Monographic Phanerogamarum, vol. 2, 

 1879. 



Amorphophalluses are propagated by offsets of the 

 tubers. Towards the end of March the plants should be 

 taken from their winter quarters and placed on the 

 stages of a moderately warm greenhouse and kept moist, 

 where, if the tubers are strong enough, they will soon 

 flower. The leaves begin to grow immediately after the 

 flowering season. Towards the end of May they should 

 be planted out in the open ground, or they may be used 

 in subtropical bedding. Plants should be lifted in the 

 fall, before frost, and potted in any good, rich soil, and 

 placed in a warm greenhouse to ripen off the leaves, after 

 which they may be stored away under the greenhouse 

 stages, or any convenient place where the temperature 

 does not fall below 50, giving just sufficient moisture to 

 keep the tubers from shriveling. 



Cult, by EDWARD J. CANNING. 



