AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



155 



FIL 



Filices. One of the principal groups of Crypto- 

 gams, commonly called Ferns, consisting of 

 herbaceous or arborescent perennial, very 

 rarely annual, plants, with fibrous roots, or 

 creeping root-stalks. Those of an arborescent 

 or tree habit have trunks varying from two or 

 three to sixty or eighty feet in height, 

 and formed of the consolidated bases of 

 the fronds, surrounding a soft central mass 

 of tissue. Many schemes have been proposed 

 for the classification of Ferns, but that seems 

 to be preferable which is based on the modi- 

 fications of the vascular system in conjunc- 

 tion with the fructification. All Ferns may be 

 referred to one of the groups Ophioglossacece, 

 Marattiacece, or Polypodiacece, of which the first 

 two, sometimes called pseudo-Ferns, are very 

 limited, while the latter, containing the true 

 Ferns, includes the greater portion of all the 

 known species. There are about seventy-five 

 genera, and about 2,500 species. The follow- 

 ing are some of the principal and most exten- 

 sive genera : Adiantum, Asplenium, Aspi- 

 dium, Polypodium, and Pteris. 



Filiform. Cylindrical and slender, like a 

 thread. 



Filipendulous. "Where tuberous swellings are 

 developed in the middle or at the extremities 

 of filiform rootlets as in Spirceafilipendula. 



Fimbriate. Fringed. 



Fiorin or Fiorin-Grass. (Butter Grass.) Agrostis 

 stolonifera. 



Fir. A general name for various species of 



Abies, Picea, and Pinus. 



Balm of Gilead, or Balsam. Abies balsamea. 

 Black Spruce. Abies nigra. 

 Douglas Spruce. Abies (Pseudo-tsuga)Douglasii. 

 Hemlock Spruce. Tsuga Canadensis. 

 Japan Silver. Picea firma. 

 Norway Spruce. Abies excelaa. 

 Parasol, or Umbrella. The genus Sciadopitys. 

 Pitch, or Siberian Silver. Picea Pichta. 

 Sacred Silver. Pinus religiosa. 

 Scotch. Pinus sylvestris. 

 Silver. Picea pectinata. 



Fire Cracker Plant. See Cuphea. 



Fire Pink. A local name of Silene Virginica. 



Fire Tree. See Nuytsia. 

 Of Queensland. See Stenocarpus. 



Fire-Weed. A name given to Erechites hieraci- 

 folia, because of its appearance on new 

 grounds, when brush has been burned. It is 

 a coarse worthless weed, though not apt to 

 be troublesome. 



Firming the Soil. See Sowing and Planting, 

 Use of the Feet in. 



Fish Bone Thistle. Chamcepeuce Casabonce. 



Fish Guano. See Fertilizer. 



Fish-Tail Palm. See Caryota. 



Fissus. Divided half way usually into a deter- 

 minate number of segments. We say, bifidus, 

 split in two, trifidus, in three, and s,o on ; or 

 multifidus, when the segments are very 

 numerous. 



Fistular, Fistulous. This is said of a cylin- 

 drical or terete body which is hollow, but 

 closed at each end, as the leaves and stem of 

 the Onion. 



Fitto'nia. Named in honor of E. and 8. M. Fit- 

 ton, authors of "Conversations on Botany," 

 Nat. Ord. Acanthacece. 



FLO 



A genus of trailing perennials with bril- 

 liantly marked leaves, natives of Peru and 

 requiring Stove-house treatment. They are 

 excellent plants for the Wardian case and use- 

 ful also for planting on the surface of |>ots or 

 tubs in which large plants or other decorative 

 plants are grown, and also for forming narrow 

 borders to the walks in heated structures. F. 

 argyroneura, has oval leaves of a vivid green, 

 traversed by a net-work of pure white veins ; 

 other species have the midrib and veins deep 

 red or carmine. They are easily increased 

 by cuttings. Syn. Gymnostachyum. 



Five Fingers. See Potentilla. 



Flabelliform. Fan-shaped. 



Flacourtia. Named after Etienne de Flacourt, 

 a botanist and director of the French East 

 India Company in 1648. The typical genus of 

 FlacaurtiacecB, comprising a few species of 

 fruit-bearing, thorny trees or shrubs, natives 

 of tropical Asia, Africa, and America. The 

 truits of several of the species are used in 

 India, and have a pleasant sub-acid flavor, 

 when perfectly ripe, but the unripe fruit is 

 exceedingly astringent. The young shoots 

 and leaves of F. cataphracta are used medici- 

 nally by the native Indian doctors as a cure 

 for diarrhoea. The species are rarely seen 

 in cultivation. 



Flacourtiaceae. (Bixacese.) A natural order 

 of shrubs or small trees, with alternate leaves, 

 often marked with transparent dots. They are 

 natives, principally, of the East and West 

 Indies ; a few species are found at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and one or two in New Zealand. 

 Some of the plants yield edible fruits, others 

 are bitter and astringent. The order includes 

 about twenty-five genera and 150 species. 



Flag. A general name for the genus Iris. 

 Yellow, or Water. Iris Ptseudo-acorus. 



Flagelliform. Flexible, narrow, and tapering, 

 like the thong of a whip, as the runners of 

 many plants. 



Flame Flower. One of the popular names of 

 Tritoma. 



Flame Lily. See Pyrolirion. 



Flame Tree, or Tree of Fire. See Nuytsia. 



Flamingo Plant. Popular name of Anthurium 

 Scherzerianum. 



Flavescent. A pure pale yellow. 



Flax. See Ldnum. 

 New Zealand, or Flax Lily. Phormium tenax. 



Fleabane. See Erigeron. 



Fleur-de-Luce. See Iris. 



Flexuose. Zig-zag; having a wavy direction, 

 gently bending alternately inward and out- 

 ward. 



Floating Heart. See Limnonihemum. 



Floccose. Covered with little tufts of hair, like 

 wool. 



Flora. (The goddess of flowers.) The aggre- 

 gate of all the species of plants inhabiting a 

 particular country. 



Floral. Of or belonging to the flower. 



Floral Envelopes. The calyx and corolla, one 

 or both. 



Florets. When many small flowers are collected 

 in clusters or heads, each flower is called a 

 floret. The florets of the disk are those which 



