A G R 



A G R 



Wfll ffciirc4 for eight or nine Hiips ; vrlieix they arc land- 

 locked by rcveial iflands, whieh iippear at lea like pnrt of 

 the m^.iii. Miilliam's Naval Gaxett. 



AG-ROM, a difcafe frequent in Bengal, and other parts 

 of the Indies, wherein the tongue chaps and cleaves in fc- 

 veral places, being alio extremely rough, and fomctimes 

 covered with white fpots. The Indians are veiy tearful of 

 this difcafe, which they attribute to extreme heat of the 

 ttomaeh. 



Their remedy i^, to chew the black-fecded bafilica, drink 

 fome chalybeated liquor, or the juice of large mint. 



AGROPOLI, in Geography, a town of the Princlpato 

 Citra of N.iples, on the gulpli of Salerno ; 26 miles weil- 

 i'outh-well of Cangir.no ; and 22 miles fouth-fouth-eafi: of 

 Salerno. E. Ion. 14' 54'. N. hit. 40" 22'. 



AGROSPI, in Jncienl Geography, a town of Ethiopia, 

 lituate, according to Ptolemy, on the banks of the Nile. 



AGROSTEMMA, Ay(w rs/^^a, the garland of the 

 field, in Botany, a genus of the decandr'm pentagynia clafs 

 and order, and natural order of caryophylki. Its charac- 

 ters are, that the calyx is a one-leafed, coriaceous, or lea- 

 tlier-like, tubulous, iive-toothed, permanent perianthium ; 

 the corolla has iive petals, with claws of the length of 

 the tube of the calyx, and border fpreading, obtufe and 

 undivided ; the ftamina are ten awl-ihaped filaments^ five 

 alternately later than the other five, inferted into each claw 

 of the petals, the anthers fimple ; the pill;illum an ovate 

 germ, with filiform, ereft llyles, of the length of the fta- 

 mina, ajid fimple lligmas ; the pericarpium an oblong-ovate, 

 covered, one-celled, five-valved capfule ; the feeds veiy nu- 

 merous, kidney-fliaped, and dotted ; the receptacles free, 

 as many as feeds ; tlie interior ones gradually longer. N.B. 

 The A. githago has not a crowned corolla, or blofTom, 

 as the others have. Dr. Smith ( Flor. Brit. vol. ii. p. 493.), 

 obferves, that this genus is fcarcely diilinA from the 

 Lychnis. There are four fpecies, viz. I. A. githago, 

 corn campion or cockle, which is hirfute or hairy, with calyx 

 longer than the corolla, petals entire, or flightly emarginate, 

 and naked. 2. A. coronaria, rofe campion, tomentofc, 

 with leaves ovate-lanceolate, petals flightly emarginate, 

 crowned and ferrate. 3. A. jfios Jov'is, umbellate rofe 

 campion, tomentoie, with emarginate petals and flowers in 

 a coi-j-mb or kind of fpike. 4. A. cali rofa, fmooth cam- 

 pion, with leaves linear-lanceolate, emarginate petals, 

 crowned. The Jirjl fpecies is a common annual weed, in 

 corn-fields, and flowers in June or July ; the feeds arc black, 

 with a furfaee like fliagreen, and appear in the microfcope 

 like a hedge-hog rolled up. The fecond fpecies is biennial, 

 a native of Italy, the Valais, and Siberia ; but fo long an 

 inhabitant of Englifli gardens, that it is become a kind 

 of weed. Of this plant there are three varieties, one v;ith 

 deep red, another with flefli-coloured, and a third with 

 ■^hite flowers ; but they are not much elleemed, as the dou- 

 ble rofe-campion, which is a fine flower, has excluded the 

 otheis from moft good gardens. The fingle rofe campions 

 are fufficiently propagated by their felf-lown feeds. The 

 variety with double-flowers, having no feeds, is propagated 

 by parting the roots in autumn, and planting them in a 

 border of fre(h undunged earth, at the diltance of about fix 

 inches ; they fliould be watered gently till they have taken 

 root : afterwards wet, as well as "dung, is injurious to them. 

 In fpring they (hould be removed into the borders of the 

 flower-garden, where they will be very ornamental, whUft. 

 they flov^'er in July and Auguil. The third fpecies grows 

 naturally on the Swifs and Piedmontefe mountains, and in 

 t"ie Palatinate, and was cultivated in 1739, by Mr. Miller. 

 It flowers in July, and the feeds ripen in September. I; 



1 



will thrive bcft iit a moift foil and (hady fituation. The 

 fourth fpecies is annual. It is a native of Italy, Sicily, and 

 the Levant ; but being a plant of little beauty, it is pre- 

 ferved in botanic gardens merely for variety. It was culti- 

 vated in 1739, by Mr. Miller. 



AGROSTIS, formed fron ayfoi, di field, bcnt-grafs, in 

 Botany, a genus of the triandria d/gynia clafs and order, and 

 of the natural order of gramma or grafles. Its charafters 

 are, tiiat the calyx is a one-ilowered, bivalve, acuminate 

 glume, or hufl< tapering to a point ; the corolla, bivalve 

 and acuminatCr with one valve larger than the otiier ; the 

 ftamina have three filaments longer than the corolla, with 

 forked anthers ; the piftiUura is a roundifti germ with two 

 reflex villous ftyles, and ftigmas longitudinally liifpid, or as 

 Dr. Smith says, plumofe : the pericarpium is a corolla 

 growing to the feed, not gaping ; the feed is roundifli, point- 

 ed at both ends, with the corolla adhering clofely to it. 

 Profefior Martyn enumerates 35 fpecies, and Gmclin 42 

 fpecies. They are diftributed into two clalfes ; the arijlaije 

 or thofe with awns, and the inutlca: or naked, without awns. 

 To the firft clafs belong the following, i. Afpicwventi, 

 filky bent-grafs, with entire petals, the outer petal having a 

 ftiff, ftraight and veiy long awn, and the panicle fpreading. 

 2. A. interrupta, interrupted-fpike B. with bifid petals, the 

 outer awned, the panicle attenuated, contrafted and inter- 

 rupted. 3. A. m'diacea, inillct B. with the outer petal ter- 

 minating in a ftiff" ftraight awn of a moderate length. 4. A. 

 Iromoidcs, with a fimple narrowed panicle, pubefcent corolla, 

 and awn ftraight, longer than the calyx. 5. A. auflralis, 

 fouthern B. with the panicle approaching to a fpLke, the 

 feed ovate and pubefcent, and awn of the length of the ca- 

 lyx. 6. A. arund'icea, reedy B. with oblong panicle, outer 

 petal, villous at the bafe, and furniflicd with a writhed awn, 

 longer than the calyx. 7. A. calamagroflis, branching B. 

 Avith thickened panicle, the whole of the outer petal woolly, 

 awned at the tip, and branching culm. 8. A. ferlotina, late 

 B. with oblong mucronate flofcules, and culm covered witli 

 very ftioit leaves. 9. A. rubra, red B. with the flowering 

 part of the panicle very fpreading, outer petal fmooth, awn 

 terminal, fpiral and recurved. JO. K. fpiciformis, fpiky B. 

 with the panicle refembhng a fpike, two-awned flowers, one 

 awn inferted into the receptacle, jointed and longer than the 

 other, which is ftraight, and inferted below the tip of the 

 corolla, which is rough. 11. A. hirfuta, hairy B. with the 

 panicle approaching to a fpike, culm and leaves hirfute, 

 glumes of the corolla awned on the back, and bifid at the 

 tip. 12. A. matrella, with the flowers in racemes, outer 

 valve of the calyx bent in, and the tip of the keel only 

 gaping. 13. A. canina, brown B. with ovated coloured 

 calyx, naked corolla, an incurved awn on the back of the 

 petals, and proftrate culms a httle branching. To the clafs 

 of awned agroilis, Gmehn refers the following fpecies, viz. 

 A. vinealts and A. c'lnna, of Martim, A. alp'tna, with 

 fetaceous leaves, compaft panicle, rough and coloured calyx, 

 and exterior petal with a jointed awn in its back. A. Incf'ii, 

 with elongated calyxes, awn of the petals recurved at the 

 back, and proftrate culms with four branches. A. giganlea, 

 with the upper part of the panicle firft flowering very wide, 

 rough calyxes, the exterior petal fmooth, the back ilightly 

 awned above, and an ereft culm. A. dithia, with equal 

 fmooth calyxes, corolla mucronated below the apex, and 

 fetaceous leaves. A.fcflucoldes, with fetaceous leaves, fpread- 

 ing panicle, and petals with awn bent in at the bafe twice as 

 long as the calyxes. A. fi/farmis, with filiform leaves and 

 culms, approximate panicle, and fmooth flofcules awned at 

 the bafe. 



To the fteond chk of Agroftis without awns are referred 



the 



