AGO 



The feven following are fcarcely to be afcertained. 



29. A. nonum ; Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 438. Dalech. Hift. 

 1 741. f. 2. A. coma inflexa, floribus rarioribus, et foliis 

 eleganter difleftis ; Tourn. InlL 425. — We ihould fuppofe 

 this an unnatural pofture of A. Anthora, n. i. 



30. A. lycoftonum quartum, five lynceanum ; Cluf. 

 Hift. V. 2. 96. Bauh. Hill. V. 3. 657. — No figure. 



31. A. ramofum, parvo flore ; Bauh. Pin. 183. Bauhin 

 cites A. oftavum, Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 437. See our n. 23. 



32. A. fpica florum pyramidali ; Morif. Prxl. 226. A. 

 pyramidal? multiflorum ; Tourn. lull. 425. A. pyrami- 



dale ; Mill. Did. ed. 8. n. 6 Efteemed by De Candolle a 



variety of A. vulgare, n. 1 1. 



33. A. feptimum. Matthioli ; Debry Floril. Nov. t. 42, 

 but not the plant of Matthiolus. 



34. A. minus autumnale infulse Cheufan, finice Tfou-u ; 

 Pluk. Amalth. 5. 



35. Napellus major caeruleus montanus, authors radice ; 

 Bocc. Muf. 74. — Native of Monte Cofcione, in Corfica. 



ACOTYLEDONES, conftitute a clafs of plants in the 

 natural fyftems of moft authors, but efpecially of Juffieu, in 

 whofe method this clafs ftands firft. In thefe the corculum 

 of the feed is defined to be dellitute of cotyledons, and con- 

 fequently undivided in the procefs of germination, though 

 forming a root below, and more or lefs of a ftem, or at leaft 

 a frond, above. The parts of fruftification in many of this 

 tribe are obfcure, anomalous, or altogether unknown. The 

 orders in the above-mentioned writer are fix ; Fungi, Alg^e, 

 Hepaticje, Muscr, Filices, and Naiades ; all which 

 articles the reader will find in their proper places. From 

 our account of Mujc'i and Filices he may obferve, that the 

 denomination of the fuppofed natural clafs in queftion, and 

 its effential charadler above-mentioned, are far from being 

 univerfal or usexceptionable, thofe two orders having manifeft 

 cotyledons, or fomething equivalent ; while many plants, 

 fuppofed to have a folitary cotyledon, have really none 

 at all. See the article Monocotyledones, where this 

 fubjeft is difcuffed. See alfo Cotyledones and Ger- 

 mination. 



ACOUCHY. See Akouschy. 



ACOUROA, in Botany, apparently a vernacular name in 

 Guiana, by which Aublet has chofen to defignate a papilio- 

 naceous diadelphous plant, which Juffieu, with great reafon, 

 fufpe<9;s to be a fpecies of Pterocarpus (fee that article) ; 

 as well as another genus, named by the fame author Vatai- 

 rea. See Aubl. Guian. 753 — 756. t. 301, 302. 



A. violacea, the only fpecies, is a tree, found about the 

 margins of falt-water creeks in Guiana, bearing flowers and 

 fruit in July. The trunk is twelve or fifteen teet high, and 

 a foot in diameter, fending out from its fummit many fpread- 

 ing branches ; the bark reddifh, cracked, and wrinkled ; the 

 wood whitilh externally, but the heart is reddifli, hard and 

 compaft. Leaves alternate, alternately pinnate of feven or 

 nine ovate, pointed, entire, firm, fmooth leaflets, gradually 

 larger upwards, the lowermoft being an inch and a half or 

 two inches long, the uppermoft or terminal one four or five. 

 Stipulas fmall, deciduous. Clujlers about the ends of the 

 branches, long, compound, many-flowered. BraBeas fmall, 

 folitary at the bafe of each flower. Calyx of one leaf, in 

 five fharp unequal fegments. Corolla papihonaceous, violet- 

 coloured. Stamens ten, diadelphous, the odd one diftinil. 

 Stigma obtufe. Pericarp dry, reddirti, nearly orbicular, con- 

 cave on one fide, convex on the other, not burfting. Seed 

 folitary, lenticular. Aublet. 



The Vatairea, Aubl. t. 302, is a much larger tree, the 

 trunk being fifty feet in height, with a fmooth whitifli bark, 

 aad light brittle woofii Leaves pinnate, as in the former, 



A C R 



but more elliptical. Flowers unknown. Pod flat on both 

 fides, witTi a thick edge, chefnut-brown, of an irregularly 

 orbicular fliape, about three inches in diameter, containing 

 one large feed; which, when beaten in a mortar with puri- 

 fied pork lard, is ufed to cure tetters or ring-worms, whence 

 the inhabitants of Guiana call this feed Graine a dartres. 

 The tree grows by river fides in that country. Aublet. 



ACQUAC KNACK. Add, containing 2023 inhabit- 

 ants. " ^ 



ACRE, col. 3, 1. 29. The tobacco of Acre is highly 

 efteemed ; and coarfe muflins, remarkable for the durability 

 of their dye, are fold at a low rate. The inhabitants make 

 ufe of wooden tubes for their tobacco-pipes, garniflied with 

 a fwathing of filk, or linen, for the purpofe of abforbing 

 water. This being kept ipoift, cools the fmoke, as it rifes, by 

 the conftant evaporation. A modern traveller, in the account 

 of his Journey from Acre to mount Carmel, mentions the 

 exportation to Venice of the fand of the river Belus for the 

 glafs-houfes of that city. (See Glass.) At Acre there 

 are the remains of an ancient church, with pointed arches, 

 other inftances of which, demonftrating the exiftence of the 

 Gothic architedure, occur in the Holy Land. 



ACROSTICHUM, in Botany, z Linnsean name, whofe 

 meaning therefore is to be fought in the obfcure hints left 

 by its author. He derives the word in Phil. Bot. 183, from 

 csKfo-, top, and r»X'>> "" order or row, but its appUcation has 

 been thought rather difficult. We agree with De Theis, 

 that ccK^orix°' literally means the beginning, or the firft let- 

 ters, words, or lines, of a fet of verfes ; but we cannot aftent 

 to his explanation, of its being given to thefe plants " becaufe 

 feveral of them bear, on the back of the leaf, lines refembling 

 the beginnings of words ;" there being in faft no fuch thing, 

 nor has Linnajus defcribed any fimilar marks. It feems 

 natural to trace his ideas in the appearance of the moft 

 remarkable of the original fpecies, four of which are deli- 

 neated in Amoen. Acad. v. I. /. 10, and in two or three of 

 thefe, the rows of linear appendages, or leaflets, at the top of 

 the frond, fufficiently explain the meaning of L.inna:us. 

 Thefe fpecies indeed are now removed from the eftablifhed 

 genus of Acrqflichum, which has undergone much alteration 

 fince its firft publication, and the view of its fpecies already 

 given, (fee AcROSTlCHUM,) requires to be totally reformed. 

 Many of them are removed to other genera, while a great 

 number of new ones have more than fupplied their places. 

 Willdenow, the lateft general writer on Filices, which make 

 the moft original and accurate part of his Species Plantarum, 

 defines fixty-two fpecies, under fix feftions, of which we 

 fliall take a general view, firft, as ufual, prefixing the generic 

 fynonyms and charafters. — Linn. Gen. 559. Schreb. 756. 

 WiUd. Sp. PI. V. 5. 100. Mart. Mill. Did. v. I. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. V. 5. 500. Sm. Mem. de I'Acad. de Turin, 

 V. 5. 147. Trafts 230. Prodr. Fl. Gric. Sibth. v. 2. 271. 

 Swartz Syn. Fil. 9. Ind. Occ. 1587. Spreng. Crypt. 

 Engl. ed. 84. t. 2. f. 18. Brown Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. I. 

 145. Purlh 658. Jufl". 15. Lamarck Did. v. i. 34. 

 Illuftr. t. 865 f. 4. — Clafs and order, Cryptogamia Filices. 

 Nat. Ord. Filices dorfiferiz ; fed. annulata. 



Gen. Ch. Capfules globular, of two equal valves, bound 

 by a jointed elaftic ring, and difpofed in broad, continued, 

 indeterminate, denfe maffes, more or lefs intermixed with 

 hairs, or fine fcales, over the back of the frond ; either en- 

 tirely, or partially at the upper part of tlie whole, or of its 

 fegments or leaflets, which are often contradcd, or otherwife 

 changed, in their frudifying portions. Invoiucrum entirely 

 wanting, (unlefs the above-mentioned hairs, or fcales, be 

 taken for fuch.) 



Eft. Cfe. Capfules occupying the back of the frond, in 

 I j 2 uninterrupted 



