ASP 



Tode in Schrift. tier BeH. Gefellfch, Naturf. Fr, v. ^. 247. 

 t. 4. f. 4 — 6.) — Found in autumn, either at the extremities 

 of the branches, or on the trunks, of trees, fuch as Wil- 

 lows, &:c. It may be preferved a long time without decaying, 

 or even Ihrinking. Tode defcribcs the head as at firft like a 

 drop of water, but foon afTuming an oval figure, (hining 

 like filver, and fubfequently befprinkled with fnow-white 

 powder, probably the feeds. This betrays fome afGnity 

 to Stjlbom ; fee that article. 



ASCIDIA, 1. u[t., dele which fee refpeftively, and infert, 

 See Vermes. 



ASCONIUS,!. i,r.Pedianus;1.3,4,rff//-Quinailianand. 



ASH, in Geography, a county of North Carolina, con- 

 taining 6^94 inhabitants, 147 being flaves. 



ASHARIANS. See Ascharians. 



ASHBURNHAM, 1. 4, r. 1036. 



ASHBY, 1. 3, r. 1103. 



ASHFIELb,!. 4, r. 1809. 



ASHFORD, a townlhip of America, &c. add — The 

 number of inhabitants by the cenfus in 1810 is 2532. 



AsHFORD, New, SiC. for 460 r. 411. 



ASHTABELU, a townlhip of the county of Georgia, 

 in the diftrift of Ohio, having 221 inhabitants. 



ASHTON, a townlhip of Pennfylvania, in the county of 

 Delaware, having 765 inhabitants. 



ASIA, coL 24, 1. 31, after height, infert — but by late 

 difcoveries and meafurements, their altitude has been found 

 to be much more confiderable than geographers formerly 

 apprehended and flated. See Mountains. 



ASILUS, 1. 16, de/e which fee refpeftively. 



ASIMINA, in Botany, a barbarous name, employed by 

 Adanfon, and, according to him, of Canadian origin. De 

 CandoUe, by his adoption, SyJI. v. I. 478, might poffibly 

 render it claffical, there being no objeiElion on tiie fcore of 

 euphony, nor any meaning contrary to reafon or fenie, as in 

 many other cafes of a fimilar kind. As far as we know, the 

 word is deftitute of all meaning whatever ; in which refpeft 

 Michaux's fynonym, Orchidocarpum, would be preferable, 

 were the idea it conveys unexceptionable, and the word not 

 compounded of another generic name. All things con- 

 lidered, we prefer Porcelia (fee that article hereafter) as 

 entirely free from objeflion ; for we cannot follow our dif- 

 tinguilhed friend, De Candolle, in feparating this laft-named 

 genus from his Afiitur.a. Our preceding articles Orchido- 

 CARFUM and Porceha are bow fuperfeded, in confequence 

 of more accurate information, chiefly fumiflied by De 

 Candolle. 



ASPARAGI, the 12th natural order in JufTieu's fyftem, 

 the fecond of his third clafs ; for the full chara£lers of which 

 clafs, fee PalmjE. 



Juffieu thus defines the Afparagi, which are nearly equiva- 

 lent, as we have already obferved, to the Linnsean Sarmen- 

 TACE,i:. See that article. 



Calyx in fix divifions, regular, ulually deeply divided and 

 inferior, rarely fuperior. Stamens fix, inferted into the lower 

 part, rarely into the middle, of the calyx. Germen fimple, 

 moftly fuperior ; ftyles either three, with as many ftigmas, 

 or the flyle is fimple, with a fimple or three-cleft ftigina. 

 Fruit pulpy, rarely capfular, fuperior, rarely inferior, of 

 three cells, with one, two, or not many more feeds in each. 

 Coreulum at the fear of the horny albumen. 



The Jlem is frequently herbaceous, in fome cafes flirubby. 

 Leaves mohly alternate, feldom oppofite or whorled, for the 

 moll part not fheathing, but merely clafping the ftem. 

 Floivers each with a feparate (heath ; in fome inflanccs, per- 

 haps from abortion, dioecious. A third part of the frufti- 



I 



ASP 



iication is fomelimes, in a few inftances, fupprelTed, or a 

 fourth is added. 



Seft. I. Fl'jiuers perfeS. Germen fuperior. 



Dracicna of Linnius ; Dianella of Lamarck ; Ripogonmn 

 of Forfter ; Flagellaria and Afparagus of Linnius ; Cal- 

 lixene and Philefia of Commerfon ; Medeola, Trdlium, Ports, 

 and Convallaria of Linnajus and others, conftitutc this 

 feftion. 



Seft. 2. Flowers dioecious. Germen fuperior. 



Rufcus, Smilax, and Diofeorea. 



Sett. 3. Flowers dioecious. Germen inferior. 



Tamus of Llniia;us, (which Juiiieu, following Tournefort, 

 calls Tamnus, ) and Rajania. 



Mr. Brown, Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. i, has greatly curtailed 

 this order, referring fome of its genera to the Jifphodeli or 

 Afphodelen, and eftablilhing out of it a new order, termed 

 Smilacex, compofed of Trillium, Paris, Medeola, (except its 

 Cape fpecies,) Convallaria, and Streptopus, with his own 

 Drymophila, Ripogonum of Forfter, and Smilax. The fame 

 author has alfo founded on the genera of Diofcorea and Raja- 

 nia another order called Diofcorea ; but furely Tc.mus, by his 

 own account, conncfts this with the Smilacex. 



ASPE, for Berne ;■. Beam ; and for Switzerland r. 

 France. 



ASPER, in Commerce. Subjoin — See Piastre. 



ASPERGILLUS, in Botany, a name firft applied by 

 Micheli, Nov. Gen. 212. t. 91, to a tribe of minute Fungi, 

 and expreffive of their refemblance to the form of a fprin- 

 kling-brufh, ufed for holy water in Catholic countries. 

 This tribe is now become a feftion of Perfoon's Monilia. 

 See that article. 



ASPERIFOLI^, the forty-firft of the natural orders 

 of Linnseus, is one of the moft natural of thefe affemblages. 

 It was firft pointed out by Csefalpinus, but obtained the 

 above name from Ray, in allufion to the roughnefs of the 

 foliage. To this charafter one or two fpecies of Cynogloffum 

 and of Pulmonaria alone afford exceptions ; which indeed 

 are but partial, for even in thefe fome briftly roughnefs is 

 almoft always to be difcovered, either on the furface or 

 margin. This order is analogous to Juffieu's Borraginee, 

 and is fo well defined that Linnaeus has, contrary to his 

 ufual praftice, given its charafters at fome length, as 

 follows. 



Roo! fibrous. Cotyledons two. Stem with alternate 

 round branches. Leaves alternate, fimple, for the moil 

 part nearly entire, rough with fcattered briftly hairs, or 

 callous warts ; convolute before they expand. Stipulat 

 wanting, as well as all other appendages in general. 

 Flowers unilateral ; their common ftalks, generally in pairs, 

 revolute in a fpiral manner, and gradually unrolled as the 

 flowers are ready to open. Calyx in five more or lefs deep 

 divifions. Corolla monopetalous, inferior, five-cleft, regular 

 except in Echium ; its mouth either clofed with vaulted 

 valves, or crowned with teeth, or naked and pervious. 

 Stamens five, equal, except in Echium. Fruit fuperior. 

 Germens four, except in fome fpecies of Cynogloffum, Tourne- 

 fortia, and Nolana, to which Cerinthe fhould be added ; but 

 Nolana was properly removed by Linmus afterwards to his 

 Luridte ; thefe are inferted into the receptacle by their bafe ; 

 hence the lower part of edch feed becomes tapering, as if 

 finifhed artificially. Pi/lil one ; ftylc not an elongation of 

 the germens, but funk between them in the centre, often 

 divided into two equal parts. Seeds four, rarely combined 

 into two. 



The gtnera ftand thus : 



Seft. I. Symphytum, Onofm.t, Cerinthe, Borago, Echium, 



Lycopjisy 



