ASP 



ASP 



Lycopfis, AJperugo, Pulmonaria, L'lthojptrmum, Cynnglojfum, 

 Anchufa, MyofoUs, and Heliotropium. 



Seft. 2. Tournefortia, Farronia, Ehretia, Cordia, and 

 Patagonula. 



Sett. 3. A^o/i?«(7, here placed by itfelf, is now removed. 

 In the Linnaean manufcript, Mefferfchmidta is introduced 

 between Echhim and Lycopfts ; Coldenia after Heliotropium; 

 Hydrophyllum and Ellifta after Tournefortia ; and Ehretia is 

 removed to the end of all. 



In the generic diilinftioiis of this order, the valves or 

 teeth of the corolla, and the more or lefs deep divifions of 

 the calyx, take the lead. Linnasus has been thought by fome 

 to have multiplied the genera beyond neceffity ; yet it is 

 hard to fay how they could naturally be abridged. The 

 plants love a dry hilly fituation, and become fmoother as 

 they approach nearer to water. 



The numerical anomaly in the fruftification of the Afperi- 

 foVm, of the four-cleft fruit, with a five-cleft flower, is one 

 of their ftriking charafters, in which they indeed agree with 

 the Linnsan Verticillatte, Juffieu's Lahiata ; but the irregu- 

 lar corolla, unequally -divided ftyle, oppofite leaves, and fquare 

 Jlems, of the latter, and efpecially their four Jlamens, two 

 longer and two fhorter, clearly diftinguifh them. Their 

 qualities alfo greatly differ, being aromatic, not mucilagi- 

 nous and fcentlefs. Their jloivers are generally red or 

 purple ; thofe of the Afpcrifolis of a beautiful blue, though 

 moftly of as beautiful a red before expanfion. 



ASPHODELI, the fixteenth natural order in Juffieu's 

 method, the fixth of his third clafs, thus denominated after 

 Afphodelus, one of its well-known genera. Mr. Brown, who 

 has greatly enriched this order with new genera, as well as 

 with removals from the Astaragi (fee that article), gives 

 it the appellation of Ajphodele^, Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i . 2 74. 

 The charafters of Juffieu's third clafs are detailed under 

 Palm*. He thus defines the Afphodeli. 



Calyx inferior, coloured, often in fix deep equal feg- 

 ments ; rarely tubular, with fix lefs deep divifions. Stamens 

 fix, inferted into the bottom or the middle of the calyx. 

 Germen fuperior, fimple ; ftyle fingle ; ftigma either fimple 

 or three-cleft. Capfule of three cells and three valves, with 

 many feeds. 



The root in a great portion of thefe plants is bulbous, 

 fending up a leaflefs flalh, and producing capillary fibres 

 from Its bafe downwards ; in the reft it is fibrous, bearing 

 a flem, for the moft part herbaceous. Leaves {heathing, 

 alternate, all generally radical. Spihe often fimple, ter- 

 minating the ftalk ; fometimes branched, with fcaly (heaths 

 under each branch. Flowers each accompanied by a ftieath, 

 or fpatha, fpiked, (in Allium umbellate,) terminal, or rarely 

 axillary. 



Seft. I. Flotvers fpiked. Root fibrous. Calyx tubular. 



Aletns and Aloe compofe this feftion. 



Seft. 2. Flowers fpiked. Root fbraus. Calyx in f.x 

 deep fegments, hearing the flamens at its bafe. 



Anthericum of Linnaeus, comprehended under Afphodelus 

 by Tournefort ; Phalangium of Tournefort, partly compre- 

 hended by Linnxus under Anthericum (and very improperly 

 named, as Phalangium is an eftabliftied genus of infefts) ; 

 with Afphodelus, of Tournefort and Linnaeus, conftitute 

 this feftion. 



Seft. 3. Flowers fpiked. Root bulbous. Calyx tubular 

 at the bafe. 



Baflxa of Juffieu, now univerfally called Eucomis ; Hya- 

 cinthus of Tournefort and Linnaeus, including Mufcari of 

 the former ; Phormium of Forfter ; and Maffonia of Thun- 

 berg. Laehenalia of Jacquin ought alfo, as Juffieu fufpefts, 



to be placed Iiere, being very diftinft from Phortniunt, 

 though once confounded with it. 



Seft. 4. Flowers fpiked. Root bulbous. Calyx in fix 

 deep fegments, bearing the flamens at their bafe. 



Cyanella, Albuca, Scilla, and Ornithogalum. 



Seft. 5. Flowers umbellate. Root bulbous. Calyx in fix 

 deep equal fegtnents. 



Allium is here the only genus. 



Mr. Brown declares, that he has in vain -fought to efta- 

 blifti a clear definition of this order, though a truly natural 

 aflemblage, whether confidefed as an order by itfelf, or as a 

 feftion of the Liliaceit. (See LiLiA.) He has not been 

 able to deteft any charafter common to all the plants, which 

 is not found in feveral of their near allies, except the black, 

 cruftaceous, brittle fkin of the feed, eafily feparable from 

 its very thin proper membranous integument. Hence Mr. 

 Brown has been led to place at the end of this family 

 Hypoxis and Curculigo, as having a fimilar flcin, though 

 their germen is inferior : and for the fame reafon he removes 

 Blandferdia from hence, not only on account of the hairy 

 integument of its feed, but alfo becaufe there is a difference 

 in the burfting of its capfule, to fay nothing of other parti- 

 culars. The fame author notices a joint at the middle or 

 fummit of the flower-ftalks, frequent in this family, and 

 fcarcely obfervable in the neighbouring orders, except in 

 Sanfeviera, and fome of the Com?nelina tribe. He is decided 

 againft feparating the pulpy-fruited genera from the reft, 

 either in this order, or the true Liliaceie. It is needlefs to 

 point out, that what Juffieu and Brown term calyx in all 

 thefe plants, is with Linnaeus and his fchool a corolla, and 

 bears the latter appellation in Hort. Kew. The New Hol- 

 land Afphodelee are thus arranged by Mr. Brown. Anthe- 

 ricum ; ArthropoSum, Br. ; Chlorophytum, Ker in Curt. 

 Mag. ; Ctefia, Tricoryne, and Stypandra, of Brown ; Dia- 

 nella, Lamarck ; Cordyline, Commerfon ; Afparagus ; 

 Eujlrephus, Br. ; Luzuriaga, Ruiz et Pavon Fl. Peruv. ; 

 Thyfanotus, Br. ; Soiirerbaa, Sm. ; Laxmannia, Br. ; Borya, 

 Labill. Nov. Holl. ; Johnfonia, Br. ; and Xanthorrhma, 

 Sm. To which are fubjoined genera intermediate between 

 the Afphodelem and Amaryllidete ; Hypoxis ; Curculigo, 

 Gaertn. ; and Campynema, LabiU. With Aflelia, inter- 

 mediate between Afphodeles and Juncete. 



ASPIDIUM, a genus of Filices (fee that article), 

 feparated from the Linnsean Polypodium, on account of its 

 being furnifhed with an involucrum, to each round dot, or 

 mafs, of capfules, aa-mSiov meaning a fmall fhield, which is 

 very deferiptive of the fhape of this iiivoiucrum. The pro- 

 priety of fubdividing the original Polypodium was doubtfully 

 hinted by the writer of this article, in his Eflay on the 

 Genera of Dorfiferous Ferns, and Dr. Swartz adopted this 

 meafure. Mr. Brown has carried it itill further, by found- 

 ing his genus Nephrodium ; fee that article and Poly- 

 podium. We need not here repeat our obfervations, already 

 made in thofe places. We fhall give a general view of 

 Afpidium, according to our ideas of this genus. — Swartz in 

 Schrad. Journ. for 1800. v. 2. 29. Syn. Fil. 42. Sm. 

 Fl. Brit. 1 1 18. Willd. Sp. PL V. 5. 211. Ait. Hort. 

 Kew. V. 5. 507. Brown Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 147. 

 Purfti 660. (Nephrodium; Michaux Boreal.-Amer. v. 2. 

 266. Brown Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 148.)— Clafs and 

 order, Cryptogamia Filices. Nat. Ord. Filices. 



Gen. Ch. Capfules annulated, numeroufly affembled in 

 roundifh maffes, fcattered over the back of the frond. Jn- 

 •volucrum roundifli or kidney-lhaped, with a lateral hnus, by 

 which it is attached to the frond, at length becoming um- 

 bilicated, and more or lefs orbicular. 



EfT. 



( 



