THE TREASURY OF BOTANY. 



AARON'S BEARD. Hypericum calyci- 

 nur.i. 



ABACA. A name given in the Philippine 

 Islands to Musa textilis, which yields Ma- 

 nilla hemp. 



ABACOPTERIS. A name given by Fee 

 to a croup of the species of Nephrodmm, in 

 which the veins of the fronds are united in 

 numerous superposed angles. [T. M.] 



ABATIA. A small genus of Lythracece, 

 consisting of Peruvian and Brazilian 

 shrubs with greyish tomentum ; opposite, 

 shortly stalked, undivided crenate-serrate 

 leaves, and terminal racemes of rather 

 small, dull purplish, apetalous flowers, with 

 numerous stamens. [J. T. S.] 



ABBREVIATIONS. Signs to express 

 particular attributes arc largely employed 

 by botanists. The following are those most 

 in use : 

 J = ma!e. 

 9 = female. 



g = hermaphrodite, or bisexual. 

 g . g - Q = polygamous. 

 $ 9 = dioecious. 

 ,^-Q = monoecious. 

 $ - g - 9 = trioecious. 

 (X or O = annual. 

 (§;. or $ = biennial. 

 % = perennial. 

 1? = a tree or shrub. 

 00 = an indefinite and considerable num- 

 ber of anything. 

 ! placed after a person's name, indicates 

 that an authentic specimen from that 

 person has been seen. 

 * at the end of a citation, denotes that a 

 plant is fully described in the place 

 referred to. 

 v.v. = seen alive. 

 v.s. = seen in a dried state. 

 v.c. = seen cultivated. 

 v.sp. = seen wild. 



'" '" When these signs are placed after a 

 number, they express a foot, an inch, 

 or a line respectively ; thus, 

 5'= 5 feet. 

 5"= 5 inches. 

 5'"= 5 lines. 

 A very full account of all such signs is 

 given in Lindley's Introduction to Botany, 

 ed. 4, ii. 384. 



ABELE TREE. Populus alba. 



ABELIA. A small genus of ornamental 

 shrubs, found in India, China, Japan, and 

 Mexico, and belonging to the natural order 

 Caprifoliacece. The species are of slender 

 branching habit, bearing opposite leaves 

 and terminal bunches of showy tubular 

 flowers. The genus is distinguished by 

 having an oblong calyx-tube, which is 

 connate with the ovary, and terminated by 

 a live-parted limb of foliaceous segments ; 

 a tubular funnel-shaped corolla, with a flve- 

 lobed spreading limb ; four subdidynamous 

 or nearly equal scarcely exserted stamens ; 

 a capitate stigma ; and a three-celled ovary, 

 of which two of the cells are many-ovuled, 

 but abortive, and the other one-seeded 

 and fertile, becoming a coriaceous berry. 

 A. floribunda, which is a native of Mexico, 

 is a very handsome freely-branching shrub, 

 naturally rather straggling in habit, pro- 

 ducing opposite, blunt, ovate, crenate 

 leaves, which are smooth on the surface, 

 and having large showy blossoms, which 

 come from the axils of the leaves, at the 

 ends of branches, so as to form a pendent 

 leafy panicle. These flowers are a couple 

 of inches in length, rich purple-red, tubular, 

 the tube narrowing at the base and enlarg- 

 ing upwards, and Anally spreading out into 

 a limb of live nearly equal rounded lobes. 

 .4. rwpestris, a native of China, on the 

 Chamoo hills, has shorter tubular flowers, 

 of a pale rose colour, and forms a lovely 

 dwarf bush, loaded towards autumn with 

 its ornamental blossoms. The few known 

 species are rather objects of ornament than 

 of utility. [T.M.] 



ABELICEA. A genus of Ulmacem, con- 

 taining a single species from Greece and 

 Eastern Asia. It is so nearly related to 

 Planera that it would perhaps be better to 

 consider it as a section of that genus, sepa- 

 rated from the true Planerm by its smooth 

 capsule and subsessile leaves. Both have 

 alternate, ovate, crenate-serrate leaves, like 

 the elm. The flowers are hermaphrodite, or 

 polygamous from the non-development of 

 parts. They occur in axillary fasciculate 

 clusters, the inferior flowers of the fascicle 

 being stamina!, the superior hermaphrodite 

 or rarely pistilline. There are four or five 

 stamens. The ovoid ovary is one-celled and 

 one-ovuled, and crowned with two spread- 

 ing styles, which are stigmatose down the 

 inner side. [W.C.] 



ABELMOSCHUS. The name applied to 

 a genus of plants of the mallow family 



