of a hundred species, which are more or 

 less distributed over all tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions, attaining their maximum, 

 however, in S. America. A goodly number 

 are annual, but the great mass perennial 

 shrubby plants, having much the appear- 

 ance of nettles, and readily known in the 

 family from their nettle-like leaves and 

 the disposition of their flowers, which, 

 usually of a green or reddish colour, and 

 inconspicuotts, are disposed generally in 

 erect or drooping bracted spikes, which 

 arise singly from the axils of the leaves 

 or the end of the shoot, and vary in length 

 from an inch to a foot, the upper portion 

 of the spike bearing sterile, the lower fer- 

 tile flowers, or the entire spike devoted 

 to the one or the other. The sterile have a 

 calyx of four triangular lobes, enclosing 

 eight to sixteen stamens, whose curious 

 flexuose anther cells are quite distinct from 

 each other, and stand out nearly at right 

 angles to their stalk. The fertile flowers 

 have a calyx of three to five divisions, and 

 a three-branched style, the branches deeply 

 ramifying, crowning a three-lo'oed ovary, 

 which, when ripe, is a three-celled and 

 three-sided capsule of the size of a small pea. 

 The Stringwood of St. Helena (A. rubra) 

 is interesting as being one of a com- 

 paratively small number of plants now 

 known to be extinct. It formed a beau- 

 tiful small tree, and got its name of string- 

 wood from the long spikes of reddish- 

 coloured sterile flowers which hung in 

 great profusion from the twigs. A. iudica, 

 an annual Indian weed, one to two feet 

 high, with nettle-like leaves, and flower- 

 spikes having toothed leafy bracts, has, ac- 

 cording to Nimmo, roots which attract 

 cats quite as much as do those of Valerian. 

 This plant is the Cupameni of Rheede, who 

 says the root bruised in hot water is ca- 

 thartic, and a decoction of the leaves laxa- 

 tive. [A. A. BJ 



ACAMPE. Under this genus Lindley col- 

 lects a few Indian and Chinese epiphytal or- 

 chids, formerly referred to Vanda, from j 

 which they differ in having small brittle I 

 flowers with a lip adnate to the edges of J 

 the column. They are of no interest except \ 

 to botanists. The handsomest is Acampe 

 (formerly Vanda) longifolia, a fine-looking 

 species with small yellow flowers, occasion- 

 ally met with in gardens. 



ACANTHACE.E (Acanthads). An order 

 of monopetalous exogens, nearly related to 

 scrophulariads.and for the most part tropi- 

 cal. In such regions they are extremely 

 common, constituting a large part of the 

 herbage. Nevertheless the genus Acanthus 

 is found in Greece, and one species inhabits 

 the United States. In a majority of cases ] 

 Acanthacece are to be recognised by the j 

 presence of large leafy bracts, in the axils 

 of which the flowers are partly concealed, 

 and also by their calyx being composed of 

 deeply imbricated sepals forming a broken 

 whorl. But their most exact difference 

 from other Orders of the' Bignonal Alliance 

 consists in the singular structure of their 

 placenta, which expands into hard pro- 



cesses, which are most commonly hooked. 

 In the form of their embryo they agree 

 with bignoniads. They are of little impor- 

 tance to man. The greater part are mere 

 weeds, but some are plants of great beauty, 

 especially the species of Justicia, ApheUni- 

 dra, and Ruellia. For the most part they 

 are mucilaginous and slightly bitter ; occa- 

 sionally the bitterness increases, and they 

 become pectoral medicines ; some are dyers' 

 plants. The genuine acanths, formerly 

 called Brancursines, are emollients, as 



Acanthus spinosus leaves growing round a pot ; 

 whence, as is said, the idea was derived of the 

 Corinthian capital in Architecture. 



also is Anisotes trisulcus, an Egyptian 

 plant. About 1500 species are mentioned 

 in books. 



ACANTHE D'ALLEMAGNE. (Pr.) He- 

 racleum Sphondylium. 



ACANTHODIUM. A genus of acantha- 

 ceous plants, distinguished by Delile from 

 the genus Acanthus by reason of its two- 

 celled pod, each cell of which contains one 

 compressed seed, the radicle or young root 

 of which is placed near the scar of the seed, 

 or that part where it is attached to the pod, 

 whereas in Acanthus the rootlet is placed 

 at a distance from the scar. The only 

 species, A. spicatum, is a native of Egypt. 

 It is provided with a very short stem, from 

 which proceed three or four spikes of 

 flowers, each provided with very spiny 

 bracts. [M.T.M.] 



ACANTHOGLOSSUM. An epiphytal or- 

 chid from Java, now merged in Pholidota. 



ACANTHOLIMON. A genus of Pluviba- 

 ginacece containing about forty species, 

 most of which are natives of Persia, Asia 

 Minor, and Greece. The technical characters 

 are the union of the five styles at the base, 

 and the capitate stigmas; but they are 

 readily distinguished from their allies by 

 their rigid, sharp-pointed leaves, which re- 

 semble those of juniper. . The stems are 

 very' short, and much branched, so that 

 the plants form dense prickly cushions on 

 the rocks on which they grow ; the flower- 

 stalks are simple or forked ; the spikelets in 



