AD HA] 



&fje Ereagurjj at 23atang. 



20 



the surface, and sometimes beset with 

 leathery bristles. One of the species, A. 

 aphylla, has its leaves reduced to mere 

 scales; and in another, A. trifoliata, they 

 are not unlike those of the common wood 

 sorrel. A. balsamifera, a Chilian species 

 called Jarilla, is a plant of great beauty 

 when in flower ; it yields a balsam which 

 has a very pleasant odour, perceptible at 

 a great distance. This balsam is said to be 

 ol great efficacy in healing wounds. A few 

 of the species have their abortive flower- 

 stalks converted into forked spines. There 

 are upwards of fifty species. [A. A. B.] 



ADHATODA. A genus of acanthaceous 

 plants, consisting of herbs or shrubs with 

 opposite leaves, and axillary spikes of 

 flowers, each flower furnished with three 

 bracts, the outer one of which is large and 

 persistent, covering the calyx ; the two 

 inner ones smaller. The calyx is five- 

 parted ; the corolla two-lipped ; the four 

 stamens are inserted on the throat ol the 

 corolla ; the anthers are two-celled, with a 

 large connective.the lobes unequal, and the 

 inferior ones often spurred ; the filaments 

 compressed, bent downwards ; the style 

 thread-shaped, bent downwards ; and the 

 capsule stalked, two-celled, four-seeded, 

 bursting by two valves. A. vasica, the 

 Justicia Adhatoda of Linnaeus, is a common 

 plant in India ; its wood is soft, and its 

 charcoal is excellent lor the manulacture 

 ol gunpowder. The flowers, leaves, root, 

 and especially the Iruit, are considered as 

 anti-spasmodic, and are given in cases ol 

 asthma and intermittent lever, The word 

 Adhatoda is a latinised lorni ol the native 

 Malabar or Cingalese name. [M. T. MJ 



ADIANTE.E. A section of polypodia- 

 ccous ferns, in which the receptacles to 

 which the spore-cases are attached, are 

 placed on the under surface of the indu- 

 sium itself, so that the fructification is, as 

 it were, upside down, and is hence said to 

 be resupinate. [T. M.] 



ADIANTOPSIS. A small genus ol ele- 

 gant polypodiaceous lems, ol the section 

 Cheilanthece, distinguished partly by their 

 adiantoid aspect, but technically by having 

 marginal punctiform sori terminal on the 

 free veins, and covered by distinct orbi- 

 cular indusia. The plants bear generally 

 tulted stems, and small elegantly-divided 

 fronds. The species are found in South 

 America, the West Indies, and Africa. A. 

 radiata, one ol the best known ol them, 

 common in the West Indies and South 

 America, grows about a loot high, Irom a 

 tufted crown, the stipites shining black, 

 and the fronds spreading out at top of the 

 stipites into a radiate tuft ol pinnate 

 branches. The species are olten seen in 

 cultivation, on account of their small size 

 and elegant character. [T. M.j 



ADIANTUM. An extensive and much 

 admired genus ol polypodiaceous lerus, 

 typical ol the group Adiantece. The spe- 

 cies are scattered nearly over the whole 

 world, but are most abundant in tropical 



countries. They have all black shining 

 stipites.and mostly roundish or rhomboidal 

 or lunately-curved pinnules, the fronds 

 being very various in size and general 

 character. The structure is very peculiar, 

 unlike that ol any other lerns. The sori 

 are marginal, covered by indusia, which 

 are either roundish and distinct, or be- 

 come blended into a linear form, these 

 two conditions respectively resembling the 

 Iructification seen in Cheilanthes and Pteris; 

 but it is resemblance only, the Iructifica- 

 tion (spore-cases) being in the latter genera 

 seated on the Irond itself, and covered by 

 the indusium, while in Adiantum they 

 are not attached to the Irond, but to the 

 under side ol the indusium, and are there- 

 lore turned upside down on to the surface 

 ol the Irond. This structural peculiarity 

 distinguishes Adiantum Irom all otherferns 

 except Hewardia, which is known by hav- 

 ing a reticulated venation, that of Adian- 

 tum being free. The genus is represented 

 in the British Flora, by A. Capillus-veneris, 

 the Maidenhair Fern, a very elegant plant, 

 with a creeping scaly rhizome, and bipin- 

 nate fronds, the leaflets of which are be- 

 tween rhomboidal and wedge-shaped, mar- 

 gined with oblong sori, and more or less 

 deeply lobed. This species is very exten- 

 sively distributed in the temperate or 

 tropical parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and 

 America, and not very materially varying 

 in form, notwithstanding this wide range. 

 Some species, as the A. reniforme ol Ma- 

 deira, have entire Ironds ; in others, as the 

 A. lunulatum of India, they are pinnate ; not 

 a few species are, like our native one, 

 bipinnate ; and numerous others are tri- 

 pinnate, or still more divided. A. pedatum, 

 a very beautiful North American species, 

 which has the fronds pedate, the divisions 

 pinnate, and the pinnules halved oblong 

 and lunate, incised along the upper edge ; 

 it is sometimes used in the preparation of 

 capillaire. The species are great favourites 

 in hothouses. [T. M.] 



ADLUMIA. A climbing genus of fume- 

 worts, consisting only of the A. cirrhosa, a 

 pretty North American biennial, formerly 

 known as Corydalis fungosa. It is distin- 

 guished from the other genera of the 

 Order by the permanent cohesion of its 

 four spongy petals into one piece, and by a 

 many-seeded pod, splitting, when ripe, into 

 two valves. Its chief attraction consists 

 in its delicate pale green triply pinnate 

 foliage, the twining footstalks of which 

 act as tendrils ; the small flesh-coloured 

 blossoms are Ireely produced, but possess 

 little beauty. The plant neither climbs 

 nor flowers till the second year. [W. T.] 



ADNATE. Grown to anything by the 

 whole surface ; when an ovary is united to 

 the side ol a calyx it is adnate. 



ADONIS. A small genus ol ranuncu- 

 lads, mostly European, comprising several 

 popular border flowers, both annual and 

 perennial. It is characterised by the 

 absence ol an involucre, a calyx ol five 

 sepals, a corolla ol Irom five to fifteen 



