31 



Cfje Crca^urp at 23ctang. 



[aigr 



was given by the earlier botanists to a 

 very different family, of which our com- 

 mon woodland plant, the wild Hyacinth or 

 Blue-bell, was one. This, presenting no 

 tracing of letters on its petals, even to the 

 most imaginative eye, was named by Liu- 

 nceus -ST. non-scriptus, or uninscribed Hya- 

 cinth. It has now been removed by Link 

 into a distinct genus and named Agra- 

 phis, a Greek compound bearing the same 

 meaning as non-scriptus. The wild Hya- 

 cinth, as it continues to be popularly called, 

 is a liliaceous plant common in woods, 

 and too well known to need any descrip- 

 tion. The blue-bell of Scotland, the hare- 

 bell in poetry, is a totally different plant, 

 Campanula rotundifolia. [C. A. J.] 



AGRIMONIA. A family of herbaceous 

 perennial plants with yellow flowers, be- 

 longing to the natural order Rosacea', 

 among which they are distinguished by 

 bearing their enclosed seeds in the hard- 

 ened calyx, which is furnished on the 

 outside with a circle of hooked bristles. 

 The British representative of the genus, 

 A. Eupatoria, is a common way-side plant, 

 with interruptedly pinnate leaves, a scarce- 

 ly branched stem about a foot and a half 

 high, and an elongated spike of starry 

 yellow flowers. When in fruit the calyx 

 becomes inverted. The foliage is astrin- 

 gent and aromatic, and is an ingredient in 

 several ' herb teas.' Its medicinal virtues, 

 though far inferior to what they were 

 anciently supposed to be, have retained for 

 it a place in the repertory of herb col- 

 lectors, who recommend it as tonic and 

 astringent. It contains tannin, and will 

 dye wool of a nankeen colour. A Cana- 

 dian species is said to be used with success 

 as a febrifuge. [C. A. J.] 



AGRIMONY. Agrimonia. — .HEMP. 

 Ei'imtnrhim cannabinum. — , WATER 

 HEMP. An old English name for Bidens 

 cernua and B. tripartita. 



AGPJOPHYLLUM. A small genus of 

 Salsolacea, containing two species, na- 

 tives of Caucasian Siberia. They are an- 

 nual plants, with alternate, sessile, entire 

 leaves, and sessile axillarv flowers in 

 short squarrose spikes. The" calyx, when 

 present, consists of a single membra- 

 naceous sepal. There are three to five 

 stamens, and two filiform styles. The 

 fruit is a vescicular compressed capsule 

 [W. C] 



AGRIPAUME. (Fr.) Leonurus Car- 

 diaca. 



AGROSTEMMA. A genus of Caryo- 

 phyllacem, of the tribe Silenece, founded 

 by Linnseus, but now generally regarded as 

 a section of the genus Lychnis, from which 

 it only differs in the elongated segments of 

 the calyx limb, in the petals being without 

 a prominent scale at the base of the ex- 

 panded portion, and in the capsule opening 

 by valves alternate with and not opposite to 

 the calyx segments. Lychnis (Agrostemma) 

 (rithago, the well-known weed Corn Cockle, 



with large, entire, purple petals, is the 

 only species belonging to the section as it 

 is now limited ; the rest of the Linnean 

 species being referred to the section Coro- 

 naria. [j. t. S.j 



AGROSTIS. A genus of grasses, typical 

 of the tribe Agrostidea?, and known by the 

 English name of Bent grasses. The prin- 

 cipal characters, which serve to distinguish 

 this genus from its allies, are the flowers 

 being single within the calyx glumes, and 

 having short hairs at their base, and 

 the upper glume being smaller than the 

 lower. The species are numerous, no fewer 

 than 171 being described in SteudeVs Synop- 

 sis Plantarum Graminearum, and their 

 range over the surface of the globe is 

 also very extensive. The Falkland Islands, 

 Kootka Sound, and Tasmania may be qui ited 

 as some of the outlying stations for the 

 species of Agrostis. In the British Isles, 

 the Bent grasses are of general currence 

 on all damp pastures, as well as on dry 

 waste ground. The Marsh Bent, Agrostis 

 alba, is the once famous Fiorin grass of the 

 late Dr. Richardson, who, by his writings 

 on the subject, brought it prominently be- 

 fore the agricultural public, and caused it 

 to be cultivated on a rather extensive 

 scale, particularly in Ireland. It has not, 

 however, been found to realise the expec- 

 tations held concerning its worth, and, 

 consequently, is not extensively grown at 

 the present time. It is remarkable for hav- 

 ing the long stems lying prostrate on the 

 surface of the ground, and throwing out 

 roots at their nodes or joints, by which 

 means they frequently extend four feet or 

 more from the main root of the plant with- 

 out flowering. The Dog Bent, Agrostis 

 cannia, is the grass which sick dogs, and 

 even cats, sometimes chew, for the pur- 

 pose, it is supposed, of causing them to 

 vomit. This species wants the inner glume 

 or pale to the flower. Agrostis pulchelh: a 

 native of Quito, is cultivated in gardens, 

 for the beauty of its elegant panicles of 

 flowers, which, on being cut before they 

 are fully ripe, remain a long time in a dry 

 state, without much alteration in their ap- 

 pearance. Some of the foreign species of 

 this genus are valuable as pasture grasses 

 in the parts of the world where thev ltow 

 spontaneously. [D. M.] 



AGROSTOPHYLLTJM. A genus of Java 

 Orchids with fleshy stems, narrow leave* 

 and small flowers packed closely into ter- 

 minal heads. Two or three unimportant 

 species are known to botanists. 



AGUILBOQUIL. A Chilian name for 

 the berries of Lardizabala biternata. 



AIAULT. (Fr.) Narcissus Pseudo-Nar- 

 cissus. 



AIGLANTINE. (Fr.) Aquilegia vulgar 



AIGLE-IMPERIAL. (Fr.) Pteris aqui- 

 Una. 



AIGRELIER. (Fr.) Pyrus tormindlis. 



