38 



t£f)£ CrcaSurg of 28ntan». 



[AX AM 



A. prcecox, are small elegant grasses, 

 which flower in spring and the early part of 

 summer, neither of them of much value as 

 agricultural grasses, being only of annual 

 duration, and loving to grow on dry bar- 

 ren sandy spots which produce little else 

 besides them. [D. M.] 



AITONTA. This name is applied to cer- 

 tain plants (usually referred, but with some 

 doubt, to the family of Meliacece,) in honour 

 of Mr. Aiton, the former superintendent 

 of Kew Gardens. The calyx is deeply 

 divided into four divisions ; the petals are 

 four; the stamens eight, projecting from 

 the corolla, their filaments united into a I 

 tube arising from beneath the ovary, ) 

 which latter is surmounted by a thread- 

 shaped style, terminated by an obtuse 

 stigma. The fruit is membranous and 

 triangular, of one cell, with several seeds 

 attached to a central receptacle. A. ca- i 

 pcn?>? is a small shrub sometimes culti- ; 

 yated in this country. [M. T. M.] 



AIZOON. A genus of plants referred by \ 

 Endlicher to Portulacece, but separated 

 from that order by Lindley on account of 

 their want of petals and the small number 

 of stamens, and formed, with some allied 

 genera, into a distinct order, Tetragoniacece. ! 

 The calyx is five-partite, and coloured on 

 the inner surface. The stamens, about i 

 twenty in number, are inserted singly or j 

 in from three to five bundles in the base of 

 the calyx. There are five subclavate stig- i 

 mas ; the ovary has five cells, each con- 

 taining from two to ten ovules. The 

 genus contains more than twenty species 

 of prostrate herbaceous plants, very abun- 

 dant in Southern Africa, and found spar- 

 ingly also in Southern Europe, Northern 

 Africa, and Arabia. The ashes of A. can- 

 ariense and A. hispanicum abound in soda. 

 [W. C] | 



AJAX. A subdivision of the genus Nar- ! 

 cissus, including the common Daffodil, and i 

 other species having a long trumpet-shaped 

 coronet to the flowers. [T. M.] 



AJONC, or AJONC MARIN. (Fr.) Ulex 

 europceus. 



AJOWAINS. The carminative fruits of 

 some Indian species of Ptychotis. Also 

 called Ajicains. 



AJTTGA. A genus of plants belonging to 

 the labiate family, presenting nothing re- 

 markable in appearance, nor possessing 

 any properties which render it valua- 

 ble. The species are all herbaceous, and 

 the majority are annuals. The flowers 

 either grow in whorls of six or more, or 

 singly in the axils of the opposite leaves : 

 sometimes contracted so as to resemble a 

 spike, in other species more loosely, but 

 in all casei accompanied by leaves or leaf- 

 like bracts. Several species are furnished 

 with stolons or runners. Of the four 

 British species, the commonest is A. 

 reptens (common Bugle), a woodland and 

 hedge-side plant, rendered noticeable by 

 the dull purple tinge of its upper leaves 



and bracts. A section of the family, named 

 Ground Pines, is represented in Britain by 

 A. Chamcepitys, a tufted spreading herb 

 with three-cleft, very narrow hairy leaves, 

 and yellow flowers dotted with red. Bugle 

 was formerly held in high esteem for its 

 vulnerary properties. 'Ruellius writeth 

 that they commonly said in France, howe 

 he needeth neither phisician nor surgeon 

 that hath Bugle and Sanickle, for it doth 

 not onely cure woundes, being inwardly 

 taken, but also applied to them outwardly.' 

 —Gerarde. Other medical virtues assigned 

 to the Bugle have as little foundation, in 

 fact, as the above. [C. A. JJ 



AKEBIA. A small genus of Lardiza- 

 baktcece, distinguished by having separate 

 male and female flowers ; the former con- 

 sisting of a three-leaved calyx of ovate- 

 lanceolate, concave, nearly equal segments, 

 six subequal free stamens in two rows, and 

 the rudiments of six ovaries ; the latter 

 formed of three large roundish concave 

 sepals, six to nine dwarfed abortive sta- 

 mens, and from three to nine distinct ob- 

 long-cylindraceous ovaries, crowned by a 

 short peltate stigma. The species are climb- 

 ing plants of Japan and China, commonly 

 cultivated in gardens, and also forming 

 welcome half-hardy climbers in those of 

 our own country. One of them, A. quinuta, 

 has its freely running stems furnished with 

 very pretty leaves, consisting of three to 

 five ovate or obovate entire obtuse emargi- 

 nate leaflets ; and from the axils of these 

 leaves grow the racemes of dull-coloured 

 fragrant flowers, of which the upper are 

 smaller and sterile, the lower larger and 

 fertile. Mr. Fortune found this plant in 

 Chusan, growing on the lower sides of the 

 hills in hedges ; when climbing on other 

 trees, its branches hung down in grace- 

 ful festoons, attractiug attention by the 

 delightful fragrance of their flowers, the 

 colour of which, a dark purplish brown, is 

 not particularly showy. [T. M.] 



AKA. The New Zealand MetrosideroB 

 scandens. 



AKEE TREE. Blighia (or Cupania) sa- 

 ■pida. 



AKHROUT, INDIAN. Aleurites triloba. 



AKRA. The name, in India, of the fodder 

 Vetch, Yicia sativa. 



AKUND. The Calotropis gigantea of 

 India. 



ALA. One of the lateral petals of a 

 papilionaceous flower. Also a membranous 

 expansion of any kind ; as that round the 

 seed of a bignoniad, from the summit or 

 side of a seed-vessel, or on the angles of a 

 stem. Formerly, the axil, but not now em- 

 ployed in that sense. The word is generally 

 used in the plural form, alas. 



ALABASTRUS. A flower-bud. 



AL AM AN I A punicea. A little creep- 

 ing Mexican orchid, scarcely distinct from 

 Epidendrum. It has crimson flowers, with 

 a small bar across the lip. 



