ALANGIACEiE (Alanqiads). A natural 

 order of plants inhabiting tropical Asia. 

 With the exception of the genus Nyssa, 

 which is found in the United States, all 

 are trees or shrubs with inconspicuous 

 flowers, structurally similar to those of 

 certain myrtles. Their fruit is succulent 

 and eatable, but not agreeable to European 

 tastes. The principal genera are Alaniiium 

 and Nyssa. Eight or nine species are all 

 that are known. 



ALANGIUM. A genus of Indian trees, 

 containing two, or perhaps three species, 

 and belonging to the natural order Alan- 

 giacece. The leaves are alternate, exstipu- 

 late, entire, and reticulated on the under 

 surface with transverse veins. The calyx 

 is campanulate, five to ten-toothed ; the 

 petals, equal in number to the segments of 

 the calyx, are linear and reflexed. The 

 stamens are twice or four times as many 

 as the petals, and have filaments which 

 are very hairy towards the base, and bear 

 adnate anthers. The ovary is coherent with 

 the tube of the calyx, and somewhat 

 crowned with its limb; it is one-celled, 

 with one pendulous ovule. The single 

 subulate style is expanded at the base into 

 a coloured thick fleshy disk, covering the 

 top of the ovary. The fruit, a fleshy one- 

 seeded drupe, is edible but not palatable, 

 being mucilaginous and insipid. The roots 

 are aromatic, and the timber good and beau- 

 tiful. Some of the branches occasionally 

 become spinescent. The Malays believe 

 the species of Alangium to have a purga- 

 tive hydragogic property. De Candolle 

 established the natural order Alavgieai on 

 this genus, separating it from Myrtacece 

 and other allied orders, because of its more 

 numerous petals, adnate anthers, and one- 

 celled fruit; and from Combretacece, on 

 account of its adnate anthers, albuminous 

 seeds, and flat cotyledons. [W. C] 



AL ARI A. A genus of dark-spored A Igce, 

 consisting of a vei'y few species, confined 

 to the colder regions of the North Atlantic 

 and Pacific. The frond is from three to 

 twenty feet long, of a membranous sub- 

 stance, but is furnished with a strong cen- 

 tral nerve or rib, and is frequently much 

 torn and split by the action of the waves ; it 

 is supported below by a short cylindrical 

 stem, from the sides of which finger- 

 shaped processes are given off, in whose 

 outer coat the spore cases are immersed, 

 supported on short peduncles, the con- 

 tents of which are ultimately divided into 

 four spores. We have a single species 

 only upon our own coasts, Alaria esculenta, 

 which is, however, well known by the 

 Scotch under the name of Badderlocks, 

 Henware, Honeyware, and Murlins, and is 

 the best of all the esculent Alga? when 

 eaten raw, the midrib and fruit-bearing 

 appendages being 1 the parts most in use. 

 The name of Badderlocks, which has puz- 

 zled etymologists, is clearly a corruption 

 of Ralderlocks, or the locks of Balder, a 

 Scandinavian deity to whom other plants 

 have been dedicated. [M. J. B.] 



ALASANDI or ARHAR. An Indian 

 name for a common Eastern pulse, Boli-. 

 chos Catjang. 



ALATE. Furnished with a thin wing or 

 expansion. 



ALATERNUS. The common garden 

 name of Rhamnus Alaternus, a well-known 

 evergreen shrub. 



ALBEPACTIO. A condition of plants 

 induced by absence of light, commonly 

 called Blanching, in which little or no 

 chlorophyll is formed, the peculiar secre- 

 tions are diminished, and the tissues are 

 tender and unnaturally drawn out ; and 

 thus plants, which in a state of health are 

 tough, unwholesome, and unfit for food, 

 become palatable and wholesome. If light 

 be restored, the plant may gradually re- 

 cover its tone, but if it is absent for any 

 great length of time death is sure to ensue. 

 Some succulent plants, and those which 

 have tubers,will sometimes survive the first 

 season, but in general the confinement of 

 a few months at the time of active growth 

 is fatal. Flowers, when bleached, as of the 

 phyllanthoid Cacti, sometimes recover their 

 colour when exposed to light, but lilacs 

 which are blanched for ornamental pur- 

 poses remain white, though their leaves ac- 

 quire a yellowish-green tinge. [M. J. B.] 



ALBERTINIA. A genus of the com- 

 posite family, containing about a dozen 

 species. They are shrubs or small trees, 

 with alternate, stalked, entire leaves atte- 

 nuated at both ends, and either covered 

 with short white hairs, or entirely smooth. 

 Their flower-heads are arranged in compact 

 globular bunches at the ends of the 

 branches, each head containing from one 

 to three florets. The hairs of the pappus 

 are filiform, arranged in two or many series, 

 and often rose-coloured. All of them are 

 natives of Brazil. Their uses, if any, are 

 not known. [A. A. B.] 



ALBIZZIA. A genus of the leguminous 

 family, related to Acacia. The name Be- 

 senna was given by M. Richard to an 

 Abyssinian tree, of which the flowers and 

 fruits were unknown to him. Since then 

 the plant has been found in flower, and 

 proves to be a species of Albizzia. This 

 plant, the Albizzia anthelmintica, is a small 

 tree, with bipinnate leaves made up of one 

 or two pinnae, each of which bears three or 

 four pairs of obovate, unequal-sided leaf- 

 lets, about an inch long and half an inch 

 broad. The flowers are in axillary stalked 

 heads. The Abyssinian name of the plant 

 is Besenna or Mesenna, and its bark is 

 much used in that country in the treat- 

 ment of tapeworm (Tcenia solium), a pest 

 to which the Abyssinians are much subject 

 from their eating raw meat. [A. A. B.] 



ALBITCA. A genus of African Liliacece, 

 chiefly from the Cape of Good Hope, closely 

 resembling Ornithogalum, but having the 

 three inner segments of the perianth 

 closed over the stamens, while the three 

 outer ones are spreading; three of the 



