35 



CIjc Crnuauri? at 33fltanp. 



[alet 



ALDER. The common name for A Inus. 

 — , BERRY-BEARING. Rhamnus Fran- 

 gula. — , BLACK. An old English name 

 for Rhamnus Frangida; also applied in 

 America to Prinos verticillatus. — , RED. 

 A name given at the Cape of Good Hope to 

 Cunvnia capensis: — , WHITE. A name 

 given to Platylophus trifoliatus in South 

 Africa; also to Clethra alnifolia in North 

 America. 



ALDROVANDA. A genus of Brose- 

 racece, containing a single species found in 

 Southern Europe, growing in still water. 

 This plant, A. vesiculosa, is remarkable 

 for its curious leaves, which are in whorl? 

 of six to nine; they are pellucid, and 

 inflated at the extremity, so as to form a 

 vesicle, which acts as a float ; the leaf- 

 stalk is flat (not inflated), with four or Ave 

 bristles at the extremity; the stems are 

 only a few inches long, generally simple, 

 with the whorls of leaves approximate ; 

 the flowers are white, and rather small 

 and solitary, borne on longish slender 

 peduncles, springing from the axils of the 

 leaves. [J. T. S.] 



ALE-COST. An old English name for 

 Pyrethrum Tanacetum, commonly known 

 as Balsamita vulgaris, the Costmary of 

 gardens. 



ALE-HOOP. An old English name for 

 Nepeta Glechoma, the Ground Ivy. 



ALEPYRTJM. A genus of Besvauxiacece, 

 containing three species of small tufted 

 herbaceous plants, natives of the shores of 

 New Holland. They have solitary or few 

 terminal flowers, with two bracts ; a single 

 stamen; and six or eight ovaries, with 

 simple styles to each. The genus differs 

 from Centrolepis in wanting bracteoles, 

 and in the spathe consisting of one or 

 very few flowers. [W. C.] 



ALETRIS. A genus of North American 

 herbaceous B~cemodoracece, distinguished 

 by the following features: — The perianth 

 is half-inferior, tubular, with a six-cleft 

 spreading or funnel-shaped limb ; the six 

 stamens are inserted into the base of the 

 perianth segments, and have flat filaments 

 and somewhat arrow-shaped anthers ; the 

 ovary is three-lobed, pyramidal, with a 

 style composed of three connate bristles, 

 distinct at the base, but joined at the top 

 into a simple stigma; the capsule is py- 

 ramidal, three-celled, tricoccous, enclosed 

 in the perianth, and opening at the point 

 in three directions ; and the seeds are 

 numerous, minute, striated. A. farinosa, 

 called Colic root and Star grass, is a dwarf 

 perennial with somewhat distichous radical 

 leaves, which are lance-shaped, ribbed, and 

 sessile or somewhat sheathing at the base. 

 The stem is simple, invested with remote 

 scales, one to three feet high, terminating 

 in a spiked raceme of short-stalked, white, 

 oblong, bell-shaped flowers, the outer sur- 

 face of which has a roughish frosted or 

 mealy appearance. It is one of the most 

 intense bitters known, and is used both as 

 a tonic and a stomachic. [T. M.] 



six stamens are often sterile. They 

 are bulbous plants, easily cultivated in the 

 greenhouse when grown in pots with sandy 

 peat earth ; but they are not very orna- 

 mental, having green or yellowish flowers 

 striped with white, and leaves more or less 

 like those of the hyacinth. Seventeen or 

 eighteen species have been in cultivation 

 in this country. [J. T. S.] 



ALBUMEN. The matter that is inter- 

 posed between the skin of a seed and the 

 embryo, or the vitellus, if there is one. 

 It is, in reality, whatever substance is de- 

 posited in the cells of the nucleus during 

 the growth of the seed. 



ALBUMINOUS. Furnished with albu- 

 men when perfectly ripe. A term ex- 

 clusively applied to seeds. 



ALBURNITAS. A tendency to remain 

 like alburnum. A disease of trees, when 

 white rings of wood are interposed among 

 heart-wood. 



ALBURNUM. The sap wood of a tree ' 

 the younger wood, not choked up by sedi- 

 mentary deposit, and therefore permeable 

 to fluids. 



ALCAMPHORA. A remedial prepara- 

 tion from Croton perdicipes. 



ALCE'E DE LA FLORIDE. (Fr.) Gor- 

 donia Lasianthus. 



ALCHEMILLA. A genus of herbaceous 

 annual or perennial plants, belonging to 

 the natural order Rosacea?. All the species 

 have lobed leaves, and inconspicuous 

 yellow or greenish flowers. A. vulgaris, the 

 common Lady's Mantle, is frequent in wet 

 pastures and the borders of woods : the 

 leaves are rather large, roundish, seven to 

 nine lobed, plaited, and notched at the 

 edges; the flowers, though small, are nu- 

 merous, of a golden green colour, and col- 

 lected into forked clusters. It often occurs 

 in gardens, where it is valued more for the 

 pleasant green of its foliage than for any 

 showiness while in flower. Its properties 

 are astringent, and slightly tonic ; hence it 

 comes within the province of the 'sim- 

 pler.' A. alpina is a mountain species, 

 found on the banks of rivulets in Scotland 

 and the North of England. The leaves of 

 this species are deeply divided into five 

 oblong leaflets, and are thickly covered 

 with lustrous silky hair. To this species 

 probably belongs of right the not inappro- 

 priate name of ' Lady's Mantle,' which is 

 shared in virtue of kin alone by its less 

 daintily clothed- relative. A. arvensis 

 (Parsley-Piert) is a small annual plant, a 

 few inches long, with jagged leaves, and 

 tufts of minute green flowers growing in 

 their axils. It grows abundantly in cul- 

 tivated fields, and on hedge banks. A. 

 alpina, and some of the foreign species, 

 are well adapted for rock-work. [C. A. J.] 



ALCORNOCO, or ALCORNOQUE BARK- 



The bai k of several species of Byrsonima- 

 The Alcoruoque of Spain is the bark of 

 the cork-tree. 



