41 



erfje Cmtfurg of Matmxi}. 



[allo 



into a quart "bottle of vinegar, an agreeable 

 sauce may tie formed. 



The Garlic, A. sativum, is a hardy 

 bulbous perennial, indigenous to the South 

 of France, Sicily, and the South of Europe. 

 It is stated to have been introduced in 

 1545, but appears to have been well known 

 to the ancients. Homer makes it part of 

 the entertainment which Nestor served up 

 to his guest ilachaon; and among the 

 Greeks and Romans we are told it formed 

 a favourite viand of the common people. 

 Even at the present day, in many parts of 

 the Continent the peasantry eat their 

 brown bread with slices of Garlic, which 

 give it a flavour they seem to relish. At 

 Ovar, in Portugal, a great deal of this root 

 is grown for exportation to Brazil. The 

 bulb is compound, being composed of ten 

 or twelve smaller bulbs, called cloves ; 

 and, although seldom employed with us, it 

 is much used in Italian cookery for flavour- 

 ing dishes, and is far more powerful for 

 this purpose than any of the other species. 



The common Chive or Cive, A. Schceno- 

 prasum, is indigenous to Britain, having 

 been found in Oxfordshire, as well as in 

 Argyleshire, in the "West of Scotland. It is 

 perennial. The leaves, which rise from 

 small slender bulbs, are about six or eight 

 inches long, erect, awl-shaped and thread- 

 like, and form dense tufts. They are 

 generally cut off close to the ground, and 

 used early in spring for salads, for which 

 purpose they are much milder than onions 

 or scaUions — a name usually given to 

 onions which have been sown thick for 

 drawing, without forming bulbs. They 

 are also used for seasoning soups, ome- 

 lets, &c. In England they are little known ; 

 but in Scotland they are to be found in 

 almost every cottage garden. 



Hocambole, A. Scorodoprasum, is a 

 native of Denmark and other parts of 

 Europe, whence it was introduced in 1596. 

 It is a hardy, bulbous-rooted perennial, 

 with compound bulbs like garlic, but the 

 cloves are smaller. It is used for nearly 

 the same purposes as the shallot and 

 garlic ; and, although its flavour is con- 

 sidered more delicate than either, it is not 

 much cultivated in this country. [W. B. B.] 



ALLOBIUM. A genus of Viscacece, 

 consisting of yellowish-green woody para- 

 sites on the branches of trees, with jointed, 

 much-branched stems; thick firm per- 

 sistent leaves, or only scales in their 

 place ; and small axillary spikes of flowers. 

 The flowers are dieecious ; the calyx is 

 globular and three-lobed, each lobe in the 

 male flowers bearing a transversely two- 

 celled sessile anther ; in the female flowers 

 the calyx tube adheres to the ovary, which 

 has a sessile obtuse stigma. The ovary 

 contains a single pidpy seed, with a small 

 embryo. The species of this genus are 

 natives of America. [W. C] 



ALLOPLECTTJS. A genus of Gesneracece, 

 distinguished by having a free, coloured, 

 five-leaved calyx ; a fannel-shaped or club- 

 tubulose corolla, with the tube gibbous at 



the base behind, and often ventricose in 

 front above, the limb five-toothed or shortly 

 five-cleft; four didynamous included sta- 

 mens, with the rudiment of a fifth ; and 

 a free ovary surrounded by an annular 

 disk. The genus consists of tropical 

 American soft-wooded or sub-shrubby 

 plants, of scandent habit, with opposite, 

 fleshy, often unequal leaves, and axillary 

 flowers which are solitary or aggregated, 

 sessile or racemose. There are several 

 species, most of which form desirable hot- 

 house plants. A. dichrbus is a Brazilian 

 sub-shrub, of erect habit, with ovate-ob- 

 long entire leaves, having several flowers 

 seated in their axils ; these flowers consist 

 of a large purple-red calyx of five trian- | 

 gular or cordate lobes, the three outer of i 

 which are larger and include the two inner, I 

 and of a large club-shaped tubular yellow 

 hairy corolla, the colour of which contrasts 

 strongly with that of the calyx. A. con- 

 color is of similar habit, but has rather 

 smaller flowers, of which both calyx and 

 corolla are scarlet. The corolla in this 

 latter plant is inserted at what appears to 

 be the side of the tube near the base, and 

 thus forms a blunt spur, whilst above it 

 is remarkably ventricose on the upper 

 side, with the mouth very oblique, as if 

 the opening were at the side opposite to 

 that by which it is aflixed, thus producing 

 a very singularly curved flower. A. capi- 

 tatus is very distinct from the foregoing 

 kinds, having tall stout red stems and 

 large ovate leaves, from which the axils of 

 the uppermost leaves are produced on 

 short stalks, a few dense globular heads or 

 umbels of flowers, having a very large 

 blood-coloured calyx, and a comparatively 

 small yellow tubular coi-olla. The most re- 

 markable peculiarity of the genus among 

 gesneraceous plants, is the large coloured 

 calyx, which adds much to the beauty of 

 the flowers. [T. M.] 



ALLOSORUS. A genus of dwarf elegant 

 polypodiaceous ferns, variously referred to 

 the Polypodies, the Cheilanthece, and the 

 Pteridece. They have punctiform sori at 

 the apices of the free veins, and are with- 

 out true indusia, the margin of the fronds 

 being folded over the spore cases and 

 somewhat altered in texture, so as to be- 

 come indusia. Added to this, their fronds 

 are dimorphous, the fertile and sterile 

 being different in character, the former 

 contracted by the involution of their mar- 

 gins, so that the divisions become pod- 

 shaped or siliculiform. One of the species, 

 A. crispus, is a native of England, and is 

 found also throughout Europe and in 

 North America. This is a pretty dwarf 

 deciduous species, with bipinnate or tri- 

 pinnate fronds. It is called the Rock 

 Brake. There is another species, A. Stel- 

 leri, found in Siberia, India, and North 

 America. The genus has a very close 

 affinity with Cryptogramma. The name has 

 been applied to various other ferns, espe- 

 cially to certain species which are more 

 correctly referred to Cheilanthes and Platy- 

 loma. [T. MJ 



