A.MBR] 



Etje Creatfurj) of 2o0taity. 



50 



taining five to twenty staminate flowers. ! 

 The fertile ones top-shaped, closed, pointed, | 

 and usually with four to eight horns or 

 tubercules near the top in one row, and 

 containing a single flower composed of 

 a pistil only. The species, of which there 

 are about twelve, are pretty widely dif- 

 fused, being found in India, tropical Africa, 

 South Europe, and in North and South 

 Ainerica,growing in fields and waste places. 

 A. artemisifolia is very plentiful on the 

 plains of the Saskatchawan and Red River ; 

 while A. tenuifolia is said to cover thou- 

 sands of miles of the Pampas, south of 

 Buenos Ayres, giving them a black ap- 

 pearance like that of the Scotch moors. 

 A. trifida is called the Great Rag-weed in 

 America, and A. artemisifolia the Roman 

 Wormwood ; indeed, all the species bear a 

 great resemblance to the Wormwood (Ar- 

 temisia). A. maritima, found in Italy and 

 the Levant, is said to be tonic and resolu- 

 tive ; all its parts give out a sweet odour 

 and have an aromatic taste, a little bitter, 

 but agreeable. [A. A. B.] 



AMBROSINIA. A genus of Aroidece, con- 

 tains a few species, natives of Sicily and 

 Sardinia. They are small land plants, with 

 tuberous, stoloniferous rhizomes, entire 

 leaves, and a small spathe, inclosing a 

 couple of scentless flowers, of which the 

 uppermost has many monadelphous sta- 

 mens perfectly destitute of a calyx, and 

 a single unilocular ovary.' They are re- 

 ferred by Endlicher to Aroidem, but Lindley 

 considers that the paucity of flowers in 

 the spadix affords sufficient ground for 

 establishing another order, which he calls 

 Pistiacece, and which includes Lemna, Pis- 

 tia, and some other allied genera. [W. C] 



AMELANCHIER, the Savoy name of the 

 medlar, is given to a family of small trees, 

 natives of Europe and North America, 

 allied both to Mespilus and Cotoneaster. In 

 British gardens they are cultivated for 

 their flowers, which are white, abundant, 

 showy, and produced early in the season ; 

 for their fruit, which ripens in June ; and 

 for the deep red or rich yellow hue which 

 their foliage assumes in autumn. The com- 

 mon Amelanchier, A. vulgaris, has long 

 been cultivated in England, where it some- 

 times attains the height of fifteen or 

 twenty feet. It bears abundance of flowers, 

 and its fruit, though not highly palatable, 

 is eatable. This is a native of Southern 

 Europe, where it grows in rocky moun- 

 tainous woods. Of the American species, 

 A. Botryapium, the Grape-Pear, bears spar- 

 ingly small fruit of a purplish colour and 

 of an agreeable sweet taste, which ripens 

 in June, before that of any other tree. 

 A. ovalis, considered by some to be mere- 

 ly a variety of the preceding, abounds, 

 according to Dr. Richardson, in the sandy 

 plains of the Saskatchawan. ' Its wood is 

 prized by the Crees for making arrows 

 and pipe-stems, and is thence termed by 

 the Canadian voyageurs Bois de flSche. Its 

 berries about the size of a pea, are the 

 finest fruit in the country, and are used by 



the Crees both in a fresh and dried state- 

 They form a pleasant addition to pem- 

 mican, and make puddings very little in- 

 ferior to plum-pudding.' [C. A. J.] 



AMELLINGUE. (Pr.) A kind of Olive. 



AMELLON. (Fr.) A kind of Olive. 



AMELLUS. A genus of the composite 

 family (Govipositai) , containing twelve spe- 

 cies, all of them natives of South Africa. 

 They are herbs or shrubs, their lower 

 leaves opposite, the upper alternate, ob- 

 long, entire or toothed, and hairy or ca- 

 nescent. Flower-stalks terminal, bearing a 

 solitary head of flowers ; the florets of the 

 disc yellow, those of the ray blue. A. 

 Lychnitis is cultivated in gardens. The 

 flowers of it, and most of the species, are 

 a good deal like those of the Michaelmas 

 daisy (Aster), to which genus this is 

 allied, differing chiefly in the opposite 

 lower leaves, and in having the bristles of 

 the pappus in a single series. [A.A.B.] 



AMENTACE^E. Under this name were 

 once comprehended all apetalous unisexual 

 plants, whose flowers grow in catkins, or 

 amenta. Modern botanists find it more 

 convenient to distribute them through 

 several different orders, the chief of which 

 are Salicaceo?, Corylacew, Betulacece, Casu- 

 arinacece, Altingiacece, Myricacece, which 

 see. A forest of these amentaceous plants 

 as they grow in the island of Java, is shown 

 in Plate IX. 



AMENTUM. A catkin. A deciduous 

 spike of unisexual apetalous flowers, such 

 as appears in the spring on the hazel and 

 willow. 



AMESIUM. A name once proposed to 

 be given to Asplenium septentrionale and 

 some allied species. [T. M.] 



AMETHYSTEA. An insignificant Si- 

 berian genus of labiates, belonging to the 

 Ajuga or bugle division of the order, and 

 distinguished by the very short upper lip 

 of its corolla, and the abortion of its upper 

 pair of stamens. The only species, A. 

 cairulea, was formerly cultivated, but is 

 now seldom met with, so many more de- 

 serving plants being available. It is a 

 hardy annual, growing a foot or more 

 high, with erect, square, branched steins ; 

 opposite, three-parted leaves ; the seg- 

 ments oblong lance-shaped ; and short 

 terminal leafy racemes of very small pale- 

 blue flowers, the corollas of which are 

 scarcely longer than the calyx. As an or- 

 namental plant, it is entirely worthless, 

 but it possesses the merit of being slightly 

 fragrant. [W. TJ 



AMHERSTIA. A genus of the pea 

 family (Leguminosw), named in honour of 

 the Countess Amherst. A. nobilis is the 

 only species. It grows near Martaban, in 

 the Malayan peninsula, and attains a 

 height of about forty feet. When in 

 flower, it is said to be ' one of the most 

 superb objects imaginable, unrivalled in 

 India or in any other part of the world.' 



