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sent genus, nowever, the two pairs of 

 retals, termed severally the wings and 

 keel, are absent, the only representative 

 of petals being the standard or vexillum, 

 and hence its name Amorpha, 'deformed.' 

 All The plants of the genus are deciduous 

 shrubs, natives of North America. The 

 leaves are pinnate with a terminal leaflet, 

 covered with pellucid dots; and the flowers, 

 of a blue-violet colour, are disposed in long 

 spiked clusters, grouped at the tops of the 

 branches. All the species are ornamental. 

 The foliage is graceful ; and the flowers, 

 though individually small, are attractive 

 from their numbers and colour, which is 

 violet spangled with the golden anthers. 

 As they only attain the height of a few 

 feet, they are well adapted for small shrub- 

 beries, or the front of large ones, and 

 thrive well in common garden soil. A. 

 fruticosa, the commonest species in Euro- 

 pean gardens, was introduced to Britain 

 in 1724 by Mark Catesby, who states 

 that the inhabitants of Carolina at one 

 time made a coarse sort of indigo from 

 the young shoots. Hence it is sometimes 

 called Bastard Indigo. [C. A. J.] 



AMORPHOPHALLTTS. Aname given to 

 a genus of plants of the araceous family, 

 and used to indicate the exceedingly curi- 

 ous appearance of the plants, which are pe- 

 rennial, with tuberous rootstocks flattened 

 on the upper surface. The leaves and spa- 

 dices are solitary, invested below with im- 

 bricated scales. The spathe is spreading 

 so as to fully expose the thick fleshy spadix, 

 which is diluted and fungus-like at the 

 upper extremity. The male flowers are 

 placed above the females ; their anthers 

 are sessile and open by pores ; the ovary 

 has either two, three, or four cells, with 

 erect ovules. These plants were formerly 

 included in the genus Arum, from which 

 they are distinguished by their spreading 

 not convolute spathes ; by their anthers 

 opening by pores, not by longitudinal slits ; 

 by the numerous cells to*he ovary : and by 

 the solitary erect ovule, those of Arum 

 being horizontal. They are natives of India 

 and other parts of tropical Asia, where 

 they are cultivated for the sake of the 

 abundance of starch which is found in 

 the rootstock. The presence of this starch, 

 and especially the mode of preparation, 

 deprives the roots of their otherwise acrid 

 caustic properties. Dr. "Wight says of A. 

 campanulatum, that when in flower the 

 fetor it exhales is most overpowering, and 

 so perfectly resembles that of carrion, as 

 to 'induce flies to cover the club of the 

 spadix with their eggs.' [M. T. M.] 



AMORPHOUS. Having no definite 

 form. 



AMOURETTE. (Fr.) Briza media ; also 

 Saxifraga unibrosa. 



AMPELOPSIS. A North American genus 

 of Vitaceoe, distinguished from Vitis and 

 Cissus, to which it is closely allied, by the 

 absence of the disk or expansion of the 

 receptacle in a ring round the base of the 

 ovary. A. hederacea, the Virginian Creeper, 



or American Ivy, is a shrubby climber, 

 often planted in this country to cover 

 walls, for which, from the rapidity of its 

 growth, it is well adapted ; the leaves, 

 which have five large elliptical leaflets, 

 turn red before they fall in autumn, when 

 the plant presents a very beautiful ap- 

 pearance. The flowers are small and yel- 

 lowish-green, in a many-flowered panicle. 

 The tendrils are curious, adhering to sup- 

 porting bodies by small sucker-like expan- 

 sions which are formed at the apex of each 

 of their divisions. [J. T. S.J 



AMPELOPTERIS. A name proposed by 

 Kunze for a few Indian ferns now referred 

 to Goniopteris. [T. MJ 



AMPHEREPHIS. A Brazilian genus of 

 composites, of which A. intermedia is oc- 

 casionally found in cultivation. It is a 

 branched spreading annual, growing a foot 

 or more high, with ovate, serrated foliage, 

 and terminal flower heads, an inch across, 

 composed wholly of tubular florets of a 

 purple colour, and surrounded by a double 

 series of leafy bracts or scales. It pos- 

 sesses few, if any, claims to general notice. 

 [W. T.] 



AMPHIBLESTRA. A genus of polypo- 

 diaceous ferns belonging to Pteridece, and 

 distinguished in this group by having the 

 veins of the fronds compoundly reticu- 

 lated, with free included veinlets, or little 

 veins within the meshes or areoles. It is 

 a coarse-looking fern of South America, 

 with much the aspect of Aspidium trifo- 

 Uatum, but having the pteroid linear mar- 

 ginal indusiate fructification. [T. MJ 



AMPHIBOLIS. A genus of Zosteracece, 

 formed to include a plant found in the 

 Pacific Ocean and on the -coast of New 

 Holland ; and considered by Endlicherand 

 Kunth to belong to Cymodocea. The only 

 species, A. zosterifolia, has branched annu- 

 lated stems, and approximate alternate, 

 linear, truncate, and bidentate leaves, 

 with short truncated stipules. [J. T. S.] 



AMPHICOME. A genus of the bignonia 

 family (Bignoniacec). Two species are 

 known, and both of them natives of the 

 temperate regions of North "Western India. 

 They are perennial herbs, with alternate, un- 

 equally pinnate leaves, and toothed leaflets. 

 The flowers are pink, tubular, and ar- 

 ranged in axillary or terminal racemes. 

 The fruits are about the length and thick- 

 ness of a crowquill, and their seeds are 

 provided with a tuft of hairs at each end, 

 this circumstance giving rise to the name 

 of the genus— amphi, on both sides, and 

 koma, a head of hairs. They are both in 

 cultivation. A. Emodi is a remarkably 

 handsome plant, and well deserves a place 

 in choice collections ; it is about one foot 

 high, and the flowers, which are large for 

 the plant, stand erect when expanded, A. 

 argvta is about the same size, but it has 

 smaller drooping flowers. [A. A. B.] 



AMPHICOSMIA. A genus of cyathe- 

 aceous ferns, belonging to the section 



