61 



STf)S €rea£urg of aSntang. 



[anbu 



three inches long, hut, when mature, are 

 from five to six inches. The flower scape 

 also lengthens after the flowers wither, 

 and is often upwards of a foot in length. 

 The naked receptacle and broad-beaked 

 achenes terminating in a small cavity, 

 are the characters which distinguish the 

 genus from Perdicium, to which this plant 

 was formerly referred. It has been cul- 

 tivated in this country, and is the only 

 species of its genus. [A. A. B.] 



ANAPATTSIA. A genus of polypodia- 

 ceous ferns belonging to the Acrostichece, 

 among which they are distinguished by 

 having a portion of their fronds wholly 

 fertile, and the veins of their fronds com- 

 poundly reticulated, with free divaricate 

 veinlets in the areoles. The species are 

 mostly found in the West Indies and 

 South America, and form coarse-growing 

 herbaceous plants with compound fronds, 

 a portion of which are entirely sterile, and 

 the remainder somewhat contracted and 

 covered with the fructification. A. vesper- 

 tilio, a Javanese species, has coriaceous lu- 

 nately bilobed sterile fronds, and linear- 

 lanceolate fertile ones. [T. M.] 



ANARRHINUM. A genus of biennial, 

 or perennial herbaceous plants, natives of 

 Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and 

 Syria, belonging to Scrophulariacece, and 

 containing seven species. The radical 

 leaves are generally rosulate, the cauline 

 opposite or alternate, sometimes both on 

 the same plant. The flowers are small in 

 spike- shaped racemes. The calyx is 

 deeply five-fid, the corolla tubular and 

 bilabiate, the upper lip erect, then re- 

 flexed, the lower patent. The stamens are 

 included, four being fertile, and the fifth 

 sterile and undeveloped. The ovary is 

 bilocular, with many ovules. [W. C] 



ANARTHRIA. A genus of Eestiacece, 

 containing five species of perennial plants, 

 with flattened simple or branched stems, 

 indigenous to the eastern shores of New 

 Holland. The flowers are dioecious, and 

 have six glumes. The male flower has 

 three free stamens, with bilocular anthers ; 

 the female has three styles. The capsule 

 is three-lobed and tri-locular, with a single 

 seed in each loculament. [W. C] 



ANASARCA. A condition of plants 

 analogous to dropsy, though not always 

 attended by extravasation. In extremely 

 wet weather the tissues get gorged with 

 fluid, and as the vegetative powers are 

 generally lowered by the decrease of tem- 

 perature, the contents of the cells are 

 badly supplied, and, in consequence, their 

 walls, unconsolidated, become subject 

 to decay, which is soon exhibited in a 

 variety of untoward symptoms. Fruit, 

 in consequence, which has been produced 

 in a wet season, is notoriously subject to 

 decay, except compensated, as in the late 

 ungenial summer, by a high state of the 

 hygrometer, a circumstance which may 

 perhaps account for the extremely small 

 quantity of decay which has been ex- 



perienced in our autumnal fruits. In some 

 cases, as in elms, there is sometimes 

 direct extravasation, and then the fluid 

 accumulates, and at length forces its way 

 through the bark, producing permanent 

 ulcers. [M. J. B.] 



ANASTATICA. A genus of Cruciferce, 

 consisting of a single species, the Rose of 

 Jericho (A. Hierochuntina) , a small annual 

 growing in the arid wastes of the extra- 

 European Mediterranean region, from 

 Syria to Algeria. The stem is short, 

 branched in a corymbose manner at the 

 top ; the leaves obovate, with stellate 

 hairs, the lower ones entire, the upper 

 remotely toothed ; the flowers are small 

 and white, forming spikes along the 

 branches ; the fruit is a short pouch, 

 with two ear-like projections at the top, 

 and divided by a transverse partition 

 within into two cells, in each of which 

 there is a seed. This plant is interesting 

 on account of its hygroscopic properties : 

 when the plant is in flower, the branches 

 spread rigidly, but when the seed ripens, 

 the leaves wither and drop, and the 

 whole plant becomes dry, each branch 

 curls inwards, until the plant presents 

 the appearance of a little ball of wicker- 

 work at the top of the unbranched part of 

 the stem. In this state it is soon loosened 

 from the soil, and carried about by the 

 I wind, and often blown into the sea : when 

 I this happens, or the plant is otherwise 

 I wetted, the branches unbend, and the pods 

 ! begin to open by splitting longitudinally, 

 so that, when thrown on shore by the 

 waves, the circumstances are favourable 

 for the production of fresh individuals in a 

 locality remote from the original place of 

 growth. The plant retains its property of 

 expanding when moistened, and again 

 curling up when dry for a long time. 

 Specimens, collected ten years ago, ex- 

 hibit the phenomenon as perfectly as 

 ever. In Palestine it is called 'Kaf 

 Maryan,' or Mary's Flower; and there is a 

 tradition that the plant expanded at the 

 birth of the Saviour. [J. T. SJ 



ANASTOMOSIS. The angle formed by 

 the union of veins, or of their branches. 



ANATHERUM. A group of grasses, the 

 species of which are now included in the 

 genus Andropogon. [D. MJ 



ANATROPA. A generic name given to 

 a small, succulent, herbaceous plant from 

 Syria, belonging to the natural order 

 Elatinacem. Except that it has stipules, 

 it differs in no respect from Tetradiclis, 

 to which it is consequently generally re- 

 ferred. [W. C] 



ANATROPAL. When an ovule is turned 

 down upon itself, so that the foramen, or 

 true apex, points to the base, and the cha- 

 laza is at the apex. 



ANBURY. A gouty nodular condition 

 of certain roots, as turnips, arising from 

 the presence of grubs. It must not be 

 confounded with dactylorhiza, which is a 



