anon] 



Ktyt Creasurg of 23otang» 



70 



mature into a many-celled, fleshy, oval or 

 rounded fruit. 



Several species of this genus are culti- 

 vated in tropical countries for the sake of 

 their fruits. The Sour-sop of the West 

 Indies is the fruit of A. muricata. It is of 

 considerable size, often weighing upwards 

 of two pounds ; it is greenish and covered 

 with prickles, the pulp is white, and has 

 an agreeable slightly acid flavour. The 



Anona squamosa. 



Sweet-sop is the fruit of a tree, A. 

 squamosa, native of the Malay Islands, 

 but extensively cultivated in the East and 

 West Indies. The fruit is ovate, covered 

 with projecting scales, the rind is thick, 

 but encloses a luscious pulp, concerning 

 which, however, tastes differ; it appears 

 to be highly esteemed by the Creoles, 

 while the Europeans think lightly of it. 

 The fruit grown in the Indian Archipelago 

 is said to possess a finer flavour than that 

 grown in the West Indies. The leaves of 

 this plant have a heavy disagreeable odour, 

 and the seeds, according to Royle, contain 

 an acrid principle, fatal to insects, on which 

 account the natives of India use them 

 powdered and mixed with the flour of 

 gram (Cicer arietinum)fov washing the hair. 

 The Cherimoyer of Peru is the fruit of 

 A. Cherimclia, which is nearly allied to 

 the preceding. The fruit is somewhat 

 heart-shaped and scaly on the exterior, and 

 is counted by the Creoles as being the 

 most delicious fruit in the world, a verdict 

 which Europeans do not confirm. The 

 common Custard Apple, or Bullock's Heart, 

 is an eatable fruit produced by A. reti- 

 culata, a native of the West Indies, but 

 cultivated in the East Indies also. Its 

 yellowish pulp is not so much relished as 

 that of the other kinds. In addition to 

 their fruits, the plants of this genus are 

 remarkable for their fragrant leaves and 



aromatic properties. The wood of A. pa- 

 lustris is so soft and compressible that 

 it is made use of in Jamaica in place of 

 cork ; the fruit is called the Alligator Apple, 

 but is not eaten, as it contains a narcotic 

 principle. [M. T. M.] 



ANONACE^E (Anonm, Anonads, Glypto- 

 spermas) form an important natural order of 

 tropical trees, remarkable for the powerful 

 aromatic qualities of some of the species. 

 They are nearly allied to magnoliads, dif- 

 fering mainly in the want of stipules, and 

 in having an albumen ruminated like a 

 nutmeg. In most species, moreover, the 

 aestivation of the petals is valvate, so that 

 the flowers, being formed on a ternary 

 pjan, the buds are three-sided pyramids. 

 Some bear eatable pulpy fruit, like the 

 Cherimoyers and Custard Apples; in others 

 it is dry, aromatic, and pungent, like pep- 

 per; in all there seems to be present a 

 ■ stimulating quality, which renders them 

 unsafe as articles of food, or as condiments, 

 except in small quantities. The timber of 

 some is extremely elastic, as lancewood, 

 and occasionally is intensely bitter. See 

 Xylopia, Uvaria, Guatteria, Anona, 

 Monodora, etc. 



ANONYMOS. A name occasionally 

 given by the older botanists to various 

 plants which they could not readily com- 

 pare with any one that had a name already. 

 It has been entirely rejected from the mo- 

 dern nomenclature. 



ANOPL ANTHUS. A genus of the broom- 

 rape family (Orobanchacece). They are 

 annual, leafless, parasitical herbs, growing 

 on the roots of various plants; seldom 

 more than one foot in height, and the 

 whole plant of a brown or purple colour. 

 The flower-stalks are naked above and 

 scaly below, bearing a single terminal 

 flower; the corolla with a curved tube 

 about an inch long, or short, and some- 

 what bell-shaped. There are five species 

 known, three of them found in North 

 America ; the other two, which have large 

 scarlet flowers, are natives of Asia Minor. 

 A. uniflorus, a N. American species, is called 

 one-flowered Cancer root. [A. A. B.] 



ANOSMIA. A genus of Umbelliferce, 

 containing a single speoies from Candia— a 

 biennial, erect, herbaceous plant, with a 

 fusiform root, obtusely-trifid leaves, and 

 white hermaphrodite flowers. It is nearly 

 related to Smyrnium, from which, how- 

 ever, it is separated by the want of invo- 

 lucres and involucels. [W. C] 



ANOTTA, or ARNOTTO. Bixa orellana. 



ANREDERA. A genus of Basellacece, 

 containing a single species, a native of the 

 West Indies and Peru. It is a climbing 

 herbaceous plant, with alternate petiolate 

 leaves, and pedicellate flowers, arranged in 

 many-flowered simple axillary spikes. The 

 calyx, consists of five membranaceous se- 

 pals. The five stamens rise from the base 

 of the sepals. The ovary is unilocular, and 

 uniovulate, with a short style, and three 

 long slender stigmas. [W. CJ 



