almost sessile anthers. It is probable that, 

 when the other species are more carefully 

 examined, no foundation will be found for 

 the separation of Apalanthe. [W. C] 



APARGIA. This name is used in some 

 English books for one or two species of 

 Hawkbit, Leontodan, called A. hispida and 

 A. autumnalis, the latter of which is some- 

 times referred to Oporina. [T. M.] 



APATURIA. Terrestrial leafless orchids, 



! from the continent of India, Ceylon, and 



China. They are of no interest, their pallid 



flowers hanging down from the side of a 



I rather long spike. One of the marks by 



I which they are most easily known is hav- ; 



ing, along with a structure similar to that 

 ! of Bletia, stems covered by thin mem- 

 i branous scales. 



I APEIBA. A genus of the lime-tree 

 family, Tiliacece, containing twelve spe- 

 ! ties. They are trees or shrubs with alter- 

 : nate, stalked, entire or serrate leaves,which 

 j are covered on both surfaces with starry 

 pubescence, and having at the base of their 

 I footstalk two stipules, which fall early. 

 The peduncles are terminal and opposite 

 I the leaves, much-branched and many- 

 flowered ; the flower3 yellow or greenish, 

 interspersed with bracteas. Their fruits 

 are woody, roundish, and often covered 

 with tubercules, or stiff prickles. The spe- 

 cies are found in Mexico, the West Indies, 

 and Southern tropical America. The fibrous 

 bark of A. Petoumo is known in Panama as 

 Cortega, and is used for making cordage, 

 being strong, tough, and distinguished 

 from other indigenous fibres by its white- 

 ness. The wood of A. Tibourbou being light 

 and soft, is used in Brazil for making the 

 raft-boats called jangadas. Its fruit, in 

 size and appearance, is much like that of 

 the Spanish chestnut. A aspera has a flat- 

 tened circular fruit, with rough points, 

 resembling the cup of an acorn, only 

 closed at the top. [A. A B.] 



APERA A genus of grasses of the tribe 

 Agrostidece. As defined by Adanson and 

 Beauvois, a few species only are referable 

 to this genus, which in more modern 

 works will be found described under the 

 genera Agrostis, Muhlenbergia, and Yulpia. 

 The principal characters depended on to 

 separate it from Agrostis are the lower 

 glume being smaller than the upper, and 

 the presence of a rudimentary second 

 floret, beside the perfect floret. The Bri- 

 tish species, Apera Spica-venti, TVind-Bent 

 Grass, is one of the prettiest of English 

 grasses, the light feathery panicles of in- 

 floresence, with the long awns attached to 

 the glumes, seldom failing to attract atten- 

 tion from even those who are' little in the 

 habit ofobserving plants. Although of small 

 importance as an agricultural species, it is 

 valued for the beauty of its flowers, which 

 remain long on the rachis, and form a 

 handsome drawing-room ornament, even 

 in their natural state, but particularly so 

 when dyed crimson, green, or any other 

 bright colour. [D. MJ 



APETALON. A minute leafless orchid, 

 found beneath the shade of Bamboos in 

 Coorg. 



APETALOUS. Having no petals. Also 

 extended to plants that have neither calyx 

 nor corolla. 



APHANBS. A synonym of Alchemilla. 



APHANOSTEPHTJS. A genus of the 

 composite family, numbering three spe- 

 cies, which are found in Texas and New 

 Mexico. They are related on the one hand 

 to the daisy (Bellis), from which they differ 

 in the presence of a pappus to the achenes, 

 and on the other to the Australian genus 

 Brachycome, from which the rounded and 

 striate, instead of flattened, achenes at 

 once distinguish them. They are much- 

 branched annual plants, six inches to a 

 foot high, having linear or spathulate, 

 toothed or entire, more or less hoary 

 leaves, and slender twigs, terminating in 

 a single stalked flower-head about half an 

 inch across, the rays pink or white, the 

 disc yellow. A ramosissimus — called also 

 Egletes ramosissima — is quite a pretty 

 plant in cultivation, producing a great 

 abundance of flower-heads, with white 

 rays, tinged with pink underneath; and 

 it lasts through the summer. [A. A. B.] 



APHELANDRA. This name is applied 

 in consequence of the flowers of the plants 

 of this genus having one-celled anthers. 

 They are small shrubs, natives of tropical 

 America. The inflorescence consists of 

 four-sided spikes, with slightly mem- 

 branous bracts, handsome reddish or scar- 

 let flowers, with a gaping two-lipped 

 corolla, the lower lip divided into three 

 lobes, the central one of which is much 

 larger than the lateral ones; the stamens 

 are four in number, one pair longer than 

 the other (didynamous), the anthers one- 

 celled ; the capsule is sessile roundish, two- 

 celled, each cell containing two compressed 

 seeds. A. cristata is a remarkably hand- 

 some stove plant, with fine ovate pointed 

 leaves, and showy spikes of blossom. It 

 was formerly referred to the genus Jus- 

 ticiar, and belongs to the order Acanthaceoz. 

 A. aurantiaca is scarcely less handsome 

 than the other. [M. T. M.] 



APHELEXIS. A genus of Madagascar 

 plants, belonging to the composite family 

 {Composite), having much resemblance 

 to the everlasting flowers (Helichrysum), 

 and differing from these chiefly in the 

 hairs of the pappus. Five species are 

 known, all of them having very small 

 leaves, which are closely pressed to the 

 stein, like those of the club-moss. The 

 flower-heads are either large, solitary, and 

 of a pink colour, or small, yellow, and two 

 or three together at the ends of the 

 branches. The plants known in gardens 

 as Aphelexis, and so commonly cultivated 

 in greenhouses, are natives of the Cape, 

 not of Madagascar, and are generally pla ced 

 in the genus Helipterum. [A. A. BJ 



APHELIA. A genus of Desvauxiacece, 



