87 



€i)C CreaSurn of 33ctang. 



[ardi 



perries. Arctium is from arctos, the Great 

 Bear, from the rough character of the 

 plant. [C. A. J.] 



A. Lappa, under the name of Gobo, is 

 cultivated in Japan as a vegetable. 



ARCTO CALYX. A genus of Gesneracece, 

 consisting of half -shrubby plants inhabit- 

 ing the mountains of Mexico. They have 

 ovare-lanceolate or elliptical leaves, axil- 

 lary flowers of an unusually large size for 

 the order, and of a bright orange spotted 

 ■with brown or pui'ple. The calyx is large, 

 tubulose-bellshaped, fifteen-nerved, and 

 five-toothed. The corolla is funnel-bell- 

 shaped, and the ovary sunk into the 

 calyx, and surrounded by a glandular disk. 

 A. Endlicherianus is not uncommon in our 

 gardens. L B. S.] 



ARCTOSTAPHYLOS. A genus of Erica- 

 ceae, consisting of procumbent shrubs, 

 with small deciduous or persistent leaves, 

 and rather small bracteate flowers, two or 

 three together, in very short terminal 

 racemes. It is very nearly related to 

 Arbutus, differing from it in having a 

 glabrous berry with five stones, and each 

 stone being one-seeded. The genus has 

 been recently very much limited. Ten 

 species have been separated and placed 

 under the generic title of Comarostaplnjlis, 

 having as their distinctive characteristic a 

 drupaceous fruit, with a single hard five 

 to nine-celled stone, and a single seed in 

 each cell. Five more species have been 

 removed to a new genus Laplinidostapliylis, 

 which is characterised by having the 

 ovary placed on a ten-angled, hypogynous 

 disk, and containing six to ten cells. The 

 restricted genus Arctostaphylos, containing 

 only the two species found in Britain, has 

 the ovary without true dissepiments. The 

 three genera have all alike a five -partite, 

 persistent, and hypogynous calyx, a five- 

 lobed reflexed corolla, inserted on the 

 calyx, and ten stamens. The two species 

 are natives of the northern regions of 

 both the old and the new world. The 

 whole plant of A. uva-ursi is astringent ; 

 it has been used for tanning leather. The 

 berries form a favourite food of grouse and 

 other game. The plant is a valuable medi- 

 cal astringent, used to check an excessive 

 secretion of mucus, as in urinary and 

 bronchial affections, and even in calculus. 

 The ArctostopJuilos alpina, or Black Bear- 

 berry, is the badge of the clan Ross. [W. C] 



ARCTOTHECA. A genus of the com- 

 posite family, consisting of two species, 

 both perennial herbs, peculiar to Southern 

 Africa, and found in sandy spots near the 

 sea. A. repens, which has been cultivated 

 in this country, is a branching plant, six 

 inches to a foot high, with pinnatifld 

 leaves, about six inches long, covered 

 underneath, as are also the stems, with a 

 white tomentum.and bearing solitary yel- 

 low flower heads, nearly three-quarters of 

 an inch across, borne on long naked stalks. 

 The ray florets are strapshaped and neuter, 

 those of the disc perfect ; involucral scales 



in many series ; pappus none ; achenes 

 wingless and four-sided. [A. A. BJ 



ARCTOTIS. A genus of composites, all 

 natives of the Cape of Good Hope, with 

 showy orange-coloured flower heads, of 

 which several species occur in gardens. 

 It has a honey-combed receptacle set with 

 bristles, oval grooved achenes crowned 

 with several broad membranous scales, and 

 an involucre of numerous imbricated 

 leaflets with chaffy margins. The A. speci- 

 osa is not unfrequently cultivated under 

 the name of A. breviscapa, as a half-hardy 

 border annual, though our English sum- 

 mers are too short and too cool to bring it 

 to the perfection it attains in its southern 

 home. It would probably be seen to more 

 advantage if treated as a tender biennial. 

 As grown in our gardens, it is a dwarf, 

 tufted, tomentose plant, with numerous, 

 short, prostrate stems, proceeding from the 

 crown of the root ; three-nerved leaves, 

 varying froin oval and entire to lyrately 

 pinnatifld, in the latter case with a large 

 terminal lobe ; and large terminal flower- 

 heads, with a brownish disk and orange- 

 coloured ray, expanded only in fine weather 

 during the middle of the day. Many of 

 the species are greenhouse perennials, 

 which would succeed in the open ground 

 in summer in warm situations, and some 

 of them would be desirable additions to 

 our gardens. Of this section, probably 

 the only attainable species is the A.grandi- 

 flora, with handsome deep orange-coloured 

 capitules, four inches in diameter, and 

 silvery-grey pinnatifld foliage, blooming 

 freely during the whole summer, in a 

 sunny situation and dry soil. [W. T.] 



ARCTURIA. A section of the genus 

 Drosera, of which the Tasmanian D. Arc- 

 turi is the type. This has three undivided 

 styles with thickened stigmas ; the stem is 

 short, and not bulbous, with narrow leaves 

 passing insensibly into the leaf- stalk ; 

 scape with a single white flower. [J. T. S.] 



ARCTURUS. A genus of Scroplmlaria- 

 cece, established by Bentham, but subse- 

 quently abolished by him ; the name being 

 retained to characterise a group of the 

 genus Celsia, in which the anthers are 

 attached by their middle. [W. G] 



ARDISIA. This is a large genus of the 

 family Myrsinacece, containing upwards 

 of 100 species. They are evergreen shrubs 

 or small trees, with alternate, rarely oppo- 

 site, leaves covered with transparent dots. 

 Their flowers are white or rose coloured, 

 and arranged in panicles, the branches of 

 which are often of an intense rose colour, 

 thereby adding greatly to the beauty of 

 the plant. The flower-stalks are often 

 disposed in little timbellets on the branches 

 of the panicle. They are found in India, 

 the islands of the Indian Ocean, and 

 America. The bark of A. colorata is 

 known in Ceylon as Dan, and is used in 

 native practice in bowel complaints, fevers, 

 and externally for healing ulcers. It is 

 tonic and astringent. A. solanacea, a na- 



