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tive of India, is to be met with in some 

 gardens ; the juice of its berries is of a 

 beautiful red colour, which, when put on 

 paper, changes to a durable brown. A. 

 crenata,& native of China and Penang, is 

 a beautiful dwarf bush often cultivated in 

 greenhouses. The leaves are glossy green, 

 and in the winter season, if well managed, 

 the plant is covered with a mass of scarlet 

 berries, much like those of the holly. A. 

 primulifolia, a native of Hong Kong, is 

 only about six inches high, and has thin 

 leaves like those of the common primrose. 

 A number of species are in cultivation in 

 English gardens. [A. A. B.] 



ARDISIADS. An English name for the 

 order Myrsinacece. 



AREC. (Fr.1 Areca oleracea. 



ARECA. The generic name applied to 

 certain species of palms, characterised by 

 having a lofty stem, pinnated leaves 

 whose stalks are rolled up into a cylinder 

 at their base, a double spathe enclosing 

 the flowers, which are borne upon, a 

 branched spadix, and are unisexual. The 

 male flowers have a six-parted perianth ; 

 the female flower contains six rudimentary 

 stamens, and a superior one-seeded ovary 

 which ripens into' a drupe-like fruit with a 

 fibrous rind. 



A. Catechu is a handsome tree, cultivated 

 in all the warmer parts of Asia for the 

 sake of its fruits, which are of the size of 

 a hen's egg, of a reddish yellow colour, and 

 with a thick fibrous rind, within which is 

 the seed. This is known under the name 

 of areca nut, pinang, and betel nut, and is 

 about the size of a nutmeg, but conical 

 in shape, flattened at the base, brownish 

 externally, and mottled internally like a 

 nutmeg. These nuts are cut into narrow 

 pieces, which are rolled up with a little 

 lime in leaves of the betle pepper. The 

 pellet is chewed, and is hot and acrid, but 

 possesses aromatic and astringent proper- 

 ties. It tinges the saliva red, and stains 

 the teeth, and is said to produce intoxica- 

 tion, when the practice of chewing it is 

 begun. The effects seem to be as much 

 due to the other ingredients as to the 

 areca nut. So addicted are the natives to 

 the practice, that Blume tells us, ' they 

 would rather forego meat and drink than 

 their favourite areca nuts, whole ship 

 loads of which are annually exported from j 

 Sumatra, Malacca, Siam, and Cochin China. 

 The practice is considered beneficial, ; 

 rather than otherwise. In this country 

 the charcoal of the nuts is used as tooth 

 powder, for which it is well adapted by its 

 hardness. A sort of Catechu is furnished 

 by boiling down the seeds of this palm to j 

 the consistence of an extract, but the 

 greatest quantity of the drug called 

 Catechu used in this country is the pro- : 

 duce of Acacia Catechu. The flowers of 

 the tree are very fragrant, and used on > 

 festive occasions in Borneo, where they are 

 considered a necessary ingredient in me- 

 dicines, and charms employed for healing 

 the sick. In Malabar another species, A ' 



Dicksoni, is found wild, and furnishes a 

 substitute for the true betel nut to the 

 poorer classes. 



A. oleracea is the Cabbage Palm which 

 is found in abundance in the West Indies. 

 It derives its name from the bud which 

 terminates its lofty stem. This bud 

 consists of a great number of leaves 

 densely packed, so that the inner ones are 

 of a white colour, and delicate flavour, and 

 serve as a vegetable. The noble trees are 

 destroyed for the sake of this luxury ; and 

 it is related that in the cavity formed by 

 the removal of the ' cabbage ' a kind of 

 beetle deposits its eggs, from which mag- 

 gots are produced which are an article 

 of diet much relished by the negroes of 

 Guiana ! [M. T. M.] 



AREGMA. A remarkable genus of para- 

 sitic Fungi, which abound on several 

 species of Rosaceoe. Their first appearance 

 is that of some yellow Credo, in which 

 condition the fruit is not distinguishable 

 from that of the genus just mentioned, 

 but, after a time, cylindrical dark multi- 

 septate bodies are produced on long bul- 

 bous stalks, forming a sort of sporeshaped 

 j prothallus, the articulations of which ger- 

 minate, and produce at length the true 

 spores. Nothing is more common than the 

 Aregmaof the Rose and Bramble (A. Rosas 

 & A. rubi), which afford interesting objects 

 for the microscope, and food for much re- 

 flection, from their peculiar mode of re- 

 production. [M. J. B.] 



AREMONIA. A name altered from 



Agrimonia, and now applied to an ever- 



[ green herb belonging to the natural order 



j Rosacea?. It grows about a foot high and 



bears irregularly pinnate downy jagged 



' leaves, of which the upper leaflets are 



largest, those of the stem in threes ; the 



flowers are small, yellow, and grow in 



tufts. The plant is a native of Italy and 



Carniola. - [C. A. J.] 



ARENARIA or Sandwort. A genus of 

 CaryophyUacece, belonging to the tribe 

 Alsinecc, consisting of small herbs, distin- 

 guished from the others of the tribe by 

 having the styles generally three ; the cap- 

 sule opening by twice as many valves as 

 there are styles, at last splitting down to 

 the base ; the seeds without an appendage ; 

 and the petals not cleft into two segments. 

 The species are extensively distributed ; 

 three occur wild in Britain : A. serpylli- 

 folia, which is a common annual plant, 

 with the petals not exceeding the calyx. 

 Some authors consider we have two spe- 

 cies included under this name, and sepa- 

 rate from the common form, A. leptoclaclos, 

 which is a much more slender plant, with 

 softer capsules. A. ciliata, a perennial 

 found on Ben Bulben, in the West of Ire- 

 land, has the petals much longer than the 

 calyx, and the leaves fringed with hair. 

 A. norvegica, also a perennial, from the 

 Orkney and Shetland Islands, is closely 

 allied to the last, but the leaves are not 

 fringed. A. trinervia is sometimes placed in 

 the genus Mochringia, as the seeds have an 



