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give them an universal greyish green hue. 

 The plants are known under various names 

 by the trappers, ■who find the gnarled and 

 interlacing branches an almost insur- 

 mountable obstacle to man or horse. The 

 plants, moreover, are of no value as forage. 

 The few wild animals that feed on them are 

 said to have their flesh rendered of a hitter 

 taste in consequence. The Artemisias also 

 abound in the arid soil of the Tartarian 

 Steppes, and in other similar situations. 

 ! The Common Wormwood, A. Absinth ium, 

 is found wild in some parts of Britain and 

 cultivated in cottage-gardens. It possesses 

 aromatic bitter and tonic properties, and 

 was formerly much employed as a vermi- 

 fuge. The active properties of the plant, 

 and probably those of the other kinds used 

 for like purposes, depend on a volatile oil, a 

 peculiar bitter principle called absinthine, 

 and an acid called absinthic acid. What is 

 called salt of wormwood is an impure car- 

 bonate of potash, obtained from the ashes 

 of wormwood. 



A large number of the species possess 

 similar properties to those found in the 

 common wormwood, and are hence used 

 for the same purposes in various parts of 

 the world. The flower stalks and heads of 

 several species of Artemisia are sold by 

 herbalists under the name of Wormseed : 

 they are chiefly imported from the Levant, 

 and are the produce of plants growing in 

 Syria.Persia, and Barbary. Others imported 

 from India are employed as vermifuges. 

 A. Moxa is said by Dr. Lindley to be the 

 plant used by the Chinese and Japanese in 

 the formation of their Moxa, a small pellet 

 of combustible material, placed on the skin 

 and burnt there so as to produce a sore. 

 It is used for the same puiposes, and on 

 the same principle as a blister, but it is 

 exceedingly painful and now very rarely 

 employed. Some of the species of Arte- 

 misia growing in Switzerland are used in 

 the manufacture of the bitter aromatic 

 Extrait d' Absinthe. 



The Southernwood of gardens, A. Abro- 

 tanum, sometimes called by country people 

 Old Man, is a shrub with finely divided 

 greyish greenleaves, which have a fragrant 

 aromatic odour, said to be disagreeable to 

 bees and other insects. The plant is a 

 native of the South of Europe. 



The Tarragon, A. Dracunculus, differs 

 from the majority of its fellows in that its 

 leaves are undivided ;. they are narrow and 

 lance-shaped, of a bright green colour, and 

 possess a peculiar aromatic taste, without 

 the characteristic bitterness of the genus. 

 The plant is a native of Siberia. [M. T. M.] 



ABTHANITA. (Ft.) Cyclamen europosum. 



ARTHROBOTRYS. A name proposed 

 for a small group of Indian ferns, now 

 referred to Lastrea. [T. MJ 



ARTHROCXEMU.M. A genus of Che;io 

 pod.iacece, separated from Salicornia to re- 

 ceive .S'. fruticosa and a few other species, 

 which differ from the restricted Salicornia 

 in having the flowers hidden in the articu- 

 lations of the branches, and not concealed 



in excavations in the axis. The calyx also 

 is trigonous or tetragonous, with three to 

 five teeth, and without wing or appendase. 

 The seed has a distinctly double integu- 

 ment, while in Salicornia it is single. 

 Otherwise the two genera agree. They 

 have perfect flowers, without scales ; one 

 or two stamens ; two styles ; and an ovate 

 one-celled and one-seeded ovary. The 

 species are found in the salt marshes of 

 all parts of the world. A. fruticosum is 

 abundant on the British coasts. [W. C] 



ARTHROLEPIS. The name given to a 

 genus of the composite family (Compo- 

 site). There is but one species known, a 

 perennial herb, native of Syria, a foot high, 

 with alternate linear pinnatisect leaves, 

 the segments very small and closely over- 

 lapping each other. The flower-heads are 

 single at the ends of the branches ; the ray 

 florets yellow. All the parts of the plant 

 are covered with a white mealy pube- 

 scence. It is nearly related to the Chamo- 

 miles (Anthemis) and the Millfoils (Achil- 

 lea) ; differing from the first in its winged 

 achenes, from the second in its single 

 flower-heads, and from both in the jointed 

 scales of the involucre. The name of the 

 genus is derived from this latter circum- 

 stance. [A. A. B.] 



ARTHROLOBIUM. An unimportant 

 genus of leguminous plants distinguished 

 from the equally unpretending Ornithopus, 

 by the heads of flowers being destitute of 

 a floral leaf, or bract, at the base. There 

 are two European species, one of which, 

 A. ebracteatum, grows in the Channel Isles 

 and in Scilly. It is a small plant with pros- 

 trate stems, pinnate leaves, and minute 

 cream-coloured flowers veined with crim- 

 son, growing in heads of four or five, and 

 succeeded by as many-jointed and curved 

 pods, which together bear a singular re- 

 semblance to a bird's foot. [C. A. J.] 



ARTHROPHYLLUM. A genus of the 

 Bignonia family, containing five species, 

 all of them shrubs or small trees, found in 

 Madagascar and the islands of Eastern 

 tropical Africa. Their leaves are com- 

 pound, opposite, or alternate, and very 

 peculiar in structure; indeed, in four of 

 the species no true leaves may be said to 

 be developed, but their petioles, or leaf- 

 stalks are winged and leaf-like, with two 

 to four joints, the segments between the 

 joints being wedge-shaped, and the ter- 

 minal one acute. In A. Thoiu irsianum 

 leaflets are produced from the joints of the 

 petiole. Their flowers are generally large 

 and tubular, disposed in racemes or co- 

 rymbs from the ultimate f orkings of the 

 branches. A. madagascariense is cultivated 

 in England. Its flowers are pink in colour, 

 large and tubular, the limb of the corolla 

 five-lobed, with crisped margins. The 

 name Arthrophyllwm signifies jointed leaf. 

 It has been changed by some authors to 

 Phyllarthron because the name Arthro- 

 phyllum is given also to a genus of the 

 Aralia family. [A. A. B.] 



