ASCI. The name of the fruit-bearing 



! cells in the important division of Fungi, 

 ! called Ascomycetes. These may be thread- 

 j shaped, cylindrical like little sausages, cla- 

 vate, or subglobose. In the latter case they 

 ; are mostly few in number, aud are occa- 

 ; sionally reduced to one in each cyst or 

 perithecium, as in Splicerotheca, to which 

 genus belongs the felted mildew of Rose- 

 leaves and the Hop mildew. [M. J. B.] 



The term Asci is also applied to spore- 

 cases, consisting of a long or roundish cell 

 containing spores. These are characteristic 

 of lichens. 



ASCIDIT7M. A pitcher ; various modifi- 

 cations of leaves containing, or capable of 

 holding fluid, such as are found in Sarra- 

 cenia, Nepenthes, Cephalotus, or even Utri- 

 cularia. 



ASCLEPIADACE^E. {Asclepiadew, Ascle- 



piads, Apocynece in part.) Among monopeta- 



lous exogens with a superior ovary, the 



very lar^re natural order which -bears this 



I name is known by its pollen being col- 



: lected in the form of waxy masses or bags, 



derived from the separable inner lining of 



, the anther cells, and by the fruit consisting 



i most commonly of a pair of divaricating 



follicles. The species differ from Apocy- 



j nacece or Dogbanes in the peculiar struc- 



' ture of the stamina! apparatus : the 



stamens in the latter order being distinct, 



| the pollen powdery, the stigma not par- 



i ticularly dilated, and all these parts distinct 



i the one from the other. But in Asclepiads 



; the whole of the sexual apparatus is con- 



j soiidated into a single body, the centre of 



: which is occupied by a broad disk-like 



stigma, and the grains of pollen cohere in 



the shape of waxy bodies attached finally 



j to the five corners of this stigma, to which 



they adhere by the intervention of pecu- 



| liar glands. 



Fully 1000 species are known, for the 

 I most part inhabiting the tropics of the 

 I Old and New Worlds. Two genera only are 

 ] found in northern latitudes, one of which, 

 ] Asclepias, has many species, and is con- 

 ! fined apparently to North America; the 

 j other, Cynanclium, is remarkable for ex- 

 '■■ tending from 59 D north latitude to 32° south 

 latitude. A. Stapelia is found in Sicily. They 

 i vary extremely in appearance : many being 

 leafless succulents, like Stapelia ; others, 

 | and they are the more numerous, consist- 

 i ing of twiners, like Roya ; while another 

 portion consists of upright herbaceous 

 plants, such as Asclepias and Yincetoxicum ; 

 a few are tropical trees. As a general rule 

 the species are poisonous ; an acrid milk 

 "which pervades all their parts being emi- 

 nently emetic and purgative. 



The genera Stapelia, Hoy a, Asclepias, Yin- 

 cetoxicum, Ceropegia, Periploca, are good 

 examples of the orders. The manner in 

 which the ovules of these plants are fer- 

 tilised by the pollen is among the most 

 curious phenomena known in plants. In- 

 stead of the grains of pollen falling on a 

 viscid stigmatic surface, and then pro- 

 ducing tubes of impregnation, the tubes 

 are formed inside the pollen bags, whence 



they ultimately find their way by a spon- 

 taneous emission, and reach the surface of 

 the stigma without being projected upon 

 it, conducted by some inherent vital power. 

 For a full account of this extraordinary 

 fact, see Lindley's Introduction to Botany, 

 4th edition. 



ASCLEPIAS. From this genus the order 

 Asclepiadacece takes its name. Its charac- 

 ters are as follow : — The corolla consists of 

 five petals, bent downwards towards the 

 stalk; within the petals are five curious 

 boat-shaped processes or cups, forming 

 what is called the coronet, and from each of 

 these cups a curved horn-like body pro- 

 jects ; within these are five stamens, whose 

 filaments are united into a pentangular 

 tube bearing five anthers, which adhere to 

 the five-angled stigma ; the pollen is also 

 remarkable in being aggregated into two 

 separate parcels, suspended on two threads 

 from a sort of gland, but this is a peculiarity 

 not confined to the plants of this genus : 

 the fruit consists of a pair of follicles, 

 which opening, disclose a number of seeds 

 provided with a tuft of glossy silk-like 

 hairs. 



The genus consists of herbaceous plants 

 with a milky juice, and which are for the 

 most part natives of America. Several 

 species are cultivated for the sake of their 

 showy flowers. All of them are more or 

 less poisonous. A. curassavica is employed 

 in the West Indies as an emetic, and goes 

 by the name of Ipecacuanha: the drug 

 truly so named, however, is derived from 

 a very different plant ; see Cephaelis. A. 

 tuberosa, the Butterfly-weed, has mild, pur- 

 gative properties, and promotes perspira- 

 tion and expectoration. A. syriaca, a plant 

 misnamed, as it is a native of America 

 and Canada, is frequently to be met with 

 in gardens ; its dull red flowers are very 

 fragrant, and the young shoots are eaten as 

 asparagus in Canada, where a sort of sugar 

 is also prepared from the flowers, while the 

 silk-like down of the seeds is employed to 

 stuff pillows. Some of the species furnish 

 excellent fibre, which is woven into mus- 

 lins, and in certain parts of India is made 

 into paper. Some one of the species of Ascle- 

 pias\s thought to be the Soma plant so often 

 alluded to as an object of prayer and praise 

 by the antient natives of India, in the 

 Sanskrit Vedas, which are of a not less re- 

 mote antiquity than the thirteenth cen- 

 tury B.C., while some place them so far 

 back as twenty centuries B.C. 'The bruised 

 stem and leaves of the Soma plant yield a 

 juice which, by standing, ferments into an 

 intoxicating liquor, which is supposed to 

 gratifv the gods, and animate them to ex- 

 traordinary exploits. The elevation of the 

 plant to the rank of a deity can only have 

 originated in a stage of semi-barbarism, in 

 the same way as we can imagine that ar- 

 dent spirits might have won the adoration 

 of the North American Indians when first 

 introduced among them. See Max Midler's 

 History of Sanskrit Literature. [M. T. M.] 



ASCOBOLUS. A genus of ascomycetous 

 Fungi, distinguished from Peziza by its 



