105 



£i)C (TrcaSurs of 3Sofcms. 



[aste 



CHINA. CaUistephuschinensis. —GOLDEN. 

 A common name for Chrysopsis. — , 

 WHITE-TOPPED. An American name for 

 Sericocarpus. 



ASTERACEiE. (Composite, SynantherecB.) 

 This is the largest natural order of plants, 

 the species occurring in all parts of the 

 •world, and in all places, and forming a total 

 equal to about a tenth of the whole vege- 

 table kingdom. They are recognised by 

 their monopetalous flowers, growing in 

 close heads (capitula), and having at once 

 an inferior one-celled ovary, and stamens 

 whose anthers cohere in a tube (i.e. are 

 syngenesious). De Candolle states as the 

 result of his examination of their natural 

 habit, that out of 8,523, 1,229 were annuals, 

 243 biennials, 2,491 perennials, 2,264 under- 

 shrubs from 1 to 3 feet high, 366 shrubs 

 from 4 to 15 feet high, 72 small trees, 4 

 large trees above 25 feet high, 81 woody 

 plants of which nothing further was 

 known, 126 twiners or climbers, and 1,201, 

 about which nothing certain could be 

 ascertained. Of these 347 grow in the 

 South Sea Islands, 2,224 in Africa, 1,827 in 

 Asia, 1,042 in Europe, and 3,590 in Amer- 

 ica : the Cape of Good Hope possessed 1,540, 

 Mexico 725, Brazil 722, United States and 

 Canada 678, the Levant 610, the Continent 

 of India 681, north and middle Europe 447, 

 Europe in the Mediterranean 595, Australia 

 294. But these numbers greatly require 

 rectification. The uses of the order, real 

 or imaginary, are very numerous and con- 

 flicting. Some are tonic and aromatic like 

 wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium, and 

 others); or vermifuges like those other 

 ! Artemisias known in foreign pharmacy as 

 Semen-contra, or Semencine. A few are 

 powerful rubefacients, as pellitory of 

 Spain (Anacyclus Pyrethrum), and various 

 kinds of Spilanthes which excite salivation. 

 Arnica montana is powerfully narcotic and 

 acrid. Similar evil qualities belong to 

 Cnpis lacera, a most venomous species, 

 said to be no infrequent cause of fatal 

 consequences to those who, in the South 

 of Europe, incautiously use it as salad. 

 Nor are Hieracium virosum and H. sabau- 

 dum altogether free from suspicion. 

 Some species of Pyrethrum have the power 

 of driving away fleas. Many yield in abun- 

 dance a bland oil when their achenes or 

 'seeds' are crushed: such are the sun- 

 flower (HeUanthus animus), the til or ram- 

 til (Yerbesina sativa), largely cultivated 

 in India, and Madia, sativa. A purgative 

 resin is obtained from some allies of the 

 thistles ; others, as Aucklandia Costus, 

 now referred to Aplotaxis Lappa, have aro- 

 matic roots, and are looked upon by Orien 

 tals as aphrodisiacs. Finally, under the 

 name of artichoke, succory, scorzonera, 

 endive, salsafy, and lettuce, we have 

 some of our most harmless and useful 

 esculents. Botanists adopt various modes 

 of classifying this immense mass of 

 species ; but all are subordinate to the 

 four following capital groups, viz :— Cicho- 

 EACEiE : florets allligulate; Corvmbifer^;: 

 florets tubular in the disk: Cynarace^e: 



florets all tubular, with an articulation 

 beiow the stigma ; Labiatiflor^: : florets 

 bilabiate. 



ASTERANTHOS. A genus represented 

 by a single African shrub, whose true affini- 

 ties have not yet been established, and may 

 be one of the survivors of an extinct world. 

 A natural order (provisional to some ex- 

 tent), Napoleonece, has been created to re- 

 ceive it, and the allied genus Napoleona, 

 both possessing sufficient characters to 

 separate them -from every known family. 

 This genus has alternate, ovate-'lanceolate, 

 entire, and shortly petiolate leaves, and 

 solitary axillary flowers. It has a short 

 campanulate, many-toothed calyx, adhe- 

 rent to the ovary, and a simple many-lobed 

 corolla. The indefinite stamens are in- ; 

 serted at the base of the corolla, and have j 

 filiform filaments, and oblong anthers. ! 

 The inferior ovary has a simple style, and ; 

 an obtusely six-lobed stigma. [W. C] i 



ASTE V RE D'AFRIQUE. (Fr.) Agathcea I 

 amelloides. 



ASTEROLINUM. A genus of the prim | 

 rose family, with a single species, A. stel- 

 latum, found in S. Europe and Asia Minor, j 

 chiefly on the sea coast. It is" a little erect 

 or decumbent annual, one to three inches , 

 high, with opposite linear leaves, one-sixth 

 of an inch in length, bearing in their 

 axils single stalked minute flowers, whose 

 greenish-white corollas are nearly hidden 

 by the calyx. The minute corollas and few- 

 seeded capsules are the chief distinguish- 

 ing marks between this genus and Lysi- 

 machia, in which the plant was placed by 

 Linnaeus with the name Lysimachia li- 

 numrstellatum, alluding to its flax-like 

 leaves and starry flowers. [A. A. BJ 



ASTEROSTEMMA. A genus of Ascle- I 

 piadece, having the following distinguish- 

 ing characters : the coronet of the stamens 

 five-lobed, fleshy, short, coloured, and cup- 

 shaped, its lobes crescent-like, or three- 

 toothed, opposite to the anthers, which 

 latter are terminated by a membranous 

 crest ; the pollen masses are erect. A. ; 

 repandum is a climbing shrub inhabiting ' 

 Java. [M. T. M.] j 



ASTEROSTIGMA. A genus of the 

 family Aracece, comprising one or two 

 Brazilian species, which have a tuberous 

 rootstock, from which arise the leaves and 

 also the stalked spadix, encircled by a ! 

 spreading purplish spathe. The male j 

 flowers are at the upper part of the spadix; I 

 the anthers open by a terminal pore. The 

 ovaries which are placed at the lower part 

 of the spadix surrounded by abortive sta- 

 mens, are three or four-celled, each cell 

 containing a single erect ovule. The style 

 is short and terminated by a flattened 

 stigma, which is divided into three or 

 four segments, each of which is again 

 divided into two, giving to the stigma that 

 star-like or radiating appearance denoted 

 by the name of the genus. [M. T. MJ 



ASTRAGALUS. A genus of perennial 



