and pedicellate axillary solitary flowers, ' 

 with two deciduous bracteoles. Theflowei's ■ 

 are monoecious. The male flower is campa- 

 nulate, with a very short tube, and eight 

 lobes ; and the ten to twelve fertile sta- 

 mens are mixed with scale-shaped barren I 

 ones. The calyx of the female flower is 

 the same as in the male ; the ovaries 

 numerous, sessile, and distinct, with one 

 cell and one ovule. [W. C] 



ATHYRIUM. A genus of polypodiaceous 

 ferns of the section Aspleniece, closely 

 allied to Asplenium, with which some have 

 united it. It agrees with that genus in 

 the peculiarities of having free veins, and 

 simple distinct indusia ; but the sori are lu- 

 nate or more or less horse-shoe-formed (hip- 

 pocrepif orm), this distinguishing character 

 being most strongly developed in the sori 

 which are placed more immediately in the 

 neighbourhood of the principal veins. 

 The species, several in number, found in 

 various parts of the world, are mostly de- 

 ciduous in habit; and one of them, A.Fi- 

 lir fcemina, the Lady Fern, is plentiful in 

 Great Britain, where it assumes a great 

 A T ariety of beautiful forms, which will be 

 found described in Moore's Handbook of 

 British Ferns, or more fully, accompanied 

 in many instances, by figures, in the Octavo 

 Nature-Printed British Ferns. The Lady 

 Fern has bipinnate or tripinnate fronds 

 of delicate texture, and of a remarkably 

 elegant plumy character. [T. M.] 



ATLEE GALL. A gall nut produced 



abundantly by Tamarix orientalis, which 

 is called Atle by the Egyptians. It is filled 

 with a deep scarlet liquid. 



ATEACTYLIS. A genus of prickly- 

 leaved thistle-like plants-,belonging to the 

 composite family (Composites). They are 

 perennial or annual herbs, from three 

 inches to one and a half foot high, with 

 toothed or pinnatifld leaves, their mar- 

 gins often spiny. The flower-heads are ter- 

 minal, solitary, or three to four together, 

 having a double involucre, the scales of the 

 external one pinnatifld and leafy, with spi- 

 nous teeth, standing apart from the inner 

 involucre, and forming, as it were, a fence 

 round the flower head. The scales of the 

 inner involucre are ovate or lanceolate, 

 I terminating in a spinous point. The florets 

 J are generally of a pink colour. One species 

 1 is found in North China, and all the others 

 I are natives of the Mediterranean region, 

 abounding in Algeria, and growing chiefly 

 in arid desert places. [A. A. B.] 



ATRAGENE. A genus of somewhat 

 woody-stemmed Ranunculaeeo', of climbing 

 habit', differing from Clematis only by 

 having petals, which, however, are small 

 and pass gradually into stamens. The 

 sepals are large and coloured, usually pur- 

 plish as in the solitary flowered species 

 of Clematis; the leaves opposite, compound, 

 ternate, the leaf-stalks twining round sup- 

 porting bodies. They occur in the tem- 

 perate regions of both the New and Old 

 Continents, in the northern hemisphere. 



One species, A. alpina, is not uncommon 

 in gardens. [J. T. S.] 



ATRAPHAXIS. A genus of Asiatic and 

 Cape of Good Hope Polygonacece, forming 

 low shrubs with rigid much-branched 

 often spiny stems, and small entire oblong 

 leathery leaves ; stipules sheathing, with 

 a small free appendage on each side; 

 flowers fasciculate near the end of the 

 branches, on short peduncles ; calyx 

 coloured, four-leaved, the two inner divi- 

 sions largest, conspicuously so in front 

 (they are probably really petals) ; stamens 

 six ; styles two ; fruit a small lens-shaped 

 nut, included between the two large ovate 

 deltoid calyx segments. A few species are 

 cultivated as greenhouse plants, but their 

 scrubby stems and small flowers present 

 few attractions. A. spinosa is a dwarf 

 hardy shrub. [J. T. S.] 



ATRIPLEX. Orache. A genus of Cheno- 

 pocliacece, with the foliage covered with a 

 granular mealiness. The" Oraches are 

 chiefly distinguished by the two bracts or 

 small leaves, enclosing the fruit, and en- 

 larging after flowering ; they are frequently 

 dotted with large-coloured warts, which 

 give them a peculiar appearance. The 

 genus possesses several species, which are 

 very variable inform, according to soil and 

 situation. They inhabit waste places or mud 

 banks by the sea shore, rarely occurring 

 inland, with the exception of the Atriplex 

 patula, which accompanies arable cultiva- 

 tion, especially in wet sandy clays. The 

 following are British species: — A. por- 

 tulacoioles, Purslane Orache, a straggling 

 branched sub-shrub ; A. patula, Common 

 Orache, of which there are several varieties, 

 distinguished by a more or less upright 

 habit, and leaves of various gradations, 

 from lancet ]to halberd-shaped ; A. peduncu- 

 Iqta, Stalked Orache, which has the fruits 

 always on a pedicel or footstalk. [J. B.] 



The Garden Orache, or Mountain Spinach 

 (A. hortensis), is a tall erect growing hardy 

 annual plant, a native of Tartary, intro- 

 duced in 1548. It is not much cultivated in 

 this country, but in France, under the name 

 of Arroche, it is grown to some extent for 

 the sake of its large and somewhat succu- 

 lent leaves, which are either used alone as 

 spinach, or mixed with sorrel, for the pur- 

 pose of correcting its acidity. The quality 

 of the spinach yielded by Orache is far 

 inferior to that of the common spinach 

 (Spinaeia oleracea), or even of the New 

 Zealand spinach {Tetragonia expansa) ; but 

 its leaves being produced abundantly dur- 

 ing summer, it is occasionally found useful 

 i for culinary purposes. There are several 

 i varieties of this plant cultivated, but 

 | they do not differ in any other respect, ex- 

 | cepting in the colour of their stems and 

 leaves, which vary from pale green to a 

 red or lurid purple, and are very orna- 

 mental. The seeds are said to be so unwhole- 

 some as to excite vomiting. See Lindley's 

 Vegetable Kingdom, p. 573. [W. B. B.] 



ATRIPLICES. A synonyme of Clienopo- 

 diacece. 



