aven] 



HEfyz Ereatfurg of 3Kntang. 



112 



crop was preserved throughout the winter, 

 and sown in a different part of the garden in 

 the spring of 1853 ; we repeated the process 

 with successive, crops in 1854 and 1855, in 

 each of which we noted an increase of ten- 

 dencies in the following direction : 1. a 

 gradual decrease in the quantity of hairs 

 on the pales ; 2. a more tumid grain, in 

 which the pales were less coarse and the 

 awns not so strong and rigid ; 3. a gradual 

 increased development of kernel or flour. 

 The produce again sown in 1856 had so far 

 advanced, that we collected poor, but still 

 decided samples of what are known as 

 the Potato and Tartarian forms of Oat. 

 These we have gone on improving until, 

 in 1860, we had a quarter of an acre each 

 of good white Tartarian and Potato Oats, 

 as a farm crop, which had heen derived 

 from the wild example. This is the more 

 interesting, because farmers have always 

 stated, especially on the poor lias clays of 

 Gloucester and "Worcester, that they could 

 not grow oats without leaving behind a 

 quantity of wild or weed oat ; and our sub- 

 sequent inquiries have convinced us that 

 shed oats in some situations do really de- 

 generate into wild ones, and the first stage 

 in the process of degeneration will be ob- 

 served in an accession of hairs at the base 

 of the grain, which good cereal oats never 

 possess. 



We may then view the different forms of 

 crop Oats, as induced varieties from the A. 

 fatua. In cultivation, it would appear that 

 the best and plumpest oats are grown in 

 North Britain ; here they make a good 

 meal, which is much used as human food, 

 Oatmeal, ' parraitch ' being indeed an ar- 

 ticle of diet far more nourishing than the 

 potato, which is the more usual food of 

 the southern. [J. B.] 



AVENS. The common name for Geum. 



AVERRHOA. A genus of Oxalidacece, 

 consisting of a few small trees, originally 

 from the Moluccas and Ceylon, but cul- 

 tivated throughout India, They have ever- 

 green alternate pinnated leaves, some- 

 what like those of the ash, or rather the 

 sumach, and small purplish flowers in ra- 

 cemes. The fruit is like a gurken in shape, 

 very acid, but pleasant when made into 

 syrup, candied, or pickled. The leaves are 

 slightly sensitive. A. BilimM, the Blimb- 

 ing, has many pairs of leaflets, and the 

 flowers produced from the trunk. A. Ca- 

 rambola, the Caramba,, has only from two 

 to five pairs of leaflets, and the flowers pro- 

 duced from the branches. [J. T. S.] 



AVET. (Fr.) Abies pectinata. 



AVICENNIA. A genus of the vervain 

 family, Yerbenacece. The plants com- 

 prised in this genus are called White Man- 

 groves, and, like the true Mangroves, are 

 found in the tidal estuaries of most tro- 

 pical countries. They are small trees, with 

 opposite evergreen leaves, which are ob- 

 long, entire, and covered beneath with a 

 white pubescence. Their flowers are incon- 

 spicuous, and arranged in closely-packed 



terminal bunches. Their roots stand out 

 of the mud in which they grow, overarch- 

 ing each other in erect-angled masses, and 

 sending up Asparagus-like shoots from 

 their underground parts. A. tomentosa is 

 in great reputation in Rio for tanning. 

 The native washermen of India (dhobies) 

 make a preparation from the ashes of the 

 wood, which they use in washing or clean- 

 ing cotton cloths. ' The green fruits 

 boiled with butter form poultices, used in 

 native practice. In N. S. Wales the wood 

 is valued for stone-masons' mallets, on ac- 

 count of its toughness. A. nitida is called 

 Courida in British Guiana. The wood is 

 used for the foundations of buildings and 

 underground work, on account of its power 

 of resisting damp ; exposed to the atmo- 

 sphere it soon perishes. The bark is used 

 for tanning in the W. Indies. [A. A. B.] 



AVIGNON BERRTES. The yellow dye- 

 berries of the Buckthorn, Rhamnus in/ec- 

 torius. 



AVOCATIER. (Fr.) Persea gratissima. 



AVOINE. (Fr.) Avena sativa. — A^ 

 CHAPELET. Avena bulbosa. — DE HON- 

 GRIE. Avena orientalis. 



AWL TREE. The Indian Mulberry, 

 Morinda citrifolia. 



AWL-WORT. The common name for 

 Subularia. 



AWN. The beard of corn, or any such 

 slender process. 



AXIL, AXILLA. The angle formed be- 

 tween the axis and any organ that grows 

 from it ; the base of a lateral ascending 

 organ, on the upper side. 



AXILE, AXIAL. Of or belonging to the 

 axis. 

 AXILLARY. Growing in the axil of 



anything. 



AXIS. The stem, including the root; 

 or any centre round which leaves and 

 other organs are arranged. The stem is 

 called the ascending axis, the root the de- 

 scending axis. — , ACCESSORY. An axis 

 of a second rank ; secondary to some prin- 

 cipal axis. — , APPENDAGES OF THE. 

 All the leafy or thin expansions that grow 

 upon a stem, such as leaves, and the parts 

 of a ftow T er. 



AYAPANA. The sudorific Eupatorium 

 Ayapana, which is said to be a valuable 

 remedy for the bites of poisonous snakes. 



AYART. (Fr.) Acer opulifulium. 



AYDENDRON. A genus of tropical 

 American trees of the laurel family, Lau- 

 racece. They have a funnel-shaped, six- 

 parted perianth, containing twelve stamens 

 in four rows ; the nine outer stamens have 

 anthers, the three innermost are sterile ; 

 of the fertile stamens the three innermost 



; have glands on each side at the base, and 

 their anthers open outwardly ; the remain- 



I der have no glands, and their anthers open 



