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with rigid stinging hairs, furnished with 

 lance-shaped or ovate leaves, the little 

 flowers densely packed in their axils, males 

 and females in the same involucre. F. an- 

 gustifolia is said to be used in the Canary 

 islands to promote perspiration. The 

 genus hears the name of M. P. Forskal, a 

 botanist of the last century who wrote a 

 flora of Egypt and Arabia Felix. [A. A. B.] 



FORSTERA, A genus of Stylidiacem 

 with a calyx of from three to six lobes ; 

 corolla white, campanulate, with a four to 

 nine-lobed spreading limb ; stamens and 

 style united into a central erect column 

 surmounting the ovary, having at its base 

 i two large erect subulate or lunate glands. 

 The anthers, on the top of the column, are 

 sessile, bursting transversely, the two 

 halves hooded, the upper turned back; 

 stigma two-lobed, feathery, and spreading 

 in the female flowers; fruit a membranous 

 capsule. The stems are simple or branched, 

 two to three inches in height ; the leaves 

 more or less closely imbricated, alternate; 

 the flowers monoecious or dioecious. Very 

 remarkable Alpine plants, natives of Tas- 

 mania, New Zealand, and Fuegia. [R. H.] 



FORSYTHIA. A genus of shrubs be- 

 longing to the Oleacece, having a four-part- 

 ed calyx, a shallow bell-shaped four-cleft 

 corolla, a two-lobed stigma, and capsular 

 fruit. F. viridissima is very ornamental 

 in March, with its numerous tufts of 

 rather large pendulous bright greenish- 

 yellow flowers, which grow two or three 

 together from all parts of the rod-like 

 branches. After these have faded, the 

 slightly aromatic shining oblong lanceo- 

 late leaves make their appearance; they 

 remain till late in autumn, turning yellow 

 or purple before they fall off. The shrub 

 then has somewhat the habit of a willow, 

 but the stems are four-angled and studded 

 with a number of large prominent buds. 

 It is perfectly hardy. [C. A. J.] 



FORTUNE A. A genus of Juglandacece 

 found in North China and Japan, and re- 

 presented by a single species, F. chinensis, 

 a smooth pinnate-leaved bush with the 

 aspect of a Sumach, its leaves being com- 

 posed of five to seven pairs of lance-shaped 

 unequal-sided sharply serrated leaflets 

 with an odd one. The branches are ter- 

 minated by a cluster of slender drooping 

 catkins of green male flowers somewhat 

 like those of a willow, and a solitary cone- 

 like and erect female catkin, made up of 

 a number of hard-pointed bracts closely 

 overlapping each other, and each bearing 

 in its axil a little one-seeded, two-winged 

 nut. According to Mr. Fortune, who first 

 gathered the plant, and whose name it 

 bears, the Chinese use the fruits to dye 

 the black colour of their clothes. Its 

 cone-like female catkins suffice to distin- 

 guish it from other genera. [A. A. B.] 



FORTUYNIA A genus of Cruciferm 

 allied to Eaphanus, but with the two lower 

 cells of the pod empty, the two upper one- 

 seeded and indehiscent. The pod is flat- 

 tened, broadly winged, resembling that of 



Isatis : indeed, the genus is founded on the 

 I. Garcini, an eastern plant. [J. T. SJ 



FOTHERGILLA. A genus of the witch- 

 hazels, named in honour of Dr. Fothergill, 

 a London physician and patron of Botany 

 of the last century. The corolla is want- 

 ing ; the stamens usually twenty-four in 

 number, their filaments long and clubbed. 

 The species are dwarf deciduous shrubs, 

 natives of North America, having white 

 and sweet-scented flowers. [G. D.] 



FOUGERE COMMUNE or GRANDE. 

 (Fr.) Pteris aquilina. — FEMELLE. 

 Athyrium FiUx-fcemina , also Pteris aqui- 

 lina. — FLEURIE. Osmunda regalis. — 

 MALE. Lastrea Filix-mas. — MUSQUEE. 

 Scandix odorata. 



FOUNTAIN TREE. A popular name for 

 Cedrus Beodara. 



FOURCROTA. An amaryllidaceous 

 genus closely related to Agave, and like it 

 having long-lived massive stems, great 

 fleshy leaves, and a very tall pyramidal 

 terminal inflorescence produced after the 

 lapse of many years. Herbert speaks of 

 F. longaiva as the most magnificent plant 

 in the order, beyond all comparison : its 

 stem fortv feet high; its leaves less rigid 

 and erect than in Yucca; its inflorescence 

 thirty feet high, the lower branches of the 

 terminal pyramid twelve to fifteen feet 

 long; and its white flowers innumerable. 

 These flowers consist of a six-parted pe- 

 rianth, with regular nearly patent seg- 

 ments, subulate conniving filaments with 

 versatile anthers, a straight hollow trian- 

 gular style enlarged below, and a triangu- 

 lar fringed stigma. The species are rather 

 widelv dispersed, occurring in South Ame- 

 rica, Mexico, West Indies, New Holland, 

 I and Madagascar. F. gigantea was formerly 

 called Agave fcetida, and is a smaller plant 

 than the foregoing. [T. M.] 



FOUR O'CLOCK FLOWER. Mirabilis 

 dichotoma. 



FOUROUCHE. (Fr.) Trifolium incar- 

 natum. 

 FOUTEAU. (Fr.) Fagus sylvatica. 

 FOVEA (adj. FOVEATE, dim. FOYEO- 

 LATE). A small excavation or pit : hence 

 pitted. 



I FOVEOLE. The perithecium of certain 

 fungals. 



FOVEOLARIA. A genus of the Styrax 



I family, peculiar to Peru, and represented 



by a single species, F. ferruginea, so named 



because of the copious rusty down which 



I clothes the branches, flower racemes, and 



I under surface of the leaves. It is a tall 



bush, with alternate elliptical entire 



leaves ; and the little white flowers, which 



' are somewhat like those of the Styrax, but 



smaller, are borne in axillary racemes, and 



have a five-toothed calyx, five oblong 



petals, and ten stamens adhering by their 



stalks intoatubesoastobemonadelphous; 



this latter character being* the chief dis- 



