lO 



AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF 



and will quickly cover an arbour or trellis with, verdure and bloom. 

 The flowers are ornamental, of a deep purple colour, and produced 

 in clusters somewhat like the Y>"isteria, and are very sweet scented, 

 after the smell of the Violet. It is said that the tubers of this plant 

 answered as a tolerable substitute for bread in the early days of 

 American colonisation. 



Aponogeton distachyon. — A very interesting, hardy, aquatic herb 

 from South Africa, with floating leaves, and producing an abund- 

 ance of delicate fragrant white-tinted flowers throughout the 

 summer, the scent of the bloom very much resembles our Hawthorn, 

 and it is readily cultivated in a suitable water-tank. In its native 

 habitat it appears almost spontaneously at certain seasons when 

 the heavy rains collect in shallow places, and here it blooms ^yo- 

 fusely, filling the air with a dainty fragrance. With the return of 

 the drought it dies away as quickly as it came. 



Aquilegia [Columhine^ Cocksfoot or Culver icort). — A graceful herbaceous 

 perennial plant, common in village gardens all over the country, 

 and wild in some parts ; there are many vastly improved forms 

 that are objects of great beauty ; the whole group possess peculiar 

 scented attractions, the variety A. fragrans from Northern India 

 being the most powerfully perfumed. The Columbines are all 

 inhabitants of the temperate and even the colder regions of the 

 Northern Hemisphere, in the nev\^ world as well as the old ; they 

 usually prefer woody situations in mountainous countries, although 

 some of the more alpine species are also found thriving in the 

 crevices of elevated rocks. The Common Columbine, A, vulgaris, 

 is found in copses and hedges, and generally is of a blue shade of 

 colour, and perfumed like hay. The poet Browne speaks of it in 

 all its colours : — 



* So did the maidens with their flowers entwine 

 The scented white, the blue, and flesh-like Columbine.' 



Aristolochia odoratissima.— A member of a large family of tropical 

 climbing plants with sweet-scented flowers. Native of the West 

 Indies. 



Aromadendron elegans. — A Javanese tree of stately proportions, 

 bearing highly odoriferous flowers. 



Artabotrys odoratissima. — An Indian climbing shrub with handsome 

 dense foliage ; its pale yellow flowers, hidden almost from view 

 by the leaves, emit agreeable gusts of perfume, somewhat like that 

 of ripe apples. This shrub is very ornamental when covered with 

 its suiall golden pear-like fruit. 



Artemisia Abrotanum (Southern-ivood or Old Man), named after the 



