ANTHYLLIS. 



17 



ANTIRRHINUM. 



der annuals, and care should be taken 

 to search for them early in the morn- 

 ing and late in the evening ; or to de- 

 stroy them by watering the ground 

 with lime water, so weak as not to 

 disfigure the plants. 



Anona, L. — Anonacece. — The 

 Custard Apple. — Stove shrubs and 

 low trees, natives of the East and 

 West Indies. The hardy species are 

 now formed into a separate genus, 

 under the name of Asimina ; and one 

 species, A. triloba, which has very 

 curious flowers, is frequently found in 

 gardens and shrubberies. 



Anomathe v ca. — Iridacece. — Cape 

 bulbs, with red flowers, and rather 

 curious capsules, which have the ap- 

 pearance of being frosted. The bulbs 

 should be planted in April, when they 

 will produce flowers in June, and 

 continue flowering till September. 

 They should be taken up in November, 

 and kept in a dry place till the follow- 

 ing April. A.juncea was formerly 

 considered a Lapeyrousia. 



A'nthemis. — Composites. — The 

 Chamomile. — A. Pyrethrum, the 

 Pellitory of Spain, is a pretty little 

 perennial, with large white flowers, 

 stained with lilac on the back. It is 

 a suitable plant for rock -work, or 

 boxes in a balcony, as it requires a 

 warm dry situation. Miller raised 

 this plant in rather a curious way in 

 1732, finding its seeds among some 

 Malaga raisins to which they had ad- 

 hered. The root was formerly con- 

 sidered a cure for the toothache. The 

 Arabian chamomile, a pretty low- 

 growing hardy annnal, with yellow 

 flowers, is now called Cladanthus 

 Arabicus. 



Antholyza. — Iridacea. — Cape 

 bulbs with showy flowers. For their 

 culture, see Anomatheca. 



Anthyllis. — Leyuminosce. — Kid- 

 ney vetch. Dwarf plants with pretty 

 flowers ; generally used for rock- 



work ; which are quite hardy, &c. ; 

 will grow in any common soil. 



Ants are very troublesome crea- 

 tures in hothouses and greenhouses, 

 and it is very difficult to get rid of 

 them. As, however, it has been 

 found that the liquor discharged by 

 ants is very acid and acrid, the idea 

 presented itself that alkalies would 

 be disagreeable to them ; and experi- 

 ence proves this so far to be the case, 

 that a circle of chalk or lime laid 

 round any plant, will effectually pre- 

 vent the ants from touching it. 



Antirrhinum. — Scrophularince. 

 — The Snapdragon. Annual and 

 perennial plants, natives of the middle 

 and south of Europe, and of which 

 one species, A. rnajus, the common 

 snapdragon, is in almost every garden. 

 There are many varieties of this species, 

 the finest of which, A. m. caryophyl- 

 lo'ides, has the flowers striped like 

 those of a flaked carnation. All the 

 species of snapdragon grow in any 

 soil that is tolerably dry, and they are 

 readily increased by cuttings ; for 

 though they produce abundance of 

 seeds, yet the varieties can only be 

 perpetuated with certainty by the 

 former mode of propagation. The 

 beautiful carnation-like variety will, 

 indeed, very seldom produce striped 

 flowers two years in succession from 

 the same root ; and thus a person who 

 has purchased a plant with beautifully 

 striped flowers, will generally have the 

 mortification the second year to find 

 it produce nothing but flowers of the 

 common snapdragon, unless he has 

 taken the precaution to make cuttings 

 from the young shoots of his plant, 

 and has thrown the root away. As 

 this plant in its wild state is very com- 

 monly found growing on the tops of 

 old walls, it may be considered as one 

 of the most ornamental plants foi 

 placing in such a situation. Many of 

 the plants formerly called Antirrhi- 

 c 



