2l8 
ABILDGAARDIA 
Abildgaardia Vahl. = Fimbristylis Vahl. 
Abobra Naud. Cucurbitaceae (hi), t sp. temp. S. Am. 
Abolboda Humb. et Bonpl. Xyridaceae. 7 sp. S. Am. 
Abroma Jacq. Sterculiaceae. 9 sp. trop. As. to Austr. The bark of 
A. augusta L. (Indo-Mal.) yields a good fibre. 
Abronia Juss. Nyctaginaceae (1). 12 sp. N. Am. Anthocarp winged. 
Abrotanella Cass. Compositae (vn). 12 sp. Rodriguez, Tierra del 
Fuego, Austr., N. Z., Auckland Is. 
Abrus Linn. Leguminosae (ill. 9). 6 sp. trop. A . precatorius L. has 
hard red seeds with black tips (crab’s eyes), strung into necklaces, 
rosaries, &c., and used as weights in India. Their colour is said to 
attract birds, but they are quite inedible (cf. Adenanthera). See 
Kew Bull . 1890, p. 1 (Weather Plant). 
Absinthium Tourn. ex Linn. = Artemisia Tourn. 
Abuta (Barr.) Aubl. Menispermaceae. 23 sp. trop. S. Am. A. 
rufescens Aubl. (Guiana) yields white Pareira root ; others yield 
poisons. 
Abutilon Tourn. Malvaceae (11). 80 sp. trop. and warm temp. Many 
are grown in hot-houses. There is no epicalyx. The mechanism of 
the fir. is like that of Malva (esp. M . silvestris\ but in some sp. the 
firs, are quite self-sterile ; the sta. do not move downwards, but the 
styles emerge through the mass of anthers, the pollination they thus 
receive producing no effect. Many sp. are visited by humming-birds 
(p. 99). A. Avicennae Gaertn. (N. temp.), cult, in China, yields the 
fibre China jute. 
Acacia (Tourn.) Linn. Leguminosae (1. 2). 450 sp. trop. and sub- 
trop., mostly trees (wattles); the typical leaf-form is bipinnate 
with 00 leaflets and small scaly stipules. About 300 sp. , forming 
the section Phyllodineae (chiefly in Austr. and Polynes.), have simple 
leaf-like phyllodes , i.e. petioles flattened so as to place their surfaces 
vertically — this exposes less surface to radiation. A mere inspection, 
though it shows the phyllode to be a leaf-structure (it has an axillary 
bud), does not show that it is not a leaf turned edgewise, though it 
shows no twist at the base. Occasionally however there are “rever- 
sions to type” on the plant, some phyllodes occurring with 
leaf-blades at their ends, of the ordinary bipinnate type. This is still 
better seen in germinating seedlings (p. 29). The first leaves are 
typical bipinnate leaves ; they are followed by others with slightly 
flattened stalks and less blade, and so on, until finally only phyllodes 
are produced. In A. alata R.Br. and others, the phyllodes are 
decurrent on the stem, like the leaves of thistles. In many sp. the 
stipules are represented by large thorns, swollen at the base. In 
A. sphaerocephala Cham, et Schlecht. (Cent. Am.), the thorns are 
inhabited by colonies of ants, which bore into them and clear out the 
internal tissue. The ants live only on the A. and are fed by it. 
Extrafloral nectaries occur on the petioles, and curious yellow sausage- 
shaped ‘ food-bodies ’ on the tips of the leaflets. These consist of 
