S.j.2 A Q, U 
tanv, a genus of tlse decandria monogynia clafs. The ge¬ 
neric characters are —Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, per¬ 
manent ; tube bell-fhaped; border five-cleft; clefts ovate, 
acute, flat, fpreadlng; neikiry one-leafed, pitcher-lhaped, 
length cf the tube of the calyx, half five-cleft;" clefts bi¬ 
fid, obtufe. Stamina: filaments ten, alternate to the clefts 
of the nectary, and fhorter than them; antherae oblong, 
verfatile. Piltillum : germ ovate, on a very fnort pedi¬ 
cel, fuperior ; ftyle none ; fiigma fimple. Pericarpium : 
capfule on a very fliort pedicel, obovate, woody, two- 
celled, two-valved ; with the partition contrary and bi¬ 
partite. Seeds: folitary, oblong. — EJftntial Char after. Ca¬ 
lyx, five-cleft ; nectary pitcher- fliaped, half-five-cleft, 
witli bifid clefts ; capfule fuperior, woody, two-celled, 
two-valved ; feeds folitary. 
There is onlv one fpecies, called aquilaria ovata : it is 
a large tree, with the trunk and branches ere A, and co¬ 
vered with a brown or grey bark, fmooth except towards 
the ends of the twigs, which are villofe; leaves alternate, 
about eight incites in length, quite entire, very fmooth, 
fomewhat coriaceous, having o'ne branched nerve, and very 
fine veins ; the petioles are fliort and hairy ; there are no 
fiipules : flowers terminating, on many-flowered pedun¬ 
cles, The wood of the tree is white and inodorous. Na¬ 
tive of the mountains of Malacca and Cochinchina. The 
aroma of aloes-wood is a difeafe, caufed by oleaginous par¬ 
ticles ftagnating and concreting in the inner parts of the 
trunk and brandies into a refin, by which means the na¬ 
tural appearance of the wood is altered as to colour, fmell, 
See. till at length the tree dies, and when fplit the valua¬ 
ble refin is taken out of it. No part of the tree is la£te- 
ficent or poifonous. All the true lignum aloes, fo called, 
proceed from this tree, even the mod: valuable, which is 
commonly called calumbac, and is found in the mountains 
of Champava, belonging to Cochinchina. The inferior 
fpecies, or rather varieties, are lefs rare, and are fo* nd in 
various places. Perfumes front this wood are highly efteem- 
ed by the oriental nations, and from the bark of the tree 
is made the common paper which the Cochinchinefe life 
for writing, in the fame manner as in Japan from the bark 
of the mulberry (morus papyrifera). This perfume is laid 
to be good in vertigo and pally : the powder reflrains vo¬ 
miting and fluxes, and particularly lienteries; this it brings 
about, not by aflringing, properly fpeaking, but by its cor¬ 
roborating power. It has the name of lignum aloes, or wood 
aloe, from its bitter tafte. 
AQUILF/G 1 A,y. [from aquila, Lat. an eagle; becaufe 
the nectaries are fancied to reiemble an eagle’s claws. Our 
Engliflt name, columbine, is derived from the refemblance 
which the fame parts bear, both in form and colour, in 
the wild ftate, to the head and neck of a pigeon, columba.'] 
In botany, a genus of the polyandria pentagynia clafs, in 
the natural order of multifiliquse or corniculatas. The 
generic characters are—Corolla : petals five, lanceolate- 
ovate, flat, fpreading, equal; nectaries five, equal, alter¬ 
nate with the petals ; each horned, gradually broader up¬ 
wards, with an oblique mouth, afeending outwardly, an¬ 
nexed inwardly to the receptacle; produced below into a 
long attenuated tube, with an obtufe top. Stamina : fila¬ 
ments thirty to forty, fubulate, the outer one fliorter ; an- 
therse oblong, erect, the height of the neftaries. Piftillum: 
germs five, ovate-oblong, ending in fubulate ftyles, longer 
than the flantens ; ftigmasereft, fimple; chaffs ten,wrinkled, 
fliort, feparate, and involving the germs. Pericarpium : 
capfules five, diftinct, cylindric, parallel, ftraight, acumi¬ 
nate, one-valved, gaping from the tops inward. Seeds: 
very many, ovate, keeled, annexed to the gaping future.—• 
Ejjential CharaSter. Petals five ; nedfaries five, horned, be¬ 
tween the petals; capfules five, diftinct. 
Species, i. Aquilegia vifeofa, or clammy columbine : 
ftem alrnoft naked, with vifeid hairs, and one or two flow¬ 
ers ; leaves fubtrilobate. Root perennial; ftem a foot high 
at moft, hifpid with glutinous hairs, quite fimple, or with 
only a fmgle branch or two. Petioles from an inch to 
three inches, in length, with vifeid hairs like the ftem. 
A Q_ U 
proceeding from wide, coloured, ftem-clafping, (heaths. 
The firft root-leaf palmate-three-lobed, the divisions two- 
lobed or three-lobed; the other root-leaves, which are 
four or five in number, ternate, the leaflets equally pe- 
tioled, blunt, digitate-three-parted ; the lateral fegments 
three-lobed or four-lobed; the middle ones always three- 
lobed. Stem-leaf one only, or feldom two, ternate; the 
leaflets quite entire, lanceolate, the middle one longeft. 
Pedpncles ufually two, one axillary, the other terminat¬ 
ing, one-flowered. Nedhiry curved inw'ards. Capfules 
five, vifeid, with netted veins. It varies with a fliort, 
one-flowered, leaflefs, ftem. Native of the fouth of France, 
and the mountains of Piedmont. 
2. Aquilegia vulgaris, or common columbine : nedfaries 
incurved. Stem three feet high, erect, branching, leafy, 
fomewhat angular; leaves fmooth, glaucous underneath ; 
the lower ones petiolate, biternate ; the leaflets roundiflt, 
trilobate, gaftied, and notched ; the upper ones digitate, 
the lobes oval and quite entire; the radical petioles very 
long. The flowers are produced from the tops of the 
naked branches, and hang down ; they have generally fix 
pi/tils and eight nectaries. There are many varieties of 
this fpecies. The ufual colour of the flowers in their 
wild ft ate is blue, but Haller fays the red is common 
about Berne; white ones are alfo feen about Berne. Mr, 
Woodward has found both red and white flowers in Nor¬ 
folk. Haller mentions double flowers occurring in the 
Pays de Vaud. The columbine is found native in moll 
parts of Europe, in woods, hedges, and among bullies. It 
is perennial; and flowers with us in June. The flowers 
vary much by culture ; and become double either by mul¬ 
tiplying the petals, or the nedtaries. Of all thefe varieties, 
there are fubordinate variations, both in the degree of dou- 
blenefs, as with two or more rows of petals, two or three 
rows of nectaries, curioufly inferted one into the other ; 
and in the colours, as blue, white, red, purple, fleflt-co- 
loured, afh-coloured, chefnut-coloured, and ftriped or va¬ 
riegated blue and purple, blue and white, red and white. 
From the different fliape of thefe flowers, perfons not well 
(killed in the culture of plants might fuppofe they were 
diltindt fpecies. The root, the herb, the flowers, the feeds, 
have been recommended to be ufed medicinally, on good 
authority ; but this plant is of a fufpicio'us tribe, and Lin¬ 
naeus affirms, as of his own knowledge, that children have 
loft their lives by an over-dofe of it. The fenfible quali¬ 
ties of the feeds, fays Lewis, afford little foundation for 
their fuppofed virtues in the jaundice, meafies, and fmall- 
pox ; as they do not feem to differ materially from thofe 
of tire cold feeds, being only fomewhat more mucilaginous, 
with a difagreeable relifh. The virtues aferibed to a tinc¬ 
ture of the flowers, as an aritiphlogiftic, and for ftrengthen- 
ing the gums, and deterging fcorbutic ulcers in the mouth, 
appear to be better founded ; the tindture being made with 
an addition of the vitriolic acid, and differing little from 
our officinal tindlure of rofes. The flowers themfelves, as 
well as the conferve and diftilled water of them, directed 
in fonte foreign pharmacopoeias, are infignificant. 
3. Aquilegia alpina, or Alpine columbine : nedtaries 
ftraight, fliorter than the lanceolate petal. Root biennial; 
leaves biternate, tender, and fmaller than in the common 
fort ; the leaflets multifid ; the lobes fublinear and blunt, 
with the appearance and tendernefs of Canadian colum¬ 
bine. The leaflets in the common fort are trifid, but in 
this they are ternate; or they have one pair of feffile lobes, 
with the odd lobe petioled and trifid; the middle fegment 
again trifid, and the fide ones bifid; the middle fegment, 
and the uppermoft of the fide ones, three-toothed ; the 
fide-lobes are of the fame form, but only bifid ; all the 
teeth are roundiffi. In common columbine the petioles are 
twice trifid, and all the lobes petioled ; in this the fide- 
leaves are feffile, and the lobes more deeply cut. The co 7 
rollas are blue, with the tips of the petals yellowiffi green ; 
the anterior part of the nectaries paler blue ; the claws of 
the petals whitiffi within. According to Haller and Al- 
lioni, the nectaries are bent in at the end. The former of 
thefe 
