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ZAMIA. 
ZAMIA. A genus of curious, exotic, evergreen 
plants, of the cycas tribe. See the article Cycas. 
Twenty-one species have been introduced to the 
greenhouses and garden stoves of Britain from 
South Africa, the Bahama islands, and the West 
Indies. They vary in height from 1 foot to 15 
feet; the majority have confluent leaflets and 
one-celled anthers, and the rest have basal-jointed 
leaflets and two-celled anthers; and all love a soil 
of peaty loam or of loamy peat, and are propa- 
gated from suckers. The specific names of most 
are sufficiently indicative of some of their most 
obvious distinctive characters; as the broad- 
leaved, the cycas-leaved, the long-leaved, the 
cycas-like, the three-toothed, the narrow-leaved, 
the entire-leaved, the repand, the plum-bearing, 
the woolly, the spiral, the pricking, the spiny, 
the slender, and the furfuraceous. The most 
ornamental are the slender, 1 foot high; the 
Caffrarian, 4 feet; the spiny, 5 feet; the broad- 
leaved, 6 feet ; the repand, 6 feet; and the plum- 
bearing, 15 feet. Most are liable, like the cycases, 
to receive the popular misnomer of sago-palms. 
ZANNICHELLIA. See Hornep Ponpwerp. — 
ZANTHOXYLUM. See Toormacun-Trex, 
ZAPPANIA. A small genus of exotic, ever- 
green, herbaceous plants, of the verbena family. 
Two species, the knot-flowered and the stoechas- 
leaved, both about a foot high» and carrying 
purple flowers in August, were long ago intro- 
duced to British hothouses from America; a 
beautiful variety of the knot-flowered, about 4 
inches high and carrying rosy-coloured flowers, 
was introduced a few years ago from Chili; and 8 
or 9 other species are known. 
ZHA. See Maize, 
ZEBRA. See Horse. 
ZEBRA PLANT. See Canatuea. 
ZKBU. See Ox. 
ZEDOARY. See Turmeric. 
ZEPHYRANTHES. A genus of ornamental, 
exotic, bulbous-rooted plants, of the amaryllis 
family. About a dozen species, chiefly about 6 
or 9 inches high, most with either white or red 
or pink flowers, some hardy, others more or less 
tender, and all loving a fertile porous soil and 
propagable from cuttings, have been introduced 
to Britain from various parts of America. The 
species called popularly the Atamasco lily, and 
by the old botanists Amaryllis Atamasco, and 
introduced so long ago as the year 1629, is by far 
the best known, and may serve as a good speci- 
men of the whole. It is a native of Virginia 
and Carolina, and grows very plentifully there in 
the fields and woods, and makes a most beautiful 
ZIGADENUS. (en 
floral display in the months of May and June. 
It attains a height of only about 6 or 8 inches; 
yet carries almost as large flowers as those of the 
small orange lily; and is so hardy as to thrive in 
the open air in Britain, provided its roots are 
planted in a warm situation and upon a dry soil. 
The flowers are produced single; and at their 
first appearance have a fine carnation colour on 
their outside; but afterwards fade away to a 
pale flesh colour, or almost to pure white. This 
plant sometimes blooms also in August. 
ZERUMBET. See Turmeric. 
ZEXMENIA. An ornamental, evergreen, her- 
baceous, yellow-flowered, Mexican plant, of the 
sunflower division of the composite order. It 
constitutes a genus of itself; and is specifically 
and descriptively called the tagetes-flowered,— 
tagetiflora. It was introduced to Britain about 
20 years ago; has a height of about 2 feet, and 
blooms in September; requires some protection 
in winter; and is raised from seeds, and will 
thrive in any common soil. . 
ZICHYA. See Kunnepia. 
ZIERIA. A genus of ornamental, evergreen, 
Australian shrubs, of the rue family. About a 
dozen species, varying in height from 8 to 6 feet, 
have been introduced to Britain. They are not 
so showy as some others of the multitudes of lig- 
neous beauties which have been brought to this 
country from Australia; yet they possess much 
elegance, and well deserve the attention of refined 
cultivators. The leaves of most or all are trifo- 
liate; the flowers have a four-cleft calyx anda 
four-petalled corolla, and in most cases are white ; 
and the capsules are four-celled and four-lobed, 
and contain each four oval compressed seeds. The 
smooth species, Z. laevigata, is peculiarly hand- 
some, and serves as a favourable representative 
of the whole genus. Its branches are cylindrica], 
spreading, slender, and smooth ;:its leaves are op- 
posite, and stand on short smooth footstalks, and 
are trifoliately palmate; its leaflets are linear, 
pointed, reflexed or wavy, from half an inch to 
one inch long, dark green and smooth above, and 
whitish and very finely downy below; and its 
flowers grow in corymbs or little loose bunches 
of from three to ten, and have a white colour 
with a slight tinge of pink, and bloom from May 
till July. All the species love a soil of sandy 
peat, and are propagated from cuttings. 
ZIGADENUS. A small genus of hardy, orna- 
mental, North American, herbaceous plants, of 
the melanthium family. Several species, all 
about 12 or 20 inches high, with either white or 
cream-coloured flowers, have been introduced to 
