\ = pon : = 
ARIL. 
ramified ; its branches are smooth, spotted with 
white, and seemingly powdered with the finest 
meal; its buds appear in winter, at the end of 
the branches and spray, swelled for the next 
year’s shoot, and giving the leafless tree a bold 
and fine appearance; its leaves are oval, un- 
equally serrated, about three inches in length, 
and an inch and a half in breadth, green on their 
upper surface, white on their lower surface, in- 
tersected with strong nerves from the midrib to 
the border, placed in alternations on the branches, 
and constituting, in their aggregate appearance, 
a very beautiful foliage; the flowers are white, 
and grow in large bunches, on mealy footstalks, 
at the ends of the branches; and the berries are 
red, and become riper in autumn. This tree is a 
beautiful object at all seasons of the year, and 
forms a finely ornamental feature on the margins 
of plantations. Its timber is both hard and 
tough, and serves well for cart -axles, tool- 
handles, and other similar purposes. — Loudon, 
Miller, and Marshall,—the two last under the ore 
CRATHGUS. 
ARIL, or Artutus. A coat or an enveloping 
appendage of a seed. It invests the seed, in some 
| eases wholly, and in other cases partially ; but in 
no case does it closely adhere to the seed at any 
point except the base ; and in every case it 
eventually detaches itself from the seed by spon- 
taneous action, or by maturity of growth. It 
- may be regarded as strictly an expansion of the 
umbilical cord. A beautiful example of it, as an 
entire envelop, occurs in the seed of the spindle- 
tree, Huonymus Europea, where it exists as an 
outer and orange - coloured coat, and becomes 
very conspicuous to observation at the opening 
of the valves of the capsule; and a corresponding 
example of it, as a partial envelop, appears in 
the seed of the intimately allied genus of celas- 
trus or the staff-tree. In the spindle-tree, it has 
a somewhat succulent texture; in the oxalis 
genus, it is membranaceous and elastic, and parts 
from the ripened seed with a considerable jerk ; 
in a few species of orchis, it resembles a finely 
reticulated web ; in most plants, it has either a 
membranaceous or a leathery sort of texture; 
and in thenutmeg-plant, Myristica moschata, it is 
fleshy, leathery, and reddish-saffron coloured, and, 
when separated and dried, is the well known mace 
of commerce. 
ARISTOLOCHIA, — popularly Birthwort. A 
genus of ornamental and medicinal plants, form- 
ing with the Asarum or Asarabacca genus, the na- 
tural order Aristolochiz. This order are situated 
on the extreme verge of the exogenous division 
of the vegetable kingdom, and approach closely, 
in structure and character, the endogenous divi- 
sion. Most of the plants which it comprises are 
herbaceous or half-shrubby, with simple, often 
reniform leaves, and with mottled, grotesque, and 
usually brownish-purple flowers. The roots of all 
are bitter, and possessed, in various degrees, of tonic 
ee stimulating properties. 
, Upwards of twenty 
T 
~ ARISTOLOCHIA. 
species of the genus aristolochia are cultivated 
as ornamental plants in the gardens of Great 
Britain ; and about fifty other species are known 
to ealinsitiste The common species, Aristolochia 
clematitis, grows indigenously in the woods of Eng- 
land, attainsa height of two feet, isa perennial herb, 
and produces yellow flowers from May till August. 
The broad-leaved and the downy-leaved species, 
stpho and tomentosa, are hardy deciduous climbers 
to the height of respectively 30 and 20 feet, and 
were introduced from North America in 1763 
and 1799. The Spanish species is also a hardy 
herbaceous climber to the height of 6 feet, and 
was introduced from Spain in 1596. The three- 
lobed, the greatest, the sweet-scented, the bearded, 
the Indian, and the glaucous-leaved species, tr7- 
lobata, maxima, odoratissima, barbata, Indica 
and glauca, are tender evergreen climbers to the 
height of respectively 6, 20, 10, 10, 10, and 6 feet ; 
and were introduced, the first from South Amer- 
ica in 1775, the second from New Spain in 1759, 
the third from Jamaica in 1737, the fourth from 
Caraccas in 1796, the fifth from the Hast Indies 
in 1780, and the sixth from Barbary in 1785. 
The long-rooted, the Virginian snake-root, and 
the small species, longa, serpentaria, and pisiol- 
ochia, are hardy deciduous trailing plants, of 
from 1 foot to 2 feet in height, and were intro- 
duced, the first from the south of Hurope in 1548, 
the second from North America in 1632, and the 
third from the south of Europe in 1597. The 
evergreen and the bracteated species, semper- | 
virens and bracteata, are tender evergreen trailing 
plants, grow to the height of respectively 4 and | 
3 feet, and were introduced, the former from 
Candia in 1727, and the latter from the Hast 
Indies in 1793. The speckled and the long- 
pointed species, dabiosa and acuminata, are stove | 
evergreen twiners, grow to the height of respec- 
tively 20 and 10 feet, and were introduced, the 
former from Brazil in 1821, and the latter from 
Mauritiusin 1822. Theround-rooted and the hairy 
species, rotunda and hirta, are tender evergreen 
herbs, grow to the height of two feet, and were | 
introduced, the former from the south of Hurope 
in 1596, and the latter from Ohio in 1759. The 
pale-flowered species, pallida, is a hardy peren- i 
nial herb, grows to the height of two feet, and 
was introduced from Italy in 1640. The tree 
species, arborescens, is a tender, tall, evergreen | 
shrub, grows to the height of 20 feet, and was in- | 
troduced from America in 1737.—The roots of 
the Virginian snake-root species have a place in 
the Materia Medica, and are well known to every 
vender of drugs; they possess an aromatic odour 
somewhat similar to that of valerian, and a sharp, 
warm, pungent flavour, slightly resembling that 
of camphor ; and they operate on the animal 
system as stimulants, diaphoretics, and tonics. 
The roots of the three-lobed and the sweet- 
scented species are used as stomachics by the 
black population of Jamaica. The roots of the 
common species eee similar properties to 
