All Aloes are natives of hot climates; the Cape of Good Hope, &c. Some of the species furnish the stimulating bitter medicine of our shops, which is made by boiling the leaves to a suitable consistency, and exposing the decoction to such heat as will evaporate its fluid parts. The Africans make ropes of the leaves, which are not apt to rot in the water; fishing lines, bow strings, &c., and manufacture it into stockings, hammocks, &c.

The tree Aloe, Aloe Dichotoma, growing on the mountains of the Cape of Good Hope, with an erect stem, two fathoms high, and as thick as man's leg, is hollowed out by the natives to make quivers for their bows. Several of the species are used for hedges. The A. D. has leaves sword-shaped, and serrate; flowers paniculate; corolla monopetalous.

But high in amphitheatre above,

His arms the everlasting Aloes threw;

Breathed but an air of heaven, and all the grove

As if with instinct living spirit grew,

Rolling its verdant gulphs of every hue.

Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming.

Our green-houses abound with the Aloes of diminutive growth. The flower of the Aloe has no calya: corolla one-petalled, erect; border spreading and small; nectarious at the bottom; seeds angular; leaves fleshy.

Among the Mahometans, and particularly in Egypt, the Aloe is a kind of symbolic plant, and dedicated to the offices of religion. Pilgrims, on their return from Mecca, suspend it over their doors, as an evidence of their having performed that holy journey. The superstitious imagine that it has the virtue of keeping off evil spirits from their houses. Even the Christians and Jews of Cairo, hang it over their doors for this purpose.

Of

The Aloe was used by the ancients in embalming bodies. this Aloes, interpreters understand that to have been which Nicodemus brought to embalm the body of our Saviour. John xix. 39.

The generic name Alyssum, is formed from the Greek ALUSSO, to be mad. The whys and wherefores, may not easily be discovered, it being a meek, unpretending little flower, inferior only to the Reseda Odorato, in fragrance, with a prettier bloom of a pure white.

It is deservedly a favourite, having an ever ready blossom to repay the care of culture-and forms one of the component parts of bouquets in general. One of its popular names, is, French Mignonette.

There are more than seventeen species enumerated-some of them indigenous to America. The colors are chiefly white, or yellow. The flowers four-petalled, flat, cruciform, growing in tufts at the end of the branch. It is an herbaceous plant.

"With solemn adoration down they cast

Their crowns inwove with Amaranth and gold;
Immortal Amaranth, a flower which once

In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,

Began to bloom; but soon, for man's offence,
To Heaven remov'd, where first it grew, there grows
And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life;
And where the river of bliss, through midst Heaven
Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream;
With these, that never fade, the spirits elect

Bind their resplendent locks, inwreath'd with beams."

The Amaranth has been placed among the funeral flowers. Homer has described the Thessalians as wearing crowns of Amaranth at the funeral of Achilles. Milton, also, in his Lycidas, classes it among the flowers "that sad embroidery wear:"

"Bid Amaranthus all his beauty shed,

And daffodillies fill their cups with tears,

To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies."

The unfading nature of the flower, we may suppose, the emblem of lasting grief, the immortality of the soul, &c.

The Amaranth has no corolla: the calyx is coloured, five or three-leaved, permanent; the leaflets lanceolate and acute: native of Asia, Africa, and America.

The A. Tricolor, native of the East Indies, is admired on account of the variegated colours of its leaves, resembling, as Gerard tells us, the splendid and beautiful feathers of a parrot, with its stripes of red, yellow, white, green, &c.

There are several American species. The Prince's Feather, A. Hypocondriacus, is a native of Virginia, as are several others. The leaves of most of the species of Amaranth are used in hot countries as culinary plants, but are not equal to the spinach, which they somewhat resemble.

The greater number of species are annuals.

Gomphrena, a name adopted by Linnæus, from Dalechamp, and which is perverted from the Gromphena of Pliny. Linnæus made it classical, by an allusion to Gomphos, a nail, wedge, or club-applied to the round head of flowers.

The Gromphena of the ancients, is supposed to be the Amaranthus tricolor, from the description given of it by Pliny. By the transposition of a letter, this name became Gomphrena, in some old writers, in which form it was adopted by Linnæus.

Gomphrena comes under the denomination of Everlasting, or Amaranthus, on account of the permanent nature of their calyx when dried, which retains its original colour and splendour.

The G. Globosa is a native of India-an annual. Calyz coloured; the outer, of three unequal leaves; inner, in five deep segments. Corolla cylindrical, of one petal, the length of the inner calyx; its margin equally five-cleft, spreading, bearing the stamens at its orifice. Filaments five, short, inserted into the orifice of the corolla, betwixt its segments; anthers erect, roundish, closing the mouth of the corolla. Pist. German ovate, pointed, superior; styles short, cohering at their base; stigmas simple, obtuse, scarcely reaching to the stamens. Seed large, roundish, with an oblique point.

The Globe Amaranth offers several varieties-white, purple, speckled with gold, and variegated. They resemble heads of clover, in the form of their flowers.

The late flowering variegated G. A. are called Bachelors' Buttons, in America, according to the Encyclopedia.

Amaryllis, derived either from the name of a shepherdess mentioned by Theocritus and Virgil, or from the Greek AMARUGMA, or AMARUGE, splendour-from AMARUSSO, to shine, glitter, sparkle, flash-the Lilio-Narcissus of Tournefort.

"Amaryllis Formosissima, most beautiful Amaryllis, hangs its nodding bell obliquely towards the horizon, and as its stem is slender, turns, like a vane, from the wind; and thus, very effectually, preserves its inclosed stamens and anthers from the rain and coldaffording an agreeable example of art in the vegetable economy." See Darwin.

"When Heaven's high vault condensing clouds deform,
Fair Amaryllis flies the incumbent storm;
Seeks, with unsteady step, the shelter'd vale,
And turns her blushing beauties from the gale."

Darwin.

It is a native of South America. The flowers are produced from the sides of the bulbs, are large, and of a deep red.

The calyx is a spathe, undivided; corolla two lipped, nodding, deeply six-parted, stamens and pistils bent down.

There are many species of the Amaryllis, with various coloured flowers, purple, yellow, &c. The yellow, A. Lutea, a smaller variety, seldom rising more than three or four inches high, is a native of France, &c., very hardy, flowering late, generally in September.

A. Sarniensis, Guernsey Lily, is a splendid species. The number of flowers is commonly from eight to twelve, and the circumference of each about seven inches; the corolla, in its prime, has the colour of a fine gold tissue, wrought on a rose-coloured ground, and when it begins to fade, it is pink: in full sunshine, it seems to be studded with diamonds; but by candle-light, the specks or spangles appear more like fine gold-dust: when the petals are somewhat withered, they assume a deep crimson colour. This beautiful plant is a native of Japan, and has long been naturalized in Guernsey, whence the roots are sent to most parts of Europe.

AMBROSIA.

Order. PENTANDRIA.

The general character of Ambrosia, is a common one-leafed calyx; corolla of the male compound, uniform, and hemispherical; (no corolla to the female) the proper, one-petalled, funnel-shaped; the stamina have very small filaments, anthers erect, parallel, and acuminate; pistillum of the length of the stamens, stigma membranous; a common receptacle, scarcely any, naked. Female flowers, below the males, doubled; one-leafed calyx; the pistillum a germ ovate, in the bottom of the calyx; style filiform, of the same length with the calyx, two stigmas; seed single and roundish. There are five species enumerated: one, a common annual weed of North America, A. Gigantea inodora, growing often eight or ten feet high, spreading out into many branches; the flowers are not more conspicuous than those of hemp. The sort common in gardens has three lobed leaves.

The A. Maratima, rises about two feet, with multifid leaves; which, when handled, emit a strong odour; spikes solitary, hairy and subsessile; native of Cappadocia, Tuscany, and the country of Nice, on sandy shores.

Aster, L. from the Greek ASTER, a star, the flower being radiated. Botanists have named this species of Aster in compliment to the memory of John Tradescant, one of the fathers of Natural History in England; as well as one of the earliest cultivators of exotic plants in that country. He was appointed chief gardener to king Charles the First. His son, of the same name, visited Virginia, in 1633, and carried back with him several new plants, of which this was one.

It obtained the more familiar name of Michaelmass* Daisy, from its flowering about that season of the year, and the corollas being radiated, and nearly of the size of the common Daisy.

There are two varieties, viz: the dwarf and tall starwort. The common Michaelmass Daisy grows from three to five feet high. The leaves of both are radical, about four inches long, like those of willow; ray varies from white to purple, consisting of many florets. The dwarf variety produces smaller flowers, of a dark purple.

North America abounds in Asters of every variety of hue.

Nat. Ord. Juss. CORYMBIFERE.

Ambrosia, formed of the two Greek words, A, (not) and BROTOS, (human) signifying divine, immortal; because it rendered those who fed on it, immortal; or, because it was the food of the immortals.

"The imaginary food of the gods, from which every thing eminently pleasing to the smell and taste, is called Ambrosia."

Shaks.

Michaelmass, Michael and Mass. The feast of the archangel Michael, celebrated on the 29th of September.

By this the boy that by her side lay killed,
Was melted like a vapour from her sight;
And in his blood, that on the ground lay spilled,
A purple flower sprung up chequered with white.

The Anemone has, properly, no calyx; but two or three sets of petals, three in a set, somewhat oblong, which are folded over the stamens and pistils in a singular and beautiful manner. It differs from the Ranunculus, in not having a meliferous pore on the claw of each petal. The stamina have numerous filaments, half the length of the corolla; anthers twin and erect; the pistillum has numerous germs in a head; styles acuminate, and stigmas obtuse; no pericarpium; receptacle globular or oblong, hollowed and dotted; numerous seeds, acuminate, retaining the style. It is said to expand its flowers only in fine weather, and to close them on the approach of rain.

"Anemone, that shuns the impending shower."

And hails with kindling smiles the genial skies.

Evans

Darwin.

De Theis derives the generic name Pyrus, from the Celtic peren, whence the Anglo-Saxon have taken pere, the English pear, the French poire. According to the same writer, api, the Celtic name of a fruit of the same kind, is the origin of Greek, apios, the German apfel, and our apple. Api is even the particular name of one sort of apple, in the French language.

All the kinds of Apple, cultivated, are mere varieties of one original species, called by botanists Pyrus Malus, [common crabtree.] The Generic name Pyrus includes other species, as the Pear, Quince, etc.

The native sweet-scented crab-tree of N. America, Pyrus coronaria, has long been cultivated in Europe, for the sake of the beauty, and violet-scented perfume of its blush-coloured blossoms, as well as for its fruit, which, although extremely acid, is most excellent when preserved with sugar. When mellow, it becomes delightfully fragrant. The colour entirely yellow.

The blossom of the Apple Tree is one of the handsomest of our fruit trees-its five concave petals, with a blush of the rose over a white, appearing when the bright green foliage is fully expanded gives it an advantage over the peach, and others, which bloom on a leafless bough.

This beautiful blossom, the harbinger of a fruit so universally esteemed, holds also, a conspicuous place in floral language. Pope, in his Odyssey, thus notices the tree and the fruit:

"Fall thriving trees confess'd the fruitful mould,
The red'ning apple ripens here to gold."

Dryden also alludes to the majestic and wholesome vigour of the tree:

Thuja, L. Greek THUION, THUIA, or THUA; which is derived from THUO, to perfume.

Arbor Vita, L. from Arbor, a tree, and Vita, of life. The tree of life.

Thuja, the name of a tree, whose very durable wood served, according to Theophrastus, to make images. Its roots, in particular, being curiously twisted or veined, were used for the most valuable ornamental works. This plant was probably the Juniperus Oxycedrus, very common throughout Greece and the Archipelago, of which Mr. Hawkins is of opinion that the most ancient statues were made. Our present genus of Thuja has nothing in common with this classical plant, except being an aromatic evergreen tree of the same natural order, with very durable wood; but it is not a native of Greece or the Levant. Rees' Encyclopedia.

The species cultivated are, the American Arbor Vitæ, Thuja Occidentalis, called White Cedar; and the Chinese Arbor Vitæ Thuja Orientalis. In the first of these species, there are great varieties; As the American sweet-scented, and the variegatedleaved-native of North America, from Canada to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. It is rather scarce in the Southern States, and only found on the steep banks of mountain torrents.

The Thuja Occidentalis is an evergreen tree of humble growth much branched, very different from most others in the compressed vertical aspect of its younger shoots, and their closely imbricated leaves, which are small, obtuse with a point, smooth; those of two opposite rows compressed and keeled; the intermediate ones flat, with a glandular point or cell of resin, at the back. The flowers appear in May, and are small, solitary, terminal; the males yellowish, and most abundant. Cones ripened the following year, drooping, about the size of a filbert kernel, consisting of about half a dozen lax, smooth, coriaceous scales. The odor of the bruised plant is aromatic, but not agreeable. The wood is not hard, but tough, and extremely durable.

Thuja Orientalis, is a native of rocky and mountainous situations in China and Japan. It is a hardy evergreen in our gardens, flowering at the same time with the former. The very copious

and crowded young branches are more erect, more slender, and rather less compressed than those of the former, and the leaves are furrowed, without any resinous dot. The young branches two edged; leaves imbricated in four furrows, compressed, ovate,

Asclepias, from Esculapius, the god of medicine, who is said to have discovered the virtues of the plant of this genus, and to whom one of the species was anciently consecrated:

The English name Swallow-wort, applied to the whole genus, is from the Dutch Swaluw-wortel-from the fancied resemblance of the seeds to a swallow flying. The seeds are winged, as those of many other flowers, which facilitates their dissemination, being more easily borne off by the wind.

The United States furnishes the greatest variety of this beautiful and useful genus of plants. The tender shoots of some are eaten as asparagus. The down furnishes a silk or cotton used

in making matrasses, and manufactured in various ways. The root is in great repute in materia medica.

The Asclepias Tuberosa (or Tuberous-rooted Swallow-wort) is variously denominated, as Pleurisy; or Ache-in-the-side plant, from its medicinal virtues: Butterfly-weed, from its being a favourite resort of the insects of that tribe, etc. Its flowers are of a bright orange colour; stems a foot high, hairy, round, dusky red; leaves alternate, lanceolate. Native of Virginia, and cultivated in the royal garden at Hampton court, in England.

The A. Decumbens, a variety of the tuberosa, has, also, bright orange coloured flowers; stem decumbent, a foot and a half high, hairy; leaves narrow, flat, opposits; umbel compact, at the extremity of the branches.

There are rose-coloured varieties, white, etc. The general character of their flowers is, a calyx five-cleft, sharp, very small, permanent; corolla monopetalous, flat, or reflex, five-parted; nectaries five, growing to the tube of the filaments, putting forth a sharp little horn, protruding from the bottom, bending inwards. The Asclepias Syriaca, or Syrian Swallow-wort, abundant in North America, is much used in medicine, as an alterative, tonic, etc. the whole plant filled with a milky juice, perfectly harmless. Flowers of a dingy purple, succeeded by large oval pods. It is the shoots of this plant, more particularly, that is made a substitute for asparagus. The Canadians are said to make sugar from its flowers, and to prefer the cotton of this species. It also affords a milky sap, which may be converted into a substance similar to gum-elastic, or caoutchouc.

Asclepias incarnata, flesh coloured Swallow-wort. Leaves lanceolate; stem divided at the top; umbels erect, twin. This puts out several upright stalks about two feet high; at the top of which are produced close umbels of pink flowers in August.

Populus, is an old Latin name, concerning whose derivation we find nothing conclusive. Possibly the Greek word PALLO or PEPALLO, to shake, to move with tremulous motion, may have been its basis.

The English word Aspen is probably derived from the Greek ASPAIRO, to quiver-Saxon Aspen--Arabic Gashafa to be agitated. This species of Populus or Poplar, is remarkable for the vibratory motion of its leaves, which are attached to foot-stalks so long and slender, as to be sensible to the lightest motion of the air.

Primula, a name given to the Primrose, as the first offering of Spring, (from Primus,) and retained by Linnæus for the genus to which that favourite flower belongs; though, as he remarks in some part of his writings, there are plants, in various countries, more strictly entitled to such an appellation.

Auricula, L. the outside, the flap of the ear; from auris, L. the ear. That species of primrose, called from the shape of its leaves, Bear's ear. The Auricula is considered in the Linnæan system as a species of Primula. The varieties of the Auricula are extremely numerous, as every year produces a great number of flowers, different in shape, size, and colour; in the leaves, also, there is great variety, so that the experienced florist can distinguish the particular sorts by that means.

The Flora Historica tells us, that it is a native of the icy summits of the Alps: that it is a plant on which Nature plays her frolics, and loves to paint in all the varieties of whimsicality and diversity of rich hues. Nature has guarded these delicate flowers from the scorching heat of the sun's rays, by sprinkling them with a fine powder, and the leaves of most of the kinds of Auricula are kept cool by the same wise precaution.

The acme of the florist's ambition is to procure the Auricula of a glowing scarlet, or deep crimson edged with green. The Primula Auricula, garden Auricula, or Bear's ear, is the origin of all the fine powdered garden Auriculas; it has, in a wild state, much less powdery leaves, whose edges are partially, but often coarsely, serrated; their form broadly and obtusely obovate. Stalk many-flowered, about the length of the foliage. The flowers are small, yellow, occasionally purple, or red, as usually seen in gardens. Their scent is grateful and peculiar.

Bachelor's Button-Bachelor, a word of very uncertain etymology. Junius derives it from the Greek BAKELOS, a drone, a stupid fellow. Menage, from bas chevalier, a knight of the lowest rank. The most probable derivation seems to be from bacca laurus, (L.) the berry of a Laurel or Bay; Bachelors being young, are of good hopes, like laurels in the berry. Johnson.

Lychnis Dioica-red or white field campion, flowers diœcious; fruit of one cell; crown of each petal four-cleft. There is a blush-coloured variety, otherwise most like the white; but

more evanescent.

The red flowering kind, L. Diurna, is a very common plant throughout Europe, in hedges and shady bushy places in the spring. The white, L. Vespertina, so called from its evening fragrance, is a stronger plant, usually found in fields or open situations, in summer. The roots perennial; plant hairy, and somewhat viscid, two or three feet high; leaves ovate or lanceolate, hairy; limb of each petal cloven half way down, generally with two small acute lobes; its crown consisting of two obtuse central teeth, and two acute lateral ones.

Balm, E.-French, Baume, a contraction of halsam, which is an aromatic substance, flowing from certain plants.

The Melissa Officinalis, common balm, has a pleasant scent, somewhat like the lemon, and has been denominated "Melissa odore citri," for this reason. It was formerly esteemed of great use in all complaints proceeding from a disordered state of the nervous system. As a tea, it is well known to be a grateful diluent drink in fevers, either by itself, or acidulated with lemon.

Balm is too generally known to require a botanical description.

Impatiens, so called from the great elasticity of the sutures of its seed vessel, which is completely impatient of the touch; curling up with great velocity, and scattering round the seeds. From this remarkable circumstance, it has obtained the English appellation of "Touch-me-not."

It is a native of the East Indies, China, and Japan. It has the advantage of retaining all its splendour and freshness during the drought of the hottest months. Contrary to the nature of plants, in general, it droops in the cool of the night, whilst it erects itself in the heat of the day, which causes most other plants to fade. In watering these plants, care should be taken not to sprinkle or wet the foliage; and it is recommended to save the seeds from the principal stem only, and not from the collateral branches. The Impatiens, noli me tangere, is also a native of the United States.

General character of Impatiens: perianth very small, of two roundish, pointed, equal leaves, coloured, deciduous. Corolla, five petalled, irregular; the upper petal roundish, flat, slightly trifid, making a sort of upper lip; lower pair very large, obtuse; intermediate pair opposite, rising from the base of the upper petal; nectary, receiving, like a hood, the base of the flower. The generic name of Impatiens, has suggested the emblem of impatience; but the Turks represent ardent love by this flower. With fierce distracted eye Impatiens stands, Swells her pale cheeks, and brandishes her hands; With rage and hate the astonished grove alarms, And hurls her infants from her frantic arms.

This shrub forms a beautiful, and effective hedge, being well armed with thorns, with which to defend itself. The leaves have an agreeable acid-the berries, are so much so, that few birds, it is said, will eat them-these, however, make a fine pickle for garnishing dishes, and when prepared with sugar, excellent comfits, and a good jelly. From the root is extracted a fine yellow dye, with which the Polanders colour so beautifully, their leather, etc.

The common European Barberry, B. Vulgaris, has berries of a brilliant red. The North American species B. Canadensis, a black berry-both have yellow flowers, of a powerful fragrance. There are other species with white berries, etc.

It is a much injured plant-ignorance, and prejudice, having assigned to it properties of which it is entirely innocent-such as, that of its causing sterility in neighbouring plants, failure of crops, etc. which experience and observation have ascertained to be untrue. If properly cherished, it proves both useful and ornamental.

With this undue appreciation of its worth, no wonder that it should stand upon its dignity, and with a proper pride, repel those who, careless of the pain they inflict, plays with its sensibilities. The common experiment, of touching with the point of a pin the base of the stamina, is that now alluded to-these delicate filaments are so irritably sensitive to injury, as to spring forward with elasticity, on being thus rudely assailed.

It has been observed, that when bees in search of honey, touch the filaments, the anthers approximate to the stigma, and explode the pollen, after which they will resume their original attitude. So the heart, of her whose affections have been slighted, and who is made to feel the rude shock of happiness, from one, who sought her society merely for the amusement of the moment, or perhaps, for the ignoble purpose of gaining her love, for the gratification of his vanity-by a resolute act of volition, throws off the long cherished sentiments of preference-and silencing every tender reminiscence, resumes the erect attitude of selfrespect, and proper pride.