APHANES: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the tetrandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 35th order, Senticosæ. The essential characters are these: The calyx is divided into eight parts; there is no corolla; the seeds are two, and naked. There is only one species, the arvensis or penfley-piert, a native of Britain. It is extremely common in corn-fields. The stalks rise five or six together; they are three inches long, round, hairy, and procumbent: the leaves stand very thick upon them, and are roundish, but divided, as it were, into three parts, and those deeply serrated at their edges. The flowers come out in a double series, arranged all along the branches, and are of a greenish white, and the whole plant is of a greyish or whitish-green colour.