| Amianthus.

Gular, femiquinquefid, and persistent: The corolla is monopetalous; the border quinquepartite, the lowest division more expanding: The filamina consist of two slender filaments approximated; the antherae are simple and roundish: The pistillum has a four-cleft germen; stylus, the size of the stamina; stigmae two, acute: No corolla: The seeds four, gibbous, and shorter than the calyx.—There is only one known species.

This plant is a native of Siberia, from whence the seeds were sent to the imperial garden at Peterburgh, and thence brought to Britain. It is an annual plant, with an upright stalk, which rises about a foot high. Towards the top it puts forth two or three small lateral branches, garnished with small trifid leaves, sawed on their edges, of a very dark green colour. The flowers appear in June or July, and are produced in small umbels at the extremities of the branches. They are of a fine blue colour, as are also the upper part of the branches, and the leaves immediately under the umbel, so that they make a fine appearance.

Culture. The seeds of the amethystea should be sown in autumn, as they are apt to remain a whole year in the ground if kept till the spring. When the plants come up, nothing else is necessary than to keep them clear of weeds, and to thin them where they are too close. They ought to be sown where they are to remain, as they do not thrive when transplanted.

AMETHYSTINE is applied, in antiquity, to a kind of purple garment dyed of the hue of amethyst. In this sense amethystine differed from Tyrian as well as from hyacinthine purple, being a kind of medium between both.