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The fetid gum resin or inspissated juice of a large umbelliferous plant (Ferula asafoetida) of Persia and the East India. It is used in medicine as an antispasmodic. [Written also assafoetida.]

An acrid herbaceous plant (Asarum Europæum), the leaves and roots of which are emetic and cathartic. It is principally used in cephalic snuffs.

A pitcher-shaped, or flask-shaped, organ or appendage of a plant, as the leaves of the pitcher plant, or the little bladderlike traps of the bladderwort (Utricularia).

Of, pertaining to, or resembling, plants of the Milkweed family.

A genus of plants including the milkweed, swallowwort, and some other species having medicinal properties. Asclepias butterfly (Zoöl.), a large, handsome, red and black butterfly (Danais Archippus), found in both hemispheres. It feeds on plants of the genus Asclepias.

A genus of plants of the natural order Leguminosæ. The species are chiefly natives of the Cape of Good Hope.

A white, nitrogenous, crystallizable substance, C4H8N2O3+H2O, found in many plants, and first obtained from asparagus. It is believed to aid in the disposition of nitrogenous matter throughout the plant; -- called also altheine.

A genus of perennial plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceæ, and having erect much branched stems, and very slender branchlets which are sometimes mistaken for leaves. Asparagus racemosus is a shrubby climbing plant with fragrant flowers. Specifically: The Asparagus officinalis, a species cultivated in gardens.…

A general name for a plant of the genus Asphodelus. The asphodels are hardy perennial plants, several species of which are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers.

or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption, whether in plants or animals. Not conversing the body, not repairing it by assimilation, but preserving it by ventilation. Sir T. Browne.

A plant of the genus Callistephus. Many varieties (called China asters, German asters, etc.) are cultivated for their handsome compound flowers.

A fossil plant from the coal formations of Europe and America, now regarded as the branchlets and foliage of calamites.

A genus of papilionaceous plants, of the tribe Galegeæ, containing numerous species, two of which are called, in English, milk vetch and licorice vetch. Gum tragacanth is obtained from different oriental species, particularly the A. gummifer and A. verus.

(Bot.) A small body situated on or near the nucleus in the cells of some of the lower plants, consisting of two centrospheres containing centrosomes. It exercises an important function in mitosis.

Pertaining to, or resembling, the Aurantiaceæ, an order of plants (formerly considered natural), of which the orange is the type.

Capable of self-nourishment; -- said of all plants in which photosynthetic activity takes place, as opposed to parasitism or saprophytism.

The tendency of plant organs to grow in a straight line when uninfluenced by external stimuli.

produced or gathered in autumn; as, autumnal fruits; flowering in autumn; as, an autumnal plant. Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa. Milton.

An instrument to measure the growth of plants. Goodale.

Being without veins or nerves, as the leaves of certain plants.