Varieties. The varieties of Apricot, unlike most other fruit, are not numerous; and the following will be found in every way representative and satisfactory:
Blanche, or White Masculine. A small and delicate fruited sort. Fruit pale whitish-yellow, tinged with brownish-red next the sun, covered with a fine white down; rich, delicate, and sugary.
Blenheim, or Shipley's.* Very early and prolific. Colour deep yellow; flesh medium, rich, and juicy. Ripe in July.
Breda.* A small sort, of excellent quality. Colour deep orange; flesh firm, juicy, and rich. Hardiest sort grown.
Kaisha.* Fruit round, much smaller than Moorpark. Colour pale citron; flesh tender, rich, juicy; flavour delicate and delicious; kernel very sweet.
Large Red. The deepest coloured of all. Fruit very large; colour deep reddish-orange; flesh rich and juicy; kernel bitter.
Moorpark.* The sort most generally grown; large, handsome, and of excellent quality. Colour brownish-orange; flesh rich, juicy, and sweet. It is one of the best and most useful sorts in cultivation.
Peach, or Grosse Peche. Distinct and very desirable. Fruit very large; flesh rich, firm, and juicy. One of the very best.
Royal.* Not unlike Moorpark, but with a more robust constitution, and less given to limb dying. Fruit large, dull, yellow, rich, and juicy.
Turkey.* A good variety. Colour pale yellow; flavour rich and juicy; flesh firm.
For modes of Training and Budding, Diseases, Insect Pests, &c., full information will be found under each individual title.
APTERANTHES. See [Boucerosia.]
APTEROUS. Without wings.
AQUATIC PLANTS. The culture of Aquatic Plants, both indoors and in the open air, has been greatly neglected of late years; they are, therefore, rarely seen to perfection in places other than where their culture is made a speciality. Generally speaking, they are most easily grown. The following stove and greenhouse genera are well worth attention: Aponogeton, Cyperus, Damasonium, Herpestis, Limnocharis, Nelumbium, Nymphœa, Ouvirandra, Pistia, Pontederia, Salvinia, Thalia, Trianea, Victoria. Many species belonging to some of the foregoing genera are hardy, as are also the following: Alisma, Butomus, Calla, Hottonia, Menyanthes, Nuphar, Polygonum, Sagittaria, Trapa, Typha, Villarsia.
AQUATICUS. Living in water.
AQUATILIS. Living under water.
AQUIFOLIACEÆ. See Ilicineæ.
AQUILEGIA (from aquila, an eagle; in reference to the form of the petals). Columbine. ORD. Ranunculaceæ. Erect hardy perennial herbs with fibrous roots. Flowers solitary or panicled, drooping; sepals five, petaloid, deciduous; petals five, concave, spurred; spurs very large, produced downwards into hollow tubes, and frequently curved at the extremity; carpels five, sessile, free. Radical leaves on long stalks, twice or thrice ternate, with trifid-toothed, usually blunt segments. Too much praise can scarcely be lavished upon this elegant genus of plants. They prefer a moist and sheltered situation, with exposure to the sun. The more robust species will thrive in ordinary garden soil, but the rarer and more delicate kinds require a good friable sandy loam and leaf soil, with good drainage. Seed is produced in abundance, and must be sown very thinly, as soon as practicable after being ripe, in a shady place or in pans in a cold frame. When up, and strong enough to remove, the seedlings may be planted out where they are to bloom, allowing every plant at least 9in. each way. The strong-growing kinds may be placed in the border, the dwarf ones on the rockery. When in bloom, the inferior sorts should be weeded out, retaining only the best varieties. To obtain seed true of any species, it is absolutely necessary to plant the separate kinds far apart, and cover them with fine muslin, to prevent the access of insects to the flowers, as none are more easily cross-fertilised. Division of the root is the only way to perpetuate any particular variety with certainty, unless seed is saved in the way mentioned, or imported from the native habitats of particular species. There are many beautiful hybrids, as well as species, in cultivation.