ARGEMONE (from argema, cataract of the eye; in allusion to some real or fancied medicinal properties). ORD. Papaveraceæ. Very handsome annuals and perennials, abounding with yellow juice, and covered with stiff prickles. Sepals two to three, concave, mucronate; petals four to eight; peduncles axillary, always erect. Leaves sessile, repand-sinuated, usually spotted with white; recesses spiny-toothed. The species will thrive in almost any garden soil in the open border. Seed may be sown out of doors about the end of March; those of the rarer species on a hotbed, and planted out about the end of June.
A. albiflora (white-flowered).* fl. white; petals usually three. July and August. l. sessile, feather-nerved. h. 1ft. Georgia, 1820. Hardy annual.
A. grandiflora (great-flowered).* fl. large, panicled, white with yellow anthers. July. l. sinuated, smooth, glaucous, spiny-toothed; nerves unarmed. h. 2ft. to 3ft. Mexico, 1827. This species, when raised from seed, does not flower until October; but when the roots have existed through the winter, the plants produce flowers early in the summer. Hardy perennial. See Fig. 147.
A. hirsuta (hairy).* fl. pure white, 3in. to 5in. in diameter. September. l. pinnatifid, bristly. h. 2ft. California, 1879. A very beautiful hardy annual.
FIG. 147. INFLORESCENCE OF ARGEMONE GRANDIFLORA.
A. mexicana (Mexican). Devil's Fig. fl. solitary, yellow; petals four to six. June. l. profoundly repand-sinuated, spiny, blotched with white. h. 2ft. Mexico, 1592. Hardy annual.
A. ochroleuca (yellowish-white).* fl. pale yellow, solitary; petals six. August. l. profoundly sinuated or pinnatifid, glaucescent nerves with prickly bristles, blotched with white. Stem prickly. Mexico, 1827. Hardy annual.
ARGENTEUS. Silvery. A pale colour resembling silver.
ARGOLASIA. See Lanaria.
ARGIYREIA (from argyreios, silvery; in reference to the silvery undersides of the leaves). Silver-weed. ORD. Convolvulaceæ. An elegant genus of greenhouse and stove climbers. Sepals five; corolla campanulate. Shrubs for the most part silvery, but sometimes silky and tomentose. The greater number of the species are robust, extensive twiners or climbers, usually requiring plenty of room to run, before they will flower. A. cuneata, and one or two others, are of dwarf habit, and produce their splendid blossoms in abundance. All the species grow well in light rich soil, or a mixture of peat, loam, and sand. Cuttings root readily if planted in sand, with a hand glass placed over them, in a little bottom heat.
A. capitata (headed). fl., corolla 1in. to 2in. long, rose coloured or purple, hairy outside; peduncles exceeding the petioles. July. l. cordate-ovate, acuminated, 2in. to 5in, long, and 1in. to 3in. broad, hairy on both surfaces; hairs glandular at the base. Plant clothed with strigose hairs. Silhet, 1823.
A. cuneata (wedge-leaved).* fl., corolla large, of a beautiful deep bright purple; peduncles downy, shorter than the leaves, three to six-flowered. July. l. obovate-cuneate, emarginate, glabrous above, but beset with short, crowded hairs beneath, hardly petiolate. Stem clothed with powdery down at top. h. 2ft. to 5ft. India, 1822.
A. cymosa (cyme-flowered).* fl., corolla pale pink, tubularly funnel-shaped, villous outside; peduncles as long or longer than the leaves, leafy at top, and cymosely many-flowered. l. roundish-cordate, or reniformly-cordate, obtuse, terminated by a very short prickle, glabrous on both surfaces, or clothed with pruinose down. Malabar (mountains), 1823.
A. malabarica (Malabar). fl. rather small; bottom of the bell deep purple; throat pink, with the edges paler, almost white, and slightly ten-lobed; peduncles as long or longer than the leaves, many-flowered at the apex. June. l. roundish-cordate, acute, glabrous, or furnished with a few scattered hairs on both surfaces. Coromandel, 1823.
A. pomacea (Apple-fruited). fl. large, rose coloured; peduncles villous, exceeding the petioles a little, cymose, many-flowered. Berry size of a cherry, yellow. l. ovate-elliptic, obtuse, clothed with cinerous, velvety down on both surfaces, but especially beneath, sometimes sub-emarginate at apex. Mysore, 1818.
A. speciosa (showy).* fl., corolla nearly 2in. long, of a deep rose colour; peduncles about equal in length to the petioles, umbellately capitate. July. l. 3in. to 12in. long, and 2in. to 4in. broad, cordate, acute, glabrous above, or rarely villous, thickly nerved beneath, and clothed with silky, silvery down. India, 1818.
A. splendens (splendid).* fl., corolla tubularly campanulate, 1½in. long, rather villous outside, pale red; peduncles exceeding the (hoary) petioles, corymbosely many-flowered. November. l. ovate-oblong or ovate-elliptic, entire or pandurately sinuated, sometimes somewhat three-lobed, smooth above, but clothed with silvery, silky down beneath, 6in. long, acuminated. India, 1820.