Amherstia
(commemorative of Countess Amherst, a zealous promoter of natural history, particularly botany). ORD. Leguminosae. A stove, evergreen tree of almost unsurpassed magnificence and brilliancy, requiring a very high and moist temperature. It delights in a rich, strong loam, and may be propagated by cuttings of the half-ripened wood, inserted in sand, under a glass, in bottom heat of about 80deg.; also by seeds.
A. nobilis (noble).* fl. of a fine vermilion colour, diversified with yellow spots, large; racemes long, pendulous, axillary. May. l. large, impari-pinnate, bearing six to eight pairs of leaflets. h. 30ft. to 40ft. India, 1837. The flowers are, unfortunately, somewhat ephemeral, lasting but a few days in perfection, during which period, however, no object in the whole range of the vegetable kingdom presents a more striking aspect than this tree.