ANDROM EDA, a genus of plants of the natural order ericarea (q.v .), distinguished by a 5-valved naked capsule, which splits up through the back of the cells; anthers with two awns, and a globose corolla with the orifice contracted. The species, which are pretty numerous, have very much the general appearance of heaths. Most of them are small shrubs, but some attain a considerable size. The only British species is A. polifolia , occasionally found in peat-bogs in different parts of the country, and common through out the north of Europe and of North America, a small evergreen shrub with beautiful rose-colored drooping flowers. It has acrid narcotic properties, and sheep are some times killed by it. The shoots of A. oralifolia in like manner, poison goats in Nepaul: and similar eating are ascribed to A. viariana and other species in the United States.—A. fast igiata was observed by Dr. Hooker abounding at great elevations in the Himalaya; a humble shrub, resembling the heather of Scotland. The leaves are used as a substitute for tea. See SORREL-TREE.
ANDRONrCITS, the name of three Byzantine emperors.—A. I., the son of Isaac Comnenus, was one of the•most conspicuous characters of his age, which produced no man more brave, more profligate, or more perfidious. his life was full of extraordinary vicissitudes. During part of his youth, he was a prisoner of the Turks in Asia Minor. He afterwards spent some time at the court of his cousin, the emperor Manuel, and a niece of the emperor became his mistress. Ile was appointed to a military command in Cilicia; but although his courage, his noble appearance, and his gracious manners made him the favorite of the army, his imprudence and waste of time in dissolute pleasures involved him in defeat. Having engaged in a treasonable correspondence with the king of Hungary and the German emperor, he was thrown into prison by Manuel, and remained there above 12 years; but at last succeeded in making his escape, and, although not without further extraordinary adventures, reached Kiew, the residence of the grand duke Jaroslay. Ile regained the favor of his cousin by persuading the Rus sian prince to join him in the invasion of Hungary, and by his gallantry in that war; but incurred his displeasure again by refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the prince of Hungary, the intended husband of Manuel's daughter, as presumptive heir to the empire. He was sent in honorable banishment to Cilicia, where he found a new mistress in a sister of the empress. The resentment of the emperor breaking out against him, he
sought refuge in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His professions of zeal made his former conduct to be forgotten. and he was invested with the lordship of Berytus: but his prof-' ligaey became, if possible, more scandalous than ever in the seduction of Theodora, the widow of Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, who lived with him for years as his mistress. The emperor's anger made Palestine unsafe for him, and he fled with Theodora to Damascus, and finally settled among the Turks in Asia Minor, with a band of outlaws. making frequent inroads into the Roman province of Trebizond; from which lie carried away spoil and slaves. Theodora and her children were at last taken and sent to Con stantinople, and thither he followed, imploring, with a chain about his neck, and in a form of abject submission, the forgiveness of the emperor, which he obtained, but was sent to Oenoe in Pontus. After the death of Manuel, popular indignation was excited against the empress, who acted as regent for her son, Alexius II., and A. was recalled in 1182 to deliver the empire from het tyranny. Ile was appointed guardian of the young emperor, and soon after, his colleague in the empire. lie caused the empress-mother to be strangled, and afterwards Aleklus himself, with whose widow lie contracted an inde cent marriage. His reign, though short, was vigorous, and restored prosperity to the provinces; but tyranny and murder were its characteristics in the capital. He set no bounds to the gratification of his revenge against all who had ever offended him, and his jealousy of possible rivals was equally sanguinary. At List, a destined victim, Isaac Angelus, one of his relatives, having lied to the church of St. Sophia for sanctuary, a crowd gathered, and a sudden insurrection placed Isaac on the throne, whilst A., now 73 years of age, was put to death by the infuriated populace, after horrible mutila tions and tortures, on Sept. 12, 1185. He was the last of the Comneni that sat on the throne of Constantinople; but the succeeding dukes and emperors of Trebizond were descendants of his son Manuel.—A. IL, the son of Michael Palieologus, ascended the throne in 1283; but after a weak and inglorious reign, was driven from it in 1328 by his grandson, A. III., who, after a reign equally inglorious, d. in 1341. During these reigns, province after province was conquered by the Turks.