ASPHALTUM (a Greek word, Se/leases, of unknown etymology), frequently known by the name of Shaggy or Compact Mineral Pitch, is one of the varieties of Bitumen arising from the decomposition of vegetable matter. It occurs massive, of a dark brown or black colour, with a conchoidal fracture and a resinous lustre. It is opaque, and exceedingly brittle at a low temperature, but softens and fuses by the application of heat ; in density it varies from that of writer to 1.6. It may be recognised by the following characters : It is insoluble in alcohol, but soluble in about five times its weight of naphtha, with which it forms a good and useful varnish; its combustion is rapid and brilliant, with the production of the bituminous odour.
it is found in most countries, but most abundantly on the shores or floating on the surface of the Dead Sea ; at Hit, above Babylon, on the Euphrates; near the Tigris: in Trinidad in the West Indies it fills a basin of three miles in circumference, and of unknown depth. There is a pitch-spring in %Ante which is known to have been at work for above 2000 years. (Herod. iv. 195). It is also found in limestone at Bleiberg in Carinthia ; in beds of sandstone in Albania, and in veins in the liars in Germany ; in Derbyshire, Shropshire, and several other places. It is the principal colouring matter of the dark indu rated marl, or shale, which is found in coal districts.
ASPIIODE'LEeE, or tho Asphodel Tribe, are Monecotyledonomma I'lanta, which, although they form a very natural assemblage alone, are now placed by Lindley as a subdivision of the order Liliacem. They are for the most part easily recognised, although in certain species and genera they approach other orders so closely as to be distinguished only with great difficulty. They all have regular flowers with 3 sepals, and 3 petals of nearly equal size and colour, 6 (very seldom 3) stamens, and a superior 3-celled ovary, with only 1 style.
Their fruit is either dry or succulent, and their seeds have n brittle coat Asphodel etc are known from Juncem, or the Rush Tribe, by their larger and more coloured flowers, and by the hardness of the coat of their seeds; from Liliacem, or the LilfTribe, by the smallness of their flowers, and the hard coat of the seeds ; and from fifelanthacem, or the Colchicum Tribe, by their single style, and by their anthers being turned towards the ovary. They may be formed into two subdivisions.
The first, or the Alliaeeous subdivision, In which there is no tree stem, and which consists entirely of bulbous species, the roots being emitted and perishing annually. To this belong the Onion, Garlic, and their allies, together with the Hyacinth, Squill, and Star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum). A great quantity of species are favourites with the 1, A flower seen from within ; 2, the same viewed from without ; 3, the stamens and ovary ; 1, two stamens apart ; 5, an every; 6, the same nut per Pendieularly ; 7, the same cut herizontally.
horticulturists on account of their early appeamnco in the spring and their easy cultivation.
The second subdivision, consisting of the true Asphodels (ASCI10 netus] and those which resemble them, have no bulbs, but in their stead clusters of fleshy roots such as we find in the Asparagus, which helongs to this sulnlivieion; the stems of these are frequently woody, but in that case they are brandied : Draorno, or the Gum-Dragon Tree, ie a most remarkable instance of this, it having almost the appearance of a Dicotyledon when deprived of foliage. This sub division also contains Aloes, with their thick fleshy leaves and forked sterna (AWE.]