AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 
69 
Penracexs—continued. 
inferior, with an ovoid or cylindrical tube, and a limb 
of four valvate or reduplicate-margined lobes ; stamens 
four, affixed to the throat; filaments short; anthers con- 
tinuous with the filaments, erect, two-celled. Capsule 
included in the persistent perianth. Leaves opposite, 
numerous, rather small, entire, coriaceous; stipules absent. 
The order comprises four genera and about a score 
species, none of which have any known economic value. 
Examples: Pena, Sarcocolla. 
PENANG LAWYERS. See Licuala acutifida. 
PENCIL FLOWER. See Stylosanthes. 
PENDULOUS. Drooping; hanging down. 
PENICILLATE. Resembling a pencil; consisting 
of, or covered with, tufts of hairs. 
PENNATE. The same as Pinnate (which see). 
PENNIFORM. Feather or plume-shaped. 
PENNINERVED, PENNIVEINED. Having 
main veins or ribs running straight from the margins 
at equal distances. 
PENNISETUM (from penna, a feather, and seta, a 
bristle; referring to the long, feathered bristles of the 
flower-spikes). Including Gymnothriz. ORD. Graminee. 
A rather large genus (nearly forty species) of tropical and 
sub-tropical grasses, mostly African, and principally re- 
quiring greenhouse treatment. Spikelets two to four, in 
a simple spike, involucrate; bristles distinct, deciduous 
with the spikelet, the interior plumose below. Sterile 
glumes three, or two by abortion of the lowest, mem- 
branous. Many of the species are very ornamental, and 
well worth growing. They are usually annuals, and are 
of very easy culture in ordinary garden soil. Propagated 
by seeds. The following are desirable plants: 
P. cenchroides (Cenchrus-like). fl., spikes lin. to Sin. long; 
— ascending, sessile, crowded, oblong, acute, zin. long, 
ensely plumose in the lower part. 4. linear, acute, glabrous. 
Stems lft. to 2ft. long, ascending, branched. Warm regions of 
both hemispheres, 1777. Annual. 
P. compressum (compressed). f., involucres nearly sessile, in a 
simple, cylindrical, dense spike of 3in. to 6in., consisting of nume- 
ligula prominent. Stama Bit. to SE high. erect’ scabrous” and 
i; prominent. Stems 2ft. x erect, 4 
more or less hirsute under the panicle. Australia, 1820 Annual. 
P. latifolium (broad-leavėd).* H., inflorescence consisting of 
amentiform, nodding spikes. apap pa Ln Ae x 
bright green, with the broad median vein whitish ; ligule short, 
iry. Stems robust-growing, cane-like, attaining a height of 
from 9ft. to 10ft. Monte Video, 1869. A very ornamental peren- 
as forming handsome tufts. It may be grown in the open 
air during the summer months; the roots sho be taken up at 
the approach of winter, and placed under cover. SYN. Gymnothriz 
latifolia, (R. H. 1869, 69.) ; 
Fic. 74. PENNISETUM LONGISTYLUM. 
P. um (long-styled).* fl., inflorescence in spikes from 
4in. to 6in. long, havi singularly twisted and 
enveloped in a 3 down of a purplish gues, Andok 
Pennisetum— continued. 
l. narrow and gracefully arching. h. lft. to 14ft. Abyssinia, 
a = t species, generally . as halt hardy annual. See 
ig. 4. 
P. setosum (bristly). A., spikes purple, very dense, bin. long; 
involucre of a dozen or more fine bristles, densely plumose in the 
lower part. l. linear, acute, glabrous or pilose. Stems 3ft. to Aft. 
long. Tropical America, 1817. An erect perennial. 
PENNY GRASS. See Rhinanthus crista-galli, 
PENNY PIES. A common name applied to the 
leaves of Cotyledon Umbilicus. 
PENNYROYAL (Mentha Pulegiwm). This hardy 
perennial is a native of Europe (Britain), North and West 
Asia, &c., and is cultivated for the occasional use of its 
leaves or tops in culinary preparations. It succeeds best 
in loamy soil, and in a moist situation. Propagation may 
be readily effected by division, in autumn or spring. 
planting, allow a space of about 12in. between rows, and 
6in. between plants in the row; water shortly afterwards, 
should the weather be dry. 
PENNYWORT, or PENNYLEAF. A name 
applied to Cotyledon Umbilicus, Hydrocotyle vulgaris, 
Linaria Cymbalaria, and Sibthorpia ewropea. 
PENSTEMON. See Pentstemon. 
PENTA. In Greek compounds, this signifies five; 
e.g., Pentagonal, five-angled. 
PENTACHZTA (from pente, five, and chaite, a 
bristle ; alluding to the five bristles at the base of the 
pappus). ORD. Composite. A small genus (four species) 
of greenhouse or hardy, small, slender, annual 
natives of California and Mexico. Flower-heads yellow, 
mediocre or rather small, solitary at the tips of the 
branches, radiate ; ray-florets uniseriate; involucre hemi- 
spherical or broadly campanulate; receptacle flat or 
slightly convex, naked; achenes somewhat silky-villous. 
Leaves alternate, linear, entire, or rarely almost opposite 
and denticulate. P. aurea, the only species yet intro- 
duced, is readily grown from seeds, sown in sandy loam, 
in warm, sunny spots, in spring. 
urea -heads gol w, lin. in diameter ; 
„ 5 Ay. 2 — — De 
h. 2in. to Sin. California, 1884. A pretty, dwarf, umbellately- 
branched, hardy herb. (R. G. 1153.) Š 
PENTADACTYLON. A synonym of Persoonia 
(which see). 3 
PENTADESMA (from pente, five, and desma, a 
bundle; the stamens are disposed in bundles of five). 
ORD. Guttiferæ. A monotypic genus, the species being 
a tall, stove tree, yielding a yellow, greasy juice (whence 
the popular name). It succeeds best in a mixture of 
loam and peat, and in a strong, moist heat. Propa- 
gation is effected by ripened cuttings (with their leaves 
not shortened), inserted in sand, under a glass, in a 
moist heat. 1 1 
butyracea (buttery Butter-and-Tallow-tree. 
A the petals, — tind term te, bus scarcely 
into the „ which are cate, 
an edible ot hy coriaceous, and ele- 
gantiy — wich numerous veins. Tropical Africa, 
PENTAGONTA (from pente, five, and gonia, an angles 
referring to the divisions of the corolla). Orn. Rubiaceae. 
A genus comprising about eight species of stove shrubs, 
natives of tropical America. Flowers yellow, red, or 
i , large, but inconspicuous when compared with 
the foliage, in dense, axillary corymbs, sessile or nearly 
so; calyx with a turbinate, sub-cylindrical, or campanu- 
late tube, and a spathaceons, or five or six-lobed limb; 
corolla funnel-shaped or tubular, thickly coriaceous, the 
limb of five or six valvate lobes. Leaves large, oppo- 
site, coriaceous, entire or pinnatifid, with large stipules. . 
Branchlets thick, terete. For culture of P. Wendlandi 
—the only species yet introduced—see Cinchona. 
