SRE 
76 THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
PEREIRIA. A synonym of Coscinium (which 
see). 
PERENNIALS. Plants which last for several years 
are termed Perennials. The term is in most general use 
in referring to hardy border plants, where it is necessary 
to distinguish between those which are perennial, and 
others that are only of annual or biennial duration. 
PERESKIA (named after Nicholas F. Peiresk, senator 
of Aix, in Provence, who collected a considerable library 
and herbarium). Barbados Gooseberry. Syn. Peirescia. 
ORD. Cactee. A genus comprising about thirteen species 
of stove, woody shrubs or trees, with terete, leafy branches ; 
they are natives of tropical America and the West Indies. 
Flowers solitary or paniculate, terminal or lateral, sessile 
or pedunculate; petals broad, expanded in a rose-like 
manner; calyx tube equal with the ovary, and divided 
into leafy segments; stamens numerous, free, shorter 
than the petals; the thread-like style bearing a many- 
rayed stigma. Fruit pear or egg-shaped, with a broad 
scar at the top, surrounded by the leafy segments of the 
- calyx. Leaves fleshy, sessile or stalked, flat or semi- 
cylindrical, veined, pulvilligerous in the axils, the pulville 
armed. Pereskias are chiefly of use for affording stocks 
on which to graft Epiphyllums and other Cacti. P. acu- 
leata is most extensively used, while P. Bleo is more 
vigorous and better adapted for tall stocks. The latter is 
rather a fine decorative stove plant when in flower. 
Cuttings strike readily in heat; they should be inserted 
in very sandy soil, and kept rather dry. The plants 
succeed in sandy loam, to which a little brick rubbish 
should be added. 
P. aculeata (prickly).* American or Barbados Gooseberry. 
a Ji. white, rather panicled. October. fr. globose, with narrow 
8 sepals, edible. “. elliptic. Prickles one or two, recurved at the 
downy base of the petiole. Stem armed with fascicled, straight 
spines. hk. 5ft. to 7ft. West Indies, 1696. Shrub. (B. R. 1928.) 
. Bleo (Bleo).* fl. pale red (the stamens also red, but white at the 
base), two to four together at the tops of the branches, each ona 
Short peduncle. ber to January. l. oblong, acuminated. 
_ Prickles axillary, five or six in a fascicle. h. 8ft. to 10ft. New 
Grenada, 1827. Shrub. (B. M. 3478; B. R. 1473.) 
. grandiflora (large-flowered). A synonym of P. grandifolia. 
j l (large-leaved).* jl. white, somewhat panicled, 
August. l. oblong-lanceolate, smooth above, beset with 
dots beneath. ag ig Tie larger spines blackish, 2in. 
18. b. SYN. P. grandiflora. See 
P. Pititache (Pititache). fl. white. September. l. fleshy, lanceo- 
late-ovate. Trunk woody, erect, very spiny ; branches sub-hori- 
zontally divergent; areolæ ik a pS tomentose ; prickles 
three to six, unequal, rigid. R. ft. Mexico, 1838. 2 
0 
FIG. 82. PERESKIA PIII. 
P. (Peeppig’s). l. cylindrical, green. Stem low, u 
right, thin, cylindrical, irregular ; spines white, strong, anerally 
* threes, the central one being longest. Chili. See Fig. 82. 
+ Portulaczefolia (Portulaca- lea ved) ji. le, solitar 
terminal; petals roundish. Jr. umbilicate, 3 — — 
greenish, with white flesh, and numerous black seeds. J. Ob. 
ovate-cuneate. Prickles solitary under the leaves, but fasciculate 
on the stems, blackish. A. 20ft. to 30ft. West Indies, 1820. 
_ PEREZIA (called after Lazarus Perez, an apothecary 
at Toledo, who wrote, in 1575, a history of drugs). 
Including Dumerilia (of Lessing) and Homoianthus. 
Syn. Clarionea. ORD. Composite. A genus comprising 
Perezia—continued. 
about forty-six species of greenhouse, half-hardy, or hardy 
herbs, sometimes stemless or tufted, sometimes erect 
and branched ; they are natives of extra-tropical South 
America or the Andes, Central America, Mexico, and 
California, and a few are found in Brazil. Flower-heads 
purple, pink, blue, or white, homogamous, rather large, 
on a one-headed, leafless scape, or sometimes mediocre, 
or smaller, and clustered or loosely paniculate at the 
apices of the stems; involucre ovoid, campanulate or 
turbinate; receptacle flat, naked or pilose. Leaves radical 
or alternate, entire, toothed, pinnatifid or dissected; 
lobes toothed, sometimes spiny-ciliate. Few of the 
species are known to cultivation. For culture, see 
P. viscosa (clammy). ji.-heads purple; pappus reddish ; recep- 
tacle piloso-fimbrilliferous; involucral scales biseriate, entire, 
- sub-equal, mucronulate. June. l., radical ones oblong-cuneate, 
obtuse, sinuate, acute, somewhat glandular; cauline ones sessile. 
Stem erect, almost naked or glandular. h. lft. Chili, 1802. 
Hardy. (B. M. 5401, under name of Homoianthus viscosus.) 
PERFECT. A term more particularly applied to 
hermaphrodite flowers. 
PERFOLIATE. When the stem appears to pass 
through the substance of a leaf, owing to the union of 
its ampiexicaul lobes, 
Fic. 83. DOUBLE PERIANTH, as seen in Flower of 
é ilon insigne. 
PERGAMENEOUS. Resembling parchment in 
texture. 
PERGULARIA (from pergula an arbour; referring 
to the twining character of the plants). ORD. Ascle- 
piadee. A genus comprising about ten species of stove, 
evergreen, glabrous climbers, inhabiting tropical Asia 
and Africa and Southern Africa. Flowers golden-yellow 
or greenish; calyx five-partite; corolla salver-shaped, 
with an ovoid or oblong tube; staminal corona five- 
leaved. Leaves opposite, membranous. For culture, see 
Stephanotis. 
P. minor (smaller). fl. oran, loured llow, fragrant ; 
mares shorter than the eaves, coe 5 Terbiealar or 
cordate, acuminate, i ia, China, 
&e., 1790, (A. B. R. 184; BM. ms) on 
27 
the leaves ; corolla woolly — d June. 4 9 
=~ 
