AN ENCYCLOP2DIA OF HORTICULTURE. 
227 
Propagation—continued. 
ceeding; it consists in taking up the sucker, with all its 
roots, and replanting it at any time when the parent 
plant or tree may also be safely removed. Suckers are 
not always to be favoured; they are inclined to similarly 
reproduce themselves, and rob sap which should proceed 
to the one måin stem, Such things as Filberts, Lilacs, 
Raspberries, &c., may, however, be propagated from 
suckers; and for an example of plants in pots which 
may be similarly increased, Chrysanthemums may be 
cited. Runners proceed along the ground, and form 
small plants, which are first nourished by the parent, but 
afterwards root and support themselves. Varieties of 
Strawberries are almost exclusively propagated by run- 
ners, and there are several other examples. Propagation 
by division is generally understood to mean the parting 
of the rootstock of a plant and inserting the pieces 
thus obtained with roots, to form separate plants. It 
is a very important method, often available when many of 
the others are impracticable, or employed with difficulty 
or uncertainty. 
PROPAGINES. bBulblets formed on the stems of 
some plants. 
PROPENDENT. Hanging forwards and down- 
wards. - 
PROPHYLLA. Primary leaves. 
PROSAPTIA. Included under Davallia (which 
see). 
PROSARTES. Included under Disporum (which 
see). 
PROSELIA. Included under Chetanthera. 
PROSERPINACA (an old Latin name, used by 
Pliny, probably from proserpo, to creep; in reference to 
the creeping stems). Mermaid Weed. Syn. Trivis. ORD. 
Haloragew. A genus comprising a couple of species of 
hardy, aquatic herbs, inhabiting North America and the 
West Indies. Flowers minute, axillary, sessile, solitary 
or clustered. Leaves alternate, sub-sessile, lanceolate, 
dentate or pectinate-pinnatifid. Stems creeping at the 
base. The species should be grown in large pans of 
water, with a little soil for the roots to run in; or they 
may be cultivated in ponds. They require shelter during 
winter. 3 
P. palustris (marsh-loving white. Summer. J. lanceolate, 
—— — the lower — — when under water. Canada, 
Gi; 
P, pectinacea i . white. Summer. J. all pectinate, 
the division hater ye ey North America, &c., 1821. 
PROSOPIS (an old Greek name used by Dioscorides 
for the Butter-bur). Including Algarobia. ORD. Legumi- 
nose. This genus comprises about eighteen species of 
trees or shrubs, often armed with hooked prickles or 
stout, axillary spines, or with both, dispersed through 
the tropical and sub-tropical regions. Flowers small, in 
cylindrical spikes, or rarely in globose heads; calyx cam- 
panulate, shortly dentate ; petals valvate. Leaves bi- 
pinnate, generally rigid, and of a glaucous hue, with 
only one or two pairs of pinnæ, but with a considerable 
number of leaflets. The species are very rarely seen in 
cultivation, with the exception of P. siliquastrum, a 
nearly hardy tree, which thrives in sandy loam. pa- 
gation is effected by rather firm young shoots, off 
close to the older stems, and inserted in sand, under a 
glass, in gentle heat. 
P. siliquastrum (Siliqua-podded). fl. white. l with two or 
three p i i ing numerous pairs of 
Tinea, eias JEE iima. voia, straight. z% Wft. 
tE io- Chili, 1827.0 o E 
PROSTANTHERA (from prostithemi, to append, 
_ and anthera, an anther; alluding to the connectives of 
_ the anthers being spurred beneath). Australian Mint- 
= 
Prostanthera—continued. S 
An Australian genus comprising thirty-eight species of 
greenhouse shrubs or under-shrubs, studded with resinous 
glands, and usually strongly scented. Flowers generally 
white or red, shortly stalked, with a pair of bractéoles 
close under the calyx; calyx campanulate, the limb of 
two broad, entire lips; corolla tube short, dilated into 
a broad, campanulate throat, the upper lip of the limb 
broadly two-lobed, the lower three-lobed; whorls two- 
flowered, axillary or disposed in a terminal raceme. 
Nutlets ovoid, reticulately wrinkled. Leaves entire or 
toothed, often rather small, the upper ones conformed 
or reduced to deciduous bracts. The species best known, 
and most worth growing, are the under-mentioned. They 
are all shrubs. A sandy-peat soil suits them best. Plenty 
of drainage is at all times essential, Propagated by 
cuttings of the young shoots. 
P. cuneata (wedge-leaved). fl. all axillary, but sometimes 
crowded into terminal, leafy racemes ; corolla white, with purple 
spots, twice as long as the calyx. June. l. sessile or nearly so, 
often crowded on the short branchlets, obovate-cuneate or almost 
orbicular, obtuse, entire or crenate, the margins often slightly 
revolute. h. 2ft. 
P. empetrifolia (Empetrum-leaved). M. axillary ; corolla violet, 
fully twice as long as the calyx. September. l. sessile, linear, 
acute, entire, with revolute margins, rarely above jin. long. 
h. 2ft. 1829. (B. M. 3405, under name of Chilodia scutellari- 
oides.) 
x licels short; racemes ] 
June. I. petiolate, usuall, Aione lanes, rather acute, den- 
tately serrated, 2in. to Branc! 
h. 3ít. to 6ft. 1808. This 
rminal, | 
corolla twice as long as calyx. l. sessile, linear-terete, with 
i gir | acute or obtuse, 
floral ones 
smaller. : 
. rotundifolia (round-leaved purple, in short, close, ter- 
ge en racemes, the lower ones —— in the axils of the leaves, 
like the stem ones. July. 1. broadly ovate-orbicular or hu- 
late, on rather long petioles, very obtuse, entire or htly 
żin., and sometimes under $in., long. 
crenulate, all less t 
h. 3ft. 1824. $ 
P. violacea (violet).* A. usually bluish-purple, in two or three 
pairs, forming s l, terminal, compact racemes; corolla not 
twice as long as the calyx, and sometimes scarcely exceeding it. 
June. l. very small, shortly but distinctly petiolate, broadly 
ovate or orbicular, more or less crenate, with revolute margins, 
rarely exceeding two lines, and often not more than one line, long. 
h. 4ft. 1820. (B. R. 1072.) 
PROTANDROUS. See Proterandrous. 
PROTEA (from Proteus, the versatile sea-god; in 
allusion to the diversity of the species). Syns. Eroden- 
dron, Leucadendron (of Linnæus), Pleuranthe. ORD. 
Proteaceœ. A genus comprising about sixty species of 
magnificent, greenhouse shrubs or small trees, almost all 
natives of extra-tropical South Africa, one or two ex- 
tending in tropical Africa as far as Abyssinia. : Flowers 
solitary, densely capitate, surrounded sometimes by 
coloured bracts; heads usually large, globose or rarely 
oblong, cone-like; receptacle thick, flat or convex; in- 
volucral scales numerous, imbricated, or the lower ones 
sometimes elongated, blackish or coloured. : Leaves 
alternate or scattered, coriaceous, rigid, entire, very 
variable in shape. Many of the species have been intro- 
duced to cultivation, but are now -y rarely -s — 
ey require an airy greenhouse, with exposure to fu 
rc during —— they should be placed out of 
doors. Most of them thrive only in well-drained, sandy 
peat, and they are induced to flower freely by allowing _ 
them to become pot-bound after they have grown to the 
required size. Some form large shrubs, and flower on 
trailing, and the flowers are produced on the old stem, 
close to the ground. 
ripened young wood, inserted in sandy peat, under a bell- 
the ends of the branches; while others are dwarf and —— 
Propagated by cuttings of the half- 
