AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 255 
PUYA (the native name of the plant in Chili), Syn. 
Pourretia. ORD. Bromeliacew. A genus (eight or ten 
species) of stove or greenhouse, perennial herbs, natives 
of Chili and Peru. Flowers showy, blue, yellow, or white, 
solitary, disposed in a simple or pyramidal - branched, 
terminal raceme ; sepals free, oblong or lanceolate, loosely 
imbricated; petals free, connivent in a tube at the base, 
spreading above, rather broad. Leaves either at the 
base or tip of the stem, clustered, spiny-serrate. The 
two species here described — probably the only ones in 
cultivation — thrive in a compost of loam and peat. 
Propagation is easily effected by” suckers, or by seeds 
when procurable. ; , 
P. Altensteinii 
Altensteinii. 
P. cærulea (blue). A synonym of P. Whytei. 
P. gigas (giant). fl. white or rose-coloured, disposed in erect 
spikes, from lft. to 30ft. in height. 7. tufted, linear-lanceo- 
late, hoary, spiny-toothed, mealy-white beneath. New Grenada, 
1 An extraordinary species. (R. H. 1831, 74; Gn., May 6, 
1882.) It is very uncertain to what genus this plant really 
belongs, as the flowers have not been seen by any specialist. 
It has the foliage of an Agave. 
P. grandiflora (large-flowered). 
ruginea. 
P. heterophylla (variable-leaved). A synonym of Pitcairnia 
heterophylia. 
s Jongitona (long-leaved). A synonym of Pitcairnia hetero- 
phyla, 
P. maidifolia (Indian Corn-leaved). A synonym of Piteairnia 
maidifolia. 
P. sulphurea (sulphur-coloured). 
Wendlandi. 
P. virescens (greenish). A synonym of Piteairnia virescens. 
P. Warcewiczii (Warcewicz’s). A synonym of Pitcairnia 
atrorubens. 
P. Whytei (Whyte’s). f. of a peculiar metallic greenish- 
blue colour, with bright orange anthers, disposed in a large, 
pyramidal panicle, on a tall scape. Autumn. i. tufted, 
crowded, recurved, elongately subulate, remotely spinescent. 
h. 3ft. Chili, 1867. A handsome plant, quite hardy in the 
South of England. (B. M. 5732.) SYN. P. cerulea. 
PYCNIDIA. Small bodies, very like perithecia (see 
Perithecium) in general appearance and form, only 
they are usually smaller, paler, and thinner walled; and 
the spores in them, instead of being inclosed in asci, 
are situated, singly or in chains, on the tips of small 
branches of mycelium that arise from the inner surface 
(Altenstein’s). A synonym of Pitcairnia 
A synonym of Pitcairnia fer- 
A synonym of Pitcairnia 
99009 
o0 Q 
wi 
x 20 
“a 
Fig. 329. PHOMA HERBARUM (Pycnidial Stage of Pleospora herba- 
rum)—a, Pycnidia in transverse section, x 20, one opened ; 
b, Conidia still on the Stalks, x 400; c, Conidia free after 
falling off the Stalks, x 400. ad 
of the wall of the Pycnidium (see Fig. 329). The spores 
are called stylospores, because of being produced at the 
tips of these slender, rod-like branches, like a stylus, or 
pen. A reference to Pleospora, of which Phoma is a 
Pycnidial form, will help to render clearer the relation 
of this form of fruit to the perithecia. 
PYCNODORIA. Included under Pteris (which see). 
PYCNOPTERIS. Included under Nephrodium. 
PYCNOSTACHYS (from pyknos, dense, and stachys, 
a spike; referring to the dense flower-spikes). SYN. 
Echinostachys. ORD. Labiatæ. A small genus (six species) 
of erect-growing, stove, annual or perennial herbs, natives 
of tropical or sub-tropical Africa and Madagascar. 
Flowers in whorls, which are disposed in dense, terminal 
spikes; corolla blue, with an exserted, defracted tube, 
two-lipped, the upper lip four-toothed, the lower entire 
and concave; calyx ovoid-campanulate, equal, with five 
W 
Pycnostachys—continued. : 
subulate-spinose teeth. Nutlets almost round, smooth. 
Leaves stalked, linear-lanceolate to broadly ovate, 
coarsely toothed. Only two species have been intro- 
duced to our gardens. For culture, see Ocimum. 
P. cærulea — f, corolla blue; calyx sessile; spike from 
lin. to 2in. long. August. 1, sessile, oblong or linear-lanceolate. 
2in. to 3in. long, acute, slender, deeply serrated, entire, and 
narrowed at base, glandulose beneath. Stem over lft. high, 
tetragonal. Madagascar, 1825. Annual. (H. E. F. 202.) 
P. urticifolia (Nettle-leaved). fl. blue; upper lip of corolla 
erect, with four incurved lobes; lower one concave; spike ter- 
minal, ovate, acuminate, large, thyrse-like. August. J. ovate, 
— — — Pit —— base, —— long- 
stalked, deeply serrated, pubescent beneath. h. 3ft. Africa, 
1862. Perennial. (B. M. 565.) 
PYGÆRA BUCEPHALA. See Buff-tip Moth. 
PYGMÆUS. Pigmy; dwarf. 
_PYENOS. This term, used in Greek compounds, 
signifies thick, close, dense, compact ; e.g., Pycnocephalus, 
thick-headed. 
PYRACANTHA. See Crategus Pyracantha. 
PYRALIS (Hypenc) ROSTRALIS (Hop Snout 
Moth). This insect is common in the southern districts 
of England, where the larvæ feed on the leaves of the 
Hop, frequently doing a great deal of harm to them. 
The moths, when at rest, have the wings folded hori- 
zontally, and assume the form of the Greek letter delta 
(A). They have long palpi, projecting forwards, and 
the group may be recognised by this peculiarity, whence 
they are called Snout Moths. ‘The front wings are 
greyish-brown, darker towards the base, paler along the 
front margin and across the terminal half of the wing, 
and a dark line runs from the tip, diverging from the 
rear margin. ‘The hind wings are uniform brownish. 
The spread of wings is a little over lin. The larve are 
rather slender, tapering in front, pale green, with narrow, 
white lines lengthwise ; they have six true legs and eight 
prolegs or claspers. When full-fed, they spin slight 
cocoons in leaves drawn a little together, and there 
become pupee. 
Remedies. Hand- picking the larve, and the leaves 
inclosing pups, and burning all surface rubbish with 
the pups in it, is the most effectual remedy. Beating 
the Hops (taking care not to injure the plants) and 
jarring the Hop-stakes, so as to cause the larve to fall 
on to sheets, is efficacious; the larve being afterwards 
burnt. Syringing the plants with any of the usual 
insecticides, by means of a garden engine, is also of 
use. 
PYRAMIDAL. Pyramid-shaped; more frequently 
used, however, to denote conical; e.g., a Carrot. . 
PYRENA. The stone caused by the hardening of 
the endocarp in drupaceous fruits. 
PYRENOMYCETES (from pyren, a kernel or 
stone of fruit, and mykes, a Fungus). A very large 
group of Fungi, so named because they produce, in 
the processes of reproduction, small, hard, dark bodies 
(perithecia and pycnidia), in which certain forms of 
spores are protected. The Pyrenomycetes form one of 
three families, into which a very large order of Fungi, 
called Ascomycetes, is divided. This order is charac- 
terised by the mode of origin of a form of spore, re- 
garded as the most highly developed of the various kinds 
produced in them. These spores are produced from a 
portion of the protoplasm, or living substance, contained 
in certain long, cylindrical, thin-waHed cells, called asci. 
In each ascus (see Fig. 330) there are usually eight 
spores formed, but the number varies, in different Fungi, 
from two to an indefinite number in each, though con- — 
stant in each species. In most Ascomycetous Fungi, the 
asci grow crowded together, either alone or intermixed 
with slender filaments (paraphyses) (see Fig. 330); and, — 
