P 
* 
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 
153 
. Pits—continued. 
early forced Strawberries, these might possibly be watered 
from the outside, by opening the sashes a little. Special 
propagating Pits are best built rather low, in order 
that they may not be too much exposed to cold winds, 
and that cuttings, when inserted, may be near the 
light. To this end, the floor for these is also often sunk 
into the ground; a path passes through the centre, 
with a door at the end, and a heated plunging-bed is 
provided on one or both of the sides (see Fig. 192). If 
the top sashes are fixed, instead of being movable, then 
a strieture of this sort is more correctly termed a house, 
Although wood is sometimes used, nothing surpasses 
. ordinary bricks for constructing a framework on which 
* to rest the rafters and sashes. 
Bricks keep out frost 
better than wood, and are also much more substantial. 
Pits are sometimes built with hollowed walls—that is, 
a double set of bricks is arranged so as to leave a 
hollow space between; the idea being that of retaining 
a heat, which passes more readily through a solid wall 
2 
PP acheac er 
—— 
+ 
“te 
than where there is a chamber midway containing air. 
PITTED. Having numerous small, shallow 
sions or excavations. 
PITTOSPORES. A small order of glabrous, or 
rarely tomentose or pilose, arborescent or erect shrubs, 
or twining or flexuous-procumbent under-shrubs, dis- 
persed over the warmer regions of the globe, but mostly 
found in Australia. Flowers white, blue, yellow, or 
rarely reddish, hermaphrodite, regular or slightly oblique, 
sometimes borne on terminal, solitary and nodding, or 
corymbose or paniculate peduncles, occasionally axillary 
and solitary or fasciculate; sepals five, distinct, imbri- 
cated, or rarely connate at base; petals five, hypo- 
gynous, imbricated, longer than the sepals; claw con- 
nivent or sometimes coherent; stamens five, hypogynous, 
free, alternating with the petals, the filaments filiform, 
or dilated in the middle or at the base. Fruit a capsule 
or berry. Leaves alternate, entire, toothed, or very 
rarely slightly cut; stipules none. ‘The species contain 
resinous, aromatic, and bitter principles, which impart a 
disagreeable flavour to the fruit. Nine genera and about 
ninety species are included in the order. Examples are : 
Billardiera, Marianthus, Pittosporum, and Sollya. 
PITTOSPORUM (from pitta, pitch, tar, and sporos, 
seed; in allusion to the resinous coating of the seeds). 
ORD. Pittosporew. A rather large genus (fifty species 
have been described) of greenhouse or half-hardy, gla- 
brous or tomentose, erect shrubs or small trees, occurring 
in Africa, the warmer parts of Asia, the Pacific Islands, 
Australia, or New Zealand. Flowers sometimes in ter- 
„minal clusters, corymbose, sub-umbellate or paniculate, 
sometimes solitary or few, terminal, axillary, or 
lateral; sepals distinct or connate at base; petals 
-eonnivent or cohering at base, or rarely spreading. 
Leaves entire, sinuate-dentate, in some species 
‘often sub-verticillate at the apices of the branches. 
All the species form very handsome subjects, and 
. are well adapted for growing in conservatories. 
The half-hardy ones thrive in any common garden 
soil, but, except in the south-western counties, &c., 
require the shelter of a wall. The greenhouse ones 
succeed in a well-drained, fibry loam. P. Tobira is a 
favourite plant in the Paris flower-markets, and is 
largely grown for its very fragrant blossoms. All are 
readily propagated by means of cuttings of the half- 
ripened wood, inserted in sandy soil, under a bell 
glass, in a greenhouse, and kept shaded until roots 
are formed. es ee ; 
. coriaceum (leathery-leaved). fl. bluish-white ; 
P. 
rey bellately branched, 
duncles um y c ora meny ; flowered, 
depres- 
Vol. IIL 
Pittosporum—continued. 
P. cornifolium (Cornus-leaved), f. dingy-red, polygamous, on 
very slender, terminal, one or two-flowered uncles ; sepals 
very narrow, subulate ; petals as narrow, with slender tips. rena 
l. whorled, obovate or elliptic-lanceolate, shortly petioled, quite 
entire and glabrous, coriaceous. Branches forked or whorled, . 
h. 2ft. to 4ft, New Zealand, before 1832, A small, slender, 
half-hardy shrub. (B. M. 3161.) 
P. crassifolium (thick-leaved),* Parchment-bark. i: dark 
chocolate-purple, freely produced in nodding, pedunculate um- 
bels, apii l. alternate, narrow-obovate, linear-obovate, or 
oblong, obtuse, quite entire, light green, tomentose on the under 
surface. h. 4ft. to 10ft. New Zealand, 1872. A bushy-growing, 
half-hardy shrub, of erect branching habit. (B. M. ) 
P. elegans (elegant). A synonym of P. eugenioides. 
P. eugenioides (Eugenia-like). M. greenish-white, more or less 
dicecious, fragrant; sepals very variable, ovate, acuminate, 
glabrous; petals narrow and spreading, recurved. J. usuall 
elliptical, acute, narrowed into long petioles, rarely broader an 
obovate, quite entire, undulated or crisped, rather coriaceous, 
with numerous fine veins. A. 20ft. to 3ft. New Zealand. 
Greenhouse tree. Syns. P. elegans, P. microcarpum. 
Fic. 193. PITTOSPORUM TOBIRA, showing Habit and detached 
Flowering Twig and Flower. ; 
P. ferrugineum (rusty). fl. yellow, small; uncles terminal, - 
usually clustered several together above the eet leaves. April to 
July. l. from obovate or ovate, and obtuse or scarcely acuminate, 
to oblong or almost lanceolate, acuminate, and Zin. to 4in. long, 
quite entire, narrowed into a petiole, rusty-tomentose on bo 
sides when very young. h. 6ft., sometimes attaining 50ft, to 60ft. 
Australia, 1787. Greenhouse tree. (B. M. 2075.) 
P. microcarpum (small-fruited). A synonym of P, eugenioides. 
P. revolutum (revolute). jl. yellow; , few or 
solitary, decurved, bearing sometimes a single, rather 
large flower, more — a ovoid or corymbose 
raceme. Feb to April. or — 
ulate, 
