PARASITES. 



223 



PARTERRE. 



Papt^rus. — Cyperacece. — An in- 

 teresting marsh plant, wMcii re- 

 quires a stove in England, and which 

 is worth growing, from its pith 

 ha\-ing been the only paper used by 

 the ancients. It should be planted 

 in loam 'at the bottom of a tub or 

 cistern ; or it may be grown in an 

 aquarium. 



Parasites are plants which root 

 into other plants and differ from 

 epiphytes in that cii'cumstance, the 

 latter only growing on the outside 

 of the branches of trees, and deriving 

 nourishment partly from the decay 

 of the outer bark, and partly from 

 the moisture which its poi'ous corky 

 nature enables it to i-etain. The 

 only ligneous parasite which is grown 

 in this country is the Mistletoe, 

 which is propagated by briusing the 

 berries, and causing them to adhere 

 to the bark (see Yi'scu3i), and the 

 chief epiphytes are some of the stove 

 Orchidacefe. The British herba- 

 ceous parasites are Ciiscuta Epl- 

 thymiun and C. europce\i upon 

 Clover and Hops, and Orohdnclie 

 major and Lathrce-ct Squamdria on 

 the roots of forest-trees. The hardy 

 epiphytes of Britain are the Lichens 

 and Mosses, which grow on the bark 

 of old trees, or stunted young trees 

 in moist shady situations, and some 

 species of Ferns, such as Polypo- 

 diuni vidgare, which is often found 

 growing on the bark of old pollards 

 in the central districts of England, 

 and in great abundance on trees in 

 the moist climates of Devonshire, 

 Lancashire, Cumberland, kc. It is 

 very abundant on old Oaks in the 

 grounds of some of the villas, on 

 the banks of the lake of Ambleside. 

 Almost the only herbaceous para- 

 site Avhich can be conveniently 

 cultivated in gardens is the Cuscuta 

 curopcE'a, the seeds of which, when 

 gathered on Heaths or in Hop- 

 grounds, may be sown at the roots 



of almost any herbaceous plant in 

 gardens, when they will spring up, 

 twine round it, and perhaps ulti- 

 mately strangle it. Cuscuta verru- 

 cosa is sometimes grown in green- 

 houses on Geraniums, and is noted 

 for the fragrance of its blossoms. — 

 (See Cu'scuTA.) Orohdnclie major 

 is veiy common in clover fields in 

 Norfolk, and greatly injures the 

 crops of that valuable forage plant. 

 It also grows on the roots of Broom 

 and Furze. — See Oroba'nohe. 



Parasol Acacia. — Rohinia um- 

 hracuUfera. 



Parterre. — The French term 

 for what in England is called a 

 flovrer-garden, but which in France 

 in former times, when the word was 

 originated, was most frequently 

 a f_gure formed on the surface of the 

 ground by turf, box, and gravel or 

 sand, with occasional flowers or low 

 shrubs. In these parterres, flowers 

 and shrubs were altogether secon- 

 dary objects, the main features 

 being the compartments of turf and 

 the curious scroll-work of box. 

 The French divided their parterres 

 into three kinds ; parterres of em- 

 broidery, which consisted chiefly 

 of scroll-work or arabesque figures 

 of box kept low by clipping ; par- 

 terres de compartiments, which 

 consisted chiefly of beds of turf of 

 different forms, varied by small 

 shrubs clipped into regular shapes 

 and parterres anglais, which con- 

 sisted of turf in large masses, with 

 beds of flowers surrounded by box. 

 Parterres of embroidery are now 

 rarely to be metwith, either in France 

 or England ; they have been totally 

 destroyed at Versailles and Fon- 

 tainebleau ; and in England, though 

 we have old French gardens at 

 Levens near the Lakes of West- 

 moreland, at WroxLon near Banbury, 

 and other places, yet almost the 

 only parterres of embroidery are 



