An Encyclopedia of Horticulture. 



155 



FLANISKA (named in honour of I. J. Planer, a Ger- 

 man botanist, who published a Flora of Erfurt, in 1788). 

 Obd. UHicacfa-. A monotypic genus. The .species is a 

 hardy, deciduous, unarmed tree, probably not now in 

 cultivation in Britain. It requires culture similar to 

 Ulmus (which see). 



P. aquatica(ai|U.atic). Planer-tree. Jl. brown, clustered; perianth 

 four or tive-tifl. M:irch ;ind April. ./>. nut-like, ultliime, uvatf, 

 compressed, wingle.ss. ;. lin. to Uin. long, alteniatf, disticliuus, 



shortly stalked, serrated, ovate, acute, roujihisli, peiiiiiveined ; 

 stipules free, caducous, h. 20ft. to 30ft. Southern United States, 

 1816. SVN. /'. Giiielini. 

 P. Gmelini (< Jnielin's). A synonym of P. aijuatica. 



FLANEB.-TKEE. See Flanera aquatica. 



FLANE-TBEE. See Flatanus. 



FLANE-TBEE, SCOTCH. A general name in 

 Scotland for Acei- Pseudo-plataitus. 



FLANTAGINE2:. A natural order of herbs, some- 

 times annual or perennial, almost stemless or stolon- 

 bearing, sometimes shortly caulescent, branched or suf- 

 frutioose, glabrous, simply pilose, or woolly in the axils ; 

 they are natives of the temperate regions of both hemi- 

 spheres, especially in Europe and North America, and 

 are but rarely met with in the tropics. Flowers regular, 

 hermaphrodite or moncecious, small, in elongated or 

 shortened spikes, or rarely solitary and sessile in the 

 axils of the often scarious bracts ; calyx four-parted, 

 with closely-imbricated segments, persistent in the fruit ; 

 corolla hypogynous, gamopetalous, scarious, marcescent, 

 with an ovoid or cylindrical tube, and four speading, im- 

 bricated lobes, sometimes wanting in the female flowers ; 

 stamens four, or fewer. Fruit a one or more celled, one or 

 more seeded, membranous capsule, stipitate or included. 

 Leaves radical, or in the caulescent species alternate, 

 rarely opposite, one to many-nerved, entire, toothed, or 

 pinnatifid, sometimes sheathed ; petioles nsually dilated 

 at the base, and accompanied by a woolly membrane. 

 Several species of Plnntago are employed in medicine. 

 The order comprises only three genera — Boiiriuevia, Litto- 

 rella, and Plunlngu — and perhaps about 200 species. 



FlaANTAGO (the old Latin name of the genus, used 

 by Pliny). Plantain. Obd. Plantat/inea;. This genus com- 

 prises all the species of the order (which see for characters) 

 save Iwo. They are of very little importance from a 

 garden standpoint. P. Coronopus, P. lanceolata, P. major, 

 P. maritima, and P. media, are British plants. P. brasil- 

 iensis is sometimes seen in botanic gardens. All thrive 

 in ordinary soil, and may be readily raised from seed; 

 the perennial species may also be propagated by division. 

 P. brasiliensis (Brazilian), jl. whitish, disposed in a compact, 



cylindrical si)ikf,:ilinul3in. lun^: sc;iiie axilhiiy, sulitaiy, ruumled, 



twice as lunji as tlit- leaves, clutlied uitli %\ hile, adprcsscd llairs. 



Summer. I. linear-lancet'latc, suioctlt, thrce-iicivcd, entire, with 



the niarj;ins somewhat thickened, much narrowed towards the 



base, and ililated a;t;ain at the stem, which they embrace, h. 1ft. 



Brazil, 1823. (B. M. 2616.) 



FLANTAIN. See FlantagO. The name is also 

 applied to other plants. 



FIiANTAIN IiIIiY. A common name for Fuiikia. 



PLANTAIN-TREE. .S'« Musa. 



PLANTAIN-TREE, MAURITIUS. See Musa 

 rosacea. 



PLANT - BOXES AND CASES. Plant - boxes 

 are used for large trees or shrubs that cannot be pro- 

 vided with pots of sufficient size to contain the roots. 

 They are usually made of wood, but sometimes of slate, 

 and the sides may be constructed so as to be movable, 

 for allowing the roots and drainage to be examined, 

 should it become necessary. Boxes made of slate have 

 the advantage of great durability, and they are readily 

 kept clean. Special provision should be made to in- 

 sure drainage, and Boxes containing trees of large dimen- 

 sions should, for this reason, be stood on something to 

 keep them a little above the ground level. Plant or 

 Cutting-boxes, about Sin. deep, for raising seedlings and 



Plant-boxes and Cases — continued. 

 growing-on tender bedding plants, are extremely useful; 

 they answer well if the wood is merely planed over 

 before being made up. 



Boxes for window plants should be about Gin. deep : a 

 less depth does not afford room for sutticient soil to 

 sustain the plants for a season. 



Plant-cases used outside windows, and also in rooms, 

 require their occupants renewed occasionally, but not 

 very frequently, if flowering plants are excluded. Many 

 of the hardier species of Palms, greenhouse Ferns, 

 Selaginellas, &c., are admirably adapted for the decora- 

 tion of Plant-cases; tender or delicate subjects should 

 not be included, unless the Cases are utilised for special 

 purposes inside a glass structure. 



An inclosed portion of a propagating-housc, wdierein 

 cuttings of larger than ordinary size are inserted, is 

 also termed a Plant or Propagating-c ase. 



FLANTIA. Included under He.mi/lotti.t. 



PLANTING. See Transplanting. 



PLANT LICE. See Aphides. 



PLANT MITES. See Mites. 



PLANT - PROTECTORS. These are very nume- 

 rous, as the term is applicable to anything which acts, 

 if only temporarily, to preserve plants from injury. 

 Bell glasses, handlights, small movable frames, and 

 even panes of glass, amongst many other things, may be 

 termed appliances for plant-protection, when they are 

 used as such to ward oft' heavy rains or severe frost. 

 Full information will bo fouml under Bass or Bast 

 Mats, Bell Glasses or Cloches, Cocoa-nut Fibre 

 Refuse, Frames, Glass, Hand Glasses, Netting, 

 Straw, Willesden Paper, &c. 



PLASMOBIOPHORA BBASSICiE. This is the 

 cause of the disease known as " Clubroot," sometimes 

 called also "Finger-and-Toe," in Turnips, Cabbages, 

 Charlock, and other species of the genus Bnissira, and 

 also in Raphanus Rnplianistrum, or Wild Mustard. It 

 is a Fungus of very simple structure, and belongs to the 

 curious group called My.mmycetes, the species in which, 

 while vegetating, consist of minute, naked masses of 

 protoplasm, endowed with a power of movement, by 

 changing their forms, like the low microscopic animals 

 called Amwbw. These small, naked masses tend to unite 

 when they meet, and thus they increase in size, and 

 form what are called plasmodia. In some of the species, 

 the Plasmodia may reach a size of 2in. or more in breadth, 

 and resemble a mass of clear or muddy-looking jelly. 

 After a time, the plasmodia become covered with a firm 

 coat, and break up into myriads of small, round cells, or 

 spores, each inclosed in a cell-wall. These sjiores may 

 remain for a time unchanged ; but, under favourable 

 circumstances, they burst, throw off the cell-wall, and 

 appear as very minute plasmodia, which go through tho 

 same development as before. Almost all the Miiioinijcetes 

 live on decaying organic matter, but P. lirassiete does 

 not. Its Plasmodia are always minute, and they pene- 

 trate into the tissues of its hosts. The roots of a plant 

 attacked by "Finger-and-Toe" vary considerably in ap- 

 pearance, according to the stage of the attack. The 

 branch-roots very often bear swellings much exceeding 

 the proper thickness of these roots. The swellings 

 are usually spindle-shaped or roundish ; at first, they are 

 nearly smooth, but after some time they become rough. 

 The main root is also often injured, as shown by its 

 enlarged size, and, frequently, by its rouglily-fingored 

 appearance. In the autumn, and as winter advances, 

 the diseased portion becomes more and more pulpy and 

 decayed, and is also overgrown with other Fungi, which 

 find their food in the rotting mass. Towards the end 

 of winter, oidy the woody bundles of the roots remain 

 moderately firm, the cellular tissues having dried up, 

 and resembling coarse dust. 



