An Encyclopedia of Horticulture. 



225 



PROBOSCIDEUS. Trumpet-like ; proboseis-like. 



PROCERUS. Very tall. 



PROCESS. A term applied to any projecting ap- 

 pendacfe. whether natural or monstrous. 



PROCESSION FLOWER. See Polyg-ala vul- 

 Ifaris. 



FROCKIA (probably commemorative, but derivation 

 of name not given by nomenclator). Syns. Kellettia^ 

 Tinea^ Trili:v. Ord. Tiliacecp. A genus comprising only 

 two or three species (which are, perhaps, all varieties of 

 the one described below) of stove shrubs, natives of 

 tropical America. Sepals three or four, valvate, per- 

 sistent : petals sepaloid and persistent, sometimes absent ; 

 pedicels fasciculate or shortly racemose, terminal. Leaves 

 ovate, serrated, many-nerved at base. P. crucis thrives 

 in a compost of sandy loam and leaf mould. Propagated 

 by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, inserted in sand, under 

 a glass. 



P. cmcls (Santa Cruz). Jl. yellow, very fragr-ant ; corjiubs few- 

 flowereil. terminal. July. L uvate or cordate, acuminated, ser- 

 rated, w ith the point entire, raemVtranous. h. 5ft. West Indies, 

 <Sc., 1823. (B. R. 972 ; L. B. C. 1933.) 



PROCIiESIA (a name commemorative of Procles, 

 King of Sparta). The correct name of this genus, 

 according to the authors of the " Genera Plantarum," 

 is Cavetid it'll ill. Stn. Polyhtpa. Ord. VacciiiiaceiF. A 

 genus comprising about thirty species of handsome, stove, 

 glabrous, evergreen shrubs or small trees, inhabiting the 

 mountains of tropical America. Flowers red, scai-let, 

 white, or flesh-colour, showy, racemose or sub-umbellate, 

 axillary and terminal, pedicellate ; calyx tube hemi- 

 spherical or shortly campanulate, the limb short, dilated, 

 five-lobed or five-toothed ; corolla tubular, five-toothed, 

 tlie teeth valvate ; stamens ten. Leaves alternate, per- 

 sistent, coriaceous, shortly petiolate, entire. The two 

 best-known species are here described. Both are 

 shrubs. For culture, see Xh.ibaudia. 



P. acuminata (taper-pointed).* Jl. in short racemes, covered, 

 when in Imd, by large, scarlet bracts ; corolla bright red, with 

 green tips and lobes, ijin. Ion";. November, t. sub-distichous, on 

 very short, stout petioles, 2in. to Sin. long, ovate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, rounded at li.ose, with long-acuminate or caudate 

 points. Branches pendulous, slightly glabrous or pubescent. 

 Andes of Columbia and Ecuador, 1868. Sv.x. Thihaudiu acu- 

 minala (B. M. 5752). The correct name of this plant is 

 Cavendi^hia acuminata, 



P. cordifolia (heart-shape-leaved), fl., corolla bright red, white 

 at the mouth, tubular-ventricose, nearly lin. long ; racemes 

 reduced to a crowded head. December. I. l.Un. to 3in. lonir, 

 ovate-oblong, obtuse, quite entire, cordate at base ; petioles very 

 short, imbescent. Branches terete, pubescent. New Grenada 

 and Eciuidor, 1865. Sv.N. T/iihaiidia conli/ulia (B. M. 5559). 

 The correct name of this plant is Cavendi^hia cordifolia. 



FROCUMBEITT. Lying flat upon the ground. 



FROFEREA. Included under NeiihroJium. 



FROIPHYS. A synonym of Eiinji-les. 



PROLIFEROUS. See Prolification. 



PROLIFICATION (from proles, offspring, and 

 fiicio, I make). A term denoting, in its widest sense. 

 the reproduction of plants by means of buds, as opposed 

 to reproduction by means of seeds. It is accordingly 

 employed to denote the formation in many plants, e.g., 

 the Houseleek (Semiiervivitm tectoritm), of offsets or 

 stolons, of which the terminal bud becomes a new plant, 

 and the connection with the parent is severed. It is 

 also employed in cases where buds are formed along the 

 edges of leaves, either on uninjured ones {e.g., Brijo- 

 phyllum and Malai'i.i), or in those that have been 

 injured or cut. as in propagating Begonias from the 

 leaves. 



The word is, however, frequently restricted to denote 

 certain alterations that are often met with in tlie in- 

 florescences and flowers of cultivated plants, in which 

 leaf or flower-buds are produced where they do not 



voL ni. 



Prolification — continued. 

 naturally occur. If Prolification affects the inflorescence, 

 it consists in the formation of leaf-buds, or of an un- 

 usual number of flower-buds. It is often well seen in 

 such plants as Clovers and Plantains, in which the flowers 

 are arranged naturally in a close head or spike. The 



Fig. 289. Hen-and-Chickf.ns Daisy, showing Prolification of the 

 Inflorescence. 



Hen-and-Chickens Daisy (see Fig. 289), in which the 

 flower-head bears a number of smaller ones around it, is 

 a well-known example of Prolification of tlie inflorescence. 

 When a single flower is affected, the flower-stalk may 

 be prolonged through and beyond the flower, and may 

 bear leaves or a flower-bud on it. This form of Proli- 

 fication, known as "median," is occasionally seen in many 

 plants, e.g., the Rose. It is peculiarly frequent in double 

 flowers, i.e., flowers in which the stamens have been 

 replaced by petals. Occasionally, the prolonged flower- 

 stalk bears several leaf-buds or flower-buds. Another 

 form of Prolification, called " axillary," consists in the 

 growth of leaf -buds, or of flower-buds, from the axils of 

 one or more of the parts of a flower. In this form, as 

 in the last, the buds may develop into branches bear- 

 ing several flowers. Such buds are most frequently 

 situated in the axils of sepals. Next in frequency are 

 those in the axils of leaf-like carpels ; less often they 

 are associated with petals ; and least common is their 

 occurrence in the axils of stamens. Axillary Prolifica- 

 tion is far more frequent in plants in which all parts 

 of the flowers are free, than in those in which they are 

 united ; and the flowers most liable to it generally have 

 the top of the flower-stalk, or receptacle, naturally pro- 

 longed between the whorls of the flower, or possessed of 

 a glandular disk, or are otherwise peculiar in structure. 

 Those desirous of further information on this subject will 

 find it fully discus.sed in Dr. Masters' " Vegetable Tera- 

 tology," published, in 1869, by the Eay Society. 



PRO]VIEN2!A. Included under Zygopetalum 



(which see}. 



FRONAXA (named in honour of Lad. Pronay, a 

 Hungarian naturalist, who died in 1808). Syns. Cumpy- 

 lantiiera, Spiraidhera. Ord. Pitfosporece. According to 

 Bentham, in his " Flora Australiensis," this genus is 

 raonotypic. The species, P. elegans, is an elegant, green- 

 house twiner, succeeding in sandy peat. Propagation is 

 effected by cuttings, made of young shoots, and inserted 

 in sand, under a glass. 



P. elegans (elegant), fl. bluish or white, in a dense, terminal 

 corvnili, sessile amongst the last leaves. August. I., lower ones 

 often coarsely toothed or lobed, the others sessile or nearly so, 

 lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, lin. to l^in. long, entire, rather 

 firm ; margins recurved. Australia, 1867, (P. M. B. xii. 99.) 

 Syns. Cmniiylanthera Fraseri, Spiranthera Fraseri. 



PRONE. Lying flat, particularly face downwards. 



2 G 



