PET 



P H A 



come up, they should be removed into separate pots, 

 and plunged into a moderate hot-bed. When 

 theplantshavcobtained a good share of strength, 

 thev should be inured by degrees to the open air, 

 into which they may be removed towards the end 

 of June, placing; them in a warm situation, 

 where they may remain till autumn, when they 

 must be placed in the stove, and during winter 

 have a moderate degree of warmth. 



They afford variety, and produce a good effect 

 among other potted plants. 

 PETOLA. See Momordica. 

 PETREA, a genus containing a plant of the 

 climbing exotic shrubby kind for the stove. 



It belongs to the class and order Didynamia 

 Angiospermia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Personates. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed, bell-shaped perianthium : border five- 

 parted, spreading, very large, coloured, perma- 

 nent : segments oblong, blunt, closed at the 

 throat by five doubled, truncated scales : the co- 

 rolla one-petalled, wheel shaped, unequal, less 

 than the calyx : tube very short : border flat, 

 five-cleft: segments rounded, almost equal, 

 spreading very much ; the middle one larger and 

 of a different colour: the stamina have fourfila- 

 ments, concealed within the tube of the corolla, 

 ascending, two shorter : anthers oval, erect : the 

 pistillum is an ovate germ : style simple, the 

 length of the stamens : stigma blunt : the peri- 

 carpium is a capsule obovate, flat at top, two- 

 celled, concealed at the bottom of the calyx : the 

 seed single, fleshy. 



The species is P. volubills, Twining Petrea. 

 This rises with a woody stalk to the height of 

 fifteen or sixteen feet, covered with a light-gray 

 bark, and sending out several long branches, 

 having a whiter bark than the stem : the leaves 

 are at each joint, on the lower part of the 

 branches placed by threes, but higher up by 

 pairs ; are five inches long, and two inches and 

 a half broad in the middle, drawing to a point 

 at each end ; stiff, and their surface is rough, 

 of a light green, having a strong dark midrib, 

 with several transverse veins running to the bor- 

 ders, which are entire : the flowers are produced 

 at the ends of the branches in loose bunches, 

 nine or ten inches long ; each flower upon a slen- 

 der pedicel about an inch in length, of a fine blue 

 colour. 



There is a variety with bright blue petals. 

 Culture. — This is increased by seeds, which 

 must be obtained from the places where the 

 trees grow naturally, and be sown in pots 

 plunged in a good hot-bed; and when the plants 

 <^orne up, they should be each planted in a sepa- 



rate small pot filled with light loamy earth, and 

 replunged into a hot-bed of tanner's bark, and 

 be afterwards placed in the bark-bed in the 

 stove, where they must constantly remain, and 

 be treated like other plants of the same country. 

 They afford ornament in stove collections. 

 PETTY WHIN. See Genista. 

 PHASEOLUS, a genus containing plants of 

 the climbing esculent and flowering kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Diadelphia 

 Decandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Papilionacece or Leguminosce . 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed, two-lipped perianthium : upper lip emar- 

 ginate ; lower three-toothed : the corolla pa- 

 pilionaceous : banner heart-shaped, blunt, emar- 

 ginate, reclined ; the side bent back : wings ovate, 

 the length of the banner, placed on long claws : 

 keel narrow, rolled spirally contrary to the sun : 

 the stamina have diadelphous filaments, (simple 

 and nine-cleft,) within the keel, spiral : anthers 

 ten, simple : the pistillum is an oblong germ, 

 compressed, villose : style filiform, bent in spi- 

 rally, pubescent above : stigma blunt, thickish, 

 villose: thepericarpiumis a legume long, straight, 

 coriaceous, blunt with a point : the seeds kidney- 

 form, oblong, compressed. 



The species is P. vulgaris, Common Kidney- 

 Bean. 



Other species may be cultivated for the pur- 

 pose of variety as flower-plants. 



It has the stem more or less twining, 

 but in some of the cultivated dwarf varieties 

 scarcely at all so, quite simple or unbranched : 

 the leaves ternate, acuminate, rounded at the 

 base, rough, on long petioles : the flowers axilr 

 lary, in twin racemes, or else on twin petioles : 

 corolla white, yellow, purple or red : the banner 

 has a callus, but a small one, and placed near 

 the edge above the claw : there is a white necta- 

 riferous scale between the claw of the banner 

 and the single stamen, bent upwards, and grow- 

 ing to the filament : besides this, an obliquely 

 bell-shaped, pellucid, striated nectary surrounds 

 the pedicel of the germ within the connate fila- 

 ment ; the size differs in the several varieties: 

 the legume oblong, swelling a little at the seeds, 

 when ripe one-celled : the seeds several, ovate or 

 oblong kidney-shaped, smooth and shining; 

 varying much in shape and size, but particularly 

 in colour ; being white, black, blue, red, and 

 variously spotted. It is annual, and a native of. 

 both the Indies. 



They were formerly called Sperage Beans, 

 French Bea?is, &c. , 



The principal sub-varieties of the dwarf, or 

 low-growing sorts, are : the early white dwarf, 



