P II Y 



PHY 



ThiSj like the rest of the Palm tribe, ha; no 

 other branches th.'.n its large li ich of 



which i- comp «sed of a leaf and branch, al- 

 ways arising from the top ; and as the old lea\es 

 fall, the stem forma itself and advance? in 

 height ; but although the leaves grow very tall in 

 a few yea tin advances but slowly, and 



can never be ( > arrive at a flowering and 



fruiting state in this climate : it, however, merits 

 a place in the hot-house collections for its sin- 

 gularity. 



Tin- berries of this tree are the dates of the 

 shops, which are imported from Africa and 

 the countries in the Levant. 



PHYLICA, a genus containing plants of the 

 shrubby, evergreen, exotic kind. .Bastard Ala- 

 tcrnus. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentandria 

 jMunozynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Dumosoe. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a com- 

 mon receptacle of the fructifications collecting 

 the flowers into a disk : perianthium proper one- 

 leafed, live-cleft, turbinate, mouth villose, per- 

 manent: there is no corolla: scalelets live, acu- 

 minate, one at the base of each division of the 

 calyx, converging : the stamina have live fila- 

 ments, very small, inserted under the scalelet : 

 anthers simple : the pistillum is a germ at the 

 bottom of the corolla: stvle simple: stigma ob- 

 tuse : the pericarpium is a roundish capsule, 

 three-grained, three-celled, three-valved, crown- 

 ed : the seeds solitary, roundish, gibbous on 

 one side, angular on the other. 



The species are : J . P. ericokles, Heath- 

 leaved Ph\hca ; 2. P. frhimoiu, Woolly-le.u td 

 Phvlica ; 3. P. Lusifolia, Box-leaved Phylica. 



The first is a low busby plant, seldom rising 

 more than three feet high : the stalks are shrub- 

 by and irregular, dividing into many spreading 

 branches, subdividing into smaller ones: the 

 young branches a-e ciosely beset with short, 

 narrow, acute-pointed, sessile leaves, of a dark 

 green, and continuing all the year. At the end 

 of every shoot, the flowers are produced in 

 small clusters sitting close to the ieaves : they 

 "are of a [Hire white, begin to appear in the au- 

 tumn, continue in beauty all winter, and decay 

 in spring. It trrows naturally at the Cape, and 

 the Bowers are slightly odoriferous. 



The second specie^ bas an erect shrubby stalk, 

 which ar three feet high, covered with a 



purplish hark, and here and there some white 

 down upon it: the leaves are narrow, short, 

 acute-pointed, sessile, alternate on every side, 

 thick, nerved, dark green on their upper surface, 

 but hoary on their under: flowers collected in 

 small heads at the end of the branches, white, 



woolly, fringed on their borders, cut into six 

 acute segments at top. It (lowers from March 

 to May. 



The third rises with a shrubby upright stalk- 

 five or six feet high, when old covered with a 

 rough purplish bark, but the younger branches 

 have a woolly down: the leaves are thick, the 

 of those of the box-tree, veined, smooth 

 and of a lucid green on their upper side, hut 

 hoary on their under; they have short footstalks, 

 and stand without order on the branches : the 

 flowers are collected in small heads at the ends 

 of the branches ; they are of an herbaceous 

 colour, and make no great appearance. It 

 flowers during a great part of the year. 



Culture. — They are chiefly increased by cut- 

 • and slips of the young shoots. 



In spring, as about March or April, a quan- 

 tity of young cuttings, or slips of the small 

 shoots, should he taken off, planting them in 

 pots of rich earth, plunging them in a hot-bed, 

 or in the bark-bed in the stove ; giving frequent 

 ngs, and occasional shade from the sun, 

 when the) 1 emit roots, and become 



proper plants ;,; for potting off separately in 

 autumn.: or the young cuttings or slips maybe 

 planted anytime insummer, particularly in June 

 and July, in p >ts as above, and placed under a 

 hot-bed frame, or covered close with hand glas -. 

 being watered and shaded; when they will 

 ako grow, but not be so forward as those of the 

 spring planting. 



They are somewhat tender plants, requiring 

 slicker in winter in this climate: of course thev 

 must always he kept in pots, and placed anionir 

 the green-house exotics, where they will effect 

 a very agreeable variety at all seasons, and ilower 

 annually a great part of the autumn and winter, 

 but do not produce seed in this climate. 



PIIYLLAXTIJ I S, a genus furnishing plants 

 of the evergreen exotic tree and shrubby kind. 

 Sea-side Laurel. 



It belongs to the class and order Monoeda 

 Trunnlria, and ranks in the natural order of 



The characters are : that the male calvx is a 

 one-ltafcd perianthium, six-parted, hell-shaped, 

 coloured : segments ovate, spreading, blunt, per- 

 manent : there is no corolla, except the calyx 

 be called so: the stamina have time filam 

 shorter than the calyx, approximating at the base, . 

 distant at the tips : anthers twin : females — the 

 calvx a perianthium as in the , here is no 



corolla : nectary a rim of twelve angles, suround- 

 ing the germ : the pistillum is a roundish germ, 

 obtusely three-conured : styles three, spreading, 

 bilid: stigmas blunt: the pericarpium is ;i 

 roundish capsule, three-grooved, three-celled : 



