PHY 



PHY 



ten or twelve feet high, dividing towards the 

 top into several small branches, covered with 

 a gray hairy bark : leaves on the lower part 

 alternate, but towards the end of the branches 

 opposite ; the lower leaves from three to four 

 inches long, and two broad in the middle, draw- 

 ing to a point at both ends ; they are of a pale 

 green, and downy: the flowers from the axils 

 towards the end of the branches, one or two at 

 the same joint opposite, on short nodding pe- 

 duncles ; are small, of a pale dirty yellow co- 

 lour, with purple bottoms: berries small, spheri- 

 cal^ red, inclosed in an oval dark-purple blad- 

 der. It flowers in June and July. 



The ninth has a perennial creeping root : 

 the stalks several, slender, about a foot high, 

 becoming somewhat woody, but seldom lasting 

 above two years ; the leaves alternate, on short 

 footstalks ; they are about two inches long, and an 

 inch and half broad: the flowers axillary towards 

 the top, on short slender peduncles: petals small, 

 sulphur-coloured with dark-purple bottoms : 

 they appear in July and August, but are rarely 

 succeeded by berries in this climate. It is a 

 native of Curassao in the West Indies. 



Culture. — These plants are all capable of 

 heing increased by seeds ; the second, third, 

 fourth, and fifth sorts, also by parting the roots ; 

 the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth, likewise 

 by cuttings. 



In the first sort, the seed should be sown in 

 the early spring, as April, in pots of light earth, 

 plunging them in a moderate hot-bed. When 

 the plants have acquired a few inches in growth 

 they should be removed into separate pots, gra- 

 dually inuring them to the open air, in order 

 that they may be removed with balls into the 

 clumps or borders. But it is probably a better 

 method to sow them in the latter end of May 

 in the places where they are to remain, as they 

 do not bear transplanting well. 

 They must be raised annually. 

 In the herbaceous kinds the seeds should be 

 sown in the autumn as soon as they are ripe, or 

 early in the spring, in the beds, borders, or 

 clumps where they are to remain ; or they may 

 be transplanted into other beds to remain till 

 the following autumn, when they may be re- 

 moved to the situations where they are to re- 

 main. 



The roots may be parted either in the early 

 autumn or spring season, when the weather is 

 mild. The divided parts should have root-fibres 

 left at the bottoms and a bud in each at the 

 tops in order to their sucreeding properly. 



In the sixth and seventh sorts, the seed 

 should be sown in pots of light mould in the 

 early spring and plunged in a mild hot-bed. 



When the plants have had a little growth they 

 should be pricked out into separate small pots, 

 proper shade and water being given ; being af- 

 terwards managed as the shrubbv exotics of less 

 tender plants. 



They may likewise be raised from cuttings 

 made in the later spring or summer months, 

 which should be placed in pots of light mould 

 and plunged in the hot-bed, due shade and 

 water being given till they have stricken root. 



And the two last sorts may be raised from 

 seeds or cuttings in the same way, by the aid 

 of the bark hot-bed of the stove. 



The first and the other herbaceous sorts are cu- 

 rious ornamental plants in the borders, clumps, 

 and other parts of pleasure-grounds, and the 

 four best shrubby sorts in the green-house and 

 stove collections. 



PHYTOLACCA, a genus affording plants 

 of the herbaceous hardy kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Decandria 

 Decagynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Miscellanea;. 



The characters are : that there is no calyx, 

 unless the corolla be called a coloured calyx : 

 the corolla five petals, roundish, concave, spread- 

 ing, bent in at top, permanent : the stamina 

 have eight, ten, or twenty, awl-shaped fila- 

 ments, the length of the corolla: anthers round- 

 ish, lateral : the pistillum is an orbiculate germ, 

 depressed, divided externally by swellings, end- 

 ing in eight or ten very short spreading-reflex 

 styles : the pericarpium is an orbiculate berry, 

 depressed, marked with ten longitudinal grooves, 

 umbilicated with the pistils, and having as many 

 cells : the seeds are solitary, kidney-form and 

 smooth. 



The species cultivated are: 1. P. octandra, 

 White-flowered Phytolacca ; 2. P. decandra, 

 Branching Phytolacca, or Virginian Poke ; 3. 

 P. icosandra, Red Phytolacca; 4. P. dioica, 

 Tree Phytolacca. 



The first has the stalk herbaceous, two feet 

 high, about the size of a man's finger, and' 

 divides at top into two or three short branches : 

 the leaves ovate-lanceolate, near six inches long, 

 and almost three broad ; they have a strong 

 midrib, and several transverse veins, are of a 

 deep green, and the footstalks are an inch and 

 half long: the peduncles come out from the side 

 of the branches opposite to the leaves, are seven 

 or eight inches long ; the lower part, about two 

 inches in length, is naked ; the remainder has 

 sessile Rowers, white with a blush of purple in 

 the middle, cut into five segments almost to 

 the bottom, and having from eight to fourteen 

 stamens, and ten styles : the berries flat, with 

 ten deep furrows. 



