P S I 



P s o 



It belongs to the class and order Icosandria 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Hesperidece. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianth, bell-shaped, five-cleft, perma- 

 nent : segments ovate : the corolla has five 

 ovate petals, concave, spreading, inserted into 

 the calyx: the stamina have numerous filaments, 

 shorter than the corolla, inserted into the calyx : 

 anthers small : thepistillum is a roundish germ, 

 inferior: style awl-shaped, very long: stigma 

 simple: the pericarpium is an oval berry, very 

 large, crowned with the calyx, one- or many- 

 celled ; the seeds numerous, very small, and 

 nestling. 



The species cultivated are : 1 . P. pyr/J'erum, 

 White Guava; 2. P. pomlfcrum, Red Guava. 



The first, in its wild state, grows to the 

 height of seven or eight, sometimes of twelve 

 feet, but in the state of cultivation, where the 

 soil is good, it equals a middle-sized apple-tree, 

 the trunk being six feet in height, and a foot 

 and half in circumference : the bark is smoolh- 

 ish, of a yellowish brown colour, with large 

 ash-coloured spots : the wood very hard and 

 tough, used for ox-yokes and the like purposes, 

 and well adapted for fuel : the branches nume- 

 rous, the young ones four-cornered : the leaves 

 blunt, entire, smoothish, on short petioles, two 

 or three inches long, opposite: the peduncles 

 are solitary, short, supporting a white sweet- 

 smelling flower : the fruit smooth, having a pe- 

 culiar smell, yellow, sulphureous, or whitish on 

 the outside, roundish or more oblong, the size 

 of a hen's egg or bigger, according to the soil : 

 the rind is a line or two in thickness, brittle and 

 fleshy ; pulp rather firm, full of bony seeds, 

 flesh-coloured, sweet, aromatic and pleasant. 

 It is a native both of the West and East Indies. 



This fruit is eaten with aviditv by the natives, 

 and also sometimes preserved with su^ar. 



The second species has a pretty thick trunk, 

 twenty feet in height, covered with a smooth 

 bark, and dividing into many angular branches 

 towards the top : the leaves are two inches and 

 a half long, and one inch and a half bvoad in 

 the middle, rounded at both ends, having a 

 strong midrib and many veins running towards 

 the sides, of a light green colour, opposite on 

 very short foot-stalks : the peduncles are axillary, 

 an inch and a half long : the petals are large and 

 white ; the fruit shaped like a pomegranate, 

 crowned, when ripe having an agreeable odour. 

 It is a native of the West and East Indies. 



Culture. — These plants are increased bv seeds, 

 which must be procured from the countries 

 where they grow naturally ; and when these are 

 brought over in the entire fruit, gathered full 



ripe, they succeed with greater certainty : they 

 should be sown in pots filled with rich kitchen- 

 garden earth, plunging them into a hot-bed of 

 tanners bark, giving them water from time to 

 time, as the earth dries. When the plants 

 come up, they must have free air admitted to 

 them in proportion to the w armth of the season ; 

 and, when they have attained strength enough 

 to be removed, be each planted out in a small 

 pot, filled with the same sort of earth, and be 

 plunged into a fresh hot-bed, shading them from 

 the sun until they have taken new root, when 

 they should have a large share of free air ad- 

 mitted to them every clay in warm weather, to 

 prevent their drawing up weak ; they must also 

 be frequently refreshed with water in summer. 



When they have filled these small pots with 

 their roots, they should be shaken out and their 

 roots pared, putting them into larger pots filled 

 with the same sort of earth, and repluneed into 

 the hot-bed, where they should remain till au- 

 tumn, when they must be plunged into the tan- 

 bed in the stove : during the winter they should 

 have moderate warmth, and not too much water, 

 and in summer have plenty of moisture, and in 

 hot weather a great share of air. 



They afford ornament among other stove 

 plants. 



I'SORALEA, a genus comprising plants of 

 the shrubby exotic kind for the greenhouse and 

 stove. 



It belongs to the class and order Diadelpliia 

 Decandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Papilionacece or Leguminoscp. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianthium, dotted with tubercles, five- 

 cleft : segments acute, equal, permanent; the 

 lowest double the length of the others : the co- 

 rolla papilionaceous, five-petalled : standard 

 roundish, emarginate, rising : wings crescent- 

 shaped, blunt, small : keel two-petalled, crescent- 

 shaped, blunt : the stamina have diadelphous fila- 

 ments, (one single and brittle-shaped, nine 

 united), ascending: anthers roundish : thepis- 

 tillum is a linear germ : style awl-shaped, ascend- 

 ing, the length of the stamens : stigma blunt : 

 the pericarpium is a legume the length of the 

 calvx, compressed, ascending, acuminate : the 

 seed single, kidney-form. 



The species cultivated are ; 1 . P. pinnata, 

 Winged-leaved Psoralea; 2. P. aculeala, Prickly 

 Psoralea; 3. P. Iracteata, Oval-spiked Psoralea; 

 A. P. hirta, Hairy I'soratea ; 5. P.bituminosa, 

 Bituminous Psoralea ; 6. P. Americana, Ameri- 

 can Psoralea; 7. P. curylifoUa, Hazel-nut- 

 leaved Psoralea; 8. P. Dalta, Annual Psoralea. 



The first rises with a soft shrubby stalk, four 

 or five feet high, dividing into several branches: 



