329 



PHYSALtTE. 



PHYTOLACCA. 



330 



exposed hills, and of Japan. The corolla is a dirt; white ; the calyx 

 reddish-yellow, inclosing a red berry. The fruit of this plant was 

 well known to the ancients, and is described by Dioscorides. In this 

 country however the fruit is seldom eaten, and the plant is cultivated 

 chiefly on account of its appearance. In Arabia and Armenia, Spain, 

 and Germany however the berries frequently supply the place of other 

 eatable fruits. They have a subacrid and not unpleasant flavour, but 

 the persistent calyx with which they are invested is very bitter. 

 Ray speaks of these berries as a preventive of gout, and others have 

 extolled them as diuretics, and recommended them in the treatment 

 of dropsy. 



P. pubcecens, Downy Winter Cherry, is a native of North America 

 and the East Indies. The whole plant is densely clothed with down. 

 The corolla is yellow, marked with five roundish brownish-violet spots 

 at the throat. The berries are yellowish when ripe ; they are called 

 Gooseberries, and arc used as a substitute for them in many parts, 

 and when preserved with sugar make an excellent sweetmeat. It is 

 the Camara of Brazil. 



(Lindley, Flora Medico ; Burnett, Outline) of Botany ; Fraas, 

 Synopni Plantar urn Flora Classics.) 

 PHYSAL1TE. [TOPAZ.] 

 1'HY'SALUS. [AcALEPH*; CETACEA.] 

 PHYSE'TER [CETACEA.] 

 PHYSIC-NUT. [JATROPHA.] 



PHYSIOLOGY (ipwioAoyia, from <f>i)im, nature, and \oyos, discourse) 

 is the science which treats of the phenomena of living bodies. Its 

 several department" are considered in separate articles, in which a com- 

 plete system may be found. The reader is referred to the articles 

 VITALITY, DIGESTION, ABSORPTION, CIRCULATION, HEART, RESPIRA- 

 TION, NUTRITION, SECRETION, GLAND, BONE, SKELETON, ARTICULATION, 

 MUSCLE, LARYNX, NERVOUS SYSTEM, BRAIN, the several organs of the 

 SENts, REPRODUCTION, and the articles on the anatomy and special 

 physiology of the individual organs of animals and plants, which are 

 referred to in each of the preceding. 

 PHYSOGRADA. [ACALEPH.K] 

 PHYSONE'MUS, a genus of Fossil Fishes. [FiSH.] 

 PHYSOSPERMUM (from QUITO, a bladder, and ntfyiia, a seed, in 

 reference to the tegument not adhering to the seed when young), a 

 genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Umbellifcrcc. It has a 

 5-toothed calyx ; obovate petals, with an indexed point ; the fruit 

 laterally compressed; the carpels reniform, globose, didymous, with 

 five filiform slender equal ridges, the lateral within the margin ; the 

 interstices with single vitUc. The species are perennial herbs. The 

 flowers white. 



P. Cornubienie has triternate radical leaves ; wedge-shaped leaflets 

 deeply toothed ; the stem-leaves ternate, lanceolate, and entire ; the 

 stem from one to three feet high, erect, round, striated, minutely 

 scabrous, bearing a few small ternate leaves with linear-lanceolate 

 segments; the umbels are terminal; the carpels longer than broad; 

 the coat loose. It is a native only of Cornwall, in bushes and hedges ; 

 in great plenty in the neighbourhood of Bodmin. Cattle are so fond 

 of this plant that they will eat it down to the ground. The root con- 

 tains a yellow resinous juice. There are but few species of this genus. 

 (Babington, Manual of Britith. Botany.) 

 PHYSSO'PHORA. [ACALEPH*.] 



PHYTELEPHAS (from Qortii, a plant, and lKi$cu, ivory), a genus 

 of Plants belonging to the natural order Pamlaneir, of Brown, and 

 originally referred by Lindley to the order Cyclanthaceai, but in his 

 ' Vegetable Kingdom ' he places it with the Palms. Under this name it 

 was first described by Ruiz and Pavon, in their ' Sy sterna Vegetabilium 

 Flora Peruvians.' It was also described by Willdenow under the 

 name Elephanturia, but the former name is now generally used. The 

 substance called Vegetable Ivory consists of the seeds of species of 

 P/iytelephai. 



This genus Js characterised by possessing pinnated fronds and an 

 erect stem. The flowers are arranged on a spadix inclosed in a uni- 

 versal spathe, and arc of two sorts, the one containing both stamens 

 and pistils, the others only pistils. The spadix is crowded with 

 flowers, and the stamens are very various ; the style is divided into 

 6 or 6 deep segments ; there is no visible calyx or corolla ; the fruit 

 consists of quad rilocular drupes, which are aggregated into a large 

 muricated coriaceous head. The seeds are about the size of a pigeon's 

 egg, and of an oblong-ovate triangular shape. When young they con 

 tain a crystalline liquor without odour or taste, which is regarded as a 

 refreshing drink by travellers. In the process of growth however this 

 once opaline liquid becomes milky and opaque, acquiring some taste 

 nnd odour, and at last it is converted into a substance in many 

 instances whiter and harder than ivory. If the liquid of the seed is 

 kept long, even when it is clear, it becomes sour, thus indicating that 

 although clear and tasteless it contains some carbonaceous principle, 

 an well M water. There are two species of Phytelephat, yielding seeds 

 of the tame kind : the P. macrocarpa has a low stem and large fruit, 

 whilst the P. microcarpa has little or no stem and small fruit. These 

 plants, which have an external character something between a palm 

 nnd a cycas, occur in South America, in the valleys of the Peruvian 

 Andes, and especially on the borders of the river Magdalena. The 

 natives of these districts have used the seeds from time immemorial, 

 for the purposes of making buttons, heads to walking-sticks, and various 



trinkets ; but it is only within a recent period that they have been 

 used for these purposes in Europe. They are now extensively used, 

 as far as their size will permit them, for the manufacture of almost all 

 the articles for which ivory had been in use before ; and, as they can 

 be made at a cheaper rate, their sale is at present somewhat extensive. 

 In the use of the nuts for turning, considerable difference is found in 

 their quality ; some are comparatively oily and soft, and work up with 

 ease, whilst others are so brittle as to be unmanageable in the lathe. 

 They do not answer so '.veil as ivory for the construction of delicate 

 articles, as they are much more easily fractured ; and although at first 

 these seeds are whiter thau ivory, they are not found to retain their 

 colour so well. 



It might at first appear difficult to account for the germination of 

 these plants, as the albumen, which is destined to nourish the young 

 plant, is as hard as ivory ; but this is provided against by the hard 

 albumen absorbing water, and thus not only becoming soft and capable 

 of being used by the embryo, but it also loses its whiteness. It regains 

 these properties when dry. The embryo is small compared with the 

 size of the seed, of a sweet taste, and lies inclosed in a little bag at one 

 end of the seed, the presence of which is indicated by a slight swelling 

 on the external part of the seed. When the seeds are brought into 

 this country they are contained in a soft external tegument of a light 

 colour, and about the eighth of an inch in thickness, with a dark mark 

 indicating the point of attachment. This covering is easily removed, 

 and the seed underneath is of a dark brown colour, from a membrane 

 which is closely attached to the albumen. In some cases this is of a 

 reddish colour, especially on the smaller seeds, and these are probably 

 the produce of the smaller species of the plants. When the seed is 

 cut completely through, an irregular cavity is found in the centre. 

 This should be attended to in working it. 



(Ruiz and Pavon, Systetna Vegetabilium Floras Peruviana; ; Cooper, 

 Paper On Vegetable Ivory, in Microscopical Journal, No. 16.) 



PHYTEUMA (a name adopted by Dioscorides), a genus of Plants 

 belonging to the natural order Campanulacece. It has a 5-parted 

 calyx ; a rotate corolla with 5 long linear segments ; free anthers ; and 

 filaments dilated at the base. 



P. orbiculare, Round-Headed Rauipion, has the heads of its flowers 

 globose, those of the fruit oblong, the leaves crenate-serrare, the lower 

 ones cordate-ovate, stalked, the upper ones linear, lanceolate, sessile. 

 It is a native of the mountains of Europe and of England in chalky 

 soil. The flowers are of a deep blue colour. 



P. ipicatum, Spiked Rampion, is distinguished by having the heads 

 of its flowers oblong, those of the fruit elongated, cylindrical ; the lower 

 leaves cordate-ovite, the upper ones linear-lanceolate, sessile ; the 

 flowers are white, cream-coloured, or blue. It is a native of the 

 temperate parts of Europe, and of Sussex in England. Campanula 

 Rapunculus is likewise known as the Rampion. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany.) 



PHYTO'CRINUS. [ENCHINITES.] 



PHYTOLACCA, a genus of Plants the type of the natural order 

 Phytolaccacetf. The species are tropical or subtropical herbaceous 

 plants, with erect or occasionally twining stems, a thickish, turnip- 



213 4 



Phytolacca decandra. 



1, an expanded flower ; 2, the pistil ; 3, a ripe fiuit ; 4, the same, cut thiough 

 transrcrscly ; 5, a vertical section of a need. 



