3C9 



PLANAXIS. 



PLATALEA. 



370 



PLANAXIS. [EXTOMOSTOMATA.] 



PLANE. [PLATAN-US.] 

 PLANIPENNES. [NECBOPTERA.] 



PLANORBIS. [LlM.N.KAD.E.] 



PLANORBULI'NA, a genus of Foraminifera. 



PLANTA GENISTA. [GENISTA.] 



PLANTAGINA'CE^E, a email natural order of Plants belonging 

 to the Monopetalous Exogenous series, principally characterised by 

 having a superior 1-celled simple ovary, terminated by a simple linear 

 stigma, many seeds, with a minute embryo in the midst of much 

 albumen, and stamens with extremely weak filaments. They consist 

 of herbaceous or suffrutescent plants, of which the Common Ribgrass, 

 or Plantago lanceolala, may be taken as the type, and are of no mate- 

 rial importance to man. The mucilage surrounding the seeds of some 

 is occasionally used in the stiffening of muslins by the manufacturers, 

 and the P. lanceolala is sown on sandy bad lands as a material for 

 sheep food. In structure, Plantago possesses the rare peculiarity of 

 having the cavity of its simple carpel divided into two by a vertical 

 additional plate. [PL.INTAOO.] 



Great Plantain (Planlago m<y'or). 

 1, a flower ; 2, a corolla cat open ; 3, a seed-vessel, with the upper half ol 

 the pyxis removed. 



PLANTA'GO, a genus of Plants, the type of the natural order 

 Plantayinacect. It has a 4-cleft calyx, a corolla with an ovate tube, and 

 a 4 -parted reflexed limb. The capsules burst transversely ; they are 

 2-4 celled, and have from 2 to 4 seeds. 



P. Coronoput, Buck's-Horn Plantain, has linear pinnatifid leaves, 

 with a slender spike ; the bracte are subulate from an ovate base, erect; 

 the midrib of the lateral sepals with a ciliated membranous wing ; 

 the placenta 4 -winged, with one seed in each cell This species is 

 found in gavelly and sandy places, both near the sea and inland. It is 

 a native of Great Britain. It has been eaten as a salad, but it is too 

 bitter and astringent to be palatable, and these qualities have given it 

 ome reputation as an expectorant and vulnerary. Strange accounts 

 are given of its efficacy in medicine, and some very improbable cures 

 attributed to its use. 



P. maritima has linear grooved fleshy leaves, convex on the back ; 

 the sepals not winged; the capsules 2 seeded ; the tube of the corolla 

 pubescent ; the spike cylindrical ; the bracts ovate acuminate. It is 

 found on the sea-coast and on high mountains in Great Britain. 



/'. lanceolata is distinguished by its leaves being lanceolate, attenu- 

 ated at both ends, and 5-nerved ; the scape furrowed, the spike ovate 

 or oblong ; cylindrical bracts, ovate-acute or cuspidate ; the capsules 

 2-celleil, the cells 1 -seeded ; the tube of the corolla glabrous. The 

 root produces long fibres ; the neck is clothed with dense wool, and 

 the scape and leaves with silky hairs. This species was once cultivated 

 a* an agricultural plant, but was found to be unprofitable, and has long 

 ceased to be sown. 



/'. media is known by its ovate leaves, with short broad pubescent 

 (talks ; the sepals are not keeled ; the capsules 2-celled, and each cell 

 contains one seed. It is found in meadows and pastures in England. 

 The leaves and root have been used in decoction as an astriugent 

 lotion. 



P. major, Great Plantain, has broadly ovate leaves on a long 

 channelled stalk ; terete scapes ; an elongated spike ; ovate-obtuse 

 keeled bracts ; the sepals with a prominent doraal nerve ; the capsules 



KAT. UWT. DIV. 7OL. IV. 



2-celled, each cell containing many seeds. It is found in Great 

 Britain, and has been called Way-Bred, from its prevalence on the 

 way-side. This plant has a peculiar tendency to grow in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the abodes of men, and seems as though it followed tha 

 migrations of the human species. Thus, although not intentionally 

 conveyed, it has accompanied our colonists to every part of the world, 

 and is known in some of our settlements to the natives under the 

 name of ' The Englishman's Foot ' ; for, with a strange certainty, 

 wherever our countrymen have tvod there it is to be found. Small 

 birds are almost universally fond of the seeds of these plants, which 

 are covered with mucus. According to De Candolle, the seeds of 

 P. arenaria are exported in considerable quantities from Nismes and 

 Montpellier to the north of Europe, and are supposed to be consumed 

 in the completion of the manufacture of muslins. The seeds of 

 P. Ispaghvla are of a very cooling nature, and with boiling water 

 form a rich mucilage, which is much used in India in catarrh, gono- 

 rrhosa, and nephritic affections. Soda is obtained in Egypt from the 

 ashes of P. squarrosa. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany ; Lindley, Vegetabk Kingdom; 

 Lindley. Flora Medico. ; Burnett, Outlines of Botany.) 



PLANTAIN. [PLANTAGINACE*; PLANTAOO ; MUSA.] 



PLANTAIN-EATER [MUSOPHAGID^] 



PLANTAIN, WATER. [ALISMACE.E.] 



PLANTI'GRADA. [CAMIVORA.] 



PLANTS, FOSSIL. Those plants which are found embedded iu 

 the various strata of the earth are called Fossil. The nature and 

 general character of such remains are referred to in the article 

 ORGANIC REMAINS. The greatest development of vegetable life 

 occurred during the deposit of the Coal Measures. The characters of 

 that vegetation, with a list of the species, will be found iu the article 

 COAL-PLANTS. Lists of the genera of plants found iu formations 

 above and below the Coal will be found in the accounts of those 

 formations. [GEOLOGY.] 



PLANTS, REPRODUCTION IN. [REPRODUCTION IN PLANTS.] 



PLANULATI. [AMMONITES.] 



PLASMA. [AGATE.] 



PLASTER OF PARIS. [GYPSUM.] 



PLASTIC CLAY. The lower part of the Tertiary Series of England 

 and France yields, with greensands and pebbles, beds of red, white, 

 or mottled clay, often of excellent quality for the potter. FTBHttBI 

 SYSTEM.] 



PLATALEA, a genus of Birds belonging to the family Ardeidte. 

 The peculiar form of the bill in this genus has gained for these birds 

 the common name of Spoonbill. It has the following generic cha- 

 racters : iBill very long, strong, very much flattened, point dilated and 

 rounded into the form of a spoon or spatula ; upper mandible chan- 

 nelled, transversely furrowed at its base ; nostrils at the surface of the 

 bill, approximated, oblong, open, bordered by a membrane ; face and 

 head partially or entirely naked. Feet long, strong ; three toes ante- 

 riorly united up to the second joint by membranes or webs ; posterior 

 toe touching the ground. Wings moderate, ample; the first quill 

 nearly as long as the second, which is the longest. 



Dill of Spoonbill. 



The Spoonbills live in society in wooded marshes, generally not far 

 from the mouths of rivers, and are rarely seen on the sea-shore. Their 

 food consists of small fishes, spawn, and small fluviatile testaceous 

 molluscs, as well as small reptiles and aquatic insects. According to 

 circumstances they build their nests either iu high trees, in bushes, or 

 among rushes. Their moult is simple and ordinary, but the young 

 bird does not take the confirmed livery of the adult till the third year; 

 the bill is gradually developed, and appears covered with a membrane. 

 The crest makes its appearance at the second year. The sexes have 

 external distinctions, but the characters are but slightly marked. 

 (Temminck.) 



P. leucorodia, Linn., the Common White Spoonbill. This species is, 

 there can be little doubt, the AewtfpwSios of Aristotle (' Hist. Anim.,' 

 book viii. c. 3), of which he says that it haunts ncpl ras Ai/was (to! TOVS 

 Trora/jLovs (" about the lakes and rivers ") ; and which he thus describes : 

 " In size it is less than the other," the 'EptoSids (one of the Herons, 

 perhaps Ardea cinerea), " and has a broad and long bill ;" a descrip- 

 tion which, when coupled with the white colour indicated by the name, 

 can hardly be deemed inapplicable ; nor can the term ' broad' he with 

 any propriety referred to the bill of any of the true Herons. It is the 

 Becquaroueglia (Belon) and Cucchiarone (Bonaparte) of the modern 



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