76 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



A synonym of Coscinium (which 



FEREIRIA. 



see). 



PERENNIALS. Plants which last for several years 

 are termed Perennials. The term is in most general use 

 in referring to hardy border plants, where it is necessary 

 to distinguish between those which are perennial, and 

 others that are only of annual or biennial duration. 



FERESKIA (named after Nicholas F. Peiresk, senator 

 of Aix, in Provence, who collected a considerable library 

 and herbarium). Barbados Gooseberry. STN. Peirescia. 

 ORD. Cactece. A genus comprising about thirteen species 

 of stove, woody shrubs or trees, with terete, leafy branches ; 

 they are natives of tropical America and the West Indies. 

 Flowers solitary or paniculate, terminal or lateral, sessile 

 or pedunculate ; petals broad, expanded in a rose-like 

 manner ; calyx tube equal with the ovary, and divided 

 into leafy segments; stamens numerou free, shorter 

 than the petals; the thread-like style bearing a many- 

 rayed stigma. Fruit pear or egg-shaped, with a broad 

 scar at the top, surrounded by the leafy segments of the 

 calyx. Leaves fleshy, sessile or stalked, flat or semi- 

 cylindrical, veined, pulvilligerous in the axils, the pulvillae 

 armed. Pereskias are chiefly of use for affording stocks 

 on which to graft Epiphyllums and other Cacti. P. acu- 

 leata is most extensively used, while P. Bleo is more 

 vigorous and better adapted for tall stocks. The latter is 

 rather a fine decorative stove plant when in flower. 

 Cuttings strike readily in heat ; they should be inserted 

 in very, sandy soil, and kept rather dry. The plants 

 succeed in sandy loam, to which a little brick rubbish 

 should be added. 



P. aculeate (prickly).* American or Barbados Gooseberry. 

 fl. white, rather panicled. October, fr. globose, with narrow 

 sepals, edible. I. elliptic. Prickles one or two, recurved at the 

 downy base of the petiole. Stem armed with fascicled, straight 

 spines, h. 5ft. to 7ft. West Indies, 1696. Shrub. (B. R. 1928.) 

 P. Bleo (Bleo).* fl. pale red (the stamens also red, but white at the 

 base), two to four together at the tops of the branches, each on a 

 short peduncle. October to January. I. oblong, acuminated. 

 Prickles axillary, five or six in a fascicle. h. 8ft. to 10ft. New 

 Grenada, 1827. Shrub. (B. M. 3478 ; B. R. 1473.) 

 P. grandiflora (large-flowered). A synonym of P. (jrandifolia,. 

 P. grandifolia (large-leavedX* fl. white, somewhat panicled, 

 solitary. August. I. oblong-lanceolate, smooth above, beset with 

 rough dots beneath. Stem very spiny ; larger spines blackish, 2in. 

 long. h. 6ft. Brazil, 1818. Shrub. SYN. P. grandiflora. See 

 Fig. 81, page 75. 



P. Pltltaohe (Pititache). fl. white. September. I. fleshy, lanceo- 

 late-ovate. Trunk woody, erect, very spiny ; branches sub-hori- 

 zontally divergent ; areolae approximate, tomentose ; prickles 

 three to six, unequal, rigid, h. Sft Mexico, 1838. Shrub. 



FIG. 82. PERESKIA PCEPPIGII. 



P. Poepplgii (Poeppig's). I. cylindrical, green. Stem low, up- 

 right, thin, cylindrical, irregular ; spines white, strong, generally 

 m threes, the central one being longest. Chili. See Fig. 82. 



P. portulacsefolia (Portulaca-leavedX /. purple, solitary, 

 terminal ; petals roundish, fr. umbilicate, globose, retuse, 

 greenish, with white flesh, and numerous black seeds. I. ob- 

 ovate-cuneate. Prickles solitary under the leaves, but fasciculate 

 on the stems, blackish, h. 20ft. to 30ft. West Indies, 1820. 

 Tree. 



P r EBEZIA ( called after Lazarus Perez, an apothecary 

 at Toledo, who wrote, in 1575, a history of drugs). 

 Including Dumerilia (of Lessing) and Homoianthus. 

 STN. Clarionea. ORD. Composites. A genus comprising 



Perezia continued. 



about forty-six species of greenhouse, half-hardy, or hardy 

 herbs, sometimes stemless or tufted, sometimes erect 

 and branched ; they are natives of extra- tropical South 

 America or the Andes, Central America, Mexico, and 

 California, and a few are found in Brazil. Flower-heads 

 purple, pink, blue, or white, hoinogamous, rather large, 

 on a one-headed, leafless scape, or sometimes mediocre, 

 or smaller, and clustered or loosely paniculate at the 

 apices of the stems ; involucre ovoid, campanulate or 

 turbinate ; receptacle flat, naked or pilose. Leaves radical 

 or alternate, entire, toothed, pinnatifid or dissected ; 

 lobes toothed, sometimes spiny-ciliate. Few of the 

 species are known to cultivation. For culture, see 

 Aster. 



P. viscosa (clammy), fl.-hea/ls purple ; pappus reddish ; recep- 

 tacle piloso-fimbrilliferous ; involucral scales biseriate, entire, 

 sub-equal, mucronulate. June. I., radical ones oblong-cuneate, 

 obtuse, sinuate, acute, somewhat glandular ; canline ones sessile. 

 Stem erect, almost naked or glandular, h. lift. Chili, 1862. 

 Hardy. (B. M. 5401, under name of Homoianthus viscosug.) 



PERFECT. A term more particularly applied to 

 hermaphrodite flowers. 



FERFOLIATE. When the stem appears to pass 

 through the substance of a leaf, owing to the union of 

 its amplexicaul lobes. 



Fro. 83. DOUBLE PERIANTH, as seen in Flower of 

 Abutilon insigne. 



PERGAMENEOUS. Resembling parchment in 

 texture. 



PERGULARIA (from pergula an arbour ; referring 

 to the twining character of the plants). ORD. Ascle- 

 piadeoe. A genus comprising about ten species of stove, 

 evergreen, glabrous climbers, inhabiting tropical Asia 

 and Africa and Southern Africa. Flowers golden-yellow 

 or greenish; calyx five-partite; corolla salver-shaped, 

 \vith an ovoid or oblong tube ; staminal corona five- 

 leaved. Leaves opposite, membranous. For culture, see 

 Stephanotis. 



P. minor (smaller). /. orange-coloured or yellow, very fragrant ; 

 umbels shorter than the leaves. May to August. I. orbicular or 

 ovate-cordate, acuminate, downy while young. India, China, 

 &c., 1790. (A. B. R. 184 ; B. M. 755.) 



P. odoratissima (sweetest-scented).* West Coast Creeper. 

 fl. greenish-yellow, exceedingly fragrant; umbels shorter than 

 the leaves ; corolla woolly inside June. I. cordate, acuminated, 



