THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



PHARUS (from pharos, a covering ; the leaves are 

 used for thatching and other purposes). OED. Gramineoz. 

 A. genus comprising about five species (which, however, 

 are closely related) of etove grasses, natives of tropical 

 America, from Brazil to Mexico and Florida. Flowers 

 in a large, terminal, loosely compound panicle, with 

 elongated, slender, often divided branchlets; spikelets 

 unisexual, monoecious, one-flowered, the females two or 

 three times longer than the males. Leaves long-stalked, 

 ample, acuminated, oblique; petioles twisted, often re- 

 versed. P. latifolius, the only species introduced, requires 

 culture similar to Bam/busa (which see). 

 P. latifolius (broad-leaved), ft., fertile glume little longer than 

 *fie sterile pair, villous to the base; female spikelets nearly 

 iin. long. July. 1. obovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, cuspidate, 

 scabrous beneath, 6in. to Sin. long, IJin. to 2*in. broad. 

 h. lift, to 3ft Jamaica, 1796. 



P. L vittattis (banded).* A finely variegated form, with foliage 

 banded with white or flushed with rose. (F. d. S. 316, under 

 name of P. vittattis.) 



PHASEOLTIS (the old Greek name used by Dios- 

 corides, probably from pliaselus, a little boat ; referring 

 to a supposed resemblance in the pods). Kidney Bean. 

 ORD. Leguminosce. A rather extensive genus (about 

 sixty species) of twining, prostrate, or short and erect, 

 stove, greenhouse, or hardy, annual or perennial herbs, 

 rarely woody at base, broadly dispersed over the warmer 

 regions of the globe. Flowers white, yellow, red, violet, 

 or purplish, fasciculately racemose on knot-like protuber- 

 ances above the middle of the axillary peduncles; upper 

 calyx lobes or teeth connate or free ; standard orbiculate ; 

 wings obovate or rarely oblong; keel linear or obovate, 

 terminating in a long, spirally-twisted point. Pods 

 linear or falcate, sub-terete or compressed. Leaves 

 pinnately trifoliolate, stipellate, very rarely unifoliolate ; 

 stipules persistent, striated ; bracts often caducous, 

 stipuliform or small ; bracteoles often broad. Few of the 

 species are of any horticultural value. For culture of 

 P. vulgaris, see Beans. The stove species require 

 similar treatment to Doliclios (which see). 

 P. Caracalla (Caracalla). Climbing Snail Flower. /. purple 

 and yellowish mixed, large ; vexillum and carina spirally twisted ; 

 racemes longer than the leaves. August. I., leaflets ovate- 

 rhomboid, acuminated. India, 1690. Plant twining, hardly 

 pubescent. Stove perennial. (A. B. R. 341 ; B. R. 341.) 

 P. lobatus (lobed-leaved). /. yellow, in dense racemes ; peduncles 

 axillary, solitary, many-flowered ; standard and wings more or 

 less twisted ; keel with an extraordinary, spirally-twisted, acumi- 

 nate point. September. 1. copious, ternate ; leaflets hastately 

 trilobed, the terminal one on a long footstalk, the lateral ones 

 almost sessile. Stem twining. Buenos Ayres. Greenhouse 

 perennial. (B. M. 4076.) 



P. scmi-crcctus (slightly-erect). /., vexillum greenish, tinged 

 with purple ; keel purple in the middle, but white on the sides ; 

 wings deep purple ; peduncles elongated. July. I., leaflets 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, glabrous. Stems twining at the apex. 

 South America, 1781. Stove annual. (B. R. 743.) 

 P. vulgaris (common). Dwarf, or French Kidney Bean. ft. vari- 

 able, usually white or lilac ; racemes pedunculate, shorter than 

 the leaves ; pedicels twin. June to September. I., leaflets ovate, 

 acuminated. Plant twining, smoothish. Tropical and temperate 

 regions ; " universally cultivated, but not anywhere clearly known 

 as a wild plant " (Baker). 1597. Tender annual. See also Beans. 

 P. v. multiflorus (many-flowered). Scarlet Runner. This differs 

 from the type by its bright scarlet, casually white, flowers, 

 arranged in long racemes, which often overtop the leaves. See 



PHEASANT'S EYE. A common name for Adonis 

 eestivalis, A. autumnalis, and Dianthus plumarius. 



PHEBALIUM (from PUbale, a Myrtle; alluding to 

 the appearence of the species). ORD. Rutacece. A genus 

 comprising (according to Bentham) twenty-eight species 

 of greenhouse, glabrous or stellate-pubescent, scaly or 

 rarely hirsute shrubs or small trees, of which one is a 

 native of New Zealand, and the rest are all South Aus- 

 tralian. Flowers white or yellow, small, very rarely 

 four or six-merous; calyx segments and petals five, the 

 latter valvate or laterally imbricated, but always with 

 valvate, inflexed tips ; inflorescence axillary or terminal ; 

 peduncles usually forming a short, umbel-like raceme, 



Pliebalium continued. 



rarely one-flowered or reduced to a compact head. Leaves 

 alternate, simple, entire or slightly toothed, the glands 

 often large and prominent. The species require a com- 

 post of three parts sandy peat and one of sandy loam. 

 Propagation may be effected by cuttings of the young 

 wood, inserted in sand, under a glass. The under- 

 mentioned species are all Australian. 

 P. aureum (golden). A synonym of P. sguamulosum. 

 P. Billardieri (Labillardiere's). fi. yellow, in axillary corymbs, 

 shortly pedunculate, but always shorter than the leaves ; pe- 

 duncles and pedicels scaly. April. I. oblong, lanceolate, or 

 linear, obtuse or acute, rarely under Jin. and often 3in., some- 

 times 4in. to 5in. long, silvery-white beneath, with minute scales. 

 1822. An erect shrub or small tree. SYN. P. elaturn. 

 P. elatum (tall). A synonym of P. Billardieri. 

 P. lacnnoides (woolly), fl. yellow, on short, axillary pedicels, 

 usually crowded near the ends of the branches. May. I. crowded, 

 narrow-linear, obtuse or scarcely mucronate, rarely exceeding 

 in. long, the margins revolute, glabrous above, hoary benearth. 

 Branches minutely stellate-pubescent, h. 3ft. 1824. 

 P. squamulosum (slightly scaly), fl.. yellow, in terminal, sessile, 

 simple or compound umbels or corymbs, not exceeding the last 

 leaves; pedicels, calyx, and petals covered with comparatively 

 large scurfy scales. May. I. shortly petiolate, oblong or linear, 

 obtuse, but often mucronulate, iin. to liin. long, the margins flat 

 or slightly recurved, smooth above or slightly glandular-tuber - 

 culate, covered underneath with scurfy peltate scales. Young 

 branches brown, with scurfy scales, h. 2ft. 1824. SYN. 

 P. aureum. 



PHEGOPTERIS. Included under Polypodium 

 (which see). 



PHELIPJEA (named after the Philipeaux family, 

 patrons of the botanist Tournefort). SYNS. Anoplanthus 

 (in part), Macranoplon (in part). ORD. Orobanchacece. 

 A genus comprising only a couple of species of singular 

 and beautiful, puberulous or glabrous, hardy, leafless, 

 Oriental herbs. Flowers scarlet, large, ebracteolate, 

 always solitary, on a few-scaled, elongated scape or 

 naked peduncle ; calyx broadly campanulate, cut into five 

 unequal, acute lobes ; corolla tube broadly ventricose, 

 incurved ; limb large, spreading, sub-bilabiate, with five 

 broadly rotundate, scarcely unequal lobes. " Only one 

 species has yet been successfully cultivated. It is a 

 hardy perennial (?), parasitical upon the roots of Cen- 

 taurea dealbata. The seeds should be sown with those 

 of the Centaurea, together, in the same pot, when pro- 

 bably some will germinate, fasten themselves upon the 

 roots of the seedling Centaureas, and develop into plants " 

 (N. E. Brown). 



P. foliata (leafy). /., corolla inflated, ventricose ; tube nearly lin 

 long ; limb nearly lin. in diameter, the throat having two dark 

 velvety spots ; stamens inserted below the middle of the tube ; 

 scape 1ft. long, terete, somewhat flexuous, striated, glabrous, or 

 somewhat puberulous at apex ; scales serni-amplexicaul, sheath- 

 ing, remote. Caucasus, 1880. SYNS. Anoplanthus Siebersteini 

 (R. G. 1000), A. foliata. 



PHENAKOSPERMUM. Included under Rarenala. 

 PHEROTRICHIS. A synonym of Lachnostoma 

 (which see). 



FHIALIS. A synonym of Baliia. 

 FHILADELPHEJE. Included under Saxifrages. 

 PHILADELPHTTS (an ancient Greek name, mean- 

 ing brotherly love, applied, by Athenseas, to a different 

 plant). Mock Orange ; Syringa. ORD. Saxifragece. A genus 

 comprising about twelve species of hardy, ornamental shrubs, 

 natives of central Europe, temperate North America, Japan, 

 and the Himalayan Mountains. Flowers white or straw- 

 coloured, often sweet-smelling, axillary, solitary or corym- 

 bose, bracteate ; calyx tube turbinate, adnate to the ovary ; 

 lobes four, rarely five, valvate ; petals four, rarely five, 

 rotund or obovate, convolute; stamens twenty to forty. 

 Leaves opposite, deciduous, entire or serrate, often covered 

 with stellate down ; stipules wanting. Branches rather te- 

 rete, opposite. The species are of easy culture in any fairly 

 good soil. The plants flower on the wood of the previous 

 year; this may be cut away when flowering is over, and 



