174 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Fodolepis continued. 



ray florets. Summer. /. linear or lanceolate, stem-clasping, and 

 often decurrent. h. 1ft. This hardy annual species closely 

 resembles P. acuminata, but has its involucral bracts usually 

 terminated by a fine bristle. See Fig. 210. SYN. P. chrysantha. 

 P. chrysantha (golden-flowered). A synonym of P. aristata. 



FIG. 211. PODOLEPIS GRACILIS, showing Habit, detached Flower- 

 head, and Portion of Stem with shortly decurrent Leaf. 



P. gracilis (slender).* fl.-heads purple, lilac, or white ; peduncles 

 usually rather long. August. I. linear or lanceolate, stem-clasp- 

 ing, and often decurrent. h. 3ft. 1826. This pretty perennial 

 species is a much more delicate plant than either of the pre- 

 ceding. See Fig. 211. (B. M. 2904 ; S. B. F. G. 285.) 

 P. rngata (wrinkled). A synonym of P. acuminata. 



PODOLOBIUM. Included under Oxylobinm 

 (which see). 



PODOPELTIS. Included under Nephrodium. 



PODOPHYLLUM (from pous, podos, a foot, and 

 phyllon, a leaf ; alluding to a fancied resemblance, in the 

 five to seven-parted leaf, to the foot of some web-footed 

 animal). Duck's-foot. OBD. BerberidecB. A small genus 

 (three species) of hardy perennial herbs, with creeping 

 rootstocks and thick, fibrous roots; one is a native of 

 North America, the second of the Himalayas, and the 

 third (not yet introduced) of Formosa, &c. Flowers white, 

 solitary, terminal, shortly pedunculate, nodding ; sepals 

 six; petals six or nine. Berry indehiscent. Leaves 

 peltate, palmately nerved and lobed ; cauline ones one 

 or two. The species thrive in moist, marshy, peat borders, 

 in a shady situation. Propagated by division, and by 

 seed. 



P. Emodi (Emodi).* /. lin. to Ufa. across ; sepals very deciduous ; 

 petals six, sometimes four, obovate-oblong ; peduncle terminal 

 in bud, then apparently supra-axillary, fr. red, lin. to 2in. long, 

 ellipsoid, edible. I. two, vernal, alternate, long 



and deflexed in venation, orbicular, 6in. to lOin. across, 

 three to flve-lobed to the middle or base ; lobes cuneate, acutely 

 serrated. Stem or scape, 6in. to 12in. high, erect. India. 

 (G. C. n, s., xviii. 241.) 



P. peltatnm (peltate). American Mandrake; May Apple. 

 fl. nearly 2in. broad ; bud with three green bractlets, which early 

 fall away ; stamens twelve to eighteen, fr. ovoid, lin. to 2in. 

 long, sweet, and slightly acid, edible, ripe in July. I. five to 

 nine-parted ; lobes oblong, rather wedge-shaped, somewhat lobed 

 and toothed at the apex. Flowerless stems terminated by a 

 large, round, seven to nine-lobed leaf, peltate in the middle, 

 like an umbrella. Flowering stems bearing two one-sided leaves, 

 with the stalk fixed near the inner edge. h. 6in. to 12in. North 

 America, 1664. The leaves and roots of this plant are poisonous. 

 See Fig. 212. (B. M. 1819 ; B. M. PI. 17.) 



PODOFTERUS (from pous, podos, a foot, and pteris, 

 a wing ; in allusion to the outer perianth segments being 

 winged). OBD. Polygone<B. A monotypic genus. The 

 species is a handsome, greenhouse shrub, with rigid, 

 flexuous branches and branchlets, usually spinescent at 

 the tips. It requires a compost of equal parts loam 

 and peat. Increased by young cuttings, which root 

 readily, if inserted in any light soil, under a glass. 



P. mexlcanus (Mexican), fl. pink, small, twin or few in the 

 axils of the bracts ; perianth of six segments ; fascicles racemose ; 

 racemes wavy at the tips of the branches, loosely sub-panicu- 

 late. July. I. obovate-oblong, membranous, slightly acute, at- 

 tenuated at base, sub-sessile, lin. long, in. or more broad, 

 minutely puberulous, fasciculate in the nodes, h. 2ft. Mexico, 

 1825. 



FODORrlA. A synonym of Boscia (which see). 



FODOSFERMA. A synonym of Pod.otb.eca (which 

 see). 



PODOSPERMUM. Included under Scorzonera 

 (which see). 



FODOSTEMACE2E. A small natural order of 

 aquatic, annual or perennial herbs, mostly very small, 

 natives of rocky river-beds in the tropics. Flowers 

 hermaphrodite, or, in one genus, dioecious, variously dis- 

 posed, but usually inclosed in a spathaceous, marcescent 

 involucre, which is at first closed, then bursts ; perianth 

 membranous, trifid or five-parted, or wanting ; stamens 

 definite or indefinite, free or monadelphous, erect. The 

 plants have a distinct or branched stem and leaves, or 

 these are confluent into broad or narrow Alga-like 

 fronds. The 120 species comprised in the order have 

 little or no economic or garden value ; they are classi- 

 fied in twenty-one genera. Examples are : Apinagea, 

 Hydrostachys, and Podosiemon. 



PODOSTIOrMA (from pous, podos, a foot, and 

 stigma ; alluding to the stalked stigma). OBD. Ascle- 

 piadece. A monotypic genus, the species being a half- 

 hardy, glabrous or scarcely pubescent, erect herb. For 

 culture, see Asclepias. 



P. pubescens (pubescent), fl. orange-coloured, in four to six- 

 owered umbels, on lateral peduncles ; corolla as long as the 



FIG. 212. PODOPHYLLUM PELTATUM. 



pedicel, longer than the peduncle, the oblong lobes wavy on 



12in. 

 SYN. 



, 



the margins. July. 1. erect, lin. to 2in. long. Stem 6in. to 

 high. Root tuberous. Southern United States, 1824. 



Stylandra pumita. 



