176 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Fogostemon continued. 



June. I. broadly ovate, stalked, Sin. to 4in. long, h 3ft East 

 Indies. 1848. Greenhouse soft-wooded shrub. This species 

 affords the celebrated Patchouli perfume, or Pucha-pat, of the 

 Hindoos the odour is very peculiar, and even disagreeable to 

 some people, but, in India, it is one of the commonest perfumes 

 found in the bazaars. 



P. plectrantholdes (Plectranthus-like). ft. white sub-secund, 

 fflomerately spicate ; calyx and bracts coloured at top, villous ; 

 spikes ovate-cylindrical, pedunculate, panicled. July. I. ovate, 

 cuneated or rounded at base, doubly serrated; cauline ones 2m. 

 to Sin. long ; upper ones small ; uppermost bract-like Stem 2ft. 

 to 3ft. high branches obtusely tetragonal. East Indies. Stove 

 shrub. (B. M. 3238.) 



POINCIANA (named after M. de Poinci, Governor 

 of the Antilles in the middle of the seventeenth 

 century, and a patron of botany). Flower Fence. OBD. 

 Leguminosce. A genus consisting of only three species 

 of stove, evergreen, unarmed trees, natives of the warmer 

 parts of Eastern Africa, the Mascarene Islands, and 

 the Western Provinces of India. Flowers orange or 

 scarlet, showy, corymbosely racemose at the apices of 

 the branches ; calyx segments valvate ; petals five, orbicu- 

 late, imbricated; stamens ten, free. Pods elongated, flat, 

 compressed, hard, two-valved. Leaves bipinnate ; leaflets 

 small, numerous ; stipules inconspicuous ; bracts small, 

 very caducous. For culture, see Caasalpinia. 

 P. pulcherrima (very pretty), fl. on very long pedicels ; petals 

 orange-yellow, rariy red, Iin. long, exceeding the calyx, often 

 lacerated on the margins ; racemes terminal, pyramidal. July. 

 Pods flat-compressed, 4in. to 5in. long. I., pinnae three- to nine- 

 jugal ; leaflets five- to ten-jugal, iin. long, oblong or spathulate- 

 oblong, rounded or sub-truncate at the mucronulate tip. A. 10ft. 

 to 12ft. West Indies, Ac., 1691. Prickly shrub. (B. M. 995.) 

 Ccesalpinia pulcherrima, is the correct name of this shrub. 

 P. regla (royal). Royal Peacock Flower, fl. bright scarlet, in 

 loose racemes, terminal, and from the arils of the upper leaves ; 

 petals almost orbicular, spreading, reflexed, tapering into long 

 claws, veined on the npper side, and dashed with yellowish lines 

 above the base ; upper petal variegated and striated with red and 

 yellow ; stamens ten ; filaments red ; pedicels alternately patent. 

 Summer. Pods about 4in. long. I. broadly ovate, 2ft. long, very 

 patent, abruptly bipinaate, with from eleven to eighteen pairs 

 of horizontally patent pinnae, which are 4in. long ; pinnules 

 oblong, blunt, on very short petioles ; base of common petiole 

 fleshy. Trunk erect, 3ft. in diameter, h. 30ft. to 40ft. Mada- 

 gascar. A magnificent tree. (B. M. 2884.) 



POINSETTIA. Included under Euphorbia (which 

 see). 



FOIRETIA (named in honour of J. L. M. Poiret, a 

 French botanist and traveller in Barbary, about 1785). 

 SYN. Turpinia (of Persoon). OBD. Leguminosae. A genus 

 of five species of twining or rarely sub-erect, gland-dotted, 

 stove, perennial herbs or sub-shrubs, natives of South 

 America, mostly Brazil, one extending to Central America 

 and the warmer parts of Mexico. Flowers yellow, in small, 

 axillary racemes, or paniculate at the tips of the branches ; 

 standard broadly orbiculate, reflexed ; wings falcate-ob- 

 long. Pods linear. Leaves pinnate ; leaflets four or rarely 

 three, often minutely stipellate ; stipules sessile or shortly 

 decurrent at base. The species are little known in culti- 

 vation. For culture, see Fictetia. 



P. scandens (climbing), fl., racemes few-flowered, shorter than 

 the petioles. I. with two pairs of obovate, retuse leaflets, full 

 of pellucid dots. Stems climbing, glabrous. Caraccas 1823. 

 Herb. SYN. Turpinia punctata. 



FOIRETIA (of Cavanilles). A synonym of Spren- 

 gelia (which see). 



A synonym of Hovea 

 A name applied to several 

 e Crinnm asiati- 



FOIR.ETIA (of Smith) 

 (which see). 



POISON BERRY 



species of Oestrum. 



POISON BULB, ASIATIC. 



cum. 



POISON OAK. See Rlius Tozicodendron. 

 POIS-PERDRIX. See Eeisteria. 

 FOIT2BA (named after M. Poiteau, a French botanist, 

 author of " Flore Parisienne," 1808-13). OED. Leguminosac. 



Foitma continued. 



This genus comprises only a couple of species of stove 

 shrubs, natives of St. Domingo and Cuba. Flowers rose or 

 purple, pendulous, in axillary racemes ; pedicels solitary ; 

 standard obovate, erect; wings oblong, longer than the 

 standard. Pods linear, flat-compressed, two-valved. Leaves 

 impari-pinnate ; leaflets many, membranous, entire, ex- 

 stipellate ; stipules setaceous. P. galegoides requires 

 similar culture to Sabinia (which see). 

 P. galegoides (Galega-like). fl. rose-purple, and, as well as the 



pods, nodding. June. I., leaflets twelve to fifteen pairs, Jin. 



long, oblong, mucronate, and, as well as the branches, clothed 



with 



adpres 

 Domingo, 1826. 



pubescence ; petioles wingless, h. 1ft. St. 



POIVREA (named after P. Poivre, a French traveller 

 and administrator, born at Lyons in 1719, died in 1786). 

 OBD. Combretaceae. A small genus of tropical and sub- 

 tropical, stove, evergreen climbers, included, by Bentham 

 and Hooker, under Combretum (which see for characters 

 and culture). 

 P. coccinea (scarlet). A. scarlet, loosely disposed, secund; 



panicles of many spikes. June to December. 1. oblong-lanceo- 



late, acute, dark green, shining. Madagascar, 1818. SYN. 



Combretum purpureum (B. R. 429). 

 P. grandiflora (large-flowered). A synonym of Combretum 



grandiflorum. 



POKE or POKE WEED. See Phytolacca. 



FOLAJTISIA (from poly, many, and anises, unequal ; 

 in allusion to the numerous and unequal stamens). OBD. 

 Capparidece. A genus (now merged into Cleome) com- 

 prising about fourteen species of pretty, hardy, annual 

 herbs, often glandular and strong- smelling, mostly tropical 

 and sub-tropical, one being an inhabitant of all the warmer 

 regions of the globe. Sepals lanceolate, free or connate at 

 base, deciduous ; petals sessile or unguiculate, entire, equal 

 or unequal, imbricated'. Leaves simple or three to nine- 

 foliolate; upper ones bract-like. Seeds should be sown 

 in a hotbed frame, and turned out into a sheltered position 

 in the open border, about the middle of May. 

 P. Chelidonii (Chelidonium). fl. rose ; stamens twenty-four to 



thirty-two. June. I. seven to nine-foliolate ; leaflets obovate- 



cuneate. h. IJft East Indies, 1792. Plant hispid-pilose. 

 P. dodecandra (twelve-anthered). fl. white ; stamens eight to 



twelve. June. I. trifoliolate ; leaflets glabrous, elliptic-lanceo- 



late, slightly serrulate, h. lift East Indies, 1795. Plant 



scabrous-puberulous. 

 P. graveolens (strong-smelling), fl. small ; calyx and filaments 



purplish ; petals yellowish-white ; stamens eight to twelve. 



June to August. 1. with three oblong leaflets, h. lift. North 



America. Plant glandular-pilose. 



POLEMANNIA. A synonym of Dipcadi. 



POLEMONIACEJE. A natural order of glabrous, 

 pubescent, or slightly viscid, erect or twining herbs, 

 rarely shrubs, the majority of which are found in 

 (mostly Western) North America and the Andes of South 

 America, a few being natives of Europe and temperate 

 Asia. Flowers variously coloured, hermaphrodite, usually 

 showy, regular or scarcely oblique, at the tips of the 

 branches, or sometimes solitary or twin in the axils, 

 sessile or stalked, sometimes corymbose-cymose, capi- 

 tate, or loosely paniculate ; calyx campanulate or tubular, 

 five-fid, with imbricated lobes, or rarely three to five-fid 

 or valvate ; corolla gamopetalous, funnel-salver or bell- 

 shaped, or rotate, the limb of five twisted lobes ; stamens 

 five, alternate with the corolla lobes. Fruit a capsule. 

 Leaves alternate or opposite, entire or variously dis- 

 sected. " In some countries, the leaves of Polemonium 

 cceruleum are applied to ulcers following contagions 

 diseases, and the Eussians give a decoction of it in 

 cases of hydrophobia" (Decaisne and Le Maout). The 

 order comprises eight genera and not more than 150 species. 

 Well-known illustrative genera are : Collomia, Gilia, 

 Phlox, and Polemonium. 



POLEMONIUM (an ancient Greek name, used by 

 Dioscorides, from polemos, war; of doubtful application). 

 OED. Polemoniacea}. A genus comprising 1 eight or nine 



