198 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



FONOAMIA (Pongam is the Malabar name of P. 

 glabra). STN. Oaledupa. OBD. Leguminosw. A mono- 

 typio genus, the species being a stove, evergreen tree. For 

 culture, see Dalbergia. 



P. glabra (smooth). Kurrung or Poonga Oil-plant, fl. having a 

 white corolla, and a red calyx, in loose, axillary racemes, 3m. to 

 5in. long. L smooth, alternate, pinnate ; leaflets five or seven, 



egg-shaped or broadlv elliptical, h. 5ft. to 10ft. East Indies, 

 North Australia, *c.,'l699. From the seeds of this tree, an oil, 

 called Kurunji, or Poonga Oil, is extracted in India, and greatly 

 used for mixing with lamp oil, or, by the poorer classes, for burn- 

 ing without any admixture. 



PONTEDERIA (named after J. Pontedera, 1688- 

 1757, once Professor of Botany at Padua). Pickerel Weed. 

 STN. Unisema. OBD. Pontederiacece. A genus comprising 

 seven or eight species of stove or hardy, aquatic plants, 

 with stem-like or creeping rhizomes, all natives of North 

 or South America. Flowers numerous, usually crowded at 

 the sides of a rachis, scarcely pedicellate, the inflorescence 

 terminal, compound, and densely cylindrical, rarely 

 almost simple and racemiform ; perianth funnel-shaped, 

 with an incurved, slender or rarely abbreviated tube ; 

 stamens six. Radical leaves long-stalked, cauline ones 

 short-stalked; all cordate, ovate, rotundate, or rarely 

 lanceolate, with a long, loose sheath below the petiole. 

 Stems (or branches) erect, simple, one-leaved. The best- 

 known species is P. cordata ; this is described as one of 

 the handsomest hardy aquatic plants in cultivation. It 

 is perfectly hardy, and should be planted in water from 

 Gin. to 12in. in depth. Propagated by division, at almost 



P. anguctifolia (narrow-leaved). A variety of P. cordata. 

 P. azurea (azure). A synonym of Eichhornia craxsipeis. 



FIG. 250. UPPER PORTION OF PLANT OF PONTEDERIA CORDATA. 



P. cordata (heart-shaped), ft. sky-blue, sometimes white, with 

 a greenish spot on the inside of the upper lobe in spikes 

 numerous, small. Summer and autumn l thick on lone 

 stalks lively green; petioles dilated, and sheathed 



Pontederia continued. 



P. dilatata (extended). A synonym of Monochoria hastata. 

 P. lanceolata (lance-shaped). A synonym of P. cordata angusti- 



fotta. 



FONTEDERJACEJE. A small natural order of 

 erect or floating, aquatic herbs, mostly American, rare 

 in tropical Asia and Africa, absent in Europe. Flowers 

 hermaphrodite, scarcely irregular, or sometimes regular, 

 fasciculate or scattered at the sides of a simple or 

 branched rachis, racemose, spicate, or sub-paniculate, 

 terminal, in a sessile or pedunculate sheath; perianth 

 inferior, free of the ovary, the tube evolute or rarely 

 absent; lobes (rarely segments) six, more or less dis- 

 tinctly biseriate ; stamens six or three ; filaments free ; 

 ovary three- celled. Perfect leaves on a rhizome or float- 

 ing stem, long-stalked ; blade floating or emersed ; sub- 

 mersed leaves sometimes reduced to linear petioles (with- 

 out a blade). Pontederia vaginalis is used in various 

 forms as medicine in Japan. The order comprises four 

 genera Eichhornia, Heteranthera, Monochoria, and Ponte- 

 deria and scarcely thirty-five species. 



PONTHIEVA (named in honour of M. de Ponthien, 

 a French West Indian merchant, who sent a number of 

 plants to Sir Joseph Banks). OED. Orchidece. About ten 

 species have been referred to this genus. They are curious, 

 stove, terrestrial, glabrous or pilose orchids, with tufted 

 roots, dispersed over the warmer parts of America, from 

 Brazil as far as the Southern United States. Flowers 

 mediocre, shortly pedicellate, disposed in loose, often 

 glandular-pubescent racemes ; sepals free, spreading ; 

 petals narrower, adnate to the column ; lip posterior, 

 adnate to the base of the column, the lamina abruptly 

 dilated, spreading ; column beaked ; pollen masses bilobed ; 

 scapes elongated, pimple. Leaves sub-radical, ovate or 

 lanceolate, more or less stalked, membranous. The 

 species known in gardens are described below. They 

 thrive in a compost of sandy loam and peat, and require 

 to be kept dry when at rest. Ample drainage must be 

 provided. 



P. glandulosa (glandular), fl. bright green, with the edges of the 

 petals white ; lateral sepals flat ; dorsal one loosely agglutinate, 

 with the petals in a. rhomboid, tridentate lamina. T. cuneate- 

 oblong, narrowed into a short petiole. Stem about 1ft. high. 

 West Indies, &c., 1800. (B. M. 842, under name of Neottia 

 glandulosa.) 



P. maculata (spotted).* A. widely spreading, Jin. across ; dorsal 

 sepals pale brown, with darker streaks, ovate-lanceolate; lateral 

 ones white, with brown spots, twice as large ; petals yellow, with 

 red-brown streaks, dimidiate-oval, parallel, clawed ; scape stout, 

 erect, bearing a loose, raceme-like spike. March. I. 1ft. long 

 or less, sessile or narrowed into petioles, elliptic -lanceolate 

 to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, pale green, h. above 

 1ft Columbia, &c. Whole plant covered with long, flaccid 

 hairs. (B. M. 6637.) 



P. petiolata (petioled). /. yellowish-cinnamon in colour ; lateral 

 sepals with revolute margins ; dorsal one forming, with the petals, 

 an oblong, undivided lamina. 1. ovate-oblong, shorter than the 

 petioles, with crisped margins. Stem lift. high. St. Vincent, 

 1822. (B. B. 760 ; . B. C. 1190.) 



FONTIA. A generic name employed, in some works, 

 instead of Pieris, for the White Butterflies. See Cabbage 

 Caterpillars. 



POPCORN. A variety of Zea Mays. 

 POPE'S HEAD. A common name for Melocactus 

 communis. 



POPLAR See Populus. 



POPPY. See Papaver. The name is also applied 

 to several members of other genera. 



POPPY, CALIFORNIAN. See Platystemon 

 californicus. 



Papaver Rhoeas. 

 See Glaucium. 

 See Callirhoe. 



POPPY, CORN. Se 

 POPPY, HORNED. 

 POPPY-MALLOW. 



POPPY, OPIUM. See Papaver somnifernm. 



