AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



225 



FROBOSCIDEUS. Trumpet-like; proboscis-like. 

 FROCERUS. Very tall. 



PROCESS. A term applied to any projecting ap- 

 pendage, whether natural or monstrous. 



PROCESSION FLOWER. See Folygala vul- 



garis. 



FROCKIA (probably commemorative, but derivation 

 of name not given by nomenclator). SYNS. Kellettia, 

 Tinea, Trilix. OBD. Tiliaceoe. A genus comprising only 

 two or three species (which are, perhaps, all varieties of 

 the one described below) of stove shrubs, natives of ! 

 tropical America. Sepals three or four, valvate, per- 

 sistent ; petals sepaloid and persistent, sometimes absent ; 

 pedicels fasciculate or shortly racemose, terminal. Leaves 

 ovate, serrated, many-nerved at base. P. crucis thrives 

 in a compost of sandy loam and leaf mould. Propagated 

 by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, inserted in sand, under 

 a glass. 



P. crucis (Santa Cruz). JL yellow, very fragrant ; corymbs few- 

 flowered, terminal. July. L ovate or cordate, acuminated, ser- 

 rated, with the point entire, membranous, h. 5ft. West Indies, 

 <tc., 1823. (B. R. 972 ; L. B. C. 1933.) 



FROCLESIA (a name commemorative of Procles, 

 King of Sparta). The correct name of this genus, 

 according to the authors of the " Genera Plantarum," 

 is Cavendishia. SYN. Polybcea. OBD. Vacciniacece. A 

 genus comprising about thirty species of handsome, stove, I 

 glabrous, evergreen shrubs or small trees, inhabiting the I 

 mountains of tropical America. Flowers red, scarlet, | 

 white, or flesh-colour, showy, racemose or sub-umbellate, 

 axillary and terminal, pedicellate; calyx tube hemi- 

 spherical or shortly campanulate, the limb short, dilated, 

 five-lobed or five-toothed; corolla tubular, five-toothed, 

 the teeth valvate; stamens ten. Leaves alternate, per- 

 sistent, coriaceous, shortly petiolate, entire. The two 

 best-known species are here described. Both are 

 shrubs. For culture, see Thibaudia. 

 P. acuminata (taper-pointed).* fl. in short racemes, covered, 

 when in bud, by large, scarlet bracts ; corolla bright red, with 

 green tips and lobes, fin. long. November. I. sub-distichous, on 

 very short, stout petioles, Sin. to Sin. long, ovate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, rounded at base, with long-acuminate or caudate 

 points. Branches pendulous, slightly glabrous or pubescent. 

 Andes of Columbia and Ecuador, 1868. SYN. Thibaudia acu- 

 minata (B. M. 5752). The correct name of this plant is 

 Cavendishia acuminata. 



P. cordifolia (heart-shape-leaved). JL, corolla bright red, white 

 it the mouth, tubular-ventricose, nearly lin. long ; _ racemes 



Prolification continued. 



naturally occur. If Prolification affects the inflorescence, 

 it consists in the formation of leaf-buds, or of an un- 

 usual number of flower-buds. It is often well seen in 

 such plants as Clovers and Plantains, in which the flower? 

 are arranged naturally in a close head or spike. The 



at 



reduced to a crowded head. December. L liin. to Sin. Ion?, 

 ovate-oblong, obtuse, quite entire, cordate at base ; petioles very 

 short, pubescent. Branches terete, pubescent. New Grenada 

 and Ecuador, 1865. SYN. Thibaudia cordifolia (B. M. 5559). 

 The correct name of this plant is Cavendishia cordifolia. 



PROCUMBENT. Lying flat upon the ground. 



FROFEREA. Included under Nephrodium. 



FROIPHYS. A synonym of Eurycles. 



PROLIFEROUS. See Prolification. 



FROLIFICATION (from proles, offspring, and 

 facio, I make). A term denoting, in its widest sense, 

 the reproduction of plants by means of buds, as opposed 

 to reproduction by means of seeds. It is accordingly- 

 employed to denote the formation in many plants, e.g., 

 the Honseleek (Sempervivum tectorum), of offsets or 

 stolons, of which the terminal bud becomes a new plant, 

 and the connection with the parent is severed. It is 

 also employed in cases where buds are formed along the 

 edges of leaves, either on uninjured ones (e.g., Bryo- 

 phyllum and Malaxis), or in those that have been 

 injured or cut, as in propagating Begonias from the 

 leaves. 



The word is, however, frequently restricted to denote 

 certain alterations that are often met with in the in- 

 florescences and flowers of cultivated plants, in which 

 loaf or flower-buds are produced where they do not 



VoL 11L 



FIG. 289. HEN-AND-CHICKF.NS DAISY, showing Prolification of the 

 Inflorescence. 



Hen-and-Chickens Daisy (see Fig. 289), in which the 

 flower-head bears a number of smaller ones around it, is 

 a well-known example of Prolification of the inflorescence. 

 When a single flower is affected, the flower-stalk may 

 be prolonged through and beyond the flower, and may 

 bear leaves or a flower-bud on it. This form of Proli- 

 fication, known as "median," is occasionally seen in many 

 plants, e.g., the Rose. It is peculiarly frequent in double 

 flowers, i.e., flowers in which the stamens have been 

 replaced by petals. Occasionally, the prolonged flower- 

 stalk bears several leaf-buds or flower-buds. Another 

 form of Prolification, called " axillary," consists in the 

 growth of leaf-buds, or of flower-buds, from the axils of 

 one or more of the parts of a flower. In this form, as 

 in the last, the buds may develop into branches bear- 

 ing several flowers. Such buds are most frequently 

 situated in the axils of sepals. Next in frequency are 

 those in the axils of leaf-like carpels; less often they 

 are associated with petals ; and least common is their 

 occurrence in the axils of stamens. Axillary Prolifica- 

 tion is far more frequent in plants in which all parts 

 of the flowers are free, than in those in which they are 

 united; and the flowers most liable to it generally have 

 the top of the flower-stalk, or receptacle, naturally pro- 

 longed between the whorls of the flower, or possessed of 

 a glandular disk, or are otherwise peculiar in structure. 

 Those desirous of further information on this subject will 

 find it fully discussed in Dr. Masters' "Vegetable Tera- 

 tology," published, in 1869, by the Bay Society. 



PROMENJ3A. Included under Zygopetalnm 

 (which see). 



PRONAYA (named in honour of Lad. Pronay, a 

 Hungarian naturalist, who died in 1808). SYNS. Campy- 

 lanthera, Spiranthrea (of Hooker). OBD. Pittosporeas. 

 According to Bentham, in his " Flora Australiensis," this 

 genus is monotypic. The species, P. elegans, is an elegant, 

 greenhouse twiner, succeeding in sandy peat. Propagation 

 is effected by cuttings, made of young shooots, and in- 

 serted in sand, under a glass. 



P. elegans (elegant), ft. bluish or white, in a dense, terminal 

 corymb, sessile amongst the last leaves. August. ., lower ones 

 often coarsely toothed or lobed, the others sessile or nearly so, 

 lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, lin. to Uin. long, entire, rather 

 firm; margins recurved. Australia, 1857. (P. M. B. xiL 99.) 

 SYNS. Campylanthera Fraseri, Spiranthera Fraseri. 



PRONE. Lying flat, particularly face downwards. 



2 G 



