INTRODUCTION. 



Pistilliferous, flowers or florets, such as contain one or more 

 pistilla, but no stamina. 



Pistillum, the pestle, pistil, or pointal ; an erect column, ge- 

 nerally placed in the centre of the flower, within the sta- 

 mina, and called the female organ of generation in plants. 



Pitcher-shaped, (urceolatus) swelling or bellying out like a 

 common jug. 



Pith, medulla. 



Pitted, (lacunosum) when the surface of a leaf lies in hol- 

 lows between the veins. 



Plenus, a full flower ; a term used to express the highest 

 degree of luxuriance in flowers. 



Plicatus, plaited. 



Plumosus, feathered. 



Plumula, a little feather ; the scaly part of the corculum, 

 or embryo plant within the seed, which ascends, and 

 becomes the stem or trunk. See Corculum. 



Pod, (siliqua) a seed-vessel of two valves, within which the 

 seeds are fixed alternately to each seam or suture. 



Pointal. See Pistil. 



Pollen, small dust ; fecundating or fertilizing dust, con- 

 tained within the antherae or tips of the stamina, and dis- 

 persed upon the female organ when ripe, for the pur- 

 poses of impregnation. 



Polyadelphia, from iro\vs, many ; and aSc\(f>t'a, a brother- 

 hood : the name of the eighteenth class in Linneus's 

 Sexual System, consisting of plants with hermaphrodite 

 flowers, in which several stamina or male organs are united 

 by their filaments, into three or more distinct bundles. 



Polyandria, from wo\vs, many ; and avrjp, a husband : the 

 name of the thirteenth class in Linneus's Sexual System, 

 consisting of plants with hermaphrodite flowers, furnished 

 with more than twenty stamina, that are inserted into 

 the common receptacle of the flower. 



Polygamia, from iroXvs, many ; and <ya/to?, marriage : poly- 

 gamy, the name of the twenty-third class in the Sexual 

 System of Linneus, consisting of polygamous or mongrel 

 plants ; that is, plants having hermaphrodite flowers, and 

 likewise male or female flowers, or both. The term is 

 applied also to each of the orders of the class Syngenesia, 

 and signifies that several florets are enclosed within one 

 common calix. 



Polypetalous, many-petalled. 



Polyphyllous, many-leaved. 



Polysperma, many-seeded. 



Polystachyous, many-spiked. 



Pomacece, pomaceous ; fruit of the apple,berry, and cherry kind . 



Pomaceous. See Pomacece. 



Pomum, an apple ; a species of seed-vessel, composed of a 

 succulent, fleshy pulp, in the middle of which is generally 

 found a membranous capsule, with a number of cavities 

 for containing the seeds. 



Pores, little holes. 



Posticus, hinder part. 



Pouch, a short Pod, which see. 



Pramorsus, as if bitten off, or jagged-pointed. 



Pressed to, (adpressus.) See Contiguous. 



Prickles, (aculei) sharp-pointed weapons of defence, formed 

 from the bark, and not from the wood of a plant, as in 

 the rose. 



Prickly, (aculeatus) armed with prickles. 



Prickly -pointed, (cuspidatus) ending suddenly in a hard sharp 

 point. 



Prismaticus. See Prism-shaped. 



Prism-shaped, (prisrnaticus) differing from cylindrical in 

 the circumference being angular. 



Procumbens, (procumbent) trailing, lying on the ground. 



Prolifer, prolific ; a prolific flower, which from its own sub- 

 stance produces another ; a singular degree of luxuriance, 

 to which full flowers are chiefly liable. 



Prominens, projecting partition ; when it stands out beyond 

 the valves. 



Pronus, the under surface of a leaf. 



Propago seed ; Linneus's name for the seeds of the mosses. 



Proprius, belonging to an individual. 



Props. See Fulcra. 



Protruding, (exsertus) standing out of the blossoms, like 

 the stamina of some of the grica's. 



Protuberances, (torasus) in seed-vessels ; occasioned by the 

 swelling out of the enclosed seeds. 



Pubes, hair, down ; a general term, expressive of all the 

 hairy and glandular appearances on the surface of plants, 

 supposed by naturalists to serve the double purpose of 

 defensive weapons, and vessels of secretion. 



Pubescent, (pubescens) clothed with soft wool or hair. 



Pulmones, lungs ; the leaves called the organs of perspira- 

 tion and respiration in plants. 



Pulpy, (pulposus) soft and tenacious j a cherry is pulpy, 

 but an apple fleshy. 



Pulpy seed-vessel. See Drupa. 



Pulceratus, dusted. 



Punctatus, dotted. 



Purse-shapen, (serotiformis) like a purse that draws together 

 with strings at the top. 



Quadrangularls, four-cornered. 

 Quadridentatus, four-toothed. 

 Quadriftdus, four-clefted. 

 Quadrilobum, four-lobed. 

 Quadriloculare, four-celled. 

 Quadripartilum, with four divisions. 

 Q;:adrivalve, four-valved. 

 Cuaterna, by fours. 

 Quina, by fives. 



Quinatum, (quinate) five leaved. 

 Quinquangulare, five-cornered. 

 Quinquefidum, five-clefted. 

 Quinquelobum, five-lobed. 

 Quinqueloculare, five-celled. 

 Quinquepartitum, with five divisions. 

 Quinquevalve, five-valved. 



R 



Racemus, a cluster ; in which the flowers placed along a 

 common foot-stalk, are furnished with short proper foot- 

 stalks, proceeding as lateral branches from the common 

 flower-stalk. See Bunch. 



Rostrum. See Beak. 



Radiate, (radiatus) a sort of compound flowers, in which 

 the florets of the centre differ in form from those in the 

 circumference ; thus the daisy and sunflower are radiate 

 flowers, the florets in the centre being all tubular, but 

 those in the circumference are narrow and st nip-shaped. 



Radiate summits ; placed in a circle, as in the poppy. 

 ills, (radicle) issuing immediately from the root. 



Uiiiliciiln, radicle, a little root ; the stringy or fibrous part 

 of the root, which, penetrating tin 1 .soil, attracts moisture 

 and nourishment for the support of the vegetable flower. 



Radii, rays ; the outer florets in a radiate compound flower : 

 they may he called the florets of the circumference, and 

 the inner ones the central florets. 





