PAN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PAN 



231 



root may be sliced and boiled in a quarter of a pint of water 

 to about two ounces ; then a little sugar being added, it may 

 be drank as soon as it becomes sufficiently cool. The dose 

 must be repeated morning and evening ; but the second dose 

 may be prepared from the same portion of root as was used 

 at first, for it will always admit of being twice boiled. The 

 dried root of Ginseng imported into England, is scarcely the 

 thickness of the little finger, about three or four inches long, 

 frequently forked, transversely wrinkled, of a horny texture, 

 both within and without of a yellowish white colour. To the 

 taste it discovers a mucilaginous sweetness, approaching to 

 that of liquorice, accompanied with some degree of bitter- 

 ness, and a slight aromatic warmth, with little or no smell. 

 It is far sweeter, and of a more grateful smell, than the leaves 

 of Fennel, to which some have compared it ; and it also dif- 

 fers remarkably from those roots, in the nature and pharma- 

 ceutic properties of its active principles ; the sweet matter of 

 the Ginseng being preserved entire in the watery as well as 

 the spirituous extract, whereas that of Fennel roots is de- 

 stroyed or dissipated in the inspissation of the watery tincture. 

 The slight aromatic impregnation of the Ginseng is likewise 

 in good measure retained in the watery extract, and perfectly 

 in the spirituous. Father Loureiro doubts whether the Ame- 

 rican Ginseng be the same with the precious Ginsem of the 

 Chinese, the latter being the dearest in China itself; so that 

 if our physicians have only used the sort that is imported 

 from Canada, they have not yet made a fair trial of the Gin- 

 seng to which the eastern nations attribute so many virtues. 

 The American species has been introduced into the English 

 gardens, where it has been planted in a shady situation and 

 a light soil, and the plants have thriven and produced flow- 

 ers, and ripened their seeds annually, but not one of these 

 seeds have grown. They have been sown several years soon 

 after they were ripe, without any success: the seed obtained 

 from America has also been sown in various situations, but 

 still without producing a single plant; and by the accounts 

 sent from China, it appears that the same results have fol- 

 lowed the planting of them there : all which tends to prove 

 that there is a necessity for the hermaphrodite plants to have 

 some male plants near them, to render the seeds prolific ; 

 for all those plants from which seeds have been saved, had 

 hermaphrodite flowers; and though the seeds seemed to 

 ripen perfectly, yet they did not grow after lying undisturbed 

 in the ground for three years. Kalm says, that the Ame- 

 rican Ginseng bears transplanting very well, and will soon 

 thrive in its new ground ; and adds, that he was informed 

 that the seeds lie one or two years in the ground before they 

 appear. 



2. Panax Attenuata ; Taper-pointed Tree Panax. Leaves 

 ternate, or quinate ; leaflets ovate, attenuated, crenate ; trunk 

 arborescent. This is a tree 40 feet high, with round, smooth, 

 unarmed branches ; common petioles round, smooth, longer 

 than the leaves, a foot long, sheathing at the base ; sheaths 

 half-embracing, within the base of the petiole, above free and 

 acuminate; flowers hermaphrodite, all fertile; seeds solitary. 

 Native of the West Indies, in Guadaloupe and St. Christopher's. 



3. Panax Trifolia ; Three-leaved Panax. Leaves ternate; 

 stem single, not more than five inches high, dividing into 

 three footstalks, each sustaining a trifoliate leaf, with the 

 leaflets longer, narrower, and more deeply indented on their 

 edges, than in the first species. Native of North America. 



4. Panax Aculeata ; Prickly Panax. Leaves ternate, the 

 uppermost next the flowers crowded and simple; petioles 

 and branchlets prickly; stem shrubby. This is a shrub, 

 with a recurved prickle at the base, and at the tip of the 

 petioles. Native of China. 



VOL. u. 85. 



5. Panax Spinosa ; Thorny Panax. Leaves quinate, alter- 

 nate ; spines solitary, below the branches ; umbels lateral. 

 The shoots consist of three or four leaves without a branchlet, 

 and among these leaves is a filiform peduncle, with a simple 

 umbel, and small white flowers. Native of Japan. 



6. Panax Arborea ; Tree Panax- Leaves septenate, (ac- 

 cording to Forster, quinate-obovate, serrate, toothed ;) umbels 

 compound, large, with elongated rays ; leaflets seven, of 

 different sizes, oblong, serrate, very smooth, shining. Native 

 of New Zealand. 



7. Panax Chrysophylla; Golden-leaved Panax. Leaves in 

 sevens and nines ; leaflets lanceolate, quite entire, tomentose 

 underneath; umbels panieled. This is a lofty tree, with 

 branches the thickness of a thumb at top ; which, together 

 with the leaves underneath, the younger petioles, the branches 

 of the panicle, the calices, and petals, on the outside, are all 

 covered with a fine golden cottony down ; flowers small. 

 Found in Guiana, and the island of Trinidad. 



8. Panax Fruticosa; Shrubby Panax. Leaves superde- 

 compound ; tooth ciliate ; stem shrubby. This is an upright 

 shrub, six feet high, with a thick, juicv, unarmed stem, and 

 oblique branches ; flowers red and green, terminating in a 

 diffused panicle, ending in umbels, on a long, purple, striated 

 peduncle. This plant is cultivated in China and Cochin- 

 china, where the root and leaves are used in medicine. The 

 plant has a strong aromatic parsley-like flavour, and pene- 

 trating taste. It is reputed to be diuretic, and to be benefi- 

 cial in the dropsy, dysury, and gonorrhoea. Native of the 

 island of Ternate. 



9. Panax Simplex ; Simple-leaved Panax. Leaves alter- 

 nate, lanceolate, serrate; umbels compound. Native of New 

 Zealand. 



10. Panax Horridum; Palmate Prickly-leaved Panax. 

 Leaves simple, alternate, serrated, with prickly ribs ; stem 

 shrubby, very prickly. Found at Nootka Sound. 



Pancratium; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mo- 

 nogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : spathe oblong, 

 obtuse, compressed, opening on the flat side, shrivelling. 

 Corolla : petals six, lanceolate, flat, inserted into the tube 

 of the nectary on the outside above the base ; nectary one- 

 leafed, cylindric, funnel-form, coloured at top, with the 

 mouth spreading and twelve-cleft. Stamina: filamenta six, 

 awl-shaped, inserted into the tips of the nectary, and longer 

 than them ; antherse oblong, incumbent. Pistil: germen 

 bluntly three-cornered, inferior; style filiform, longer than 

 the stamina ; stigma blunt. Pericarp : capsule roundish, 

 three-sided, three-celled, three-valved. Seeds: several, glo- 

 bular. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Petals: six. Nectary: 

 twelve-cleft. Stamina : placed on the nectary. The spe- 

 cies are, 



1 . Pancratium Zeylanicum ; Ceylonese Pancratium. Spathe 

 one-flowered ; petals reflex ; root rather large, bulbous ; 

 leaves long and narrow, of a gra-yish colour, and pretty thick, 

 standing upright. The flower has a very agreeable scent, 

 but is only of short duration ; it is white, with yellow anthers. 

 Native of Ceylon. This, together with the other East and 

 West Indian sorts, are too tender to thrive in England, 

 except in a good stove. If the pots be plunged into the 

 bark-bed, they will thrive and flower well. In the dry-stove 

 their flowers will not be so strong, nor will they appear 

 oftener than once a year ; whereas in the tan-bed they will 

 often flower two or three times. They are propagated by 

 offsets from the roots, or by the bulbs which succeed the 

 flowers. If the latter be planted in small pots filled with 

 light earth from a kitchen-garden, and plunged into a mode- 

 rate hot-bed, they will soon put out roots and leaves, and 

 3 N 



