PAN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PAN 



233 



spadix, very short ; antheree oblong, acute, erect. Female, 

 on a separate plant. Calix and Corolla: none. Pistil: ger- 

 mina numerous, aggregate, sessile, five-cornered, convex at 

 top, smooth ; style none ; stigmas two, cordate, margined. 

 Pericarp; fruit subglobular, large, consisting of numerous, 

 wedge-shaped drupes, convex at top, angular, farinaceous, 

 one-seeded. Seed: solitary, oval, even in the centre of the 

 drupe. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix and Corolla: none. 

 Male. Antheree: sessile, inserted into the ramifications of the 



spadix. Female. Stigmas: two. Fruit: compound. The 



only kno.wn species is, 



1. Pandanus Odoratissimus ; Sweet-scented Pandanus, or 

 Screw Pine. Trunk generally in the form of a very large 

 spreading bush, though it may sometimes be found with a 

 single and pretty erect trunk of ten feet in height, and a 

 round branching head. From the stems, or larger branches, 

 issue large carrot-shaped blunt roots, descending till they 

 come to the ground, and then dividing : the substance of the 

 most solid is something like that of a cabbage stalk, and by 

 age acquires a woody hardness on the outside. Leaves con- 

 fluent, stem-clasping, closely imbricated in three spiral rows 

 round the extremities of the branches, bowing, from three to 

 five feet long, tapering to a very fine long triangular point, 

 very smooth and glossy ; margins and back armed with very 

 fine sharp spines; those on the margins point forward, those 

 of the back point sometimes one way and sometimes the 

 other. The male flowers are in a large, pendulous, com- 

 pound, leafy raceme, the leaves of which are white, linear, 

 oblong, pointed, and concave ; in the axil of each there is a 

 single thyrse of simple small racemes, of long-pointed depend- 

 ing- antherae. Female flowers on different plants, terminating 

 and solitary, having no other calix or corolla than the termi- 

 nation of the three rows of leaves, forming three imbricated 

 fascicles of white floral leaves, like those of the male raceme, 

 which stand at equal distances round the base of the young 

 fruit: fruit compound, oval, from five to eight inches in 

 diameter, and from six to ten in length, weighing from four 

 to eight pounds, rough, of a rich orange colour, composed of 

 numerous wedge-shaped angular drupes; when ripe, their 

 large or exterior ends are detached from one another, and 

 covered with a firm deeper orange-coloured skin ; apices flat, 

 consisting of as many angular, somewhat convex tubercles, as 

 there are cells in the drupe, each crowned with the withered 

 stigma internally; the exterior half of these drupes, next the 

 apex, consist of dry spongy cavities, their lower part next 

 the core, or common receptacle, is yellow, consisting of a 

 rich looking yellow pulp, intermixed with strong fibres ; here 

 the nut is lodged. The nut is compound, top-shaped, 

 exceedingly hard, angular, containing as many cells as there 

 are divisions on the apex of the drupe ; each cell is perforated 

 above and below. Native of the warmer parts of Asia: all 

 soils and situations seem to suit it equally well, and it flowers 

 chiefly during the rainy season. It is cultivated for hedges, 

 and answers well, except that it takes too much room ; as it 

 grows readily from branches, it is rare to find the full grown 

 ripe fruit. The lower pulpy part of the drupe is sometimes 

 eaten by the natives, in times of scarcity and famine ; the 

 tender white base of the leaves is also eaten ra.w or boiled, 

 at such melancholy times ; the taste of the pulpy part of die 

 drupe is very disagreeable. The tender white leaves of the 

 flowers, principally those of the male, yield that most delight- 

 ful fragrance for which they are so generally esteemed ; and 

 of all the perfumes, it is by far the richest and most powerful. 

 The roots are composed of tough fibres, which basket-makers 

 use to tie their work with ; they are so soft and spongy, as 

 to serve the natives for corks ; the leaves also are composed 



of longitudinal, tough, useful fibres. In the South Sea Islands? 

 either this, or some other species or variety, is used for mak- 

 ing mats. In the Sandwich Islands these mats are hand- 

 somely worked in a variety of patterns, and stained of dif- 

 ferent colours. The branches being of a soft, spongy, juicy 

 nature, cattle will eat them when cut into small pieces. 

 Forster says, that in Otaheite the fruit is called E- Vara, or 

 Wharra, and the male flowers Hinanno ; that it is fond of 

 sandy coasts, and is found on almost all the islands of the 

 Southern Ocean, within the tropics, even on those which are 

 occasionally inundated; that it resembles the Ananas in 

 the fruit and leaves ; that it is cultivated in Arabia and 

 Ceylon, on account of the fragrancy of the male flowers ; 

 that the women in India powder their hair with the dust of 

 the antherae, which is very fragrant, and that they lay up the 

 floral leaves and bunches of flowers among their clothes ; 

 thaj. in Ternate they dress the flowers before they open, as 

 sauce for flesh and fish ; that in India the fruit is eaten by 

 elephants, in Otaheite and the neighbouring islands by chil* 

 dren, and when bread-fruit is scarce even by grown persons ; 

 and that it has a fine aromatic scent like the Strawberry or 

 the Pine Apple, a taste at first sweetish, but afterwards 

 astringent and austere. Mugalie, is the Telinga name of the 

 male plant; and Ghcezangee, that of the female. This plant 

 may be increased by sowing the seeds in pots of light earth, 

 and plunging them into the bark-bed of the stove ; where 

 they must constantly remain, and be managed as other ten- 

 der exotics. Their large spreading foliage has a fine effect 

 among other stove plants. 



Panicum; a genus of the class Triandria, order L/igynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: glume two-flowered, two- 

 valved ; valves subovate, nerved ; the outer valve a little 

 lower, very small; one floret hermaphrodite, the other neuter, 

 or male . Corolla : hermaphrodite ; glume two-valved ; the 

 outer valve (in '.he bosom of the smaller calicine valve,) flat- 

 tish, nerved ; the inner membranaceous, flat, with the edges 

 bent in, often small, or very small ; nectary two-leaved, very 

 small, gibbous: in the neuter florets none. Stamina: fila- 

 menta three, capillary; (the neuter florets have no stamina;) 

 antheree oblong. Pistil: in the hermaphrodites; germen 

 roundish ; styles two, capillary ; stigmas feathered : in the 

 neuters none. Pericarp : none ; corolla adheres to the seed 

 without opening. Seed: one, covered, roundish, flattish on 

 one side. Observe. Neglecting the inner valve of the neuter 

 floret, the outer seems to belong to the calix ; hence, three 

 calicine valves are commonly reckoned by botanists, among 

 which the third is very small. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix : two-valved, the third valve very small. Most of these 

 plants are natives of warm climates, where some are used by 

 the inhabitants to make bread. These grow very large, and 

 require a good summer, otherwise they will not ripen in this 

 country. The seeds should be sown at the latter end of 

 March or the beginning of April, on a moderate hot-b,ed ; 

 and the plants should be planted out, when grown to a pro- 

 per size, upon a bed of light rich earth, in a warm situation. 

 They should be planted in rows, about three feet asunder, 

 and the plants must be kept clean from weeds. When the 

 plants are grown pretty tall, they should be supported by 

 stakes, otherwise the winds will break them down ; and wheii 

 the corn begins to ripen, the birds must be kept from it, other- 

 wise they will soon destroy it. The species axe, 



* Flowers spiked. 



1. Panicum Polystachyon ; Many-spiked Panic Grass. 

 Spikes round ; involucrets one-flowered, in bundles, and 

 bristly ; culms erect, branched at top ; leaves hairy at top, 

 almost opposite: biennial. Native of the East Indies, &c. 



