PAS 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PAS 



247 



another hot-bed, at about five or six inches' distance, observ- 

 ing to water and shade them till they have taken new root ; 

 after which time they must have a pretty large share of fresh 

 air in warm weather, by raising the glasses of the hot-bed 

 every day ; and they must be duly watered every other day 

 at least. When the plants have grown so as to meet each 

 other, they should be carefully taken up, preserving a ball 

 of earth to their roots, and each planted into a separate pot, 

 rilled with light rich earth ; and if they are plunged into a 

 moderate hot-bed, it will greatly facilitate their taking fresh 

 root; but where this convcniency is wanting, the plants 

 should be removed into a warm sheltered situation, where 

 they must be shaded from the sun until they have taken 

 new root ; after which time they may be exposed, with other 

 hardy annual plants, in a warm situation, where they will 

 flower in July, and ripen seed in "September. But if the 

 season should prove cold and wet, it will be proper to have 

 a plant or two in shelter, either in the stove or under tall 

 frames, in order to have good seeds, if those plants which are 

 exposed should fail, so that the species may not be lost. 



'2. Parthenium Integrifolium ; Entire-leaved Parthenium. 

 Leaves ovate, crenate. This is a perennial plant, which dies 

 in the ground every autumn, and shoots up again in the 

 following spring. Height three feet and more, with thick, 

 round, fleshy stems. The flowers grow in a corymb at the 

 head of the stem and branches ; the heads are snow-white 

 above, whitish-green below, and villose at first. Native of 

 Virginia. It flowers in July, but seldom produces good 

 seeds in England. It may be propagated by parting the 

 roots in autumn, and will bear the general cold of our winters 

 in the full ground. 



Paspalum ; a genus of the class Triandria, order Digynia. 

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

 valved, membranaceous; valves equal, orbicular, plano-con- 

 cave; inner flatter, placed outwardly. Corolla: two-valved, 

 the size of the calix ; valves roundish, cartilaginous, out- 

 wardly convex, inflex at the base. Nectary, two membra- 

 naceous scales at the base of the germen. Stamina : fila- 

 menta three, capillary, the length of the glume ; antherse 

 ovate. Pistil : germen roundish ; styles two, capillary, the 

 length of the flower ; stigmas pencil-form, hairy, coloured. 

 Pericarp : none ; glumes permanent, closed, growing to the 

 seed. Seed: single, roundish, compressed, convex on one 

 side. Observe. The fourth species has the outer valve of 

 the calix very short. In the sixth species the corolla is 

 shorter than the calix. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 two-valved, orbicular. Corolla : of the same size. Stigmas : 

 pencil-shaped. The species are, 



1. Paspalum Dissectum; Cut Paspalum. Spikes alternate, 

 rachis membrauaceous ; flowers alternate, hairy at the tip. 

 This is a prostrate annual grass, with the sheaths of the leaves 

 almost spathaceous. Native of North America and Japan. 



2. Paspalum Scrobiculatum ; Dimpled Paspalum. Spikes 

 alternate ; rachis membranaceous ; flowers alternate ; calices 

 many-nerved, dimpled or pitted on the outside ; culms erect, 

 hirsute at the base, a foot high and more. Perennial. 

 Native of the East Indies, in watery places. 



3. Paspalum Villosum ; Villose Paspalum. Spikes alter- 

 nate, directed one way, with an hirsute rachis ; flowers in a 

 double row, alternately directed one way ; culm smooth, 

 three feet high. Native of Japan, near Nagasaki. 



4. Paspalum Virgatum; Rodlike Paspalum. Spikelets 

 panicled, alternate, villose at the base ; flowers in pairs ; 

 root thickly fibrose, and perennial, throwing up several 

 annual erect steins, of about four feet high, and thicker than 

 a quill at the base. Native of meadows in Jamaica. 



VOL. ii. 86. 



5. Paspalum Paniculatum ; Pamcled Paspalum. Spikes 

 panicled, verticillate, aggregate. This is an annual grass, 

 and more erect, with the panicle as it were in whorls. Native 

 of moist clayey grounds in Jamaica. 



6. Paspalum Stoloniferum ; Stoloniferous Paspalum. 

 Spikelets spiked ; rachis waved ; flowers alternate, directed 

 one way ; stem knee-jointed, prostrate at the base, and Sto- 

 loniferous; root perennial, fibrose, whitish; culm flexuose, 

 smooth, cylindric, two feet high, solid, rooting at the knots; 

 branches alternate ; leaves lanceolate, smooth, slightly 

 streaked, a little waved at the edge, often three inches long, 

 and eight lines wide. This has been successfully cultivated 

 at Paris. The seeds have been in part abortive; but as it 

 runs at the root, it may be easily increased. The height 

 and abundance of its stems, the size of its leaves, and the 

 succulence of all its parts, render it a proper grass for cul- 

 tivation. Native of Peru, where it is called Alzaillo. 



7. Paspalum Repens ; Creeping Paspalum. Spikes pani- 

 cled, subverticillate, nodding ; culm creeping. This is very 

 like the preceding, differing only in its creeping culm, root- 

 ing at the joints, narrower leaves, and a more slender pani- 

 cle. Perennial. Native of Surinam. 



8. Paspalum Hirsutum ; Shaggy Paspalum. Spikes 

 alternate, subbinate ; rachis membranaceous ; calices many- 

 nerved, even ; leaves and pedicels hirsute ; culms erect, 

 leafy, hairy above. Native of China. 



9. Paspalum Kora ; Smooth Paspalum. Spikes alternate, 

 subbinate ; rachis membranaceous ; calices roundish, five- 

 nerved ; culm and leaves smooth. Native of the East Indies, 

 and of the Society Isles. 



10. Paspalum Longiflorum ; Long-flowered Paspalum. 

 Spikes two, sessile, upright; florets oval, oblong; culm 

 ascending, branched; culms filiform, slender; flowers alter- 

 nate, pedicelled, pressed close. It varies sometimes with 

 three spikes together. Native of Malabar, on the borders of 

 fields. 



11. Paspalum Distichum ; Two-spiked Paspalum. Spikes 

 two, almost erect, one of them sessile ; florets oblong, 

 smooth ; culm ascending, simple, decumbent towards the 

 root. It is a biennial grass, flowering in July. Native of 

 moist meadows in Jamaica and other West India Islands. 



12. Paspalum Conjugatum ; Conjugate-spiked Paspalum. 

 Spikes two, horizontal, conjugate; Spikelets ovate; culm 

 erect ; leaves involute ; height from one to two feet ; culm 

 simple, compressed a little, smooth. It is common in the 

 moist meadows of the West Indies, where the English call it 

 Souryrass ; and cattle refuse it. 



13. Paspalum Vaginatum ; Sheathed Paspalum. Spikes 

 two ; spikelets bifarious, acuminate ; culm branched, knee- 

 jointed ; joints sheathed. This is a foot high; roots numerous, 

 filiform. Native of Jamaica, in clayey pastures. 



14. Paspalum Filiforme; Filiform Paspalum. Spike sub 

 solitary, linear, one-ranked ; spikelets ovate, compressed ; 

 culm and leaves filiform. This is a tufted grass, two feet 

 high. Native of the West Indies, in open hard fields. 



15. Paspalum Decumbens ; Prostrate Paspalum. Spike 

 single, directed one way; peduncles very long; spikelets 

 alternate, orbiculate-acuminate, smooth; culm procumbent. 

 It is scarcely a foot high. Native of Jamaica, in a dry sandy 

 soil, upon the mountains on the western side of the island. 



16. Paspalum Debile. Spike for the most part single, 

 slender ; glumes contiguously alternate, solitary, pubescent, 

 short-obovate ; leaves rough ; culm feeble, setaceous. 

 Grows on the sea-shores of Carolina and Georgia. 



17. Paspalum Ciliatum. Spikes alternate, as if two toge- 

 ther; glumes subtriseriate, double, orbiculate-obovate, obtuse, 



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