PEP 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PER 



271 



rous, very small, a little compressed. Observe. It differs 

 from Sedum in having no nectaries. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calix : five or ten-cleft. Petals: none, or five. 

 Capsule: five-cusped, five-celled; according to Gartner, 

 compound, five-beaked. The species are, 



1. Penthorum Sedoides ; American Penthorum. Leaves 

 oblong, alternate ; stalks about a foot high ; flowers alter- 

 nate, pedicelled, ascending. Biennial. Native of Virginia. 

 It flowers at the end of July, and ripens seed in autumn. 



2. Penthorum Chinense. Stem simple, cylindrical; leaves 

 elongate-linear-lanceolate, subpetiolate, unequally serrated ; 

 spikes cymose, terminal ; seeds ovate, like horn. This plant 

 was brought into England from China by Sir George Staun- 

 ton ; and described, as above, by Frederick Pursh. 



Pentstemon; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Angio- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, five-parted, permanent; segments lanceolate, almost 

 equal. Corolla: one-petalled, two-lipped; tube longer than 

 the calix, gibbous above at the base, wider at top, and 

 ventricose underneath ; upper lip upright, in two ovate obtuse 

 segments ; lower lip longest, three-parted ; the segments 

 ovate, blunt, bent down, shorter than the tube. Stamina : 

 filamenta four, filiform, diverging at the tip, inserted into the 

 base of the tube, and shorter than it, the two lower longer ; 

 antherae roundish, distant, included, bifid, with the lobes 

 divaricating. The rudiment of a fifth tilamentum, between 

 the upper ones, is inserted into the tube, the same length with 

 the stamina, filiform, straight, bearded above at the tip. 

 Pistil: germen ovate; style filiform, the length of the tube, 

 bent down at the tip ; stigma truncate. Pericarp : capsule 

 ovate, acute, compressed, two-celled, two-valved. Seeds : 

 numerous, subglobular. Receptacle : large. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: five-leaved. Corolla: bilabiate, ven- 

 tricose. Rudiment of a fifth stamen, bearded above. Cap- 

 sule : two-celled. The species are, 



1. Pentstemon Lsevigata; Smooth Pentstemon. Stem 

 smooth ; barren filamentum bearded above. Root perennial, 

 creeping, fibrous, white ; flowering branches in a manner 

 dichotomous, with the flowers two together ; corolla pale 

 purple, somewhat hirsute on the outside. Native of North 

 America. This plant may be increased by sowing the seeds 

 either in the autumn or early in spring the places where 

 they are to remain, or in beds, to be removed in the begin- 

 ning of summer to the borders or clumps of the pleasure 

 ground. 



2. Pentstemon Pubescens ; Hairy Pentstemon. Stems 

 pubescent ; barren filamentum bearded from the tip below 

 the middle. See Chelone. 



3. Pentstemon Frutescens. Stem fruticose ; branches an- 

 gled, pubescent; leaves lanceolate, sessile, slightly glabrous; 

 racemes terminal, subcorymbose ; filament sterile, longitudi- 

 nally bearded; flowers purple. This small shrub was found 

 by Lewis on the north-west coast of America, and somethnes 

 attains to more than a foot in height. 



Peony, or Piony. See Paeonia. 



Peplis; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: bell-shaped, perma- 

 nent, very large, with the mouth twelve-cleft ; toothlets 

 alternate, reflex. Corolla: petals six, ovate, very small, 

 inserted into the throat of the calix. Stamina: filamenta six, 

 awl-shaped, short; antheiae roundish. Pistil: germen oval; 

 style very short ; stigma orbiculate. Pericarp : capsule 

 superior, cordate, two-celled ; partition opposite. Seeds : 

 very many, three-sided, very small. Observe. In many florets 

 on the same plant the corolla is entirely wanting. In the 

 second species the parts of fructification are less by one 

 VOL. ii. 88. 



third. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: bell-shaped, with 

 a twelve-cleft mouth. Petals : six, inserted into the calix, 

 or none. Capsule : two-celled. The species are, 



1. Peplis Portula; Water Purslane. Flowers axillary, 

 solitary; leaves stalked. This is an annual creeping plant; 

 stems numerous, branched, dichotomous, from half a foot 

 or a span to a foot in length, angular, jointed, of a reddish 

 colour; flowers very small, solitary, reddish, opposite, sessile. 

 It flowers from July to September. Native of many parts of 

 Europe, in bogs, marshes, ditches, and especially where 

 water has stagnated in winter and becomes dry in summer. 



2. Peplis Tetrandra. Flowers one-petallled, four-stamined. 

 Annual.- Native of the West Indies, in dry shady places at 

 the foot of mountains an.d trees. 



3. Peplis Americana. Flowers axillary, solitary; leaves 

 thick, spathulate-obovate; flowers without petals. This plant 

 is inundated during its flowering time in slow-flowing places 

 of rivers, in Pennsylvania. The flowers are so diminutive, 

 that to examine them it requires a strong microscope. 



Pepper. See Piper. 



Pepper Grass. See Pilularia. 



Pepper, Guinea. See Capsicum. 



Pepper Mint. See Mentka. 



Pepperwort. See Lepidium. 



Perdicium ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Poly- 

 gamia Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: com- 

 mon, oblong, imbricate, rayed ; corollets hermaphrodite in 

 the disk, female in the ray : proper of the hermaphrodite 

 tubular, semibifid ; inner lip two-parted, acuminate, equal, 

 outer semitrifid, linear, equal ; of the female linear, ligulate, 

 three-toothed, two-toothed within at the base. Stamina: 

 in the hermaphrodites ; filamenta five, short ; antherse cylin- 

 dric, tubular, five-toothed. Pistil : in the hermaphrodites ; 

 germen small ; style simple ; stigma bifid, blunt : in the 

 females, style semibifid ; stigmas blunt. Pericarp : none. 

 Calix: unchanged. Seeds; solitary, obovate ; down capil- 

 lary, sessile, very copious, the length of the calix, fastigiate. 

 Receptacle: naked. Observe. The flower resembles a semi- 

 floscular corolla, though it is really rayed. The character 

 is taken from the first species, which is very distinct in the 

 genus. The second species agrees with the genus in its bila- 

 biate capsules, but differs in the whole habit. The third 

 species has subradiate flowers, and hermaphrodite bilabiate 

 florets in the disk and ray. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corol- 



kts: bilabiate. Down : simple. Receptacle: naked. The 



species are, 



1. Perdicium Semiflosculare. Flower semifloscular; scape 

 one-flowered, naked ; root fibrous ; down simple. Native of 

 the Cape. 



2. Perdicium Radiale. Flowers subradiate; outer calix 

 four-leaved ; stem shrubby ; flowers few, yellow. Browne, 

 who calls it the Shrubby Trixis, says, that this little shrub is 

 very common in the savannas about Kingston, Jamaica, and 

 seldom rises above four or five feet in height. The common 

 receptacles are disposed at the extremities of the branches, 

 and the outer divisions of the flowers grow gradually smaller, 

 and curl more downwards as they approach the centre ; which 

 gives the whole at first sight somewhat the appearance of a 

 radiated flower. 



3. Perdicium Brasiliense. Flowers subradiate ; calices 

 simple. Stem herbaceous ; root-leaves lanceolate, ovate, 

 repand-toothed, subpubescent, viscid ; flowers at the top of 

 the stem naked, several ; corolla yellow. Native of Brazil. 



4. Perdicium Magellanicum. Leaves' runcinate; stem 

 two-leaved, simple, one-flowered ; flower white, rayed. This 

 pretty little plant is a native of Terra del Fuego. 



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