274 



PET 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



PET 



ered ; leaves subsessile, ovate, attenuated, oblique at the 

 base. Trunk straight, twenty feet high, no thicker than the 

 human leg ; bark almost smooth, gray, with some very white 



tts, whence its name of Silver Wood. The wood is hard, 

 gh, heavy, and good for looms, handles, staves for oars, 

 or scouring rods for guns. Native of Jamaica, and other 

 parts of the West Indies. 



2. Petaloma Mouriri. Peduncles corymbed, axillary; 

 leaves petioled, ovate, acuminate ; berries seeded. This is a 

 tree, from thirty to forty feet in height, and a foot and half 

 in diameter, with a grayish bark, and a whitish, hard, com- 

 pact wood. Native of Guiana, in the forests bordering on 

 the river Sinemari, flowering in November, and fruiting in 

 January. Named by the natives Mouririckira. 



Petesia; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, bell- 

 shaped, superior, with the mouth toothed. Corolla: one- 

 petalled, funnel-form ; tube cylindrical, longer than the 

 calix ; border four-parted; lobes rounded, blunt. Stamina: 

 filamenta four, awl-shaped, the length of the tube ; antherse 

 somewhat oblong. Pistil: germen inferior ; style filiform; 

 stigma bifid, acute. Pericarp : berry globular, crowned, 

 two-celled. Seeds: very many, roundish. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form; stigma bifid. 

 Berry : many-seeded. The species are, 



1. Petesia Stipularis. Leaves lanceolate-ovate, tomentose 

 underneath; flowers in lateral thyrses. This shrub is a native 

 of Jamaica. 



2. Petesia Carnea. Leaves oblong, lanceolate, even ; 

 flowers in terminating trifid cymes. Native of the island of 

 Namoka in the Great Southern Ocean. 



3. Petesia Tomentosa. Leaves oblong, tomentose on both 

 sides. Native of the woods of New Spain. 



Petitia ; a genus of the class Triandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, small, 

 upright, four-toothed, inferior, permanent. Corolla: one- 

 petalled; tube cylindrical, upright, long; border four-cleft; 

 segments ovate, acute, flat, reflex, half the length of the 

 tube. Stamina: filamenta four, awl-shaped, very short, in 

 the upper part of the tube; anthers upright. Pistil: ger- 

 meu routidish, superior: style awl-shaped, upright, the length 

 of the stamina ; stigma simple. Pericarp: drupe roundish. 

 Seed: nut ovate, blunt, two-celled; kernels solitary, oblong. 

 Observe. Flowers often three-stamined, with the calix and 

 corolla trifid. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four-toothed, 

 inferior. Corolla: four-parted. Drupe: with a two-celled 

 nut. The only known species is, 



1. Petitia Domingensis. This is a small tree, with four- 

 cornered striated branches; flowers numerous, white. Native 

 of the woods of the island of St. Domingo. 



Petiveria ; a genus of the class Hexandria, or, according 

 to Swartz, of the class Heptandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth four-leaved ; leaf- 

 lets linear, blunt, equal, spreading, permanent. Corolla: 

 none, except the coloured calix. Stamina : filamenta six 

 to eight, unequal, awl-shaped, converging; antherse erect, 

 linear, sagittate, bifid at top. Pistil: germen ovate, com- 

 pressed, ernarginate ; style very short, lateral, in the groove 

 of the germen ; stigma pencil-shaped. Pericarp : none, 

 except the crust of the seed. Seed: single, oblong, narrower 

 below, roundish, compressed, ernarginate, with four barbed 

 hooks, bent back outwards, rigid, acute, the middle ones 

 longer; Gsertner says naked, but armed above with reflex 

 spines. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four-leaved. Co- 

 rolla: none. Seed: one, with reflex awns at top. These 

 plants may be increased by slips or cuttings as well as seeds ; 



which must be sown on a hot-bed early in the spring. When 

 they appear, transplant each into a separate pot, and plunge 

 the pots into a moderate hot-bed. When the plants have 

 obtained a good share of strength, inure them by degrees to 

 the open air, into which remove them towards the end of 

 June, placing them in a warm situation, where they may 

 remain till autumn, when they should be placed in the stove 

 during winter, and have a moderate degree of warmth. They 

 will produce flowers and seeds every summer, and continue 

 several years constantly remaining green throughout the 

 year. The species are, 



1 . Petiveria Alliacea ; Common Guinea-hen Weed. Flowers 

 six-stamined. Root strong, striking deep into the ground ; 

 stems from two to three feet high, jointed, and becoming 

 woody at the bottom. It is a common plant in most of the 

 islands of the West Indies, where it grows in shady woods, 

 and all the savannas, in such plenty as to become a trouble- 

 some weed. As this plant will endure much drought, it 

 remains green when others are burnt up; the cattle then 

 feed on it, and it gives their milk the taste of garlic, to which 

 the specific name alludes; their flesh also becomes intolerably 

 rank. Browne informs us, that it is very common in all the 

 lower lands of Jamaica, and is so remarkably acrid, as to 

 render the smell and taste hardly tolerable. On chewing a 

 little of the plant, it burns the mouth, and leaves the tongue 

 black, dry, and rough, as it appears in a malignant fever. 

 It is however thought to be liked by Guinea-hens, and hence 

 its name of Guinea-hen Weed. It thrives most in a dry soil 

 and a gravelly situation, and flowers in June. 



2. Petiveria Octandra ; Dwarf Guinea-hen Weed. Flowers 

 eight-stamined. This is very like the first, but differs in 

 having a shorter and narrower stalk, and in the flowers hav- 

 ing eight stamina. Jacquin describes it as a shrubby plant, 

 smelling strong of garlic. Native of the West Indies. 



Petrea; a genus of the class Didynamia, 'order Angio- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, bell-shaped ; border five-parted, spreading, very large, 

 coloured, permanent ; segments oblong, blunt, closed at the 

 throat by five double abrupt scales. Corolla: one-petalled, 

 wheel-shaped, unequal, less than the calix; tube very short; 

 border flat, five-cleft; segments rounded, almost equal, 

 spreading very much; the middle one larger, and of a 

 different colour. Stamina: filamenta four, concealed* within 

 the tube of the corolla, ascending, two shorter; antherse 

 oval, erect. Pistil : germen ovate ; style simple, the length 

 of the stamina ; stigma blunt. Pericarp: capsule obovate, 

 flat at top, two-celled, concealed at the bottom of the calix. 

 Seed: single, fleshy. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five- 

 parted, very large, coloured. Corolla: wheel-shaped. Cap- 

 sule: two-celled at the bottom of the calix. Seeds: solitary. 

 The only known species is, 



1. Petrea Volubilis. It rises with a woody stalk, to the 

 height of fifteen or sixteen feet, covered with a light gray 

 bark, and sending out several long branches, having a whiter 

 bark than the stem ; the flowers are produced at the ends of 

 the branches in loose bunches, nine or ten inches long; 

 each flower upon a slender pedicel, about an inch in length. 

 Dr. Houston found a variety of this with blue petals, of the 

 same bright colour with the calix, and making a fine appear- 

 ance, each branch being terminated by a long string of these 

 flowers, whence he has ranked it in the first class of beautiful 

 American Trees. It is propagated by seeds, which must be 

 obtained from the places where the trees grow naturally, and 

 very few of them are good. They must be sown in a good 

 hot-bed ; and when the plants come up, they should be each 

 planted in a separate small pot, filled with light loamy earth, 



