PEU 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PEU 



275 



and plunged into a hot-bed of tanner's bark, and afterwards 

 placed in the bark-bed in the stove, where they should con- 

 stantly remain, and be treated like other plants from the same 

 country. 



Petrocarya; a genus of the class Heptandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one leafed, 

 ,-urbinate, five-cleft; segments ovate, acute, rigid, spreading, 

 (the two upper ones more erect;) leaflets two, oblong, con- 

 cave at the base of the perianth. Corolla : petals five, ovate, 

 acute, unequal, less than the teeth of the calix, and inserted 

 into it between the segments. Stamina: filamenta fourteen, 

 capillary, longer than the teeth of the calix, inserted into the 

 edge of it below the petals; seven antheriferous, the other 

 seven in the opposite part of the calix, barren ; antheree seven, 

 roundish, gaping inwardly. Pistil: germen ovate, villose ; 

 style cylindrical, curved in, villose, longer than the stamina; 

 stigma capitate. Pericarp: drupe large, ovate, compressed, 

 fleshy, fibrous, one-celled. Seed: nut ovate, compressed, si- 

 nuous-wrinkled, longitudinally tubercled; shell thick, very 

 hard, two-celled ; kernels oblong. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix : turbinate, five-cleft, with two bractes at the base. Co- 

 rolla: five-petalled, less than the calix. Filamenta: four- 

 teen, seven of which are barren. Drupe: inclosing a two- 

 celled nut, with a stony cell. The species are, 



1. Petrocarya Montana. Leaves ovate. This is a tree, 

 with a trunk twenty-four feet high, dividing at the top into 

 very thick, wide, spreading branches ; the ramulets, or smaller 

 branches, being villose, or reddish. The flowers are white ; 

 the drupe smooth, and fulvous, four inches long, with a thick 

 acid bark; and the nut or kernel, in each loculament of the 

 putamen, is sweet and edible. Native of the woods of 

 Guiana. 



2. Petrocarya Campestris. Leaves cordate. This tree has 

 a trunk from thirty to forty feet high, branching at top; 

 flowers racemose, axillary, terminal, and resembling those of 

 the preceding species. Native of the woods of Guiana. 



Petty-Whin. See Genista. 



Peucedanum; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: umbel universal mani- 

 fold, very long, slender ; partial spreading; involucres uni- 

 versal many-leaved, linear, small, reflex ; partial less ; peri- 

 anth proper, five-toothed, very small. Corolla: universal 

 uniform ; florets of the disk abortive ; partial of five, equal, 

 oblong, incurved, entire petals. Stamina: filamenta five, 

 capillary; antherse simple. Pistil: germen, oblong, inferior; 

 styles two, small; stigmas obtuse. Pericarp: none; fruit, 

 ovate, girt with a wing, striated on both sides, bipartile. 

 Seeds: two, ovate, oblong, compressed, more convex on one 

 side, with three rais'ed streaks, girt with a wide entire mem- 

 brane ; emarginate at top. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Fruit: 

 ovate, striated on both sides, girt with a membrane. Invo- 

 lucres: very short. These plants are propagated by seeds 

 sown in the autumn, soon after they are ripe, those which are 

 sown in the spring seldom succeeding, or at best not coming 

 up till the spring following. Keep the plants clean from 

 weeds, and in the autumn transplant them where they are to 

 remain. They love a moist soil, and a shady situation, but 



will not thrive under the drip of trees. The species are, 



1. Peucedanum Officinale; Common Sulphur-wort. Leaves 

 five times three-parted, filiform, linear ; rqot perennial, divid- 

 ing into many strong fibres which run deep into the ground; 

 stem upright, from two to four feet high, slightly striated, 

 bright green, jointed, smooth; umbel large, the water rays 

 longest ; fruit middle-sized, compressed into the shape of a 

 thin lens; seeds subfoliaceous, surrounded by a very narrow 

 attenuated rim, having on the flat sides two dark ferruginous 

 89. 



1 



fillets, as in the Parsnep. The root has a strong fetid smell, 

 and an acrid bitterish unctuous taste. Wounded in the spring, 

 it yields a considerable quantity of yellow juice, which dries 

 into a gummy resin, and retains the strong scent of the root. 

 Its virtues have not been properly ascertained. There is a 

 variety called Italian Sulphurwort, which is a much larger 

 plant; the leaflets are also much longer, and the flowers and 

 seeds bigger. It grows on the mountains, and also in the low 

 vallies, by the side of rivers in Italy. The Common Sulphur- 

 wort is a native of the most southern parts of Europe, in 

 moist meadows. Gerarde found it growing very plentifully, 

 on the south side of a wood belonging to Waltham, at the 

 Nase, in Essex; also at Whitstable and Feversham, in Kent. 

 Ray observed it near Shoreham, in Sussex; and adds, that it 

 was said to grow abundantly on the banks of the Thames, 

 and in the marsh-ditches near Walton, not far from Harwich. 

 It has been more recently observed near Feversham, and near 

 Yarmouth and Clay, in Norfolk. 



2. Peucedanum Alpestre; Alpine Sulphurwort. Leaflets 

 linear, branched ; roots perennial. Stems round, not so 

 deeply channelled as in the preceding, sustaining a large 

 umbel of yellow flowers. It flowers in June, and the seeds 

 ripen in September. Native of the forest of Fontainbleau, 

 and some other parts of France ; also of Germany. 



3. Peucedanum Capillaceum; Hairy-leaved Sulphurwort. 

 Leaves bipinnate; segments capillaceous, grooved. Native 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. 



4. Peucedanum Tenuifolium; Fine-leaved Sulphurwort. 

 Leaves bipinnatifid; segments lanceolate, opposite and al- 

 ternate, margined. Native of the Cape of Good Hope.- 



5. Peucedanum Sibiricum; Siberian Sulphurwort. Leaf- 

 lets linear, acute ; primordial umbels sessile. It has no uni- 

 versal involucre. Native of Siberia. 



6. Peucedanum Japonicum; Japanese Sulphurwort. Leaves 

 five times three-parted; leaflets wedge-form, trifid. Stem 

 round, flexible, upright, branched, the thickness of a goose- 

 quill, scarcely a foot high. Native of the coast of Japan. 



7. Peucedanum Silaus; Meadow Sulphurwort, or Saxi- 

 frage. Leaflets pinnatifid ; segments opposite ; universal 

 involucre two-leaved. Root perennial, long, wrinkled, black 

 on the outside, white within, having a sweet aromatic flavour, 

 with some sharpness ; stems several, from two to three feet 

 in height, almost as thick as the little finger at bottom, round, 

 striated, full of pith, red near the ground, branched from the 

 bottom, the branchlets coming out at long intervals from the 

 axils of the leaves ; flowers greenish-white, and are generally 

 all fertile, but some of the central ones are sometimes barren. 

 The whole plant has a strong, but not unpleasant smell, ap- 

 proaching to that of Parsneps. Native of many parts of 

 Europe, as Switzerland, France, Germany, England, &c. in 

 moist meadows. It flowers in August. 



8. Peucedanum Alsaticum; Small-headed Sulphurwort. 

 Leaflets pinnatifid; the little segments trifid, bluntish. Stem 

 upright, three or four feet in height, and sometimes as high 

 as a man, round, slightly striated, grooved only towards the 

 top, very smooth, tinged with red, and wholly ted at the 

 base, jointed, dichotomous. Umbels very copious, small, 

 yellowish. It flowers in June and July. Native of Ger- 

 many, Switzerland, and Italy. 



9. Peucedanum Aureum; Golden Sulphurwort. Leaves 

 bipinnate; leaflets of the stem-leaves linear-lanceolate, of 

 the root-leaves oblong and multifid. It is a biennial plant, 

 flowering in June. Native of the Canaries. 



10. Peucedanum Nodosum; Knobbed Sulphurwort. Leaf- 

 lets alternately multifid. The stalks rise a foot and a half 

 high, having pretty large knots at the joints, from each of 



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