290 



PHR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



PHY 



longer tlian the corolla; antherse erect, subtriquetrous. 

 Pistil: germen bluntly three-sided; style filiform, ascending, 

 a little shorter than the stamina; stigma simple. Pericarp: 

 capsule oblong, three-sided, the angels grooved, acuminate, 

 three-celled, three-valved. Seeds: very many, oblong, com- 

 pressed. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: 

 six-petalled, the tlxree inner petals longer. Capsule: ob- 

 long, three-sided. Seeds: oblong, compressed. -The 



only known species is, 



1. Phormium Tenax; New Zealand Flax Plant. Leaves 

 many; inflorescence branched; flowers like those of the Hya- 

 cinth. Native of New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and other 

 islands in the Southern Ocean. The inhabitants of New 

 Zealand make a thread from the fibres of the leaves, with 

 which the women weave a variety of fine matting for cloth- 

 ing and other yses. Many other plants of the Liliaceous 

 tribes might be applied to the same purposes: and this is 

 now manufactured in Norfolk Island, where canvass and 

 other coarse linen cloth have been made with the thread. 



Pftrynui; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Gymno- 

 spermia- GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, cylindric, gibbous above at the base, striated, with a 

 two-lipped mouth; upper lip narrow, longer, with three awl- 

 shaped converging teeth ; lower lip blunt, bifid. Corolla : 

 oue-petalled, ringent; tube the length of the calix; upper 

 lip shorter, subovate, emarginate, straight ; lower lip larger, 

 more spreading, trifid, the middle segment more produced. 

 Stamina: filamenta four, two on each side the upper ones, 

 shorter ; antherse roundish, converging, in the throat of the 

 corolla. Pistil : germen oblong; style filiform, the length 

 of the stamina ; stigma blunt. Pericarp > none ; calix un- 

 changed, grooved, converging. Seed: single, oblong, roundish, 

 grooved on one side ; Geertner says, ovate, drawn to a point 

 attop, obscurely five-cornered. ESSENTIALCHARACTER. Ca- 

 lix: two-lipped, five-toothed. Seed: one. The species are, 



1 . Phryma Leptostachya. Leaves ovate, serrate, petioled ; 

 calix one-leafed, five-cleft. Stem a foot high, obtusely qua- 

 drangular, smoothish, brachiate; flowers opposite, remote. 

 Native of North America. 



2. Phryma Dehiscens. Calices finally opening longitudi- 

 nally; stems suflfruticose at the base; branches opposite, 

 few, upright; corolla like that of Vervain ; border five-cleft, 

 small, almost equal, with rounded segments. This plant is 

 associated with the preceding, till it is better known, though 

 it has a different appearance. Native of the Cape. 



Phrynium; a genus of the class Monandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: spathes many, 

 acute, imbricate, many-flowered ; perianth three-leaved ; leaf- 

 lets awl-shaped, erect, equal. Corolla: one-petalled, tubu- 

 lar ; border seven-cleft ; the three outer segments acute, al- 

 most equal, reflex ; the four inner obtuse, erect, unequal, 

 nectary long, channelled, erect. The four inner segments 

 belong properly to this. Stamina: filamentum one, awl- 

 shaped, short, growing to the side of the nectary at bottom; 

 anther oblong, irregular, emitting little balls of pollen, dis- 

 tinguishable by the naked eye. Pistil: germen ovate, three- 

 cornered, inferior; style thick, short, rather longer than the 

 stamen ; stigma concave, inclined towards the anther. Pe- 

 ricarp : capsule obtusely triangular, three-celled. Seed: 

 nuts three, ovate, or smooth. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix : three-leaved. Corolla : inner segments four, obtuse, un- 

 equal. Nectary: tube filiform; border four-parted. Capsule: 

 three-celled. Nuts : three. The only known species is, - 



1. Phrynium Capitatum. Perennial : stemless, five feet 

 high: on four-fifths of it are very straight, round, regular, 

 shining petioles ; leaves a foot long, ovate-oblong, sharp, 



quite entire, flat, obliquely grooved, smooth, coriaceous ; 

 flowers white, collected into a large, sessile, hemispherical 

 cyme, bursting out below the middle of the .gaping petiole. 

 The germen is commonly abortive. Native of Malabar, 

 China, and Cochin-china, in shady wet places. The leaves 

 are used for wrapping up cakes, &c. in the oven whence. Lou- 

 reiro's trivial name of Placentaria : when tender, and not yet 

 unfolded, they infuse them in spirit of rice, or sugar diluted 

 with three times its quantity of water, to make vinegar. 



Phylica: a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common receptacle of 

 the fructifications scaly, collecting the flowers into a disk ; 

 perianth proper, one-leafed, five-cleft, turbinate ; mouth vil- 

 lose, permanent. Corolla : none ; scalelets five, acuminate, 

 one at the base of each division of the calix, converging. 

 Stamina: filamenta five, very small, inserted under the scale- 

 l.-t; antherae simple. Pistil: germen at the bottom of the 

 corolla; style simple; stigma obtuse. Pericarp: capsule 

 roundish, three-lobed, three-celled, three-valved, crowned. 

 Seeds: solitary, roundish, gibbous on one side, angular on 

 the other. ESSENTIALCHARACTER. Perianth: five-parted, 

 turbinate. Petals : none, but five scales defending the sta- 

 mina. Capsule: tr.icoccous, inferior. As these shrubs do 

 not produce seeds in England, they are propagated by cut- 

 tings, and slips of the young shoots. There are two seasons 

 for planting these ; the end of March, before the plants be- 

 gin to shoot, and the beginning of August. In the first 

 season plant them in pots, and plunge them into a very 

 moderate hot-bed, covering them close with bell or hand 

 glasses, shading them in the middle of the day, and re- 

 freshing them gently with water : they will put out roots in 

 two months, then inure them to the open air, and when they 

 have obtained strength, take them carefully out of those pots, 

 and plant each in a separate sm?ll pot, filled with soft loamy 

 earth, placing them in a shady situation until they have taken 

 new root; when they may be removed to a more sheltered 

 place, there to remain till autumn. In the second season, 

 plant the cuttings in pots, which may be either plunged into 

 an old hot-bed or in the ground, covering them close as be- 

 fore, and treating them in the same way: when they put out 

 roots, it will be too late to transplant them, and they must 

 remain in the same pots until spring. If these are placed 

 under a hot-bed frame in autumn, where they may. be pro- 

 tected from frost, and exposed to the open air in mild wea- 

 ther, they will succeed better than when they are more ten- 

 derly treated. As these shrubs are too tender to thrive in the 

 open air in England, they must be kept in pots, and housed 

 in winter, but they require no artificial heat. In summer they 

 may be placed abroad in a sheltered situation. As they 

 flower in winter, they make a good appearance in the green- 

 house or dry-stove at that season. The first sort will live 

 through the winter, when mild, in a warm sheltered situation, 

 but always dies in severe frost. The species are, 



1. Phylica Ericoides; Heath-leaved Phylica. Leaves 

 linear, in whorls; they are about half an inch long, bright 

 green, and somewhat hairy. This is a low bushy plant, sel- 

 dom rising more than three feet high ; the stalks are shrubby 

 and irregular, dividing into many spreading branches, subdi- 

 viding into smaller ones. At the end of the very shoot, the 

 flowers are produced in small clusters, sitting close to the 

 leaves ; they are of a pure white, begin to appear in the au- 

 tnmn, continue in beauty all the winter, and decay in spring. 

 The flowers are slightly odoriferous. Native of the Cape. 



2. Phylica Lanceolata ; Lance-leaved Phylica. Leaves 

 scattered, lanceolate, tomentose underneath; heads terminat- 

 ing, hirsute. Native of the Cape. 



