292 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL: 



PHY 



Leaves ovate, blunt, quite entire ;. stem arboreous. Native 



2. Phyllanthus Nutans ; Pendulous-fiowered Phyllanthus. 

 Shrubby : leaves alternate, oval, glaucous underneath ; ra- 

 cemes terminating, leafy, nodding; branches slender, co- 

 vered with a light-coloured reddish-brown smooth bark, di- 

 vided into twigs set with leaves. Native of Jamaica. 



3. Phyllanthus Mimosoides ; Mimosa-like Phyllanthus. 

 Stem shrubby ; branches rod-like ; leaves pinnate, florifer- 

 ous. Native of Antigua. 11U lorn 



4. Phyllanthus Conami. Stem shrubby, very much 

 branched; branches diffused; leaves petioled, roundish, 

 attenuated, but bluntish at the tip; peduncles fascicled, 

 axillary. Native of the West Indies. 



5. Phyllanthus Niruri; .Annual Phyllanthus. Leaves 

 pinnate, floriferous ; flowers peduncled. Root filiform, long, 

 white ; stem about a foot high, branched, erect, herbaceous, 

 roundish, even ; flowers on very short peduncles, axillary, 

 nodding, under the leaves. The seeds ripen in succession, 

 and are cast out of the capsules when ripe, with so much 

 force as to be thrown to a considerable distance. It is very 

 common in Barbadocs ; in the mountainous swamps of Ja- 

 maica; on the banks of rivers in Hispaniola; and in the 

 East Indies. 



6. Phyllanthus Urinaria. Leaves pinnate, floriferous ; 

 flowers sessile ; stem herbaceous, procumbent. It has its 

 trivial name from its diuretic quality. The whole herb is 

 milky. It is a native of the East Indies, China about Can- 

 ton, Cochin-china, and the eastern coast of Africa. 



7. Phyllanthus Bacciformis. Leaves pinnate, with six 

 leaflets ; female flower terminating ; male flowers three to- 

 gether, lower ; stem half a foot high, quite simple, ascend- 

 ing, angular, even, annual. Native of Tranquebar. 



8. Phyllanthus Racemosus. Leaves pinnate, flowering in 

 a raceme at the tip; fruit berried, juiceless ; stem suffruticose 



-Native of Ceylon. 



9. Phyllanthus Emblica ; Shrubby Phyllanthus. Leaves 

 prnnate, floriferons; stem arboreous; fruit berried. This 

 rises in Malabar with a tree-like stem, to the height of twelve 

 or fourteen feet, but in England to not more than half that 

 height, sending out from the side many patulous branches. 

 Native of the East Indies, Cochin-china, and China; in the 

 last of which the berry is juiceless. 



10. Phyllanthus Maderaspatensis. Leaves, alternate, 

 wedge-shaped, mucronate. The cocculi are papery, not se- 

 parating from the epidermis, two-valved, opening with a 

 spring. Native of the East Indies. 



11. Phyllanthus Virgata. Leaves simple, alternate, linear, 

 mucronate ; peduncles axillary, solitary, one-flowered ; stem 

 shrubby. -Native of the Society Islands. 



Phyllis : a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: umbel none, but a pani- 

 cle; perianth very small, superior, two-leaved, obsolete. Co- 

 rolla: petals five, lanceolate, obtuse, revolute, scarcely con- 

 nected at the base. Stamina: filamenta five, shorter than 

 the corolla, capillary, flaccid; antherte simple, oblong. Pis- 

 til : germen inferior ; style none ; stigmas two, awl-shaped, 

 pubescent, reflex. Pericarp: none ; fruit turbinate, oblong 

 blunt, angular. Seeds : two, parallel, convex and angular on 

 one side, flat on the other, wider at top. Observe. Stigmas 

 as in the Grasses, Elm, and Tetragonia. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Stigmas : hispid. Fructifications : scattered. Ca- 

 lix : two-leaved, obsolete. Corolla : five-petalled. Seeds 



two. The only known species is, 



1 . Phyllis Nobla ; Bastard Hare's Ear. Stipules toothed 

 This plant rises with a soft shrubby stalk about two or thre 



eet high, and is seldom thicker than a man's finger, of an 

 lerbaceous colour, and full of joints. It sends out several 

 mall side branches towards the top, garnished with spear- 

 haped leaves nearly four inches long, and almost two broad 

 n the middle, drawing to a point at each end. The flowers 

 are produced at the ends of the branches in loose panicles ; 

 they are small, of an herbaceous colour at their first appear- 

 ance, but, before they fade, change to a brown, or worn-out 

 mrple. Native of the Canary Islands. It is propagated by 

 seeds, which must be sown on a bed of fresh light earth 

 .owards the end of March, and the plants will come up by 

 he beginning of May ; when they are fit to transplant, they 

 should be put into separate pots, and placed in a shady 

 situation until they have taken root ; after which they should 

 >e removed into a sheltered situation, where they may have 

 he morning sun : in summer they require frequent watering; 

 n winter they must be sheltered from the frost, but require 

 to have as much free air as possible in mild weather : the 

 second year the plants will flower ; if therefore in the spring 

 some of the plants are shaken out of the pots, and put into 

 the full ground, they will perfect their seeds much better 

 than those which remain in the pots. They may also be 

 raised by cuttings planted out in the summer. As these plants 

 seldom continue in health above four or five years, it will b^ 

 proper to raise a supply of young plants to succeed them. 

 The plants retain their leaves all the year, which being large, 

 and of a shining green, make a handsome appearance in 

 winter ; which is its chief use, as the flowers are of no value. 

 Physalis ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono- 

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

 ventricose, half five-cleft, small, five-cornered, with acuminate 

 segments, permanent. Corolla : one-petalled, wheel-shaped ; 

 tube very short ; borders half five-cleft, large, plaited ; seg- 

 ments wide, acute. Stamina: filamenta five, awl-shaped, very 

 small, converging ; antherse erect, converging. Pistil : ger- 

 men roundish ; style filiform, generally longer than the sta- 

 mina; stigma blunt. Pericarp: berry subglobular, two- 

 celled, small, within a very large, inflated, closed, five- 

 cornered, coloured calix ; receptacle kidney-form, doubled. 

 Seeds : very many, kidney-form, comprest. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Corolla: wheel-shaped. Stamina: converg- 

 ing. Berry: within an inflated calix, -two-celled. The 



species are, 



* Perennial. 



1. Physalis Somnifera; Clustered Winter-cherry. Stem 

 shrubby; branches straight; flowers clustered; leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, almost three inches long, and an inch and half 

 broad in the middle, downy, and on short petioles ; flowers 

 small, of an herbaceous white colour, sitting very close to the 

 branches, and succeeded by small berries, nearly of the same 

 size as the Common Winter-cherry, and red when ripe. It 

 flowers in July and August. Native of Spain, Sicily, Can- 

 dia, Barbary, and Zanguebar on the coast of Africa, and of 

 Mexico in America. Sow the seeds on a bed of light earth 

 in the beginning of April: when the plants are two or three 

 inches high, take them up carefully, and plant each in a 

 small pot filled with kitchen-garden mould, placing them in 

 the shade till they have taken new root; then remove them 

 to a sheltered situation till the beginning of October, at 

 which time remove them into the green-house, watering them 

 sparingly in winter. They will continue several years, if not 

 too tenderly treated. 



2. Physalis Aristata; Bearded Winter-cherry. Stem 

 shrubby; leaves oblong, entire, smooth; branches, petioles, 

 and peduncles, lanuginose ; calicine toothlets awned. Na- 

 tive of the Canary Islands. 



