294 



PHY 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



PHY 



light green, inclosing berries as large as common cherries, 

 which are yellowish when ripe. It flowers in July, and the 

 berries ripen in autumn. Native of America, especially Vir- 

 ginia; also of Cochin-china, the Cape, and Port Jackson, 

 New South Wales. If the seeds be permitted to scatter, the 

 plants will come up in the spring, and require no other care 

 but to thin them, and keep them clean from weeds : or, if the 

 seeds be sown in the spring on a common border, the plants 

 will rise very well, and need no further care. 



15. Physalis Prostrata; Trailing Blue-flowered Winter 

 Cherry. Very much branched; stem procumbent, round, 

 hirsute; leaves somewhat fleshy; flowers axillary, solitary, 

 or in pairs, peduncled, fragrant, fugacious, an inch in width ; 

 corollas violet, with a whitish eye, and radiating lines of a 

 darker violet. Native of Peru. 



16. Physalis Barbadensis ; Barbadoes Winter Cherry. 

 Very much branched: leaves ovate-cordate, pubescent; 

 flowers pendulous ; fruiting calices ovate, acuminate, angu- 

 lar; corolla yellow, with purple spots and antherse. Its 

 purple antherse, unclammy leaves, want of hoariness, flower- 

 ing peduncles, nodding, and not very long, distinguish this 

 from the seventeenth species. Native of .Barbadoes. 



17. Physalis Chenopodifolia; Goosefoot-leaved Winter 

 Cherry. Very much branched: leaves smooth, ovate, acu- 

 minate, angular, toothed ; calices even, the size of the fruit, 

 globular. This is sufficiently distinguished from the other 

 species by the berries being of the same size as the calix. 

 Native place unknown. 



18. Physalis Minima; Small Winter Cherry. Very much 

 branched; fruiting peduncles longer than the villose leaf. 

 This is a small spreading plant, with oblong hairs at the 

 axils of the branches. Native of the East Indies ; flowering 

 in July and August. 



19. Physalis Pruinosa ; Hairy Annual Winter Cherry. 

 Very much branched ; leaves villose ; peduncles strict. This 

 has the appearance of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh species ; 

 but the antherse are yellow, not blue. It flowers in July and 

 August. Native of America. 



20. Physalis Virginiana. Stem herbaceous ; leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, acutely toothed; root perennial, composed of 

 strong fibres, from which arise two or three hairy stalks nine 

 or ten inches high, dividing into several branches. The 

 flowers come out at the side of the branches, at the base of 

 the petioles, which are long and slender. Native of Virginia 

 and Vera Cruz. 



21. Physalis Patula. Very much branched, patulous: 

 branches angular, smooth ; leaves lanceolate, pinnate-toothed. 

 This is a low annual plant; flowers small, white; fruit small, 

 yellowish when ripe. Native of Vera Cruz. 



22. Physalis Villosa. Very much branched : branches 

 villose; leaves ovate, acuminate, serrate-toothed. This is an 

 annual plant; flowers small, of a pale yellow colour; fruit 

 round, as large as a cherry, and of a yellowish green when 

 ripe. Native of Vera Cruz. 



23. Physalis Cordata. Stem erect, branched; leaves 

 ovate, serrate, toothed ; petioles and peduncles very long. 

 This is an annual plant, nearly two feet high. The leaves 

 change to a purplish colour in the autumn; flowers small 

 and white ; berries almost as large as Heart Cherries, and of 

 that shape, yellowish green, with some purple stripes. Na- 

 tive of Vera Cruz. 



24. Physalis Maxima. Stem erect, branched ; leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, viscid ; fruit very large, heart-shaped. Annual : 

 flowers small, pale yellow ; fruit pale yellow when ripe. 

 Native of Vera Cruz. 



25. Physalis Parviflora; Small-flowered Winter Cherry. 



Stem angular, diffuse ; branches wavy ; leaves ovate, downy, 

 nearly entire. Found in the tropical parts of New Hollan.d. 

 26. Physalis Obscura. Leaves as if cordate-suborbicu- 

 late, acuminate, unequally dentated; stem herbaceous, diva- 

 ricate, very branchy ; branches angulated ; flowers yellow, 

 with brown spots and bluish anthers. Grows in the sandy 

 fields of Lower Carolina. 

 Physic Nut. See Jatropa. 



Physiology of Plants. In addition to what has been said 

 upon this interesting subject in the Introduction to this Work, 

 we have the pleasure here to subjoin, for the satisfaction of 

 our intelligent readers, the entirely new system of Vegetable 

 Physiology, lately translated from the German of the cele- 

 brated Willdenow. " Besides the division into the three 

 kingdoms of nature, natural bodies may be conveniently 

 arranged into two great classes, viz. organic and inorganic 

 bodies. Inorganic bodies are those which are composed 

 of heterogeneous particles, chemically or mechanically com- 

 bined, and which, even when somewhat regular in their 

 figure, are formed by external apposition. Organic bodies, 

 on the contrary, are those which are regularly composed of 

 many differently formed organs, which, in the natural and 

 healthy state, have the same structure with all the indivi- 

 duals of the same species. Thev grow larger in outward 

 appearance by the action of an internal power, have a cir- 

 culation of juices, and propagate their kind, so that they 

 are continually reappearing in the same form that has been 

 once prescribed to them. Under organic bodies are com- 

 prehended animals and plants. The formation of organic 

 bodies depends upon the diversity of matter and form. In 

 every investigation, these are the last points which occur to 

 us, until we resolve them into their first principles. Vital 

 power or irritability is a property of organized bodies, which 

 is connected with their composition and form; but we are 

 still unable precisely to determine, whether it is merely the 

 result of form and composition, or whether it constitutes an 

 independent power: experience, at least, in the vegetable 

 world, seem.s to favour the former supposition. The ele- 

 ments, and the matter compounded from them, act ^upon 

 organized bodies, and afford a stimulus, by which activity 

 or excitation is produced. By the increase and continuance 

 of the stimulus, the irritability diminishes, and at last alto- 

 gether subsides. Th"s the same stimulus, that roused the 

 irritable principle to action, promotes the decay of the orga- 

 nized body : consequently life is an exertion of vital power, 

 by which a supply and combination of the matter belonging 

 to the composition of the organized body, is constantly pro- 

 duced. By life, organized bodies are formed, increased, 

 and supported, and by it the parts which have been injured 

 by accident are restored. The faculty of assimulation of 

 the power of locomotion, and of reproduction, are therefore 

 only consequences of life ; just as elasticity and contractility 

 are properties of matter alone. Combinations of matter in 

 organized bodies, in consequence of the irritable principle, 

 are regulated by other laws than those of chemical affinity; 

 and when the vital power ceases, they are destroyed ; i. e. 

 when the vital power ceases, the matter, of which organic 

 bodies are composed, is combined according to the laws to 

 which inorganic bodies are subject. Elasticity, which is 

 peculiar to the matter of organized bodies, appears both in 

 the living and decayed state of vegetables. It is perceptible 

 in the ligneous fibre, in resins, and other parts and produc- 

 tions of plants. Contractility, is chiefly peculiar to wood. 

 In economical use, the expansion and contraction of wood 

 are very troublesome properties, which can be destroyed only 

 by a particular mode of treatment. The dry stalks of Anasta- 



