PIM 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



I M 



319 



united below, 



carp: with from two to five cocculi or grains 

 elastic. The only known species is, 



1. Pilocarpus Racemosus. A low shrub, with round, 

 Smooth, pendulous branches, covered with ash-coloured bark, 

 and alternate, short, purplish brown branchlets; clusters ter- 

 minal, solitary, many-flowered, a foot or more in length ; 

 flowers bright purple. Native of the West Indies. 



Pihdaria; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order Mis- 

 cellanese. GENERIC CHARACTER. Common Receptacle : 

 globose, with four cells and four valves, lined with numerous 



antherse, and many globose germina beneath them. The 



only known species is, 



1. Pilularia Globulifera; Pillwort, or Pepper Grass. 

 Stem perfectly prostrate and trailing, throwing out numerous 

 roots at every joint, by which it creeps to a considerable 

 extent; and also about three delicate slender leaves, two or 

 three inches in length, simple, upright, awl-shaped, smooth; 

 fructifications globular, like pepper-corns, downy, solitary, 

 sessile, or on very short pedicels at the base or axil of the 

 leaves. What at first sight seems a capsule, is in fact a 

 hollow receptacle, as in the Fig, which separates into four 

 valves, and is internally divided into as many cells ; the 

 valves are lined with organs of fructification, several sessile 

 club-shaped antherse being in the upper part, and about as 

 many oblong germina occupying the lower. Jussieu says the 

 antherse are most numerous; and also remarks that the seeds 

 are coated. Mr. Sowerby found the germina shaped like an 

 acorn reversed, and terminating in a small acute style. 

 From this it appears that the Pilularia has almost as good a 

 claim to a place among perfect flowers as the Fig, and might 

 perhaps be ranged in the order Polyandria, of the class 

 Monoecia. In habit and sensible qualities it has most affi- 

 nity with the Equisetum, Lycopodium, and other plants of 

 obscure fructification, which are akin to the proper Ferns. 

 The fructification is produced from May to the end of autumn. 

 It is found in shallow ponds and watery places, on gra- 

 velly or sandy commons or heaths: as, on Hillingdown com- 

 mon, and Hounslow heath, in Middlesex ; near Yarmouth in 

 Norfolk ; St. Faith's Newton near Norwich ; on Hainford 

 and Stratton heaths in the same county; in the ponds on the 

 upper part of Streatham in Surry; and about two miles from 

 Mold, near AfFa's dyke, in Flintshire, on the north side of 

 the Chester road. 



Pimelea; a genus of the class Diandria, order Monogynia. 

 For its GENERIC CHARACTER, see Passerina. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix : none. Corolla: four-cleft. Stami- 

 na: inserted into the throat. Nut: covered with a bark, 

 one-celled. Observe. These plants are united to the genus. 

 Passerina by the younger Linneus, because he was not will- 

 ing to break a natural genus, on account of a diversity in 

 the number of stamina. He remarks that the flowers have 

 the odour of Syringa, and that the plants are evergreen. 

 The species are, 



1. Pimelea Linifolia. Leaves linear-lanceolate; heads 

 terminating, involucred; corolla villose on the outside. It 

 has a small zigzag root, from which rises a straight, round, 

 smooth, upright stem, generally branched in an irregular 

 manner, though sometimes appearing dichotomous, in con- 

 sequence of the young branches springing in pairs from the 

 upper part of the old-flowering ones. The bark is reddish, 

 cracking longitudinally, and its inner layer is remarkably 

 silky ; flowers in terminal heads, numerous, inodorous. In 

 England it is a green-house shrub, bearing, from February 

 to August, numerous elegant white flowers. Native of the 

 rocks on the coast of New South Wales. 



2. Pimelea Gnidia. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, very 

 VOL. n. 92. 



smooth; corolla villose on the outside. This is a native of 

 New Zealand, in the fissures of rocks, both on the coast and 

 on the tops of mountains. 



3. Pimelea Pilosa. Hairy : leaves linear, obtuse. Stem 

 erect, woody ; branches repeatedly forked, short, spreading, 

 silky; leaves about an inch long, losing their hairs by age. - 

 Native of New Zealand. 



4. Pimelea Prostrata. Leaves ovate, sessile, fleshy ; nut 

 superior, small, clothed with the permanent silky white 

 corolla, ovate, acuminate, covered with a thin coriaceous 

 rind. Found on the dry mountains of New Zealand. 



Pimenta, or Pimento. See Myrtus. 



Pimpernel. See Anagallis. 



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

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: umbel universal of 

 many rays; partial of still more; involucre universal none; 

 partial none ; perianth proper scarcely observable. Corolla : 

 universal almost uniform ; florets all fertile ; proper, petals 

 five, inflex-cordate, almost equal. Stamina: filamenta five, 

 simple, longer than the petals; antherse roundish. Pistil: 

 germen inferior; styles two, very short; stigmas subglobular. 

 Pericarp : none ; fruit ovate-oblong, bipartile. Seeds : two, 

 oblong, narrower towards the top, on one side convex and 

 striated, on the other flat. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Petals: 

 bent in. Stigma: subglobular. Fruit: ovate, oblong. 

 These are hardy perennials, except the seventh, which is an 

 annual plant. They are propagated by seeds, sown in the 

 autumn rather than in spring. When they come up, thin, 

 them where they are too close, and keep them clean from, 

 weeds : the second year they will flower, and produce ripe 



seeds. The roots will abide some years in poor land. r 



The species are, 



1. Pimpinella Saxifraga ; Common Burnet Saxifrage. 

 Leaves pinnate ; root-leaflets roundish, uppermost linear. 

 Root perennial, strong, woody, highly aromatic and pungent, 

 to some persons not unpleasant, especially when dry ; stems 

 about a foot high, erect, slender, rigid, round, striated, and 

 roughish, varying much in luxuriance, generally branched 

 above ; flowers small, white, with long stamina ; top of the 

 germen very tumid, and reddish. There is a wonderful 

 diversity in the size and foliage of this species. It often 

 happens that the root-leaves become like those of the stem, 

 and then it has been supposed to be a distinct species. It 

 would be impossible to follow this vegetable proteus through 

 all its changes: we shall only mention the following varieties: 

 1. The Black-rooted German Burnet Saxifrage: the stalk of 

 this rises nearly two feet high, dividing into several branches, 

 which have one narrow five-pointed leaf at each joint, and 

 are terminated, like the second species, by bunches of white 

 flowers; so that it may be a variety of that species. Will- 

 denow distinguishes it by the pubescence of the stem and 

 leaves : the root-leaves, he says, are subcordate, gashed, 

 blunt, and toothed; the stem-leaves bipinnate and linear. 

 The root, when wounded, pours out a blue milky liquor. It 

 is a native of dry soils in Germany. 2. Root-leaves, de- 

 scribed by Withering as doubly winged ; the leaflets wing- 

 cleft, with entire segments; stem-leaves doubly winged, with 

 entire leaflets ; floral leaves cloven at the end. Common 

 Burnet Saxifrage is a native of most parts of Europe, and is 

 found in dry, gravelly, or calcareous pastures; flowering from 

 Midsummer through the autumn. 



2. Pimpinella Magna ; Great Burnet Saxifrage. Leaves 

 pinnate; leaflets ovate, the terminating one three-lobed. Root 

 perennial, woody; flavour like that of the preceding species, 

 but rather weaker; stem two feet or more in height, round, 

 striated ; flowers commonly white, about the size of the last, 



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