PIS 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



P I S 



339 



Piscidia ; a genus of the class Diadeiphia, order Decan- 

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

 bell-shaped, five-toothed ; the upper teeth nearer. Corolla : 

 papilionaceous ; banner ascending, emarginate ; wings the 

 length of the banner ; keel crescent-shaped, ascending. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta ten, uniting in a sheath, cloven above; an- 

 therse oblong, incumbent. Pistil: germen pedicelled, com- 

 pressed, linear ; style filiform, ascending ; stigma acute. 

 Pericarp : legume pedicelled, linear, with four longitudinal 

 membranaceous angles, one-celled, separated by double isth- 

 muses. Seeds : few, nearly subcylindric. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Stigma: acute. Legume: winged four ways. 



The species are, 



l.f Piscidia Erythrina; Jamaica Dogwood Tree. Leaves 

 pinnate; leaflets ovate. It rises with a stem to the height of 

 twenty-five feet or more, almost as large as a man's body, 

 covered with a light-coloured smooth bark, and sending out 

 several branches without order at the top. Flowers of a dirty 

 white colour, succeeded by oblong pods, which have four lon- 

 gitudinal wings, and are jointed between the cells. It is a 

 native of Jamaica, by road sides, on dry chalky hills. It 

 flowers about May or June, and throws out all its blossoms 

 before the appearance of the foliage, but the leaves appear 

 soon afterwards. The bark of the root is used for the same 

 purpose as the leaves and branches of the Surinam poison. 

 It is pounded, and mixed with the water in some deep and 

 convenient part of a river or creek, whence it may spread 

 itself; and in a few minutes the fish float on the surface as if 

 they were dead : most of the larger recover after a time, but 

 the smaller fry are destroyed. The eel is not intoxicated 

 with common doses, though it is affected very sensibly; for 

 the moment the partides spread where it lies, it moves off 

 with great agility. Jacquin observes, that this quality of 

 intoxicating fish is found in many other American plants. 

 This is generally considered at Jamaica as one of the best 

 timber trees in the island ; the wood is very hard and resin- 

 ous, and is of a light brown colour, coarse, cross-grained, and 

 heavy. It makes excellent piles for wharfs, and the stakes 

 soon form a good live fence. The bark of the trunk is very 

 restringent; a decoction of it stops the immoderate discharge 

 of ulcers, especially when it is combined with the Mangrove 

 bark; it cures the mange in dogs; and would probably answer 

 well for tanning leather. Both it and the next species are 

 equally propagated by seeds, when they can be obtained fresh 

 from the countries where they naturally grow, for they rarely 

 flower in Europe. The seeds must be sown upon a good 

 hot-bed in the spring, and when the plants come up, and are 

 fit to transplant, they should be each planted in a small pot, 

 filled with light earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanner's 

 bark, and afterwards treated in the same way as the other 

 tender exotics of the same kind. 



2. Piscidia Carthaginensis. Leaflets obovate. It differs 

 from the preceding, in being double the size in all its parts. 

 Native of the West Indies. 



Pisonia; a genus of the class Polygamia, order Dioecia ; or, 

 according to Swartz, of the class Heptandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: scarcely 

 any. Corolla: one-petalled, bell-shaped, five-cleft; segments, 

 acute, patulous. Stamina: filamenta five, six, or seven, awl- 

 shaped ; antheree roundish, twin. Pistil: germen oblong; 

 style short; stigma pencil-shaped. Female. Calix and Co- 

 rolla, as in the male. Pistil: germen oblong ; style simple, 

 cylindrical, longer than the corolla, erect ; stigmas bifid. 

 Pericarp: berry oval, often five-cornered, valveless, one- 

 celled. Seed: single, smooth, oblong. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: scarcely any. Corolla: bell-shaped, or, as 

 VOL. ii. 94. 



Gsertner says, funnel-shaped. Stamina: five or six. Pistil: 

 one. Capsule: superior, one-celled, valveless; berry one- 

 seeded. Male and Female on the same, or on different 

 plants. The species are, 



1. Pisonia Aculeata; Prickly Pisonia. Spines axillary, 

 spreading very much ; leaves ovate-acute at each end, smooth ; 

 calix of the fruit prickly. The male plants differ so much 

 in appearance from the female, that those who have not seen 

 them rise from the same seeds, would suppose they were dif- 

 ferent species. Jacquin describes it as an inelegant tree, 

 with round reclining branches, wanting support. He ob- 

 served many plants of this species about Kingston in Jamaica, 

 where they are abundant, and always traced the hermaph- 

 rodite and female flowers to different individuals. Browne 

 declares, that the flowers are very various ; being sometimes 

 hermaphrodite on every branch, sometimes male in one branch 

 and female in another, and sometimes male, female, and her- 

 maphrodite, on the different parts of the same plant; but 

 most commonly they are all of one kind. It is a strong 

 withy climber, the main trunk being sometimes no less than 

 five or six inches in diameter; but this is generally in the 

 woods, where it is supported by the neighbouring trees. It is 

 cut for hoops, when there is a scarcity of other wood. In 

 Jamaica, they call it Cockspur, or Fingrigo. It is very com- 

 mon in the savannas and other low parts of that island, as 

 also in several others, where it is very troublesome to who- 

 ever passes through the places of their growth, fastening itself 

 by its strong crooked thorns to the clothes ; and the seeds 

 being glutinous and burry, also fasten themselves to whatever 

 touches them ; so that the wings of the ground doves and 

 other birds, are often so loaded with the seeds as to prevent 

 their flying, through which they become an easy prey. It is 

 preserved for curiosity in European gardens, where i't is pro- 

 pagated by seeds, which should be sown in pots filled with 

 light rich earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanner's bark ; 

 and when the plants come up, they should be transplanted 

 into separate pots, and plunged into the hot-bed again, where 

 they may remain .till Michaelmas ; when they should be 

 removed into the stove, plunged into the bark-bed, and 

 treated in the same manner as has been directed for tender 

 plants from the same country; observing to give them plenty 

 of water in hot weather, but only a small quantity in winter. 

 They are too tender to thrive in the open air of this country 

 at any season of the year, and should be constantly kept in 

 the bark-stove. They retain their leaves most part of the 

 year in England. 



2. Pisonia Subcordata. Unarmed: leaves cordate, round- 

 ish ; fruits dry, subclavate, five-cornered ; angles muricate at 

 the tip. Native of Antigua, &c. 



3. Pisonia Nigricans. Unarmed : leaves ovate-acuminate; 

 flowers cymed, erect; calix of the fruit pulpy, smooth. It is 

 a small tree, without thorns, upright, twelve, and sometimes 

 twenty feet in height, with a trunk five inches in diameter ; 

 when it grows in thick coppices, it acquires an inelegant 

 habit, not much unlike the first species. The berry is soft, 

 black, containing a whitish pulp, which is often wanting, 

 being probably eaten by insects, for it is always found in the 

 unripe fruit. Native of Jamaica. 



4. Pisonia Coccinea. Unarmed: leaves lanceolate-ovate; 

 peduncles terminating, loose; flowers nodding; fruits ber- 

 ried. Native of Hispaniola. 



5. Pisonia Grandis; Superb Pisonia. Stem arboreous; 

 leaves oblong, pointed, smooth ; cymes compound ; flowers 

 polygamous ; stamens from seven to nine ; calix of the fruit 

 prickly. Found by Brown in the tropical part of New 

 Holland. 



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