POT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



POT 



391 



tan-pit, according to the country whence they come. The 

 herbaceous sorts are propagated by seeds, and the shrubby 

 ones by cuttings. Browne says, that the second species 

 roots from the joints, and is very easily propagated in Ja- 

 maica, but thrives best in a warm rich soil. 



3. Portulacca Quadrifida ; Creeping Annual Purslane. 

 Bractes in fours; flowers quadrifid; stem with hairy joints. 

 A small trailing annual, with yellow flowers. Native of 

 Egypt and the East Indies. 



4. Portulacca Halimoides; Downy-headed Purslane. Leaves 

 oblong, fleshy; stem corymbose; ftowers sessile. This grows 

 in beds, and spreads a little upon the ground. Annual ; and 

 a native of Jamaica. 



5. Portulacca Triangularis ; Triangular-racemed Purslane. 

 Leaves obovate, fiattish ; raceme simple, three-sided. This 

 is a shrubby plant, two feet high ; flowers pretty, but scent- 

 less. Native of the West Indies, on rocks. 



6. Portulacca Crassifolia; Thick-leaved Purslane. Leaves 

 lanceolate, flat; racemes three-sided; stem erect. The whole 

 plant is very smooth. 



7. Portulacca Anacampseros ; Round-leaved Purslane. 

 Leaves ovate, gibbous ; peduncle many-flowered ; stem 

 shrubby. At the top of the stalk comes forth a slender 

 peduncle, about two inches long, supporting four or five red 

 flowers, appearing in July, but not succeeded by seeds in 

 England. Native of the Cape. This may be propagated in 

 the same way as the most succulent sort of Aloes. 



8. Portulacca Patens ; Panided Purslane. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, ovate, flat; panicle branched; calices two-leaved; 

 stems round, woody at bottom, smooth, brittle, suberect. 

 Native of the West Indies. 



9. Portulacca Cuneifolia; Wedge-leaved Purslane. Leaves 

 wedge-shaped, flat ; lower peduncle of the raceme three- 

 flowered ; calices two-leaved. This is allied to the preceding, 

 and is a native of Egypt. 



10. Portulacca Meridiana. Leaves elliptic, fleshy, flat; 

 stem creeping, jointed, hairy; flowers sessile, terminating. 

 A small, bushy, creeping herb, with yellow flowers encom- 

 passed with wool. Native of the East Indies, flowering from 

 twelve at noon through the day. 



11. Portulacca Decumbens ; Prostrate Purslane. Leaves 

 obovate, mucronate; calices five-leaved ; stem shrubby, de- 

 cumbent. Native of Egypt. 



12. Portulacca Fruticosa; Shrubby Purslane. Leaves 

 obovate, flattish ; peduncles racemed ; calices five-leaved ; 

 stem shrubby. Native of Jamaica ; where, Browne says, it is 

 a beautiful plant, and grows in a gravelly soil, in the road 

 through Cambridge Hill. 



Potamogeton ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order 

 Tetragynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : none. Co- 

 rolla: petals four, roundish, obtuse, concave, erect, clawed, 

 deciduous. Stamina: h'lamenta four, (or, as Gsertner says, 

 eight,) flat, obtuse, very short; antherse twin, short. Pistil: 

 germina four, ovate-lanceolate ; style short, (or, according to 

 Gartner, simple, very short, recurved ;) stigmas obtuse. 

 Pericarp: none; (Gartner says, four, one-celled.) Seeds: 

 four, roundish, acuminate, gibbous on one side, compressed 

 on the other, and angular. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 none. Petals : four. Style : none, or very short. Seeds : 

 four, (Gsertner says, Drupes four.) The species are, 



1. Potamogeton Natans; Broad- leaved Pondweed. Upper 

 leaves oblong-ovate, petioled, floating: Withering says, 

 elliptic, acute, rounded, and subcordate at the base. The 

 root consists of lonsr simple fibres, running deep into the 

 mud ; the stem many feet in length, much branched, round, 

 leafy ; the upper leaves are dark green, three inches long, 

 VOL. n. 98. 



and one and a half broad. The floating leaves afford an 

 agreeable shade to fish, and are the habitation and food of 

 a moth named Phalaena Potamogetonis. The swan also is 

 very partial to the roots of this aquatic plant. Linneus 

 observes, that when it grows in water which is dried up in 

 summer, it surprisingly changes its appearance, growing up- 

 right, and resembling a small Plantago. Native of Europe, 

 in slow rivers, lakes, ponds, and ditches; flowering in July 

 and August. Found also in New South Wales. Pursh dis- 

 covered a plant very much like this in North America, but 

 he was not able to ascertain whether it was a variety or a 

 distinct species. 



2. Potamogeton Fluitans ; Long-leaved Floating Pondweed. 

 Leaves lanceolate-ovate, drawn to a point at both ends, on 

 long petioles, floating. This resembles the preceding, and 

 perhaps is only a variety, arising from places about Berlin ; 

 though it is constantly distinct. Found in the rivers of 

 Europe. 



3. Potamogeton Heterophyllum ; Various-leaved Pondweed. 

 Upper leaves elliptic, drawn to a point at both ends, petioled; 

 lower ones clustered, sessile, linear. Native of Germany 

 and Britain, in ditches and still pools. 



4. Potamogeton Perfoliatum; Perfoliate Pondweed. Leaves 

 cordate, embracing, all immersed. Stems very long, round, 

 alternately branched, with leaves crowded about the top and 

 branches. Every part of the plant, except the flower-stalks, 

 is under water, so that it is only discovered by the spikes 

 standing a little above the surface, in July and August, and 

 abounding in whitish pollen. It would seem that the respi- 

 ration of such truly aquatic vegetables, must be as different 

 from the respiration of those which inhale atmospheric air, 

 as the breathing of fishes is from that of beasts and birds. 

 Native of Europe, Siberia, and Barbary, in ditches, ponds, 

 lakes, and slow rivers ; also of Port Jackson. 



5. Potamogeton Densum ; Close-leaved Pondweed. Leaves 

 ovate, acuminate, opposite, clustered ; stem dichotomous ; 

 spike four-flowered. This propagates itself by runners, which 

 throw out fibrous roots here and there into the mud, and send 

 up round stems, naked and simple below, dichotomous above. 

 It flowers in the early part of summer, in ditches, ponds, 

 and slow streams, in Britain, Denmark, Flanders, France, 

 Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Siberia, and Barbary. 



6. Potamogeton Lucens ; Shining Pondweed. Leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, flat, attenuated into the petioles; spike 

 many-flowered, squeezed close. There are two common 

 varieties of this species; which is frequent in ditches, ponds, 

 lakes, and slow-flowing rivers, chiefly on a clay soil; grow- 

 ing, like most others of the genus, all immersed in the water, 

 except the spike of pale olive flowers, which appears above 

 the surface about midsummer, or a little after. 



7. Potamogeton Crispum ; Curled Pondweed. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, alternate, waved, serrate. Ducks very readily eat 

 not only the seeds, but the leaves of this plant : hence the 

 introduction of water-fowl probably would prevent its increas- 

 ing too much. -Native of Europe, Siberia, and New Holland, 

 in ponds and slow rivers ; flowering in June and July. 



8. Potamogeton Serratum; Serrated Pondweed. Leaves 

 Leaves lanceolate, opposite, somewhat waved. In the lakes 

 of Switzerland this plant grows from the amazing length of 

 ten to twenty fathoms, forming whole woods as it were, in 

 the midst of the waters. It is distinguished from the pre- 

 ceding species chiefly, in having the leaves more in clusters, 

 and quite entire. Native of Europe. 



9. Potamogeton Compressum ; Flat-stalked Pondweed. 

 Leaves linear, obtuse ; stem compressed. Withering remarks, 

 that the leaves are narrower than the seventh species, and 



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