PSO 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PSO 



419 



obovate, emarginate ; stem creeping; flowers subumbelled, 

 blue. Native of the Cape. 



15. Psoralea Bituminosa; Bituminous Psoralea. All the 

 leaves ternate ; leaflets lanceolate ; footstalks downy, without 

 glands; spikes capitate, stalked, axillary. Roots perennial, 

 but the stalks seldom last beyond two years. The leaves, 

 if handled, emit a strong scent of bitumen. The corollas 

 are blue. Native of Italy, Sicily, and the south of France, 

 and also of Barbary. It is propagated by seeds, which 

 should be sown on a bed of light earth in April : in May the 

 plants will come up, when they should be kept clean from 

 weeds, and transplanted as soon as they are fit to remove. It 

 will live through a favourable winter in a warm dry border; 

 but it is generally sheltered in a green-house or glass-case. 



1'S. Psoralea Glandulosa; Stripe-flowered Psoralea. All 

 the leaves ternate; leaflets lanceolate; petioles rugged; flow- 

 ers in spikes. It flowers from May to August. Native of 

 Peru, Spain, and the Balearic Isles. 



17. Psoralea Palestina; Palestine or Herbaceous Psoralea. 

 All the leaves ternate ; leaflets ovate ; petioles pubescent ; 

 flowers in heads. They are large, and violet-coloured. 

 Native of the Levant. 



18. Psoralea Americana; American Psoraka. Leaves 

 ternale ; leaflets ovate, tooth-angular ; spikes lateral. Native 

 of Madeira. 



.19. Psoralea Tetragonoloba. Leaves tornate, toothed; 

 stem flexuose ; spikes lateral; legumes strict, quadrangular; 

 flowers alternate, on very short pedicels, a little larger than 

 those of Indigofera, (to which genus it is suspected to belong,) 

 having an acute keel, without the lateral horns of that plant. 

 Found by Forskahl in Arabia. 



20. Psoralea Corylifolia ; Hazel-leaned Psoralea. Leaves 

 simple, ovate, somewhat toothed ; spikes ovate. The habit 

 is herbaceous : the flowers are produced on long slender 

 axillary peduncles, and are collected into small round heads 

 of a pale flesh-colour. It flowers in July, and grows natu- 

 rally in India. Sow the seeds upon a hot-bed in the 

 spring: when the plants are fit to remove, plant them in 

 separate small pots filled with light earth, and plunge them 

 into a moderate hot-bed of tanners' bark, and shade them 

 until they have taken new root ; after which admit air freely 

 to them in warm weather, and water them gently as often as 

 necessary. When the plants have filled the pots with their 

 roots, remove them into larger, and at the beginning of July 

 place them in an airy glass-case, where they may be defended 

 from cold, but have free air in warm weather ; and thus 

 treated, they will flower and ripen their seeds. 



21. Psoralea Pentaphylla; Five-leaved Psoralea. Leaves 

 digitate, quinate ; leaflets unequal. Native of Mexico and 

 Malabar. 



22. Psoralea Prostrata ; Prostrate Psoralea. Leaves su- 

 perdecompound, digitate, linear. Native of the Cape. 



23. Psoralea Dalea ; Annual Psoralea. Leaves pinnate; 

 spikes cylindrical, terminating. The flowers are collected 

 in close oblong spikes at the ends of the branches ; they are 

 small, and of a bright blue colour. Native of New Spain. 

 Sow the seeds on a hot-bed; and treat them, when they 

 come up, in the same way as other plants from hut countries. 

 Keep those sorts which are perennial in a moderate warmth 

 in the stove during winter, giving them a good share of free 

 air in summer. 



24. Psoralea Enneaphylla ; Nine-leaved Psoralea. Leaves 

 pinnate; spikes axillary. This is an upright slender shrub, 

 five feet high, with a few pliant branches. On the back of 

 the leaflets aie little dots that appear like bags, as in Hype- 

 ricum Perforatum, containing a gummy juice of an unplea- 



VOL. II. 101. 



sant smell: "if rubbed, they stain the fingers of a yel'o 

 colour, and tinge water of a very beautiful clear yellow, wl ich 

 can hardly be washed out, and becomes gradually deeper. 

 Native of New Spain, in the coppices near Carthagena, flow- 

 ering in May and the following month. It is propagated like 

 the preceding species. 



25. Psoralea Lsevigata; Polished Psoralea. Leaves pin- 

 nate ; stipules solid, subacute, very minute ; flowers purple, 

 not stiiated ; pollen golden and shining. Native of the Cape. 



26. Psoralea Leporina ; Downy-spiked Psoralea. Leaves 

 pinnate, oblonc.'-linear, very numerous ; spikes without bractes, 

 villose, lanceo,'-ite ; root annual ; stem smooth, striated. It 

 flowers in October ar.d November. Native of Mexico. Pro- 

 pagated as the twenty-third species. 



27. Psoralea Foliolosa; Leafy Psoralea. Leaves pinnate, 

 ohlong, numerous ; spikes terminating, bracted, globular- 

 ovate; calices compressed. Stem round, smooth, having fer- 

 ruginous glands scattered over it, branched; corolla purple, 

 pale at the base. It flowers in October and November. Native 

 country unknown. Treat it like the twenty-third species. 



28. Psoralea Reclinata ; Reclining Psoralea. Stem pro- 

 cumbent ; leaves pinnate ; flowers in close spikes ; keel longer 

 than the other petals. Native of Mexico. Treat it in the 

 same manner as the twenty-third species. 



29. Psoralea Hirta. Leaves ternate ; leaflets ovate ; stem 

 shrubby, hairy ; flowers in terminating spikes ; corollas pur- 

 plish. Native of South America. It requires the same 

 management as the twenty-third species. 



30. Psoralea Procumbens. Leaves pinnate, silvery; stems 

 procumbent ; flowers axillary. They are small and purple, 

 and in small clusters. Native of Malabar. Managed like 

 the twenty-third species. 



3J. Psoralea Scandens ; Climbing Psoralea. Leaves pin- 

 nate ; stem branched, climbing; flowers axillary, sessile. 

 They are small, of a bright blue colour, in little clusters. 

 Found at Campeachy. 



32. Psoralea Capitals ; Headed Psoralea. Leaves ternate; 

 stem very branching, shrubby ; flowers in heads, peduncled, 

 axillary ; corollas blue. Found at Campeachy. 



33. Psolca Humilis ; Humble Psoralea. Leaves pinnate, 

 with rounder villose leaflets; flowers in axillary and termi- 

 nating heads ; stems shrubby. Found at Vera Cruz. 



34. Psoralea Argophylla. Plant on every side silver- 

 tomentose ; leaves ternate ; little leaves lanceolate-oblong ; 

 spikes terminal, interrupted ; bractes ovate, acuminate; flow- 

 ers subopposite, sessile, purple. Grows on the banks of the 

 Missouri. The silvery tomentum of this plant gives it a par- 

 ticularly handsome appearance. 



35. Psoralea Esculenta ; Esculent Psoralea. Plant on 

 every side villose; leaves digitate-quinate ; little leaves lan- 

 ceolate, unequal, plain, very entire; spikes axillary, thick- 

 flowered ; segments of the calix lanceolate, a little shorter 

 than the corolla; legumes ensiform-rostrate. Root simple, 

 somewhat fusiform, bulbous above the middle; flowers 

 pale blue. Grows on the banks of the Missouri. " This 

 plant," observes Pursh, " produces the famous Bread-root 

 of the American Western Indians, on which they partly 

 subsist in winter. They collect them in large quantities ; 

 and, if for present use, they rof.st them in the ashes, when 

 they give a food similar to yams : if intended for winter use, 

 they are carefully dried, and preserved in a dry place in 

 their huts. When wanted for use, they are mashed between 

 two stones, mixed with some water, and baked in cakes 

 over the coals. It is a wholesome and nourishing food, and, 

 according to Mr. Lewis's observation, agreeable to most con- 

 stitutions; which, he observed, was not the case with tha 



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