424 



PTE 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



PTE 



stipulas oblong, obtuse ; legume rounded at the extremity. 

 This is a tree thirty feet high, yielding a red pellucid resin. 

 The bark is thick, outwardly of a ferruginous gray colour: 

 if cut transversely while fresh, it betrays no marks of redness 

 at first, but in a short time is variegated with many blood-red 

 dots, that collect into globules or tears. The tree itself, 

 when cut in different parts, in a short time becomes full of 

 the same bloody drops, which are shining and very clear, 

 and harden in the space of a few minutes, especially if the 

 sunshines hot; and are then collected under the name of 

 Sanguis Draconis, or Dragon's Blood. The flowers are yel- 

 low, in compound axillary clusters. The bark, wood, and 

 leaves, have an astringent taste ; the bark of the trunk and 

 root is cut into pieces, and used by the inhabitants of the 

 West Indies for cleaning their teeth. The resin was for- 

 merly sent from Garth a gena into Spain, but having fallen into 



disuse, is no longer gathered for exportation Native of 



South America antl the. West Indies. 



2. Pterooarpus Lanatus. Leaves pinnate; spines stipular; 

 fruits cresent-shaped. A rigid shrub, or tree, with a pair of 

 strong hooked spines at the base of each leaf; panicle ter- 

 minal, downy; flowers white. Native of South America. 



3. Pterocarpus Santalinus. Leaves ternate, roundish, re- 

 tuse, very smooth ; petals crenate, waved. This is a very 

 lofty tree, having a bark like t'he Alder, and alternate branches. 

 It is the true Santalum Rubrum, which Koanig first detected 

 in the East Indies. The wood is daik-red with black veins, 

 heavy, close, capable of a good polish, and sinking in water. 

 The sap of this tree, like that of the first species, yields one 

 sort of Di agon's blood. Many of the red Indian woods tran- 

 sude a blood-red juioe through the clefts of the bark, which 

 also hardens into resin, not differing from that called Dragon's 

 Blood, which is therefore to be collected from several trees, 

 and from this among others ; see Calamus, Rotang, Dal- 

 bergia, and Dracaena. It is, however, chiefly obtained from 

 the first of these trees ; the fruit of which is exposed to the 

 steam of boiling water, or boiled ; f and the strained decoction 

 inspissated, drying in with it the'leaves of some rpfd. The 

 best kind breaks smooth, is of a dark red colour, a. -id, when 

 powdered, changes to crimson: it readily melts and inflames, 

 totally dissolves in pure spirit, and is soluble in expressed 

 oils, but not in water. It has no smell, but a warm and pun- 

 gent taste, and was formerly employed in haemorrhages and 

 alvine fluxes, but is now rarely used internally. 



4. Pterocarpus Ecastaphyllum. Leaves simple, ovate, 

 acuminate, silky underneath. This is a shrub or small tree, 

 with a branched even stem, and spreading even branches ; 

 branches flexuose, round, pubescent, villose. Native of the 

 West Indies; found in swampy places about Kingston in 

 Jamaica. 



5. Pterocarpus Marsupium. Leaves pinnate, elliptical, 

 emarginate; stipules none; clusters terminal, thrice com- 

 pound. A large tree, the wood of a yellowish orange colour, 

 hard but not hoary; flowers copious, white, with a tinge of 

 yellow. Native of the Gircar mountains of Coromandel. 



6. Pterocarpus Rohrii. Leaves pinnate; stipules none; 

 fruits roundish. This is a tree with smooth round branches, 



covered with a dusky ash-coloured bark; flowers drooping 



Native of South America. 



Ptcronia; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Poly- 

 gamia jEqualis. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix; common 

 imbricate; scales lanceolate, keeled, acuminate. Corolla: 

 compound uniform ; corollets hermaphrodite, tubular, nume- 

 rous, equal; proper one-petalled, funnel -form ; border five- 

 cleft, acute. Stamina: filamenta five, capillary, very short, 

 !.nthertc cylindrical, tubular. Pistil: germen oblong; style 



filiform, the length of the stamina ; stigma bifid. Pericarp . 

 none ; calix unchanged. Seeds: solitary, oblong, compress- 

 ed ; down sessile, subplumose, with subpilose rays. Re- 

 ceptacle: chaffy, flatfish ; chaffs many, parted into bristles, 

 shorter than the seeds. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Recep- 

 tade: with many-parted bristles. Down: subplumose. Calix-. 

 imbricate. The habit of these plants is singular and peculiar, 

 but some of the species having a naked receptacle, ought 

 rather to be placed in the genus Chrysocoma : it follows at 

 least that a new Generic Character should be constructed for 



Pteronia, or the natural genus torn asunder. A genus of 



rather humble rigid shrubs, consisting, according to Willdo- 

 now, of twenty-six species, all natives of the Cape; of which 

 the following are given as a specimen : 



1. Pteronia Camphorata; Aromatic Pteronia. Leaves 

 scattered, ciliate at the base; calix scales finely serrated. 

 Stem much branched, about a yard high; flowers terminal, 

 yellow, solitary. It blossoms from June to September, re^ 

 quiring the shelter of a greenhouse in winter. 



2. Pteronia Oppositifolia ; Forked Pteronia. Leaves 

 opposite ; branches dichotomous, divaricating. This is a 

 small naked shrub; leaves small, ovate lanceolate; flowers 

 terminal, sessile, yellow. It flowers in July. 



3. Pteronia Stricta ; Cluster-flowered Pteronia. Leaves 

 scattered and in bundles, filiform, subciliate at the base ; 

 calicine leaflets entire ; hollows of the receptacle many-parted, 

 setaceous. 



4. Pteronia Hirsuta ; Hairy Pteroma. Leaves lanceolate, 

 spreading, hairy; stem procumbent; calicine scales entire. 



5. Pteronia Glabrata; Smooth Pterunia. Leaves lanceo- 

 late, smooth; calicine scales ovate, membranuceous. 



6. Pteronia Inflexa. Leaves ovate, hairy ; calicine scales 

 subarticulate, membranaceous ; peduncle bent in. 



7. Pteronia Scariosa. Branches spiny ; calices scariose; 

 leaves oval. 



8. Pteronia Glomerata. Leaves ovate, three-sided, smooth; 

 stem four-cornered. 



9. Pteronia Cinerea. Leaves oblong, tomentose; calicine 

 scales ovate, membranaceous. 



10. Pteronia Villosa. Leaves lanceolate, blunt, hairy; 

 calicine scales ovate, membranaceous. 



11. Pteronia Membranacea. Leaves ovate, mealy, tomen 

 tose; calicine scales awl-s-haped, scariose at the edge. 



12. Pter.onia Spinosa; Thorny Pteronia. Leaves awl-, 

 shaped, spinescent, pungent. Stem woody, round, much 

 branched ; leaves remote, alternate, sessile, spreadiug; flowers 

 about four, sessile, axillary, near the tops of the branches. 



1 3. Pteronia Minuta. Leaves linear, wandering ; flowers 

 axillary. 



14. Pteronia Fasciculata. Flowers in bundles, each of one 

 floret only. 



Pterospermum : a genus of the class Monadelphia, order 

 Dodecandria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth 

 five-parted ; leaflets coriaceous, o.blong, reflex. Corolla : 

 petals five, oblong, spreading. Stamina: filamenta fifteen, 

 linear, united at the base into a tube; antherte oblong, erei-l; 

 ligf'es five, longer, coloured, almost upright, the length of 

 the corolla, each between every three stamina. Piatit: ger- 

 inen roundish, pedicelled ; style cylindrical, the length of the 

 stamina; stigma thickish. Pericarp: capsule pedicelled, 

 woody, ovate, five-celled, the cells two-valved. Seeds: nume- 

 rous, oblong, compressed, with a membranaceous wing. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Cafe: simple, five-parted. Corolla: 

 five-petalled ; filamenta fifteen, with iive ligules, one between 

 every three filamenta. Capsule : five-celled, with the cells two- 

 valved. Seeds: many, winged. The species are, 



