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OH, BOTANICAL Dl CTIONARY. 



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425 



1. Pterospermum Suberifolium. Leaves ovate, repand. 

 A handsome plant, with erect branches, covered with a rusty 

 down ; flowers axillary, at the summits of the branches, one, 

 two, or three together, white. The substance of the leaves is 

 the same with that of the Ilex or Holm Oak. Native of the 

 East Indies ; flowering in September and October. 



2. Pterospermum Acerifolium. Leaves cordate, repand. 

 This is much larger than the preceding species, but very 

 similar in habit. The bark and underside of the leaves are 

 covered with a whits wool : the flowers are terminal, white, 

 and fragrant. It flowers from July to September. Native 

 of the East Indies. 



Pulmonaria; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mo- 

 nogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, five-toothed, prismatic, pentagonal, permanent. Co- 

 Tolla: one-petalled, funnel-form; tube cylindrical, the length 

 of the calix; border half five-cleft, blunt, from upright 

 spreading; throat pervious. Stamina: filamenta five, in the 

 throat, very short ; antherte erect, converging. Pistil: ger- 

 mina four; style filiform, shorter than the calix; stigma blunt, 

 emarginate. Pericarp: none; calix unchanged, fostering the 

 seeds at bottom. Seeds: four, roundish, blunt. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: prismatic, five-cornered. Corolla: 

 funnel-form, with an open throat. The species are, 



1. Pulmonaria Angustifolia ; Narrow-leaved Lungwort. 

 Leaves hirsute ; stem-leaves oblong, lanceolate, embracing ; 

 root-leaves elliptic. Root perennial, tuberous, dark, with 

 thick fibres. The stalks rise a foot high, and have narrow 

 leaves on them, of the same shape as those below, but 

 smaller and almost embracing. The flowers are produced 

 in bunches on the top of the stalks, like the others; the 

 corollas are. red before they expand, but when they are fully 

 blown are of a most beautiful blue colour. It varies with a 

 .white flower : there is also a variety, the leaves of which are 

 so much spotted wih white, that they appear as if they were 

 incrusted with sugarcandy ; the variety occurs on the moun- 

 tains of Switzerland. Native of woods in Sweden, Denmark, 

 Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, France, and Eng- 

 land, flowering in May or June. 



2. Pulmonaria OfnVinalis ; Common Lungwort. Leaves 

 hirsute ; stem-leaves ovate, oblong ; root-leaves subcordate. 

 Root perennial, fibrous ; corolla blue, before it expands red ; 

 varying as the preceding with white flowens. Native of woods 

 and shady places all over Europe, flowering from March to 

 May. In England, though common in all gardens, it is often 

 found also in its wild state, as at Thurleigh and Milton Ernys 

 in Bedfordshire; in Cliff wood, six miles west of Darlington; 

 in the New Forest; in several woods in Kent; and between 

 Croydon and Godston in Surry. The leaves of this plant, 

 which are the part recommended in medicine, have no pe- 

 culiar smell, but in their recent state manifest a slightly as- 

 tringent and mucilaginous taste ; hence they are supposed to 

 be demulcent and pectoral, and have been used in hemop- 

 toes, tickling coughs, and catarrhal defluxions upon the 

 lungs. The name Pulmonaria seems to have arisen from the 

 speckled appearance of the leaves, resembling that of the lungs, 

 rather than from any quality which experience has discovered 

 in them suitable to pulmonary complaints. This, as also the 

 first and fifth species, having perennial roots, maybe cultivated 

 by parting their roots either in the spring or autumn ; but if 

 the ground into which they are planted be moist, it should be 

 done in the spring, but otherwise the autumn is preferable, 

 that the plants may be well rooted before the dry weather 

 returns; and also that they may flower stronger. The soil 

 in which they are planted should not be rich, but rather a 

 fresh, light, sandy ground, in which they will thrive much 



better than in a richer soil, as in that they often rot during 

 winter. They should have a shady situation, and will thrive 

 best in a most soil; for in a hot dry soil they burn and decay 

 in summer, unless plentifully watered in dry weather. All 

 the early sorts are better transplanted and parted in autumn, 

 that they may flower strong in the following spring. They 

 may also be propagated by seeds sown in autumn soon after 

 they are ripe, where they are to remain ; for the seedling 

 plants do not succeed so well when they are transplanted. 

 The common sorts will come up from scattered seeds 



3. Pulmonaria Suffruticosa ; Shrubby Lungwort, Leaves 

 linear, rugged ; calices awl-shaped, five-parted. Stems woody 

 at bottom, perennial with the leaves; flowers blue. Found on 

 the mountains of Italy. 



4. Pulmonaria Paniculata; Panided Lungwort. Calices 

 abbreviated, five-parted, hispid ; leaves ovate-oblong, acu- 

 minate, somewhat hairy. It flowers in June, and varies from 

 blue to white flowers. Native of Hudson's Bay. 



5. Pulmonaria Virginica ; Virginian Lungwort. Calices 

 abbreviated, very smooth ; leaves lanceolate, bluntish. Root 

 perennial, thick, fleshy, sending out many small fibres; 

 stalks a foot and half high, dividing at the top into several 

 short branches. Every small branch at the top of the stalk 

 is terminated by a cluster of drooping flowers, each standing 

 upon a separate short peduncle : the most common colour is 

 blue, but there are some purple, others red, and some white : 

 they appear in April, and, if they have a shady situation, 

 will continue in beauty great part of May, and are some- 

 times followed by seeds in England. The leaves and stalks 

 entirely decay in August, and the roots remain naked till 

 the following spring. In favourable seasons, the flower- 

 garden owes much of its gaiety to this elegant plant, and at 

 a time when ornament is most desirable. Native of North 

 America, from Pennsylvania to Carolina, on the gravelly 

 shores of rivers. It should not be placed in a very moist 

 soil, for the roots run deep in the ground, and would rot 

 with much moisture. It requires a pure air, and to be shel- 

 tered from the cold easterly April winds, which are very in- 

 jurious to it while in flower. 



6. Pulroonaria Sibirica; Siberian Lungwort. Calices 

 abbreviated ; root-leaves cordate. Root perennial. This 

 is a middle sort, between the preceding and following 

 species. Native of Siberia. 



7. Pulmonmia Maritima; Sea Lungwort. Calix abbre- 

 viated; leaves ovate, glaucous; stem branched, procumbent. 

 Root perennial or biennial, woody, blackish ; flowers race- 

 mose, terminal, of a beautiful purplish-blue. The whole 

 plant turns black in drying, unless it be first immersed in 

 frosh water for twenty-four hours. Dr. Blair relates, that 

 he was credibly informed by a gentleman, that a farmer in 

 a time of scarcity, being straitened for bread, taking this 

 plant for Colewort, to which it is not unlike in colour, or- 

 dered a dish of it to be boiled, and gave it to his wife and 

 children, with tlie servants in his family; all of them be- 

 came very sick, some vomited excessively, others slept two 

 or three days without intermission, and one or two of them 

 died. It is possible however that the farmer was mistaken 

 in the plant, though it is prudent to state the circumstance, 

 that it may be examined if poisonous. It is a native of Nor- 

 way, Iceland, and Great Britain; being a very great ornament 

 to the sandy sea-coasts in Scotland and the north of England, 

 where it flowers in July. The roots strike deeply into tho 

 sand, or among pebbles: it has been noticed at the following 

 places, at Scrammerston Mill, between the Salt Pans and 

 Berwick; near Whitehaven and Maryport, in Cumberland; 

 against Biggler in the isle of Walney, Lancashire; near Tre- 



