426 



PUN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



PUN 



farther) in Anglesea ; and by the river Uyfni in the way from 

 Dinardindle to Clynog in Caernarvonshire; in several places 

 along the Frith of Forth ; on the coast of Fife, near St. An- 

 drews; in the isle of Bute; in Arran.at Loch Ransa; at Lam- 

 lash, at Icolm Rill, and at Glen Elgin, Inverness-shire; also 

 at the ferry on the sea-shore at Inverness; about Aberdeen ; 

 and on the western shore of the isle of Walney. Gather the 

 seeds as they ripen ; sow them early in September or the 

 ensuing February, in a pot of earth composed of three parts 

 sea-sand or common sand, and one part rotten cow-dung 

 finely sifted. In about six weeks or two months from the 

 February sowing, these seeds will vegetate, and in the au- 

 tumn the plants will be fit to transplant into separate pots, 

 and most of them will flower the next year. Snails and 

 slugs are uncommonly fond of this plant, which they will 

 soon destroy, if it be placed in the open border : set them 

 therefore with the green-house plants, and treat them in the 

 same manner. Let as little water as possible drop upon the 

 leaves, for every drop leaves an unpleasant mark. 



Pultencca ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : five-toothed, 

 two-lipped, with an appendage on each side. Corolla : 

 papilionaceous ; the wings shorter than the standard. Ger- 

 men: sessile. Style: awl-shaped. Stigma : acute. Legume: of 

 one cell, with two seeds, their appendages lobed and knotche-d. 

 Eleven species have been described, all natives of New 

 South Wales ; of which the following are a specimen: 



1. Pulteneea Stipularis. With linear, mucronated, sub- 

 ciliated leaves, and solitary, two-nerved, lacerated stipules. 

 Stem shrubby, variously branched, and round. The wood is 

 hard and whitish, the bark brown. The flowers are of a 

 golden yellow, about twenty or more, in a round head among 

 spreading leaves; corolla five-petalled. 



2. Pultensea Paleacea. With linear, mucronated, smooth 

 leaves, terminal head, and oblong, acuminate, toothed bractes, 

 longer than the flower. 



3. Pultensea Linophylla. With linear, obtuse, mucronated, 

 strigose leaves, few-flowered terminal heads, and scariose 

 bifid bractes much shorter than the calix. This is a shrub 

 six feet high, upright; stem branching; flowers of a pale 

 orange colour. 



4. Pultensea Flexilis. Leaves linear, somewhat obovate, 

 flat, with a small point, quite smooth, as well as the calix ; 

 stipules longer than footstalks; flowers axillary. It flowers 

 in the green-house in spring; and is an elegant, slender, 

 rather drooping shrub, with shining leaves, dark green, and 

 copper-coloured branches. 



5. Pulteneea Villosa. With oblong hairy leaves, solitary 

 axillary flowers, and villose stem. A dense bushy shrub, 

 with numerous short leafy branches, and copious axillary 

 solitary yellow flowers 



6. Pnltensea Daphnoides. With smooth, obovated, tn.u- 

 cronated leaves, and terminal headed flowers. The flowers 

 are large, and yellow, with a purple keel. 



Puntpion, Pumpkin. See Cucurbita. 



Punica; a genus of the class Icosandria, order Monogy- 

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

 bell-shaped, five-cleft, acute, coloured, permanent. Corolla: 

 petals five, roundish, from upright spreading, inserted into th<; 

 calix. Stamina: filamenta numerous, capillary, shorter than 

 the calix, and inserted into it; antherse somewhat oblong. 

 Pistil: germen inferior, roundish; style simple, the length 

 of the stamina; stigma headed. Pericarp: pome subglo- 

 bular, large, crowned with the calix, divided into tv,-o 

 chambers by a transverse partition; the upper having about 

 nine, the lower about three cells; partitions membranaceous. 



Seeds: very many, angular, succulent; receptacle fleshy, 

 pitted, dividing each cell of the pericarp two ways. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-cleft, superior. Petals: 

 five. Pome: many-celled. Seeds: numerous, pulpy. 

 The species are, 



1. Punica Granatum; Common Pomegranate Tree. Leaves 

 lanceolate; stem arboreous. This tree rises with a woody 

 stem eighteen or twenty feet high, sending out branches the 

 whole length, which likewise put out many slender twigs, 

 rendering it very thick and bushy. The flowers come out at 

 the ends of the branches, singly or three or four together; 

 frequently one of the largest terminates the branch ; and im- 

 mediately under that, are two or three smaller buds, which 

 continue a succession of flowers for some months; the calix 

 is very thick and fleshy, and of a fine red colour; the petals 

 are scarlet. Fruit is as big as an orange, of a tawny brown, 

 with a thick astringent coat, containing abundance of seeds, 

 enveloped in a very juicy crimson coat, whose flavour in a 

 wild state is a pure very strong acid, but when cultivated, 

 sweet, and highly grateful. The varieties are, 1. The Wild 

 Pomegranate, with single and double flowers. 2. The Sweet 

 Pomegranate. 3. The Small-flowering Pomegranate, with 

 single and double flowers. 4. The Pomegranate with striped 

 flowers. The rind of the fruit is powerfully astringent, and 

 has long been successfully employed externally and internally 

 for gargles and in diarrhoea. The dose in substance is from 

 half a drachm to a drachm; in infusion or decoction, half an 

 ounce. Both are strongly astringent: a decoction of them 

 stops bleedings and purgings of all kinds, and is good in the 

 whites. The flowers of the Pomegranate-tree are kept in the 

 shops, under the title of Balustines; and are given in powder 

 or decoction, to check purgings, bloody stools, and immo- 

 derate menses. A strong infusion of them cures ulcers in 

 the mouth and throat, and fastens loose teeth. Native of 

 Spain, Portugal, Italy, Barbary, Persia, Japan, China, and 

 Cochin-china. This tree is supposed to have been intro- 

 duced into the West Indies from Europe : the fruit there is 

 larger and better flavoured. The single Pomegranate is now 

 rather common in the English gardens, where it was formerly 

 nursed up in cases, and preserved with great care in green- 

 houses along with the double-flowering kind, though they are 

 each hardy enough to withstand the severest cold of our cli- 

 mate in the open air; and if planted against warm walls in a 

 good situation, the first will often produce fruit, which in the 

 warm seasons will ripen tolerably well; but as these fruits do 

 not ripen till late in the autumn, they are seldom well-tasted 

 in England, and on this account the double-flowered sort is 

 usually preferred. All these plants may be easily propagated, 

 by laying down their branches in the spring, which in one 

 year's time will take good root, and may then be transplanted 

 where they are intended to remain. The best season for trans- 

 planting these trees is spring, just before they begin to shoot; 

 they should have a strong rich soil, in which they flower much 

 better, and produce more fruit than if planted on a dry poor 

 ground; but in order to obtafn those in plenty, there should be 

 care taken in the pruning of these trees, for the want of which 

 they are often crowded with small shoots: to prevent this evil, 

 observe, that as the flowers of this tree always proceed from 

 the extremity of the branches, which are produced in the 

 same year, that circumstance itself points out the necessity of 

 cutting out all weak branches of the former year, and that 

 the stronger shoots should be shortened in proportion to their 

 Strength, in order to obtain new shoots in every part of the 

 tree. The branches may be laid in against the wall about 

 four or five inches asunder; for as their leaves are small, there 

 is no necessity to allow them a greater distance. The best 





