P YR 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



P Y R 



427 



time for this work is about Michaelmas, or a little later, 

 according to the mildness of the season ; for if they are left 

 until the spring before they are pruned, they seldom put out 

 their shoots so early, and the earlier they come out, the sooner 

 the flowers will appear, which is of great consequence where 

 the fruit is desired. In summer they will require no other 

 dressing, but to cut off all vigorous shoots which grow from 

 the wall, and never produce flowers, for it is the middling 

 shoots only that are fruitful. When the fruit is formed, the 

 branches on which they grow should be fastened to the wall 

 to support them ; otherwise the weight of the fruit, when 

 grown large, will be apt to break them down. Though after 

 all possible care and precaution the fruit of this tree seldom 

 arrives to any perfection in this country, so as to render it 

 valuable, yet for the beauty of its scarlet-coloured flowers, 

 together with the variety of its fruit, there should be one 

 good tree planted in every good garden, since the culture 

 they require is chiefly this, to plant them in a rich strong 

 soil and warm situation. Upon some trees favoured with 

 these two advantages, great quantities of full-sized fruit have 

 rewarded the gardener's toils ; but they are seldom well- 

 flavoured, though they make a very handsome appearance 

 upon the trees. The double-flowering kind is the most 

 esteemed in this country, for the sake of its latge fine double 

 flowers, which are of a most beautiful scarlet colour ; nnd if 

 the trees are supplied with nourishment, will continue to 

 produce' flowers for two months successively, which render it 

 one of the most valuable flowering trees yet known. It must 

 be pruned and managed in the same manner as has been 

 already directed for the fruit-bearing kind : but it will pro- 

 duce a greater abundance of its beautiful flowers by grafting 

 it upon stocks of the single kind, which will check the luxu- 

 riancy of the trees, and cause them to produce flowers upon 

 almost every shoot ; so that a low tree planted in the open 

 air, being full of flowers, has made a most elegant appearance. 



2. Punica Nana; Dwarf Pomegranate Tree. Leaves 

 linear ; stem shrubby. It seldom rises above five or six feet 

 high. The flowers are much smaller than those of the com- 

 mon sort; the leaves are shorter and narrower; and the fruit 

 is not larger than a nutmeg, and has little flavour. In the 

 West Indies, where it is a native, and is planted for hedges, 

 it continues flowering great part of the year. It may be 

 propagated by layers like the former, but must be planted 

 in pots filled with rich earth, and preserved in a green-house. 

 In the summer, when t'he flowers begin to appear, if the 

 plants are exposed to the open air, the buds will fall off 

 without opening; they should be placed therefore in an airy 

 glass-case, and a large share of air should be given them 

 every day in warm weather. By this treatment they may be 

 continued in flower upwards of three months, and will make 

 a fine show. 



Purging Nut. See Jatropha Gossipifolia. 



Purslane. See Portulacca. 



Purslane, Sea. See A triplex Halimus. 



Purslane Tree. See Portulacaria. 



Pyrola ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER Calix: perianth five-parted, 

 very small, permanent. Corolla: petals five, roundish, con- 

 cave, spreading. Stamina : filamcnta ten, awl-shaped, shorter 

 than tin; corolla ; antherse nodding, large, two-horned up- 

 wards. Pistil: germen roundish, angular; style filiform, longer 

 than the stamina, permanent, various in length and direction, 

 sometimes scarcely any ; stigma thickish, variously shaped. 

 Pericarp: capsule roundish, depressed, five-cornered, five- 

 celled, five-valved, opening at the corners; partitions con- 

 tracted. Seeds: numerous, chaffy. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 VOL. n. 101. 



TER. Calix: five-parted. Petals: five. Capsule: superior, 

 five-celled, opening at the corners, many-seeded. Ant/terie : 

 with two pores. The species are, 



1. Pyrola Ilotundifolia; Round-leaved Winter-green. Sta- 

 mina ascending; pistil declining; raceme many-flowered. 

 Root creeping, perennial, scaly; stems angular, short, leafy; 

 leaves four or five, on bordered smooth footstalks, roundish 

 or elliptical, smooth, shining, veined; flower-stalks terminal, 

 solitary, a span long, terminating in a loose cluster of fra- 

 grant white flowers; seeds very numerous and very small, 

 consisting of a globular nucleus, within an arillus shaped 

 like saw-dust. The Germans use this plant in all their 

 wound-drinks, and in many of their ointments and plasters. 

 A decoction of the leaves, with the addition of a little cinna- 

 mon and red wine, restrains overflowings of the menses, and 

 cures bloody stools, ulcers of the bladder, and bloody urine, 

 if Hill's testimony be correct. Native of the north of Europe, 

 Germany, Switzerland, the south of France, and the north 

 of Italy; in Great Britain it is not common, but flowers in 

 July, and has been found at Brad well common, near Yar- 

 mouth; and in some woods of Scotland. The plants of 

 this genus are all very difficult to cultivate in gardens ; for 

 as they grow on very cold hills, and in mossy moorish soil, 

 they seldom live long when removed to a better soil and a 

 warm situation. The best time to transplant them into gar- 

 dens is about Michaelmas, when the rootr slioulil bf> taken 

 up with bnlls ol parih tc them, and planted in a shady situ- 

 ation and on a moist undunged soil, where they should be 

 frequently watered in dry weather. Or they may be planted 

 in pots filled with the same earth in which they grew, placed 

 in a shady, situation in pans of water, or at least constantly 

 watered in dry weather. 



2. Pyrola Minor; Lesser Winter-green. Stamina and 

 pistilla straight; flowers in racemes, dispersed. This has the 

 habit of the preceding, but is smaller, and the leaves more 

 elliptical : the flowers are numerous, drooping, white, with 

 more or less of a pink tinge. Native of the north of Europe. 

 Found in Scotland, and in the north of Yorkshire : in Stoken- 

 church woods, Oxfordshire ; at Whipsnal, and in woods about 

 Luton, in Bedfordshire; and near Tring in Hertfordshire. 



3. Pyrola Secunda ; Notch'leaved Winter-green. Leaves 

 ovate-acute, serrated ; raceme one-sided ; roots small and 

 fibrous. The stems are long and trailing ; and the flowers 

 greenish-white. Native of woods in the north of Europe, 

 and even in Switzerland, France, and Italy. It is found in 

 Fir and Beech woods in the Highlands of Scotland ; in York- 

 shire, and in Westmoreland. 



4. Pyrola Umbellata; Umbelled Winter-green. Leaves 

 obovate, serrated ; peduncles in a sort of umbel. Root very 

 long ; stem upright or a little decumbent at the base, naked 

 at the bottom, hard and woody, roughened here and there 

 with tubercles. Native of Europe, Austria, and North Ame- 

 rica, where it is found with its congeners in Fir woods, espe- 

 cially those which are old, shady, and deserted. They all love, 

 as Linneus remarks, a deep shade and a rocky barren soil. 



5. Pyrola Maculata ; Spotted-leaved Winter-green. Leaves 

 ovato-lanceolate, with tooth-like serratures ; peduncles two- 

 flowered. Root woody ; stems two or three, woody, a foot 

 and half high. The flowers are produced at the end of the 

 stalk on slender peduncles about three inches long, each 

 sustaining two small pale-coloured flowers at the top : they 

 appear in June. Found in shady gravelly woods from Ca- 

 nada to Carolina. 



6. Pyrola Uniflora ; One-flowered Winter-green. Pedun- 

 cle one-flowered. The long branched roots of this plant run 

 deep among Moss in moist alpine woods. The peduncle is 



5Q 



