PARSNEP PATERSONIA. 



415 



seen that these birds admit of a natural division into 

 two great sections, the one of which feeds entirely 

 upon the kernels of fruits, and the other upon sweet 

 juices. We are disposed to consider the maccaws as 

 taking the lead in the first of these divisions, and the 

 red-coloured lories as taking the lead in the second. 

 There are, however, many difficulties in the way of 

 any thing like a natural arrangement of the parrot 

 family ; and to attempt following the systematists 

 through their artificial fancies would be worse than 

 useless. We have endeavoured to embody the prin- 

 cipal points, and to notice the most characteristic 

 species, and having done so we shall close this article. 



PARSNEP is the Pastinaca sativa of Lintiitus, a 

 well known culinary plant long in cultivation. It is 

 a nutritious vegetable, and contains so much sugar, \ 

 that a very palatable- and useful wine is made of its ! 

 fermented juice. Its culture is extremely easy, The i 

 seed is sowed on deeply digged or trenched rich soil j 

 in March, either in drills fourteen inches apart, or j 

 broad cast. At the end of April, or during the month i 

 of May, the plants are thinned out to nine-inch ] 

 distances apart, and being kept free from weeds 

 during summer by repeated hoeing, are fit to be taken 

 up and stored for winter use in October. 



PARSONIA (Dr. Brown). A genus of tropical 

 climbing plants, bearing pentandrous flowers, and be- 

 longing to Apoci/necc. This genus was called Echites 

 by Jacquin and Swartz. 



PARTRIDGE. See GALLINDF^E. 



PASQUE FLOWER, is the trivial name of the 

 Anemone pulsatilla of Linnaeus. It belongs' to Ktniitn- 

 culacccE, and is a native of Britain, found on chalky 

 pastures. 



PASSALUS (Fabricius). A genus of coleopte- 

 rous insects, belonging to the section Pentamera, 

 and family LucanidtE, and forming a distinct sub- 

 family Passalides, having the antennae slightly 

 elbowed at the extremity of the basal joint, the body 

 long end depressed ; the upper lip distinct, the lower 

 jaws corneous, and with many teeth, and the abdomen, 

 as it were, pedunculated, as in the Scaritidce, which 

 this family appear to represent. This genus is con- 

 fined to America, Asia, and New Holland, none of ! 

 the species having been discovered in Europe or 

 Africa. They are of considerable size, and black colour, 

 the specific differences being very difficult of investi- 

 gation. Madame Merian informs us, that the larva 

 of a species which she has figured, feeds upon the 

 roots of the batatas. The perfect insect is not rare 

 in the sugar plantations. About .fifty species are de- 

 scribed by M. Percheron, in his Monograph upon 

 the t'amilv just published. 



PASSERINA (Linnaeus). A genus of plants so 

 called from their seeds having beaks like those of 

 sparrows. They are shrubs and undershrubs found 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, and belong to the eighth 

 cla^s of Linnsean botany, and to the natural order 

 Thy mea:a:. They succeed well in our greenhouse 

 collections, and under the ordinary management. 



PASSIFLORACEjE. A conspicuous natural 

 order containing six genera and above eighty species. 

 The genera are arranged in two tribes, the first Par- 

 opsicfe, containing Smeathmannia ; and the second 

 Passiftoree vercs, comprising the other five genera, 

 viz. Passijfarrt, Murncuiii, Tacsonia, Discmma, and 

 Modccca. 



The passion flowers and their immediate allies are 

 herbaceous or shrubby plants, rarely trees, with often 



twining scandent stems, and alternate simple, petio- 

 late leaves, either entire or lobed, and usually fur- 

 nished with glands and stipules. 



The enflorescence is axillary, and the peduncles in 

 the non-climbing species are all floriferous, but 

 become in the climbing ones converted into tendrils. 

 The flowers are showy, regular, and united, rarely 

 separated by abortion, usually solitary, seldom ag- 

 gregate, and for the most part invested with a tri- 

 phyllous involucrum. The calyx is free, with from 

 five to ten sepals, the external ones herbaceous, the 

 inner petaloid, and constitute a tube of various degrees 

 of lengtlOvhich is lined by filamentous or annular pro- 

 cesses forming 1 a nectary ; the petals when present are 

 five in number, and exserted from the throat of the calyx ; 

 the stamens are five, surrounded by numerous barren 

 filaments, forming a radiant circle, arranged in one or 

 two series ; the filaments are shortly monadelphous, 

 arid opposite the external lobes of the calyx; the 

 anthers versatile or peltate, two-celled, and opening 

 lengthwise ; the germen is free, borne on a stalk, one- 

 celled, and many ovules : the styles are short or none, 

 and the stigmata are thick, or lobed, or dilated. The 

 fruit is a berry or capsule, either naked or invested 

 by the calyx ; when capsular it opens by valves ; 

 when a berry it is indehiscent. 



The PassifioracecE, although in general innoxious, 

 are suspicious plants ; for one species, the Passijiora 

 quadranguiaris, is known to be deleterious, and the 

 others have not been sufficiently examined to allow 

 their innocence to be affirmed, notwithstanding the 

 fruit of most of them, even of the noxious one, is 

 eatable. P. malaformis is the sweet calabash of the 

 West Indies, where it is much esteemed as a dessert ; 

 and the fruit of P. alula, cocdncn, edit/is, tnttrifofia, 

 ligularis, ornata, tinifolia, and ccerit/ca, are all likewise 

 esculent. The part which is eaten is either the fleshy 

 arillus or the juicy pulp which surrounds the seeds. 

 This' succulent matter is fragrant and cooling, and 

 has a pleasant flavour. It is mostly sucked through 

 a hole made in the rind. 



The name, passion-flower, owes its origin to some' 

 imaginative Jesuit, who fancied he had found an alle- 

 gorical representation of our Saviour's passion, or, at 

 least, of the instruments of torture, as well as other 

 attendant circumstances in the structure of the blos- 

 soms, leaves, and tendrils of these curious and beau- 

 tiful plants. There are a great number of species, 

 and also many varieties, in our collections, the latter 

 being hardier, and bloom more freely than the spe- 

 cies ; all requiring a good deal of room, as they soon 

 cover any trellis or column against which they may 

 be planted. They grow best in a mixture of loam 

 and heath-mould, and are readily propagated by 

 cuttings. 



PASTINACA (Linnseus). A genus of herbaceous 

 plants, mostly biennials, and natives of Europe. The 

 flowers are pentandrous, and are ranged from their 

 mode of inflorescence among the Umbelhfcrce. A 

 large species, called the cocquaine, is cultivated in 

 Guernsey and Jersey for feeding cows, and hence it 

 is supposed is derived the richness of their milk. 

 P. opopamuc is a medicinal species, as well as several 

 others. See PARSNEP. 



PATERSONIA (Dr. Brown). A genus of 

 Australian herbs, belonging to Iridcee. The flowers 

 are pretty, and are commonly cultivated like Cape 

 bulbs, that is, potted in sand and moor-earth, and 

 kept in a cold frame ; or, if planted in the open 



