2476 



PARONYCHIA 



PARSLEY 



arated in Illecebracese. WHITLOW-WORT. Annual and 

 perennial little herbs, without showy flowers, adaptable 

 to rock-gardens and borders. 



Plant tufted, low, with minute clustered fls. and 

 silvery stipules; erect or diffuse, often dichotomously 

 branching: Ivs. opposite, broad or narrow, entire, the 

 margins flat or very rarely recurved; stipules prominent, 

 scarious, shining: fls. minute, without petals, axillary 

 or rarely in terminal cymes, usually hidden among the 

 stipules; sepals 5, awned; stamens 5; staminodia 5 

 (sometimes wanting), bristle-like or reduced to teeth; 

 style 2-cleft: fr. an urticle inclosed in the calyx. Species 

 about 50, largely in the Medit. region, but widely dis- 

 tributed; several are native in the U. S. A very few are 

 cult, in the hardy border. The two European species 

 here given do not appear in the leading catalogues, 

 domestic or foreign, but P. serpyllifolia is said to be 

 much used for carpet-bedding abroad. P. argentea 

 furnishes the Algerian tea. Allied to Herniaria, which 

 see for generic differences. The species described below 

 are perennials. They are of simple cult.; prop, by seed 

 and division. 



A. Lvs. narrow, linear or awl-shaped. 



argyr6coma, Nutt. (Anychia argyrdcoma, Michx.). 

 Erect or ascending perennial, 3-8 in. high, making 

 broad tufts or mats, clothed with silvery appressed 

 scale-like hairs: Ivs. linear; stipules silvery white, scari- 

 ous, entire, usually shorter than the Ivs. : fls. in forking 

 cymes; bracts large, silvery, membranous; staminodia 

 minute. Rocky places. Maine and N. H. to Ga. and 

 Tenn. Also called silver chickweed, silverhead, and 

 silver whitlow-wort. The northern form is sometimes 

 separated as yar. albimontana, Fern., differing from 

 the type (which occurs from Va. south) in having 

 branches mostly floriferous rather than most of them 

 sterile, Ivs. glabrate and with involute margins, and 

 calyx-awns subulate and glabrescent. P. argyrocoma 

 is not difficult of cult, and is prized for rockeries, its 

 silvery tufted appearance lending a distinct charm to 

 the collection for this purpose. Prop, by seeds and 

 division. 



dichdtoma, Nutt. Woody at the base, glabrous or 

 nearly so, tufted, 4r-14 in. tall: stipules entire, often 

 5-6 lines long, tapering into a slender awn: fls. in fork- 

 ing cymes; awns of the calyx-segms. divergent; stam- 

 inodia of minute bristles. Dry soil, Md. and N. C. to 

 Ark. and Texas. 



AA. Lvs. rather broad, obovate or nearly so. 



argentea, Lam. Prostrate diffuse perennial, with 

 long branches: Ivs. ovate to oblong or lanceolate, acute: 

 fls. lateral and terminal, dense, intermixed with Ivs.; 

 bracts ovate, acute, much longer than the fl.; calyx- 

 lobes semi-scarious, hooded, mucronate on the back 

 near the apex. Common in dry places, Medit. region. 

 Foliage nearly glabrous. 



serpyllifolia, DC. Prostrate creeping perennial: Ivs. 

 obovate, flat, rather fleshy: fls. terminal; calyx-lobes 

 blunt. Arid parts of S. and E. Eu. Foliage ciliate at 

 the margin. A disputed plant. Probably a form of P. 

 capitata, Lam. WILHELM MILLER. 



L. H. B.f 



PAROSELA. By some used instead of Dalea, p. 960. 



PARROTIA (after F. W. Parrot, a German natural- 

 ist and traveler, afterward professor of medicine at 

 Dorpat; 1792-1841). Hamamelidacese. Ornamental 

 woody plants grown chiefly for their handsome foliage 

 and also for their early appearing flowers. 



Deciduous shrubs or small trees: Ivs. alternate, short- 

 petioled, crenate, with large caducous stipules: fls. 

 small, in dense heads surrounded by an involucre of 

 several bracts; petals wanting; calyx 5-7-lobed, embra- 

 cing the pubescent ovary about half; stamens 5-15; 

 styles 2: caps. 2-celled, with 2 beaks, dehiscent between 



the beaks, with 1 oblong shining seed in each cell. 

 Two species in Persia and the Himalayas. 



The parrotias are spreading shrubs or small trees with 

 medium-sized orbicular to obovate-oblong leaves, small 

 flowers in dense heads appearing before the leaves, 

 and with fruit similar to those of the witch-hazel. The 

 Persian species is hardy as far north as Massachusetts. 

 Its chief beauty consists in the brilliant autumnal tints 

 of the foliage, which changes to golden yellow, orange, 

 and scarlet and remains a long time on the branches. 

 The early appearing flowers with the purple pendulous 

 stamens, are also attractive. The Himalayan species is 

 more tender and its foliage turns only to pale yellow, 

 but the flowers are somewhat more showy from their 

 rather large white bracts. The parrotias grow in any 

 well-drained soil and like a sheltered position. The 

 wood is very close-grained, hard and strong, and there- 

 fore P. persica bears the name, "ironwood." The tough 

 pliable branches of the Himalayan species are exten- 

 sively used for basket-work and are also twisted into 

 thick ropes used for the construction of twig-bridges 

 over the great rivers of its native country. Propaga- 

 tion is by seeds and layers and also by greenwood 

 cuttings under glass. 



persica, C. A. Mey. Shrub or small tree, to 15 ft., 

 with spreading branches: Ivs. oval to obovate-oblong, 

 obtuse, coarsely and crenately dentate above the mid- 

 dle, dark green above, pubescent beneath when young, 

 3-4 in. long: bracts of fl.-heads covered with dark brown 

 tomentum; stamens 5-7, pendulous, with linear-oblong, 

 purple anthers: fr. with recurved beaks. N. Persia. 

 B.M. 5744. 



Jacquemontiana, Decne (Fothergilla involucrata, 

 Falc. Parrotiopsis involucrata, Schneid.). Spreading 

 shrub or small tree, to 20 ft.: Ivs. orbicular, crenately 

 toothed, stellate-pubescent on both sides, 2-4 in. long: 

 heads many-fld., with spreading white bracts sprinkled 

 with a purplish scurf on the back; stamens about 15, 

 erect, with yellow, oval-oblong anthers. Himalayas. 

 B.M. 7501. ALFRED REHDER. 



PARROT'S BILL: Clianthus. 

 PARROT'S FEATHER: Myriophyllum. 



PARRYA (Capt. W. E. Parry, Arctic explorer). 

 Crudferse. Four or 5 N. American and a few Asiatic 

 low perennial herbs, with thick caudices, scape-like 

 peduncles, narrow Ivs. and mostly racemose rose- 

 colored or purplish showy fls.; sepals oblong and erect, 

 the lateral ones gibbous at base; petals broad, clawed: 

 pod broad and flat, mostly elliptic, with orbicular seeds. 

 The parryas are alpine or boreal often arctic plants, 

 and some of them will no doubt prove useful for the 

 alpine garden. So far they are practically unknown in 



American gar- 

 dens. The most 

 likely species to 

 be used in rock- 

 gardening is P. 

 Menziesii, Greene 

 (Cheirdnthus Men- 

 ziesii, Benth. & 

 Hook.). It has a 

 leafy scape 3-8 

 in. high, with a 

 raceme of many 

 fls., the petals nearly Kin. long and bright purple: Ivs. 

 spatulate or oblanceolate, entire, densely tomentose. N. 

 Calif., north to the Lower Columbia River. L jj B. 



PARSLEY (Petroselinum hortense, which see). Fig. 

 2764. A leaf vegetable, used for garnishing and 

 flavoring. 



While indispensable in the market-garden, parsley is 

 not usually found in the home-gardens in this country. 



2764. Curl-leaved parsley. 



