2648 



PIQUERIA 



PISTACIA 



horticulture. The piqueria endures both sun and 

 shade, and thrives with even indifferent treatment. 

 For fls. it is much prized in winter, when delicate 

 white sprays are not abundant. It demands the general 

 treatment given zonal geraniums. Prop, by cuttings 

 with great ease, and 

 may begin to bloom 

 when only 2 or 3 

 in. high. It often 

 blooms in the cut- 

 ting-bed. It also 

 grows readily from 

 seeds, which are 

 handled by seeds- 

 men. Frequent 

 pinching will keep 

 the plants within 

 bounds and contrib- 

 ute to floriferous- 

 ness. Plants allowed 

 to grow as they 

 will soon become 

 straggly and wiry. 

 For winter bloom 

 the plants may be 

 handled in pots or 

 grown in beds. A 



stock of compact 2986. Marginate form of 



pot-plants kept in Piqueria trinema. 



a cool corner is 



very useful for filling vacancies in the house. 



Cultivation of piqueria (by Wm. Scott). Usually the 

 best way to produce good flowering plants of stevia 

 in midwinter is to save a few old plants after the flowers 

 are cut at New Years. Cut off the old stems 5 or 6 

 inches above the pots and stand the plants in any cool 

 house. The plant needs the coolest house at all times; 

 40 at night during the winter will grow it better than 

 a higher temperature, but, for all that, it does not 

 endure the slightest frost. About March 1, these old 



Elants will have sent out any number of small growths 

 om the base of the stems. These root very readily 

 in a cool propagating-house. They should then be 

 grown along, first in 2- and afterward in 3-inch pots, 

 until the first of June, when they should be planted out 

 in the open ground. It need not be very rich ground, 

 for they are very rampant growers. Give every plant - 

 2 feet of space. They seldom need any artificial water- 

 ing in summer, but they should have frequent pinching 

 to produce bushy plants. The more shoots, the more 

 flowers will be secured. Before there is any danger of 

 frost in the fall, the plants should be lifted and put 

 into 6-, 7-, or 8-inch pots. They lift well, and if stood 

 in the shade and kept syringed for a few days they will 

 show no bad results of the lifting. A position at the 

 north side of a shed or wall is much better for them for 

 the next month than under glass, but always have them 

 in a position where they can be protected in case of a 

 frost. By the end of October, if frost is escaped, put 

 them in the lightest and coolest house available. If 

 kept cool the very desirable sprays of flowers will be 

 in perfection at Christmas, and that is the time they 

 are most valuable. Although classed as a common 

 cheap flower, there is a grace about stevias that makes 

 them indispensable for many flower arrangements. 



T TT T) 



PIRCtTNIA: Phytolacca. 



PISCfDIA (Latin for fish and kill). Legumindsx. 

 One or 2 species, including the fish-poison tree of the 

 American tropics, or Jamaica dogwood. The Ivs., bark, 

 and twigs of this tree when thrown into the water 

 intoxicate or stun the fish so that they can be caught ' 

 readily. (For the plant used in China for this purpose, 

 see Cocculus.) The bark has also been used in medicine 

 for its hypnotic effect. Botanically this genus is close 



to Lonchocarpus, differing mainly in the pod, which is 

 long, thickish, and longitudinally 4-winged: calyx- 

 teeth 5, short, broad: wings adhering to the falcate keel; 

 vexillar stamen free at the very base, but grown together 

 at the middle with the others into a closed tube; ovary 

 sessile, many-ovuled. 



Erythrina, Linn. (P. piscipula, Sarg. Erythrina 

 piscipula, Linn. Ichthyomethia piscipula, Hitchc.). 

 FISH-POISON TREE. JAMAICA DOGWOOD. Lfts. 7-11, 

 opposite, oblong or elliptical, pointed or blunt: fls. 

 purplish white, J^in. across: pod 2-4 in. long, 4 lines 

 broad; seeds &-8, black. Trop. Amer., especially com- 

 mon in Jamaica. p 



PISONIA (named after Willem Piso, a physician and 

 naturalist of Amsterdam, who died in 1648). Nyctagi- 

 nacex. Erect or rarely subscandent trees and shrubs: 

 Ivs. opposite or subverticillate: inn. terminal, axillary 

 or lateral clusters; fls. direcious, rarely monoecious or 

 hermaphrodite, pink, greenish or yellow; perianth 

 5-toothed; stamens 6-10; ovary elongate-ovoid, ses- 

 sile: fr. an elongated utricle often bearing at its base 

 the persistent filaments enveloped in the calyx and 

 becoming fleshy, smooth or covered with spiny glands. 

 About 80 species, mostly natives of Trop. and Sub- 

 trop. Amer. but a few in Asia, in the Mascarene Isls., 

 and Polynesia. P. Brunonidna, Endl. A tree reaching 

 a height of nearly 50 ft. : Ivs. alternate, oval-oblong, up 

 to 10 in. long and 4 in. broad, acuminate, entire or sin- 

 uate; petiole somewhat thick, up to 1 in. long: fls. very 

 inconspicuous in spreading terminal cymes. Tahiti 

 and Marquesas Isls. Intro, in Belgian gardens. This 

 species has been referred to both P. umbellifera, Forst., 

 and P. inermis, Forst., not Jacq. The most recent 

 treatment by Rock, "The Indigenous Trees of the 

 Hawaiian Islands," regards it as a synonym of P. 

 inermis. The following species are also reported as 

 having been in cult.: P. aculeata, Linn., P. inermis, 

 Forst., not Jacq. (P. grdndis, R. Br.), and P. obtusata, 

 Jacq., but apparently are not now grown. 



PISTACIA (derived indirectly from ancient Persian 

 pista). Anacar diocese. Trees or shrubs which exude 

 turpentine or mastic. One species of the genus, P. vera, 

 produces the pistachio-nuts or pistache of commerce 

 which are used in confectionery and flavoring, and some 

 of the other species are used for ornamental planting 

 and as stock on which to graft the commercial species. 



Leaves alternate, evergreen or deciduous, 3-lvd. or 

 even- or uneven-pinnate: inn. paniculate or axillary, 

 racemose; fls. small, dioecious and without petals; 

 males with 5-divided or -parted calyx and 5 stamens; 

 females with 3-4-divided or -parted calyx, short 3- 

 divided style and 1-celled ovary: fr. a dry drupe. 

 About 20 species, Medit. region to Asia, with one species 

 from the Canaries, and one from Mex., which has also 

 been found in Calif. The so-called nut of Pistacia is 

 really the seed or kernel of a dry drupe. The seed is 

 green, and has a highly peculiar flavor. P. Terebinthus 

 exudes from its st. the fragrant Cyprian or Scio-tur- 

 pentine used in medicine as early as the time of Hip- 

 pocrates. 



Cultivation of the pistachio, or pistache. (G. P. Rixford.) 

 Several species of Pistacia, P. vera, P. atlantica, P. 

 Lentiscus, P. mutica, P. Terebinthus, P. chinensis, P. 

 mexicana, P. integerrima, and P. verestina, a hybrid, 

 have been introduced into this country by the Office of 

 Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture and are being tested 

 as stocks upon which to work the best varieties of P. 

 vera. The cultivated species of pistache is indigenous to 

 Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine. It was first brought 

 to Rome, according to Pliny, by Vitellius, then governor 

 of Syria, during the reign of Tiberius early in the first 

 century of the Christian era and was then carried to 



