PROMEX.EA 



PROTEA 



2811 



3-lobed, with crimson spots in the throat; column 

 streaked with red. June. Brazil. G.W. 14, p. 521. 



graminea, Lindl. Lvs. about 6 in. long, lanceolate, 

 faintly striate, jointed to the equitant bases: scapes 

 3-5, clustered; fls. dirty yellow, spotted with brown; 

 sepals and petals oblong-lanceolate; labellum oval, 

 crisp and toothed on the margin, shaded with rose and 

 blotched with crimson-brown. Spring. Brazil. B.M. 

 5046. G.C. II. 23:636. <)n account of the absence of 

 pseudobulbs this species is now generally placed in the 

 genus Keffersteinia. 



stapelioides, Lindl. Pseudobulbs 4-angled, 1-2-lvd.: 

 Ivs. lanceolate, pale glaucous, reticulate: peduncle 2-fld. ; 

 fls. green outside, yellowish inside, speckled and banded 

 purple. Brazil. B.R. 25:17 (as Maxillaria). 



P. microptera, Reichb. f. Fls. 1 Ji in. broad; sepals and petals 

 lanceolate, acute, light green; lip 3-lobed, basal half white with 

 narrow purple bars, front lobe green; column pale green. Brazil. 

 P. Rollissonii, Lindl. Fls. pale yellow, the lip with purple spots; 

 sepals and petals very acute; lip with lateral lobes ovate, acute, 

 the front lobe oblong, apiculate. Brazil G. 12:237; 17:103. 



HEINRICH HASSELBRING. 

 GEORGE V. NASH.! 



PROPAGATION: Cuttings, Grafting, Layers, Nursery, Seeds, and 

 Seedage. 



PROSARTES: Disporum. 



PROSOPIS (Greek, but the meaning is obscure). 

 Leguminbsse. Tender trees and shrubs, including the 

 mesquit and the screw bean, two forage plants of con- 

 siderable value in the arid regions of southern California 

 and the Southwest. 



Stems with or without spines, the spines 

 axillary, solitary or in pairs or only the 

 stipules spinescent: Ivs. bipinnate, 1 or 2 pairs 

 of pinna?; Ifts. usually numerous, small, entire: 

 fls. small, greenish, in cylindrical or globose 

 axillary spikes: pods linear, coriaceous and 

 indehiscent. About 25 species, tropical and 

 subtropical regions of the world. 



The mesquits are thorny shrubs which 

 ordinarily grow only a few feet high in the 

 desert, but under favorable circumstances 

 make trees 60 feet high. They are also called 

 algaroba and cashaw. The sweetish pods are 

 eaten chiefly by cattle. Seeds and plants are 

 offered in southern California. 



A. Plant spiny: pod straight or sickle-shaped. 



julifldra, DC., and allies. MESQUIT, or 

 MESQUITE. Several forms have been confused 

 under this name. P. juliflora, DC., is a strictly W. Indian 

 species, with many pairs of Ifts. very close together, 

 M~M x T2~y8 m - rather thin in texture and elliptic to 

 oblong, apex and base blunt and rounded. P. dulcis, 

 Kunth, is a Mexican species somewhat similar to the 

 preceding but with the Ifts. slightly more distant although 

 still crowded, 1 A- 1 A x i^in., linear to linear-oblong, apex 

 tending to be acutish and mucronulate, the texture more 

 coriaceous. P. glandulosa, Torr., is the common species 

 throughout Texas, New Mex., and S. Calif., also occur- 

 ring in Mex. ; it has more remote pairs of Ifts. often dis- 

 tantly so, %-2 x J^-^in., which, when mature, are 

 longer than in P. juliflora, rigid and linear, those of the 

 young shoots frequently elliptical to spatulate and up to 

 J^in. or even more broad, base slightly narrowed, apex 

 mucronulate and usually acutish although also bluntish. 

 P. velutina, Wooton, is a southwestern species which 

 looks much like P. dulcis, but the younger shoots, Ivs., 

 and If.-rachis velutinous-pubescent; Ifts. ^ Mxyj 

 ^g in. oblong, apex rounded, base rounded. Ariz, and 

 S. Calif. 



AA. Plant less spiny: pod spirally twisted. 



pubescens, Benth. (Strombocdrpa pubescens, Gray). 

 SCREW BEAN. TORXILLO. Shrub or small tree, merely 

 spinescent on petioles: Ifts. 5-8 pairs, oblong, J4~M m - 



long: spikes globose to cylindrical, 1^-2 in. long: pod 

 twisted, nearly sessile, 1-2 in. long. Texas, Calif., Mex. 

 The pods are used as food by Mexicans and Indians. 



P. strombutifera, Benth. (Acacia strombulifera, Willd.), is a 

 shrub 5-8 ft. high, with ash-gray bark, very short spines, Ifts. of 

 the pinnae 4-6-paired, linear, and the pod yellowish, about 2 in. 

 long, and spirally twisted. Peru. F. TRACY HUBBARD.j 



PROSTANTHERA (Greek, to add to, and anther; 

 referring to the connectives of the anthers being spurred 

 or crested beneath). Labiate. Shrubs or subshrubs 

 with resinous glands, and commonly strong-scented. 



False whorls 2-fld., axillary or borne in a terminal 

 raceme; fls. often white or red; calyx campanulate, 

 limb 2-lipped; corolla-tube short, dilated into a broad 

 campanulate throat; limb 2-lipped; stamens 4, in 

 pairs; anthers 2-celled, connective dorsally slightly 

 prominent, often spurred or appendaged : nutlets obovoid 

 and netted wrinkly. About 40 species from Austral. 

 Prop, by cuttings of young shoots. 



nivea, A. Cunn. A beautiful shrub, 3-6 ft. high, gla- 

 brous except the corolla or with a few appressed hairs: 

 st. and branches slender, twiggy, upper ones 4-angled: 

 Ivs. Yr-^Yi m - l n g> oblong-lanceolate or linear, entire, 

 pale green; margins involute, especially on older Ivs.: 



3195. Protea cynaroides. 



fls. snow-white or tinged with blue; pedicels short; 

 calyx about M m - l n g> green; corolla M~%in. across. 

 Rocky hills, New S. Wales and Victoria. B.M. 5658. 

 Can be safely grown only where the lemon is hardy. It 

 is a showy species when well grown. 



Other species which have been intro. and sometimes cult, abroad 

 are: P. denticulata, R. Br. Robust shrub: Ivs. sessile or nearly so, 

 broadly lanceolate to narrow-linear, with rigid bristles on the mar- 

 gins: fls. in distant pairs forming interrupted terminal racemes, 

 lilac to purple. B.M. 7934. P. pulcheUa, Skan. Subshrub about 

 1 Yt ft- high, slender: Ivs. subsessile, linear to linear-lanceolate: fls. 

 with a lilac subrotate corolla, the tube white at base, dotted with 

 dark purple at the throat. B.M. 8379. P. rotundifdlia, R. Br. 

 Shrub, 3-7 ft. high: Ivs. broadly ovate, orbicular or spatulate, 

 entire or coarse crenulate: fls. in short close terminal racemes, 

 purple. G.M. 58:147. R TRACT HUBBARD.f 



PROTEA (from Proteus, the sea-god, who changed 

 into many forms; alluding to the baffling diversity of 

 the species). Proteaceae. Tender shrubs, small trees or 

 acaulescent perennial plants, which are among the most 

 attractive and characteristic plants of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, a region whose plant life is singular. 



Leaves alternate, coriaceous, entire: fls. in many-fld. 

 sessile or subsessile, terminal or lateral, usually soli- 

 tary heads, inclosed in an involucre of numerous 

 imbricate coriaceous to scabrous and various colored 

 bracts; ovary covered with long hairs; ovule 1: nut 



