2856 



PTYCHOCOCCUS 



PUERARIA 



PTYCHOCOCCUS (Greek, fold and grain, probably 

 referring to folds on the fruit). Palmacex. Separated 

 from Ptychosperma by technical characters of the 

 endocarp of the seed. Two species, New Guinea. P. 

 paradoxus, Becc. (Ptychosperma paraddxa, Scheff.). St. 

 simple, 9-12 ft. high, rather slender, covered with dense 

 white arachnoid tomentum: Ivs. at top of st. regularly 

 pinnate-divided; segms. 6-15, in young plants sub- 

 semi-rhomboid, later broad-lanceolate, contracted to- 

 ward the base, tip oblique-truncate: fls. dioecious; 

 ovary ovate-conical, 1-celled; seed 5-sulcate. 



PTYCHORAPHIS (Greek, folded and rape). Pal- 

 macese. Malayan and Indian palms grown in warm 

 greenhouses. 



Stems slender, ringed: Ivs. pinnate, thelfts. long-acu- 

 minate: spadix from between the Ivs., much branched, 

 the spirally arranged fls. usually staminate only toward 

 the apex. Three species, one from Singapore, 1 from 

 the Philippines and 1 from Nicobar. The genus is 

 placed next to Rhopaloblaste by Drude in Engler and 

 Prantl's Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien and distin- 

 guished by the ridge of the forked raphe and deeply 

 ruminate seed, while the rumination of the upper parts 

 of the seed is flattish. Cult, as for any tropical palm, 

 requiring abundance of moisture. 



augusta, Becc. Trunk becoming 80-100 ft. high 

 in the wild, much lower in cult., slender, smooth: Ivs. 

 6-10 ft. long; pinnae 1-2 ft., linear, acuminate, bright 

 green: spadix much branched, 2^-3 ft. long: fr. ellip- 

 tical-oblong, red; seed grooved on one side. Nicobar. 

 G.W. 2, p. 198. Wm. Watson writes: "It is as graceful 

 as Cocos Weddeliana or Geonoma gradlis, and it grows 

 as freely under cult, as either of these popular palms." 

 This rare palm has been offered in Amer., but is not 

 known to be cult, at present. 



Siebertiana, Hort. Sts. slender: Ivs. copper-colored 

 when young, afterward rich green; petioles colored 

 with small brownish scales; Ifts. 10 in. long, %in. broad, 

 tapering to a long thread-like point. Malaya. G.C. 

 III. 43: suppl. Apr. 25. Gng. 16:278. G.W. 13, p. 31. 

 An elegant species resembling a kentia. jj . TAYLOR.! 



PTYCHOSPERMA (Greek words, probably referring 

 to the ruminate albumen of the seed). Palmacese. A 

 small and unimportant group of palms little known in 

 America. 



Trunks smooth, ringed, crowned at the summit by a 

 dense cluster of pinnately divided Ivs. : Ifts. acuminate, 

 either entire or jagged at the apex: spadix simple or 

 sometimes branched, appearing below the Ivs.: fls. 

 monoecious in the same spadix: fr. an ovoid drupe. 

 For cult., see Archontophcenix, to which belong many of 

 the plants in the trade under Ptychosperma. For P. 

 elegans, consult Seaforthia. 



Macarthuri, H. Wendl. Described as dwarf, and most 

 cult, specimens are so; in nature 20-30 ft.: Ivs. pinnate, 

 the Ifts. arching, from 3-9 in. long, usually obliquely cut 

 at the apex: infl. unknown. Austral. G.Z. 23, p. 265. 

 Suckers freely from the base, thus making a bushy plant. 



P. dlba, Scheff.=Dietyosperma alba. P. Alexdndrse, F. Muell. 

 =Archontophcenix Alexandra. P. Cunninghamiana, H. Wendl. = 

 Archontophoenix Cunninghamii P. elegans, Hort.=Seaforthia. 

 P. fiMmp/m=Drymophlffius. P. SeemamY=Balaka. 



N. TAYLOR. 



PUCCOON: Lithospermum. P., Red: Sanguinaria. P., Yel- 

 low: Hydrastis. 



PUERARIA (M. N. Puerari, botanist of Geneva). 

 Legumindsse. Twining herbs or shrubs, often climbing; 

 grown for ornament. 



Closely allied to Dolichos and Phaseolus, but differ- 

 ing among other things in the beardless style, tumid 

 nodes of the racemes and monadelphous stamens: Ivs. 

 3-foliolate and stipellate, the Ifts. sometimes lobed: 

 fls. often large, pea-shaped, in long and dense, often 



compound, racemes; standard usually spurred at the 

 base, about equaling the wings and keel: pod flattish, 

 linear, many-seeded. Eleven species, Asian and 

 Milanesian. 



A. Lfts. not deeply lobed. 

 B. Pod not constricted. 



hirsuta, Schneid. (P. Thunbergidna, Benth. Dolichos 

 japdnicus, Hort. Pachyrhlzus Thunbergianus, Sieb. & 

 Zucc.). KTTDZU VINE. Perennial, with large tuberous 

 starchy roots, making a vigorous growth of slender, 

 hairy, twining sts. : Ifts. rhombic-ovate to nearly orbicu- 

 lar-ovate, variously lobed, but the margins entire and 

 ciliate: fls. pea-shaped, purple, in axillary spikes late 

 in the season, not showy: pod large and flat. Japan 

 and China. A.G. 13:387; 21:505. G.F. 6:505. R.H. 

 1891, p. 31. Gt. 45:1429. Gn. 61, p. 161. G.W. 5:605. 

 A hardy vine remarkable for the great rapidity of its 

 growth, and most useful for covering arbors and ver- 

 andas. It is also used as a forage plant. From a well- 

 established root, vines will grow 40-60 ft. in a single 

 season, producing a profusion of very large Ivs. In 

 the N. the plant dies to the ground in the winter, but 

 in the S. the top becomes woody. The large fleshy root 

 assumes most curious shapes, the main branches often 

 being 4-5 ft. long. Georgeson writes of the plant in 

 Japan: "The roots are fleshy and yield starch of excel- 

 lent quality; the tough fiber of the inner bark is manu- 

 factured into a sort of cloth which combines fineness 

 with remarkable strength; and in certain situations the 

 vine is unparalleled for ornament and shade." The 

 fls. are borne on the old or woody sts., but these sts. 

 usually do not persist north of Philadelphia, and even 

 rarely there. With age, the tops are more likely to 

 survive the winter. Prop, by division of the roots, or 

 by seeds when they can he had; also by cuttings. 



BB. Pod constricted. 



tuberosa, DC. (Hedysarum tuberbsum, Roxbg.). 

 Root tuberous, very large: st. shrubby: branches finely 

 grayish pubescent: stipules minute, deciduous, ovate- 

 cordate: Ifts. membranous, roundish, 6-12 in. long, 

 glabrescent above, below densely covered with a whitish 

 appressed pubescence: fls. in slender, dense, often pani- 

 cled racemes 6-9 in. long; pedicels very short, densely 

 fascicled; calyx 3^-J^in. long, densely silky; teeth 

 rather obtuse, shorter than the tube; corolla bluish, 

 not twice as long as the calyx; limb of standard orbicu- 

 lar, distinctly spurred: pod 2-3 in. long, membranous, 

 flat, 3-6-seeded, clothed with long, gray, silky bristly 

 hairs. India. Wright, Icones, 412. Intro, into U. S. 

 in 1911. Suitable as an ornamental for the southern 

 parts of the United States. The root contains a sac- 

 charine matter, an easily oxidizable resin; and a resin 

 acid. It is also said to be used as a food and in medi- 

 cine in India. When cut, the root exudes a bitter, 

 acrid, opalescent gum. 



AA. Lfts. usually deeply loibed. 



phaseoloides, Benth. (Dolichos phaseoloides, Roxbg.). 

 St. twining, often scarcely woody, clothed with dense 

 spreading brown hairs: stipules small, lanceolate: Ifts. 

 membranous, sparingly covered with appressed bristly 

 hairs above, gray and densely matted below; terminal 

 1ft. roundish, broadly ovate or rhomboidal, entire or 

 shallowly or deeply lobed, 3-6 in. long: fls. clustered on 

 numerous long-peduncled racemes; pedicels very short; 

 bracts and bractlets lanceolate, strongly nerved, more 

 or less persistent; calyx J^-%in. l n g) densely clothed 

 with appressed bristly hairs, lowest tooth lanceolate, 

 as long as the tube, others shorter, all setaceous pointed; 

 corolla reddish, twice as long as the calyx; standard 

 roundish above, distinctly spurred: pod glabrescent, 

 3-4 in. long. India, China, Malaya. Intro, into U. S. 

 in 1911. Suitable as an ornamental in the southern 

 states. p. L. RICKER. 



