2862 



PUNICA 



PUYA 



in summer. Hardy as far north as Washington and 

 Baltimore. It is also grown as a conservatory plant, 

 blooming in winter as well as in summer. For orna- 

 ment, the double-flowering kinds are the most popular 

 (F.S. 13:1385, as P. Granatum Legrellei). There are 

 many varieties. The treatment of the fruit-bearing 

 varieties is discussed under Pomegranate. Var. nana, 

 Hort. (P. nana, Linn.). DWARF POMEGRANATE. 

 Seldom growing higher than a man, and usually treated 

 as a pot-plant in the N. It is the best kind for green- 

 house use. The double-fld. form is most common. 

 B.M. 634. It is as hardy as the species, and is suitable 

 for outdoor work where the climate is not too severe. 

 On the Pacific Coast it is grown as a hedge-plant as 

 far north as San Francisco. Both this and the species 

 are easily grown by cuttings of dormant wood, as 

 currants are, but the cuttings should be started indoors 

 with some heat. L jj g % 



PURSHIA (after F. T. Pursh, or Pursch, as is the 

 original spelling of his name, 1774^-1820; born at Gros- 

 senhain, in Saxony; traveled in this country and wrote 

 a flora of North America). Syn., Ktinzia. Rosacese. 

 Low deciduous spreading shrub, allied to Cercocarpus, 

 with alternate, mostly fascicled, small, cuneate and 

 tridentate Ivs.: fls. solitary, yellowish; calyx-tube tubu- 

 lar; petals spatulate, 5; stamens numerous; pistils 1 or 

 sometimes 2: fr. a pubescent leathery achene exceeding 

 the persistent calyx. Of little ornamental value with 

 its sparse grayish or bluish green foliage and its rather 

 inconspicuous fls. and frs., and but rarely cult. Proba- 

 bly hardy as far north as Mass., requiring sunny posi- 

 tion and well-drained soil; an excess of moisture, 

 especially during the winter, proves fatal to it. Prop, 

 by seeds and probably by layers. The only species is 

 P. tridentata, DC. (Kunzia tridentata, Spreng.). Dif- 

 fusely branched shrub, attaining 5, rarely 10 ft.: Ivs. 

 cuneate-obovate, 3-lobed at the apex, whitish pubescent 

 beneath, J-%in. long: fls. solitary on short branchlets, 

 almost sessile, yellowish, about %in. across: fr. ovate- 

 oblong, acuminate. April-July. Ore. to Wyo., New 

 Mex. and Calif. B.R. 1446. Var. glanduldsa, Jones 

 (P. glandulosa, Curran), is glandular and has very 

 small, almost glabrous Ivs., sometimes pinnately 

 5-lobed. ALFRED REHDER. 



PURSLANE: Partvlaca, oleracea. P., Winter: Montia perfoliata. 



PUSCHKINIA (named for Count M. Puschkin). 

 Liliacese. Hardy or half-hardy bulbous plants which 

 may be used in the rock-garden or border. 



Leaves radical, few, the first often oblong, the others 

 linear: infl. a simple leafless scape; fls. few, blue, loosely 

 racemose; perianth campanula te, of 6 subequal lobes; 

 stamens 6; ovary sessile, 3-celled: caps, membranaceous, 

 dehiscent. Two species, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and 

 Afghanistan. These attractive spring-blooming bulbs 

 have clusters of small 6-lobed white fls., each narrow 

 lobe being prettily lined with blue. A good specimen 

 may have as many as 10 fls., each %in. across. The 

 peculiar feature of the genus is the crown on which the 

 stamens are borne. This is a white body of petal-like 

 texture, having 6 lobes, each of which is variously 

 toothed. The genus is allied to Scilla and Chionodoxa. 



scilloides, Adams (Addmsia scilloldes, Willd.). 

 Height 4-12 in.: bulb globular, about %in. thick: Ivs. 

 as long as scape, ^-1 in. wide: raceme 1-lO^fld.; pedi- 

 cels slender, erect; perianth usually bluish white; 

 divisions elliptic-oblong, three times as long as the tube; 

 crown one-third as long as divisions, cleft to middle 

 into truncate or retuse teeth. April, May. Var. 

 libanotica, Boiss. (P. libanotica, Zucc.), differs from 

 the type in having divisions of perianth Hin. long 

 and the teeth of the crown more acute and bifid. Gn. 

 32, p. 5; 54, p. 219. B.M. 2244. F.S. 21:2220 (as P. 



F TRACY HuBBARD.f 



PUTRANJIVA (Indian name). Euphorbiacese. Ever- 

 green trees, cult, for ornament in the tropics: Ivs. 

 alternate, simple: fls. small, axillary, single or in small 

 clusters, apetalous; calyx imbricate; stamens 1-4; disk 

 absent; styles broad, spreading; ovary 2-3-celled, 2 

 ovules in each cell: fr. a 2-celled drupe. Two or more 

 species in Trop. Asia. Related to Drypetes. 



R6xburghii, Wall. INDIAN AMULET PLANT. WILD 

 OLIVE. A moderate-sized tree, nearly glabrous: 

 branches slender: Ivs. short-petioled, ovate-lanceolate, 

 serrulate, smooth, shining, 2-3 in. long: fls. yellow: fr. 

 globose to ovoid, about ^in. thick, white-tomentose. 

 India. J. B. S. NORTON. 



PUYA (Chilean name). Bromeliacese. Large terres- 

 trial xerophytic South American bromeliads. 



Allied to Pitcairnia (differing in having a fully 

 superior rather than partially superior ovary). Forty- 

 four species, according to Mez (DC. Monogr. Phaner. 

 9). For culture, see also Billbergia. Puya also includes 

 the plants known in trade as Pourretia. 



Puyas and pitcairnias are generally found in collec- 

 tions of bromeliads and are usually grown in moist 

 tropical houses. The native home of the puyas is on 

 the steep stony slopes of the Cordilleras at high alti- 

 tudes with little other vegetation for company except 

 some species of cereus. This would indicate that drier 

 and cooler conditions, or such as are given cacti and 

 succulents, would suit them best, yet they thrive equally 

 well in the tropical house. Indeed, the writer has found 

 most of the family Bromeliacese very accommodating 

 not only to temperature and moisture conditions, but 

 to soils and methods of growing them; for example 

 many of the tillandsias may be grown on blocks of 

 wood as epiphytes, yet they do equally well grown in 

 pots. But what perhaps is more remarkable is the fact 

 that several of the stronger-growing bromeliads appear 

 to grow equally well either in a strong loamy mixture, 

 or a mixture of chopped fern root and charcoal. The 

 writer has pineapples growing in both mixtures with 

 equal success. But the most rational treatment is to 

 give all the bromeliads conditions and soil similar to the 

 environment in which they are found in their native 

 habitat, yet according to the experience of the writer 

 few plants possess such remarkable adaptability to 

 changed conditions as do these plants. (E. J. Canning.) 



A. Fls. yellow. 



chilensis, Molina (Pitcairnia coarctata, Pers., and P. 

 chilensis, Lodd.). Becoming 4-5 ft. or more high, some- 

 times branching: Ivs. in tufts, 2-4 ft. long, very narrow, 

 often recurved, the margins armed with strong recurved 

 spines or thorns, glaucous: blossoms in a branching, 

 hoary, bracted infl. rising 3-5 ft. from the top of the 

 caudex, the fls. large (2 in. across), sessile or nearly so, 

 the 3 lanceolate sepals greenish and the obovate- 

 oblong much-exserted petals yellow or greenish yellow, 

 the 6 erect stamens shorter than the petals, the stigma 

 3-branched. Chile. B.M. 4715. F.S. 9:869,870. J.F. 

 4:392. J.H. III. 62:533. G.C. III. 7:685; 48:390; 

 54:3. A striking and mammoth brpmeliad, making a 

 yucca-like mass of foliage and projecting above it a 

 very showy infl. 



AA. Fls. white or rose-color. 



gigas, Andre". Still larger than the latter, sending its 

 titanic spikes 20-30 ft. into the air, from a rosette of 

 hard and thick spiny-toothed agave-like Ivs.: infl. 

 simple, dense, club-shaped, terminating the tall, erect, 

 bracted scape: Ivs. green above and white beneath, the 

 spines black and hooked: fls. white, passing into rose. 

 Colombia, 10,000 ft. R.H. 1881,p. 315, and Gn. 21, p. 

 309. Can probably be handled like agaves. 



AAA. Fls. blue. 



caerillea, Lindl. (Pitcairnia cserulea, Benth. & 

 Hook.). Foliage pineapple-like, with linear very acute 



