PHY 



PHY 



This, like the rest of the Palm tribe, has no 

 other branches than its large leaves, each of 

 which is coiTiposcd of a leaf and branch, al- 

 ways arising from the top ; and as the old leaves 

 fall, the stem forms Itself and advances in 

 height ; but although the leaves grow very tall in 

 a few years, the stem advances but slowly, and 

 can never be expected to arrive at a flowering and 

 fruiting state in this climate : it, however, merits 

 a place in the hot-house collections for its sin- 

 gularity. 



The berries of this tree are the dates of the 

 shops, which are imported from Africa and 

 the countries in the Levant. 



PflYLlCA, a genus containing plants of the 

 shrubby, evergreen, exotic kind. Bastard Ala- 

 ternus. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentnndria 

 Monogi/nia, and ranks in the natural order of 



The characters are : that the calyx is a com- 

 mon receptacle of the fructifications collecting 

 the flowers into a disk : perianthiuni proper one- 

 leafed, five-cleft, turbinate, mouth villosc, per- 

 manent: there is no corolla: scalelets five, acu- 

 minate, one at the base of each division of the 

 calyx, converging : the stamina have five fila- 

 ments, very small, inserted under the scalelet : 

 anthers simple : the plstillum is a germ at the 

 bottom of the corolla: style simple: stigma ob- 

 tuse : the pericarpium is a roundish capsule, 

 three-grained, three-celled, three-valved, crown- 

 ed : the seeds solitary, roundish, gibbous on 

 one side, angular on the other. 



The species are: 1. P. ericoides. Heath- 

 leaved Phylica ; 2. P. plumosa, Woolly-Ieivcd 

 Phylica ; 3. P. I'uxif'olla, Box-leaved Phylica. 



The first is a low bushy plant, seldom rising 

 more than three feet high : the stalks are shrub- 

 by and irregular, dividing into many spreading 

 branches, subdividing into smaller ones : the 

 young branches a'-e closely beset with short, 

 narrow, acute-pointed, sessile leaves, of a dark 

 green, and continuing all the year. At the end 

 of every shoot, the flowers are produced in 

 small clusters sitting close to the leaves : they 

 are of a pure white, begin to appear in the au- 

 tumn, continue in beauty all winter, and decay 

 in spring. It srows naturally at the Cape, and 

 the flowers are slightly odoriferous. 



The second species has an erect shrubby stalk, 

 which rises near three feet high, covered whh a 

 purplish bark, and here and ihere some white 

 down upon it : the leaves are narrow, short, 

 acute-pointed, sessile, alternate on every side, 

 chick, nerved, dark green on their upper surface, 

 but hoary on their under : flowers collected in 

 small heads at the end of the branches^ white. 



woolly, fringed on their borders, cut into six 

 acute segments at top. It llowers from March 

 to May. 



The third rises with a shrubby upright stalk 

 five or six feet high, when old covered with a 

 rough purplish bark, but the younger branches 

 have a woolly down : the leaves are thick, the 

 size of those of the box-tree, veined, smooth 

 and of a lucid green on their upper side,' but 

 hoary on their under; they have short footstalks, 

 and stand without order on the branches : the 

 flowers are collected in small heads at the ends 

 of the branches ; they are of an herbaceous 

 colour, and make no great appearance. It 

 flowers during a great part of the year. 



Culture. — •They are chiefly increased by cut- 

 tings and slips of the young shoots. 



In spring, as about March or April, a quan- 

 tity of young cuttings, or slips of the small 

 shoots, should be taken ofi', planting them in 

 pots of rich earth, plunging them in a hot-bed, 

 or in the bark-bed in the stove ; giving frequent 

 waterings, and occasional shade Irom the sun, 

 when they will soon emit roots, and become 

 proper plants fit for potting off" separately in 

 autumn: or the young cuttings or slips may be 

 planted any time in summer, particularly in June 

 and July, in pots as above, and placed under a 

 hot- bed frame, or covered close with hand glasses, 

 being watered and shaded; when they, will 

 also grow, but not be so forward as those of the 

 spring planting. 



They are somewhat tender plants, requiring 

 shelter in winter in this climate : of course they 

 must always be kept in pots, and placed amonir 

 the green-house exotics, where they will effect 

 a very agreeable variety at all seasons, and flower 

 annually a great part of the autunm and winter, 

 but do not produce seed in this climate. 



PHYLLANTHUS, a genus furnishing plants 

 of the evergreen exotic tree and shrubby kind. 

 Sea-side Laurel. 



It belongs to the class and order Monoecia 

 Triandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 • Tricoccce. 



The characters are : that the male calyx is a. 

 one-leafed perianthium, six-parted, bell-shaped, 

 coloured : segments ovate, spreadmg, blunt, per- 

 manent : there is no corolla, except the calyx 

 be called so : the stamina have three filaments, 

 shorter than the calyx, approximating at the base, . 

 distant at the tips : anthers twin : females — the 

 calyx a perianthium as in the males : there is no 

 corolla : nectary a rim of twelve angles, suround- 

 ing the germ : the pistillum is a roundish aemi, 

 obtusely three-cornered : styles three, spreadinsr, 

 bifid : stigmas blunt : the pericarpium is ~a 

 roundish capsule, three-grooved, three-celled ; 



