PHY 



V I M 



\n some places it is found a palatable wliolc- 

 some green : the tender stalks are frequently 

 served up for young asparagus. 



In the second species the root is very thick 

 and fleshy, as large as a man's leg, divided into 

 several tliick fleshy branches, which run deep 

 in the ground : the stems three or four, herba- 

 ceous, as large as a good walking-stick, of a 

 purple colour, six or seven feet high, dividing 

 into many branches at the top: the leaves five 

 inches long, and two inches and a half broad, 

 rounded at their base, but terminating in a point, 

 placed without order on short footstalks ; they 

 are of a deep green, and in the autumn change 

 to a purplish colour: the peduncles come out 

 from the joints and divisions of the branches, 

 and are about five inches long; the lower 

 part is naked, but the upper half sustains a 

 number of flowers ranged on each side like com- 

 mon currants. Each flower stands upon a pe- 

 dicel half an inch long, and the petals are pur- 

 plish: the berry depressed, with ten furrows. 

 It flowers in July and August. It is a native of 

 Switzerland, &c. 



In some places the young shoots are boiled 

 and eaten as spinach. 



The third rises with an herbaceous stalk, from 

 two to three feet high, with several longitudinal 

 furrows, and changes at the end of summer to 

 purple. It divides at top into three or four 

 branches : the leaves arc lanceolate, six or seven 

 inches long, and almost three broad in the mid- 

 dle, of a deep green, on short footstalks ; some 

 are alternate, others opposite, and they are fre- 

 quently oblique to the footstalk : the peduncles 

 come out from the side of the branches oppo- 

 site to the leaves; they are nine or ten inches 

 long, the lower part being naked, but for a 

 shorter space than in the other sorts ; the upper 

 part narrow and commonly inclined : the flowers 

 are larger, white within, of an herbaceous co- 

 lour on their edges, and purplish on the out- 

 side, on short pedicels. 



The fruit is a globular berry. It is annual. 

 The fourth is a shrub two fathoms in height : 

 the stem upright, a little branched, very thick, 

 gray : the leaves scattered, oblong-ovate, acu- 

 minate, entire, smooth, flat or ascending on the 

 sides, five inches long, and two inches and a 

 half wide: the petioles spreading, cylindrical, 

 reddish, equal to half the leaf in length : the 

 racemes terminating, peduncled, solitary, pen- 

 dulous, bracteatc, six inches long: the flowers 

 scattered, pedicelled, spreading very much, 

 whitish green : the males five or six lines in 

 breadth, the females smaller by half. Both the 

 male and the female plants flower every spring, 



but the latter is probably barren. It is a native 

 of South America. 



Culture. — The three first sorts may he in- 

 creased by seeds, which should be sown in pots, 

 in the spring, and plunged iii a moderate hot- 

 bed : when the pla\its have had a few inches 

 growth, they should be removed into separate 

 pots in the first and third sorts, but in the se- 

 cond into the borders or other parts, allowing 

 them good room. The two former may be set 

 out in warm borders or other places during the 

 summer in the pots, being carefully watered, 

 shaded, and kept free from weeds. 



The fourth sort may be raised by planting 

 cuttings in the summer season, in pots filled 

 with Tight earth, plunging them in the bark 

 hot-bed and covering the pots with hand glasses, 

 proper shade being given. When well rooted, 

 they should be removed into separate pots of a 

 small size, re-plunging them in the hot-bed 

 with proper shade till rooted, when they should 

 be gradually inured to the open air, being re- 

 moved into a moderate stove during the winter 

 season. 



They aflJbrd ornament and variety among 

 potted plants of the stove kind ; and the se- 

 cond sort, in the borders of the natural ground. 

 PIGEON PEA. See Cytiscs. 

 PIG-NUT. SeeBuNiuM. 

 PILEWORT. See Ranunculus. 

 PIMENTO. See Myrtus. 

 PIMPERNEL. See Anagallis. 

 PIMPINELLA, a genus containing a plant 

 of the annual kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentandria 

 Di^ynia, a'lid ranks in the natural order of Um- 

 heUatce or Umhelliferce . 



The characters are : that the calyx is an uni- 

 versal umbel of many rays : partial of still more : 

 involucre universal none : partial none : perian- 

 thium proper scarcely observable : the corolla 

 universal almost uniform : florets all fertile : 

 proper, petals five, inflex-cordate, almost equal : 

 the stamina have five filaments, simple, longer 

 than the corolet : anthers roundish : the pistil- 

 luni is an inferior germ : styles two, very short: 

 sti2;mas subglobular : there is no pericarpium: 

 fruit ovate-oblong, bipartile : the seeds two, 

 oblon"", narrower towards the top, on one side 

 convex and striated, on the other flat. 



The species cultivated is P. Anisum, Anise. 

 It has an annual root : the lower leaves are 

 divided into three lobes, which are deeply cut on 

 their edges : the stem a foot and half high, di- 

 viding" into several slender branches, which have 

 narrow leaves on them, cut into three or four 

 narrow segments : the umbels pretty large and 

 2 F 2 



