P O R 



P O R 



to advantage in any large tracts of plantation. 

 To marshy grounds no trees are bctitr adapted 

 than Poplars, especially the first three species, all 

 ofvvhith thrive remarkably in moist situations. 



As forest or litnber trees, the White, Black, 

 Tremulous, and Lombardy Poplars are proper 

 to be employed. 



Marshy lands may be improved to much ad- 

 vantage by coppices of these trees, to cut everv 

 four, five, or SIX years for [loies, and other small 

 purposes J being planted in rows a yard asunder, 

 and in seven years they will be fit to cut for 

 many small uses, and the stools shooting up 

 again strong, aflbrd a cutting every four or five 

 years afterwards. 



Some sorts may also be planted occasionally 

 to form hedges m moist or other situations, 

 more particularly the Lombardy Poplar, as this 

 sort is peculiar in branohnig out numerously 

 from the bottom upwards, and may be planted 

 hedge-fashion along the sides, or top of outward 

 watery ditches, in large plants, so as at once to 

 form a hedge ; they being topped to five, six, or 

 seven feet. 



PORRUM. See Allium. 



PORTLANDIA, a genus containing plants 

 of the trailing evergreen exotic kinds, for the 

 stove. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentandria 

 Monogijnia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 RuhiacecE. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a five- 

 leaved perianth, superior : leaflets oblong-lan- 

 ceolate, permanent : the corolla one-petalled : 

 tube long, fuiinel-form-ventricose : border 

 shorter than the tube, five-parted, acute: the 

 stamina have five awl-shaped filaments, declined, 

 almost the length of the corolla, from the bot- 

 tom of the tube : anthers linear, erect, the 

 length of the corolla : the pistillum is a five- 

 cornered germ, roundish, inferior: style sim- 

 ple, the length of the stamens : si igma oblong, 

 obtuse: the pericarpium is an obovate capsule, 

 five-streaked, five-cornered, retuse, two-celled, 

 two-valvtd; opening at the top; partition con- 

 trary : seeds very many, roundish, compressed, 

 imbricate. 



The species cultivated is V . grand'ijlora, Great- 

 flowered I'orllandia. 



It has a shrubby, upright stem, branched, 

 knotty, with a smooth bark cracking longitu- 

 dinally : the branches opposite, spreading, 

 round, scarcely divided, leafy, covered with 

 smooth green bark : the buds are gummy : the 

 leaves opposite, spreading, somewhat length- 

 ened at the point, equal at the base, entire, very 

 smooth, paler beneath, marked with alternate 

 veins projecting oii both sides : the footstalks 



are very short, thick, round below but flattish 

 above: the stij)nles between the leaves, connate, 

 triangular, pointed, very smooth, pale, closely 

 pressid to the branch : the flowers axillary, 

 mostly solitary, between the stipules, pedun- 

 cled, a little nodding, very large, white, beau- 

 tiful, most fragrant at night, in ihe bud yellow- 

 ish tipped with red. It was found in the West 

 Indies, flouering in July and August. 



Culture. — These plants may be raised either 

 from seeds or cuttings. 



The seeds when procured should be sown in 

 pots, filled with light earth, in the spring, 

 plunging them in the tan-bed, in the stove. 

 When the plants are sufficiently strong, they 

 should be removed into separate pots, and be 

 rcplunged in the bark hot-bed, where they must 

 be constantlv kept. 



The cuttings of the young shoots should be 

 planted out singly, in pots filled with the same 

 sort of mould, plunging them in the bark-bed 

 of the stove; when they have taken good root 

 they should be removed into larger pots, re- 

 plunging them into the tan-bed, where they 

 must remain. 



They afford a fine effect, when trained on the 

 back part of the stove, in their larger flowers. 



PORTULACA, a genus containing plants of 

 the heibaceous and shrubby kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Dodecandria 

 Monogijnia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 SuccidentcE. 



The characters are : that the calvx is a bifid 

 perianth, small, compressed at the tip, perma- 

 nent (two-leaved, superior, caducous): the 

 corolla has five petals, fiat, erect, blunt, larger 

 than the calyx : the stamina have many fila- 

 ments (to twenty), capillary, shorter by half 

 than the corolla: anthers simple: the pi still um 

 is a roundish germ (half inferior) : style simple, 

 short: stigmas five, oblong, the length of the 

 style : the pericarpium is a covered capsule, 

 ovate, one-celled (cut transversely) : recepta- 

 cle free (five, free, separate) : the seeds nu- 

 merous, small. 



The species cultivated are: 1. P. oleracea, 

 Garden Purslane; 2. f. Anucariipsens, Round- 

 leaved Purslane. 



The first is an annual herbaceous plant, with 

 a round, smooth, procumbent, succulent stem, 

 frequently red, and diflused branches, often 

 throwing out fibres at the joints : the leaves 

 more or less wedge-shaped, oblong, blunt, 

 fleshy, smooth, quite entire, sessile, clustered, 

 especially at the ends of the branches : the 

 flowers are sessile, scattered : corollas yellow, 

 spreadine; ; petals subtruncate at the tip and 

 eniarginate : the stamens ten ; the capsule one- 



