P R A 



P R I 



tables, but are principally understood to be such 

 as are in request to improve soups, broths, and 

 Bonie other similar culinary preparations, in 

 which, sometimes, several different kinds of 

 small herbs are used in dift'erent proportions, 

 both in composition, and singly. 



They are chiefly the ibllowing sorts : thyme, 

 marjoram, savory, sage, parsley, mint, penny- 

 royal, sorrel, chervil, basil, coriander, dill, fen- 

 nel, marigold, borage, burnet, tansey, tarra- 

 gon, chives, leeks, onions, green-beet, white- 

 beet, spinach, celery, endive, lettuce, love- 

 apple, capsicum, and purslane. 



Those made use of separately, as salad-herbs, 

 are green and white spinach, to boil as separate 

 dishes ; celery, endive and lettuce, as choice 

 salad herbs, and sometimes to stew. But of 

 the above, the thyme, marjoram, savorv, pars- 

 ley, sage, mint, marigold, penny-royal, leeks, 

 celery, and onions, are in the greatest request. 



Proper supplies of the different sorts may be 

 raised in the manner directed, under their parti- 

 cular heads. See Aromatic and Kitchen 

 Garden Plants. 



PKASIUM, a genus containing plants of the 

 low shrubby exotic evergreen kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Didi/namia 

 Gymnospermia, and ranks in the natural order 

 of Vertieillatce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianthlum, campanulate- turbinate, erect, 

 bilabiate; upper lip wider, semitrifid, acute; 

 lower lip a little smaller, two-parted : the co- 

 rolla one-petalled, ringent : upper lip erect, 

 ovate, obsoletely emarginate, concave : lower 

 hp wider, trifid, reflex : the middle segment 

 larger: the stamina have four awl-shaped fila- 

 ments, pressed to the upper lij), spreading, 

 shorter than the upper lip : two shorter than the 

 two others : anthers oblong, lateral : the pistil- 

 lum is a quadrifid germ: style filiform, length and 

 situation of the stamens : stigma bifid, acute, 

 with one segment shorter : the pericarpium con- 

 sists of four berries, at the bottom of the calyx, 

 roundish, one-celled ; the seeds are solitary, 

 roundish. 



The species are: 1. P. majiis, Great Spanish 

 Hedge Nettle; 2. P. minus. Small Spanish 

 Hedge Nettle. 



The first rises with a shrubby stalk two feet 

 high, covered with a whitish bark, and divides 

 into many branches which are declining : the 

 leaves are the size of those of baum, cordate, 

 smooth, blunt, petioled. The flowers come out 

 from the bosom of the leaves in whorls round the 

 stalks : are white, and have large permanent ca- 

 lyxes, cut into five points. It is a native of 

 Spain, &c., flowering here from June to August. 

 8 



The second species has a shrubby stalk like 

 the former, but rises a little higher: the bark rs 

 whiter, the leaves are shorter and ovate, and of 

 a lucid green : the flowers are somewhat larticr, 

 and are frequently marked with a few purple 

 spots. It is a native of Sicily. 



Culture. — These plants may be increased by 

 seeds and cuttinsrs. 



o 



The seeds should be soon on a bed of light 

 mould, in the early spring season, as about 

 April^ the plants being afterwards kept clear 

 from weeds, and in the following autumn be 

 removed and placed in the situations where they 

 are to remain, or in pots to be gradually har- 

 dened as they advance in growth. 



The cuttings should be taken from such 

 plants as are strong, and where the shoots are 

 short and good, and if a joint of the former 

 year's wood be taken to each of them, they suc- 

 ceed better. They should be planted out either 

 in a shady border or in pots in the latter part 

 of the spring season, as about the end of April. 

 When the plants have stricken good root in 

 the borders, they should be removed into the 

 situations where they are to remain, and those 

 in pots into separate ones. These in pots 

 should be placed under a frame during the 

 winter, or in the green-house, where they can 

 have plenty of free air when the season is dry. 

 They only require to be screened from severe 

 frosts. When planted in the open ground they 

 should have a dry poor soil and sheltered situa- 

 tion. These plants afford much ornament in 

 the green-house collections, and among other 

 evergreen shrubs of the more hardy kinds. 



PRICKLY PARSNEP. See Echinophora, 



PRICKLY PEAR. See Cactus. 



PRIMROSE. See Primula. 



PRIMROSE NIGHTLY, or TREE. See 

 Oenothera. 



PRIMROSE PEERLESS. See Narcissus. 



PRIMULA, a genus containing plants of 

 the low fibrous-rooted herbaceous flowery peren- 

 nial kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentandria 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Preciis. 



The characters are : that the calvx is a many- 

 leaved involucre, many-flowered, verv small? 

 perianthium one-leafed, tubular, five-cornered, 

 five-toothed, acute, erect, permanent : the co- 

 rolla monopetalous : tube cylindrical, the length 

 of the calyx, terminated by a small hemispheri- 

 cal neck : border spreading, half-five-cleft : seg- 

 ments obcordate, emargniate, obtuse: throat 

 pervious : the stamina have five very short fila- 

 ments, within the neck of the corolla: anthers 

 acuminate, erect, converging, iiickKled : the 



