368 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



into Victoria, 2,981 centals, valued at 1,738. As allied species of 

 similar use, but mostly of less yield, may be enumerated : P. 

 brachystachys (Link) from Italy, P. minor (Retzius) and P. trun- 

 cata (Gussone) from various countries on the Mediterranean Sea, the 

 last-mentioned being perennial. Other species, including some from 

 Asia, are deserving of trial. P. minor is recommended by Dr. Curl for 

 permanent pastures, as it supplies a large quantity of fine, sweet, 

 fattening foliage, relished by stock. It keeps green far into the 

 winter in the climate of New Zealand. 



Pharnaceum acidum, J. Hooker. 



St. Helena. A dwarf perennial succulent plant, which might 

 advantageously be naturalised on sea-shores, to yield an acid salad, 

 perhaps superior to that of Portulaca oleracea. 



Phaseolus aconitifolius, Jacquin. 



India, up to 4,000 feet. " Moth-bean." A dwarf annual species. 

 Dr. Forbes Watson admits it among the culinary beans of India. It 

 will bear on arid soil. If the plant has once got a good start no 

 amount of dry weather will hurt it ; besides serving as human food 

 it is also excellent for green fodder [Dr. GJ-. Watt]. P. trilobus 

 (Aiton), the Simbi-bean, is a still hardier variety, which becomes 

 perennial. 



Phaseolus adenanthus, G. Meyer. (P. Truxillensis, Humboldt ; P. ros- 

 tratus, Wallich. ) 



Almost cosmopolitan within the tropics, where, irrespective of 

 navigation and other traffic, it becomes dispersed by migrating birds ; 

 truly spontaneous also in tropical Australia. A perennial herb with 

 large flowers, resembling those of Vigna vexillata (Bentham). 

 Cultivated for its seeds, which are rather small, but copiously pro- 

 duced. A variety with edible roots occurs. 



Phaseolus COCCineus, Kniphof.* (P. multiflorus, Willdenow.) 



The Scarlet Runner. Tropical South-America. A twining 

 showy perennial, as useful as the ordinary French bean. Suits for 

 rougher, cooler and more exposed localities than P. vulgaris [Dr. G. 

 Beck]. Its seeds usually larger than those of that plant, purple with 

 black dots, but sometimes also pure-blue and again quite white. 

 The flowers occur sometimes white. The root contains a narcotic 

 poison. 



Phaseolus derasus, Schranck.* 



Brazil. There, next to maize, the most important and extensively 

 used plant for human food, chiefly of the negro population [Dr. 

 Peckolt]. Sprengel refers this to P. inamasnus (Linne), a variety of 

 the following species. 



