436 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Though strictly speaking of no direct industrial value, these palms 

 are important for horticultural trade, and are objects eminently 

 fitted for experiments in acclimation. 



Ptychosperma disticha, Miquel. (Areca disticha, Griffith.) 

 Assam, up to 4,000 feet. 



Ptychosperma elegans, Blume. (P. Seaforthia, Miquel ; Seaforthia ele- 

 gans, R. Brown.) 



Littoral forests of tropical Australia. Also a magnificent Feather- 

 palm. Its leaflets are erose. It may prove hardy in mild extra- 

 tropic regions. 



Ptychosperma laccospadix, Bentham. 



North-Eastern Australia up to the cool elevation of 5,000 feet 

 [Sayer and Davidson.] Height to 15 feet, with a very slender stem, 

 thus well adapted for decoration of rooms. 



Ptychosperma Musschenbroekiana, Beccari. 



Ternate, Insular India, up to 3,000 feet. Height of this palm 

 reaching 90 feet. Almost sure to be hardy in sheltered localities of 

 the warmer temperate zone. 



Pueraria Thunbergiana, Bentham.* 



The " Kudzu " of Japan. There starch is prepared from the large 

 root of this climber. This fibre of the bark is woven locally into cloth 

 [Dyer]. In its own country also grown as a forage-plant. It will 

 bear much frost, as the stems are annual. Regarded as the quickest 

 growing plant for extensiveness anywhere in existence, as it is known 

 to have grown 60 feet in length during three months [Professor 

 Meehan]. 



Pueraria tuberosa, De Candolle. 



Southern Asia, up to 4,000 feet. A tall woody twiner. Its large 

 tubers are edible, and might improve by culture. 



Pugionmm cornutum, Gaertner. 



From the Caspian Sea to China. This herb is grown by the 

 Mongols as a vegetable [Hance]. 



Punica Granatum, Linne. 



The Pomegranate. North-Africa and South- Western Asia, in the 

 Himalayas up to 6,000 feet. Well known for its showy habit, rich- 

 coloured flowers, peculiar fruit, and medicinal astringency, but much 



