HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



393 



PRO 



inch pots. If watered and shaded rather 

 less than required by ordinary cuttings, 

 it will form roots in ten or twelve days 

 more, and not more than two per cent, 

 will fail. Plants of the Tricolor Gerani- 

 ums, which all know are difficult to root 

 under the ordinary modes of propaga- 

 tion, particularly in hot weather, do ex- 

 cellently by this plan. 



The advantage of this method is not 

 only that the slips root with far greater 

 facility, but the injury to the stock or 

 mother plants is far less than if the slips 

 had been cut clean off instead of be- 

 ing only partly detached. Many other 

 plants can be thus propagated with safe- 

 ty, notably Begonias, Petunias, Poinsettias, 

 and such plants, the cuttings of which s 

 have a tendency to damp in hot weather. 

 Prothallus. A term intended to indicate 



BAD 



the first results of the germination of the 

 spores in the higher Cryptogams. 



Pseudo. In Greek compounds means spu- 

 rious. 



Pseudo-bulb. A stem having the appear- 

 ance of a bulb, but not its structure, seen 

 in the thickened above-ground stem of 

 many Orchids. 



Pterocarpus. When a fruit is winged. 



Pulverulentus, Pulverulent. Covered with a 

 powdery substance. 



Pumilus. Short, dense, or close-growing, 

 as compared with other species of the 

 same genus or family. 



Pungent. Terminating gradually in a hard, 

 sharp point. 



Puniceus. Pure red. The same as Phce- 

 niceus, which see. 



Pustular, Pustulate. Covered with glandu- 

 lar excrescences, like pustules. 



Q 



Q. 



uadrifarious. Arranged in four rows 

 or ranks. 



Quadrifid. Divided four times. 

 Quinate. Arranged in fives. 



E. 



7-) M^ A term applied to varieties of 

 ~~^ plants as distinguished from spe- 

 cies, when they can be perpetuated by 

 seed through a series of generations, 

 when they become permanent varieties. 

 The Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage, etc., 

 are distinct races which have sprung from 

 the species Srassica oleracea. 

 Raceme. An inflorescence in which the 

 flowers are arranged singly on distinct 

 pedicels along a common axis; a spike 

 with stalked flowers, as the Laburnum. 



Racemose. Flowering in a raceme. 



Rachis. The axis or central stem of some 

 kinds of inflorescence. 



Radiant. A flower is said to be radiant 

 when, in a cluster or head of florets, 

 those of the circumference or ray are 

 long and spreading, and unlike those of 

 the disk. 



Radical. Springing from the root, or from 

 its crown. 



Radicans. Booting from the stem. 



Radix. The root; the descending axis. 



