POISONOUS PLANTS 



1383 



minal; sepals lK-2 in. long, linear, dark purple; petals 

 nearly 1 in. long, linear. May, June. Moist, rich, 

 shaded positions, Ont. to Wis. and Fla. B.B. 1:468. 

 Heixrich Hasselbring and P. W. Barclay. 



POeOSTEMON (Greek, hr„,;lr,l sfnwen). Lixhiiihv. 

 This includes the plant whicli pr'nlm-p^ thr well-known 

 perfumes called Patchouli, or in IiMiia I'lhlKi-j.at. Pat- 

 chouli has a peculiar, dry ni..My mii.1I mj.I is ,.ik- of 

 the oomnaonest perfumes in India. In the furtii-s its 

 presence was considered the sure test of a genuine In- 

 dian shawl, but the French manufacturers of imitation 

 Indian shawls imported the perfume in the fifties. 

 Patchouli is no longer fashionable. Fuller accounts 

 of it will be found in the " Cultural Industries of Queens- 

 land," V. 8:247 and Gn. 27, p. 447. The plant has no 

 ornamental value. Live plants were introduced into 

 America by Praneeschi, of Santa Barbara, and were 

 offered in 1900 in the East. 



Pogostemon is a genus of about 30 species, 24 of which 

 are distinguished in Flora of British India 4:631. Herbs 

 or subshrubs: Ivs. opposite, rarelv in ."i's: fls. small, 

 in solitary or iianiclcd spikes formed of many dense 

 whorls; (mIxa -mI .■ iiiMl I\ \ :. t.M.ili.ii ; rnrella-tube ex- 

 serted or r i i.d: L.l.es 4, lower 



usually inn _ ,1 r,- j ! : I I, -I r:iiL:lit or decli- 



nate; fihuiiei.i- n-udl;, i.i.i r-hd : imiiIht rells confluent. 



Heyneinus, Benth. ( P. Patrhnidy, Pellet). Pat- 

 chouli Plant. Herb, 2-3 ft. high: Ivs. long-stalked, 

 ovate, acute, acuminate or obtuse, crenate, simply or 

 doubly toothed: spikes terminal and axillary, forming 

 a panicled inflorescence: whorls usually separate, form- 

 ing interrupted spikes : fls. whitish, tinged purple. 

 India. 



POINCIANA 



in the s.v. nt. 



mostly br.i:el t 



graceful In]. inn 



^\. de 



sovernor of the Antilles 

 Lrfinniinds(^. Small, 

 I trees, with large and 

 innn-rous small Ifts. and 

 ■uous stipules: fls. very 



very showy, orange or scarlet, in large, corymbose ra- 

 cemes, not papilionaceous, the 5 petals clawed and 

 eroded or even fimbriate on the margin, the stamens 10 

 and free and esserted : f r. long and flat. There are 2 or 

 3 species of Poinciana, all native to the oriental trop- 

 ics. The genus has been confounded with Ccesalpinia, 

 but the calyx-segments are valvate, whereas they are 

 strongly imbricate (or overlapping) in Caesalpinia. 

 The P. pnlcherrima, known as Barhadoes Pride and 

 Bird-of-P;in,dise Flower, is r„.;,i,;i„if, pulcherrima. 



ited in the Old 

 ^ It reaches a 

 nrcely exserted 



iH. lWi3. Royal Poinciana. 

 H..VANT. Rapid-growing tree, 

 nuking a wide-spreading pic- 

 long, with 10-20 pairs of pin- 

 is oval leaflets: fls. 3^ in. 

 (upper petal striped with yellow 



Worl.l. I.nt is not m 



beyond the calyx. 



rdgia, Boj. Fi-s. 

 Peacock Flowki;. 1- 

 reaching 20-40 It., a 

 turesque top ; Ivs. 1- 

 na>, each pinna with 

 across, bright scarle 



and more cuneate), the obovate petals very prominently 

 clawed (or narrow below) : pod 6 in. to 2 ft. long. Mada- 

 gascar. B.M. 2884. — Now a popular tree in frostless 

 countries, as in S. Fla., S. Calif., Bermuda, and the 

 West Indian Islands. It is deciduous. One of the most 

 striking of tropical trees. Sometimes seen under glass in 

 the North. Ccpsalpinia puUherrima is often confounded 

 with it; but that plant is a shrub or at most only a 

 small tree, with strongly overlapping calyx-segments in 

 the bud, smaller fls., and very long-exserted stamens. 

 L. H. B. 



POINSETTIA. Euphorbin pulchrrrlma. Annual P. 

 is E. heterophyjla. 



POIREA is a catalogue error for Poivrea. 



POISON BEERY, CVsOkhi. P. Dogwood, /rt»s vene 

 natii. P. Elder, irtiis renmuta. P. Hemlock, Cn>n„». 

 muculatum. P. Ivy , Ii'hns Ti.sicodeiulroii. P. Oak, iJ. 

 Toxicodendron. P. Sumac, Vi7i»a vnmata. 



POISONOUS PLANTS. 



to the touch. The only i 

 are Poison Ivy and Poison Sumac. The former is a root 

 climbing vine (./?. Toxicodendron] with ternate leavea 

 (Fig. 1864), and the latter is a tree-like bush (Ithui. 

 venenata] with pinnate leaves and entire leaflets (Fig. 

 1865). Poison Ivy is sometimes confounded with Vir- 



1364. Leaf of Poison Ivy (X K). 



ginia Creeper, but the latter usually has 5 leaflets, it is 

 a much taller vine and it climbs by means of tendrils 

 ' than Poison 

 There are 



