POI 



[651 1 



POI 



bacece] .Linn., ] Q-Decandria I-Monogynia. 

 Allied to Csesalpinia.) 



Stove evergreen shrubs. Seeds in a brisk bot- 

 tom-heat, in spring; cuttings of stubby young 

 shoots in sand, under a bell-glass, in heat ; rich, 

 sandy, fibry loam. Winter temp., 60 to 60; 

 summer, 60 to 00. 

 P. ela'ta (tall). 15. Yellow. E. Ind. l/;8. 



Gillie'sii (Gillies's). 4. Yellow. July. Mendoza. 



1829. 



insi'gnis (noble). 15. Copper. S. Amer. 1823. 



pulche'rrima (very fair). 10. Red, yellow. July. 



E. Ind. 1691. 



re'gia (royal). Crimson. Madagascar. 1828. 



POINSE'STIA. (Named after its disco- 

 verer, M. Poinsette. Nat. ord., Spurge- 

 worts [Euphorbiaceae] . Linn., 21-Mo- 

 noecia 1-Monandria. Allied to the Eu- 

 phorbia.) 



Stove Mexican evergreen shrubs. Cuttings taken 

 off in spring, or when the old plant has done 

 flowering ; dried at the base after cutting to a 

 joint, and after several days inserted in sandy loam, 

 in a gentle hotbed ; sandy loam, and a little peat 

 and leaf-mould. Winter temp., 50 to 60; sum- 

 mer, 60 to 85. When done flowering, they may 

 be kept dry, in a temperature of from 40 to 45, 

 if not above a period of two of three months. 

 P. pulche'rrima (fairest). 4. Scarlet. March. 1834. 



a'lbida ( white- Aractfed). 4. White. De^ 



cember. 1834. 



POINTING-IN is mixing manure with the 

 top inch or two of the soil by means of 

 the point of a spade or fork. This is 

 done when roots, which ought not to be 

 disturbed, are near the surface. 



POIEE'TIA. A stove evergreen climber, 

 really a Hovea. 

 P. sca'ndens (climbing). 6. March. Caraccas. 1823. 



PoiSON-BuLB. Srunsvi'gia Cora'nica 

 and toxica'ria, and Gri'nwm Asia'ticum. 



PoisoN-NuT. jStry'chnos mix-vo'mica. 



PoiSON-OAK. Rhn's toxicode'ndron. 



POISON-SUMACH, or POISON-WOOD, film's 

 venena'ta. 



POISONOUS PLANTS. Gardeners should 

 be much more careful than they usually 

 are in handling the plants they cultivate, 

 for matty of them have deadly qualities. 

 M. Neumann, chief gardener of the Paris 

 Jardin des Plantes, says that pruning- 

 knives and hands washed in a tank after 

 they have been employed upon some of 

 the exotics will destroy the fish it con- 

 tains. Hippo' man ebiglandulo'sa, the Man- 

 chineel, the Tanyhin, Sa'pium lau'ro-ce'ra- 

 siis, and Camocia'dia denta'ta, are equally 

 deleterious to man. Gardeners who have 

 merely rubbed the leaves of the latter 

 between their fingers have had swollen 

 bodies and temporary blindness. Wounds 

 from priming-knives smeared with the 

 juices of such plants are like those from 

 poisoned arrows. 



POISONS. Soils containing obnoxious 

 ingredients are certain introducers of 

 disease and premature death. An excess 

 of oxide of iron, as when the roots of the 

 apple and pear get into an irony-red 

 gravelly subsoil, always causes canker. 

 In tlio neighbourhood of copper-smelt- 

 ing furnaces, not only are cattle sub- 

 jected to swollen joints and other un- 

 usual diseases, causing decrepitude and 

 death, but the plants also around are 

 subject to sudden visitations, to irregular 

 growths, and to unwarned destruction ; 

 and a crop once vigorous will suddenly 

 wither as if swept over by a blast. There 

 is no doubt of this arising from the salts 

 of copper, which impregnate the soil 

 irregularly, as the winds may have borne 

 them sublimed from the furnaces, and 

 the experiments of Sennebier have shown 

 that of all salts those of copper are 

 the most fatal to plants. That they can 

 be poisoned, and by many of those sub- 

 stances, narcotic as well as corrosive, 

 which are fatal to animals, has been 

 shown by the experiments of M. F. 

 Marcet and others. 



The metallic poisons being absorbed, 

 are conveyed to the different parts of 

 the plantj and alter or destroy its tissue. 

 The vegetable poisons, such as opium, 

 strychnia, prussic acid, belladonna, alco- 

 hol, and oxalic acid, which act fatally 

 Zn the nervous system of animals, 

 cause the death of plants. 



The poisonous substance is absorbed 

 into the plant's system, and proves in- 

 jurious when merely applied to its 

 branches or stem, almost as much as if 

 placed in contact with the roots, tllcera- 

 tions and canker are exasperated if lime 

 be put upon the wounds, and when Dr. 

 Hales made a Golden llennet Apple 

 absorb a quart of camphorated spirits 

 of wine through one of its branches, one- 

 half of the tree was destroyed. 



POI'VKEA. (Named after N. Poivrc, 

 a Frenchman. Nat. ord., Myrobolans 

 [Combretacea?]. Linn., IQ-JDecandria 

 L-Monogrjnia* Allied to Combretum.) 



Stove evergreen climbers. Cuttings of short, 

 stubby side-shoots, as fresh growth commences, 

 in spring, in sand, under a bell-glass, and with a 

 little botrom-heat ; sandy loam and fibry peat, 

 with pieces of charcoal. Winter temp., 85 to 

 60 ; summer, 60 to 85. 

 P. Afze'lli (Afzelius's). 10. Scarlet. April. 



Sierra Leone. 1826. 

 barba'ta (bearded-plated). 10. White. M- 



ranha. 1820. 



