344 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



POT 



might suitably christen it in English) would 

 be better fitted to succeed in England and 

 Ireland than S. tuberosum, a plant of a 

 comparatively dry climate. We have indis- 

 putable testimony that S. Maglia and S. Com- 

 mersoni, yield readily an abundant supply of 

 eatable Potatoes. What I would suggest is, 

 that these should be brought into the econom- 

 ic arena, and thoroughly tested as to their 

 economic value, both as distinct types, and 

 when hybridized with the innumerable tuber- 

 osum forms." J. G. Baker, in Linn-Soe. 

 Journal of Botany, Vol. XX. The Sweet 

 Potato is the root of Batatas edulis, of the 

 Nat. Ord. Convolvulacece, and its history is 

 quite as obscure as that of the common 

 Potato. The first mention of it is said to be 

 by an author named Pigafetta, who went to 

 Brazil in 1519, and found it in use as an 

 article of food by the Indians. It was soon 

 afterward introduced into Spain, where it has 

 been extensively cultivated ever since. Of 

 this species there are several varieties indi- 

 genous to both the East and West Indies and 

 South America. The Sweet Potato is exten- 

 sively grown in the United States, especially 

 in the Southern States. 



Potato Oat. The popular name of Avena 

 nuda. 



Potato Onion. See Onion. 

 Potato, Sweet. See Potato. 



Potato Vine. Wild. A common name for 

 IpomcBa pandurata. 



Potenti'Ua. Cinquefoil, Five Finger. From 

 potens, powerful ; supposed medicinal quality 

 of some of the species. Nat. Ord. Rosacece. 



This is a large genus of very desirable hardy 

 herbaceous plants, and it is somewhat re- 

 markable, when their number (upward of one 

 hundred and thirty species and varieties) 

 and their ornamental characterare considered, 

 that so few of them are met with in gardens. 

 The most important, however, are the fine 

 hybrid varieties that have been obtained of 

 late years by hybiidizing a few of the showy 

 Himalayan species, such as P. insignia and P. 

 otrosanguinea. These two species, the former 

 with clear yellow and the latter with deep, 

 velvety-crimson flowers are well worth grow- 

 ing, as is also the beautiful rosy-pink P. 

 colorata, a plant that flowers throughout the 

 summer. The double-flowered kinds are 

 most showy, and they possess the additional 

 advantage of lasting in perfection a longer 

 time than the single sorts, both on the plants 

 and in the cut state. Among the dwarf 

 alpine species there are some very beautiful 

 plants that are indispensable to the rock- 

 garden. P. alba, P. alpestris, P. ambigua, P. 

 calabra, P. nitida, and P. Pyrenaica, are 

 excellent species for this purpose. They 

 grow without trouble in any tolerably good 

 soil, and produce their scarlet, orange, yel- 

 low, crimson, and rose-colored double and 

 single flowers in great abundance. The 

 species are common to both hemispheres, 

 and are propagated readily from seeds or by 

 division. They were first introduced in 

 1680. 



Pote'rium. Burnet. Name from poterium, a 

 drinking cup, as its herbage, which has much 

 the flavor of Cucumber, was employed in the 



POT 



old English drink known as "cool tankard." 

 Nat. Ord. Rosacece. 



P. sanguisorba, the only cultivated species, is 

 a hardy perennial, indigenous to the dry, 

 chalky hills of Great Britain. It grows from a 

 few inches to two feet high, according to the 

 situation. In some parts of England it forms 

 much of the turf, which is considered excel- 

 lent pasturage for sheep ; it was formerly 

 extensively cultivated as a fodder plant, but 

 it is now but very little grown in that way. 

 It is now used occasionally as a salad plant, 

 the leaves having somewhat' the taste and 

 smell of Cucumbers. A variety known as 

 Great Burnet, very similar in form, but some- 

 what larger, and with oval heads of purple 

 flowers, is cultivated to a considerable extent 

 in Germany for fodder, but it does not find 

 much favor where clover will grow. 



Po'thos. From Pothos, the name of a species 

 in Ceylon. Nat. Ord. Aroidem. 



A genus of climbing shrubs, natives of India, 

 China, and New Holland. They are epiphytal 

 and have cord-like stems, sending out false 

 roots here and there, and attaching them- 

 selves to trees. A few of the species have 

 very handsome foliage, and are grown in the 

 green-house for the sake of their leaves. The 

 beautiful variegated species known in culti- 

 vation as P. aurea, and P. argyrcea, are now 

 placed under Scindapsus. The leaves of P. 

 palmata are three feet long, and the foot-stalks 

 four. They were first introduced in 1790, and 

 are increased by cuttings. 



Pot Marigold. See Calendula. 



Pottery Tree. A common name applied to 

 Moquilea utilis. 



Potting. The first operation of potting is when 

 the rooted cutting is transferred from the 

 cutting bed, or the seedling from the seed 

 box to the pot. 



Almost without exception, cuttings or seed- 

 lings should be placed in pots not exceeding two 

 and a half inches in diameter. We, in ou r o\v n 

 practice, invariably use pots two and a quarter 

 inches in diameter at the top, and of the same 

 depth. Booted cuttings do much better in 

 the smaller size, for the reason that the small 

 amount of soil in the 234-inch pot allows the 

 moisture to pass off quickly, and thus prevents 

 the soil from becoming sodden for want of 

 air, which would be the case if the cutting had 

 been potted in a 3 or 4-inch pot, as amateur 

 gardeners sometimes do. The potting of 

 cuttings is very simple, and in commercial 

 gardens is performed with great rapidity, 

 average workmen doing 300 plants per hour. 

 One of our workmen obtained almost national 

 fame in this operation, as he had repeatedly 

 potted 10,000 plants in ten hours, his average 

 being 6,000 per day. The pot is filled to the 

 level with soil, a space made with the finger 

 in the centre of the soil of sufficient size to 

 admit the root, which is placed in the opening 

 thus made ; the soil is closed in again by 

 pressing with the thumbs close to the neck of 

 the cutting, which firms the soil around the 

 root. But when plants are required to be grown 

 as specimens, or of larger size, they must be 

 repotted at intervals, as the condition of their 

 growth demands. For example, to grow a 

 Geranium of a height of three feet and three 

 feet in diameter, a pot of at least eight inches 

 across at top, and eight inches in depth, would 



