264 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Psidium rufum, Martius. 



Brazil, in tte province o£ Minas Geraes, on Sub- Alpine heights. 

 This Guava-bush gains finally a height of 10 feet, and is 

 likely the hardiest of all the species producing palatable fruit. 



Psoralea esculenta, Pursch. 



North America. This herb is mentioned here, as the tuberous 

 roots known as Prairie Turnips may by cultural processes be 

 capable of great improvement, and of thus becoming a valuable 

 esculent. 



Psychotria Eckloniana, F. v. Mueller. {Gnmilia cymosa, E. 

 Meyer.) 



South Africa. Dr. Pappd describes the wood of this tree as 

 beautifully citron-yellow. 



Pterocarpus ludicns, Roxburgh. 



The Lingo of China and India. A tree of considerable dimen- 

 sions, famed for its flame-red wood. It furnishes also a kind 

 of dragon-blood resin. 



Pterocarpus Marsupium, Roxburgh. 



India, ascending in Ceylon and the Circars to at least 3,000 

 feet altitude ; hence this tree would doubtless grow without 

 protection in those tracts of the temperate zone which are free 

 from frost. It exudes the best medicinal kino, which contains 

 about 75 per cent, of tannic acid. The foliage is deciduous. 

 P. santalinus (Linn^ fil.), which provides the Saunders or 

 Red Sandal Wood, is also indigenous to the mountains of 

 India. 



Pterocarya fraxinifolia, Kunth. 



From Central Asiatic Russia to Persia. A kind of Walnut 

 Tree, which, with P. stenoptera (Cas. de Cand.),on Dr. Hance's 

 recommendation, should be adopted as trees for both ornament 

 and timber, and so perhaps also the Japanese species. 



Ptychosperma Alexandrse, F. v. Mueller. 



The Alexandra Palm. Queensland, as well in tropical as extra- 

 tropical latitudes. The tallest of Australian Palms, and one 

 of the noblest forms in the whole empire of vegetation. It 

 exceeds 100 feet in height, and is likely destined to grace any 

 shady moist grove free from frost, as it seems less tender than 

 most palms. The demand for seeds has already been enormous. 



