AND GENERAL HOETICULTURE. 



343 



POK 



Portugal Quince. Cydonia vulgaris Lnisitanica. 



Portula'ca. From porta, to carry, and lac, milk ; 

 the juicy nature of the plants. Nat. Ord. 

 PortulacacecB. 



An extensive genus of hardy annuals, 

 mostly natives of South America. Many of 

 them are exceedingly showy and useful plants 

 lor the border. The genus also contains some 

 of our most troublesome ■weeds, among which 

 is P. oleracea, common Purslane. P. grandi- 

 flora is the parent of our many garden 

 varieties. It is a native of Chili, from whence 

 it was introduced in 1827. 'The double varie- 

 ties are of Grerman origin. We quote from 

 "Hovey's Magazine "an excellent article on 

 this plant: "The double varieties are, in 

 fact, charming objects, and may well claim a 

 prominent place among the novel things of 

 recent Introduction. The flowers are perfectly 

 . double, about the size of a silver dollar, and a 

 bed of them in full bloom presents a gay ap- 

 pearance, not unlike that of the beautiful 

 Ranunculuses, or the little Burgundy Bose, 

 so that the Germans call them ' Portulaca 

 Roses.' The Portulacas need a warm and 

 rather light soil and a dryish situation to 

 flower well. They need not be planted early, 

 unless in a frame or hot-bed, as the seed will 

 not grow freely till the ground is warm. About 

 the middle of June the plants begin to appear 

 in the open ground, and grow with great 

 rapidity, soon covering a large bed, and mak- 

 ing a dazzling display, with their many-hued 

 flowers, from July to frost. The seeds saved 

 from double varieties, like all other double 

 flowers, cannot be relied upon with certainty 

 to produce all double flowers, but the largest 

 part of them will be double, and the single 

 sorts may be pulled up and thrown away or 

 transplanted, unless it is desired to retain 

 them in the same bed with the double kinds." 



Portulaoa'ceae. A natural order of more or less 

 succulent herbs or shrubs, found in various 

 parts of the world, chiefly, however, in South 

 America and at the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 generally in dry, parched places. .The order 

 contains eighteen genera, of which Portulaca, 

 Oalcmdrina,^ Claytonia, and Talirvwrn, are ex- 

 amples, and about one hundred and fifty spe- 

 cies. 



Portulaca'ria. So named from its resemblance 

 to Portulaca. Nat. Ord. Portvlacacem. 



P. Afra, the Purslane-tree, introduced from 

 Africa in 1732, is a green-house evergreen 

 shrub, with small, pink flowers and opposite, 

 obovate, fleshy leaves. Young cuttings taken 

 off and dried for a few days, and then potted, 

 will root freely. 



Posoque'ria. 'Aymara posoqueri is the name of 

 P. longiflora among the natives of Guiana. 

 Nat. Ord. RvbiacecB. 



A small genus of shrubs or low-growing 

 trees, natives of the West Indies and Guiana. 

 They are remarkable for their very long, white, 

 hanging flowers, the corolla of which is funnel- 

 shaped, with a very long tube, a hairy throat, 

 and a five-parted limb. One or two of the 

 species are to be found in collections of rare 

 plants. P. revoluta is one of the best, and 

 should be grown in the hot-house. P. longir 

 flora, with white flowers six inches long, 

 borne in corymbs six to twelve flowered, is 

 also a very showy variety, and is not so often 

 met with as it deserves. They were flrst in- 



POT 



troduced about 1820, and are easily increased 

 by cuttings. 



Potamoge'ton. Pond Weed. A large genus of 

 submersed or partially floating aquatics ; over 

 twenty of which are natives of this country. 

 They are of no horticultural value. 



Potato. Solarium tuberosum. The early history 

 of this important plant, as well as the various 

 stages of its development from a tuber not 

 much larger than a marble, watery and com- 

 paratively taSteless, to the present great 

 staple of food, is very obscure. The most 

 accurate and concise account we find in the 

 " Treasury of Botany," written by Mr. W. B. 

 Booth, from which we quote: "The native 

 country of the Potato, and the date of its in- 

 troduction into Britain, have been subjects of 

 much discussion. There can be no doubt of 

 its being indigenous in many parts of South 

 America, plants in a wild state having been 

 found on the Peruvian coast, as well as on the 

 sterile mountains of Central Chili and Buenos 

 Ayres. The Spaniards are believed to have 

 first brought it to Europe from Quito, in the 

 early part of the sixteenth century. It after- 

 ward found its way into Italy, and from 

 thence it was carried into Mons, in Belgium, 

 by one of the attendants of the Pope's legate. 

 In 1598 it was sent from Mons to the cele- 

 brated botanist Clusius at Vienna, who states 

 that in a short time it spread rapidly through- 

 out Germany. The first Potatoes that 

 reached this country (England) were brought 

 from Virginia by the colonists sent out by 

 Sir Walter Raleigh in A. D. 1584, and who 

 returned in 1586. They were planted on Sir 

 Walter's estate near Cork, and were used for 

 food in Ireland long before they were even 

 known or cultivated in England. Gerarde 

 had a plant in his garden at Holbom, and has 

 given a figure of it in his Herbal, published in 

 1597, under the name of Batata Virginiama. 

 He recommends the roots to be eaten as a 

 delicate dish, and not as common food. In 

 the times of James the First they were so 

 rare as to cost two shillings (sterling) a 

 pound, and are mentioned in 1619 among the 

 articles provided for the royal household. In 

 1633, when their valuable properties had be- 

 come more generally known, they were 

 deemed worthy of notice by the Royal Society, 

 which took measures to encourage their cul- 

 tivation with a view of preventing famine; 

 but it was not until nearly a century after the 

 above date that they were grown to any 

 extent in England. In 1725 they were intro- 

 duced into Scotland, and cultivated with 

 much success, first in gardens and afterward 

 (about 1760), When they had become more 

 plentiful, in the open fields. Since that 

 period the prejudices which so long existed 

 against their use, both in England and Scot- 

 land, have gradually vanished, and for many 

 years past the Potato crop has been regarded 

 as a most valuable addition to the staple 

 commodities of life, only second in importance 

 to the cereals." There are six tuber-bearing 

 Solanums out of the total of seven hundred, 

 which Bentham and Hooker estimate as dis- 

 tinct species. Mr. Baker's investigations in 

 England, however, led him to believe that 

 " all the numerous varieties had originated 

 from S. tuberosum. * ■" * As far as 

 climate is concerned it cannot be doubted 

 that S. Magelia (or the Darwin potato as we 



