and a singular unguieulate three-parted 

 smallish lip, of a chocolate-purple colour, 

 tipped with a fringe of white filiform 

 glands, and with four similar glands on 

 the claw, and a crest between the side 

 lobes. fA. S.j 



PAPILIONACE.E. A suborder of legu- 

 minous plants, characterised by having 

 the flowers papilionaceous, and the petals 

 imbricated in aestivation, the upper one 

 exterior. The flowers are like those of the 

 pea, and consist of five irregular petals, 

 the upper being the vexillum or standard 

 which covers the rest in the bud, the two 

 lateral being alas or wings, and the infe- 

 rior the carina or keel, consisting of two 

 petals more or less completely cohering. 



The plants of this suborder have fre- 

 quently beautiful flowers, as in Cytisus 

 Laburnum, Wistaria, Lupinus, Clianthus, 

 Enjthrina or coral-flower, &c. They are 

 often nutritious, as in the various kinds 

 of clover, bean, pea, medick, lucerne, sain- 

 foin, melilot, &c. Many are used for their 

 medicinal qualities, as in the case of Gly- 

 cyrrhiza glabra, the liquorice; Astragalus 

 verus, cretiens, gummifer, and others, which 

 yield gum-tragacanth , Myrospermum pe-' 

 ruiferum audi!/, toliuferum, which yield bal- 

 sam of Peru and balsam of Tolu ; Ptero- 

 carpus Marsupium and P. erinaceus, which 

 furnish kino, &c. Broom-tops, procured 

 from Sarothamniis scoparms, are used as 

 a diuretic ; the hairs from the legumes of 

 Mucuna pruriens in the West Indies, and 

 of M. prurita in the East, under the name 

 of cowhage or cowitch, are used as anthel- 

 mintics. Others are valuable in commerce 

 and the arts, as furnishing food, dyes, 

 fibres, timber. Various species of Tndigo- 

 fera,_ as J. tinctoria and I. cceritleci, furnish 

 the indigo of commerce ; Pterocarpus san- 

 tahnus y\e]ds red sandalwood, which is used 

 as a dye; P. Draco yields gum-dragon ; and 

 P. dalbergioides is said to yield Andaman 

 redwood; Baptisia tinctoria gives a blue 

 dye, and is the wild indigo of the United 

 States ; Crotalaria jnncea supplies fibres, 

 which are known as sunn or Bengal hemp ; 

 the fragrant seeds of Dipterix oclorata are 

 known as tonka-beans ; a similar fragrance 

 is given out by some species of Melilotus ; 

 Araelns hypogcea produces its legumes un- 

 derground, and hence receives the name 

 of ground-nut. Robinia Pseud-acacia, the 

 locust tree, yields a hard durable wood ; 

 according to Bertoloni, a kind of ebony is 

 the produce of Fornarinia ebenifera ; rose- 

 wood is the timber of Dalbergia, Macha?- 

 rmm, and Triplolemma. 



Thereare certain poisonous plants in this 

 group : thus the seeds and bark of Cytisus 

 Laburnum are narcotic , the roots of many 

 species of Phaseolus, as P. multiflorus (the 

 scarlet-runner) and P. radiatus, are poison- 

 ous : the branches and leaves of Tephro- 

 sia toxicaria, and the bark of the root of 

 Piscidia Erylhrina, are employed as fish- 

 poisons. Physostigma venenosum yields 

 the Calabar ordeal bean ; Gompholobium 

 uncUiatum and Gastrolobium grandiflorum 

 are deadly sheep poisons in the Australian 



colonies. The suborder contains about 350 

 genera, and about 5,000 species. TJ. H. B.] 



PAPILIONACEOUS. Having such a co- 

 rolla as that of the pea. 



PAPILLAE. Soft oblong superficial 

 glands; also the aciculas of certain fun- 

 gals. 



PAPILLOSE, PAPULIFEROUS. Cover- 

 ed with minute soft tubercles or excres- 

 cences. 



PAPOOSE-ROOT The root of Caulo- 



phyllum thalictroides. 



PAPPEA. A genus of Sapindacea, the 

 only species of which is a small tree about 

 twenty feet high, a native of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and hence called P.capensis. 

 Ithas smooth leathery oblong leaves, with 

 the edges bent backwards, and racemes 

 of small unisexual flowers, both the leaves 

 and the racemes of flowers being in clus- 

 ters at the ends of the branches. The 

 flowershavean unequally five-parted calyx, 

 and four to six petals covered with hairs 

 outside : the males containing eight to 

 ten stamens inserted beneath a ring-like 

 disk, and the females a three-celled ovary 

 with a short style and trifid stigma. Its 

 fruit, which is called Wilde Pruime (i.e. Wild 

 Plum) from its plum-like eatable flesh, is 

 formed of three carpels, but two are fre- 

 quently abortive, and the other contains a 

 single seed. A vinous beverage and ex- 

 cellent vinegar are prepared from the pulp 

 of the fruit, and an eatable though slightly 

 purgative oil is extracted from the seeds, 

 which, besides being used for food, is 

 recommended as a remedy for scald-head 

 and baldness. Its trunk affords a hand- 

 some wood, used for small articles of fur- 

 niture and for ploughs, &c. [A. S.] 



PAPPOPHORUM. A genus of grasses 

 of the tribe Pappophorece. The inflores- 

 cence is in contracted spike-like panicles, 

 with the spikelets two to four-flowered, 

 the lower flowers hermaphrodite, the upper 

 sterile; glumes tw-o, the outer shortest; 

 pales two, membranaceous. Steudel de- 

 scribes twenty-seven species, which are 

 mostly natives of New Holland, Africa, 

 and parts of the East Indies. [D. M.J 



PAPPUS. The calyx of composites, 

 in which that organ is reduced to a mem- 

 brane, or scales, or hairs, or a mere rim. 

 Pappiform means resembling a pappus. 



PAPULAE (adj. PAPULOSE;. The same 

 as Papilla?. 



PAPYRACEOUS. Of a papery or charta- 

 ceous texture. 



PAPYRUS. A genus of cyperaceous 

 plants, belonging to the tribe Cyperece. 

 The inflorescence is in many-flowered 

 spikelets, surrounded by long bracts ; 

 glumes imbricated, in two rows, one-flow- 

 ered ; style three-cleft; scales two, mem- 

 branaceous ; ovary without bristles under- 

 neath; seed three-cornered. P. anti quorum, 

 the Paper Reed, is the plant which yielded 

 the substance used as paper by the ancient 



