Sio 



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Egyptians. The soboles, or underground 

 rootstocks, spread horizontally under the 

 mud in places where the plant grows, con- 

 tinuing to throw up stems as they creep 

 alonar." These stems are from eight to ten 

 feet hiarh, a portion of them being above 

 the surface of the water. The paper was 

 made from thin slices, cut A-ertically from 

 the apex to the base of the stem, between 

 its surface and centre. The slices were 

 placed side by side according to the size 

 required, and then, after being watered 

 and beaten with a wooden instrument 

 until smooth, were pressed and dried in 

 the sun. The stems were likewise used 

 for ornamenting the Egyptian temples, and 

 crowning the statues of their gods. The 

 Paper Reed grows naturally in the south 

 of Italy, as well as on the banks of the 

 Nile and Jordan , but in Britain it requires 

 the aid of a stove to grow it properly, 

 and then it must have a good supply of 

 water. The stems of P corymbosus form 

 the Indian matting, of which large quan- 

 tities are imported. These plants are some- 

 times still retained in Cyperus, the Paper 

 Reed being called Cyperus Papyrus. [D.M.] 



PAQUERETTE. (Fr.) Bellls perennis. 



PAQUEROLLE. (Fr.") Bellium. 



PARABOLICAL. Ovate, very obtuse, 

 contracted below the point. 



PARACOROLLA. Any appendage of a 

 corolla. 



PARADISANTHUS balriensis is a little 

 terrestrial two-leaved stemless orchid, 

 with simple erect spikes of milky-white 

 flowers curiously marked with a succes- 

 sion of deep purple transverse stripes on 

 the sepals and petals, forming circles round 

 the centre of the flower It has similar 

 and nearly equal sepals and petals, the 

 former connate at the very bottom, and 

 the two lateral ones slightly unequal at 

 the base ; a three-lobed articulate lip with 

 a curious pentagonal-mouthed sac on its 

 hind part, at the base of which are a couple 

 of diverging denticulate plates; a semi- 

 terete column abruptly bent forward above 

 its middle, and four pyriform pollen- 

 masses, sessile in two pairs upon a mark- 

 edly transverse triangular gland. [A. S.] 



PARAGRAMMA. A group of eastern 

 tropical creeping-stemmed polypodiaceous 

 ferns, usually associated with Grammitis or 

 the net-veined Polypodiece ; but their con- 

 stantly elongated sori parallel with the 

 costa connect them with the To?nitideo>. 

 They have simple coriaceous fronds, non- 

 indusiate linear-oblong submarginal sori, 

 and immersed anastomosing veins having 

 free veinlets in the areoles. [T M.] 



PARAIBA. A Brazilian name for Sima- 

 ruba versicolor 



PARALLELINERVED, PARALLELI- 

 VENOSB. Having the lateral ribs of a 

 leaf straight, as in Abuts glutinosa ; also 

 having the veins straight and almost 

 parallel but united at the summit, as in 

 grasses. 



PARANEMATA. The paraphyses of 

 algals and other cryptogams. 



PARAPETALmi. Any appendage of a 

 corolla consisting of several pieces. 



PARAPHYLLIA. Stipules. 



PARAPHYSES. A name given to the 

 barren threads which separate the asci or 

 sporophores in such fungi as the Pezizce 

 and agarics. The term is also used for the 

 bodies which accompany the archegonia in 

 mosses, or the antheridia or analogous 

 bodies in the fruit of Balanophorce. These 

 bodies are also sometimes' called Parane- 

 mata. [M. J. B.] 



PARASITES. A long treatise might be 

 written on the parasites which affect ve- 

 getables, and are scarcely less injurious to 

 them than similar enemies to the animal 

 kingdom. Apart from all the depredations 

 committed by external attacks, there are 

 myriads of larvse which live within plants, 

 boring into the trunk, devouringthe young 

 pith on which the life of the plants depends, 

 burrowing amongst the green cells of their 

 leaves, or causing by their presence the 

 extraordinary growths known under the 

 common name of Galls. Others, as different 

 species of Vibrio, exhaust their seeds or 

 deform their roots, while all the fleshy 

 fungi are sooner or later doomed to de- 

 struction by their peculiar parasites, even 

 if other causes of decay should cease. 

 Plants suffer, however, no less from mem- 

 bers of their own kingdom. Balanophorce, 

 mistletos, Loranthi, and a host of other pa- 

 rasites live at their expense; mosses, li- 

 chens, and alga? smother their trunks and 

 leaves ; while multitudes of fungi live on 

 their juices, or by their presence produce 

 rapid decay. In fruit also, and succulent 

 vegetables where vitality is low, yeast glo- 

 bules are formed from the spores of 

 moulds, and true fermentation takes place, 

 modified according to the different con- 

 ditions of temperature. The mildew of 

 corn, hops, grapes, and potatos are all so 

 many examples. Death also arises in many 

 instances from the spawn of various fungi, 

 which first attacks the .roots, and thence 

 spreads into the inmost tissues. [M. J. B.] 



PARASITIC. Growing into some other 

 plant, and deriving food from its juices. 



PARASOL CHINOIS. (Fr.) Sterculia 

 platanifolia. — DU GRAND SEIGNEUR. 

 Salix babylonica. 



PARASPERMATIA. Small reproduc- 

 tive bodies found in some algals, and re- 

 sembling spores. 



PARASTAMEN, PARASTEMON. Any 



kind of abortive stamen. 



PARASTYLI. Abortive styles. 



PARATODA. A Brazilian name for Po- 

 thomorphe umbellata. 



PARDANTHUS. A genus of Iridacece, 

 consisting of a few herbaceous species, 

 found in India, China, and Japan, and 

 having rhizomatous stems, two-ranked 



