847 



£f)e Crcatfuri? of 3Botann, 



[park 



the sepals, that enlarge after flowering, 

 and the flowers are pentamerous, not tetra- 

 merous as in Parishia. 



PARISIOLE. (Fr.) 'Trillium. 



PARTTIUM. A genus of Malvacece, one 

 of the many into which the old Linnasan 

 Hibiscus has been divided by recent bota- 

 nists. It is characterised by its flowers 

 having the five-cleft calyx surrounded by 

 j an eight or ten-cleft or toothed outer 

 I calyx; by the column of stamens being 

 I five-toothed at the top, with the five-cleft 

 ! style protruding out of it, and bearing 

 : five round velvety stigmas ; and by the 

 j capsules being five-celled like those of 

 j Hibiscus, but. having in addition to the 

 five true partitions a spurious partition 

 i in the middle of each cell, through which 

 ; they split open when ripe. The ten or 

 \ twelve known species are tall trees or high 

 j shrubs, widely distributed throughout the 

 ■■ tropics of both hemispheres. Their leaves 

 are large entire or lobed, with prominent 

 ' radiating nerves, one or three of which 

 ! hear glands at the base. 

 j P. elatum, the Mountain Mahoe, it has 

 recently been ascertained, affords the 

 ' beautiful lace-like inner bark called Cuba | 

 ■ bast, atone time only known as a material 

 : used for tying round bundles of genuine 



W 



Paritium elatum. 



Havannah eicrar?, but afterwards imported, 

 particularly during the Russian war, as a 

 substitute for the Russia bast used by 

 gardeners for tying up plants. The tree, 

 which is found only in Cuba and Jamaica, 

 grows fifty or sixty feet high, and yields a 

 peculiar greenish-blue timber, highly va- 

 lued by the Jamaica cabinet-makers. All 

 the species of Paritium, particularly P. 

 tiliacetim, which is to be found in most 

 tropical countries, afford more or less fibre, 

 which the natives make into ropes, mats, 

 clothing, &c. [A. S.] 



PARKBAXE. Aeoniium theriophonum. 



PARKERIA. One of the synonyms of 



Sera : which see. It was proposed 



to be made the type of an order, Parkeria- 



cece, but in reality is only a form of Cera- 

 topteris, in which the stria? of the ring 

 happen to be reduced to an almost rudi- 

 mentary condition. [T. MJ 



PARKIA. A small but widely spread 

 genus of Leguminosce, having representa- 

 tives in Western Africa, India, Java, Bra- 

 zil, and Surinam. All the species are large 

 unarmed trees, with twice-pinnated glan- 

 dular-stalked leaves, composed of nume 

 rous pairs of leaflets, and small flowers 

 collected into dense heads at the ends of 

 long stalks, the lower ones being males 

 and those above perfect. The tube of the 

 calyx is cylindrical and two-lipped; the 

 five petals are nearly equal, and joined to 

 the middle or free ; the ten stamens are 

 connected by their bases ; and the pods 

 are stalked, clustered, flat with thick lea- 

 thery valves, and contain a number of 

 seeds enveloped in farinaceous pulp. 



P. africana, the African Locust tree 

 (Nitta or Nutta of the negroes), is a tree 

 attaining thirty or forty feet in height, 

 and having leaves with from twenty to 

 thirty pairs of divisions, each having from 

 thirty to fifty pairs of narrow downy leaf- 

 lets, the main leafstalk bearing a large 

 gland near the base. Its flower-heads are 

 somewhat pear-shaped, and its pods con- 

 tain from thirteen to fifteen seeds. The 

 natives of Soudan, who call the tree Doura, 

 roast the seeds and then bruise and allow 

 them to ferment in water until they be- 

 come putrid, when they are carefully 

 washed, pounded into powder, and made 

 into cakes which are excellent sauce for 

 all kinds of food, but liave an unpleasant 

 smell. An agreeable beverage is prepared 

 from ihe sweet farinaceous pulp surround- 

 ing the seeds, and sweetmeats are also 

 made of it. The tree is not only a native 

 of "Western Africa but of tropical Asia, 

 and has been carried to tropical America 

 by the negroes. \A. S.] 



PARKI3SISONIA. A genus of Legumino- 

 sew.comprisiugan ornamental spiny shrub, 

 found in all parts of America between 

 Montevideo and California, and in a culti- 

 vated state in most other tropical coun- 

 tries, and a species peculiar to the Cape of 

 Good Hope. Both have abruptly pinnate 

 leaves, with minute leaflets, and racemes 

 of yellow flowers, which have a deeply 

 five-parted calyx, five petals the upper of 

 which is broader and long-clawed, ten dis- 

 tinct stamens bent downwards, and a 

 sessile ovary with a thread-like style. 

 Their narrow pods split into two valves, 

 and contain few or many seeds separated 

 from each other by constrictions in the 

 pod. 



P. (iculeaia—cnUed in Jamaica the Jerusa- 

 lem Thorn, and in the French West Indian 

 Islands Genet epineux— though originally j 

 a native of some part of the American 

 continent, is now found in nearly all tro- I 

 pical countries, where, from its spiny na- 

 ture, it is used for making hedges; while 

 in Mexico the Indians employ it as a 

 febrifuge and sudorific, and also as a 

 remedy in epilepsy. It grows from twelve 



