853 



tEl)t Crcatfurg of 3$atmy. 



[PAVO 



the fruit, which is a pear-shaped three- 

 sided three-celled <or by abortion one- 

 ceUed) capsule, with thin partitions, oppo- 

 site which it splits open when ripe, each 

 cell containing a solitary seed half enve- 

 loped in an aril. 



From the seeds of the Guarana, P. sorbi- 

 hs, several tribes of Indians on the Amazon 

 prepare hard cakes called Pao de Guarana 

 (i. e. sticks of Guarana), which form a con- 

 siderable article of trade, and are carried 

 into all parts of Brazil, where a cooling 

 beverage is prepared from them. The ripe 

 seeds are thoroughly dried, then pounded 

 into a fine powder, which is made into 

 dough with water and formed into cylin- 

 drical rolls, from five to eight inches long, 

 which become excessively hard when dry. 

 The beverage is prepared by grating about 

 half a tablespoonful of one of the cakes 

 into a glass of sugar-and-water. It is 

 greatly used by the Brazilian miners, and 

 is considered to be a preventive of all man- 

 ner of diseases. Its active principle is a 

 substance called guaranine, which is iden- 

 tical in its composition with the theine of 

 tea. [A. S.] 



The Guarana is extensively used in Bra- 

 zil, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and other parts 

 of South America, as a nervous stimulant 

 and restorative. The pounded seeds consti- 

 tute Guarana. It is used both as a remedy 

 for various diseases, and also as a material 

 for making a most refreshing beverage. 

 Not only is the active principle of Guarana 

 identical with theine, but, as far as is 

 known, no other substance yields it so 

 abundantly ; the amount? being 5'07 per 

 cent, as against good black tea, which 

 yields 213, and coffee from o - 8 to POO. The 

 mode of using the Guarana is curious and 

 interesting. It is carried in the pocket of 

 almost every traveller, and with it the 

 palate-bone or a scale of a large fish, the 

 rough surfaces of which form a rasp upon 

 which the Guarana is grated ; and a few 

 grains of the powder so formed are added 

 to water, and drunk as a substitute for tea. 

 The effect is very agreeable. P. Cupana 

 also enters into the composition of a fa- 

 vourite national diet-drink ; its seeds are 

 mingled with cassava and water, and al- 

 lowed to pass into a state of fermentation 

 bordering on the putrefactive, in which 

 state it is the favourite drink of the Ori- 

 noco Indians. [T. M.J 



PATJLO-WILHELMIA. A genus of Acan- 

 thacece, containing a single species from 

 Abyssinia. It is a shrub, with large ovate- 

 cordate and petiolate leaves, and rose-co- 

 loured flowers in apparent whorls, crowd- 

 ed together so as to form a leafy spike. 

 The calyx is unequally five-parted ; the 

 corolla funnel-shaped, with along slender 

 tube, and an equally five-cleft limb ; the 

 four exserted stamens have anthers with 

 two equal parallel cells ; the slender ex- 

 serted style has a subulate stigma ; and 

 the capsule is narrow and four-sided, bear- 

 ing near the base four compressed seeds, 

 inserted on hooked retinacula. [W. C] 



PATJLOWNIA imperialis is a Japanese 



tree with the habit of Catalpa, and which 

 was therefore originally published by Thun- 

 berg as a species of Bignonia, but it has 

 much more the botanical character of Scro- 

 phulariacece, of which it is now considered 

 as forming a distinct genus. It is a soft- | 

 wooded tree of moderate size, with a large ! 

 dense spreading head, and broadly ovate- ; 

 cordate entire or lobed opposite leaves, j 

 The flowers, nearly two inches long, in ter- 

 minal panicles, are of a purplish-violet 

 colour ; the hard ovoid acuminate capsules, 

 one to one-and-a-half inches long, open 

 loculicidally in two valves, and contain 

 numerous winged seeds. When first intro- 

 duced, its rapid growth, large leaves, and 

 the exaggerated accounts of the beauty of | 

 its flowers caused it to be much planted , | 

 but the somewhat hoary tint of the down 

 which covers the leaves renders their green 

 too dull; the flowers moreover come out 

 too early to succeed well in our climate, 

 and their colour is far from brilliant. It 

 is indeed altogether inferior to the Catalpa, 

 and scarcely more hardy. 



PAUMELLE. (FO Hordeum distichon. 



PAVETTA. A genus of shrubs of the 



Cinchonacece, natives of tropical Asia, and 



also of tropical and Southern Africa. The 



flowers are white, in terminal corymbs, 



and differ little from those of the allied 



genus Ixora, except in the lobes of the i 



1 corolla, which are twisted in the bud ; and | 



, in the style, which projects for some dis- j 



, tance from the corolla, and is terminated j 



I by a club-shaped stigma. Two or three | 



! species are grown as ornamental stove i 



shrubs. The root of P. indica is bitter, and 



is employed as a purgative by the Hindoos. 



The leaves are likewise used medicinally, ] 



and for manuring; knife-handles are made 



from the roots. [M. T M.J 



I PAVIA. Shrubs or middle-sized deci- | 

 duous trees belonging to the Sapindacece, | 

 and distinguished from JEsculus by having i 

 a smooth not prickly capsule. P. rubra, 

 often called Red-flowered Horse-chestnut, 

 is a slender-growing tree twenty to thirty 

 feet high, from the mountains of Virginia 

 and Carolina, and said also to be a native 

 of Brazil and Japan. Several varieties are 

 cultivated in England, differing in habit i 

 and in the form of their leaves. P. flava, 



| also a native of North America, attains a 

 larger size than the preceding, and is fur- 



| ther distinguished by having therleaves 

 downy beneath, and by the colour of its 



j flowers. P. discolor is a shrub rarely ex- 



! ceeding the height of five or six feet, and 

 as it bears numerous handsome flowers, is 



■ often planted as an ornament to the shrub- 

 bery. Other species are occasionally culti- 

 vated. [C. A. J.] 



PAVONIA. A genus of Malvaceae named 

 i in honour of Don Josef Pavon, a botanical 

 traveller in Peru, and joint author of the 

 j Flora Peruviana. The species are usually 

 I small shrubs, sometimes herbs, natives of 

 j America, and rarely of tropical Asia. Their 

 I leaves are various in form, sometimes hav- 

 ing pellucid dots ; the flower-stalks are 

 . 1 



