penn] 



Cfjc Crcagttrg at Matmy, 



860 



straight from the midrib to the margin at 

 equal distances. 



PENNISETUM. A genus of grasses he- 

 longing to the tribe Panicece, and distin- 

 guished by the double involucre, com- 

 posed of many bristles, the centre unequal, 

 the inner pinnated, bearded. Spikelets two 

 to four ; glume two-valved, unequal ; lower 

 floret male, upper hermaphrodite, both 

 sessile ; pales cartilaginous. Steudel de- 

 scribes eighty-seven species, which are 

 widely distributed, but mostly natives of 

 subtropical countries. Several of them are 

 very ornamental, and consequently culti- 

 vated in gardens. P. longistylum is suffi- 

 ciently hardy to bear the winter in the 

 open air in many parts of Britain, and is a 

 very beautiful grass. [D. MJ 



PENNY-LEAVES. Cotyledon Umbilicus. 

 PENNY-ROT. Hydrocotyle vulgaris. 



PENNYROYAL. Mentha Pidegium. — , 

 AMERICAN. Hedeoma pulegioides. — , 

 BASTARD. Trichostema dichotomum. — , 

 FALSE. Isanthus cceruleus. —, MOCK. 

 Hedeoma pulegioides. 



PENNYROYAL-TREE. Satureja viminea. 



PENNYWORT. Sibthorpia europcea ; also 

 Hydrocotyle, Cotyledon Umbilicus, and Li- 

 naria Cymbalaria. —, MARSH. Hydro- 

 cotyle vulgaris. 



PENSACRE. (Fr.) CEnanthe crocata. 



PENSEE or P. ANNUELLE. (Fr.) Viola 

 tricolor. — DES JARDINS. Viola tricolor 

 hortensis. — SAUVAGE. Viola tricolor 

 arvensis. — VIVACE. Viola altaica. 



PENTA. In Greek compounds = five. 



PENT ACOCCOUS. Composed of five cocci, 

 or shells splitting with elasticity, and fall- 

 ing off a central axis or column. 



PENTADESMA butyracea, the Butter 

 and Tallow tree of Sierra Leone, constitutes 

 a genus of Chisiacecc, allied to Moronobea 

 and Platonia, but differing in its sepals 

 passing gradually into the petals, whicli are 

 imbricate but scarcely contorted. It is a 

 large tree, yielding in several parts, espe- 

 cially in the fruit when cut, a yellow greasy 

 juice, whence is derived its popular name. 

 The leaves are opposite, coriaceous, and 

 elegantly marked with numerous parallel 

 veins; the flowers large and handsome, 

 solitary and terminal. The fruits are said 

 to be eaten in the country. 



PENTAGLOTTIS. A name given by 

 Wallich to an East Indian herb, which 

 proves to be a species of Melhania. 



PENTAPERA. A genus of heathworts, 

 having the calyx equal and five-parted ; 

 the corolla ovate, its border five-cleft; the 

 stamens ten, the anthers separate and 

 without awns; and the fruit a five-celled 

 capsule. The only species is a heath-like 

 shrub, growing on calcareous rocks in 

 Sicily; it was formerly known as Erica 

 Sicula. The name is from the Greek, and 

 indicates the repetition of the number five 

 in the parts of the flower. [G. D.] 



PENTAPETES. A genus of Byttneriacece 

 of the tribe Dombeyece, now restricted to a 

 single species, an East Indian erect more 

 or less hispid annual, with narrow leaves, 

 and rather showy red flowers on short 

 axillary peduncles. The genus is distin- 

 guished from Trochetia, to which it is most 

 nearly allied, by the more herbaceous calyx, 

 and the style undivided to the top. 



PENTAPHRAGMA. A genus of doubt- 

 ful position, but usually referred to the 

 order of bellworts. It is distineiuisbed by 

 having the seed-vessel connected with the 

 calyx by means of prolongations to which 

 the five stamens are attached. The only 

 species is P. begoniccfolia, a native of Pulo- 

 Penang ; it is a creeping woolly herbaceous 

 plant, with leaves like those of a Begonia, 

 and clusters of white flowers. The name 

 indicates the five prolongations on which 

 the stamens are inserted. [G. D.] 



PENTAPTERA. An almost exclusively 

 Indian genus of Combretacece, closely allied 

 to and by some botanists considered to 

 form a section of Terminalia, from which, 

 however, it is readily distinguished by the 

 thick leathery egg-shaped fruit having 

 five or sometimes seven equal wings pro- 

 duced longitudinally and at regular dis- 

 tances all round. About a dozen species 

 are known, all large trees, with opposite 

 or nearly opposite entire leaves, furnished 

 with two glands at the base, and axillary or 

 terminal spikes of flowers without petals, 

 and frequently with one of the sexes abor- 

 tive. The tube of their calyx is egg-shaped 

 and marked with five or seven ribs, which 

 ultimately enlarge and form the wings of 

 the fruit ; and the limb is bell-shaped and 

 five-cleft. 



P. glabra is a large smooth -barked tim- 

 ber tree, with a trunk six or eight feet in 

 diameter and from fifty to eighty feet 

 high, without a branch. It is common in 

 the teak forests of Pegu, and affords an 

 excellent dark-brown timber, useful for 

 mast-pieces, spars, and other purposes con- 

 nected with shipbuilding. In Canara, on 

 the western coast of the peninsula of India, 

 the natives obtain a kind of lime by cal- 

 cining the bark and wood, which they pre- 

 fer to ordinary lime for eating with betel- 

 nut, and also use for whitewashing. [A. SJ 



PENTAPTEROUS. Having five wings. 



PENTAPTERYGIUM. One of the genera 

 into which Vaccinium has been somewhat 

 unnecessarily divided. The species are 

 Indian shrubs frequently found growing 

 on trees. The flowers are axillary, solitary 

 or in clusters ; the calyx-tube provided with 

 five wings (whence the name of the genus), 

 and its limb is divided into five ovate 

 segments; the corolla tubular, five-an- 

 gled, five-lobed, the lobes short; stamens 

 ten, distinct, the anthers sometimes pro- 

 vided with two short projecting points at 

 the back, and prolonged into two long 

 tubular processes opening at the top by a 

 roundish hole ; stigma truncate ; berry 

 subglobose, five-winged, five-celled, many- 

 seeded, crowned by the limb of the calyx 



