P. flavum is remarkable for the yellow 

 colour of its flowers, an uuusual occurrence 

 in the Yacciniacece. [M. T. II.] 



PENTARHAPHIA. A genus of Gesne- 

 racece, composed of shrubby or half-shrubby 

 plants inhabiting the West India Islands. 

 The calyx is in shape like an inverted cone, 

 and has five to ten ribs, and five long subu- 

 late lobes ; the corolla is either tubular or 

 nearly campanulate, and the stamens are 

 projected above it. The stem and branches 

 are resinous, the leaves oblong or obovate, 

 generally toothed at the margin, and the 

 flowers solitary or in umbels in the axils 

 of the leaves. About fifteen species are 

 recorded, but nothing is known about their 

 uses. [B. SJ 



PENTAS. A genus of shrubby Cincho- 

 nacece, natives of Western tropical Africa, 

 and named in consequence of the parts of 

 the flower being in fives. The segments of 

 the calyx-limb are unequal, and have some- 

 times one or two small glands in the notches 

 between them ; corolla with a long tube, 

 bell-shaped, the throat hairy in the inside, 

 and the limb with five ovate smooth seg- I 

 ments, which overlap one another in the j 

 bud : filaments short, bearing linear an- i 

 thers ; disk surmounting the ovary, thick ; ' 

 style simple, with two-lobed stigmas ; cap- 

 sule nearly globular, the apex free, two- 

 celled, opening by valves ; seeds numerous. 



P. carnea is a favourite hothouse shrub 

 with broad leaves and dense terminal tufts 

 of pink flowers. Professor Oliver has point- j 

 ed out a peculiarity in the hairs of the i 

 corolla of this plant ; the upper ones lining 

 the throat are of one cell, those occurring j 

 in the tube are of more than one cell, the 

 constituent cells containing moreover a 

 spirally coiled fibre. [M. T. M.] 



PENTASACME. Erect glabrous herbs, 

 with perennial roots, opposite ovate Jan- ! 

 ceolate or linear leaves, and axillary pe- , 

 duncles bearing two rather large yellow- i 

 ish flowers. The five-cleft calyx, rotate co- i 

 rolla, and narrow smooth elongated fruit, j 

 are amongst the leading features of this | 

 small genus of Asclepiadacece, of whose four 

 species we know little except that they in- 

 habit India and China. [B. S.] 



PEXTASPADON. A large Borneo tree, 

 with pinnate leaves, and axillary panicles 

 of small white flowers, forming a genus of 

 Anacardiace re, distinguished from P/iitsand 

 its allies, chiefly by small spathulate or ca- 

 pitate staminodia alternating with the sta- 

 mens, andby a depressed ovary with a short 

 broad recurved stigma. The fruit is un- 

 known. 



PENTHORUM. A genus of Crassulaeece, 

 consisting of two species, both inhabiting 

 swamps and ditches— P. chinense those of 

 China, P. sedoides those of the United 

 States and Canada. P. sedoides commonly 

 goes by the name of Virginian Stonecrop 

 in the United States. Like its congener, 

 it is an erect herb, not succulent (like so 

 many of the members of the order to which 

 it belongs), with alternate membranaceous 



serrated leaves, and greenish-yellow flow- 

 ers, unilateral on the simple branches of 

 the cyme. The calyx has five sepals ; the 

 corolla either five petals or none; there are 

 ten stamens ; and the capsule is five-cell- 

 ed, and encloses numerous seeds. [B. S.] 



PENTLANDIA. A Peruvian genus of 

 Amaryllidacece, allied to Stenomesson, and 

 consisting of a beautiful bulbous plant, 

 P. miniata, which bears a solitary lanceo- 

 late leaf appearing before the blossoms, 

 and a solid scape supporting an umbel of 

 about half a dozen drooping vermilion- 

 coloured flowers. The perianth is tubular, 

 contracted and subcylindrical at the base, 

 ventricose above, and terminating in six 

 short somewhat spreading segments ; there 

 are six stamens without any connecting , 

 membrane, but alternating with six scales j 

 according to Kunth. The capsule is three- j 

 celled and many-seeded. [T. MJ I 



PENTSTEIION. Herbaceous perennials 

 belonging to the order Scrophulariacece, I 

 characterised by having a rudimentary fifth | 

 stamen, from which the genus derives its 

 name. In all the species the leaves are op- j 

 posite. The handsome flowers, which grow 

 in clustered panicles, are purple, blue, I 

 rose-coloured, white, pale yellow, or more | 

 rarely scarlet. The corolla is usually two- | 

 lipped oblong and tubular, in some species 

 nearly campanulate. They are natives of I 

 America, and being very ornamental are 

 much cultivated as border plants. [C. A. J.] 



PEON. The Penangname for the straight 

 spars of the Piney-tree, Calophyllum an- 

 gustifolium. 



PEONE. (Pr.) Pceonia. 



PEONY, or PIONT. Pceonia. 



PEPER1DGE. Nyssa aquatica. 



PEPEROMIA. An extensive genus of 

 Piper acew, abundant in Central and South- 

 ern America, and found also in the Sand- 

 wich Islands, in the islands of the Pacific, 

 in Southern Africa, and in the East Indies. 

 They differ considerably in habit and gene- 

 ral appearance, according to the situation 

 in which they grow. The majority are 

 small fleshy creeping plants, growing on 

 trunks of trees or on damp rocks; others 

 are erect, of a more or less shrubby cha- 

 racter, and are terrestrial in their habits. 

 The branches and leaves vary much in their 

 arrangement ; the latter are usually fleshy 

 and stalked, rarely membranous, smooth or 

 hairy, ribbed, green or coloured, occasion- 

 ally with glandular dots. The spikes of 

 flowers are variously disposed ; the flowers 

 scattered or crowded, with leafy and de- 

 ciduous, or fleshy and persistent bracts, 

 and perfect, each with two free stamens. 

 Ovary ovate, with a roundish warty or 

 somewhat brush-like stigma. Fruit sessile, 

 or tapering at the base into a kind of stalk. 

 Several species are cultivated for the sake 

 of their foliage and as objects of curiosity 

 rather than beauty, though the foliage of 

 some and the graceful slender spikes of 

 others render them desirable inmates of 

 the stovehouse. [M. T. M.J 



