863 



CIjc Ereas'urn of 330tanu. 



[peri 



PERAPETALUM. The shaggy covering 

 of such flowers as Menyanthes. 



PERAPHYLLUM. A membranous ex- 

 pansion of the calyx formed after the fruit 

 begins to ripen, or from the beginning. 



PER APHYLLFM. A low scrubby much- 

 branched shrub, from the Blue Mountains 

 of North-west America, with rigid lanceo- 

 late much-crowded leaves terminating the 

 branches- It forms a genus of Rosacea?, 

 allied in many respects to Amelanchier, 

 but the fruit contains two or sometimes 

 three almost distinct carpels. 



PERCE-FEUILLE. (Fr.) Bupleurum 

 rotundifohum. 



PERCE-MOU38E. rPr.) Pohjtrichum. 



PERCE-MURAILLE. (Fr.) Parietaria. 



PERCE NEIGE. (Fr.) Galanthus nivalis ', 

 also Leucojum veraiun, and Primula veris. 



PERCE-PIER. (Fr.) Alchemilla arven- 

 sis. 



PERCE-PIERRE. (Fr.) Crithmum ma- 

 riiimum. — DE8 CHAMPS. Alchemilla 

 ar ven sis. 



PEREBE A. An imperfectly known genus 

 of Artocaripacece, represented by a tree, 

 native of Guiana, which has alternate lea- 

 thery serrated leaves, the younger ones 

 being concealed within the convolute sti- 

 pules. The flowers are dioecious. The males 

 are undescribed ; the females are placed 

 upon a leathery receptacle, scaly on the 

 outside, at first concave but ultimately 

 reflexed, and have a tubular four-toothed 

 perianth, a free ovate ovary with a ter- 

 minal cylindrical style, and a two-lobed 

 stigma. Fruit one-seeded, surrounded by 

 the succulent perianth. [M. T. MJ 



PERELLE D'AUVERGNE. (Fr.) Leca- 

 nora parella. 



PERENNIAL, PERENNANS, PEREN- 

 NIS. Lasting for several years, and yet 

 flowering every year. 



PEREPE. (Fr.) Clusia. 



PERESKIA (sometimes written . Pieres- 

 cia) A genus of Cactaceo?, unlike the rest 

 of the order in that several of its species 

 have broad flat veiny leaves like those of 

 other plants, while the remainder have 

 J fleshy cylindrical or partially flattened 

 i leaves. The genus contains about a dozen 

 ] species, a few of which are tree-like and 

 ; have woody stems : but the majority are 

 i shrubs with fleshy stems, and round 

 | branches armed with tufts of spines, and 

 i bearing terminal solitary or clustered 

 i flowers, frequently upon short stalks. The 

 calyx-tube is equal with the ovary, and 

 : divided into leafy segments, and the petals 

 are broad and expanded in a rose-like man- 

 ner; the stamens are numerous, free, and 

 shorter than the petals, and the thread- 

 like style bears a many-rayed stigma. The 

 fruits are pear or egg-shaped, with a broad 

 scar at the top surrounded by the leafy 

 segments of the calyx. 

 In the West Indies, where it is indige- 



nous, P. aculeata is called the Gooseberry 

 shrub or Barbados Gooseberry. It grows 

 about fifteen feet high, the stem armed 

 with bundles of straight spines, and having 

 trailing branches bearing oblong elliptical j 

 leaves and bunches of ornamental white I 

 flowers, which produce yellow eatable and 

 pleasant-tasted fruits, used in the West 

 Indies for making preserves in the same 

 way that gooseberries are with us. 



P. Bleo is called Bleo by the natives of 

 New Grenada, in which country it is in- 

 digenous. It is a shrub growing eight or 

 ten feet in height, with rather soft fleshy 

 leaves about five or six inches long, of an 

 elliptical form, sharp-pointed at the top, 

 and tapering to the base; and handsome 

 rose-coloured flowers, with ten petals in 

 two series, the inner of which are the 

 largest and deepest-coloured. The leaves 

 are eaten as salad in Panama. [A. S.J 



PERFECT Complete in all the usual 



parts. 



PERFOLIATE. When the two basal 

 lobes of an amplexicaul leaf are united to- 

 gether, so that the stem appears to pass 

 through the substance of the leaf. 



PERGAMENEOUS. Having the texture 

 of parchment. 



PERGULARIA. Twining shrubs in- 

 habiting India, the Moluccas, and Mada- 

 gascar, having broad ovate or cordate 

 leaves, and interpetiolar cymes bearing 

 greenish or yellowish flowers, generally 

 highly scented, constitute this genus of 

 Asclepiadacece. The calyx is five-cleft, the 

 corolla hypocrateriform, and the fruit 

 smooth and ventricose. P. odoratissima, 

 termed LianeTonquin in Mauritius, Malat- 

 ti Tunkat in Java, is a favourite in our hot- 

 houses on account of its green sweetly 

 scented blossoms, and is indigenous to 

 the East Indies and Java. Together with 

 P. minor, montana, pallida, coram an deliana, 

 accedens, and bifida, it yields a blue dye. The 

 young leaves of P. edulis are eaten as a 

 potherb in Japan. P. sanguinolenta, from 

 the West Coast of Africa, yields a kind of 

 dragon's-blood, with which the dragon's- 

 blood of commerce is adulterated. [B. S.] 



PERI. In Greek compounds = around, or 

 placed on something surrounding some 

 other part. 



PERI. The root of Gastrodia Cunning- 

 liamii. 



PERIANTH. The calyx and corolla com- 

 bined; that is to say, when they look so 

 much alike that they cannot be readily 

 distinguished, as in a hyacinth. 



The same term is applied, among liver- 

 worts, to the membranous covering, con- 

 sisting of one or more pieces, immediately 

 surrounding the archegonium or veil which 

 contains the ripe capsule. The perianth is 

 sometimes wanting, and replaced by cer- 

 tain scales which are termed involucre. 

 The involucre and perianth coexist some- 

 times in the same plant, showing that they 

 are distinct from each other. [M. J. B.] 



