JPHAj] 



Clje Crea^iri) af botany. 



872 



found in the uniserial pappus of rough 

 hairs, which are eight in number in the 

 outer female florets, and ten in the inner 

 perfect ones. There are seventeen species, 

 distributed chiefly over the Mediterranean 

 region, the eastern limit being Tibet, and 

 the western the Canary and Cape de Verd 

 Islands. They are perennial herbs with a 

 woody rootstock, from which, in most spe- 

 cies, are given off a great number of un- 

 branched shoots about a foot high, each 

 terminating in a single flower-head, and 

 the whole forming a compacr rounded mass. 

 The stems and the under surface of the 

 leaves are clothed with white down, and the 

 flower-heads generally contain many tubu- 

 lar yellow florets, but in a few species are 

 corymbose, and purple. [A. A. JB.] 



PHAJUS. The original species upon 

 which this genus of orchids was founded 

 by Loureiro is a cultivated Chinese plant, 

 and all the other eighteen or twenty since 

 added are natives of the tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions of the eastern hemisphere. 

 They are tall erect mostly terrestrial 

 plants, with great broad plicate leaves, and 

 radical leafless scapes bearing a few large 

 showy flowers. Their sepals and petals are 

 nearly alike, mostly spreading, and free ; 

 the lip entire or three-lobed, broad and 

 convolute round the column, with the base 

 of which it is adnate and formed into a 

 spur; the column is long, semicylindri- 

 cal, and dilated at its apex ; and the anther 

 four or obsoletely eight-celled, and con- 

 taining eight pollen-masses attached in 

 fours to an elastic membrane, [A. S.] 



PHALACRJGA. A genus of Composite, 

 consisting of two or three South American 

 herbs, nearly allied to Ageratum, but with- 

 out any pappus to the achenes. 



PHAL^ENOPSIS. The species of this 

 genus rank amongst the most beautiful of 

 the numerous orchids known to cultivators 

 in this country. For a long time only a 

 single species was known, but others have 

 latterly been discovered, all natives of the 

 islands of the Indian Archipelago ; and the 

 genus now contains about a dozen species. 

 They are epiphytes, with scarcely any 

 stems, few broad thick leathery two-ranked 

 leaves, notched at the top, and perennial 

 racemose inflorescence bearing numerous 

 mostly large showy flowers. These have 

 flatly-spread free sepals and petals, the 

 latter of which are much larger and wider 

 than the former; a three-lobed free lip 

 continuous with the prolonged base of the 

 column, and furnished with a callosity at 

 its base ; a semiterete column, thickened 

 upwards ; and a two-celled anther, contain- 

 ing two pollen-masses attached by a strap- 

 shaped caudicle to a cordate gland. The 

 best-known species in our gardens, that 

 first introduced from Manilla, is the one 

 referred to P. amabilis by Dr. Lindley, but 

 which is now reported to be not the true 

 P. amabilis of Blume. It has large and very 

 thick tough dark-green somewhat elliptical 

 leaves ; and a long drooping stalk bearing 

 at its extremity a raceme of a dozen or 



more large exceedingly beautiful almost 

 entirely pure white flowers, the only colour 

 about them being some streaks and spots 

 of yellow and crimson on the lip, which is 

 three-lobed, smaller than the petals, and 

 has two three-toothed plates at its base, 

 and two curious twisted tendrils at its tip. 

 But the most magnificent species of the 

 genus is P Schilleriana, which has not only 

 beautiful flowers but beautiful leaves also, 

 the latter being irregularly mottled all 

 over with very deep green upon a lighter 

 green ground, and the former tinged with 

 delicate pinkish purple. At the base of its 

 lip there are a couple of yellow callosities, 

 and instead of being furnished with ten- 

 drils, its tip is prolonged into a pair of re- 

 curved horns. [A, S.] 



PHALANGES. Bundles of stamens ; a 

 collection of several stamens joined more 

 or less by their filaments. 



PHALARIS. A genus of grasses of the 

 tribe Phalaridece. The inflorescence is in 

 close spike-like panicles, the spikelets with 

 one perfect flower, and generally the rudi- 

 ments of two imperfect ones, which latter 

 form minute scales between the outer 

 empty glumes ; glumes two, carinate ; pales 

 two, carinate on their backs. The score 

 or more of described species are mostly 

 from Central Asia. P. canariensis supplies 

 the well-known canary-seed, so much used 

 for singing cage-birds. [D. M.] 



PHALLOIDEI. A natural order of gas- 

 teromycetous-Fzmf/i, distinguished by their 

 soft cellular receptacle which bursts 

 through a gelatinous volva, and by the 

 sinuous hymenium melting down with the 

 spores into an olivaceous foetid semifluid 

 mass. Many of the species are extremely 

 beautiful, but their beauty does not com- 

 pensate for their odious smell. A few spe- 

 cies occur in temperate regions, but the 

 order has its maximum in tropical regions, 

 or at least in countries where the thermo- 

 meter never descends very low. The gela- 

 tinous volva of one or two species is eaten 

 where better food is scarce, and one, Ly su- 

 ms Mokusin, has been prescribed when 

 burnt as a remedy in ulcers. [M. J. B.] 



PHALLUS. The typical genus of the 

 Phalloidei, a natural order of Fungi. The 

 pileus is conical, perforated at the apex, 

 free at the base, slightly wrinkled or deeply 

 pitted, and either naked beneath or fur- 

 nished with a free flounce-like membrane, 

 or with a bell of network. The species 

 are sometimes tinted with pink or scarlet, 

 and those with the network are objects of 

 universal admiration where they occur. 

 One species, P. fostidus, is extremely com- 

 mon in some districts of England. It is the 

 pest of the Kew pleasure-grounds, from 

 its unsightly form and detestable smell. 

 A doubtful species, said to have a bitter 

 odour, occurs amongst sand on the coast 

 of Suffolk. Cynophallus, of which we have 

 one species, C. caninus, is distinguished by 

 its imperforate adnate pileus. [M. J. B.] 



