PHALLUS. The peridium of certain 

 fun gals. 



PHALOCALLIS. A genus of Iridacece, 

 the one species, P. plumbea, Laving been 

 separated by Dean Herbert from Cyphella, 

 to which it was first referred ; and charac- 

 terised by its short two-lobed transverse 

 stigmas, which have the two outer crests 

 petaloid and the inner scarcely perceptible ; 

 and by its thin-skinned apparently inde- 

 hiscent fruit, and nearly flat thin-edged 

 seeds. The plant has a slender stem, a 

 yard or more high, furnished with distant 

 sword-shaped plicate leaves, and bearing 

 upon its summit a solitary widely expanded 

 lead-coloured flower, tinged with yellow in 

 the centre, about three inches across, and 

 so fugacious that it lasts only a few hours, 

 expanding before sum-ise and dying away 

 by noon. It is a native of Mexico. [A. S.] 



PHANEROGAMOUS. The same as Pha> 

 nogamous. The term Phanerogamic., or 

 Phanogamia, is applied to flowering plants 

 in contradistinction to Cryptogamia, the 

 name applied to nowerless plants. 



PHAXES, PHAXEROS. In Greek com- 

 pounds = manifest. 



PHARBITIS. A genus of showy annual 

 twining plants, belonging to the Convolvu- 

 lacece, andallied to Convolvulus, from which 

 they are distinguished by their three-celled 

 capsules. P. hederacea (Liseron de Michaux 

 of French horticulturists) is a pretty plant 

 with numerous clear azure-blue flowers of 

 a satiny texture, sometimes described un- 

 der the name of Ipomcea hederacea. P. his- 

 pida, known also as Convolvulus major, has 

 heart-shaped leaves, and large white, pur- 

 ple, blue, rose, or variegated flowers grow- 

 ing in clusters three to five together in the 

 axils of the leaves. The above species are 

 grown in the open air, but most of the 

 others require protection. [C. A. J.] 



PHARXACEUM. A genus of Caryophyl- 

 laceo?, of the tribe Molluginece, from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, consisting of small 

 herbaceous or shrubby plants, with slender 

 usually terete or filiform bristle-pointed 

 leaves, alternate below, and forming a coma 

 above, with fringed stipules. The cymes 

 are compound, the terminal ones stalked, 

 the axillary often sessile, but sometimes 

 the flowers are umbellate or solitary ; calyx 

 five-parted, often coloured ; petals none ; 

 stamens five, rarely six or seven; styles 

 three; capsule three-valved, three-celled, 

 many-seeded. [J. T. S.] 



PHARUS. A genus of grasses of the 

 tribe Oryzea?. The inflorescence is in soli- 

 tary spiked or compound panicles ; male 

 and female flowers separate, the males 

 slightly stalked, the females sessile. Steu- 

 del describes six species, which are large 

 broad-leaved grasses, natives of South Ame- 

 rica. • [D. M.] 



PHASCELE. A natural order of acro- 

 carpous mosses, distinguished by the cap- 

 | sule being mostly nearly- sessile, having no 

 proper lid, and therefore not opening by a 



horizontal fissure like other mosses. Al 

 most all the species are small and insigni 

 ficant annuals, though not -without in 

 terest to the botanist. Archidium differs 

 in its perennial growth, and the small num 

 ber of its large angular spores. Voitea, 

 which is also perennial, has a large hooded 

 long-beaked veil, and a persistent columella, 

 and has somewhat the habit of Splachnum 

 The only European species grow r s, like most 

 Splachnidew, on dung. [M. J. B.] 



PHASCUM. A genus of annual mosses 

 with an indehiscent capsule and fugacious 

 columella. The species are for the most 

 part stemless, and sometimes are of such 

 rapid growth that the plant passes through 

 every stage before the original germinating 

 threads have vanished. The species are 

 numerous, and are divided by authors into 

 several distinct families. Their favourite 

 place of growth is exposed fields and wall- 

 tops. They are rather plants of the plains 

 than of the mountains. [M. J. B.] 



PHASEOLUS. A genus of Leguminosw, 

 of the suborder Papilionacea, easily recog- 

 nised by the carina or lower petal of the 

 corolla terminating in a long spirally-twist- 

 ed point. It consists of annuals, or herba- 

 ceous perennials, with the rootstock often 

 tuberous, and having annual stems, either 

 erect and short or more frequently twining. 

 The leaves have usually three leaflets, the 

 lateral ones inserted on the common stalk 

 at some distance from the terminal one ; 

 the flowers are two or three together, on 

 knot-like protuberances, along axillary pe- 

 duncles, and often very showy.- The calyx 

 is campanulate with four or five teeth ; 

 the stamens diadelphous, one free and the 

 other nine united in a sheath; and the pod 

 straight or slightly curved, containing se- 

 veral seeds which are usually more or less 

 flattened. There are nearly fifty species 

 known, natives of hot climates, especially 

 of Southern and Central America, with a 

 few dispersed over Africa, Southern Asia, 

 and the Southern States of North America. 



Amongst them many have been long and 

 generally cultivated for human food, and a 

 few for ornament. The most remarkable 

 are P. vulgaris, the Kidney or French Bean 

 or Haricot, of uncertain origin, probably 

 Asiatic, the most generally cultivated in 

 Europe and other temperate climates. 

 Amidst a number of varieties or races, 

 often described as species, it may always 

 be known by its few-flowered peduncles, 

 and by the ovate striate bracts at the base 

 of the calyx. P. multiflorus (coccineus), the 

 Scarlet Runner, a native of Mexico, has a 

 thick tuberous rootstock, and annual twin- 

 ing stems, showy scarlet or white flowers, 

 numerous on the peduncles, and rough 

 pods. P. luuatus is apparently wild in 

 America, as well as in Asia and Africa, but 

 so generally cultivated in hot climates 

 that it is difficult to ascertain its origin. 

 In Europe it is unknown, being too tender 

 for our climate. It is much like the Com- 

 mon French Bean in general aspect, but 

 the flowers are much smaller and more 

 numerous ; and the pod is flat, short, broad, 



