bachina of the Mexicans, are used for 

 washing like soap. [A. S.] 



PHYTOLITHES. See Carpomania. 



PHYTOLITHS. Fossil plants. 



PHYTOLOGY. That part of Botany which 

 treats of plants in general. 



PHYTON. A rudimentary plant, out of 

 numbers of which perfect plants are made 

 up, according to Gaudichaud. 



PHYTOS. In Greek compounds = a plant. 

 PH YTOTOMY. That part of Botany which 

 teaches anatomical structure. 



PIA-PIA. ATahitian name for a sort of 

 gum extracted from the trunk of Cocos 

 nucifera. 



PI ASS ABA, PIASSAVA, or PIACABA. 

 A stout woody fibre, obtained in 'Bahia 

 from the leafstalks of Attalea funifera, 

 : much used in the manufacture of brooms, 

 1 brushes, &c. — , PARA. A finer and more 

 valuable kind of Piassaba, obtained from 

 I Leopoldinia Piassaba. 

 j PICEA. A subgenus of Coniferce, usu- 

 ! ally included in Abies (which see), but by 

 ; some regarded as a distinct family. The 

 Silver Fir, Abies Picea, otherwise Picea 

 i pectinata, is the type, and the principal 

 other species are A. cephalonica, Pinsapo, 

 Pichta, Nordmanniana, balsamea, grandis, 

 cnnabilis, nobilis, bracteata, Webbiana, Pin- 

 drow, firma, religiosa, &c. Their chief dis- 

 tinguishing feature is the erect cylindri- 

 cal thin-scaled cones. [T. MJ 



PICEUS. Black, changing to brown. 



PICHOLINE. (Fr.) A kind of olive. 



PICHOT. (Fr.) A name for the Cherry. 



PICKEREL-WEED. Pontederia. 



PICKERTNGIA. A small much-branched 

 Californian shrub, described as a distinct 

 genus of Legwminosce of the suborder Pa- 

 pilionacece. The structure of the flowers 

 is as in Baptisia, and the pod is unknown; 

 but the shrubby not herbaceous habit, and 

 the red not yellow flowers, lead to the con- 

 clusion that the genus may be maintained. 



PICKPURSE. Capsella Bursa-pastoris ; 

 also a Norfolk name for Spergula arvensis. 



PICKTOOTH. Ammi Yisnaga. 



PICOTEE. One of the florist's varieties 

 of Dianthus Caryophyllus. 



PICOTIANE, or PICQTJOTIANE. (Fr.) 

 Psoralea escidenta. 



PICR^NA-WOOD. The bitter wood sold 

 as Quassia. See Picrasjia. 



PICRAMNIA. A rather extensive genus 

 of Simarubacea>, confined to tropical Ame- 

 rica and the West Indies. Most of the 

 species are tall shrubs, with alternate un- 

 equally pinnate leaves, the leaflets of which 

 are usually alternate and more or less un- 

 equal at the base. They have small red- 

 dish flowers, in clusters forming long slen- 

 der racemes ; the two sexes growing on 



different plants, and the females producing 

 olive-shaped berry-like fruits divided into 

 two cells, each of which contains a pendu- 

 lous seed. In both sexes there is a three 

 or flve-parted calyx, and as many narrow 

 pointed petals : the males contain three or 

 five stamens with the filaments naked and 

 destitute of scales ; and the females, im- 

 perfect scale-like stamens, and a two or 

 rarely three-branched style. 



Like the rest of the order of quassiads, 

 the plants belonging to this genus are in- 

 tensely bitter, its generic name being de- 

 rived from the Greek word picros, in allu- 

 sion to that quality. In Brazil the bark of 

 P. ciliata, a small tree, is employed as a sub- 

 stitute for Cascarilla ; and in the West In- 

 dies the negroes use an infusion of P. Anti- 

 desma, a shrub about eight feet high, as a 

 cure for colic and other complaints, under 

 I the name of Majo-hitters. [A. S.] 



PICRASMA. A genus of Simarubacece, 

 containing about half a dozen species very 

 widely dispersed in both hemispheres, one 



j being found in Brazil, another in the West 



| Indies, two in Nepal, one in China, and one 

 in Java. They are small trees, with un- 

 equally pinnate leaves, and axillary stalked 



; cymes of small dieecious or polygamous 

 flowers, which have the calyx four or five- 

 parted, minute ; the petals egg-shaped, 

 agreeing in number with the divisions of 

 the calyx, those of the female being per- 

 sistent and often becoming larger and 

 thicker; the stamens as many as, and al- 

 ternate with, the petals, and having hairy 

 filaments but no scales ; and three to five 

 distinct ovaries elevated on the thickened 



[ disk, each containing a single ovule, having 

 the styles united, and ultimately ripening 

 into pea-like drupes. The trees have the 

 aspect and foliage of the species of Ailan- 



j tus. [A. S.] 



P. excelsa yields the bitter wood known 



! as Jamaica Quassia, in contradistinction to 



I that furnished by Quassia amara or Suri- 

 nam Quassia. This bitter-wood tree is very 

 common in the lowlands of Jamaica, where 

 it attains the height of fifty or sixty feet. 

 The leaves are composed of four or five 

 pairs of short-stalked oblong blunt lea- 

 thery leaflets, and an odd terminal one. 

 Jamaica Quassia, which is that commonly 

 met with in the shops, is of a whitish or 

 yellow colour, and has an intensely bitter 

 taste. Hence an infusion or tincture is 

 much used in cases of weak digestion, 

 where a simple bitter is required. It is re- 

 markable that the drug appears to act on 

 animals as a narcotic poison, though such 

 effects have not been witnessed in the hu- 

 man subject ; and hence the tincture is also 

 used as a fly-poison. The Bitter Cups, so 

 extensively sold of late in this country, 

 are, when genuine, made of Quassia-wood, 

 and water allowed to remain in them for a 

 short time acquires tonic properties. Brew- 

 ers are said to employ the chips as a substi- 

 tute for hops. [M. T. MJ 



PICRIS. A genus of herbaceous plants 

 belonging to the tribe Cichoraceai of com- 

 pound flowers, distinguished by havingnu- 



