SS7 



QC\)t Erra^urg of 25otang. 



[PIGN 



nierous scales outside the involucre, a 

 naked receptacle, and transversely striated 

 seeds, which are scarcely beaked, but fur- 

 nished with a pappus of which the inner 

 hairs are feathery. P. hieracoides, the only 

 British species, is a common wayside plant 

 in England, but not in Scotland, two to 

 three feet high, with bristly branched 

 stems, rough oblong toothed leaves, and 

 corymbs of bright-yellow flowers. French, 

 Picride ; German, Bitterkraut. [C. A. J.] 



PICRORHIZA. The sole representative 

 of this genus of Scrophulariaccce is P. 

 Kurroa, a small perennial herbaceous plant 

 found in Kumaon, at Gossain, and other 

 parts of the Himalaya mountains, where 

 its roots, which are called Hooling in Tibet, 

 and have a powerfully bitter taste, are used 

 as a febrifuge by the natives, and also sent 

 down to the bazaars of Bengal, where 

 they form one of the many bitter roots 

 sold under the name of Teeta. The plant 

 grows six inches high, and has scarce- 

 ly any stem, its leaves rising from the 

 summit of the thick root ; as also do its 

 flower-stalks, which are from four to six 

 inches high, and bear a dense spike of small 

 bluish flowers at the top. The leaves are 

 somewhat wrinkled, oblong, entire and 

 tapering to the base but round-toothed 

 above. The flowers have a five-parted calyx, 

 a corolla with a short tube and four some- 

 what spreading entire segments, and four 

 diverging nearly equal stamens three times 

 as long as the corolla ; and they produce 

 small two-celled fruits about half an inch 

 in length, which split, both through the 

 partition and through the cell-walls, into 

 four valves, and contain numerous small 

 seeds covered with a loose netted trans- 

 parent shell. [A. S.] 



PICTUS. The same as Painted. 



PIDDINGTONIA. A genus of Lobeliacece, 

 represented by a Nepalese creeping herba- 

 ceous plant, with serrated leaves downy 

 on the under surface, and purplish flowers 

 on axillary stalks. The limb of the calyx 

 is divided into five linear equal lobes ; the 

 corolla is two-lipped, the upper lip divided 

 into two linear erect segments, the lower 

 divided into three ovate acute lobes, the 

 tube split along the top ; the two lower- 

 most anthers are terminated by bristles ; 

 the stigma is two-lobed ; and the berry is 

 thick ovoid, two-celled. One species, P. 

 nummularia, is cultivated in this country 

 as a pretty stove annual fitted for bedding- 

 out. It is perhaps best known under the 

 name of Pratia begonicefolia. [M. T. M.] 



PIED DALOT7ETTE. (Fr.) Delphinium. 

 — DE CANARD. Podophyllum. — DE 

 CHAT. Gnaphalium dioicum. — DECHE- 

 VRE. JEgopodium Podagraria. — DE OOQ. 

 Ranunculus repens. — DE CORBEAU. 

 Ranunculus aconitifolius. — DE OOR- 

 NEILLE. Plantago C •ronopus. — D'ELE- 

 PHANT. Elephantopus scaber; also Tes- 

 tudinaria elephantipes. — DE GRIFFON. 

 Eelleborus fcetidus. — DE LIE VR.E. Tri- 

 folium arvense, and T. Lagopus. — DE 

 LION. Alchemilla vulgaris. — DE LOUP. 



, Lycopus europceus. — DE PIGEON. Gera- 

 nium columbinum. — DE POULE. Cyno- 

 don Dactylon, — DE SAUTERELLE. Cam- 

 panula Rupunculus. — DE VEAU. Arum 

 maculatum; also Richardia cethiopica. — 

 D'OIE. The name of several species of 

 Chenopodium. — D'OISEAU. Ornithopus 

 perpusillus ; also Trigonella omithopodioides. 



PIERARDIA. A small tropical Asiatic 

 genus doubtfully referred to Sapindacecs 

 by some authors, and to Euphorbiacea* by 

 others. They are small trees, with alter- 

 nate simple leaves ; and long slender ra- 

 cemes of unisexual flowers, with a four- 

 parted perianth— some species bearing the 

 two sexes in separate racemes on the same 

 tree, and others on different trees. The 

 males contain eight short stamens ; and 

 the females a three-celled ovary, bearing 

 three sessile somewhat two-lobed stigmas, 

 j and ultimately ripening into a three-celled 

 fruit with a corky rind, each cell contain- 

 ing one or two seeds enveloped in a juicy 

 eatable aril. P. didcis is a Malayan species, 

 and is distinguished by having both the 

 sexes upon the same tree, and by its smooth 

 entire leaves, being of a somewhat ellipti- 

 cal form, but broader and rounded at the 

 top, and with a short blunt point. Its 

 fruits, which are rather larger than a 

 cherry, nearly round, and of a yellowish 

 colour, contain a luscious sweet-tasted 

 pulp, and are greatly eaten in Sumatra, 

 where the tree is called Choopah, and also 

 in Malacca, where it goes by the name of 

 Rambeh. P. sapida, an allied species, with 

 the two sexes on different trees and with 

 oblong leaves, is found in Tipperah and 

 Pegu, and produces eatable fruits like those 

 of the last. It is called Lutco by the Hin- 

 doos. [A. SJ 



PIETRA FUNGAJA, or FUNGUS STONE. 

 The Italian name of Polyporus tuber aster, 

 whose mycelium is remarkable for collect- 

 ing the surrounding earth into a large ball, 

 which year after year yields a crop of es- 

 culent fungi. These balls are articles of 

 commerce, and transported from place to 

 place, as they are almost always fertile if 

 put in a proper situation and well watered. 

 There is a fine specimen in the herbarium 

 of the British Museum, which was raised 

 in Messrs. Lee and Kennedy's garden at 

 Hammersmith many years since. The ball 

 has been considered as a kind of truffle, 

 but this is decidedly a mistake, as we can 

 safely assert after examination of fine 

 specimens in our possession. [M. J. BJ 



PIGAMON. (Fr.) Thalictfum. 



PIGEON-WOOD. Zebra-wood, of which 

 there are several kinds, some of which 

 come from Brazil. — , JAMAICA. Guet- 

 tarda speciosa. 



PIGGESNIE. An old name corrupted 

 from Pink-sten-eye, and assigned by Dr. 

 Prior to Dianthus Caryophyllus. 



PIGNON, or PINONE. The edible seed of 

 the cones of various pines, as those of 

 Pinus Pinea, which are eaten in Italy. — 

 DTNDE. The seed of Jatropha Carcas. 



