poiy] 



&f)t Crca^urg at 33atang. 



912 



two or three-ovuled ovary bearing a slen-the episperm of various species of Collomia 



der protruded style; and their fruit is 

 oval or oblong or five-winged, and contains 

 a solitary pendulous five-angled seed with 

 irregularly convolute cotyledons, the latter 

 character and the quinary division of its 

 flowers distinguishing the genus from Com- 

 bretum, to which it is closely allied. [A. S.j 



POIVRETTE. (Fr.) Nigella sativa. 

 POIVRIER. (Fr.) Piper. — D'AME- 

 RIQTTE, or DU PEROU. Schinus Moile. 

 POIVRON. (Fr.) Capsicum annuum. 



POKE, INDIAN. Veratrum viride. — , 

 VIRGINIAN. Phytolacca decandra. 



POKE-ROOT. Veratrum viride. 

 POKEWEED. Phytolacca decandra. 



POLANISIA. This name, applied to a 

 genus of Capparidacece, is compounded of 

 the Greek words polus ' many,' and ajiisos 

 ' unequal,' in allusion to the stamens. The 

 species are herbaceous plants, natives of 

 the warmer parts of Asia and America, 

 with palmate leaves, and terminal clusters 

 of flowers. Sepals and petals four ; sta- 

 mens eight or more, unequal in length, 

 some of them occasionally destitute of an- 

 thers, all inserted on a short hemispherical 

 receptacle ; ovary sessile or shortly stalked; 

 style as long as the ovary ; stigmas blunt , 

 fruit a two-valved pod, the valves separat- 

 ing from a persistent replum or partition. 



Some of the species are pungent and 

 acrid, so as to be used in India, Cochin 

 China, and the United States as an irritant 

 application, and as a vermifuge. The leaves 

 of P. icosandra are eaten by the natives 

 with other herbs as a salad 5 , they have an 

 acrid pungent taste. The leaves of P.fe- 

 lina are esteemed in India as tonic and 

 expectorant ; their juice mixed with oil is 

 used as a remedy in ear-ache. [M. T. MJ 



POLAO. A Chilian name for a kind of 

 Mint. 



POLAR PLANT. Silphium laciniatum. 



A Russian name for Spelt 



POLBA. 



Wheat. 



POLCHE* 



(Fr.) Hibiscus populn 



POLEMONIACEiE. (Polemonideo?, Co- 

 bceacece, Phloxivorts.) A natural order of 

 corollifloral dicotyledons belonging to 

 Lindley's solanal alliance of perigynous 

 Exogens. They consist of herbaceous or 

 climbing plants, with opposite or alternate 

 simple or compound leaves. Calyx inferior, 

 in five divisions, persistent ; corolla regu- 

 lar, flve-lobed ; stamens five, free, alternate 

 with the segments of the corolla, the pollen 

 often blue ; disk lobed ; ovary free, three- 

 celled, with axile placentas; style simple; 

 stigma trifid. Fruit a three-celled three- 

 valved capsule ; seeds angular or oval, or 



contains numerous spiral cells, which.when 

 the seeds are moistened with water, become 

 uncoiled. Polemonium, Phlox, and Cobcea 

 are examples of the genera, of which about 

 seventeen are known, comprising upwards 

 of one hundred species. [J. H. B.] 



POLEMONIUM. A genus of erect her- 

 baceous perennials, with alternate pinnate 

 leaves, and terminal panicles of handsome 

 blue or white flowers, giving name to the 

 order Polemoniacece. The characters of the 

 genus are:— calyx bell-shaped, five-cleft; 

 corolla with a very short tube and erect 

 limb ; stamens inserted in the throat of the 

 corolla ; capsule many-seeded. P. cceruleum, 

 the Greek Valerian, or Jacob's Ladder, is to 

 be found in most cottagegardens, growing 

 about a foot and a half high, with stiff erect 

 scarcely branched angular stems, bright- 

 green smooth leaves, pinnate with an odd 

 leaflet, and terminal corymbs of pretty 

 blue or white flowers. It grows seemingly 

 wild in some of the northern counties, but 

 is not generally admitted to be indigenous. 

 French : Vattriane grecque ; German :Speer- 

 kraut. [C. A. J.j 



POLE-REED, or PULL-REED. Phrag- 

 mitis communis. 



POLE-RUSH. The Bulrush. 



POLIANTHES. The Tuberose, a fa- 

 vourite conservatory plant belonging to 

 the order Lihacece. The leaves are linear 

 lanceolate ; the flower-stalk, which is two 

 to three feet long, bears towards its sum- 

 mit numerous creamy-white very fragrant 

 flowers, which are funnel-shaped and in- 

 curved; the stamens are inserted in the 

 throat of the tube. The species most com- 

 monly cultivated, P. tuberosa, is a native of 

 the East Indies, but the plants grown in 

 England are for the most part annually im- 

 ported from Italy, those with double flow- 

 ers being the most prized. The English 

 name, often but improperly pronounced as 

 a word of two syllables, is no doubt a cor- 

 ruption of the Latin adjective tuberosa, and 

 has reference to the form of the root. This 

 plant has been observed in a sultry evening 

 after thunder, when the atmosphere was 

 highly charged with electric fluid, to dart 

 sparks of lucid flame in abundance from 

 such of its flowers as were fading. French : 

 TuMreuse ; German : Tuberose. [C. A. J.] 



POLITUS. Having the appearance of a 

 polished substance ; as the testa of many- 

 seeds. 



POLLEN. The powdery or other matter 

 usually contained in the cells of an anther, 

 by whose action on the stigma the fertili- 

 sation of the ovules is accomplished. Pol- 

 len-cells are the cavities of an anther, in 

 which the pollen is formed ; pollen-grains 

 r granules the separate particles of pol- 



winged; embryo straight in the axis of a len; and pollen-tubes membranous tubes 



fleshy or horny albumen ; cotyledons folia- 

 ceous. They inhabit temperate countries 

 chiefly, and abound in the north-western 

 parts of America. Many of them have 

 showy flowers. The mucous covering of 



emitted by pollen, and conducting the 

 fluid which the pollen secretes down the 

 style. 



POLLEX (adj. POLLICARIS). The first 

 joint of the thumb ; an inch. 



