937 



Zlyt ErsaSttrp at 23ntanj). 



[PTER 



ovary -with from two to six ovules. The 

 pods are flat, nearly round or oval, and 

 somewhat one-sided— usually thick and 

 hard in the middle or seed-bearing part, 

 hut more or less attenuated into a thin 

 wing at the edges all round : and they con- 

 tainfrom one to three seeds separated by 

 thin woody partitions. 



Gum Kino is obtained from trees of this 

 genus : in India from P. Marsupium, and 

 in Africa from P. erinaceus. Both these 

 species are large trees, affording valuable 

 hard timber ; that of the former being ex- 

 tensively used in India in the manufacture 

 of cotton-gins, while that of the latter is 

 known in Western Africa as Rosewood. 

 Kino is obtained by making T-shaped in- 

 cisions in the bark, from which the juice 

 exudes and hardens into a brittle mass, 

 easily broken into little angular shining 

 fragments of a bright ruby colour. It is 

 highly astringent, and is used medicinally 

 in diarrhoea, &c, and in India for dyeing 

 and tanning. Another species, P. santa- 

 linics, yields the deep red dyewood known 

 as Red Saunders, large quantities of which 

 are annually exported from India. [A.S.] 



PTEROCARYA. A small genus of Jug- 

 landacece, containing Caucasian, Chinese, 

 and Japanese species, all of them trees with 

 pinnate leaves composed of about a dozen 

 pairs of leaflets. It is distinguished by its 

 two-winged indehiscent fruits. [A, S.] 



PTEROCEPHALUS- A genus of Dipsa- 

 cacece, founded on the Scabiosa plmnosa and 

 some others from the Mediterranean re- 

 gion, in which the calyx when in fruit is 

 converted into a pappus of numerous soft 

 feathery bristles. 



PTEROCOCCUS. A genus of Polp gona- 

 cece, from Southern Russia and Siberia, 

 distinguished from Calligonum and Calli- 

 physa by .having the four-angled nut with 

 each angle produced into a double papery 

 or leathery wing, and by heing smooth 

 between the wings. They are leafless 

 shrubs, with articulated branches, ochre- 

 ate stipules, and flowers with a five-parted 

 coloured perianth. P. aphyllns, or Calligo- 

 num Pallasia, has suborbicular toothed 

 wings to the fruit, and reddish flowers. 

 The roots when pounded are said to 

 furnish a mucilaginous edible substance 

 resembling gum tragacanth. [J. T. S.] 



PTERODISCUS speciosus, the only 

 known representative of this genus of 

 Peckiliacece, is an herbaceous plant with 

 tuberous roots, confined to Southern 

 Africa, and now an inmate of our gar- 

 dens. The leaves are opposite, oblong 

 sinuato-dentate, the flowers axillary and 

 of a purple colour, which renders them 

 very ornamental. The calyx is small and 

 five-cleft, the corolla funnel-shaped with 

 a five-lobed border ; the stamens are 

 four, the stigma bilabiate, and the fruit an 

 indehiscent capsule, round, compressed, 

 with two broad wings at the edge, small 

 tubercules at the surface, and two or ap- 

 parently six- celled, two of the cells con- 

 taining isolated pendulous seeds. [B. S.] 



PTEROGLOSSIS. The name of a Chilian 

 perennial constituting a genus of Scrophu- 

 lariacece. The stems are numerous, slender, 

 branched; leaves pinnately divided ; flow- 

 er-stalks axillary in loose panicles ; calyx 

 tubular, ten-nerved ; corollafunnel-shaped, 

 contracted below, dilated above, the limb 

 unequally five-lobed and somewhat two- 

 lipped ; stamens four, filaments dilated ; 

 anthers notched at the top, and opening 

 by a chink at the notch ; ovary on a short 

 stalk surrounded at the base by a fleshy 

 lobed disk; the style dilated at its upper- 

 portion and the stigma notched, with a 

 viscid gland in the notch, keeled on the 

 upper, flat on the lower surface, the mar- 

 gins dilated into broad membranaceous 

 wings that overlap the two lower stamens ; 

 capsule two-valved, concealed by the persis- 

 tent calyx. [M. T. M.] 



PTEROPHTLLA. A genus of Cunonia- 

 cece, forming a tree from the Moluccas, 

 with pinnate leaves, and terminal erect 

 aggregated spike-like racemes. Calyx 

 four-cleft, deciduous ; petals four; stamens 

 eight ; ovary woolly, two-celled ; style very 

 short, incurved. [J. T. S.j 



PTEROPODIUM. A doubtful genus of 

 Bignoniacece, probably identical with Ja- 

 caranda, consisting of two South American 

 species, trees with pinnated or bipinnated 

 leaves, and large panicles of purple flowers. 

 The calyx is bell-shaped or tubular, the 

 corolla funnel-shaped, the stamens four in 

 number, with the rudiment of a fifth, the 

 anthers glabrous ; fruit unknown. [B. S.] 



PTEROSPERMUM. A genus of Stercu- 

 liacece, of the tribe Helicterece, in which 

 the ovary is borne on a stalk closely com- 

 bined with the staminal column, and the 

 anthers are stipitate as in Helicteres ; hut 

 the anther-cells are linear and parallel, and 

 the capsule is almost woody, containing 

 numerous winged seeds. There are about 

 fourteen species, tropical Asiatic trees or I 

 shrubs, with more or less of a scaly or stel- ' 

 late tomentum. The leaves are alternate 

 coriaceous entire or toothed, and usually 

 very oblique. The flowers are on short 

 axillary peduncles, usually large white and 

 fragrant, sometimes attaining several inch- 

 es in length, although their beauty is di- 

 minished by a want of breadth and expan- 

 sion". 



PTEROSPORA. A genus of fir-rapes, 

 distinguished by having its calyx five- 

 parted, the corolla with a five-toothed 

 border, and the seeds numerous, small, 

 each with a wing-like membrane. P. An- 

 dromeda is the only species, an annual 

 with flowers like Andromeda, and the whole 

 plant dotted with viscid hairs; it is a na- 

 tive of Canada. The name is indicative of 

 the winged seed, a prominent characteris- 

 tic of the genus. [G. D.] 



PTEROSTEGIA. A genus belonging to 

 the order Pohigonacece and tribe Eriogonece, 

 in which the flowers are enclosed in an in- 

 volucre. It differs from others in the in- 

 volucre being formed of two leaves, which 



