941 



€f)t ®rea£urg flf Matmxy. 



[PTJKK 



PUNICA. Owing to the singular struc- 

 ture of its fruit, this genus, which con- 

 trans only one species, P. Granatum (the 

 Pomegranate), was by some botanists form- 

 ed into a separate order Granatece ; but it is 

 now more generally considered to belong 

 to the Hyrtacece. The peculiarity of the 

 fruit resides in its being composed of two 



Punica Granatum. 



whorls of carpels, one placed above the 

 other, the lower consisting of three or 

 four and the upper of from five to ten 



Punica Granatum (fruit). 



carpels : and its seeds also differing from 

 the rest of the order in having a pellucid 

 pulpy coating. 



The Pomegranate is a native of Northern 

 Africa and Western Asia, and is usually a 

 tree varying from fifteen to twenty-five 

 i feet high, with oblong or lance-shaped en- 

 | tire leaves, destitute of dots, and without 

 '. the marginal vein usual in Myrtacece; but 

 | there is a dwarf variety with narrower 

 leaves, sometimes called P. nana, natura- 

 1 lised in the West Indies. Its flowers are 

 usually scarlet, though sometimes whiteor 

 yellowish, and have a leathery top-shaped 

 calyx divided at the top into five to seven 

 valvate lobes, and as many or, in certain 

 double-flowering varieties, a larger number 

 of petals. Pomegranates are greatly valued 

 in warm countries on account of their de- 

 licious, cooling, and refreshing pulp. Nu- 

 merous varieties are grown, some being 

 sweet and vinous, and others acid or of a 

 bitter astringent taste ; and the colour of 

 i their pulp is also much redder in some than 

 i in others. They are generally about the size 

 ! of the fist, and have a tough leathery rind 

 i of a beautiful deep golden colour tinged 

 I with red, and are crowned with the re- 

 1 mains of the calyx-lobes. The rind, espe- 



cially that of the bitter kind, contains a 

 large quantity of tannin, and is used for 

 tanning the celebrated morocco-leather, 

 and also as an astringent medicine ; the 

 flowers likewise yield a red dye. [A. S.] 



PUNICEUS. The same as Phceniceus. 



PUNICIN. A peculiar principle, obtained 

 from the bark of the root of Punica Grana- 

 tum, wiiich has the appearance of an oleo- 

 resin. 



PUNK. Touchwood or vegetable tinder. 



PUNNEERIA. A genus of Solanacece 

 containing' only one species, P. coagulans, 

 common in rocky and cultivated soil 

 throughout Scinde, Affghanistan, and Be- 

 loochistan, and well known to the natives 

 of those countries on account of its berries 

 having the property of coagulating milk, 

 in the same manner as rennet, for which 

 they are substituted by theBeloochees and 

 Affghans, who call them Puneer-bund, i.e. 

 cheesemaker. It is a shrubby plant, grow- 

 ing from one to three feet high, clothed in 

 all parts with a down formed of star-like 

 hairs, which give it an ash-grey hue. Its 

 leaves sometimes grow in pairs, and are 

 thickish and of the same colour on both 

 surfaces, oblong or lance-shaped and un- 

 equal-sided ; and bear in their axils two or 

 three small drooping flowers, which are 

 unisexual by abortion, the sexes being 

 borne on distinct plants. Both have a five- 

 cut calyx, that of the female increasing in 

 size after flowering and closely enveloping 

 the ripe fruit ; and their bell-shaped corolla 

 has a five-parted limb. The males contain 

 five fertile stamens as long as the corolla- 

 tube, and an imperfect ovary ; and the fe- 

 males five short barren stamens, and a per- 

 fect two-celled ovary bearing a simple 

 style and two broad flat stigmas. [A. S.] 



PUNOWUR PAIT. A Malayan name for 



Eurycoma longifolia. 



PUPUNHA. A name used in the Amazon 

 district for Guilielma speciosa. 



PURA-ATJ, or PURATRURA. ATahitian 

 name for Cratceva religiosa. 



PURDI2EA. A handsome shrub, with al- 

 ternate sessile entire glabrous and coria- 

 ceous leaves, and pink flowers in an ele- 

 gantly drooping terminal raceme. The 

 calyx consists of five very unequal sepals, 

 which as well as the bracts are thin and 

 scarious ; there are five distinct petals, and 

 ten stamens with the anthers opening in 

 terminal pores as in Ericacece ; the fruit is 

 a four-celled nut with one seed in each cell. 

 It forms a genus of the little group of Cy- 

 rillacece nearly allied to Ericacece, although 

 polypetalous. It was named after M. Purdie, 

 the collector, who discovered it near La 

 Cruz in New Grenada. 



PURGA MACHO. Tpomcea batatoides. 

 — DE GENTIO, or DA PAULISTAS. Anda 

 Gomesii. 



PTJE.KINJIA. A generic name applied 

 by Presl to some specimens of a Mexi- 

 can shrub figured by him, but which ap- 



