p s o 
tance from the ground. Mr. Latham only 
enumerates two species : 
1. Psophia crepitans, or gold-breasted 
trumpeter. See Plate Nat. Hist. tig. 340. 
Its head and breast are smooth and shining 
green. Bv the Spaniards of Maynas it is 
called trompetero, and by the I rench at 
Cayenne agami, under whicn last name Buffon 
describes it. It inhabits parts of South Ame- 
rica, Brasil, Guiana, Surinam, &c. but it is 
most plenty in the Amazons’ country. It is 
about 20 inches long, being about the size of 
a large fowl, and lays eggs rather larger, of a 
blue-green colour. It is met with in the 
Carribee islands, where it is called a phea- 
sant, and its flesh is reckoned as good as that 
of a pheasant. The most characteristic and 
remarkable property of these birds consists 
in the wonderful noise they make either of 
themselves, or when urged by the keepers of 
the menagerie. Some have supposed it to 
roceed trom the anus, and some from the 
elly- It is now certain, however, that this 
noise -proceeds from the lungs. Another very 
remarkable circumstance is, that they follow 
people through the streets, and out ot town, 
and sometimes even perfect strangers. It is 
difficult to get rid of them ; for if you enter 
a house, they will wait your return, and again 
join you, though often after an interval of 
three hours. “ I have sometimes (says M. 
de la Borde) betaken myself to my heels ; 
but they ran faster, and always got before 
me; and when I stopped, they stopped also, 
I know one (continues be) which invariably 
follows all the strangers who enter his mas- 
ter's house, accompanies them into the gar- 
den, takes as many turns as they do, and at- 
tends them back again.” 
2. Psophia undulata, or undulated tram’ 
peter, is about the size of a goose. The up- 
er part of the body is ot a pale reddish 
rown-colour, beautifully undulated with 
black. The head is adorned with a depen- 
dant crest. On each side of the neck, be- 
neath the ears, begins a list of black, widen- 
ing as it descends, and meeting on the lower 
part before, where the feathers become 
greatly elongated, and hang loosely down. 
The under parts are generally white ; the 
legs are of a dusky blue colour, like the bill. 
It is a native of Africa. Mr. Latham s spe- 
cimen came from Tripoli. 
PSORA. See Medicine. 
PSORA LEA, a genus of the decandria 
order, in the diadelphia class of plants, and 
in the natural method ranking under the 32d 
order, papilionacean The calyx is powdered 
with callous points, and as long as the mono- 
spermous legumen. 1 here are 33 species. 
The most remarkable are : 
1 . The pi iinat a, or pinnated psorafea, with 
a woodv soft stem, branching five or six feet 
high, pinnated leaves of three or four pair of 
narrow lobes terminated by an odd one, and 
at the axillas close-sitting blue flowers with 
white keels. It is a native of Ethiopia. 
2. The bituminosa, or bituminous trifoliate 
psoralea, rises with a shrubby stalk, branching 
sparingly about two or three feet high, with 
ternate or three-lobed leaves of a bituminous 
scent, and blue flowers in close heads. It 
grows in Italy and in France. 
3. The aculeata, or acnleated prickly pso- 
yalea, rises with a shrubby branching stem 
three or four, feet high, with ternate leaves,, 
PTE 
having wedge-shaped lobes, terminating in a ’ 
recurved sharp point, and the branches ter- j 
minated by roundish heads of blue flowers. ; 
It giows in Ethiopia. These plants flower 
here every summer ; the first sort the greatest 
part of that season, and the others in July 
and August ; all of which are succeeded by- 
seeds in autumn. Keep them in pots in order j 
for removing into the greenhouse in winter. ! 
They are propagated by seeds, sown in a hot- j 
bed in the spring; and when the plants are 
two or three inches high, prick them in sepa- 
rate small spots, and gradually harden them 
to the open air, so as to bear it fully by the 
end of May or beginning of June. They | 
may also be propagated by cuttings any time , 
in summer, planted in pots, and plunged in j 
a little heat ; or covered close with hand- j 
glasses, shaded from the sun, and watered. 
PSYCIIOTRLA, a genu- of the mor.ogy- 
nia order, in the pentandria class of plants, 
and in the natural method ranking under the 
47th order, stellate. The calyx is quinque- 
dentate, persisting, and crowning the fruit ; | 
the corolla is tubulated ; the berry globose, j 
with two hemispherical sulcated seeds. I he | 
species are 39, chiefly shrubs ol the West 
Indies, 
PTARMICA, sneeze-wort, a genus of the 
syngenesia polygamia superflua class of 
plants, the compound flower whereof is ra- 
diated. and the peculiar hermaphrodite ones 
of a funnel-shape, with a patulous quinque- 
fid limb; the stamina are live capillary very- 
short filaments ; and the seeds, one ot which 
succeeds each hermaphrodite flower, are con- 
tained in the cup. The leaves of this plant 
are sometimes used in sallad ; and when 
dried and reduced to powder, they make a 
good sternutatory. 
PTELEA, shrub-trefoil, a genus of the 
monogynia order, in the tetrandria class of 
plants, and in the natural method ranking 
with those of which the order is doubtful. 
The corolla is tetrapetalous ; the calyx qua- 
dripartite inferior; the fruit is monosper- 
nious, with a roundish membrane in the mid- 
dle. 
There is one species, viz. the trifoliata, or 
Carolina shrub-trefoil. It has a shrubby up- 
right stem, dividing into a branchy head 
eight or ten feet high, covered with a smooth 
purplish bark, trifoliate leaves, formed of 
oval spear-shaped folioles, and the branches 
terminated by large bunches of greenish- 
white flowers, succeeded by roundish, bor- 
dered capsules. It is a hardy deciduous 
shrub, and a proper plant for the shrubbery 
and other ornamental plantations to increase 
the varietv. It is propagated by seeds, layers, 
and cuttings. 
PTERIS, a genus of the order of Alices, in 
the cryptogamia class ol plants. I he fructi- 
fications are in lines under the margin. There 
are 34 species. The most remarkable is the 
aquilina, or common female fern. The root 
of this is viscid, nauseous und bitterish; and 
like all the rest of the fern tribe, lias a salt, 
mucilaginous taste. It creeps under the 
ground in some rich soils to the depth of five 
or six feet, and is very difficult to be destroy- 
ed. Frequent mowing in pasture-grounds, 
plentiful dunging in arable lands, and above 
all, pouring urine upon it, are the most ap- 
proved methods ot killing it. It has, how- 
ever, many good qualities -to counterbalance 
PTE 517 
the few bad ones. Fern cut while green, and 
left to rot upon the ground, is a good im- 
prover of land ; and its ashes, if burnt, will 
yield the double quantity of salt 'that' most 
other vegetables will. Fein is also an excel- 
lent manure for potatoes; for if buried be- 
neath their roots, it never fails to produce a 
good crop. Its astringency is so great,- that 
it is used in many places abroad in dressing 
and preparing kid and chamois leather. In 
several places in the north, the inhabitants- 
mow it green, and, burning it to ashes, make, 
those ashes up into balls, with a little water,, 
which they dry in the sun, and make use of 
them to wash their linen instead of i-oap. In 
many of the Western Isles, the people gain a 
very considerable profit from the sale otthe 
ashes to soap and glass-makers. In Glen 
Elg in Inverness-shire, and other places,, the 
people thatch their houses with the stalks of 
this fern, and fasten, them down with ropes 
made either of birch, bark, or heath. Swine 
are fond of the roots, especially if boiled in their 
wash. In some parts of N ormandy we read that 
the poor have been reduced to the miserable- 
necessity of mixing them with their bread ; and 
in Siberia, and some other northern coun- 
tries, the- inhabitants brew them in their ale,, 
mixing one-third of the roots to two-thirds 
of malt. The antients used the root of this 
fern, and the whole plant, in decoctions and. 
diet-drinks, in chronic disorders of all kinds,, 
arising from obstructions of the viscera and 
the spleen. Some of the moderns have given* 
it- a high character in the same- intentions,, 
but it is rarely used in the present practice- 
The country -people, however, still continue 
to retain some of its antient uses ; for they 
give the powder of it to destroy worms, and 
look upon abed of the green plant as a so- 
vereign cure for the rickets in children. 
PTEROCARPUS, a genus of the decan- 
dria order, in the diadelphia class of plants,, 
and in the natural method ranking under the 
32d order, papilionaceai. The calyx is quin- 
quedentate ; the capsule falcated, liliaceous,, 
varicose. The seeds are few and solitary.. 
There are six species. The most remark- 
able are :: 
1. Draco 2; Ecastaphyllum. 3. Luna- 
tus. And, 4. Santalinus,. This last is called 
red saunders ; and the wood is brought from? 
the East Indies in large billets, of a compact 
texture, a dull red, almost blackish- colour on* 
the outside, and a deep brighter red within. 
This wood has no manifest smell, and. little oE 
no taste- 
The principal use of red savtndbrs is as a* 
colouring drug; with which' intention it is 
employed in some formula;, particularly in- 
the tinctura lavendul© composita. It com- 
municates a deep red to rectified spirit, but 
gives no tinge to> aqueous liquors ; a small 
quantity of the- resin, extracted’ by means of 
spirit, tinges- a. large one of fresh spirit of an. 
elegant blood-red. There is scarcely any oil,, 
that of lavender excepted,, to which it com- 
municates its colour.. Geoffroy and others 
take notice, that the Brazil woods are some- 
times substituted for. red saunders; and the 
college of Brussels are in. doubt- whether alii 
that is sold among them for saunders is not 
really a wood of that kind. 
PTER0NIA, a genus of the polygamia: 
aequalis- order,, in the syngenesia class of 
plants, and in the natural method ranking 
under the 49th_ order, composite. The r«r 
