568 
PEN 
ally. In the 13th clafs, polyandria, the order pentagynia 
feparates fome genera from others to which they are clofe- 
ly allied, in the tryginia, and admits Nigella, fome fpecies 
of which have ten ftyles. Hence it is no lefs eligible to 
adopt the fame latitude here as in icofandria. Perhaps 
the definition of the order, in both thefe claffes, might 
moft conveniently be “ftyles from two to ten.” Some 
genera in other claffes may have five ftyles ; but the or¬ 
ders of fuch claffes being marked by other characters, the 
number of ftyles ufually becomes a part of the generic de¬ 
finition. New Cyclopaedia. 
PENTALO'BA,/.[fo named by Loureiro, from the five 
lobes of the berry.] In botany, a genus of the clafs pen- 
tandria, order monogynia, natural order of melise, Jujf. 
Generic characters—Calyx: perianthium inferior, of five 
lanceolate ereCt hairy leaves. Corolla: petals five, lan¬ 
ceolate, ereCt, cohering by their lower part, fomewhat re¬ 
flexed af their fummits. NeCtary tubular, ereCt, with five 
teeth. Stamina : filaments five, thread-fhaped, flattifh, 
inferted into the incifions of the neCtary, about as long as 
the petals; antheras ovate, ereCt. Piftillum: germen 
roundifh, hairy, with five furrows; ftyle fliort, thick, 
hairy; ftigma fimple. Pericarpium : berry roundifh, 
five-lobed, of one cell. Seeds five, ovate.— Effcntial Cha¬ 
racters. Corolla of five petals, bell-fhaped; neCtary tu¬ 
bular, five-cleft, bearing the ftamens; calyx of five 
leaves ; berry fuperior, with five lobes and five feeds. 
Pentaloba feffiiis, the only fpecies, is a native of hiils in 
Cochinchina, where it is known by the name of Cay 
Cuong tau, and forms a middle-fized tree, wdth amend¬ 
ing branches ; leaves alternate, lanceolate, flightly fer- 
rated, fmootb. Flowers feflile, cluttered together, of a 
pale hue. Lour. Cocliinch. 154.. 
PENTALU'PO, a town of Naples, in Calabria Ultra : 
fix miles eaft of Reggio. 
PENTAM'ETER, f. [from the Greek wsm, five, and 
/*£T££w, tomeafure.] A Latin verfe confifting of five feet, 
or metres. The two firft feet may be either daCtyls or 
fpondees at pleafure ; the third is always a fpondee; and 
the two laft anapeftes: fuch is the following verfe of 
Ovid: Carmini\bus vi\ves tem\pus in om\ne vieis. A pen¬ 
tameter verfe fubjoined to an hexameter conftitutes what 
is called the elegiac. It is ufually joined to hexameters, 
in elegies, epiftles, epigrams, and other little pieces. 
There is no work extant of pentameters alone. 
PENTAMETER, adj. Having five metrical feet.—Like 
Ovid’s Fafti, in hexameter and pentameter verfe. Wart on. 
PENTAM'YROM, J'. [in pharmacy.] An ointment 
compounded of five ingredients. 
PENTAN'DRIA, J\ [from the Greek wem, five, and 
ai^o$, a man.] In botany, the fifth clafs in the Linnaean 
artificial fyftem. It is fb called from its diftinCtive cha¬ 
racter of having five unconnected ftamens in the fame 
flower with the piftil or piftils. This is the largeft of all 
the Linnasan claffes. The number five prevails far beyond 
any other in the ftruCture of flowers; for the great clafs 
Syngenefia has alfo five ftamens in nearly every known in- 
ftance, but their antherae are united into a tube, and the 
flowers compound. Some genera of the Pentandria in¬ 
deed have likewife combined antheras, and fuch, having 
fimple flowers, conftitute the Linnaean order of Syngenefia 
monogamia; an order now, by common confent, abo- 
lifhed, being found not only unnatural, but highly incon¬ 
venient, various fpecies of other genera, as Gentiana, 
having likewife combined antherae. See the article Bo¬ 
tany, vol. iii. p. 257, 266, 7. and Plate X. fig. 5. 
Pentandria is alfo the appellation of fome orders in 
the Linnaean fyffem, as the fecond of the clafs monadel- 
phia ; the firft in diadelphia ; the fifth in gynandria ; and 
finally the fifth orders in moncecia and dicecia. 
PEN'TANGLE, f. [from the Greek te, five, and 
the Lat. angulus, an angle.] A figure having five fides 
and angles. Scott. 
PENTAN'GULAR, adj. Five-cornered.—His thick 
and bony fcales Hand in rows, fo as to make the flefh al- 
moft pentangular. Grew . 
PEN 
PF.NTAPET'ALOUS, adj. [in botany, from the 
Greek, 7rsm, five, and mtrcchov, a leaf.] Having five pe¬ 
tals, or flower-leaves.—The fimple and original rofe is 
pentapetalous , and all the duplications and reduplications 
of its petals follow the fame divifion of five. The heraldic 
denomination of cinquefoil is a fort of abftradion of pen- 
tapctqlous, excepting that this is an adjedi-ve and the 
other a fubftantive; and that the term folium is deriva¬ 
tively ufed inftead of pelatum. For it muft be noticed, 
that in Greek the leaf of a tree is called 1 pvXXov, and the 
leaf of a flower TrerciXov ; a diftindion which is fcrupu- 
loufly obferved in Englifli and French botanical works. 
Etymological Gleanings, MS. 
PENTAP'ETES, f. [Gr. “having five leaves ;” an an¬ 
cient name for Cinquefoil, adopted for a very different 
plant by Linnaeus. Though he declines any explanation 
of it, the five leafy expanfions, which, in his Peniapetes, 
accompany the ftamens, feem fo well to account for this 
appellation, that one cannot but think the idea of fuch 
an adaptation of the word had occurred to him, though 
he might have forgotten it when he wrote the Philofophia 
Botanica, p. 175.] In botany, a genus of the clafs mona- 
delphia, order dodecandria, natural order of columnifertE, 
(malvaceae, Juff.) Generic charadfters—Calyx : perian¬ 
thium double ; outer three-leaved, one-fided, caducous ; 
leaflets linear, acuminate ; inner one leafed, five-parted, 
permanent; fegments lanceolate, acuminate, fpreading, 
longer than the corolla. Corolla: petals five, roundifh, 
fpreading, fattened to the pitcher of ftamens. Stamina : 
filaments fifteen, filiform, upright, fhorter than the co¬ 
rolla, united below into a pentagonal pitcher, but free 
above; antherae fagittate, upright; ligules five, linear- 
lanceolate, petal-fhaped, upright, each between every three 
ftamens, fpringing from the pitcher. Piftillum: germen 
ovate; ftyle filiform, thickened above, ftriated, longer 
than the ftamens, permanent. Stigma obfoletely five¬ 
toothed. Pericarpium : capfule membranaceous, fub- 
globular, acuminate, five-celled, five-valved : partitions 
contrary. Seeds eight, ovate, acute, four on each fide, 
fattened within fide to the partition.— EffvntialCharacter. 
Calyx double: outer three-leaved; inner five-parted. 
Stamina fifteen, with five ligules, petal-fhaped ; capfule 
five-celled, many-feeded. Only one fpecies. 
Pentapetes phcenicia, or Indian vervain-mallow 5 (Flos 
impius, Humph. Amb. Naga-pu, Rheed. Mai.) This is 
an annual plant, which dies in the autumn, foon after it 
has ripened the feeds. It has an upright (talk from two 
to near three feet high, fending out fide-branches the 
whole length ; thofe from the lower part of the ftalks are 
the longeft, the others gradually diminifh, fo as to form 
a fort of pyramid. They are garnifhed with leaves of 
different forms ; the lower leaves, which are largeft, are 
cut on their fides towards the bafe into two fide-lobes 
which are fhort, and the middle is extended two or three 
inches farther in length, fo that the leaves greatly re¬ 
ferable the points of halberts in their fhape ; they,are 
flightly ferrate, and of a lucid green on their upper fide, 
but paler on their under, Handing upon pretty long foot- 
ftalks. The leaves which are on the upper part of the 
branches are much narrower, and fome of them have very 
fmall indentures on their fides; they fit clofer to the 
ftalks, and are placed alternately. The flowers are axil¬ 
lary; they come out for the moft part fingly, but fome- 
times there, are two arifing at the fame place from the 
fide of the footftalk of the leaves. The peduncle is fliort 
and flender. The flower is of one petal, cut into five ob- 
tufe fegments almoft to the bottom ; but, as they are 
joined and fall off in one piece, the flower is monopeta- 
lous according to Ray and Tournefort; but Linnasus 
makes it pentapetalous. It is of a fine fcarlet colour, (fee 
Botany Plate X. fig. 16. vol. iii.) expanding at noon and 
falling in the evening. The foolifli name by which Rura- 
phius has diftinguiflied this flower, and which is faid to 
be a tranflation of its Indian appellation, alludes to its 
“ profane or impious nature, in never looking towards 
heaven.” So may flowers, as well as men, be fometimes 
2 • calumniated! 
