801 
PET 
by Petiver. Linnaeus afterwards carried it further, nor 
can any reflecting perfon doubt of the foundnefs of the 
doCtrine. 
It would be impoflible as well as ufelefs to particular¬ 
ize the publication of every one of Petiver’s lifts and ca¬ 
talogues. They were all, as far as could be collected, 
re.publifhed in two vols. folio, under the title of Jacobi 
Petiveri Opera, by John Millan in 1767, price plain fix 
guineas ; or with the infeCts coloured, which is the beft, 
feven guineas; and with the whole coloured, which 
inuft chiefly have been done from imagination, twenty 
guineas. 
It does not appear that Petiver had any family, or that 
he was ever married. He died at his houfe in Alderfgate 
itreet, on the 20th of April, 1718 ; but of his age we find 
no mention. His body lay in date at Cooke Hall, and 
was probably interred at his parifli-church, to thecharify- 
fchool attached to which he left fifty pounds, and five 
guineas to Dr. Brady for preaching his funeral fermon. 
His pall was fupported by Sir Hans Sloane, Dr. Leyit, 
phyfician to the Charter-houfe, and four other phyficians. 
We know' not that any portrait of him is extant. The 
collections of dried plants, and other natural productions, 
which belonged to Petiver, and after his death were 
bought by Sir Hans Sloane, now make a part of the Bri- 
tifli Mufeum. Puitcney's Sketches of Botany. 
PETIVE'RIA,/. [named by Plunder in honour of the 
fubjeft of the preceding article.] Guinea-hen weed; 
in botany, a genus of the clafs hexandria, order tetragy- 
nia; or, according to Swartz, clafs heptandria, order 
monogynia; natural order of holoraceae, (atriplices, 
JnJJ.) Generic characters—Calyx: perianthium four¬ 
leaved; leaflets linear, blunt, equal, fpreading, perma¬ 
nent. Corolla: none (except the coloured calyx.) Sta¬ 
mina: filaments fix or eight, unequal, awl-fhaped, con¬ 
verging; anthers: ereCt, linear-fagittate, bifid at top. 
Piftillum : gertnen ovate comprefied, emarginate ; ftyle 
very fliort, lateral, in the groove of the germ; (ftyles four, 
permanent, finally bent outwards, fpinefcent, Gartner.) 
Stigma: pencil-fliaped. Pericnrpium : none, except the 
cruft over the feed. Seed Angle, oblong, narrower below, 
roundifli, comprefied, emarginate: with four barbed 
hooks, bent back outwards, rigid, acute, the middle ones 
longer : (naked, but armed above with reflex fpines; G.) 
The flowers have moftly feven ftamens.— E/J'ential Cha- 
ratter. Calyx four-leaved; corolla none; feed one, with 
reflex awns at top. There are two fpecies. 
1. Petiveria alliacea, or common Guinea-hen weed: 
flowers fix-ftamened. Root ftrong, ftrikingdeep into the 
ground. Stems from tw'o to three feet high, jointing and 
becoming woody at bottom. Leaves oblong, three inches 
long and an inch and a half broad, of a deep green and 
veined, placed alternately on fliort foot-ftalks. The 
flowers are produced in flender fpikes at the ends of the 
branches ; they are very fmall, and make no figure. Seed 
cuneiform-oblong, round-flatted, with an obfcure ridge 
on one fide and a deprefled line on the other, armed at 
top with four pungent fpines, at firft altnoft upright, but 
afterwards reflected to the back ; of a bay or pale-green 
colour. It is a common plant in moft of the iflands in 
the Weft Indies, where it grows in fhady woods, and all 
the favannas, in fucli plenty as to become a troublefome 
weed. As this plant will endure much drought, it re¬ 
mains green when others are burned up: the cattle then 
feed on it, and it gives their milk the tafte of garlic, and 
an intolerable rnnknefs to their flefh. It flowers here in 
June. Browne informs us that it is very common in all 
the lower lands of Jamaica, and that it is fo remarkably 
acrid, as to render the fmell and tafte hardly tolerable. 
On chewing a little of the plant, it burns in the mouth, 
and leaves the tongue black, dry, and rough, as it appears 
in a malignant fever. It is however thought to be 
coveted by Guinea-hens, and hence its name. It thrives 
moft in a dry gravelly foil and a fhady fituation. Culti¬ 
vated in 1758 by Mr. Miller. 
PET 
2. Petiveria oClnndra, or dwarf Guinea-hen weed : 
flowers eight-ftamened. This is very like the firft, but 
differs in having a fhorterand narrower ftalk, and in the 
flowers having eight ftamens; but, except to a nice ob- 
ferver, they may both pafs for the fame fpecies. Linnreus 
adds, that the leaves are more rigid and quite fmooth, 
the filaments purple and not white. It is a mere variety 
of the preceding, according to Swartz. Jacquin defcribes 
it differing from the common fort only in having eight 
filaments, which are all unequal, and the pencil-fliaped 
body placed on the germ red, whereas in the other it is 
white. Native of the Weft Indies: according to Jacquin, 
frequent in Martinico and the other Caribbee Illands, 
flowering almoft all the year. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants may be increafed 
by flips or cuttings, as well as feeds ; which mull be 
fown on a hot-bed early in the fpring. When the plants 
are come up, tranfplant each into a feparate pot, and 
plunge the pots into a moderate hot-bed. When the 
plants have obtained a good fhare of ftrength, inure them 
by degrees to the open air, into which remove them to¬ 
wards the end of June, placing them in a warm fituation 
where they may remain till autumn, when they fhould 
be placed in the ftove, and during winter have a moderate 
degree of warmth. They will produce flowers and feeds 
every fumnier, and will continue feveral years, remaining 
conftantly green throughout the year. 
PET'KUM, a town of Eaft Friefland : three miles 
fouth-eaft of Emden. 
PET'NHOFEN, a town of Bavaria, in the principality 
of Aichftatt: feven miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Aichftatt. 
PETO'LA,/! in botany. See Momordica. 
PETOM'BO. See Tumbo. 
PETOU'NE HO'TUN, a town of Chinefe Tartary, in 
the government of Kirin Oula : 485 miles north-eaft of 
Peking. Lat. 45. 15. N. Ion. 124. 34. E. 
PETOU'NE KIA'MEN, a poll of Chinefe Tartary: 
nine miles north-weft of Petoune Hotun. 
PE'TRA, in ancient geography, has been flightly 
mentioned under the word Krac, in vol. xi. It is fup- 
pofed to be the fame with Rekem, fo called from Rekem 
king of the Midianites, flain by the Ifraelites (Num. 
xxxi. 8.) Ptolemy places it in Ion. 66. 45. from the For¬ 
tunate iflands, and lat. 30. 20. It declines therefore 
eighty miies to the fouth of the parallel of Jerufalem, and 
thirty-fix miles, more or lefs, from its meridian to the 
eaft. Jofephus fays, that the mountain on which Aaron 
died ltood near Petra; which Strabo calls the capital of 
the Nabatasi; at the diftance of three or fourdays’journey 
from Jericho. This Petra feems to be the Sela of Ifaiah 
xvi. 1. and xlii. 11. the Hebrew name of Petra, “ a rock;” 
though fome imagine Petra to be no older than the time 
of the Macedonians. 
Under the Romans, at any rate, it gave the name of 
Petraea to the furrounding diftrift. It is the chief town 
of the Nabataei, and is laid down by Burckhardt in lati¬ 
tude 30. 20. a pofition which accurately agrees with 
Ptolemy, Eratofthenes, Strabo, and Pliny. Mr. Burck¬ 
hardt alio confirms the teftiniony of Jofephus, that near 
to this city was the fepulchre of. Aaron in Mount Hor ; 
and it is now evident that the prefent objeft of Muflul- 
man devotion, the tomb of Haroun, occupies the very fpot 
which has always been regarded as the burying-place of 
Aaron : confequently, that the mountain weft of Petra is 
the Mount Hor of the Scriptures. 
The ruins which have acquired the name of Wadi Moofa, 
from that of a village in their vicinity, are the wreck of 
the city of Petra, which, in the time of Auguftus Caefar, 
was the relidence of a monarch, and the capital of Arabia 
Petraea. The country was conquered by Trajan, and 
annexed by him to the province of Paleftine. In more 
recent times, Baldwin king of Jerufalem, having made 
himfelf alio mafter of Petra, gave it the name of the 
Royal Mountain. 
Mr. Bankes, who has very recently vifited fome of the 
3 moft: 
