P H A 
55 
grooved on one fide, large. Schreber could not obferve 
any nedtary .-—EJfential Character. Calyx : glume two- 
valved, one-flowered. Male. Corolla: glume two- 
valved. Female. Corolla : glume one-valved, long, in¬ 
volving ; feed one, There are three fpecies. 
x. Pharus latifolius, broad-leaved pliarus, or wild Ja¬ 
maica oat: panicle branched; calyxes apetalous, naked, 
awnlefs. This grafs has many filaments three or four 
inches long, with lateral fibrils, uniting in a roundilh 
root. Root-leaves feveral, encompafling the (talk, and one 
another by their footstalks, which are ltriated, of a light 
brown colour, and about nine inches long. Leaves ob¬ 
long-ovate, fix inches long, and two broad, acuminate, 
Striated, thin, hard and rough, with the midrib promi¬ 
nent at the back. Stalk about a foot and a half high, hav¬ 
ing below two very fnort joints, dividing at a foot from 
the ground into feveral branches, on which are naked 
flowers, half an inch in length, feflile, alternate. The 
male flowers are fmaller than the females, and Hand on 
pretty long peduncles at the back of the others. This 
grafs is frequent in all the woody hills of Jamaica, and 
reckoned a hearty wholefome food for all forts of cattle. 
They call it there wild oats. 
2. Pharus ciliatus, or fringed pharus: panicle fome- 
what branched; calyxes apetalous, ciliate, awnlefs. 
Culms very leafy, two feet high. Leaves linear, narrow, 
rugged. Native of the Ealt Indies, about the margin of 
pools; gathered by Kcenig. 
3. Pharus ariftatus, or awned floating pharus : panicle 
umbelled ; calyxes apetalous, awned, naked. Culm 
above the water fcarceiy two feet high, at the joints un¬ 
der water many pedtinate fibres, upright, leafy. Leaves 
lanceolate, fliort, widilh, naked, rough above, udthout 
any ligule. Male flowers feveral, lanceolate; ftamens fix, 
with very fliort filaments, and long linear yellow anther®, 
flightly bifid at top. Female flowers fewer, below; germ 
minute, ftyles two, lligmas white. Corolla none in 
either. Native of the Eaft Indies, and nearly allied to 
Phalaris oryzoides. 
Mr. Brown (Prodr. Nov. Holl. 1. 211.) fays, that thefe 
tw'o laft fpecies do not properly belong to Pharus, but 
are more akin to Zizania, or rather conltitute perhaps a 
new genus. See Leptaspis. 
PHARU'SII, in ancient geography, a people of Africa, 
in the interior of Mauritania Ctefarienfis; north of the 
Melano-Getulians and of Mount Sagapola. 
PHARYCA'DUM, a town of Macedonia, in the Eftio- 
tide, at the confluence of the rivers Peneus and Curialus. 
Strabo. 
PHARYN'GzEUM SAL, a name given by old authors 
to an artificial fait, of ufe in the quinfey, and cafes of the 
like kind, when the pharynx, or fauces, are incommo¬ 
ded by a difcharge of ferous or other humours. It is 
prepared of cream of tartar and nitre, each an ounce, 
with half an ounce of burnt alum ; all thefe are to be 
difiolved in vinegar, and coagulated according to art. 
This fait mixed with honey, and dilfolved in plantain- 
water, makes an excellent gargle. 
PHARYNGOT'OMY, f. [from the Gr. <pagvy%, the 
windpipe, and ts/xmv, to cut.] The aft of making an in- 
cifion into the wind-pipe, ufed when fome tumour in the 
throat hinders refpiration. 
PHA'RYNX, j. [Greek.] The large membranous and 
mufcular cavity, placed at the back of the mouth and nofe, 
through which the food pafles into the cefophagus, and 
the air goes to and from the lungs. 
PHAS'CHIN, a fmall ifland in the Frozen Ocean, near 
the fouth coaft of Nova Zembla. Lat. 70. 30. N. Ion. 
57. 24-. E. 
PHAS'CUM, / [adopted by Linnaeus from the Greek 
tpa.cry.ot, which was ufed as the name of fome kind of 
tnofly production.] Earth-Moss ; in botany, a genus of 
the clafs cryptogamia, order mufci, or moffes. Eflential 
generic character— Capfule ovate, without any Separate 
lid, deciduousveil minute, deciduous. 
P H A 
The minute mofles which compofe this genus are ge¬ 
nerally of the molt Ample form of growth, with an undi¬ 
vided, (hort, and fcarcely-difcernible, Item, though with 
feveral leaves; and the capfule is, in that cafe, folitary, 
either terminal or lateral, feflile or (talked. The lid is 
fcarceiy difcernible from the reft of the capfule, even in 
colour, nor are its limits defined by any diltindt fepara- 
tion ; the feeds therefore dffcape by an irregular," and 
feemingly accidental, laceration, at one fide, where the 
lid ufually feparates in other mofles. The laft edition of 
Syft. Veg. contains but five fpecies of Phafcum, and of 
that fmall number no more than two are really fuch. 
Dillenius comprehended fuch of them as he had met 
with, under his Sphagnum. Schreber firft gave a fcien- 
tiflc and critical account of the genus, in a learned differ- 
tation, publiflied atLeipfic in 1770, with two plates, fince 
which the fpecies have been much investigated, and many 
new ones defcribed by Dickfon, Hedwig, and others. 
The Species Mufcorum of the latterdefcribes twelve ge¬ 
nuine fpecies. The Flora Britannica, however, enume¬ 
rates feventeen, all natives of Britain, in the difcovery of 
the more minute and curious of which, Mr. Dickfon has 
had a principal (hare. They occur chiefly on banks and 
heaths, fometimes in bogs. The annual ones, which are 
moft numerous, keep vegetating through the open wea¬ 
ther of winter, often bearing their minute flowers in No- 
vemberand January, and ripeningfruit in the early fpring, 
at which feafon feveral of them compofe a fine green turf 
on expofed gravelly banks, and, as the power of the fun 
prevails, are foon afterwards dried up. Their little cap- 
fules, innumerable in themfelves, and beyond all calcu¬ 
lation as to the abundance of their feeds, lie hid and un- 
diftinguilhable among the fandy particles of the foil, till 
the moifture of declining autumn calls forth a new pro¬ 
geny. Several fpecies are furnished, befides the fibres 
that draw nourifhment from the ground, with very curi¬ 
ously branched and reticulated fpreading filaments, ex¬ 
tending themfelves like a fort of Conferva, and throwing 
up feparate buds or plants here and there. Yet it is not 
certain that even fuch are all of perennial duration, nor 
do thefe jointed filaments feem to take root; they are pro¬ 
bably of the nature of roots notwithftandir.g, deftined to 
imbibe moifture from the furface of the foil, or from the 
moifture which it exhales, or retains. We (hall defcribe. 
a few fpecies only. 
1. Phafcum fubulatum, orawl-leaved earth-mofs: ftetn 
Ample; capfule on a-ftiort ftalk; leaves avvl-fliaped, fpread¬ 
ing; dilated at the bafe; capillary at the point. Fre¬ 
quent in Shady hollows of fimdy banks, bearing fruit in 
March. Roots fibrous, annual. Plants rather difperfed, 
forming loofe velvet-like patches, of a pleafant green. 
Each is about a quarter of an inch high ; its fliort ftem 
clothed with very fliort taper leaves, and crowned with 
a fpreading tuft of much longer ones, whofe point is very 
oblcurely (errated. At the top Hands the little chefnut- 
coloured oval capfule, flightly elevated on a fcarceiy dif¬ 
cernible ftalk. The veil is very fliort, and at firft (lender, 
till it is fplit open at one fide, by the rapid growth of the 
fruit, and foon falls off. On the annexed Plate, fig. x 
exhibits one of the green patches formed by this minute 
plant in its recent date, and rifling from it is a fingle head 
with its leaves magnified ; fig. 2 (hows the fame in a much 
moreadvanced (fate,when it has attained itschefnut-colour. 
2. Phafcum Stridtum, or upright earth-mofs : ftem 
fcarceiy any; capfule ovate; leaves awl-fliaped, upright. 
Straight, flightly ferrated. A very rare fpecies; found 
as yet by Mr. Dickfon alone, on alpine bogs in Scotland. 
This is not half the fize of the foregoing, and is distin¬ 
guished by its dark and blackifli-green hue, the want of a 
leafy Stem, and the Straight uprightnefs of its foliage. 
Capfule dark brown when ripe, on a Short fruit-ltalk, 
and greatly overtopped by the leaves. 
3. Phafcum multicapfulare, or many-fruited earth- 
mofs: caulefcent and branched; Stem-leaves alternate; 
floral ones linear-lanceolate, crowded, Straight; capfules 
numerous. 
