386 PIC 
(kin, all over the body; it is attended with no danger, 
unlefs they are (truck in. 
PICOY', a town of Peru, in the diocefe of Guamanga, 
on a river of the fame name, which runs into the Xauxa 
twenty miles north of Guanga Velica. 
PICQUEE'RING, or Picaroo'ning, f. A little flying 
war or (kirmifli, which the foldiers make when detached 
from their bodies to pillage, or before a main battle begins, 
PIC'QUET-BERG, a diviflon of the diftrict of Stellen- 
bofch and Drankenftein, in fouthern Africa, near the Cape 
of Good Hope. It terminates the plain of the Four-and- 
twenty Rivers to the northward. Here, befides corn and 
fruit, the inhabitants rear horfes, horned cattle, and 
fheep. And from hence alfo is fent to the Cape-market 
a confiderable quantity of tobacco, which has the reputa¬ 
tion of being of the bed quality that fouthern Africa 
produces. 
PIQUIGNY', a town of France, in the department of 
the Somme, and chief place of a canton, in the ftiftridt 
of Amiens. The place contains 1253, and the canton 
14,125, inhabitants. 
PICRAM'NIA, f. [from the Gr. wu'.fjo?, bitter, and 
Salvos, a (hrub ; the whole of it being remarkably bitter.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs dioecia, order pentandria, 
(triandria digynia, Swartz.) Generic charadfers—I. 
Male. Calyx: perianthium one-leafed, three or five 
parted; fegments lanceolate, eredt. Corolla: petals 
three or five, lanceolate, from eredl fpreading, longer 
than the calyx. Stamina: filaments three or five, awl- 
fliaped ; approximating at the bafe, eredt, longer than 
the corolla. Antherae ovate, twin. II. Female. Calyx 
as in the male, permanent. Corolla as in the male. 
Piftillum: germ oblong, fomewhat comprefied ; ftyles 
two, fliort, recurved, permanent ; ftigmas Ample, acute. 
Pericarpium: berry ovate-roundifh, two-celled. Seeds 
two in each cell, ovate-oblong. Swartz defcribes three 
ftamens, a three-parted calyx and a three-petalled corolla. 
In the fpecimens fent to Schreber by Crudy there are five 
ftamens and five-cleft flowers. The berry fometimes, 
but very feldom, is three-celled and one-feeded. Is two 
the natural number of the fruit?— EJj'ential CharaBer. 
Calyx three or five-parted; corolla three or five-petalled ; 
berry two-celled. There are only two fpecies. 
1. Picramnia antidefma: racemes very long; flowers 
three-ftamened. This is a fmall tree, with an upright 
■weak even trunk: branches fubdivided, rod-like, fpread¬ 
ing, bending down, fmoothilh, with an afh-coloured bark. 
Leaves pinnate, a foot long and more : leaflets petioled, 
alternate, elliptic with a blunt tip, entire, nerved and 
veined, fmooth, bent down each way by the fide of the 
petiole. Petioles roundifli, fpreading, fmooth : petiolets 
very (hort, pubefcent, red. Racemes terminating, from 
one to two feet in length, filiform, (Iriated, loofe, pendu¬ 
lous, many flowered. Flowers alternately conglomerate, 
peduncled, whitifh green. Peduncles from five to feven, 
cluftered, whitifli, longer than the flowers ; males deci¬ 
duous ; calyx three-parted; petals three; filaments 
three. Females the (ame fize with the males. Berries 
oblong, the fize of a goofeberry when ripe, two-celled : 
cells two-feeded, at firft fcarlet, afterwards black. Native 
of Jamaica and Hifpaniola, in mountain-coppices. Dr. 
Browne fays it is pretty frequent about St. Mary’s in 
Jamaica, and feldom rifes above eight or nine feet from 
the ground; it was not put to any ufe there. Swartz 
relates, that it is looked upon by the negroes as anti- 
venereal, and that they commonly ufe an infufion of it in 
the colic. The whole plant is very bitter, and is called 
majo hitters in Jamaica. It flowers in Auguft, and the 
fruit is ripe in November. Browne ufes Burman’s ap¬ 
pellation AntideJ'ma, as more expreflive of the virtues of 
this plant, which he thinks fhould be the principal fource 
■whence the names of vegetables ought to be derived, 
■when they are remarkably noted for any. 
2. Picramnia pentandra: racemes (horter; flowers 
five-ftamened. Thisisalfo afmall tree, with the branches, 
P I c 
branchlets, and leaves, as in the preceding; but the 
leaflets are commonly wider. Racemes much (horter 
commonly fubdivided at the bafe, nodding. Flowers a’ 
little fmaller, alternately cluftered; calyx five-parted- 
petals five; filaments five; antherae roundifli. In the 
female flowers the calyx is permanent. Native of the 
Weft Indies: found by Ryan at Palmeto-ooint in tile 
ifland of Montferrat. 
PIC'RIA, /. [fo called by Loureiro from mnpix bit- 
ternefs, on account of the flavour of every part of the 
plant. Lour. Cochinch . 392.] In botany, a genus of th» 
clafs didynamia, order angiofpermia, or rather perhaps 
diandria monogynia; natural order of perfonatte Ti,L 
(fcrophulariae, Jiff.) Generic charafters—Calyx’- peri¬ 
anth fuperior, four-leaved, deciduous; two of tlie’leaves 
ovate, flat, longer than the corolla; two others alternate 
linear, (horter. Corolla tubular, ringent; tube con- 
trafted in the middle ; upper lip fpatuJate, emaro-inate • 
lower broadeft, in three rounded equal fegments Sta¬ 
mina : filaments four ; the two longed ereCr, feparately 
flieathed with papillary tubes; their antherse of one cell 
curved, diftant; two (horter indexed ; their anthera; con¬ 
nected together, each of two ceils. Piftillum : germen 
ovate; ftyle the length of the corolla; ftigmas two 
lanceolate, eredh Pericarpium : berry ovate, inferior of 
two cells. Seeds very numerous, roundifli .—Efential 
CharaBer. Calyx of four leaves; corolla ringent;' berry 
inferior, of two cells. There is but one fpectes. * * 
Picria fel-terrae ; cultivated in the gardens of China 
and Cochinchina. The leaves are efteemed for their 
aperient, fudorific, diuretic, and emmenagogue, proper¬ 
ties; and ufed in incipient dropfy, intermittent fevers 
colics, and various fuppreflions. The ftems are nume¬ 
rous, herbaceous, perennial, eighteen inches high, eredf 
fquare, branched. Leaves oppofite, ovate, Serrated* 
rough, but not hairy. Flowers pale red, crowded’ 
(talked, axillary, and terminal. 
PICRID'IUM, f. [fo called from its bitternefs.] A 
genus of plants eftabiiftied by Desfontaines in his Flora 
Atlantica, the only two fpecies of which, mentioned by 
that writer, are P. tingitanum and P. vulgare. The firft 
is Scorzonera tingitana, the other S.picrodes, of Lin¬ 
naeus. See that article. 
PI'CRIS,/. [Trixfo;, bitter.] Ox-tongue; in botany* 
a genus of the clafs fyngeneiia, order polygamia squabs, 
natural order of compofitae femiflofculofie, (cichoracete, 
Juff.) Generic characters—Calyx common, double; 
outer very large, five-leaved : leaflets cordate, flat, loofe, 
converging; inner imbricate, ovate. Corolla compound 
imbricate, uniform ; with numerous hermaphrodite cor- 
rolets; proper one-petalled, ligulate, linear, truncate, 
five-toothed. Stamina: filaments five, capillary, very 
(hort; antherae cylindric, tubular. Piftillum: germ 
fubovate; ftyle the length of the ftamens; ftigmas two, 
reflex. Pericarpium none; calyx unchanged, at length 
reflex. Seeds folitary, ventricofe, tranfverfely grooved, 
blunt. Down feathered, (tipiiate. Receptacle naked._ 
EJfenlial CharaBer. Calyx calycled ; receptacle naked ; 
feed tranfverfely grooved; down feathered. There are 
nine fpecies. 
1. Picris echoides, or briftly ox-tongue: outer pe¬ 
rianths five-leaved, larger than the inner one, which is 
awned. Root annual, branched. Root-leaves ovate, 
crenate, rigid, with numerous warty protuberances, fet 
with (hort lpinofe ciliae; as are alfo the nerves and mar¬ 
gins of the leaf. Stem two or three feet high, round, 
firm, ftriated, ufually reddifli, much branched; both 
ftem and branches irregularly fet with fcattered rigid 
fpines, hooked at the end. Stem-leaves embracing, 
oblong, or cordate-lanceolate, pointed, entire, thick fet 
with tubercles and fpines, particularly on the margins 
and midrib. Flowers folitary, on grooved peduncles 
gradually thickening upwards. Leaves of the outer 
calyx very fpreading, heart-ftiaped, acuminate, and 
ending in a (harp awn, fringed with rigid cilice; fcales of 
the 
