444 
P I M 
in the upper part, and about as many oblong gern\s oc¬ 
cupying the lower. Juflieu fays theantherae are mod nu¬ 
merous ; he alfo remarks that the feeds are coated. Mr. 
Sowerby found the germs (haped like an acorn reverfed, 
and terminating in a fmall acute ftyle. From the above 
defcription it appears, that the pilularia has almofr as good 
a right to a place among the perfect flowers as the fig, 
and might perhaps be ranged in the order polyandria of 
the clafs monoecia. In habit and fenfible qualities it has 
moft affinity with the Equifetum, Lycopodium, and other 
plants of obfcure fru&ification, which are akin to the 
proper ferns. The frudfification is produced from May 
to the end of autumn. See the annexed.Plate. 
This plant is found in (hallow ponds, and watery 
places, on gravelly or fandy commons or heaths: as, on 
Hillingdon-common and Hounflow-heath in Middlefex; 
near Yarmouth in Norfolk; St. Faith’s, Newton, near 
Norwich; Hainford and Stratton-heaths in the fame 
county ; in the ponds on the upper part of Streatham- 
cornmon in Surrey, obferved near fifty years ago by Mr. 
Profeflor Martyn, where Plukenet had before ffiown it to 
Doody ; about two miles from Mold, on the north fide of 
the Chefler road, near Oft'a’s dyke, by Mr. Griffith. Mr, 
Purton (Botany of the Midland Counties, 1817.) found 
it at Colefliill-pool in Warwickffiire, covering the ffiore 
to a great extent; and he then goes on to remark: 
“ This mull be the rare!!: of our indigenous plants, as it 
is not mentioned in the Cambridge, Oxford, or Bedford, 
Floras; nor is it noticed as a Warwickfhire plant in that 
accurate and laborious work, Dr. Withering’s Botanical 
Arrangement. It (hows how readily it may be over¬ 
looked, as fuch quantities grow diredtly in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of many eminent botanifts, who have been for 
years exploring the very fpot.” 
PILULIF'EROUS, adj. [from the Lat. ■pilula, a pill, 
and fero, to bear.] Bearing berries, bearing fruit like 
pills. 
PI'LUM, f. A miffive weapon ufed by the Roman fol- 
diers, and in a charge darted upon the enemy. Its point, 
we are told by Polybius, was fo long and fmall, that after 
the firft difcharge it was. generally fo bent as to be ren¬ 
dered ufelefs. The legionary foldiers made ufe of the 
pilum, and each man carried two. The pilum under¬ 
went many alterations and improvements, infomuch that 
it is impolfible with any precifion to defcribe it. Julius 
Scaliger laboured much to give an accurate account of it, 
and would have efteemed fuccefs on this head amongft 
tiie greateft bleffings of his life. This weapon appears, 
however, to have been fometimes round, but moft com¬ 
monly fquare, to have been two cubits long in the ftaff, 
and to have had an iron point of the fame length hooked 
and jagged at the end. Marius made a material im¬ 
provement in it; for, during the Cimbrian war, he fo 
contrived it, that, when it ftuck in the enemies Ihield it 
ffiould bend down in an angle in the part w'here the 
wood was connedled with the iron, and thus become ufe¬ 
lefs to the perfon who received it. 
PI'LUM, /. in botany. See Abrus. 
PILUM'NUS, in mythology, the god of bakers in an¬ 
cient Rome. See Picumnus. 
PILUM'NUS,/. in natural hiftory. See Cancer hir- 
tellus. 
PILWA'RA, a town of Hindooftan, in Oudipour: 
thirty miles weft of Cheitore, and forty north of Oudi¬ 
pour. Lat. 25. 19. N. Ion. 74. 25. E. 
PILZIS'CHE, a town of Saxony, in the circle of Erz- 
gebirg : ten miles fouth-eaft of Schwarzenberg. 
PIM-CHAN', a town of China, of the third rank, in 
Pe-tche-li: eighteen miles eaft-north-eaft of Pekin. 
PIM-COU', a town of China, of the third rank, in 
Pe-tche-li: forty-eight miles eaft-north-eaft of Pekin. 
PIM-HIAM', a town of China, of the third rank, in 
Pe-tche-li : twenty miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Chun-te. 
PIM'BLE-MEE'R, a large lake of North Wales, in 
the county of Merioneth, a little to the fouth of Bala. 
P I M 
PIM'BO, a town of France, in the department of the 
Landes: five miles fouth of St. Sever. 
PIMELiE'A, / [a name adopted by Dr. Smith, from 
the manufcripts of the celebrated Solander, and derived 
from fatnefs; in allufion, as it is fuppofed, to the 
oilinets of its little oval feed, like an olive in miniature, 
“ As there is a Fabrician genus of infedts named Pimelin , 
from their corpulent ffiape, we with to include the idea of 
an olive, sAaia, in the above word ; writing it therefore 
with adiphthong, toguard againft ambiguity, eithepin its 
fenfe or pronunciation.” Sm. Bot. of New Holl. 31.] In 
botany, a genus of the clafs diandria, order monogynia, 
natural order ofvepreculse, Linn . (thymelasae, JuJJ'. Brown.) 
Generic characters—Calyx: perianthium inferior, of one 
leaf, funnel-lhaped, coloured; tube thread-ffiaped, very, 
long; limb fpreading, in fourdeep fegments, two oppofite 
ones exterior; mouth naked and pervious. Corolla none. 
Stamina: filaments two, capillary, inferted into the mouth 
of the tube, oppofite to the outer fegments; anthers 
roundiffi, eredt, Ample, of two cells. Piftillum : gennen 
ovate, fuperior; ftyle thread-ffiaped, as long as the tube, 
inferted laterally into the germen ; ftyle capitate, fmall, 
fmooth. Pericarpium a dry, or (lightly fucculent, berry, 
with a thin coat. Seed folitary, ovate, obliquely pointed. 
—Effential Character. Calyx funnel-fhaped, four-cleft, 
coloured, withering; petals none; ftamens prominent, 
inferted into the top of the tube; ftyle lateral; ftigma 
capitate, fmooth ; feed coated. 
This genus comes neareft in technical characters to 
Pajjerina, from which it differs neverthelefs fufficiently, 
in having but two ftamens inftead of eight; and, if we 
miftake not, a conftantly fmooth ftigma, inftead of a 
hifpid one. Forfter originally called the genus before us 
Bankfia; but its fpecies having all been reduced, by 
Linnaeus and his fon, to Pafferina, a much finer genus 
was fortunately chofen to commemorate our iliuftrious 
countryman, and the name which he and his friend Dr. 
Solander had firft contrived for this is now retained. 
Of its numerous fpecies we know not how to give any 
thing more than a comprehenfive idea, nor can we calcu¬ 
late their number with perfedl precifion. Willdenoiv 
has only four, confiding of our linifolia, firft publiftied 
in the Botany of New Holland, and the three Forfterian 
Bankfia ?, given as Pafferina; in Linn. Suppl. 226, 227. 
Vahl has added two. Labillardiere defcribes fix more, 
from the fouth coaft of New Holland. But Mr. Brown 
has carried our knowledge of this genus far beyond any 
preceding writer, as he defines thirty-four (pecies of 
Pimelaea, from New- Holland alone. In thefe are not 
included the above three plants of Forfter, nor the virg-ala 
of Vahl, being natives of New Zealand only. Of thefe, 
linifolia alone is mentioned in the Hortus Kewenfis, as 
cultivated in Britain. Mr. Brown divides this genus 
into five fedtions ; but, as we (hall give a few examples, 
only, it will be fufficient for our purpofe if we diftinguifh 
thofe which have the leaves oppofite from thofe which 
have them alternate. , 
I. Leaves oppofite. 
1. Pimelaea corn ucopise: common bradtes of one leaf, 
funnel-ffiaped, with four broad acute fegments; ftem 
herbaceous. Gathered by fir Jofeph Banks at New South 
Wales, in 1770. Mr. Brown has met with the fame in 
the tropical part of New Holland. This is one of the 
very few herbaceous fpecies, moft of the genus being 
ffirubby, with the habit of Daphne and Pafferina. Every 
part is fmooth. Branches (lender. Leaves an inch long, 
more or lefs, elliptic-lanceolate, entire as in all the reft of 
this natural order, of a fine green, minutely dotted. 
Flowers fmall, greenifli-yellow, with a reddilh (lender 
tube about half an inch long. Stamens about the length 
of the rather unequal limb. The head of flowers is en- 
compafied with four broad, acute, green bradtes, about 
its own length, the two outermoft heart-ffiaped at the 
bottom, and all connected by an inverfely-conical balls 
of one leaf, refembling a cornucopia. 
2. Pimelsea 
5 
