678 
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He through the midff unmark’d, 
In (how plebeian angel militant 
Of lowett order. Milton’s P. L. 
Vulgar; low; common.—To apply notions philofophical 
to plebeian terms ; or to fay, where the notions cannot 
fitly be reconciled, that there wanteth a term or nomen¬ 
clature for it, as the ancients ufed, they be but (hifts of 
ignorance. Bacon’s Nat. Hi ft. 
Difhonour not the vengeance I defign’d, 
A queen ! and own a bafe plebeian mind ! Dry den. 
Plebeian Games, were games celebrated by the Ro¬ 
man people, in remembrance, as fome fay, of their recon¬ 
ciliation with the fenators, after the expulfion from the 
city, in the year of Rome 261 ; or, according to others, 
in token for their public rejoicing, when the kings were 
driven from Rome, A. U. C. 245, and the people en¬ 
joyed their liberty. Thefe games were celebrated in the 
circus for three days, and commenced on the feventh of 
the calends of December. Adrian inftituted plebeian 
games in the circus, A.U. C. 874. 
PLEBE'IANCE, f. The lower order of perfons in a 
(late. Not now in uj'e. —Having extinguifhed all the dif- 
tindtions betwixt nobility and plebeiance. Learned Sum- 
man/ on Du Bartas, 1621. 
PLEBE'ITY, or Pleb'ity, f. The common or meaner 
fort of people. Cole. Bailey. 
PLEBIS'CITE, or Plebis'citum, /. [Latin.] Among 
the Romans, a law enadted by the common people, at 
the requeft of the tribune, or fome other plebeian magif- 
trate, without the intervention of the fenate. Plebifcitum 
is more particularly applied to the law which the people 
made, when, upon fome mifunderttanding with the 
fenate, they retired to the Aventine mount. 
PLECTRAN'THUS, /. [from the Gr. wXwrpoi/, a 
cock’s fpur, and «r 9 o?, a flower ; the corolla having a fpur, 
which is Angular in the order gymnofpermia of the clafs 
didynamia, though common in the other order. L’Herit.'] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs didynamia, order gymnof- 
permia, natural order of verticillatae (labiatte, Juft.) Ge¬ 
neric characters—Calyx : perianthium one-leated, fub- 
campanulate, fiiort, bilabiate; upper lip ovate, wider, af- 
cending; lower lip four-cleft, acute; the two lowed 
fegments a little longer. Corolla monopetalous, ringenf, 
refupine; tube comprefled, longer than the calyx; one 
lip turned upwards, wider, trifld ; the middle fegment 
larger, emarginate, the lateral onesfmall; the other lip 
turned down, narrower, entire, ovate, concave. Nedtary 
a fpur or bump from the bafe of the tube of the corolla, 
produced upwards. Stamina: filaments four, declined, 
awl-fiiaped, of which two are a little fliorter; antherae 
fimple. Piflillum: germ four-parted; (lyle filiform, 
the length and fituation of the flamens; fligma bifid, 
acute. Pericarpium none ; but the calyx contains the 
feeds at bottom. Seeds four, roundifli.— EJfential Cha¬ 
mber. Calyx upper fegment larger ; corolla refupine ; 
gibbous or fpurred at the bafe ; filaments fimple. There 
are fix fpecies. 
1. Pledtranthus fruticofus, or flirubby pledtranthus: 
nedtary fpurred ; racemes compound; peduncles three- 
parted ; flem fnrubby, levigated. This is a handfome 
fragrant plant, with the habit of a nettle. Stems feveral, 
eredt, very much branched, brachiate,pithy, afli-coloured. 
Branches oppofite, fpreading, obfcurely marked with 
lines, the thicknefs of a reed, brittle : tender (hoots four- 
cornered, pubefcent, green. Leaves broad-ovate, or 
lhaped like a heart, only they are not emarginate but pro¬ 
duced at the bafe, acute or acuminate, doubly ferrate, 
with equal bluntifn waved ferratures; wrinkled, nerved, 
and veined, with the nerves and veins prominent on the 
lower furface only ; villofe, appearing dotted underneath 
when viewed with a magnifying glafs, fpreading, fragrant, 
four or five inches long, and three or four wide. Flowers 
pedicelled; corollas blue, five lines in breadth. Seeds 
brown, fattened to a flefliy fubroftrated body, at the bottom 
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of the calyx, as to a receptacle. Native of the Cape of 
Good Hope; found there by Maffon, and introduced 
here in 1774. It flowers from June to September. 
2. Pledtranthus pundtatus, or dotted pledtranthus; 
nedtary gibbous; flowers in fpikes; Hem herbaceous, 
rough-haired. This is an annual plant, a foot high, with 
a dilagreeable fmell. Stems a few, branching only at the 
bafe, flefliy, round, jointed ; the lower joints more gib¬ 
bous, and fometimes rooting; below they are purple, 
with very dark purple fpots. Leaves ovate, acute, 
toothed, nerved, very much wrinkled, villofe, commonly 
fpotted with brown in the difk, the fpot having ftiffitti 
brown hairs fcattered over it, fpreading, reclining, from 
two to three inches long, from eighteen to twenty-four 
lines wide, ilinking. Flowers on fiiort pedicels, in a fort 
of whorl, aggregate under each bradte, two or three lines 
in length ; corolla very pale blue, marked with purple 
lines on the difk of the upper lip; on the lower more 
intenfely dotted towards the tip. Seeds comprefled, of 
an a(h-bay-colour. The glands which are fcattered over 
the corolla, and efpecially over the calyx, in this fpecies, 
are not found in P. fruticofus. The calyx is not really 
(haped like that of the Oplirys in this, as it is in that. 
The nedtary of this is a bag, not a fpur. The upper lip is 
manifettly trifid in pundtatum ; but in fruticofum, in- 
flead of the lateral fegments of the upper lip, there are 
two toothlets at the fide of the throat. Laftly the antherae 
are ovate in pundtatum, four-cornered in fruticofum. 
Native of Africa; where it was found by James Bruce, 
efq. and introduced here in 1775. It flowers from 
January to May. Monfi l’Heritier fays it flowers in 
autumn, and marks it as annual. In the Kew Catalogue 
it is marked as biennial. 
3. Pledtranthus galeatus, or helmet - flowered plec- 
tranthus. Nedtary gibbous; pedicels branched; leaves 
cordate-ovate, acuminate, ferrate. It approaches to 
Ocimum fcutellarioides of Linnaeus ; but that has ovate- 
lanceolate leaves, fmaller flowers, cordate bradtes, and a 
pair of peduncles on each fide. Native of Java. 
4. Pledtranthus nudiflorus, or naked-flowered pledtran¬ 
thus; nedtary gibbous; panicle racemofe, naked ; leaves 
heart-fhaped, rugged ; the upper ones clafping the Item, 
fuppofed to be a native of China ; Willdenow having feen 
it in gardens under the name of Ocimum CliinenJ'e. Root 
perennial; Item eredt, fquare, downy, fcarcely fix inches 
high. Lower leaves (talked, two or three inches long, 
coarfely toothed, rugofe, fmooth, except the veins at the 
back. Panicle a foot or more in length ; each whorl of 
four clutters an inch long, turned one way, with two 
(mall heart-draped bradtes; corolla final!, clofed, downy. 
5. Pledtranthus Forfkahlaei, or bearded pledtranthus: 
nedtary gibbous, racemes leaflets, (tern equal. Stem 
hirfute, not dotted. Leaves ovate, approximating to¬ 
wards the tops of the branches, quite entire. Racemes 
half a foot long, eredt, compofed of whorls having from 
eight to ten flowers; corolla four times as long as the 
calyx. Native of the mountains of Arabia Felix and 
Madagafcar. The fpecimens from the latter are more 
villofe and foft. 
6. Pledtranthus craflifolius, or thick-leaved pledtran¬ 
thus : nedtary gibbous; racemes bradted ; leaves ovate, 
flefliy. This differs from the preceding in having flefliy 
leaves, and membranaceous ovate bradtes. Native of 
Arabia Felix. Probably feveral fpecies of Ocimum may 
belong to this genus. 
7. Pledtranthus carnofus, or denfe-fpiked pledtranthus. 
See Lavandula carnofa, vol. xii. p. 282. 
Propagation and Culture. The firft fpecies will per- 
fedt feeds, and may be increafed by them ; as alfo freely 
by cuttings. It muff have the protedtion of the dry 
ftove. The fecond alfo commonly ripens its feeds, and 
is propagated only by them. It may be preferved in the 
dry (love or greenhoufe. The other fpecies have not yet 
been cultivated in Europe. 
PLECTRO'NIA, f, [fo named by Linnaeus, from the 
2 Gr* 
