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Peru (B M as Piper acuminatum P)
(B. M. 1882, as Piper acuminatum.) P. peltaeformis (shield-like). l. dark green, marked with a few longitudinal bands of grey, thick, ovate, poised on a somewhat slender stalk, peltately attached. Brazil, 1864.
P. prostrata (prostrate). A garden name of P. brevipes. P. pubifolia (downy-leaved). l. marked with a central grey bar, small, ovate, fleshy in texture. 1865. A pretty, perennial creeper, suitable for basket culture.
P. resedaeflora (Reseda-flowered). fl. white, fragrant, collected into numerous divaricate, filiform, clavate, and sulcately nodose catkins, which form erect, pyramidal, loose, terminal panicles. l. dark green, entire, cordate-orbicular; radical ones rosulate and long-stalked; cauline ones irregularly whorled. New Grenada, 1870. (B. M. 6619; I. H. ser. iii. 26.) P. Saundersii (Saunders').* l. orbicular or ovate, about 5in. long, thick and fleshy, the colour along the veins bright green, the interstices being a metallic white. h. 8in. to 10in. Brazil, 1866. A handsome plant, of very compact habit. SYNS. P. arifolia argyreia (B. H. 1867, 2; B. M. 5634) and P. Verschaffeltii (I. H. 598). See Fig. 80.
P. velutina (velvety). l. dark green, longitudinally ribbed and banded with grey. Stems red, fleshy. Ecuador, 1872. (I. H. n. s. 89.) P. Verschaffeltii (Verschaffelt's). A synonym of P. Saundersii. PEPLIS (an old Greek name given by Dioscorides to Euphorbia Peplis, and by others to Portulaca). ORD. Lythrarieae. A genus comprising three species of small, hardy, annual herbs, natives of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia. Flowers axillary, sessile, solitary, minute, minutely bibracteolate; calyx lobes and petals six, rarely five. Leaves alternate or opposite, obovate or linear-oblong, entire. The species are of little or no horticultural value. P. Portula is a common weed, found in moist places in Britain. PERESKIA (named after Nicholas F. Peiresk, senator of Aix, in Provence, who collected a considerable library and herbarium0. Barbados Gooseberry. SYN. Peirescia. ORD. Cacteoe. A genus comprising about thirteen species of stove, woody shrubs or trees, with terete, leafy branches; they are natives of tropical America and the West Indies. Flowers solitary or paniculate, terminal or lateral, sessile or pedunculate; petals broad, expanded in a rose-like manner; calyx tube equal with the ovary, and divided into leafy segments; the thread-like style bearing a many-rayed stigma. Fruit pear or egg-shaped, with a broad scar at the top, surrounded by the leafy segments of the calyx. Leaves fleshy, sessile or stalked, flat or semi-cylindrical, veined, pulvilligerous in the axils, the pulvillae armed. Pereskias are chiefly of use for affording stocks on which to graft Epiphyllums and other Cacti. P. aculeata is most extensively used, while P. Bleo is more vigorous and better adapted for tall stocks. The latter is rather a fine decorative stove plant when in flower. Cuttings strike readily in heat; they should be inserted in very sandy soil, and kept rather dry. The plants succeed in sandy loam, to which a little brick rubbish should be added.
P. aculeata (prickly).* American or Barbados Gooseberry. ft. white, rather-panicled. October. Fr. globose, with narrow sepals, edible. I. elliptic. Prickles one or two, recurved at the downy base of the petiole. Stem armed with fascicled, straight spines. H. 5ft. to 7ft. West Indies, 1696. Shrub. (B. R. 1928.0 P. Bleo (Bleo).* A. pale red (the stamens also red, but white at the base), two to four together at the tops of the branches, each on a short peduncle. October to January. l. oblong, acuminated. Prickles axillary, five or six in a fascicle. h. 8ft. to 10ft. New Grenada, 1827. Shrub. (B. M. 3478; B. R. 1473.) P. grandiflora (large-flowered0. A synonym of P. grandifolia. P. grandifolia (large-leaved).* A. white, somewhat panicled, solitary. August. I. oblong-lanceolate, smooth above, beset with rough dots beneath. Stem very spiny; larger spines blackish, 2in. long. h. 6ft. Brazil, 1818. Shrub. SYN. P. grandiflora. See Fig. 81, page 75.
P. Pititache (Pititache). A. White. September. l. Fleshy, lanceolate-ovate. Trunk woody, erect, very spiny; branches sub-horizontally divergent; areolae approximate, tomentose; prickles three to six, unequal, rigid. h. 3ft. Mexico, 1838. Shrub.
P. Poeppigii (Poeppig's). I. cylindrical, green. Stem low, upright, thin, cylindrical, irregular; spines white, strong, generally in threes, the central one being longest. Chili. See Fig. 82.
P. portulacaefolia (Portulaca-leaved). A. purple, solitary, terminal; petals roundish. ft. umbilicate, globose, retuse, greenish, with white flesh, and numerous black seeds. l. obovate-cuneate. Prickles solitary under the leaves, but fasciculate on the stems, blackish. h. 20ft. to 30ft. West Indies, 1820. Tree.
PEREZIA (called after Lazarus Perez, an apothecary at Toledo, who wrote, in 1575, a history of drugs). Including Dumerilia (of Lessing) and Homoianthus. SYN. Clarionea. ORD. Compositae. A genus comprising about forty-six species of greenhouse, half-hardy, or hardy herbs, sometimes stemless or tufted, sometimes erect and branched; they are natives of extra-tropical South America or the Andes, Central America, Mexico, and California, and a few are found in Brazil. Flower-heads purple, pink, blue, or white, homogamous, rather large, on a one-headed, leafless scape, or sometimes mediocre, or smaller, and clustered or loosely paniculate at the apices of the stems; involucre ovoid, campanulate or turbinate; receptacle flat, naked or pilose. Leaves radical lobes toothed, sometimes spiny-ciliate. Few of the species are known to cultivation. Few of the species are known to cultivation. For culture, see Aster.
P. viscosa (clammy). A.-heads purple; pappus reddish; receptacle piloso-flmbrilliferous; involucral scales biseriate, entire, sub-equal, mucronulate. June. l., radical ones oblong-cuneate, obtuse, sinuate, acute,somewhat glandular; cauline ones sessile. Stem erect, almost naked or glandular. h. 1 1/2ft. Chili, 1862. Hardy. (B. M. 5401, under name of Homoianthus viscosus.) PERGULARIA (from pergula an arbour; referring to the twining character of the plants). OED. Ascle-piadeae. A genus comprising about ten species of stove, evergreen, glabrous climbers, inhabiting tropical Asia and Africa and Southern Africa. Flowers golden-yellow or greenish; calyx five-partite; corolla salver-shaped, with an ovoid or oblong tube; staminal corona five-leaved. Leaves opposite, membranous. For culture, see Stephanotis. P. minor (smaller). A. orange-coloured or yellow, very fragrant; umbels shorter than the leaves. May to August. l. orbicular or ovate-cordate, acuminate, downy while young. India, China, &c., 1790. (A. B. R. 184; B. M. 755.) P. odoratissima (sweetest-scented).* West Coast Creeper. A. greenish-yellow, exceedingly fragrant; umbels shorter than the leaves; corolla woolly inside June. l. cordate, acuminated, soft, downy, 4in. long. China, &c., 1784. (A. B. R. 185; B. R. 412.) P. sanguinolenta (bloody-juiced). A. greenish-yellow; cymes many-flowered, shorter than the leaves. July. l. ovate-lanceolate, quite glabrous. Sierra LEONE, 1822. Plant Trailing, full of blood-coloured juice. (B. M. 2532.)