Petiveria
(named after James Petiver, F.R.S., 1665-1718, an apothecary and distinguished botanist, of London). SYN. Mapa. ORD. Phytolaccaceae. A monotypic genus (according to the authors of the "Genera Plantarum"). The species is an ornamental, slender, erect, glabrous or puberulous, dichotomously-branched stove herb, shrubby at base, with an alliaceous smell. It thrives in a mixture of loam and peat, and may be increased by cuttings of the half-ripened wood, rooted in bottom heat.
P. alliacea (Onion-like). Guinea-hen Weed. fl. white, very shortly pedicellate, small, disposed in axillary and terminal racemes; perianth conical at base, with four spreading, persistent segments. June. fr. erect. l. alternate, petiolate, ovate, entire, membranous, 3in. to 4in. long (including the short petiole), 1 1/2in. broad, attenuated at both ends, pellucid-dotted. Stem 2ft. to 3ft. high. Mexico to Brazil. (L. B. C. 148.) P. a. octandra (eight-anthered). fl. with eight anthers and purplish filaments. l. smaller, and stem shorter, than in the type. SYN. P. octandra. P. octandra (eight-anthered). A synonym of P alliacea octandra.