Pleea
(named after Aug. Plee, 1787-1825, author of a work on the Flora of the Environs of Paris). ORD. Liliaceae. A monotypic genus. The species is a hardy, perennial herb, with nodose, erect, Rush-like stems or rhizomes. It thrives in peat soil, and requires a moist situation; or it may be grown in pots, placed in pans of water. Propagation may be effected by seeds. P. tenuifolia (slender-leaved). fl. white, greenish without, solitary between the bracts, pedicellate, erect, 1in. wide, disposed in simple racemes; perianth segments spreading. October. l., radical ones few, rather long, linear, erect, somewhat rigid, 6in. to 9in. long; cauline ones one or two, long-sheathed, smaller than the radical ones. Stem 2ft. high. South United States, 1824. (B. M. 1956.) PLEOMORPHY, or PLEOMORPHISM (from pleion, several, and morphe, form; in allusion to the variability in the spores). A term used to express the condition observed in several groups of Fungi (see Oidium, Peronospora, Pleospora, Puccinia, and Pyrenomycetes), in which bodies of two or more forms are produced to effect reproduction of these plants under varying conditions; one form is, in some groups, known to be the result of sexual reproduction, e.g., zygospores of Peronospora, ascospores of Peziza and Pyrenomycetes, &c., and to such the term "spore" is, by some botanists, restricted in theory, though this is scarcely adhered to in practice. All the other forms of bodies specialised for reproduction fall under the two types of conidia and sclerotia. In many plants, conidia of two or more kinds occur, either simultaneously or in succession, and in many Fungi (e.g., Hymenomycetes, Pucciniei, &c.) no sexual form has yet been detected.
