pistia

[Said to be from Gr. pistos -drink. able, liquid; from its living in the water.] a plant like Bot.: The typical genus of the Pistiaceae (q. v.). Pistia stratiotes , the Water-soldier, called in the West Indies Water-lettuce, is endive, which grows in stagnant ponds in the East and West Indies. It is cooling and demulcent, the root is laxative and demulcent, the leaves made into poultices are applied to hæmorrhoids, and given with other ingredients in dysentery, cough, and asthma. ( Calcutta Exhib . Report .) Graham says that it has a peculiar narcotic smell, and when it is abundant in tanks it imparts its acrid qualities to the water. pis-ti-ā-çě-æ, s. pl. [Mod. Latin pisti ( a ); Lat. fem. pl. adj. suff. -aceœ.] Bot .: Lemnads or Duckweeds; an order of Exogens, alliance Arales. It consists of floating or land plants, with very cellular lenticular orlobed fronds or leaves, some having no spiral ve els except in the pistil. Flowers unisexual, two or three, naked, definite, often monadelphous; females with a one in closed in a spathe without a spadix; stamens celled ovary having erect ovules with a slit embryo. Fruit membraneous or capsular. Genera six, species twenty. ( Lindley .) †pist'-ic, *pist-ick, a. [Lat. pisticus , from Gr. pistikos = faithful; pistis = faith.] Trustworthy; hence, pure, genuine. ( Browne : Vulgar Errors , bk. viii., ch. vii.)