436 
THE DICTIONARY 
OF GARDENING, 
Fig. 486. SIMPLE LEAF. 
SIMAROUBA (the Carib name of S. amara). Fre- 
quently spelt Simaruba. Bitter-wood. ORD. Simarubee 
A small genus (three species) of stove,} evergreen trees 
natives of Eastern tropical America, Flowers sub-cymose, 
in axillary and terminal, elongated, branched panicles; 
calyx small, five-lobed; petals five, spreading at the tips, 
imbricated. Leaves alternate, abruptly pinnate; leaflets 
alternate, entire, coriaceous. Probably, the only species 
grown in this country is 5. amara, which yields the 
drug known as Simaruba-bark. For culture, see Quassia 
{to which the genus is allied). 
S. amara (bitter). Bitter or Mountain Damson ; Stavewood. 
fl. yellowish-white ; petals spreading ; panicle exceeded by the 
leaves. May. l. oblong or lanceolate-oblong, mucronate, with a 
bluntish point, green on both sides ; loagota. gite abrous or 
pubescent beneath. A. (under cultivation) 10ft. est Indies, 
&c., 1789. (B. M. Pl. 56.) SYN. S. oficinalis. 
S. officinalis (officinal). A synonym of S. amara. 
SIMARUBA. See Simarouba. 
SIMARUBEÆ. A natural order of scentless shrubs 
or trees, often small, mostly inhabiting tropical and 
warm regions. Flowers diclinous or polygamous, rarely 
hermaphrodite, regular, usually small; calyx three to 
five-lobed or parted ; petals three to five, very rarely 
wanting, imbricated or valvate; stamens inserted at the 
base of a hypogynous disk, as many, or twice as many, 
as the petals, rarely indefinite; inflorescence usually 
axillary, paniculate or racemose, rarely spicate or a 
solitary flower. Fruit æ drupe, capsule, or samara. 
Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, pinnate, rarely one 
to three-foliolate or simple, not dotted, very rarely 
glandular ; stipules wanting. Bark often bitter, some- 
times very much so. The Simaruba of the druggist is 
yielded by the bark and trunk of: Simarouba amara and 
S. guianensis. Balanites ægyptiaca bears drupes which, 
when old, are edible. The order comprises thirty-one 
genera, and about 112 species. Examples: Balanites, 
Quassia, Simaba, Simarouba. 
SIMETHIS (so named after the nymph Simethis, the 
mistress of Acis). Syns. Morgagnia, Pogonella. ORD. 
Liliacee. A monotypic genus. The species is a slender, 
hardy, perennial herb, with a root of fascicled fibres, 
It is found at Bournemouth, and at Derrynane, in Ire- 
land, but is only an alien or a denizen. A compost of 
heath mould and sand is most suitable. The plant may 
be multiplied by division. 
S. bicolor (two-coloured). fl, jin. in diameter, corymbose, jointed 
on the pedicel ; perianth spreading, the segments white inside, 
urple on the back; seape cled, as long as the leaves, 
srt June. l. 6in. to 18in. long, jin. in diameter, recurved, 
surrounded at base with torn, fibrous, brown sheaths. Europe, 
North-west Africa. (Sy. En. B. 1541.) Syn. S. planifolia. 
S. planifolia (flat-leaved). A synonym of S. bicolor. 
SIMMONDSIA (named in memory of T. W. Sim- 
monds, botanist and explorer, who accompanied Lord 
Seaforth to the West Indies, and who died in 1805), 
Syn. Brocchia. Orn. Ewphorbiacee. A monotypic genus. 
The species is a small, hardy, evergreen, much-branched 
shrub. A compost of rich, light loam, and a little peat, 
is best suited to.its requirements. Propagation may be 
effected by cuttings. 
S. californica (Californian). 
een, diæœci in- 
conspicuous ; males in sub-glo Poe oe ne 
, Sessile or very shortly pedun- 
| 
Simmondsia—continued. ; 
culate clusters, solitary or sessile beneath a small bract ; females 
solitary, on short and usually nodding pedicels. Mature nuts 
resembling an acorn in size and shape. l. opposite, sub-sessile, 
entire, coriaceous, penniveined. California. 
SIMPLE. Consisting of not more than one distinct 
part; e.g., a Simple leaf has one blade (see Fig. 486). 
SIMPLER’S JOY. See Verbena officinalis. 
SINAPIS (from the old Greek Sinapi, used by Theo- 
phrastus for Mustard). ORD. Crucifere. A small genus 
of European and Asiatic herbs, frequently cultivated, 
now included, by Bentham and Hooker, under Brassica. 
Calyx of four spreading sepals. Pods sessile, slightly 
terete or tetragonal; seeds globose. 8. alba yields the 
white, and S. nigra the black, mustard. Both species 
are indigenous in this country, but are nevertheless 
largely cultivated. The seedlings or cotyledons of S. nigra, 
together with those of Lepidiwm sativum, form the salad 
well known as Mustard and Cress. Oil is obtained from 
several plants of this genus. The seeds of 8. arvensis 
(the common Charlock or Corn Mustard) yield a good 
burning oil. Some authorities regard 8. nigra, which, 
in -Palestine, grows to a height of from 10ft. to 12ft., 
as the Mustard of Scripture, in preference to Salvadora. 
None of the species possess any horticultural value. See 
also Cress and Mustard. 
SINCLAIRIA. Included under Liabum (which see). 
SINISTRORSE. Turned or directed to the left. 
SINNINGIA (named in honour of William Sinning, 
gardener to the University of Bonn, on the Rhine). 
Syn. Gloxinia (many cultivated species). Including 
Biglandularia, Ligeria, Rosanovia, Stenogastra, and 
Tapeionites. ORD. Gesneraceew. A genus comprising 
about sixteen species of very pretty, usually dwarf, 
pubescent or villous, stove herbs, natives of Brazil. 
Flowers showy, rarely rather small, solitary or fascicled 
in the axils, on short or long pedicels; calyx tube short 
and broadly turbinate, the limb leafy, deeply five-cleft or 
five-parted; corolla tube sub-equal at base or gibbous at _ 
back, elongated, broadly cylindrical or campanulate, the — 
limb of five broad, spreading lobes; stamens included. 
Leaves opposite, often ample, long-stalked; floral ones 
reduced to bracts. Stems rising from a tuberous 
rhizome, simple or scarcely branched, sometimes almost 
wanting. The species best known to cultivation are 
described below. They require similar treatment to 
Gloxinia (which see). 
S. barbata (bearded). fl., calyx nearly lin. deep ; corolla white, 
with red marks inside, much swollen at base, contracted at 
throat, hairy, 1żin. long; peduncles šin. to l}in. long, a $ 
solitary or twin. Summer. l oblong or oblong Tenante. a few 
inches to nearly lft. long, attenuated at both ends, acute, 
crenate-serrate, pilose above, crimson beneath; petioles jin. to 
ljin. long. Stem decumbent or ascending. 1867. (B. M. 5623; 
F. d. S. 1847; F. M. 336, under name of Tapeionites Caroline.) 
The variety major (I. H. n. s. 506) only differs from the type in 
its larger proportions. ; 
S. concinna (neat).* fl., calyx rather small, the segments much. 
longer than the tube ; corolla lurid-purple only ellowish h, 
spotted within, nearly lin. long, the tube much dilated towards 
the throat ; uncles axillary, scape-like, longer than the leaves. 
Summer and autumn. Z. broadly round-ovate, deeply crenate, 
rather small. Stem żin. to lin. long, and, as well as the pe- 
tioles, peduncles, and nerves, red. 1860. (B. M. 5253, under name 
nd haps tster cone ; F.d. 8. ed and I. H. 1864, 390, a 
j g a e variety multiflora (I. H. 
1864, 390, left-hand figure, under name of pont fps, pac ora) 
is a handsome garden plant, with larger leaves than its parent, 
and lilac-blue flowers. 
S. conspicua (conspicuous).* f., calyx segments lanceolate, 
spreading ; corolla a pua without tiem on the inside, thè 
lower part of the tube marked on the inside with elegant, purple 
lines and dots, obliquely infundibular: panulate. Summer. © 
i opponit, ovate-oblong, shortly acuminate, slightly cordate at- 
the base, dentate. Rhizome tuberous. h. lft. Brazil, 1868. 
Plant hairy, free-fiowering. Syns. Biglandularia conspicua and 
Rosanowia conspicua (R. G. 712). Rosanowia ornata (F. d. S. 
2423-4) is a fine hybrid, with flowers of a pure white, lined with 
light rose on the tube and the two upper lobes_of the corolla, 
the throat slightly greenish-yellow. 
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