we 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Solanum— continued. 
covered with red, stellate prickles. Native country. unknown. 
Suffrutescent, armed’ with prickles, half-hardy. A garden 
species. (R. H. 1865, p. 430.) 
S. Wendlandii (Wendland’s). fl. lilac-blue, 24in. in diameter ; 
cymes 6in. and more across, terminating pendulous branches. 
August. l. bright green, variable, 2in. to 10in. long, lyin. to 4in. 
broad; uppermost ones simple, oblong, acuminate, with a 
cordate base, or three-lobed, with the lobes sub-equal or 
. unequal, and sometimes lobed at the sides, or trifoliolate with 
ual or unequal leaflets ; lower leaves on the branches 6in. to 
10in. long, pinnate below and agin agus above, with four to six 
pairs of lobes or leaflets, which are ovate or oblong, entire and 
acuminate ; prickles on the stems, branches, and petioles few, 
scattered, short, hooked. Costa Rica, 1882. Climbing, glabrous, 
stove shrub. (B. M. 6914.) 
SOLARIA (named in honour of Francisci de Borja 
Solar, an eminent Chilian mathematician). Syn. Symea. 
Orv. Liliacee. A monotypic genus. The species is a 
remarkable, greenhouse, bulbous plant. It thrives in a 
compost of sandy loam and leaf mould. The bulbs must 
be kept nearly dry during their resting period, the quantity 
of water being gradually diminished as the leaves begin 
to die down. Propagation may be effected by seeds, or 
by offsets. 
S. miersioides (Miersia-like). . green, small, inconspicuous, 
pedicellate, erect, many in a terminal umbel ; perianth segments 
connate at base in a shortly campanulate tube, spreading above ; 
stamens three; involucral bracts two, scarious ; scape simple, 
leafless. ig l. ( always) radical, solitary, broad-linear. 
h. 4in. Chili, 1871. Syn. Symea gillesioides (Ref. B. 260). 
SOLAR INFLUENCE. Inasmuch as all life on 
the earth depends upon the warmth and light of the 
sun, it follows that Solar Influence upon plants is of 
the most far-reaching kind. The conversion of mineral 
compounds and gases into food suitable for the nourish- 
ment of plants, goes on only during light in their green 
parts, where chlorophyll exists; on this food, formed in 
their tissues, all green plants subsist, and all parasitic 
plants and animals are nourished indirectly by it, as 
they feed on living or dead plants. But, apart from 
this, the most important of all influences upon plant- 
- life, the sun exerts certain other powers; and it is 
_ necessary for gardeners to take advantage of these, or 
= to ward off the evils resulting from their action, 
according to the requirements of the plants affected. 
-~ Leaving untouched the subject of the Sun’s Influence 
in regulating the seasons, the present article will deal 
only with the effects of exposure to the sun’s rays 
during the season of active vegetation. All are familiar 
with the fact that the sun gives both heat and light. 
To a certain extent, the heat-rays may be converted 
into light, or the light-rays into heat; but this need not 
be taken account of here. The heat-rays are the chief 
_ source of heat with which we are acquainted, and, except 
in hotbeds and hothouses, they are the only source 
available in horticulture. They originate the vital pro- 
cesses of germination in seeds, and of the bursting of 
new buds and leaves on the bare branches in spring. 
But, in dry summers, and especially in confined situa- 
tions, fully exposed to the sun’s rays, the air and the 
soil become parched with drought, and plants perish for 
lack of water. This danger must be warded off by 
watering the plants, or by irrigation, if that is practi- 
cable; and subjects that are peculiarly liable to injury 
from drought should be protected under some kind of 
shelter, such as an awning. A temperature higher than 
_ that to which a plant is accustomed, if continued for 
some time, is apt to induce in it a weak habit of growth, 
owing | to over-stimulation; new branches and leaves 
being produced more rapidly than food can be supplied 
for their full development. Certain injurious effects of 
exposure to too great heat of the sun will be treated of 
under Sun- 3 
Plants differ a good deal in the amount of light that 
they require. Most green plants need to be exposed to 
full sunshine for some part of each day; and if this, or, 
at least, full daylight, is withheld, they turn pale and 
Solar Influence—continued. 
sickly, and, sooner or later, perish. On the other hand, 
many Ferns, and a few flowering plants, suffer in health 
when exposed to bright sunshine: these plants require 
shady places, e.g., shade of dense forests or caves. In 
gardens, they require special protection from light, and 
are usually shaded by green glass, or by green paint on 
the glass, or, better, by thin green cloth, as this can 
be removed in dull, cloudy weather. 
Like heat, light sometimes proves too great a stimulus, 
and plants suffer from. excess of it. In greenhouses, 
` plants not unfrequently have their leaves marked with 
dry spots, that look as if scorched through the tissues. 
For their supposed causes, and for the most successful 
preventive treatment, see Sun-burning. 
SOLDANELLA (a diminutive of solidus, a piece of 
money; alluding to the shape of the leaves). ORD. 
Primulacee. A small genus (three or four species) of 
very pretty, mostly hardy, glabrous, perennial herbs, 
inhabiting the Alps of Central Europe. Flowers blue, 
violet, or rose, rarely white, nodding; calyx five-parted, 
persistent; corolla hypogynous, infundibular-campanulate, 
five-lobed to the middle, the lobes imbricated ; stamens 
affixed to the throat of the corolla; scapes slender, soli- 
tary or few, one-flowered or umbellately many-flowered. 
Leaves long-petiolate, thick, cordate-orbicular or reni- 
form, entire. S. alpina is one of the most charming 
alpine plants in our gardens. The species succeed in a 
peat border, or in pots of peat and loam. Propagation 
may be effected by seeds, or by division. 
Fic. 499, SOLDANELLA MONTANA. 
S. alpina (alpine).* Blue Moonwort. fl. violet, fimbriated, pen- 
dent ; style be gas or exceeding the corolla; pedicels pu- 
bescent, slightly glandular ; scapes two to four-flowered. April.- 
l. roundish-reniform, entire or sub-repand, or loosely and 
remotely ciliated. A. Sin. 1656. (B. M. 49; F. d. 3. 994 ; 
J. F. A. 118.) A variety, Wheeleri, is the most floriferous form 
of this plant. ; Er 
S. Clusii (Clusius’). fl. blue, campanulate, with a neatly notched 
margin ; style shorter than the corolla ; pedicels slightly scabrous, 
with minute, sessile glands; sc one, rarely two-flowered. 
April. Z. cordate-reniform, slightly repand. h. 2in. to 3in, 1820. 
(B. M. 2163.) Syn. S. pusilla (S. B. F. G. ser. ii. 48). 
S. minima (smallest). suffused with lilac, purple-striped 
Peien = one-third Pa ai spreading; st otor han 
rolla ; 
icels pubescent ; -tlowered. il. 
l. orbicular. 2in. 1823, PC ri 53.) age 
(S. B. F., G, ser, ii. 
