Steps—continued. 
are very valuable for standing upon in places where a 
ladder cannot be used. Two pairs of folding Steps, with 
a plank resting on their tops, make a good movable 
stage for the use of workmen engaged in clipping high 
hedges, &c. 
STERCULIA (from Sterculius, a god, derived from 
stercus, dung; the flowers and leave; of some of the 
species are fetid). Including Brachychiton (kept distinct 
in this work), Delabechea, Ivira, and Southwellia. ORD. 
Sterculiacee. Of this genus, about sixty species have 
been described as such, but probably not more than fifty 
are really distinct; they are stove or greenhouse, ever- 
green trees, inhabiting the warmer regions of the globe, 
being most plentiful in tropical Asia. Flowers paniculate 
or rarely racemose, the inflorescence usually axillary ; 
calyx five-cleft or five-parted, rarely four-parted, often 
coloured ; petals wanting; staminal column bearing at the 
summit fifteen (or rarely ten) stamens. Leaves undivided, 
lobed, or digitate. The species introduced, a selection 
of which is given below, succeed in a light, loamy soil, 
or a compost of loam and peat. Ripened cuttings, with 
the leaves intact, will readily root in sand, under a 
hand-glass; those of the stove species require a moist 
heat. : 
S. Balanghas (Balanghas). /l. purplish, panicled ; calyx segments 
linear, p en to the mths abe wa ents connivent. June to 
September. J. elliptic-oblong, rather blunt, entire, nearly 
smooth. h. 30ft. Malabar and East Indies, 1787. Stove. 
S. Bidwilli (Bidwill’s). The correct name of plant described in 
this work as Brachychiton Bidwilli. 
S. discolor (scapes o fl. in terminal, contracted, spicate 
panicles; calyx rose-red, rusty-tomentose, l4in. long, between 
campanulate and funnel-shaped. J. long-petiolate, 5in. to Tin. 
long and broad, pale green, cordate or bilobed at base, with a 
broad or narrow sinus, more or less deeply five-lobed, but never 
de the — h. 40ft. West Australia, 1882. Greenhouse. 
S. diversifolia (variable-leaved). Bottle-tree of Victoria. The 
correct name of plant described in this work as Brachychiton 
diversifolium. : 
8. Ivira (Ivira). fl. yellowish, with spreading segments, in pani- 
cles ; carpels bristly. July. Z. ovate, smooth, acuminated at the 
sae entire, rarely three-lobed. h. 20ft. to 60ft, South America, 
Stove. 
S, lanceolata (lanceolate-leaved). jl. reddish-brown, stellate, in 
small, axillary panicles ; calyx segments spreading, not cohering 
at base; racemes simple. Summer. J. quite entfre, smooth, 
ovate-lanceolate. h. 20ft. China. Greenhouse. (B. R. 1256.) 
S. macrophylla (large-leaved). jl. yellow; calyx five-cleft, with 
_ Spreading segments ; panicles lateral, drooping. July. 1. deeply 
cordate, obtuse, undivided, tomentose beneath. East Indies, 
1822. A large, stove tree. 
S. platanifolia (Plane-leaved), Chinese Parasol. fl. icled. 
: l. large, highly glabrous, cordate, three to iwe-iltel: Tob 
= 
‘Fig. 532, FRUITS AND LEAF OF STERCULIA RUPESTRIS, 
je 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Sterculia—continued. t 
terminating in an acute point, the sinuses rounded; petioles 
terete. China. A tall, greenhouse tree. 
S. pubescens (downy). A synonym of S. tragacanthe. 
Fic, 533. DEHISCING FRUIT AND SEED OF STERCULIA RUPESTRIS. 
S. ru (rock-loving). Bottle-tree. fl., calyx campanulate, 
deeply lobed; panicle tomentose, usually longer than the 
tioles. Summer. J. glabrous, either quite entire, oblong- 
inear or lanceolate, 3in. to 6in. long, or digitate, of five to nine 
sessile leaflets, often above 6in. long. Australia, 1880. A good- 
sized, greenhouse tree, the trunk often swelling to a large size 
—hence the common name. See Figs. 532 and 535. SYN. Dela- 
bechea rupestris. 
S, tragacanthe (tragacanth). Tragacanth Gum-tree of Sierra 
Leone. fl. red-brown; calyx segments equalling the turbinate 
tube; panicle axillary, coarctate, tomentose. Summer, J. ovate, 
acute, obtuse at base, tomentose beneath. A. 20ft. Guinea, 
1793. Stove. (B. R. 1363.) SYN. S. pubescens. 
S. villosa (villous). f., calyx downy outside, pinkish within; 
style recurved; panicle cet Bion © pendulous. June. J. five to 
sevea-lobed, acuminate, velvety-tomentose beneath. h. l5ft. 
East Indies, 1805. Stove. 
STERCULIACEZH. A natural order of usually 
soft-wooded herbs, shrubs, or trees, mostly inhabiting 
tropical and sub-tropical regions. Flowers regular, herm- 
aphrodite or unisexual; calyx gamosepalous, usually per- 
sistent, more or less deeply five-cleft, rarely four or three- 
cleft, the lobes valvate; petals five, hypogynous, free or 
adnate at base with the staminal tube, often marcescent- 
persistent, twisted-imbricated, or wanting ; stamens very 
variable ; inflorescence axillary or rarely terminal, race- 
mose or cymose-paniculate, or rarely reduced to a solitary 
flower. Fruit dry or rarely baccate. Leaves alternate, 
or very rarely nearly opposite, sometimes simple, penni- 
nerved or palmineryed, entire, toothed, or lobed, some- 
times digitately three to nine-foliolate; stipules at the 
bases of the petioles, very rarely wanting. Sterculiacee 
contain an abundant mucilage, combined, in the old bark 
of the woody species, with a bitter, astringent matter, 
and are emetics and stimulants. The dried and split 
cotyledons of the seeds’ of Theobroma Cacao are called 
cocoa nibs, and, when ground and made into a paste, 
chocolate. The seeds comprise, among other properties, 
a fixed and solid oil, known as cocoa butter. The order 
embraces about forty-six genera, and 520 species. These 
are classified, by the authors of the “Genera Plantarum,” 
under seven tribes: Buettneriew, Dombeyew, Eriolenee, 
Helicteree, Hermanniew, Lasiopetalew, and Sterculiee. 
Illustrative genera are: Buettneria, Cola, Commersonia, 
Helicteres, Lasiopetalum, Sterculia. 
STEREOSANDRA (from stereos, rigid, and aner, 
andros, a male or anther; in reference to the upright 
stamen). ORD. Orchidew. A monotypic genus. The 
Species is a stove, terrestrial, leafless orchid, bearing a 
loose raceme of shortly-pedicellate, medium-sized flowers. 
It is a native of Java, and has not been introduced to 
cultivation in this country. 
STEREOXYLON. A synonym of Escallonia. 
