SAP 



SAP 



They have a very ornamental effect in the bor- 

 ders and clumps, when kept properly trimmed in 

 and tastefully intermixed with other similar 

 plants, in the fronts and more conspicuous 

 parts. 



SAPINDUS, a genus containing plants of 

 the tree, shrubby, and tender exotic kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Octandria 

 Trigynia, and ranks in the natural order of Tri- 

 hilalcB. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a four- 

 leaved perianth, spreading; leaflets subovate, 

 almost equal, flat, spreading, coloured, decidu- 

 ous; two of them exterior: the corolla has four 

 ovate, clawed petals ; two of them more ap- 

 proximating : nectary of four oblong concave 

 erect leaflets, inserted into the base of jhe pe- 

 tals : glands four, roundish, inserted also into 

 the base of the petals: the stamina have eight 

 filaments, length of the flower; anthers cordate, 

 erect: the pistillum is a triangular germ : styles 

 three, short : stigmas simple, obtuse: the peri- 

 carpium has three capsules, fleshy, globular, 

 connate, inflated : the teed is a globular nut 

 (two-celled). 



The species are : 1. S. Sapovaria. Common 

 Soap-berry Tree; 2. S. rigidus, Ash-leaved 

 Soap-berry Tree. 



There are other species that may be culti- 

 vated for variety. 



The first rises with a woody stalk in its native 

 situation, from twenty to thirty feet high, send- 

 ing out many branches towards the top, which 

 are garnished with winged leaves, composed of 

 three, four, or five pair of spear-shaped leaflets, 

 which are from three to four inches long, and 

 2n inch and a quarter broad in the middle, draw- 

 ins to a point at both ends : the midrib has a 

 membranaceous or leafy border running on each 

 side from one pair of leaflets to the other, which 

 is broaden in the middle between the leaflets ; 

 thev are of a pale green colour, and are pretty 

 s-tiff; the flowers are produced in loose spikes 

 at the end of the branches; are small and white, 

 making no ereat appearance : these are suc- 

 ceeded by oval berries as large as middling cher- 

 ries, sometimes single, at others two, three, or 

 four are joined together ; these have a sapona- 

 ceous skin or cover, which incloses a very 

 smooth roundish nut of the same form and 

 of a shining black when ripe. It is a native 

 of the West Indies. 



The nuts were formerly brought hither for 

 buttons to waistcoats, some tipped with silver, 

 and others with different metals, and were very 

 durable, as they did not wear, and seldom 

 !'i"ke. 



The second species, according to Miller, has 

 a strong woody stalk which rises about twentv 

 feet high, sending out many short Strom' 

 branches, covered with a smooth gray bark : 

 the leaves composed of two pairs of spear-shaped 

 leaflets, very stiff* and smooth ; the inner pair 

 small, seldom more than an inch and half long; 

 the two outer near three inches long, and almost 

 an inch broad in the middle, drawing to points 

 at both ends ; they are oblique to the footstalk, 

 of a pale green, and sit close to the midrib : the 

 ends of the branches are divided into two or 

 three footstalks, each sustaining a loose spike 

 of flowers : the berries roundish; generally two, 

 three, or four joined together. It is a native or' 

 the West Indies. 



Culture. — These plan's may be raised from 

 seeds, procured from their native situations, 

 which should be sown in small pots filled with 

 rich fresh earth early in the spring, plun- 

 ging them in a hot-bed of bark, and watering 

 them frequently : — when the plants appear, the 

 glasses should be raised daily to admit fresh air, 

 and when they have had some growth, they 

 should be shaken out of the pots, carefully se- 

 parated, and plained in distinct pots filled with 

 light rich mould, re-plunging them in the hot- 

 bed, and shading them from the sun till they have 

 stricken root, when they should have free air 

 admitted daily when the weather is warm, and 

 be frequently watered : as they soon fill the pots 

 with their roots, they should be often removed 

 into larger ones, and be gradually inured to the 

 open air, as when too much forced in the sum- 

 mer they are apt to die in the winter. In the 

 beginning of the autumn they should be re- 

 moved into the bark-bed of the stove, or be 

 placed upon the shelves of it, where they often 

 succeed better, beinii managed as other stove 

 plants of the same nature. 



Thev afford variety in stove collections. 

 SAFONARIA, a genus containing plants of 

 the herbaceous perennial and annual kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Deoandrid 

 Digynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Can/ophillei. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a onc- 

 lcafed, naked, tubular, five-toothed permanent 

 pcrianthi the corolla has five petals; claws 

 narrow, angular, length of the calyx ; border 

 flat, with the plates wider outwards, blunt : the 

 stamina have ten awl-shaped filaments, length of 

 the tube of the corolla, alternately inserted into 

 the claws of the petals, five later; anthers oblong, 

 blunt, incumbent : the pistillum is a subcylin- 

 drieal germ : styjes two, straight, parallel, 

 length of the stamens ; stigmas acute : the pen- 



