STELLATE. 



STERCULIACK.F.. 



are open almost all the year. It u frequently eaten aa a pot-herb, 

 and amall birds are very fond of its weds. 



& ctnutoidn, and & tcapiyera, the Alpine and Many-Stalked Stitch- 

 worts, are both of them British plants, and are sometimes cultivated 

 in pot*. 



STELLA T.K, the name of a natural order of Plants formed by 

 Ray. The vcrticillate arrangement of the leaves of the plants of this 

 order gives them a starlike appearance, whence the name. The order 

 is called by Lindley Oaliacea;. [GALIACE/E.] 



8TKLLER1DLANS. [ASTKIUAD.E; ASTERIAS; ECHI.NODKRMATA.] 



STELLETIUS. [CETACEA.] 



STE'LLIO. [DRACOXINA.] 



STELLITE. [PREHNITK.] 



STKM. [ExocENs.] 



STKMMATOPUS. [PuociD*.] 



STENELYTRA, the third family of Heteromerous Coleoptera in the 

 arrangement of Latreille. Jlttopt, Catela, Dcrcaa, and (Edemcra are 

 examples. They are usually oblong convex insects, with long Itgs 

 and antennae, which are thickened at their extremities. They live under 

 the bark of old trees, or on leaves and flowers. [HETEROMEBA.] 



STENEOSAUHUS, a genus of Fossil Saurians. 



STENO. [CETACEA.] 



STENOCERUa [latJANiD.t] 



STENOCINOPS. [MAUD*.] 



STENODACTYLUS. [GECKOTIDJS.] 



STENODERMA. [CHEIROPTERA.] 



STENOPS. [LEMCRiDi] 



STENOPUS. (PALEMOSIDJK.] 



8TENORHYNCHCS. [MACBOFODID.S ; PHOCID.E.] 



STEXOSOMA. [ISOPODA.] 



STEPHANOMIA. [ACALEPHJL] 



STERCORARIUS. [LARID-B.] 



STEKCC'LIA, a genus of Plants which gives its name to the 

 natural order Sterculiacta, which sometimes forms a section of the 

 order Bytterniaceoe. The name is derived from 'sterculus,' as that from 

 ' ctercus,' some of the species being remarkable for the strong and 

 disagreeable odour of their leaves or flowers. The genus is charac- 

 terised by having polygamous or monoecious flowers ; calyx 5-lobed, 

 somewhat coriaceous; petals wanting; stamens monadelphous, disposed 

 in a short sessile or stipitate urceolus ; anthers adnate, ten, fifteen, 

 twenty, in one or two rows ; solitary or ternately aggregate ; ovary 

 stipitute or sessile ; carpels follicular, five, or fewer from abortion, 

 distinct, 1 -celled, one- or many-seeded, opening on the inner side ; seeds 

 disposed in two rows along the suture of the carpels; sometimes, when 

 the carpels have opened and become spread out, the seeds appear to 

 be arranged along the sides of a leaf-like membrane ; seeds with fleshy 

 albumen, and flat, leafy, equal cotyledons. The species consist of 

 various-sized trees, with soft timber, which are found in the tropical 

 put* of the world, with simple or compound leaves and axillary 

 panicles or racemes of flowers. Many of them are of considerable use 

 in the countries where they are indigenous. 



Like the order to which the belong, several species are mucila- 

 ginous ; and others yield fibre, which, from its tenacity, is made into 

 roprs. Some yield a gummy exudation resembling tragacanth, and 

 which U sometimes substituted for it : thus the gum called Tragacanth, 

 which U sometimes imported from Sierra Leone, is said by Dr. Lindley 

 to be yielded by a species which he called 8. Tragacantha, the .S. 

 pubareni of others. So Dr. Roxburgh states Kuteera Qum, which is 

 often substituted for tragacanth, to be produced by S. urent, a tree of 

 the mountains of the Coromandel coast. Dr. Royle however states 

 that the kuteera gum of many parts of India U yielded by CocUotptr- 

 mum liouyjiium. 



S. ytttlala yields a bark, from which the natives of Malabar prepare 

 flax-like fibres, of which the natives of Wy naad make a sort of clothing. 



S. acuminata is a native of the tropical parts of the western coast of 

 Africa, where its seeds are everywhere known by the name of Cola or 

 Kola, and are mentioned by most travellers. They are much esteemed 

 by the natives, who take a portion of one of them before each of their 

 meal*, u they believe that these seeds increase the flavour of anything 

 they may subsequently cat or drink. They are about the size of a 

 pigeon's egg, are bitter in taste, and may be supposed to have some 

 stomachic properties. 



The seeds of S. macrocarpa and of N. heleropliylla are also called 

 Cola on the African coast. In Asia, in the same way, the seeds of .S, 

 Baiangkcu, are described by Rumphius as being roasted and eaten by 

 the natives of Amboyna, while the capsules are burned for the prepara- 

 tion of the colouring inatt-r called Coasouinba, 1 he seeds of >'. uiriur 

 and of f. faltila are likewise eaten in India after having been roasted, 

 as are those of >'. chifka in Brazil. Those of >'. aiala are also said to 

 be used as a cheap substitute for opium in the district of Silbet ; but 

 this statement, implying the presence of narcotic principles, requires 

 careful examination before it can be received as a fact, as we generally 

 find an accordance rather than so great a difference in the properties 

 of species of the same gi-nus. 



STERCt'LI ACEyE, Sttrcttliadi, a natural order of Plants belonging 

 to the syncarpous group of Polypetaloas Exogens. The plants be- 

 longing to this order are trees or shrubs, with alternate, stipulate, 

 in. pie, often toothed leave*, with a variable inflorescence, and a stel- 



late pubescence. The calyx is either naked or surrounded with an 

 involucre, consisting of five sepals, with a valvular or nearly valvular 

 aestivation ; five petals, hypogynous, often saccate at the base ; stamens 

 definite or indefinite, and monadelphous ; anthers 2-culled ; the pistil 

 consists of five carpels, often surrounding a columnar gynophore ; fruit 

 a capsule with three or five cells ; seeds often winged, sometimes woolly ; 

 albumen oily or fleshy, and embryo straight ; cotyledons either flat 

 and plaited, or rolled round the plumule. 



The order thus defined includes several groups of plants, which 

 have by many writers been made to form distinct order*. sierciUiacett 

 are most nearly allied to Mabacae, from which they differ in the pos- 

 session of 2-celled anthers. From Dipteracea; and Tiliacea, to which 

 they are allied by the valvate estivation of the calyx, they differ in 

 the possession of monadelphous stamens. The subdivisions of this 

 order are marked by very evident peculiarities of structure : 



Helicterta have an irregular calyx and corolla. 



Sterculiece, no petals, and definite stamens placed at the end of a 

 long column. 



Jiombacea, a calyx with a ruptile dehiscence, usually woolly seeds, 

 and the cells of the anthers anfractuose. 



Dombeyte, a part of the stamens sterile, and flat well-formed petals. 



ByUnericte, a port of the stamens sterile, and small petals bagged at 

 the base. 



Laaiopetalece, a petaloid calyx and rudimentary petal. 



Htrmanniat, spirally twisted petals with only five stamens, and those 

 opposite the petals. 



Sterculiacixe are natives of India, Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and South America, with the West Indies. Most of its subdivisions 

 have however a very definite geographical range. 



Stercutiea are found in India and equinoctial Africa. The genus 

 Slerculia contains many species that are used as food or medicine. 



[SlEROULIA.] 



d a c 



Sttrculia chichn. 



a, branch with leaves and apculoun flowrrn ; 4, monadclphotu (Umcni sur- 

 rounding pistil ; c, orsrjr, style, and stigma ; d, section of fruit, showing Its 

 five cells. 



liyttncrictr. are principally natives of South America and the West 

 Indies ; about one-seventh of the species are found in the East Indies, 

 and the same proportion in Australia. To this group belongs the 

 plant that produces the cocoa [TneoBROUA] of commerce. These 

 plants, like the whole of the order and its allies, abound with mucilage, 

 and are often used in medicine as demulcents. The fruit of Guazuma 

 ulmifolia possesses a mucilaginous pulp, and is eaten in Mexico by 



