398 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



SCURF. A condition often met with in Potato 

 tubers, in which the surface shows clefts or slits, beneath 

 which lie black masses of rotting tissue. Observation of 

 the cause shows this to be, in part at least, the presence 

 of superfluous moisture in the soil. This favours greatly 

 the production of what are known as lenticels, or small 

 groups of loosely-arranged cells below the stomata. These 

 loose cells increase, and readily absorb water from the 

 exterior. The swelling bursts the outer skin of the 

 tuber, forming the slits, and giving still more free 

 access to water. Cork is formed to repair the injury ; 

 but is also burst by increased growth of the lenticel, 

 and is renewed to repair the injury as far as possible. 

 The cells saturated with moisture begin to decay, and 

 offer a favourable occasion of entrance to the spores of 

 Fungi; hence, in a short time, the tissues below the 

 slits become blackened and soft, the cells show Fungus 

 threads, and the starch is removed from the neighbour- 

 ing cells. Even where the actual amount of material 

 destroyed is small, the unsightly appearance of the tubers 

 frequently lessens the value of the crop. The best 

 remedy is good drainage, together with efficient means 

 to loosen the soil, and to permit free access of air. 



The term "Scurf" is also applied to the loose, scaly 

 matter on the epidermis. 



SCURFY PEA. See Psoralea. 

 SCURVY GRASS. See Coclilearia officinalis. 

 SCUTATE, SCUTIFORM. Having the form of u 

 small, round buckler. 



SCUTELLARIA (from scutella, a dish or platter; 

 alluding to the form of the fruiting calyx). Helmet 

 Flower; Skull-cap. SYN. Cassida. ORD. Labiates. A 

 genus comprising about ninety species of stove, green- 

 house, or hardy, annual or perennial herbs or sub-shrubs, 

 decumbent or diffuse, rarely erect and tall, very rarely 

 shrubs; they are scattered over temperate regions and 

 the tropical mountains. Flowers blue, violet, yellow, or 

 white, solitary or in pairs, axillary or in terminal spikes 

 or racemes ; calyx campanulate, two - lipped, the tube 

 dilated opposite the posterior lip into a broad, flattened, 

 hollow pouch, both lip and pouch deciduous in fruit, the 

 anterior lip closed after flowering, persistent; corolla 

 tube long, naked inside; limb bilabiate, the upper lip 

 entire or notched, the lower dilated, its lateral lobes free 

 and spreading, usually connate with the upper lip, rarely 

 with the lower; stamens four. Nutlets sub-globose or 

 depressed. Leaves often toothed, sometimes pinnatifid 

 or entire ; floral ones conformed or changed into bracts. 

 8. galericulata and S. minor are the British represen- 

 tatives of the genus. The species described .below are, 

 for the most part, very handsome when in flower, and 

 hence are well suited for ornamenting the front of flower 

 borders. Any common garden soil is usually suitable. 

 The herbaceous species may be increased by seeds, or by 

 divisions ; and the shrubby kinds may be readily mul- 

 tiplied by cuttings. 8. Mociniana is one of the most 

 beautiful of stove, flowering plants, and may be easily 

 grown by anyone with a cool stove or warm greenhouse 

 temperature. The bunches of flowers are freely produced 

 one on the point of almost every shoot and are very 

 bright and effective. Cuttings of half -ripened shoots root 

 readily in spring, or at almost any season, in a warm 

 propagating - frame. Young plants should have their 

 points pinched out once or twice when growing, to en- 

 courage a bushy habit, and so insure a much larger pro- 

 duction of flowers. Nice little specimens may be grown 

 in 5in. pots. They succeed best in loam and leaf soil 

 or decayed manure, with some sand intermixed. Except 

 where otherwise indicated, the species here given arc 

 hardy, herbaceous perennials. 



S. albo-rosea (white-and-rose). /. borne in long, terminal ra- 

 cemes ; corolla lilac, becoming paler tow 

 tube. Summer. 



Scntellaria continued. 

 Stem tetragonal Ji.^ lift. Woods of the upper Amazon 



StOTC! 



(I. H. 584.) 



FIG. 461. SCUTEM.ARIA ALPINA. 



S. alpina (alpine).* fi. in oblong, tetragonal spikes ; corolla wholly 

 purple or with the tube or lower lip yellow, lin. to liin. long. 

 August. I. sub-sessile or shortly petiolate, ovate, slightly acute, 

 rounded or cordate at base, loosely-crenate, serrate, six to ten 

 lines long, pubescent or pilose ; floral ones coloured, imbricated. 

 Stems procumbent, often rooting at base. Europe and Central 

 Asia, 1752. See Fig. 461. (A. F. P. 26, fig. 3 ; B. R. 1460 ; 

 S. B. F. G. 90.) The variety lupulina has entirely yellow 

 flowers. (B. R. 1493, under name of S. lupulina.) 



S. anrata (golden-flowered), fl. numerous, erect, in a terminal 

 raceme ; corolla yellow, very long, tubular-infundibuliform ; 

 pedicels short ; bracts linear, reflexed. Summer. I. on rather 

 long petioles, ovate, obtuse, acuminate, auriculate-cordate at 

 base, the lobes approximate, entire, or obsoletely and remotely 

 denticulate. Stem tetragonal, h. 1ft. to lift. Brazil, 1863. 

 Stove perennial. (I. H. 1862, 368.) 



S. a. sulphurea (sulphur-coloured), fl. of a pale sulphur-colour, 

 smaller than in the type. (B. M. 5525.) 



S. Columnje (Columna's). /. opposite, secund ; corolla dark 

 purple, ten to twelve lines long, loosely pubescent outside, the 

 throat dilated ; pedicels as long as the fruiting calyx ; racemes 

 6in. or more long, loose, slightly branched, pilose. July. 

 I. petiolate, ovate, 2in. long, crenate, broadly cordate or trun- 

 cate at base, scarcely wrinkled, slenderly pubescent ; floral ones 

 ovate. Stem erect, 2ft. to 3ft. high, branched, pubescent. 

 South Europe, 1806. (S. B. F. G. 52.) 



S. costaricana (Costa Rica).* fl. numerous, racemose, sub- 

 secund ; calyx (and pedicel) dark purple, small ; corolla of a rich 

 golden-scarlet, the inside of the lips a deep yellow, 2iin. long, 

 erect, tubular-infuiulibuliform. June. /. ovate, acuminate, 

 serrate-dentate ; petioles rather long. Stem dark purple, erect. 

 h. lift to 3ft. Costa Rica, 1863. A beautiful stove perennial. 

 (B. M. 5439.) 



S. galericulata (skull-cap), fl. secund. pubescent,, solitary; 

 corolla blue, variegated with white inside, fin. long, the tube 

 curved ; bracts leaf -like ; pedicels very short. July to September. 

 I. shortly petiolate, iin. to 2iin. long, oblong or ovate, cordate 

 at base, obtuse or sub-acute, rather remotely crenate-serrate. 

 Steins 6in. to 18in. long, slender, simple or branched. Europe 

 (Britain), &c. (Sy. En. B. 1060.) 



S. grandifiora (large-flowered). /. in tetragonal, oblong spikes, 

 which are eventually liin. long ; corolla purplish, smaller than 

 S. orientalis. July. I. long-petiolate, somewhat roundish- 



, 



cemes ; corolla lilac, becoming paler towards the base of the long 

 ovate-oblong, cordate at base, undulated. 



. 



ovate, incised-toothed, softly tonientose beneath or on both 

 sides floral ones entire, imbricated, pubescent. Stems pro- 

 cumbent. Altaian Alps, Siberia, 1804. (B. M. 635.) SYN. 

 S. pulchella. 



S. Hartwegi (Hartweg's).* /. scattered, in loose, simple racemes ; 

 corolla bright red, lin. long, with a violet lower lip. Summer. 

 I ovate, slightly acuminate, unequally crenate-serrate, roundly 



