436 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



FIG. 486. SIMPLE LEAF. 



SIMABOUBA (the Carib name of S. amara). Fre- 

 quently spelt Simaruba. Bitter-wood. OBD. Simarubece. 

 A small genus (three species) of stove, evergreen trees, 

 natives of Eastern tropical America. Flowers sub-cymose, 

 in axillary and terminal, elongated, branched panicles; 

 calyx small, five-lobed ; petals five, spreading at the tips, 

 imbricated. Leaves alternate, abruptly pinnate; leaflets 

 alternate, entire, coriaceous. Probably, the only species 

 grown in this country is 8. amara, which yields the 

 drug known as Simaruba-bark. For culture, see Quassia 

 (to which the genus is allied). 



S. amara (bitter). Bitter or Mountain Damson ; Stavewood. 

 fl yellowish-white ; petals spreading ; panicle exceeded by the 

 leaves May. I. oblong or lanceolate-oblong, mucronate, with a 

 bluntish point, green on both sides ; leaflets quite glabrous or 

 pubescent beneath, h. (under cultivation) 10ft. West Indies, 

 &c., 1789. (B. M. PI. 66.) SYN. S. officinalis. 

 S. officinalis (officinal). A synonym of S. amara. 

 SIMARUBA. See Simarouba. 



SIMABUBEJE. A natural order of scentless shrubs 

 or trees, often small, mostly inhabiting tropical and 

 warm regions. Flowers diclinous or polygamous, rarely 

 hermaphrodite, regular, usually small; calyx three to 

 iive-lobed or parted ; petals three to five, very rarely 

 wanting, imbricated or valvate; stamens inserted at the 

 base of a hypogynous disk, as many, or twice as many, 

 as the petals, rarely indefinite; inflorescence usually 

 axillary, paniculate or racemose, rarely spicate or a 

 solitary flower. Fruit a drupe, capsule, or samara. 

 Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, pinnate, rarely one 

 to three -foliolate or simple, not dotted, very rarely 

 glandular ; stipules wanting. Bark often bitter, some- 

 times very much so. The Simarnba of the druggist is 

 yielded by the bark and trunk of Simarouba amara and 

 S. guianensis. Balanites cegyptiaca bears drupes which, 

 when old, are edible. The order comprises thirty-one 

 genera, and about 112 species. Examples: Balanites, 

 Quassia, Simaba, Simarouba. 



SIMETHIS (so named after the nymph Simethis, the 

 mistress of Acis). SYNS. Morgagnia, Pogonella. ORD. 

 LiliacecB. A monotypic genus. The species is a slender, 

 hardy, perennial herb, with a root of fascicled fibres. 

 It is found at Bournemouth, and at Derrynane, in Ire- 

 land, but is only an alien or a denizen. A compost of 

 heath mould and sand is most suitable. The plant may 

 be multiplied by division. 



S. tricolor (two coloured). /. Jin. in diameter, corymbose, jointed 

 on the pedicel ; perianth spreading, the segments white inside, 



Eurple on the back ; scape panicled, as long as the leaves, 

 racteate. June. I. 6in. to 18m. long, in. in diameter, recurved, 

 surrounded at base with torn, fibrous, brown sheaths. Europe, 

 North-west Africa. (Sy. En. B. 1541.) SYN. S. planifolia. 

 S. planifolia (flat-leaved). A synonym of S. bicolor. 



SIMMONDSIA (named in memory of T. W. Sim- 

 monds, botanist and explorer, who accompanied Lord 

 Seaforth to the West Indies, and who died in 1805). 

 SYN. Brocchia. ORD. Euphorbiacece. A monotypic genus. 

 The species is a small, hardy, evergreen, much-branched 

 shrub. A compost of rich, light loam, and a little peat, 

 is best suited to its requirements. Propagation may be 

 effected by cuttings. 



S. californica (Californian). /. green, direcious, apetalous, in- 

 conspicuous ; males in sub-globose, sessile or very shortly pedun- 



Simxnondsia continued. 



culate clusters, solitary or sessile beneath a small bract ; females 

 solitary, on short and usually nodding pedicels. Mature nuts 

 resembling an acorn in size and shape. I. opposite, sub-sessile, 

 entire, coriaceous, penniveined. California. 

 SIMPLE. Consisting of not more than one distinct 

 part; e.g., a Simple leaf has one blade (see Fig 486). 



SIMPLEB'S JOY. See Verbena hastata and 

 V. officinalis. 



SINAFIS (from the old Greek Sinapi, used by Theo- 

 phrastus for Mustard). ORD. Cruciferce. A small genus 

 of European and Asiatic herbs, frequently cultivated, now 

 included, by Bentham and Hooker, under Brassica. Calyx 

 of four spreading sepals. Pods sessile, slightly terete or 

 tetragonal ; seeds globose. 8. alba yields the white, and 

 S. nigra the black, mustard. Both species are indigenous 

 in this country, but are nevertheless largely cultivated. 

 The seedlings or cotyledons of 8. nigra, together with those 

 of Lepidium sativum, form the salad well known as Mus- 

 tard and Cress. Oil is obtained from several plants of 

 this genus. The seeds of 8. arvensis (the common Char- 

 lock or Corn Mustard) yield a good burning oil. Some 

 authorities regard 8. nigra, which, in Palestine, grows to a 

 height of from 10ft. to 12ft., as the Mustard of Scripture, 

 in preference to Salvadora. None of the species possess 

 any horticultural value. See also Cress and Mustard. 

 SINCLAIBIA. Included under Liabum (which see). 

 SINGHABA NUT-PLANT. See Trapa bi- 

 spinosa. 



SINISTBOBSE. Turned or directed to the left. 



SINNINGIA (named in honour of William Sinning, 



gardener to the University of Bonn on the Rhine). SYN. 



Gloxinia (many cultivated species). Including Biglandu- 



laria, Ligeria, Rosanovia, Stenogastra and Tapeionites. 



ORD. Gesneracece. A genus comprising about sixteen 



species of very pretty, usually dwarf, pubescent or villons, 



stove herbs, natives of Brazil. Flowers showy, rarely 



rather small, solitary or fascicled in the axils, on short 



or long pedicels ; calyx tube short and broadly turbinate, 



the limb leafy, deeply five-cleft or five-parted; corolla 



tube sub-equal at base or gibbous at back, elongated, 



broadly cylindrical or campanulate, the limb of five broad, 



spreading lobes; stamens included. Leaves opposite, 



often ample, long-stalked; floral ones reduced to bracts. 



Stems rising from a tuberous rhizome, simple or scarcely 



branched, sometimes almost wanting. The species best 



known to cultivation are described below. They require 



similar treatment to Gloxinia (which see). 



S. barbata (bearded), fl,., calyx nearly lin. deep ; corolla white, 



with red marks inside, much swollen at base, contracted at 



throat, hairy, liin. long ; peduncles iin. to liin. long, axillary, 



solitary or twin. Summer. I. oblong or oblong-lanceolate, a few 



inches to nearly 1ft. long, attenuated at both ends, acute, 



crenate-serrate, pilose above, crimson beneath: petioles iin. to 



liin long. Stem decumbent or ascending. 1867. (B. M. 5623 ; 



F. d. S. 1847 ; F. M. 336, under name of Tapeionites Carolina.) 



The variety major (I. H. n. s. 506) only differs from the type in 



its larger proportions. 



S. concinna (neat).* fl,., calyx rather small, the segments much 

 longer than the tube ; corolla lurid-purple above, yellowish beneath, 

 spotted within, nearly lin. long, the tube much dilated towards 

 the throat ; peduncles axillary, scape-like, longer than the leaves. 

 Summer and autumn. I. broadly round-ovate, deeply crenate, 

 rather small. Stem in. to lin. long, and, as well as the pe- 

 tioles, peduncles, and nerves, red. 1860. (B. M. 5253, under name 

 of Stenogaster concinna; F. d. S. 1533 and I. H. 1864, 390, under 

 name of Stenogastra concinna.) The variety multiflora (I. H. 

 1864, 390, left-hand figure, under name of Stenogastra multiflora) 

 is a handsome garden plant, with larger leaves than its parent, 

 and lilac-blue flowers. 



S. conspicua (conspicuous).* /., calyx segments lanceolate, 

 spreading ; corolla yellow, paler without than on the inside, the 

 lower part of the tube marked on the inside with elegant, purple 

 lines and dots, obliquely infundibular-campanulate. Summer. 

 I opposite, ovate-oblong, shortly acuminate, slightly cordate at 

 the base, dentate. Rhizome tuberous, h. 1ft Brazil, 1868. 

 Plant hairy, free-flowering. SY.NS. Biglandularia conspicua and 

 Rosanowia conspicua (R. G. 712). Rosanowia ornata (F. d. S. 

 2423-4) is a fine hybrid, with flowers of a pure white, lined with 

 light rose on the tube and the two upper lobes of the corolla, 

 the throat slightly greenish-yellow. 



