448 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Soap continued. 



from watering the plants freely with soapsuds twice or 

 thrice. It is recommended also to mix the soapsuds 

 either with equal parts of gas-water, or with gas-tar in 

 quantity such as to cause a strong smell, sufficient to keep 

 the insects from laying eggs on the plants. Soap-boilers' 

 waste, i.e., the coarse, alkaline solutions that are formed 

 as waste products in making Soap, have been found of 

 service when used instead of the above mixture. Soap- 

 suds are also used against caterpillars on Gooseberries 

 and other plants, being applied by means of a syringe. 

 When Soap is employed to cause insecticides to mix 

 more readily with water, it is well to use Soft Soap, 

 as being stronger, and better suited to effect the 

 end in view. With its aid, a good many substances 

 may be kept much more uniformly diffused in water 

 than could otherwise be done. Carbolic Acid is pre- 

 pared thus, in the proportion of one part of acid to 

 ten of Soap, with which it is very thoroughly mixed. 

 The mixture is then diluted to the desired strength; 

 and the solution is sprinkled with a watering-pot on 

 plants infested with Green Fly or larvae, &c. Soft Soap 

 is also used in combination with tobacco-water, sulphuret 

 of lime, sulphur, or other substances, as a wash for the 

 trunks of Apple-trees infested with American Blight; 

 for walls, to destroy the Red Spider ; and against such 

 other injurious creatures as live on the bark or in cre- 

 vices of the walls on which trees are trained. In all 

 such mixtures, the substances used along with the Soap 

 should be thoroughly mixed with it, and water should 

 then be added till the mixture can be painted on the 

 bark or wall ; or more water may be used, and the fluid 

 may then be rubbed well in with a stiff brush, or may 

 be thrown from a syringe upon the places to be 

 cleansed. 



SOAP BARE TREE. See Quillaja Saponaria. 



SOAP BERRY TREE. See Sapindus. 



SOAP BULB. A common name for Clilorogalum 

 pome ridianum. 



SOAPERS' ASHES. These are occasionally used as 

 manure for plants. They consist largely of carbonate of 

 lime, mixed with snlphuret and sulphite of lime, and 

 a small quantity of sand and other rubbish. While 

 fresh, they injure plants, and ought therefore to be left 

 exposed to the atmosphere for some time. If this is 

 done, they absorb oxygen, and the sulphurets and sul- 

 phites become converted into the sulphate of lime, or 

 gypsum; so that at last the effect, when they are em- 

 ployed as manure, is but little different from that which 

 results from the use of the same quantity of a .mixture of 

 carbonate of lime (chalk) and sulphate of lime (gypsum). 

 The value of Soapers" Ashes as manure is not great. 



SOAP PODS. A popular name for the pods of 

 several species of Ccesalpiniea. 



SOAPWORT. See Saponaria officinalis. 



SOBOLES. Shoots, especially those from the ground. 



SOBOLIFEROUS. Bearing vigorous, lithe shoots. 



SOBRALIA (named in honour of Don F. M. Sobral, 

 a Spanish botanist). OBD. Orchideae. About thirty species 

 are referred to this genus; they are tall, leafy, not 

 tuberous, free-growing, mostly stove, terrestrial Orchids, 

 natives of the Andes of tropical America, from Pern to 

 Mexico. Flowers large and showy, few in a terminal, 

 axillary raceme, sometimes reduced to one flower ; sepals 

 unequal, erect, connate at base ; petals similar or broader ; 

 lip erect from the base of the column, around which its 

 lateral lobes are folded, the limb spreading, concave, 

 undulated or fimbriate, undivided or two-lobed ; column 

 elongated, slightly incurved, semi-terete ; bracts appressed. 

 Leaves scattered, coriaceous, plicate-veined, sessile in the 

 sheaths. The best-known species are here described. 

 "The East Indian or Mexican house will either of them 



Sobralia continued. 



suit these plants, which thrive best in pots of largre 

 size, potted in rough, fibrous peat .... which should 

 overlie about Sin. of drainage. An abundant supply of 

 water at the roots in the growing season is essential to 

 their well-being, but afterwards much less will suffice. 

 The stems grow up in thick tufts ; and when the plants 

 get too large, they should be turned out of the pot, 

 and divided into several pieces, each of which will soon 

 grow and make a flowering plant. The genus is far too 

 much neglected by orchid-growers" (B. S. Williams). 



S. Cattleya (Cattleya-like).* fl. resembling those of a Cattleya ; 

 sepals and petals purplish-brown ; lip purplish, with three yellow, 

 crested keels, forming a sharp angle by its lateral lobes over- 

 lapping the column ; inflorescences several, lateral. L oblong, 

 acuminate, plaited, shining. Stem stout. Columbia, 1877. A 

 plant of great beauty. 



S. chlorantha (yellow-flowered), fl. yellow, whole-coloured, 

 fully 4in. long, sessile ; lip obovate, the disk striated, the margins 

 undulated, a pair of deep lamellae extending from the base to 

 the apex. June. I. very fleshy, hardly plicate, loosely striated, 

 oblong; upper ones changed to ovate, cucullate bracts, h. 1ft. 

 Brazil, 1852. (B. M. 4682 ; F. d. S. 840.) 



S. decora (comely). "This differs from S. gessilis, not only in 

 being perfectly free from the black hairiness characterising that 

 ;ies, but also in being a smaller plant, with a truly cuneate 

 in having whitish flowers with a rose-coloured lip, and 

 the petals overlaying the sepals, so that the back of the former 

 answers to the face of the latter" (Lindley). Guatemala, 1836. 

 (B. M. 4570 and L. J. F. 104, under name of S. sessilis.) 



S. dichotoma (dichotomous).* fl. white outside, violet within, 

 sometimes whitish-rose with a rose and purple lip, or the whole 

 deep red, fleshy ; lip cucullate, three-lobed, the la'eral segments 

 entire, the middle one emarginate, crisped, crested-lacerate at 

 apex ; racemes lateral, drooping, dichotomous, flexuous, many- 

 flowered. March. L hard, plicate, acuminate, narrowed at base. 

 Stems 6ft. to 20ft high, resembling bamboos. Peru. A grand 

 species. 



S. fragrans (fragrant), fl. in pairs, lin. long, deliriously scented ; 

 sepals externally dirty purplish-green, keeled ; petals pale yellow, 

 thin, flat, lanceolate ; lips of a brighter yellow, the middle lobe 

 deeply fringed and furnished with nine lacerated crests. July. 

 I. very smooth, rather fleshy, perfectly naked, with a short, 

 keeled sheath. Stem two-edged, scarcely 1ft high. New 

 Grenada, 1854. (B. M. 4882.) 



S. leucoxantba (whitish-yellow). JL, sepals white, recurved, 

 oblong-ligulate ; petals white, rather shorter and broader ; lip 

 white outside, deep golden-yellow, flushed with orange in the 

 throat and disk, passing off to white at the edge, oblong-flabel- 

 late, convolute at base, the expanded front portion bilobed and 

 crenulate; bracts of the spathe scarious, spotted with brown. 

 August. 1. plicate, cuneate-oblpng, long-acuminate, the sheaths 

 warted. Stems 1ft. or more high. Costa Rica. 



S. Liliastrum (Star-Lily), fl. white, veined with yellow, large, 

 pendulous ; racemes terminal, distichous, many-flowered, with 

 spathaceous bracts. July and August. I. lanceolate, very acute, 

 striated, sheathing at base. Stems 8ft. to 10ft. high. British 

 Guiana, Brazil, 1840. (L. S. O. 29.) SYN. Epidendrum Liliastrum. 



S. L. rosea (rose-coloured), ft., petals and Up of a rich rose- 

 colour, the latter veined with white. 



S. macrantha (large-flowered).* /. beautiful rich purple and 

 crimson, aromatic, 6in. across ; sepals oblong ; petals broader, 

 crisped in the upper part ; lip folded round the column at base, 

 very broad and bilobed at the apex, wavy at the edges, having a 

 pale yellowish spot in the centre ; racemes short. Srminer. 

 I. ovate, acuminate, plicate. Stems 6ft. to 8ft. high. Mexico 

 and Guatemala, 1842. The finest species of the genus. (B. M. 

 4446 ; F. d. S. 669 ; P. M. B. xiv. 241.) Greenhouse. 



S m albida (whitish), fl. of a very pale rose-colour. (G. C. 1871, 

 p. 906.) 



S. m. nana (dwarf). /. smaller than in the type ; lip dark violet, 

 yellow at the base. A dwarf variety. 



S. m. purpurea (purple), fl. of a rich purple. 



S. m. splendens (splendid), fl. darker than those of the 

 type but not so large. June to August. 1846. A charming 

 variety. "Wooi-LEY's" variety is a very dwarf form of this, 

 producing splendid flowers in June and July. 



S. rosea (rose-coloured).* H. very large ; sepals and petals dark 

 mauve; lip crimson, with a white centre, very open; .raceme 

 short, the rachis flexuous ; bracts boat-shaped, large. I. ovate, 

 acuminate. Stems stout, 4ft. to 6ft. high. Peru and New 

 Grenada A fine species ; the spikes have Four flowers, all open- 

 ing at once. SYN. S. Ruckeri (R. X. O. i. 43; VV. S. O. iii. 19). 



S. Ruckeri (Rucker's). A synonym of S. rosea. 



S. sessilis (sessile-flowered), fl. deep rose-colour, the lower half 

 of the lip tinged with yellow, solitary, sessile ; lip rhomboid- 

 oblong, bilamellate at base ; bracts none or only a few, leafy at 

 apex. December. I. beneath (as well as the stemsl covered with 

 dark pubescence. British Guiana, 1840. (B. R. 1841, 17.) 



