456 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Solanum continued. 



covered with red, stellate prickles. Native country unknown. 

 Suffrutescent, armed with prickles, half-hardy. A garden 

 species. (R. H. 1865, p. 430.) 



8. Wendlandii (Wendland's). /. lilac-blue, 2Jin in diameter ; 

 cymes 6in. and more across, terminating pendulous branches. 

 August. I. bright green, variable, 2in. to 10m. long, lin. to 4m. 

 broad; uppermost ones simple, oblong, acuminate, with a 

 cordate base, or three-lobed, with the lobes sub-equal or 

 unequal, and sometimes lobed at the sides, or trifoliolate with 

 equal or unequal leaflets ; lower leaves on the branches 6m. to 

 lOin. long, pinnate below and pinnatifld above, with four to six 

 pairs of lobes or leaflets, which are ovate or oblong, entire and 

 acuminate ; prickles on the stems, branches, and petioles few, 

 scattered, short, hooked. Costa Rica, 1882. Climbing, glabrous, 

 stove shrub. (B. M. 6914.) 



SOLARIA (named in honour of Francisci do Borja 

 Solar, an eminent Chilian mathematician). SYN. Symea. 

 OBD. Liliaceoe. A monotypic genus. The species is a 

 remarkable, greenhouse, bulbous plant. It thrives in a 

 compost of sandy loam and leaf mould. The bulbs must 

 be kept nearly dry during their resting period, the quantity 

 of water being gradually diminished as the leaves begin 

 to die down. Propagation may be effected by seeds, or 

 by offsets. 



S. miersioides (Miersia-like). fl. green, small, inconspicuous, 

 pedicellate, erect, many in a terminal umbel ; perianth segments 

 connate at base in a shortly campanulate tube, spreading above ; 

 stamens three ; involucral bracts two, scarious ; scape simple, 

 leafless. Spring. /. (? always) radical, solitary, broad-linear. 

 h. 4in. Chfli, 1871. SYN. Symea ffillesioiden (Ref. B. 260). 



SOLAR, INFLUENCE. Inasmuch as all life on 

 the earth depends upon the warmth and light of the 

 sun, it follows that Solar Influence upon plants is of 

 the most far-reaching kind. The conversion of mineral 

 compounds and gases into food suitable for the nourish- 

 ment of plants, goes on only during light in their green 

 parts, where chlorophyll exists ; on this food, formed in 

 their tissues, all green plants subsist, and all parasitic 

 plants and animals are nourished indirectly by it, as 

 they feed on living or dead plants. But, apart from 

 this, the most important of all influences upon plant- 

 life, the sun exerts certain other powers ; and it is 

 necessary for gardeners to take advantage of these, or 

 to ward off the evils resulting from their action, 

 according to the requirements of the plants affected. 



Leaving untouched the subject of the Sun's Influence 

 in regulating the seasons, the present article will deal 

 only with the effects of exposure to the sun's rays 

 during the season of active vegetation. All are familiar 

 with' the fact that the sun gives both heat and light. 

 To a certain extent, the heat-rays may be converted 

 into light, or the light-rays into heat ; but this need not 

 be taken account of here. The heat-rays are the chief 

 source of heat with which we are acquainted, and, except 

 in hotbeds and hothouses, they are the only source 

 available in horticulture. They originate the vital pro- 

 cesses of germination in seeds, and of the bursting of 

 new buds and leaves on the bare branches in spring. 

 But, in dry summers, and especially in confined situa- 

 tions, fully exposed to the sun's rays, the air and the 

 soil become parched with drought, and plants perish for 

 lack of water. This danger must be warded off by 

 watering the plants, or by irrigation, if that is practi- 

 cable ; and subjects that are peculiarly liable to injury 

 from drought should be protected under some kind of 

 shelter, such as an awning. A temperature higher than 

 that to which a plant is accustomed, if continued for 

 some time, is apt to induce in it a weak habit of growth, 

 owing to over- stimulation; new branches and leaves 

 being produced more rapidly than food can be supplied 

 for their full development. Certain injurious effects of 

 exposure to too great heat of the sun will be treated of 

 under San-burning-. 



Plants differ a good deal in the amount of light that 

 they require. Most green plants need to be exposed to 

 full sunshine for some part of each day ; and if this, or, 

 at least, full daylight, is withheld, they turn pale and 



Solar Influence continued. 



sickly, and, sooner or later, perish. On the other hand, 

 many Ferns, and a few flowering plants, suffer in health 

 when exposed to bright sunshine : these plants require 

 shady places, e.g., shade of dense forests or caves. In 

 gardens, they require special protection from light, and 

 are usually shaded by green glass, or by green paint on 

 the glass, or, better, by thin green cloth, as this can 

 be removed in dull, cloudy weather. 



Like heat, light sometimes proves too great a stimulus, 

 and plants suffer from excess of it. In greenhouses, 

 plants not unfrequently have their leaves marked with 

 dry spots, that look as if scorched through the tissues. 

 For their supposed causes, and for the most successful 

 preventive treatment, see Sun-burning. 



SOLDANELLA (a diminutive of solidus, a piece of 

 money ; alluding to the shape of the leaves). OBD. 

 PrimulacecB. A small genus (three or four species) of 

 very pretty, mostly hardy, glabrous, perennial herbs, 

 inhabiting the Alps of Central Europe. Flowers blue, 

 violet, or rose, rarely white, nodding ; calyx five-parted, 

 persistent; corolla hypogynous, infundibular-campanulate, 

 five-lobed to the middle, the lobes imbricated ; stamens 

 affixed to the throat of the corolla; scapes slender, soli- 

 tary or few, one-flowered or umbellately many-flowered. 

 Leaves long-petiolate, thick, cordate-orbicular or reni- 

 form, entire. S. alpina is one of the most charming 

 alpine plants in our gardens. The species succeed in a 

 peat border, or in pots of peat and loam. Propagation 

 may be effected by seeds, or by division. 



FIG. 499. SOLDANELLA MONTANA. 



S. alpina (alpine).* Blue Moonwort. fl. violet, fimbriated, pen 

 deiit; style equalling or exceeding the corolla; pedicels pu- 

 bescent, slightly glandular ; scapes two to four-flowered. April. 

 I roundish-reniform, entire or sub-repand, or loosely and 

 remotely ciliated, h. 3in. 1656. (B. M. 49; F. d. S. 994; 

 J. F. A. 118.) A variety, Wheeleri, is the most floriferous form 

 of this plant. 



S. Clusii (Clusius'). /. blue, campanulate, with a neatly notched 

 margin ; style shorter than the corolla ; pedicels slightly scabrous, 

 with minute, sessile glands ; scape one, rarely two-flowered. 

 April. I. cordate-reniform, slightly repand. h. 2in. to Sin. 1820. 

 (B. M. 2163.) SYN. S. pusilla (S. B. F. G. ser. ii. 48). 



S. minima (smallest), fl. suffused with lilac, purple-striped 

 within, cut one-third its length, spreading; style shorter than 

 the corolla ; pedicels pubescent ; scapes one-flowered. April. 

 I. orbicular. A. 2in. 1823. (S. B. F. G. ser. ii. 55.) 



