AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



459 



SONNERATIA (named in honour of Pierre Son- 

 nerat, 1749-1814, who travelled into New Guinea, the 

 East Indies, and China, and communicated many new 

 plants to the botanists of Europe). SYN. Aubletia. ORD. 

 Lythrariece. A genus comprising five or six species of 

 highly glabrous, stove shrubs and small trees, inhabiting 

 the tropical sea-shores of the Eastern hemisphere. Flowers 

 ample, ebracteolate, in threes at the tips of the branchlets, 

 or axillary and solitary ; calyx thickly coriaceous, with a 

 campannlate tube and a four to eight-lobed limb; petals 

 four to eight, small, or wanting ; stamens numerous. 

 Berry sub-globose, ten to fifteen- celled, many-seeded. 

 Leaves opposite, petiolate, coriaceous, oblong, acute or 

 obtuse, entire. The three species known to cultivation 

 require similar treatment to that advised for Lager- 

 stromia. 

 S. acida (ncid). f,. six-cleft ; petals red. June. fr. having acrid 



pulp. 1. oval-olilon?. Bninchlets tetragonal. East Indies, 1822. 



A small tree. The fruits of this species are eaten as a condiment 



by the Maiays. 

 S. alba (white-flowered). jL white, six to eight-cleft, apetalous. 



May. fr. obconical at base, depressed above. 1. roundish-oval, 



2iu. to 4Ain. long, rounded or retuse at the apex. Branchlets 



terete. East Indies, 18<24. A small tree. 

 S. apetala (apetalous). Kambala-tree. /. white, four-cleft, j 



apetalous. June. 1. ovate-lanceolate. Branchlets terete, pendu- | 



Ions. East Indies, 1826. Tree attaining 40fu, growing in Man- j 



grove swamps flooded by the tide. 



SOOT. This substance is employed in gardening, 

 either as a fertiliser, or to prevent or cure insect 

 ravages, or with all these objects combined. It is, in 

 by far the greater proportion of cases, obtained from 

 chimneys, from the smoke of coal fires. Taken from 

 this source, it usually consists of about 12 per cent, 

 water, 35 to 50 per cent, ash, and the rest volatile sub- 

 stances, which are destroyed by complete combustion. 

 The last-named substances are largely composed of 

 Ammonia; this gives a pungent smell, which is rendered 

 much stronger when quicklime and water are mixed 

 with the Soot. There are also various oily substances, 

 possessed of peculiar smells, and certain acids, formed 

 and driven off by heat during the combustion of coal, 

 that become mixed with the Soot. The ash of Soot 

 contains Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, and 

 Sodium, combined variously with Phosphoric and Sul- 

 phuric Acids; there is also present a small quantity of 

 Silica and Silicates. 



The fertilising effect of a top-dressing of Soot is very 

 decided, and seems to be due, in a great degree, to j 

 the presence of Sulphate and Chloride of Ammonium ; j 

 but the other substances may also produce some effect. 

 Soot has been found to greatly benefit Potatoes, when \ 

 put into the drills. As a remedy against those larvae that 

 lie underground during the day, and crawl up to feed on 

 the plants at night, Soot is especially useful, if laid rather 

 thickly around the stems; it will also stimulate the 

 plants to healthy growth. It is also frequently scattered 

 as a top-dressing, or along the drills, about the time 

 when any crop is liable to visits of the parent insects 

 intent on egg-laying; in such a case, it acts as a pre- 

 ventive of attacks. Soot is also used, instead of hellebore 

 powder, for scattering over plants attacked by larvas 

 (e.g., Sawfly larvae on Currant-bushes), or by perfect 

 insects (e.g., Turnip Flea on Turnips), and gives valuable 

 results when rightly employed ; but care must be taken 

 to avoid applying it when the flavour of the crop would 

 be injured. 



To cleanse walls from Red Spider, water with which 

 Soot has been mixed till all that can be dissolved from 

 it has been so, is made np with clay till the mixture 

 is of the consistence of thick paint; and then about lib. 

 of flowers of sulphur and 2oz. of soft soap are added 

 to each gallon of the compound. To protect the fruit- 

 trees on the walls from the attacks of the mites, this 

 mixture should be applied all over the wall once a year, 

 taking care to close all crevices. 



SOPHOB.A (altered from SvpJUrv, the Arabic namo 

 for a papilionaceous-flowered tree). Including Edwardtia 

 and Styphnolobium. ORD. Leyuminosce. A genus com- 

 prising about twenty-two species of stove, greenhouse, 

 or hardy, evergreen or deciduous trees, shrubs, or rarely 

 perennial herbs, inhabiting the warmer regions of tho 

 globe. Flowers white, yellow, or rarely bluish- violet, 

 disposed in simple, terminal racemes, or in a terminal, 

 leafy panicle; calyx teeth short; standard broadly ob- 

 ovate or orbicular, erect or spreading; stamens free or 

 rarely nearly connate in a ring at the base ; bracts small ; 

 bracteoles none. Pods moniliform, compressed. Leaves 

 imparipinnate ; leaflets indefinite, small, exstipellate. The 

 hardy and half-hardy species thrive in well-drained sandy 

 loam, and arc most readily raised from imported seeds. 

 The variegated and weeping forms of S. japonita must 

 be grafted on the green-leaved type. S. tetrnjitera and 

 S. t. microphylla flower freely in many places when planted 

 against a sunny wall, in sheltered spots in the open air ; 

 and in the South-west, they do well as standard trees, 

 without the shelter of a wall. The best-known species 

 are described below. 



Fio. 500. WINTER STATE OF SOPHORA JAPOMCA PENDULA. 



S. bifolia (two-leaved). A synonym of Ammodendron Sieversii. 



S chrvsophylla (eolden-)eaved). 0. yellow, axUIary, in short, 

 raceS spftef ; petals of the keel elliptic, with the dorsal 

 margin straight, May and June. /., leaflets feventeen, obovate ; 

 "unW one! clothed with yellow pubescence. *. 6ft .to 10ft. 

 Sandwich Island?. Greenh...,<e, deciduous shrnb. SrN. Ed- 

 wardtia ehryiot'hyUa &. R. 738-. 



S. glauca (glaucous). /. pale purple, in Ion", racemose spikes; 

 petals imbricated; standard bifid. May and June. I., leaflets 

 twenty-three, alternate, elliptic, mucronate, velvety on both 

 surfaces, as well as the peduncles and branches. A. 4ft. to .6ft. 

 Nepaul 1820. A very showy, half-hardy, deciduous shrnb. Sm 

 S. velutina (B. R. 1185). 



8 heptaphylla (seven-leaved). /. yellow; racemes opposite. 

 about as long as the leaves. October. I., leaflets alternate or 

 nearly opposite, usually three or four on each side, oblong or 

 otova'te-oWong, slightly acuminate, rounded or .lightly acute at 

 base, haLrr-wfteiWiir beneath, lin. to 3m. long. k. 6ft Neil- 

 gherries, &, 1820. Hardy, deciduous shrnb or small tree. 



S. iaponlca (Japanese).* Chinese or Japanese Pagoda-tree *. 

 wBEb or creanVcoloured, small; panicles looselyVEranched, tor- 

 Ei=al, large. August and September, i. graceful, tleep bluish- 



