AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



465 



SPARMANNIA (named in honour of Dr. Andrew 

 Sparmann. 1748-1820, a Swede, who travelled in Sont.h 

 Africa, and afterwards accompanied Captain Cook in his 

 second voyage). ORD. Tiliacece. A small genus (three 

 species) of softly stellate-pubescent, greenhouse shrubs 

 or trees, natives of tropical or South extra-tropical Africa. 

 Flowers white, with numerous discoloured stamens ; sepals 

 and petals four ; cymelets terminal, umbelliform ; bracts 

 short, involucrate. Leaves cordate, toothed or lobed. 

 S. africana, the only species known in cultivation, is a 

 beautiful, quick-growing, arborescent shrub, thriving in 

 a compost of loam and peat. It may be freely increased 

 by cuttings, inserted in sandy peat, under a glass, in 

 heat. 



S. africana (African).* African Hemp. ft. conspicuous, on 

 elongated, many-flowered peduncles ; sepals lanceolate ; petals 

 obovate ; barren filaments yellow, with purple tips. May. 

 I. long-petioled, cordate, acuminate, Sin. to 6in. long, 3in. to 4in. 

 broad, softly hairy on both sides, unequally toothed. Branches 

 terete, patently hairy, h. 10ft. to 20ft. South Africa, 1790. See 

 Fig. 509. (B. M. 516.) S. a. flore-pleno is a handsome, double- 

 flowered variety. 



SPARROW-GRASS. A corruption of Asparagus. 



SPARROWS. Among gardeners and farmers, Spar- 

 rows have long been a bone of contention ; but while, a 

 few years ago, the general tendency was to regard them 

 as more useful than harmful, this has, of late years, been 

 changed ; and now Sparrows find few to defend them 

 against their many accusers. All are agreed that, at 

 certain seasons, these birds are wholly mischievous. By 

 eating Peas and other seeds in spring, they often ruin 

 the garden produce, or necessitate a second sowing. At 

 a later period, they feed upon the young Peas and other 

 plants, or pick off the buds from Gooseberry-bushes, and 

 other fruit-bearing plants. When seeds are formed, the 

 birds still eat Peas, but chiefly live on the various Cereals 

 (Oats, Wheat, Barley, &c.). It is, however, asserted by 

 the defenders of Sparrows that, in return for these in- 

 juries, they do much good by devouring injurious insects 

 and their eggs and larvae, particularly while there are 

 young birds to be fed in the nests ; but examination 

 of the contents of Sparrows' stomachs shows that at no 

 season do insects form more than a very small portion 

 of their food ; and that, practically, they do hardly any- 

 thing to diminish the number of hurtful insects. By far 

 the greater part of their food has been proved to be 

 seeds of Cereals. But not only are Sparrows of little 

 use in destroying hurtful insects ; they actually favour 

 the multiplication of the latter in many places, since, 

 by their quarrelsome disposition, they drive away the 

 truly insectivorous birds, whose slender bills and weaker 

 forms do not fit them to fight with Sparrows for their 

 nests. The insectivorous birds must feed on insects or 

 starve ; hence they are very useful, and they cannot injure 

 the produce of a garden. Therefore, to have them driven 

 away is a serious evil. Swallows and window martins 

 are peculiarly liable to be ousted by Sparrows. Where 

 the last-named have been kept down, it has been observed 

 that the swallows and martins soon become more nu- 

 merous, and insects cease to be troublesome. The results 

 of inquiries in America and in Australia quite agree 

 with the above statements ; and a war of extermination 

 has been strongly urged, though, of late, the hostility 

 to them has been lessened in New York as they have 

 developed a taste for Cicada septem-decim. In England, 

 strenuous efforts are now made in many districts to limit 

 the number of Sparrows, by shooting the birds, and by 

 removing the nests and eggs wherever accessible. These 

 measures can be persevered in by owners and occupiers 

 of land, and by those whom they authorise, even during 

 the "close time," i.e., from 1st March to 1st August, with- 

 out infringing the Wild Birds Protection Acts, 1880, 1881. 



For fuller information, the reader is referred to a work 

 entitled " The House Sparrow and the English Sparrow in 

 America," by Messrs. Gnrney, Enssell, and others, 1885. 



SFARTIANTHUS. A synonym of S^artlum 

 (which e). 



SPARTINA (from eparline, & cord; alluding to tlie 

 use of the foliage). SYNS. Limnetis, Ponceletia, Solen- 

 achne, -Trachynotia. ORD. Graminem. A genus com- 

 prising six or seven species of stove, greenhouse, or 

 hardy, maritime grasses; two are broadly dispersed over 

 the shores of Europe, America, and Africa, two or threo 

 are North American, one is a native of extra-tropical 

 South America, and one is found in Tristan d'Acunha 

 and Amsterdam Island. Spikelets one-flowered; spikes 

 at the sides of a terminal, erect peduncle, sometimes 

 clustered in a long and dense, spike-like panicle, some- 

 times narrow and scattered. Leaves convolute-terete or 

 esplanate at base. The genus, which is represented in 

 Britain by 8. alternifolia, 8. stricta (Cord Grass; Mat 

 Weed, &c.), and 8. Townsendi, has no horticultural 

 merit. 



SPARTIUM (the old Greek name used by Dios- 

 corides, and derived from tparton, cordage; the twigs 

 of the plant, by maceration, produce a good fibre, which 

 is sometimes made into thread). STN. Spartianthus. 

 ORD. Leguminosce. A monotypic genus. The species is 

 a hardy, deciduous shrub, with Rush-like and often leafless 

 branches. It is a very ornamental plant when in blossom, 

 and consequently is well adapted for shrubberies. Any 

 ordinary soil is suitable. Propagation is usually effected 

 by seeds, which ripen in abundance. Young cuttings 

 will root, if covered with a hand glass. 

 S. juncenm (Rush-like). Rush or Spanish Broom, fi. yellow, 



fragrant, showy, disposed in terminal racemes ; calyx somewhat 



spathaceous ; standard ample : wings obovate ; keel incurved, 



acuminate ; bracts and bracteoles minute, highly caducous. 



July to September. I. rare, one-foliolate ; stipules wanting. 



h. 6ft. to 10ft. Mediterranean region and Canary Isles, 1548. 



(B. M. 85 ; S. F. G. 671 ; B. K. 1974, under name of S. acuti- 



folium.) There is a double form in cultivation. 



SPARTOTHAMNUS (from sparton, cordage, and 

 thamnos, a branch ; alluding to the use of the plant). 

 ORD. VerbenacecB. A monotypic genus. The species is 

 a pretty, glabrous or pubescent, evergreen shrub or sub- 

 shrub. It requires the temperature of a cool, airy green- 

 house. A compost of sandy peat and loam is most 

 suitable for its culture. Propagated by cuttings, inserted 

 in sand, under a g'ass. 

 S. junceus (Rush-like). /. white, very small, solitary in the axils, 



with small bracteoles : calyx and corolla flve-lobed. August. 



I. small and distant, often reduced to small scales, all opposite ; 



hen fr.lly developed Jin. to gin. long, lanceolate or ovate- 

 lanceolate. Branches divaricate, acutely four-angled, Broom- 

 like and appearing almost leafless, h. 2ft. Australia, 1819. 

 SPATALANTHUS. Included under Romulea 

 (which see). 



SPATALLA (from spatalos, delicate ; in allusion to 



the nature of the flowers). ORD. Proteacece. Of this 



genus seventeen species have been described; they are 



greenhouse, Heath-like shrubs, restricted to South Africa. 



Flowers rather small, solitary under the bracts, capitate, 



sessile or shortly pedicellate, forming a loose spike or 



terminal raceme ; perianth slender, scarcely dilated to- 



wards the base, the limb straight or incurved, ovoid or 



oblong; hypogynous scales four, subulate. Nuts often 



pubescent or villous. Leaves scattered, filiform or sub- 



ulate, undivided. A selection of the species known to 



cultivation is here given. They all have purple flowers 



and require similar treatment to Protea (which see). 



S. Incurva (incurved). Jl., involucre three or four-flowered, pubes- 



cent, four-leaved ; racemes solitary or often aggregate, peduncu- 



late, lin. to 2in. long. May. I. rather loosely spreading, Jin. to 



lin. long, incurved, slender, bristly-mucronate, scarcely attenu- 



ated at base, glabrous ; young ones, and branchlets, slightly 



pilose, h. 2ft. 1789. 



S. mollis (soft). Jl., involucre villous, two-leaved: s;>ike solitary, 

 sessile, erect, dense, oblong-cylindrical, branched, scarcely lin. 

 long. June. 1. erecto-patent, seven to eight lines long, straight, 

 and, as well as the slender branchlets, silky-villous. h. 2ft. 1826. 

 S. nivea (snowy). /., involucre campanulate, one-third the length 

 of the perianth ; spike sub-sessile, erect, dense, fabricated, lin. 



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