500 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Steps continued. 



are very valuable for standing upon in places where a 

 ladder cannot be used. Two pairs of folding Steps, with 

 a plank resting on their tops, make a good movable 

 stage for the use of workmen engaged in clipping high 

 hedges, &c. 



STERCULIA (from Sterculius, a god, derived from 

 stercus, dung; the flowers and leaves of some of the 

 Bpecies are foetid). Including Brachy chiton (kept distinct 

 in this work), Delabechea, Ivira, and Southwellia. OBD. 

 Sterculiacece. Of this genus, about sixty species have 

 been described as such, but probably not more than fifty 

 are really distinct; they are stove or greenhouse, ever- 

 green trees, inhabiting the warmer regions of the globe, 

 being most plentiful in tropical Asia. Flowers paniculate 

 or rarely racemose, the inflorescence usually axillary; 

 calyx five-cleft or five-parted, rarely four-parted, often 

 coloured ; petals wanting ; staminal column bearing at the 

 summit fifteen (or rarely ten) stamens. Leaves undivided, 

 lobed, or digitate. The species introduced, a selection 

 of which is given below, succeed in a light, loamy soil, 

 or a compost of loam and peat. Ripened cuttings, with 

 the leaves intact, will readily root in sand, under a 

 hand-glass; those of the stove species require a moist 

 heat. 



S.Balanghas(Balanghas). /. purplish, panicled ; calyx segments 



linear, five-cleft to the middle, the segments connivent. June to 



September. I. elliptic-oblong, rather blunt, entire, nearly 



smooth, h. 30ft. Malabar and East Indies, 1787. Stove. 



S. Bidwilli (Bidwill's). The correct name of plant described in 



this work as lirachychiton Cidwilli. 



S. discolor (discoloured).* /. in terminal, contracted, spicate 

 panicles; calyx rose-red, rusty-tomentose, liin. long, between 

 canipanulate and funnel-shaped. I. long-petiolate, oin. to 7in. 

 long and broad, pale green, cordate or bilobed at base, with a 

 broad or narrow sinus, more or less deeply flve-lobed, but never 

 beyond the middle. A. 40ft West Australia, 1882. Greenhouse. 

 (B. M. 6608.) 



S. diversifolla (variable-leaved). Bottle-tree of Victoria. The 

 correct name of plant described in this work as Brachychiton 

 divergifolium. 



8. Ivira (Ivira). fl. yellowish, with spreading segments, in pani 

 cles ; carpels bristly. July. {. ovate, smooth, acuminated at the 

 apex, entire, rarely three-lobed. h. 20ft. to 60ft. South America, 

 1793. Stove. 



8. lanceolate (lanceolate-leaved). .//. reddish-brown, stellate, in 

 small, axillary panicles ; calyx segments spreading, not cohering 

 at base ; racemes simple. Summer. I. quite entire, smooth, 

 ovate-lanceolate, h. 20ft. China. Greenhouse. (B. B. 1256.) 

 8. macrophylla (large-leaved). /. yellow ; calyx five-cleft, with 

 spreading segments ; panicles lateral, drooping. July. I. deeply 

 cordate, obtuse, undivided, tomentose beneath. East Indies, 

 1822. A large, stove tree. 



S. platanifolia (Plane-leaved). Chinese Parasol. /. panicled. 

 I large, highly glabrous, cordate, three to ttve-lobed ; lobes 



FIG. 552. Fauns AND LEAF OF STEJICULIA Bi'i'tsiais. 



Sterculia continued. 



terminating in an acute point, the sinuses rounded ; petioles 

 terete. China. A tall, greenhouse tree. 

 S. pubesccns (downy). A synonym of S. tragacantlias. 



FIG. 533. DEHISCING Faun AND SEED OF STERCULIA RUPESTRIS. 



S. rupestris (rock-loving). Bottle-tree. Jl., calyx canipanulate, 

 deeply lobed ; panicle tomentose, usually longer than the 

 petioles. Summer. I. glabrous, either quite entire, oblong- 

 linear or lanceolate, 3in. to 6in. long, or digitate, of live to nine 

 sessile leaflets, often above 6in. long. Australia, 1880. A good- 

 sized, greenhouse tree, the trunk often swelling to a large size 

 hence the common name. See Figs. 532 and 533. SYN. Dela- 

 bechea rupestris. 



S. tragacanthse (tragacanth). Tragacanth Gum-tree of Sierra 

 Leone. Jl. red-brown; calyx segments equalling the turbinate 

 tube ; panicle axillary, coarctate, tomentose. Summer. I. ovate, 

 acute, obtuse at base, tomentose beneath. A. 20ft. Guinea, 

 1793. Stove. (B. B. 1363.) SYN. S. pubcscens. 



S. villosa (villous). JL, calyx downy outside, pinkish within ; 

 style recurved ; panicle compound, pendulous. June. I. five to 

 seven-lobed, acuminate, velvety-toinentose beneath. A. 15ft. 

 East Indies, 1805. Stove. 



STERCULIACEJE. A natural order of usually 

 soft-wooded herbs, shrubs, or trees, mostly inhabiting 

 tropical and sub-tropical regions. Flowers regular, herm- 

 aphrodite or unisexual ; calyx gamosepalous, usually per- 

 sistent, more or less deeply five-cleft, rarely four or three- 

 cleft, the lobes valvate ; petals five, hypogynous, free or 

 adnate at base with the staminal tube, often marcescent- 

 persistent, twisted-imbricated, or wanting ; stamens very 

 variable ; inflorescence axillary or rarely terminal, race- 

 mose or cymosG'paniculate, or rarely reduced to a solitary 

 flower. Fruit dry or rarely baccate. Leaves alternate, 

 or very rarely nearly opposite, sometimes simple, penni- 

 nerved or palminerved, entire, toothed, or lobed, some- 

 times digitately three to nine-foliolate ; stipules at the 

 bases of the petioles, very rarely wanting. Sterculiacece 

 contain an abundant mucilage, combined, in the old bark 

 of the woody species, with a bitter, astringent matter, 

 and are emetics and stimulants. The dried and split 

 cotyledons of the seeds of Theobroma Cacao are called 

 cocoa nibs, and, when ground and made into a paste, 

 chocolate. The seeds comprise, among other properties, 

 a fixed and solid oil, known as cocoa butter. The order 

 embraces about forty-six genera, and 520 species. These 

 are classified, by the authors of the " Genera Plantarum," 

 under seven tribes: Buettneriece, Dombeyece, Eriolcenece, 

 HelicterecB, Hermanniece, Lasiopetalece, and Sterculieoe. 

 Illustrative genera are : Buettneria, Cola, Commersonia, 

 Helicteres, Lasiopetaluin, Sterculia. 



STEREOSANDRA (from stereos, rigid, and aner, 

 andros, a male or anther ; in reference to the upright 

 stamen). OKD. Orchidece. A monotypic genus. The 

 species is a stove, terrestrial, leafless orchid, bearing a 

 loose raceme of shortly-pedicellate, medium-sized flowers. 

 It is a native of Java, and has not been introduced to 

 cultivation in this country. 



STEREOXYLON. A synonym of Escullonia. 



