SWEET POTATO 



SYMPHOKICARPOS 



1757 



to be the standard of excellence, and is a good keeper 

 though yielding very lightly. 



The market it is intended to supply should, therefore, 

 be specially planted for. If for northern shipment, the 

 Jersey Sweet is preferable. For early local sale Orleans 

 Red ("Nigger-killer"), Early Golden or Bermuda Red, 

 head the list. For winter storage and local market in 

 spring it is best to rely on the good old popular standard 

 — the Georgia Yam — despite its light yield, or rein- 

 force it with Vineless, which closely approaches it in 

 quality and is a much heavier cropper. 



Hugh N. Starnes. 



SWEET SCABIOUS. See Scabiosa. 

 SWEET-SCENTED SHRUB. See Calycanthus. 

 SWEET-SOP. Anona squamosa. 

 SWEET SULTAN. See Centaurea moscliata. 

 SWEET VERNAL GRASS. See Anthoxanthum. 

 SWEET WILLIAM is Dianthus barbatus. 



SWERTIA (after Emanuel Swert, a bulb cultivator of 

 Holland and author of Florilegium. 1012). Gentiana- 

 cece. About 40 species, widely scattered about the world 

 but mainly from S. Asia, of annual or perennial herbs 

 with simple leaves, mainly radical in the perennial spe- 

 cies and yellow, blue or white flowers in loose or rather 

 dense corymbs. 



Calyx 4-5-parted: corolla rotate, with a very short 

 tube and glandular pits at the base of each lobe; lobes 

 4-5, overlapping to the right: ovary 1-loculed: capsule 

 dehiscing by 2 valves at the sutures. 



diluta, Benth. & Hook. (Ophelia cliliita. Ledeb.). A 

 tender perennial about 1 ft. high: stem winged and an- 

 gled, branching from near the base : lvs. glabrous, 

 ovate-lanceolate, 3-nerved, rather obtuse, rounded at 

 the base, short-petioled: fls. 4-merous, blue, in a dense, 

 fastigiate umbel; corolla-lobes ovate, rounded at the 

 apex and bearing at the base a single ovate, nectarifer- 

 ous pit destitute of a fringe. E. Asia, Japan. 



perennis, Linn. A hardy perennial %-l ft. high: 

 lower lvs. oblong- elliptical, long-petioled ; stem-lvs. 

 ovate -oblong, obtuse: fls. mostly 5-merous, blue to 

 white, in a thyrse; corolla-lobes elliptical-oblong, acute, 

 bearing at the base 2 orbicular nectariferous pits crested 

 with a fringe. Colo., Utah and northward; also in the 

 alpine regions of Europe and in Asia. — S. perennis is 

 an alpine bog plant and should be given a cool, deep, 

 moist soil. P- w , Barclay. 



SWIETENIA (Gerard van Swieten, 1700-1772, physi- 

 cian to Empress Marie Theresa in Vienna). Meliacew. 

 This genus contains the mahogany tree, a tree of high 

 importance in the furniture trade. The young trees are 

 offered by nurserymen in S. Fla. and S. Calif. A tropi- 

 cal genus of 2 or 3 species of tall trees, with abruptly 

 pinnate leaves with opposite petioled obliquely ovate 

 long-acuminate leaflets and small flowers in axillary or 

 somewhat terminal panicles : calyx small, 5-parted; 

 petals 5, spreading; staminal tube urn -shaped, 10- 

 toothed; disk annular: ovary ovoid, sessile, 5-loculed: 

 capsule about 3 in. through. 



Mahagoni, Jacq. Mahogany. A large tree with hard 

 dark red wood of well-known value for furniture, etc. 

 Lfts. 6-10: fls. greenish yellow. Tropical regions" of 

 North and South America, West Indies and S. Florida. 

 —According to Mueller's "Select Extra-tropical Plants," 

 the degree of endurance of the tree is not sufficiently 

 ascertained. In Jamaica it hardly reaches an elevation 

 of 2,000 ft. It requires rich soil. According to Reasoner 

 Bros., the tree will bloom at small size when grown in 

 P° ts - F. W. Barclay. 



SWISS CHARD. See Beta, Greens, Salad Plants. 

 8W0RD LILY. Gladiolus. 



SYCAMORE in Europe is Acer Pseudo-platanus; in 

 America Platanus occidentalis . The Sycamore of the 

 ancients was a kind of fig known as Pharaoh's Fig, Sy- 

 comorus antiquorum, or better Picus Sycomorus. 



SYMBIOSIS is the intimate association of two or 

 more distinct organisms, with benefit to one only, or to 

 both; commensalism; consortism; copartnership. In 

 this association each organism is called a symbiont. 



According to the character of the union, several kinds 

 of symbiosis have been recognized: (1) Mutual antago- 

 nistic symbiosis (mutual parasitism), when two organ- 

 isms are foes of each other, as certain bacteria and ani- 

 mals, the latter showing a "natural resistance; "also the 

 syntropism of certain lichens with lichens. (2) Antago- 

 nistic symbiosis (true parasitism), when the host is 

 partly or completely killed by the parasite, as the po- 

 tato and the rot fungus (Phytophthora infestans): or 

 galls (hypertrophies) produced on the host as in the 

 black knot of plums; and in higher plants, which live 

 at the expense of others, as the mistletoe (green) and 

 the dodder (chlorophylless). (3 (Mutual symbiosis. when 

 there is often reciprocal advantage; (a) nutricism, 

 when one symbiont nourishes the other without ap- 

 parently receiving any return, as the mycorrhiza and 

 the roots of forest trees; (b) mutualism, when a mu- 

 tual benefit results from the union of two organisms 

 capable of living separately, as the bacteroid and the 

 roots of the Leguminosa?; (c) individualism, when the 

 symbionts are so intimately connected in their growth 

 as to suggest a single individual, as the union of alga and 

 fungus to form a lichen. (4) Prototrophy, the wet nurse 

 relationship, as in the lichen Leeidea intuniescens, 

 which eventually gets its nourishment by means of a 

 lodger, a different lichen. (5) Contingent symbiosis, 

 when one symbiont lives in the interior of another for 

 shelter, as Nostoc in the tissues of Hepatica?, Lemna, 

 Cycas, Gunnera; and Anaboena in Azolla. 



John W. Harshberger. 



2447. Symphoricarpos 



( ■ M 



SYMPHORICARPOS (Greek, fruit borne in clusters). 

 Capri foliiiceo?. Shrubs with simple, opposite, oval, en- 

 tire and exstipulate lvs.: Hs. small; calyx 4— 5-toothed; 

 corolla campanulate or bell-shaped, 4-5-lobed on short 

 pedicels; stamens 5, exserted; stigma capitate; fr. a 

 4-loouled, but 2-seeded berry. About 10 species. 



These little American shrubs are all excellent plants 

 for covering the ground under trees, for massing in the 

 lower parts of beds or borders, or for detached groups 

 where something low is desired. They will thrive in 

 almost any soil from heavy clay to dry gravelly banks. 

 Their habit of suckering enables them to cover the 

 ground rapidly and effectively. All have a tendency t«> 

 retain their fruit until it is forced off. and one species 

 retains its foliage. For these reasons they are pleasing 

 additions to the winter landscape. Of easy propagation 

 by suckers, seed or cuttings. 



A. Fruit u-Jiite. 

 B. Stamens and style included. 

 racem6sus, Michx. Snowberry. Waxberry. Fig. 

 2447. A shrub, 2-6 ft. high: lvs. smooth, entire or 

 sometimes repand or even lobed: fls. rose color, in a 

 loose and often leafy raceme; stamens and style in- 

 cluded : fr. globose, white, persistent. July, Aug. 



