510 



SAL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



SAL 



berry roundish, unequal, reddish, middle-sized, eatable. 

 Native of Cochin-china, among bushes. 



Salicornia; a genus of the class Monandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : four-cornered, 

 truncate, ventricose, permanent. Corolla: none. Stamina: 

 hlamenta one or two, simple, longer than the calix ; anlhera 

 oblong, erect, of two roundish lobes. Pistil: gertnen ovate- 

 oblong; style simple, under the stamen; stigma bifid. Peri- 

 carp: none; calix ventricose, inflated. Seed: single. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Calix: ventricose, entire. Petals: none. 



Stamina: one or two. Seed: one, covered by the calix. 



The species are, 



1. Salicornia Herbacea ; Herbaceous Marsh Samphire, or 

 Jointed Glasswort. Joints compressed, emarginate ; inter- 

 nodes obconical ; spikes peduncled. attenuated towards the 

 top. Root small, fibrous, and annual; stem erect, now and 

 then incurved, and inclining at the bottom, divided above into 

 copious, opposite, nearly cylindrical, jointed branches, of a 

 light bright green, smooth, very succulent, and full of a salt, 

 bitterish, and mawkish juice. There are no leaves. Flowers 

 small, about three, sessile and crowded, on each side of the base 

 of every joint. There are several varieties. Common on the 

 coasts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, wherever the shore 

 is flat and oozy. It flowers with us in August and September. 

 The whole plant has a saltish taste, and is greedily devoured 

 by cattle. Steeped in salted vinegar, the tender shoots are 

 made into a pickle, which is taken for the true Samphire, or 

 Crithmum Maritimum, which see: on this account it is called 

 Marsh Samphire. See the third species. 



2. Salicornia Perennans ; Perennial Jointed Glasswort. 

 Herbaceous, patulous : joints compressed at the top, emar- 

 ginate, bifid; spikes axillary, in threes, peduncled; scales 

 acute; root perennial. -Native of Siberia, in marshes. 



3. Salicornia Frnticosa ; Jointed Glasswort. Joints round, 

 entire; iuternodes equal; spikes subsessile, cylindrical, ob- 

 tuse; root woody, perennial; stem suffruticose, ascending, 

 very much branched ; branches and branchlets opposite and 

 less fleshy. This, and the first species, are burnt, and from 

 their ashes a fossile alkali is obtained, which is in great re- 

 quest for making soap and glass, and hence their names of 

 Glasswort and Saltwort. It is chiefly made on the shores of 

 the Mediterranean, where it is called Soda. The Tunisians 

 collect these and other sea-plants, and, when they are almost 

 dry, burn them in a pit made for the purpose. The French 

 merchants purchase the salt, and send it to Marseilles for 

 making soap. Linneus thought that there was no plant more 

 adapted for making soda; but though the quantity of fossil 

 alkali which it yields is very considerable, a great portion of 

 it is mixed with the muriatic acid, and therefore it contains 

 much common salt. Many other plants, however, are much 

 used for this purpose; see Stilsola. Native of Europe and 

 Africa. Found in England, near the isle of Shepey; at the 

 isle of Grain, in the Thames ; and on the shore all the way 

 from Wey mouth Turnpike to Rhodipole. 



4. Salicornia StrobiUcea. Stem prostrate, shrubby ; joints 

 abrupt, alternately spike-hearing; spikes cylindrical, short, 

 opposite. Native of the shores of the Caspian Sea. 



5. Salicornia Virginica ; Virginian Jointed Glasswort. 

 Herbaceous, erect: branches quite simple. It is distinct 

 from the first species ; and is found in Virginia. 



6. Salirnrniu Indica ; Indian Jointed Glasswort. Stem 

 shrubby, diffuse, with numerous ascending branches ; inter- 

 stices rlub-slr.iped, compressed, abrupt ; spikes cylindrical, 

 with wry short, closely imbricated, many-flowered joints; 

 Stamens two. Fmmd on I lie. sea-shore near Tranqucbar, 

 also in Ncn- I',, i| ,,,,! 



7. Salicornia Arabica; Arabian Jointed Glasswurt. Joints 

 obtuse, thickened at the base; spikes ovate. This plant is 

 burnt for making soda. Native of Arabia and Barbary : 

 observed also near Tripoli. 



8. Salicornia Foliata; Leafy Jointed Glasswort. Leaves 

 linear, alternate, embracing, and decurrent; branches alter- 

 nate, almost simple. Native of Siberia. 



9. Salicornia Amplexicaulis ; Clasping-leaved Jointed 

 Glasswort. Leaves cordate, embracing; stem decumbent, 

 frutescerit at the base, nine inches in height, very much branch- 

 ed. Found on the shores of a lake near Bardo, in Tunis. 



10. Salicornia Caspica; Caspian Jointed Glasswort. Stem 

 shrubby; branches filiform; joints bordered, dilated, crowd- 

 ed ; spikes ovate. Found in marshes near the Caspian Sea. 



11. Salicornia Ambigua. Plant fruticulose, assurgent, 

 irregularly branchy, pale green. Grows in sedgy salt mea- 

 dows, from New Jersey to Carolina. This species very 

 much resembles Salicornia Fruticosa. 



Salisburia; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Polyan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male flowers. Co ft? : ament 

 naked, filiform. Corolla : none. Stamina: filatnenta scarcely 

 any; antheree incumbent, deltoid ; cells connected only at the 

 top. Female Flowers, solitary, on the same tree. Calix: peri- 

 anth four-cleft, permanent. Corolla: none. Pistil: germen 

 superior, roundish. Pericarp : drupe superior, globular. 

 Seed: nut triangular; nucleus oval, narrowed at the base. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. Aments : naked. An- 

 thera:: incumbent, deltoid. Female. Solitary. Calix: four- 

 cleft. Drupe: with a triangular shell. The only known 



species is, 



1. Salisburia Adiantifolia. This large and not inelegant 

 tree is cultivated in China and Japan. It has been long 

 admired for its handsome fan-shaped leaves cloven about 

 half way from their summit; but they can by no means be 

 termed two-lobed, that denomination requiring that seg- 

 ments should be rounded. See Ginko. 



Salix; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Diandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: ament oblong, im- 

 bricate evejy way, (constructed of an involucre from the 

 bud,) consisting of scales, one-flowered, oblong, flat, spread- 

 ing. Corolla: petals none. Nectary: a gland, cylindiic, 

 very small, truncate, melliferous, in the centre of the flower. 

 Stamina: filamenta two, straight, filiform, longer than the 

 calix-scales; antherse twin, four-celled. Female. Calijc : 

 ament and scales as in the male. Corolla: none. Pistil: ger- 

 men ovate, attenuated into a style, scarcely distinct, a little 

 longer than the scales of the calix ; stigmas two, bifid, erect. 

 Pericarp: capsule ovate-subulate, one-celled, two-valved ; 

 valves revolute. Seeds: numerous, ovate, very small, crowned 

 with a simple hirsute pappus or down. Observe. In some 

 species the male flowers have three or five stamina of unequal 

 length; the first is the only species known to have hermaphro- 

 dite two-stamined flowers; the eleventh and twelfth have only 

 one stamina to the flowers. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. 

 Calix: ament composed of scales. Corolla: none. Nectary: 

 a melliferous gland. Female. Style: bind. Capsule : one- 

 celled, two-valvcd. Seeds: downy. Linneus remarks, that 

 the species of this genus are not to be arranged without' 

 extreme difficulty; that the soil and situation (marshy, 

 sandy, mountainous, hot and cold) produce.! a considerably 

 change in them, insomuch that botanists frequently hesi- 

 tated whether they should pronounce many differences to 

 constitute species or varieties only. It may, however, be 

 of importance to remark generally, that this genus consist* 

 of trees or shrubs, from one inch to fifty feet in height, 

 some few species of which are suffruticotu:, or even sub- 



