SAL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY, 



SAL 



517 



they clear of all the weeds. About the time that the seeds 

 become ripe, the plants are pulled up by the roots, and 

 exposed in a suitable place to dry, and there the seeds are 

 collected : this being done, the plants are tied up in bundles, 

 and burned in an oven constructed for that purpose ; the 

 ashes, whilst hot, being continually stirred with long poles. 

 The saline matter, on becoming cold, forms a hard solid 

 mass, which is afterwards broken in pieces of a convenient 

 si/e for exportation. The shrubby sorts may be propagated 

 by layers or cuttings, which should be laid down in the 

 spring, and when well rooted, in the autumn be taken off, 

 and planted where they are to remain, in a warm sheltered 

 situation. The species are, 



1. Salsola Kali; Prickly Saltwort. Herbaceous, decum- 

 bent : leaves awl-shaped, spiny, rugged ; calices margined, 

 axillary; root annual, fibrous. This plant, on being burned, 

 yields fossil alkali : it contributes more generally to the 

 manufacture of soda for making glass than Chenopodium 

 Maritimum, but is not esteemed equal to some other species 

 of Salsola. It flowers with us in July; and is a native of the 

 sandy shores of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. 



2. Salsola Tragus. Herbaceous, erect: leaves awl-shaped, 

 sp'.ny, even; calices ovate. This plant yields an ordinary 

 kind of soda, with which the French in Languedoc adulterate 

 the better sort. This fraud is also practised by the Sicilians, 

 who call the plant Selvagyia. Native of the sea-coasts of the 

 south of Europe, and of Africa. 



3. Salsola llosacea ; Rose-coloured Saltwort. Herbaceous: 

 leaves awl-shaped, mucronate; calices spread out. The 

 Mowers are small, and of a rose-colour, soon fading. Native 

 of Tartary. 



4. Salsola Soda; French Saltwort. Herbaceous, patu- 

 lous : leaves unarmed ; stems procumbent or upright, with 

 spreading branches. Native of the south of Europe. 



5. Salsola Sativa ; Spanish Saltwort, or Barilla. Diffused, 

 herbaceous: leaves round, smooth; flowers conglomerate. 

 This plant grows abundantly on that part of the Spanish coast 

 which is washed by the Mediterranean Sea, and affords all 

 the best soda consumed in Europe, and called by us Spanish 

 or Alicant Soda, and by the Spanish merchants Barilla de 

 Alicante. Various other marine plants yield soda, but they 

 are principally of this genus, or of Salicornfa, both deriving 

 their names from this quality. It is to be regretted that the 

 different sorts of soda which are brought to European markets, 

 have not been sufficiently analyzed to enable us to ascertain 

 with tolerable certainty the respective value of each; indeed, 

 whilst the practice of adulterating this salt continues, all 

 attempts at analyzation are likely to prove fruitless. Accord- 

 ing to those analyses which have been attempted, soda gene- 

 rally contains a portion of vegetable alkali and neutral salts; 

 as common salt, and sometimes vitriolated tartar or Glauber's 

 Salt, likewise liver of sulphur; and not unfrequently some 

 portion of iron is contained in the mass : it is therefore to 

 be considered as more or less a compound, and its goodness 

 should be estimated accordingly. The Spanish soda of the 

 best sort is in dark-coloured masses of a blueish tinge, very 

 ponderous, sonorous, dry to the touch, externally abound- 

 ing with small cavities, without any offensive smell, and very 

 salt to the taste : if longer exposed to the air, it undergoes 

 a degree of spontaneous calcination. The best French soda 

 is also dry, sonorous, and brittle, and of a deep blue colour 

 approaching to black. The soda which is mixed with small 

 stones, gives out a fetid smell on solution, and is white, soft, 

 and deliquescent, and is of the worst sort. The method of 

 purifying this salt for medicine may be found in the London 

 and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, in the former under the article 



Natron Prceparatum ; and in the Edinburgh, under that ot 

 Sal Alkalimis fixus fossilis purificatus. The pure crystals 

 thus formed from Alicant Barilla, are colourless, transparent, 

 lamellated, rhomboidal ; and one hundred parts are found to 

 contain twenty of alkali, sixteen of aerial acid, and sixty-four 

 of water; but upon keeping the crystals for a length of time, 

 if the air be admitted, the water evaporates, and they assume 

 the form of a white powder. This salt preserves flesh longer 

 than common salt, but not so long as the vegetable alkali. 

 Natron has been thought useful in scrofulous disorders, 

 but is seldom given in its simple state. In combination with 

 vitriolic acid, this alkali forms Glauber's Salt or Natron Vitri- 

 olatum ; with nitrous acid, Cubic Nitre ; with marine acid, 

 common Salt ; with the sedative salt of Homberg, Borax ; 

 and with cream of tartar, Rochelle Salt, or Sel Saignette. 

 Soda or Barilla is in common use in the manufactures of 

 glass and soap. White Spanish soap, being made of the 

 finer kinds of Olive oil, is preferred for internal use. 



6. Salsola Spicata; Spiked Saltwort. Herbaceous: leaves 

 oblong, obtuse, semicylindric ; flowers in threes, axillary, 

 subspiked. Native of Spain. 



7. Salsola Altissima ; Grass-leaved Saltwort. Herbace- 

 ous, erect, very much branched: leaves filiform, sharpish, 

 pedunculiferous at the base. Found in Italy, in Saxony, and 

 in Astracan. 



8. Salsola Trigyna ; Trifid-styled Saltwort. Herbaceous, 

 erect : leaves filiform, obtuse, fleshy ; flowers axillary, sessile, 

 in threes ; styles trifid. Native of Spain. 



9. Salsola Salsa; Striped-stalked Saltwort. Herbaceous, 

 nearly upright: leaves linear, somewhat fleshy, awnless ; 

 calices succulent, diaphanous. Stems a foot high, panicled, 

 even, purplish, somewhat striated. Native of Astracan. 



10. Salsola Nudiflora; Naked-flowered Saltwort. Some- 

 what woody, ascending ; leaves filiform, fleshy ; flowers glo- 

 merate ; leaves the length of the glomerules. Perennial. 

 Native of the East Indies, on the coast of Tranquebar. 



11. Salsola Flavescens ; Yellow Saltwort. Somewhat 

 woody, erect; leaves round, pubescent; flowers subglome- 

 rate. Perennial. Native of Spain. 



12. Salsola Hirsuta; Hairy Saltwort. Herbaceous, dif- 

 fused : leaves round, obtuse, tomentose. Annual. Native 

 of France and Denmark, on the sea-coast. 



13. Salsola Laniflora ; Woolly-flowered Saltwort. Herba- 

 ceous: leaves round, pubescent; flowers axillary; antherae 

 coloured. Flowers three together, yellow. Native of Siberia. 



14. Salsola Hyssopifoiia; Hyssop-leaved Saltwort. Her- 

 baceous: leaves linear, flat; glomerules of flowers axillary, 

 woolly. Native of the dry salt plains of Siberia. 



15. Salsola Polyclonos ; Many-spiked Saltwort. Some- 

 what woody, diffused ; leaves oblong ; calices margined, glo- 

 merate, coloured. Native of the shores of Spain and Sicily. 



16. Salsola Prostrata ; Prostrate Saltwort. Frutescent : 

 leaves linear, hairy-unarmed. Flowers axillary, small, flesh- 

 coloured. Native of Spain, Austria, Switzerland, and Siberia 



17. Salsola Monandra; Fleshy-leaved Saltwort. Stem 

 herbaceous, branched, fleshy, almost leafless; radical leaves 

 round, fleshy; flowers one-stamined. Native of Siberia, by 

 the lake Allan, and in the steppes of Astracan. 



JS. Salsola Vermicujata; Narrow-leaved Saltwort. Fru- 

 tescent: leaves in bundles, round, filiform ; floral leaves ovate, 

 acute, fleshy. Stems shrubby, two'to four feet high, sending 

 out many side-branches; leaves alternate, very small; flowers 

 small, in numerous, dense, terminal spikes. Native of Spain. 



19. Salsola Arbuscula ; Bus/iy Saltwort. Shrubby: leaves 

 in bundles, round, attenuated at the base, incurved; flowers 

 solitary, scattered. Native of Tartary. 



