5*4 



SAM 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



SAM 



The juice of the berries is used to give a red colour to raisin 

 or sugar wines ; and some country housewives make an excel- 

 lent domestic wine of the berries. The flowers are reported 

 to be fatal to turkeys, and the berries to poultry in general. 

 Linneus observes, that sheep eat the leaves, but that horses 

 and goats refuse it ; others report that cows are fond of it. 

 This very useful tree, as well as the fifth species, may be 

 easily propagated by cuttings, or by sowing their seeds ; but 

 the former being the most expeditious method, is generally 

 practised. The season for planting their cuttings is any time 

 from September to March, in doing of which there needs no 

 more care than to thrust the cuttings about six or eight inches 

 into the ground, and they will take root fast enough, and may 

 be afterwards transplanted where they are to remain ; they are 

 extremely hardy, and if their seeds are permitted to fall upon 

 the ground, they will produce abundance of plants in the 

 following summer. These trees are often planted for making 

 fences, because of their quick growth ; but as their bottoms 

 become naked in a few years, they are not properly adapted 

 for that purpose ; neither should they be planted near habi- 

 tations, because in their flowering-season they emit such a 

 strong scent, as will occasion violent pains in the heads of 

 those who abide long near them ; for the crude particles 

 which are perspired through their leaves are very unwhole- 

 some, though the leaves, bark, and other parts, are greatly 

 esteemed for many uses in medicine. This species will grow 

 in any soil or situation ; and is frequently seen in old walls 

 close to ditches, and even upon hollow trees, for wherever the 

 berries are scattered by birds, the seed will not fail to vegetate. 



4. Sambucus Japonica. Cymes three-parted ; stipii'es 

 none; stem shrubby; flowers white. Native of Japan. 



5. Sambucus Racemosa; Red-berried Elder. Racemes 

 compound, ovate ; stem arboreous. This species sends up 

 many shrubby stalks from the root, rising ten or twelve feet 

 high, and dividing into many branches, which are covered 

 with a brown bark ; flowers of an herbaceous white colour, 

 appearing in April, and sometimes succeeded by berries, 

 which are red when ripe. The leaves are eaten by the red 

 deer, and the berries by partridges, moor-game, &c. Native 

 of mountains in the south of Europe. 



6. Sambucus Pubescens. Bark verrucose; leaflets diju- 

 gous, oval-lanceolate, pubescent underneath ; cymes crowded 

 together, racemose; berries red. Grows on the highest 

 mountains from Canada to Carolina. This plant has a close 

 affinity to the preceding species. 



Samolus; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-parted, 

 superior, blunt at the base ; segments erect, permanent. 

 Corolla: one-petalled, salver-shaped; tube very short, the 

 length of the calix, patulous; border flat, five-parted, blunt; 

 scatelets very short, at the base of the sinus of the border, 

 converging. Stamina: filamenta five, short, fenced by the 

 scalelets of the corolla; antherse converging, covered. Pis- 

 til: germen inferior; style filiform, length of the stamina; 

 stigma capitate. Pericarp: capsule ovate, girt by the calix, 

 one-celled, half five-valved. Seeds: very numerous, ovate, 

 (according to Gsertner, angular,) small ; receptacle globular, 

 large. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: salver-shaped, 

 five-cleft, with five intermediate scalelets. Stamina: fenced 

 by the scalelets of the corolla. Capsule: one-celled, inferior. 

 The species are, 



1. Samolus Valerandi; Brookweed, or Water Pimpernel. 

 Leaves all obovate or obtuse, perfectly entire, shining, having 

 f:w veins, and those distant; clusters corymbose. A pale, 

 smooth, rather succulent herb, about a foot high, with entire 

 leaves, and copious, small, white flowers. It is an inhabitant 



of most parts of the globe, in marshes, wet meadows, and 

 in great ditches. It is not very common in England, but by 

 no means so rare as to make it necessary to enumerate its 

 places of growth. It flowers in July. There is an African 

 variety with a firmer stem, more branched, and covered with 

 minute white spots. If the seeds of this plant be sown soon 

 after they are ripe, on a moist spot of ground, they will come 

 up readily, and only require to be kept clean from weeds. 



2. Samolus Littoralis; Shore Brookweed. Stem round, 

 branched, leafy ; radical leaves spatulate ; stem-leaves nearly 

 lanceolate; segments of the calix nearly acute. Native of 

 most parts of New Holland. Two other species, Junceus and 

 Ambigua, have been found in the same country. 



Sampire. See Critldnum Maritimum. 



Sampire, Marsh. See Salicornia. 



Samyda; a genus of the class Decandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth oiie-leafed, co- 

 loured within ; tube bell-shaped, ten-streaked; border five- 

 cleft; segments ovate, flat, spreading very much, blunt, two 

 of them augmented with a point. Corolla: none: nectary 

 one-leafed, conical, truncate, eight to eighteen streaked, 

 almost the length of the calix, and inserted into the border 

 at its base; mouth blunt, furnished with as many teeth. 

 Stamina: filamenta none; antherse oblong, erect, small, as 

 many as the teeth of the nectary, and placed on them. Pis- 

 til: germen ovate; style awl-shaped, erect, length of the 

 nectary ; stigma capitate, obtuse. Pericarp : capsule round- 

 ish, furrowed, coriaceous, thick, one-celled, four or five 

 *valved. Seeds: very many, subovate, obtuse, marked with 

 a little pore at the base, fastened to the valves, wrapped in 

 a pulpy pellicle. ESSENTIAL CIIARACTKR. Calix: five- 

 parted, coloured. Corolla: none. Nectary: bell-shaped, 

 staminiferous. Capsule: berried within, four or five valved, 

 one-celled. Seeds : nestling. The species are, 



1. Samyda Nitida. Flowers eight-stamined; leaves cor- 

 date, smooth. Browne calls it the Shrubby Samyda, or the 

 Larger Clovenberry Bush. It is frequent in Jamaica, com- 

 monly growing on the low lands. This, like the rest of the 

 plants of this genus, may be propagated by seeds, procured 

 from the countries where they naturally grow. Sow them 

 upon a hot-bed in the spring; and when the plants come up, 

 set them in small pots filled with good kitchen -garden earth, 

 plunge them into a hot-bed of tanner's bark, and treat then* 

 in the same way as other tender plants from the same coun- 

 tries. Keep them in the bark-bed till they have acquired 

 strength, and then they may be exposed in summer; but in 

 winter they require a good green-house. 



2. Samyda Macrophylla. Flowers eight-stamincd ; leaves 

 ovate, acute, smooth; axils of the veins villose beneath; 

 corymb terminating. Native of the East Indies. 



3. Samyda Multiflora. Flowers eight-stamined ; leaves 

 oblong, toothed, attenuated at both ends, tomentose beneath ; 

 peduncles one-flowered, aggregate, axillary; branches woody, 

 round. Native of the Wes't Indies. 



4. Samyda Villosa. Flowers ten-stamined ; leaves oblong, 

 subserrate, oblique at the base, villose beneath ; peduncles 

 solitary, axillary. A branched shrub, six feet high. Native 

 of the mountains of Jamaica, where it flowers in spring. 



5. Samyda Glabrala. Flowers ten-stamined ; leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, quite entire, shining; peduncles axillary, one- 

 flowered. Native of high mountains in the northern part of 

 Jamaica, flowering in October and November. 



6. Samyda Spinescefis. Flowers ten-stamined, terminating; 

 leaves lanceolate-ovate, obtuse, crenate, smooth ; branches 

 patulous, spinescent. Native of Hispaniola, where it flowers 

 in December and January. 



