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SAP 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



S AR 



paired, emarginate. This is a large timber-tree, growing in 

 the mountainous parts of the Circars, and flowering about 

 the beginning of the hot season. The Telingas call it Ishy- 

 rashy. The wood is very useful for a variety of purposes, 

 being large, straight, strong, and durable: towards the centre 

 it is of a chocolate colour. 



7. Sapindus Tetraphyllus ; Four-leaved Soap-berry Tree. 

 Leaves pinnate; leaflets lanceolate-oblong, smooth; rachis 

 simple; racemes almost simple; petals smooth. Unarmed. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



8. Sapindus Rigidus; Ash-leaved Soap-berry Tree. Leaves 

 pinnate ; leaflets ovate-oblong ; rachis simple ; petals and 

 fruits smooth. Unarmed. Native of the West Indies. 



9. Sapindus Arborescens ; Arborescent Soap-berry Tree. 

 Leaves pinnate ; leaflets ovate, acuminate, smooth ; panicle 

 axillary, simple. This is a tree seven or eight feet high. 

 Native of the woods of Guiana. 



10. Sapindus Frutescens; Frutescent Soap-berry Tree. 

 Leaves pinnate; leaflets alternate, lanceolate, acuminate, 

 smooth; panicle axillary, simple. Stem about eight feet 

 high, leafy at the top ; bark rough and ash-coloured ; wood 

 brittle and whitish. The fruit is borne from the bosoms of 

 the leaves, and is a dry coriaceous capsule, of a beautiful red 

 colour. Found at Cayenne. 



11. Sapindus Edulis; Esculent Soap-berry Tree, or Chinese 

 Lee Chee. Unarmed : leaves pinnate ; leaflets lanceolate, 

 oblong; rachis simple; fruits muricate, or berries cordate- 

 scaly. The berry is of the size of a date. Its stone, which 

 is long and hard, is covered with a soft juicy pulp, of an ex- 

 quisite taste. This pulp is enclosed in a tough, thin, brown- 

 ish, warty skin. This delicious fruit is said to be dangerous 

 when eaten to excess, occasioning eruptions over the whole 

 body. The Chinese suffer it to dry till it becomes black and 

 shrivelled like prunes. Thus they preserve it all the year, 

 and use it in their tea, to which it communicates an acidity, 

 which they prefer before the sweetness of sugar. Native of 

 China, Tonquin, and Cochin-china. 



12. Sapindus Mukorossi; Japan Soap-berry Tree. Leaves 

 alternately unequally pinnate ; leaflets subsessile, ovate, or 

 lanceolate, entire, smooth. Native of Japan. 



13. Sapindus Abruptus; Abrupt-leaved Soap-berry Tree. 

 Unarmed : leaves abruptly pinnate ; leaflets lanceolate, quite 

 entire, smooth. This large tree is a native of China, n.ear 

 Canton. 



Saponaria; a genus of the class Decandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 naked, tubular, five-toothed, permanent. Corolla: petals 

 five; claws narrow, annular, length of the calix ; border 

 flat, with the plates wider outwards, blunt. Stamina: fila- 

 menta ten, awl-shaped, length of the tube of the corolla, 

 alternately inserted into the claws of the petals, five later; 

 antheree oblong, blunt, incumbent. Pistil: germ en subcy- 

 lindrical ; styles two, straight, pavallel, length of (he sta- 

 mina ; stigmas acute. Perimi'/>: capsule length of the calix, 

 covered, one-celled, oblong. Seed's : numerous, small. Re- 

 ceptacle: free. Observe. The figure of the calix differs in 

 the different species. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 one-leafed, naked. Petals : five, clawed. Capsule: oblong, 

 one-celled. The species are, 



1. Saponaria Oftioinalis ; Common Soapwort. Calices 

 cylindrical; leaves elliptic-lanceolate. Root perennial, strik- 

 ing deep, and spi-pading wide, and creeping by runners; 

 stems a foot and half in height, upright, round, rigid, jointed, 

 smooth, often reddish, panicled at top. There is a variety 

 with double flowers preserved in gardens; but it has the 

 same fault with the single one, of spreading very much at 



the root. Another variety, the hollow- leaved, has shorter 

 and thicker stalks, that do not grow so erect, neither do its 

 roots spread so much. The leaves are produced sintrly on 

 the lower part of the stalks, but towards the top they are 

 often placed by pairs; they are about three inches long and 

 two broad, having several longitudinal veins or plaits, and 

 hollowed like a ladle. These plants are easily propagated 

 by parting the roots in autumn, or early in spring, in a moist 

 shady situation. The hollow-leaved variety may be increased 

 by slips or cuttings : it is a hardy perennial, loves a pure air 

 and dry situation, grows best among stones or out of a wall, 

 and is one of the best plants for ornamenting rock-work. 

 Most of the other plants of this genus are propagated by 

 seeds, sown where they are to remain. This species derives 

 its English and Latin names from its quality of forming, like 

 soap, a lather with water, and taking out spots of grease, &c. 

 from cloth, in the same manner; whence it has also been 

 called the Fuller s herb. The whole plant is bitter : a decoc- 

 tion of it, externally applied, cures the itch. The Germans 

 use it instead of Sarsaparilla, in venereal complaints; and 

 M. Andry of Paris, cured violent gonorrhoeas, by giving half 

 an ounce of the inspissated juice daily. By the use of the 

 extract, and a decoction of the leaves and roots, M. Jurine 

 is said even to have cured old venereal complaints, which 

 resisted the use of mercury. This, however, is extremely 

 doubtful, and therefore no dependence should be placed 

 upon such rare and ill-authenticated instances ; for Dr. 

 Woodville observes, that a fancied resemblance of the roots 

 of this plant to those of Sarsaparilla, seems to have led me- 

 dical men to think them similar in their effects. Boerhaave, 

 as Haller informs us, entertained a high opinion of its efficacy 

 in jaundice, and other visceral obstructions. 



2. Saponaria Vaccaria ; Perfoliate Soapwort. Calices 

 pyramidal, five-cornered; leaves ovate, acuminate, sessile. 

 Annual. Native of Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy. 

 There is a variety found in Spain. 



3. Saponaria Cretica ; Cretan Soapwort. Calices five- 

 cornered, striated ; stem erect, subdichotomous ; leaves awl- 

 shaped. Native of Candia. 



4. Saponaria Porrigens ; Hairy Soapwort. Calices cylin- 

 drical, pubescent; branches very much divaricate; fruits 

 pendulous. Annual. It flowers in July and August. Native 

 of the Levant. 



5. Saponaria Illyrica ; Illyrian Soapwort. Calices sub- 

 cylindrical ; stem erect, viscid, purplish ; branches alternate ; 

 corollas dotted ; antheree violet-coloured. 



(i. Saponaria Ocyrnoides; Basil-leaved Soapwort. Calices 

 cylindrical, villose ; stems dichotomous, procumbent, leaves 

 elliptical ; petals nearly entire. An elegant plant. Native 

 of Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Barbary, on 

 mountains, covering the rocks with beautiful large tufts of 

 rose-coloured flowers. 



7. Saponaria Orientalis; Small Annual Soapwort. Calices 

 cylindrical, villose; stem dichotomous, erect, patulous. This 

 is a low annual plant, seldom rising above four inches high. 

 Native of the Levant. 



8. Saponaria Lutea; Yellow Alpine Soapwort. Calices 

 round, both they and the stem rough-haired ; petals obovate, 

 quite entire; flowers corymbed ; leaves linear-lanceolate, 

 channelled; root woody, crooked, branched, forming tufts. 

 Native of the mountains of Switzerland and Savoy. 



9. Saponaria Bellidifolia. Calices round, rough-haired; 

 stem smooth ; petals linear, crenate ; leaves spatulate. This 

 very rare plant was gathered on the summits of some moun- 

 tains in Italy. 



Sapota. See Achras. 



