678 



SI L 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



SI N 



65. Silene Cinerea; Ash-coloured Catckfly. Lower leaves 

 ovate ; flowers racemed, subsessile, solitary, two or three 

 together; calix pubescent, ten-streaked; petals bifid. Na- 

 tive of tke fields about Algiers. 



66. Silene Patula ; Spreading Catchfly. Viscid : branches 

 panicled, spreading ; lower leaves on long petioles, ovate, 

 acuminate ; peduncles subtriflorous ; calix elongated ; petals 

 semibifid. Stem erect, pubescent below, branched. The 

 flowers open at sunset, and then smell very pleasantly. Per- 

 ennial. Native of Barbary, in fields. 



Silk Cotton. See Bombax. 



Silphium ; a genus of the class Syngenesis, order Polyga- 

 mia-Necessaria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : common 

 ovate, imbricate, squarrose ; scales ovate-oblong, bent back 

 in the middle, prominent every way, permanent. Corolla: 

 compound radiate ; corollets hermaphrodite, in the disk 

 many ; females in the ray fewer. Proper of the hermaphro- 

 dites one-petalled, funnel-form, five-toothed; the tube scarcely 

 narrower than the border: of the females lanceolate, very 

 long, often three-toothed. Stamina : in the hermaphrodite ; 

 filamenta five, capillary, very short; anthera cylindrical, tu- 

 bular. Pistil: in the hermaphrodites ; germen round, very 

 slender; style filiform, very long, villose; stigma simple : % in 

 the females, germen obcordate ; style simple, short; stigmas 

 two, bristle-shaped, length of the style. Pericarp: none; 

 calix unchanged. Seeds: in the hermaphrodites none : in the 

 females, solitary, submembranaceous, obcordate, with the 

 edge membranaceous, two-horned, emarginate. Receptacle: 

 chaffy; chaffs linear. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 squarrose. Seed: down margined, two-horned. Receptacle: 

 chaffy. Fifteen species have been described; they are hardy, 

 herbaceous, perennial plants, having the aspect of Sunflowers; 

 with opposite, whorled, or alternate leaves, and yellow flowers. 

 They maybe increased by parting the roots in the same man- 

 ner as is practised for the perennial Sunflower: the best time 

 for this is in autumn, when the stalks begin, to decay. Treat 

 them afterwards in the same way as the perennial Sunflower. 

 The following are a sample of the species, 



1. Silphium Laciniatum ; Jagged-leaved Silphium. Leaves 

 alternate, pinnate-sinuate. Root perennial; stem hispid, 

 twice the height of a man. It flowers from July to Septem- 

 ber, Native of North America. 



2. Silphium Terebinthinaceum ; Broad-leaved Silphium, 

 Leaves alternate, ovate, serrate, rugged ; root-leaves cordate. 

 Stem five feet high, strong, upright, annual, smooth. The 

 smell of the flower, which is moderately large and yellow, 

 is like that of the Sunflower. It flowers in August and Sep- 

 tember. Native of North America. 



3. Silphium Perfoliatum; Square-stalked Silphium. Leaves 

 opposite, deltoid, petioled, perfoliate; stem four-cornered, 

 even; root perennial. It flowers from July to October. 

 Native of North America. 



4. Silphium Connatum; Round-stalked Silphium. Leaves 

 opposite, sessile, perfoliate; stem round, rugged. Root per- 

 ennial; stem the height of a man, as thick as the thumb, 

 erect, quite simple, round at the bottom. It flowers from 

 July to October. Native of North America. 



5. Silphium Asteriscus ; Hairy-stalked Silphium. Leaves 

 undivided, sessile, opposite, lower alternate ; root perennial ; 

 stem four or five feet high. It flowers from July to Septem- 

 ber. Native of Virginia and Carolina. 



6. Silphium Trifoliatum ; Three-leaved Silphium. Leaves 

 in threes. Root perennial and woody ; stems annual, rising 

 five feet high, or more in good land, of a purplish colour, 

 and branching towards the top. It flowers from July to 

 October. Native of many parts of North America. 



7. Silphium Trilobatum ; Three-lobed Silphium. Leaves 

 opposite, sessile, wedge-form. This is a weakly plant, creep- 

 ing far among other vegetables, but more luxuriant and up- 

 right towards the top. Native of the West Indies. 



8. Silphium Arborescens ; Tree Silphium. Leaves lanceo- 

 late, alternate, rugged, slightly serrate; stem shrubby; flowers 

 terminating, some singly on slender peduncles, others by two 

 or three upon each peduncle, unequal in height. Native of 

 La Vera Cruz in New Spain. Slip off the young shoots in 

 July; plant them in a pot filled with light loam; plunge it 

 in a gentle hot-bed, covering the pot closely with a bell or 

 hand glass, and shade it from the sun. When the slips are 

 rooted, plant each in a separate pot; place them during the 

 warm months in the open air, in a warm situation ; but in 

 winter keep them in a moderate stove. 



9. Silphium Laevigatum; Polished Silphium. Stem simple, 

 tetragonal, sulcate, glabrous; leaves opposite, sessile, ovate, 

 acuminate, very finely serrate, subcordate at the base, gla- 

 brous on both sides ; squames of the calix ovate, ciliate ; 

 flowers in a close corymb. This plant grows to the height 

 of two feet, and is a native of Georgia. 



Silver Bush. See Anthyllis. 



Silver Tree. See Protea. 



Silver Weed. See Potentilla. 



Simpler' s Joy. See Verbena. 



Sinapis; a genus of the class Tetradynamia, order Sili- 

 quosa. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth four- 

 leaved, spreading; leaflets linear, concave, channelled, cru- 

 ciform, spreading, deciduous. Corolla: four-petalled, cruci- 

 form ; petals roundish, flat, spreading, entire ; claws erect, 

 linear, scarcely the length of the calix ; nectareous glands 

 four, ovate ; one on each side between the shorter stamina 

 and the pistil, and one on each side between the longer 

 stamina and the calix. Stamina : filamenta six, awl-sliaped, 

 erect, two of them opposite, the length of the calix, and 

 four longer; antherae from erect spreading, acuminate. Pis- 

 til : germen cylindrical; style length of the germen and height 

 of the stamina; stigma capitate, entire. Pericarp: silique 

 oblong, torose below, rugged, two-celled, two-valved ; par- 

 tition for the most part twice the length of the valves, large, 

 compressed. Seeds : many, globular. Observe. This spe- 

 cies differs from Brassica in having the calix spreading, and 

 the claws of the petals erect. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: spreading. Corolla: claws erect. Gland: between 

 the shorter stamina and pistil, and between the longer sta- 

 mina and calix. The species are, 



1. Sinapis Arvensis ; Wild Mustard, or Charlock. Siliqucs 

 multangular, torose, turgid, longer than the ancipital beak; 

 leaves ovate, sublyrate. Root annual, fusiform, small, rigid; 

 stem from nine inches or a foot, to a foot and half in height, 

 either wholly green or tinged with red. It is confounded by 

 husbandmen, under the name of Charlock, with Raphanus 

 Raphanistrum, which is as common a weed in some fields 

 as this is in others. Its common English name is Wild Mus- 

 tard; but it is called Charlock, Garlock, Chadlock, and Ked- 

 lock, all of which are the same name, differently pronounced 

 in different counties. In some parts of Yorkshire it is called 

 Runsh. The seed is extremely pungent, and is sold under 

 the name of Durham Mustard. The young plants, and par- 

 ticularly the tender tops, before they flower, are boiled and 

 eaten as greens by husbandmen, in Scandinavia, Ireland, 

 and many parts of England. This and the other species, 

 when they are weeds among corn, being annuals, may be 

 destroyed, or at least checked, by spring feeding with sheep, 

 or by weeding with the hook, to prevent its flowering. 

 The seed will lie in the ground till turned up within the 



