588 



S M Y 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



SOL 



Smyrnium; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : umbel universal unequal, 

 becoming daily bigger; partial erect; involucre universal none; 

 partial none : perianth proper scarcely apparent. Corolla : 

 universal uniform; floscules of the disk abortive: partial of 

 five lanceolate petals, slightly bent in, keeled. Stamina: 

 filamenta five, simple, length of the corolla ; antherse simple. 

 Pistil: germen inferior; styles two, simple; stigmas two, 

 simple. Pericarp: none. Fruit: oblong, striated, bipar- 

 tite. Seeds : two, lunulate, on one side convex, marked 

 with three angles, flat on the other. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Petals: acuminate, keeled. Fruit: oblong, striated. 

 : The species are, 



1. Smyrnium Perfoliatum ; Perfoliate Alexanders. Stem- 

 leaves simple, embracing. Biennial, flowering in May. 

 Native of Candia and Italy. This, like all its congeners, may 

 be propagated by sowing its seeds upon an open spot of 

 ground in August, as soon as they are ripe ; for if they are 

 preserved till spring they often miscarry, or at least they do 

 not come up until the second year, whereas those sown in 

 autumn rarely fail of coming up in the spring, and will mrfke 

 much stronger plants than the others. 



2. Smyrnium ./Egyptiacum ; Egyptian Alexanders. Floral 

 leaves two, simple, cordate, quite entire. Native of Egypt. 



3. Smyrnium Laterale ; Side-flowering "Alexanders. Stem- 

 leaves ternate, gashed, serrate ; umbels lateral, sessile. 

 Native of the Cape. 



4. Smyrnium Olusatrum; Common Alexanders. Stem-leaves 

 ternate, petioled, serrate; umbels terminal. Root biennial, 

 fleshy, branched. This plant was formerly eaten in various 

 parts of Europe, either as a salad or pot-herb, whence, and 

 from its blackness, it acquired the name of Olusatrum. Ray 

 gays, it was called Alexanders, because in Italy and Germany 

 it has long been denominated Herba Alexandriana; having 

 been supposed to be brought from Alexandria. It flowers 

 in May, and by the middle of July the stalks are dried up, 

 but remain laden with large black seeds. The seeds warm, 

 strengthen, and comfort the stomach, create an appetite, dis- 

 perse wind, promote urine and the menses, and give relief 

 to the strangury. A decoction of the root may be used for any 

 of the above purposes, when the seeds are not to be procured. 

 The stalks blanched, and eaten plentifully as a salad, are of a 

 warm aromatic quality, and are serviceable in scorbutic com- 

 plaints. Native of France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Britain. 

 It is rather a maritime plant, and is found near our coasts in 

 many places, as about Scarborough Castle, and in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dover. Pennant observes, that it almost covers 

 the S. W. end of the island of Anglesea, where it is boiled 

 and greedily eaten by sailors returning from long voyages. 

 It is very common in all the western counties, and in the flat 

 parts of Gloucestershire; on the ramparts of Poole going into 

 Wareham, and in may other places in Dorsetshire. It occurs 

 also about many inland towns, as Nottingham, York, Bury, 

 Newmarket, Mackerell's Tower, Norwich; Bungay in Suf- 

 folk; several places in Cambridgeshire; near Bensington in 

 Oxfordshire; between Great Comberton and Woller's Hill ; 

 at Hill Croome and Perton, in Worcestershire; in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London, about Deptford, Vauxhall, and Batter- 

 sea; at Cowley in Middlesex; at Cliffe in Kent; and on the 

 coast of Dunglass, Berwickshire, Scotland. Sow the seeds 

 as directed for the first species ; and in the spring, hoe the 

 plants out, so as to leave them ten inches or a foot apart 

 each way ; and during the following summer, they must be 

 constantly cleared from weeds, which, if permitted to grow 

 among them, will draw them up slender, and render them 

 good for little. In February following, the plants will shoot 



up vigorously, at which time the earth must be drawn up to 

 each plant, to blanch them, and in three weeks after they 

 will be fit for use, when they may be dug up, and the white 

 part preserved, stewed, and eaten as Celery. 



5. Smyrnium Apiifolium ; Smallage-leaved Alexanders. 

 Stem-leaves wedge-shaped, obtuse, trifid, toothed. Native 

 of Crete or Candia. 



6. Smyrnium Aureum ; Golden Alexanders. Leaves pin- 

 nate, serrate, hinder ternate; all the flowers fertile. Root 

 perennial, black, and thick, with clustered fibres. Each 

 stem and branch is terminated by an umbel of very small 

 yellow flowers. The whole plant is acrid, bitter, and aromatic. 

 Native of North America. 



7. Smyrnium Integerrimum ; Entire-leaved Alexanders. 

 Stem-leaves doubly ternate, quite entire. Root perennial. 

 Native of Virginia. 



8. Smyrnium Atropurpureum. All the leaves ternate; 

 leaflets ovate, acute, serrate. Flowers dark purple. Grows 

 on the dry slate-hills of Virginia and Carolina. 



9. Smyrnium Nudicaule. Radical leaves triternate; leaflets 

 unequally few-dentated ; scape radical ; umbel with elongate 

 rays; involucre and involucels almost none. Grows on the 

 Columbia river. The natives eat the tops of this plant, and 

 boil it in their soups, the same as we use Celery. 



Snail Flower. See Phaseolus Caraccalla. 



Snail Trefoil. See Medicago. 



Snake Gourd. See Tricosanlhes. 



Snake Root. See Actaea, Aristolochia Arborescens, Eryn- 

 gium Aqunlicum, and Poly gala Senega. 



Snake Weed. See Polygonum Bistorta. 



Snap Dragon. See Antirrhinum. 



Sneezewort. See Achillea. 



Snowball Tree. See Viburnum, 



Snow Berry. See Chiococca. 



Snout Drop. See Gatanthus. 



Snowdrop Tree. See Chionanthus and lluicsia. 



Soap Berry. See Sapindus. 



Soapwort. See Saponaria. 



Soda. See Salsola. 



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

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 large, angular, permanent, three-cleft or five-cleft ; segments 

 lanceolate, erect. Corolla : one-petalled, funnel-form, very 

 large; tube bell-shaped, ventricose, a little shorter than the 

 calix; border five-cleft; segments roundish, waved, patulous. 

 Stamina: filamenta five, filiform, length of the tube, ascend- 

 ing at top; antheree oblong, versatile. Pistil: germen supe- 

 rior, oval ; style filiform, longer than the stamina, bent in ; 

 stigma obtusely bifid ; segments ovate. Pericarp : berry 

 oval, conical at top, smooth, four-celled. Seeds: very nume- 

 rous, oblong, nestling. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 tubular, bursting. Corolla : clavate, funnel-form, very large. 

 Berry: four-celled, many-seeded. The only species is, 



]. Solandra Grandiflora; Great-fiowered Solandra. Stein 

 and branches round; wood spungy; leaves scattered, most 

 crowded about the ends of the branches, obovate, oblong, 

 acute, quite entire, smooth, thickish, and somewhat succu- 

 lent, from three to seven inches in length, on round smooth 

 petioles five times shorter than the leaves. Flowers termi- 

 nating, subsessile, subsolitary, very large : they are very 

 handsome and sweet, and appear in the months of January 

 and February. The fruit is sometimes the size of a hen's 

 egg, white, red within ; it ripens in August, and is of a 

 sweet subacid flavour. Native of Jamaica; found on very 

 large trees, being scandent and parasitical. It is there 

 called Peach-coloured Trumpet Flower. 





