SOL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



SOL 



599 



93. Solatium Umbellatum. Stem frutescent, unarmed; 

 leaves lanceolate, quite entire, hairy underneath ; umbels 

 erect, terminating; flowers small, star-pointed, and white ; 

 berries size oi'peas, yellow when ripe. Found at Campeachy. 



94. Solanum llacemosum. Stem unarmed, shrubby ; leaves 

 ovate, quite entire, tomentose underneath ; umbels erect, 

 terminating; calices obtuse, lanuginous; flowers large and 

 white ; berries round, the size of small cherries, turning yel- 

 low when ripe. Native of Carthagena in New Spain. 



95. Solanum Inerme. .Leaves smooth on both sides; 

 stalk taper and smooth, from two to three feet high, sending 

 out irregular branches on every side ; flowers coming from 

 the wings of the stalks ; they are five, large, blue-coloured, 

 appearing in June, and continuing in succession till winter. 

 Native of India ; it can only be preserved here in a stove. 



96. Solanum Stelligerium ; Starry Nightshade. Stem 

 shrubby, prickly, with taper thorns ; leaves lanceolate, entire, 

 unarmed, smooth above, densely woolly and veiny beneath ; 

 wool starry ; corymbs lateral. A bushy shrub, three to five 

 feet high, with round, downy, leafy branches ; flowers light 

 blue ; berries scarlet, erect, the size of currants. Native of 

 New South Wales. 



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

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

 straight, permanent; segments lanceolate. Corolla: one- 

 petalled, bell-shaped, widening gradually, straight; mouth 

 torn into many-cleft acute segments. Stamina: lilamenta 

 five, awl-shaped; antheree simple, sagittate. Pistil: germen 

 roundish; style filiform, length of the corolla, permanent; 

 stigma simple. Pericarp: capsule oblong, round, obliquely 

 striated, one-celled, opening by a many-toothed top. Seeds: 

 numerous, acuminate, very small ; receptacle columnar, free. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: bell-shaped, lacerotifid. 



Capsule : one-celled, many-toothed at the top. The only 



known species is, 



1. Soldanella Alpina; Alpine Soldanella, Root fibrous; 

 stem none; leaves almost kidney-shaped, about three-quar- 

 ters of an inch over each way, of a dark-green colour, on 

 long footstalks; among these arises a naked flower-stalk or 

 scape, about four inches long, sustaining at the top two 

 small, open, bell-shaped flowers, with the brim cut into 

 many fine segments like a fringe. The most common colour 

 is blue, but it is sometimes snow-white. It flowers in April, 

 and ripens seed in July. Native of the alps of Austria and 

 "witzerland, and of the Pyrenean mountains. Seeds that 

 pen in England may be sown in a box or pot soon after 

 ley are ripe, placeur in the shade, and frequently watered 

 in dry weather. The plants will sometimes appear in autumn, 

 but generally not till the following spring. When they 

 appear, water them in dry weather, and keep them constantly 

 in the shade. Transplant them in the following autumn, into 

 a shady border, six or eight inches asunder, or rather into 

 small pots. Or, part the roots in September : if they be 

 removed in spring, the plants never flower strong; and if 

 the season should prove dry, they will decay, unless they 

 are constantly supplied with water. Like most other alpine 

 plants, it requires shade and moisture in the summer, and thrives 

 st in a pot, set in a northern aspect : in winter it requires 

 e shelter of a frame, in lieu of snow, its natural covering. 

 Soldier Wood. See Mimosa Purpurea. 

 Solidago ; a genus of the class Syngenesia. order Polyga- 

 ia Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common 

 'long, imbricate; scales oblong, narrow, acuminate, straight, 

 nverging. Corolla: compound radiate ; corollets hermaph- 

 rodite, tubular, very many in the disk ; female ligulate, 

 :wer than ten, generally five in the ray : proper of the her- 



VOL. II. 116. 



an 



! 





maphrodite funnel-form, with a five-cleft patulous border: 

 female ligulate, lanceolate, three-toothed. Stamina: in the 

 hermaphrodites ; filamenta five, capillary, very short; anthtrse 

 cylindrical, tubular. Pistil: in the hermaphrodites; germen 

 oblong; style filiform, length of the stamina; stigma bifid, 

 spreading: in the female; germen oblong; style filiform, 

 length of the hermaphrodite; stigmas two, revofute. Peri- 

 carp: none, the calix scarcely changed. Seeds: in die her- 

 maphrodites, solitary, obovate-oblong. Down: capillary; 

 in the females, very like the others. Receptacle: flattish, 

 naked. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: scales imbricate, 

 closed. Corollets of the ray: about five. Down: simple. 



Receptacle : naked. The species are, 



* With Racemes directed one way. 



1. Solidago Canadensis ; Canadian Oolden Rod. Stem 

 villose, erect; leaves lanceolate, serrate, triple-nerved, rug- 

 ged ; racemes panieled, directed one way, recurved ; ligules 

 abbreviated. Stem angular, from eighteen inches to five 

 feet high, terminated by an ample downy panicle of innume- 

 rable very small yellow flowers. There are several varieties. 

 Grows in hedges, old fields, and along fences, from Ca- 

 nada to Pennsylvania, flowering from July to September. 



Many of the plants of this genus are great ornaments 



to the English gardens at the end of summer, when there is 

 a scarcity of other flowers ; which renders these more valuable. 

 The European species are seldom admitted into gardens, as 

 they do not make any great appearance ; but those from 

 North America are more esteemed. They may easily be pro- 

 pagated by parting their roots, the best time for doing which 

 is in autumn, as soon as their flowers are past ; but those 

 which do not flower till very late in the year, should be trans- 

 planted early in the spring, before they begin to shoot, and 

 the roots may then be parted ; and if the spring should turn 

 out dry, they will require water to establish them well in the 

 ground, otherwise they will not flower well in the succeeding 

 autumn. Some of the sorts spread their roots, and propa- 

 gate much faster than others ; such may be transplanted and 

 parted every other year ; or, if the plants be wanted, they 

 may be every year divided, but in that case they cannot 

 flower so strongly as those which may be suffered to remain 

 longer unremoved. Those species, the roots of which do not 

 multiply so fast, should be parted only once in three years, if 

 they be expected to flower strong. Those which are tall 

 plants are not very proper furniture for small gardens, because 

 they require much room ; for these should be allowed four or 

 five feet, otherwise their roots will intermix with those of 

 the neighbouring plants, and draw away their nourishment; 

 therefore these plants are proper ornaments for large extended 

 walks round fields, or for the borders of wood-walks, where 

 they will make a fine appearance during their season of flow- 

 ering; they will thrive in almost any soil, but will grow much 

 larger, and make a better appearance, in good ground. They 

 may also be propagated by seeds, but it is only the early 

 flowering kinds which perfect their seeds in England. The 

 seeds should be sown in autumn, soon after they are ripe, for 

 those which are kept out of the ground till spring seldom 

 succeed, or, at best, do not come up the same year; they 

 may be sown in drills, upon a bed of fresh earth, at about a 

 foot asunder, but the seeds should be scattered pretty thick 

 in the drills, and covered lightly over with fine earth. When 

 the plants come up, they must be kept clean from weeds, and 

 where they are too close, part of them may be drawn out, 

 and planted in a shady border, to allow room for the others 

 to grow till autumn, when they should be transplanted where 

 they are intended to remain. In the following year they will 

 flower, and their roots will last for many years. 

 7N 



