61S 



SP I 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



S P 1 



the seeds in a hot-bed in the spring; and keep the plants in 

 a stove or glass-case, giving them as much air as possible 

 in warm weather. 



2. Sphaeranthus Africanus; African Spharanthus. Leaves 

 decurrent, ovate, serrate; peduncles round. Stem herbace- 

 ous, about a foot high; leaves alternate; peduncles sustain- 

 ing three or four globular heads of flowers of a pale yellow 

 colour. Native of India. 



3. Sphaeranthus Chinen|is. Leaves sessile, pinnatifid. 

 Native of India. 



4. Spheeranthus Cochin-chinensis. Leaves decurrent, ob- 

 long, quite entire; heads of flowers cordate-ovate, subsessile, 

 terminating. Stem herbaceous, a foot and half high, upright, 

 round, smooth, whitish ; flowers whitish, tinged with a little 

 purple, in small solitary heads on short peduncles. Native 

 of China and Cochin-china, among the corn and in gardens. 

 They use it chiefly in cataplasms, to resolve tumors in the 

 breast; the expressed juice in ophthalmia; and the decoction 

 internally, as a gargle for inflamed jaws. 



Spharia ; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order Fungi. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Capsules roundish, immersed, 

 filled with jelly, which becomes a mass of minute volatile 

 seeds. Persoon enumerates 184 species, distributed in eight 

 sections ; and to his work the reader is referred. , 



Sphcerocarpus ; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order 

 Algse, or more probably Hepaticse. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calix : inferior, of one leaf, inflated, entire. Seeds: 

 very numerous, collected into a globe at the bottom of the 

 calix. The only known species is, 



1. Sphoerocarpus Terrestris; Reticulated Sphcerocarpus. 

 Fronds simple, ovate or roundish, crowded, wavy, each 

 attached by a fibrous, probably annual root. Obseived in 

 the turnip and clover fields of Norfolk, in winter, especially 

 on strong land, in patches of a pale glaucous green. 



Sphagnum; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order 

 Musci. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Capsule: sessile, with- 

 out a fringe. Veil: cut round, its base remaining on the 

 base of the capsule. Anthcrce: each surrounded with a ring. 

 Observe. Weber and Mohr have justly remarked, that it is 

 the only known genus of Mosses in which the germen and 

 capsule are truly sessile, not at any stage of growth elevated 

 on a pedicellus,or partial stalk, above the base of the flower. 

 The whole flower indeed, and consequently the ripe capsule, is 

 stalked, which being rarely the case with other Mosses, whose 

 pedicels are very long, the two different kinds of stalks have 

 been confounded together. The known species are, 



1. Sphagnum Latifolium; Broad-leaved Bog Moss. 

 Branches tumid, dpflexed ; leaves ovate, obtuse, concave. 

 Found on watery turfy bog'S throughout Europe. 



2. Sphagnum Squarrosum; Prominent-leaved Bog Moss. 

 Branches deflexed, tapering; leaves ovate, acute, with re- 

 f-urved, prominent, keeled points. Native of German^, 

 Sweden, and England. Found on bogs in Belton near Yar- 

 mouth, fruiting in June and July. 



3. Sphagnum Capillifolium; Slender Bog Moss. Branches 

 slender, deflexed ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, pointed, flattish, 

 close-pressed, with straight points. Abundant on bogs in 

 mountainous places. 



4. Sphagnum Cuspidatum ; Long-leaved Floating Bog 

 Moss. Branches spreading rather downwards; leaves lance- 

 olate, long pointed, wavy, lax. Found in pools and rivulets 

 among bogs in mountainous situations. Observed near Yar- 

 moth, bearing fruit in summer. 



Spider Orchis. See Ophrys. 



Spiderwort. See Anthericiim and Trndcscanthia. 



Spielmannia; a genus of the class Didynamia, order An- 



giospermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: peiianth one- 

 leafed, erect, short, permanent; segments linear-subulate, 

 acute, almost equal. Corolla : one-petalled, salver-shaped ; 

 tube cylindric, incurved, globular at the base, villose within, 

 the mouth inclosed with hairs; border five-cleft; almost equal; 

 segments oblong, truncate, flat, spreading very much. Sta- 

 mina:' filamenta four, very short, in the tube of the corolla, 

 two a little higher than the others ; antherse oval. Pistil : 

 germen roundish; style short, permanent ; stigma hooked. 

 Pericarp : drupe globular, one-celled, succulent. Seed : nut 

 globular-depressed, wrinkled, striated and tubercled longi- 

 tudinally, two-celled ; kernels solitary, oblong, more gibbous 

 towards the outside, tuberculated and striated longitudinally, 

 each fastened to a fleshy aril, gibbous on one side, hollowed 

 on the other, adhering to the paitition. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: five-cleft. Corolla: bearded at the throat, 

 with a five-cleft almost equal border. Drupe: with a two- 

 celled tuberculated nut. The only known species is, 



1. Spielmannia Africana; Ilex-leaved Spielmannia, or Lan- 

 tana. This rises with a shrubby stalk five or six feet high, send- 

 ing out many irregular branches, closely garnished with thin 

 oval leaves, ending in points, serrate and embracing. From the 

 bosom of each leaf comes out one solitary white flower, which 

 is cut at the top into five parts, and at first sight has the 

 appearance of a Jasmine flower. The flowers appear from 

 February to November. Native of the Cape, flowering from 

 February to November. The plants are easily propagated 

 by cuttings, which, if planted upon an old hot-bed any time in 

 July, and covered with a bell or hand glass, and shaded from 

 the sun, will put out roots in a month or five weeks; then 

 they may be planted in pots, and placed in the shade until 

 they have taken fresh root: after which they may be removed 

 to a sheltered situation, where they may remain till the frosts 

 come on. It is not very tender, and may be preserved in a 

 good green-house in winter; but during that season it must 

 have a large share of air in mild weather, or it is liable to 

 grow mouldy, and this will cause the tender branches to 

 decay. In the summer it may be exposed in the open air, 

 with other green-house plants, in a sheltered situation, where 

 it will add to the variety; and although the flowers are small, 

 and produced singly from between the leaves, so do not make 

 any great appearance, yet as there is a succession of them 

 most part of the year, and the leaves continue green, it is 

 worthy of a place in every good collection. 



Spigelia ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENRRIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 five-parted, acuminate, small, permanent. Corolla : one* 

 petalled, funnel-shaped; tube much longer than the calix, 

 narrowed below; border spreading, five-cleft; segments wide, 

 acuminate. Stamina: filamenta five, simple; antherae simple. 

 Pistil: germen composed of two globes, superior; style one, 

 awl-shaped, length of the tube ; stigma simple. Pericarp : 

 capsule twin, two-celled, four-valvecl. Seeds : numerous, 

 very s)nal!. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: funnel- 

 shaped. Capsule: twin, two-celled, many-seeded. The 



species are, 



1. Spigelia Anthelmia; Annual Worm-grass. Stem her- 

 baceous; uppermost leaves in fours. Root annual, fibrous; 

 stem eighteen inches high ; leaves opposite ; flowers in short 

 herbaceous clustered spikes, ranged on one side of the 

 footstalk. Native of the West Indies and South America. 

 This plant has been long in use among Negroes and In- 

 dians, and takes its names from its peculiar efficacy in de- 

 stroying worms, which Dr. Browne, from a number of suc- 

 cessful experiments, assefts it does in so extraordinary a man- 

 ner, that no other simple can be of equal efficacy in any other 



