620 



S T A 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



ST A 



In the second year they will flower, and, if the season proves 

 favourable, the seeds will ripen, and the plant decays soon 

 after. This species will live through the winter in the open 

 air, on a dry poor soil, and in a sheltered situation; but in 

 rich ground it becomes luxuriant in summer, and is therefore 

 more liable to suffer from the cold in winter. 



3. Stsehelina Arborescens. Leaves petioled, elliptical, 

 entire, silky beneath. Stem arborescent; root black, with 

 long black fibres; flower terminating; corollas purple. In 

 alpine situations it varies with a stem two feet high or more. 

 Native of the south of France, and of Candia. 



4. 'Steehelina Fruticosa. Leaves lanceolate, obtuse, smooth 

 on both sides. Stem shrubby, with round, minutely roughish 

 branches. Native of the Levant. 



5. Staehelina Spinosa. Leaves awl-shaped, spinescent, 

 with a spinule at the base on each side. Stem shrubby ; 

 flowers solitary at the end of the branches, with a pair of 

 small leaflets at the base. Native of Egypt. 



6. Staehelina Hastata. Leaves hastate, hoary ; stem 

 shrubby. This is a low, stiff, and very branching shrub ; 

 branches round, hoary, blunt. Native of Egypt. 



7. Staehelina Ilicifolia. Leaves opposite, on very short 

 petioles, cordate, toothed, shining above, tomentose beneath. 

 Stem arborescent; florets numerous, yellow, funnel-shaped, 

 five-cornered, smooth. Native of New Grenada. 



8. Stsehelina Corymbosa. Leaves wedge-shaped, prse- 

 morse ; flowers corymbed ; seed-down white, longer than the 

 calix. Native of the Cape. 



9. Steehelina Chameepeuce. Leaves linear, clustered, very 

 long, revohite. Native of Candia. 



10. Steehelina Imbricata. Leaves awl-shaped, erect, tomen- 

 tose. Native of the Cape. 



Staff Tree. See Celastrus. 



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

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

 cleft, acute, small, permanent. Corolla: one-petalled, large, 

 flat, thick, five-cleft beyond the middle ; segments wide, 

 flat, acuminate. Nectary five leaflets, spreading, linear, 

 grooved, emarginate, with a dagger point, opposite to the 

 segments of the corolla; leaflets five others, fastened, alter- 

 nately with these, a little higher to the tube of the filamenta, 

 and running along it, vertical, bifid ; interior segments with 

 the summit bent outwards ; outer segments straight, com- 

 pressed. Stamina: filamenta five, united into a short tube. 

 Each anthera fastened internally to the base of each vertical 

 leaflet of the nectary, and wider than it, incumbent on the 

 stigma, short, two-lobed, two-celled, produced below both 

 sides into an earlet, contiguous at the margin to each of the 

 neighbouring antherte as far as the tip, and ascending at the 

 tip; pollen united into ten corpuscles, crescent-shaped, flat- 

 tish, ascending obliquely into the cells of the anthera, each 

 on a very short pedicel, (with a transverse base, incumbent 

 on the upper margin of the earlet,) fastened by pairs to five 

 small twin coloured tubercles, placed on the apex of the 

 earlets, and adhering to the angles of the stigma. Pistil: 

 germina two, ovate, flat inwards ; styles none ; stigma com- 

 mon to both germina, large, placed on the tube of the sta- 

 mina, acutely five-cornered, flat above, obliquely truncate, 

 excavated at the sides for the reception of the antheree. 

 Pericarp: follicles two, long, awl-shaped, one-celled, one- 

 valved. Seeds: numerous, imbricate, compressed, crowned 

 with a down. Receptacle: free. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Corolla: one-petalled, five-cleft. Nectary: a double little 

 star, covering the genitals. Common Stigma: pointless. 

 Follicles: two, smooth. Seeds: comose. The plants of 

 this genus are propagated here very easily during the sum- 



mer months, by taking off any of the side-branches, which, 

 when planted, put out roots very freely. The branches should 

 be slipped off from the plants to the bottom, where being 

 joined by a small ligature, they will not occasion a great 

 wound, the joints at the place where they are connected 

 being almost closed round; for if they are cut through the 

 branch, the wound will be so great as to occasion their rotting 

 when planted : these should be laid in a dry place under 

 cover for eight or ten days, that the wounded part may dry 

 and heal over, otherwise they will rot; then they should be 

 planted in pots filled with fresh sandy earth, mixed with 

 lime-rubbish and sea-sand; and if the pots are plunged into 

 a very moderate hot-bed, it will promote their taking root: 

 they should be now and then sprinkled with water, which 

 ought to be sparingly given ; and as soon as they take root, 

 should be inured to the open air. If these plants are kept 

 in a very moderate stove in winter, and in summer placed 

 in an airy glass-case, where they may enjoy much free air, 

 but be screened from wet and cold, they will thrive and 

 flower very well; for though they will live in the open air 

 in summer, and may be kept through the winter in a good 

 green-house, yet those plants will not flower so well as those 

 managed in the other way. They must have little water in 



winter. The species are, 



* Corolla jive-clef t ; Segments hairy at the edge. 



1. Stapelia Ciliata; Ciliate Stapelia. Stem four-cornered, 

 branched, decumbent, rooting, flowering at top ; peduncles 

 shorter than the corolla, which is papillose at bottom. This 

 is distinguished from all the other species by its procumbent, 

 branched, rooting stem. Native of Southern Africa. 



2. Stapelia Revoluta; RevohUe-Jiowered Stapelia. Stem 

 four-cornered, branched at the base, erect, flowering at top ; 

 peduncles shorter than the corolla, which is smooth, with the 

 segments ovate, hairy at the edge, and revolute. Native of 

 Southern Africa, in dry fields under shrubs, flowering in 

 September and October. 



3. Stapelia Hirsuta ; Hairy Stapelia. Branches ascending, 

 four-cornered, flowering at the base; peduncles round, length 

 of the corolla, which is villose at bottom, with the segments 

 ovate, sharpish, and villose at the edge. Root composed of 

 many strong fibres. The colour of the corolla is yellow, with 

 transverse streaks of a dark violet colour ; the segments violet 

 at the end and along the edge ; the bottom pale red, with red 

 nectaries. Its scent is so like carrion, that flesh-flies lay their 

 eggs upon it. It flowers in June and July. Native of the 

 Cape. This and the forty-second species were all that were 

 cultivated in Mr. Miller's time; he never saw the pods of 

 this produced here. 



4. Stapelia Soroiia. Branches divaricating, four-cornered, 

 flowering at the base ; peduncles round, longer than the 

 corolla, which is very villose at bottom, and wrinkled trans- 

 versely, with the segments oblong, acute, villose at the edge. 

 The colour of the corolla is a dark purple, with transverse 

 yellow wrinkles. Willdenow remarks, that it resembles the 

 next species in colour, but that it is sufficiently distinct in 

 the peduncle and stem. Native of the Cape. 



5. Stapelia Grandiflora; Great-flowered Stapelia. Branches 

 erect, four-cornered, club-shaped, flowering at the base; 

 peduncle thickened at the base, shorter than the corolla, 

 which is villose, with the segments lanceolate, acuminate, 

 ciliate at the edge. Native of Southern Africa, in hot places, 

 as at Sonday's river. 



6. Stapelia Ambigua. Branches erect, four-cornered, club- 

 shaped, flowering at the base; peduncles many-flowered; 

 corollas hispid, with the segments ovate, lanceolate, acute, 

 villose at the edge. It is sufficiently distinguished from the 



