3142 



SELENICEREUS 



SEMELE 



BB. Spines of the sis. not acicular. 



c. Sts. blue-green. 



pteranthus, Brit. & Rose (Cereus pterdnthus, Link & 

 Otto. Cereus nycticdlus, Link). Stout, suberect, or 

 clambering vines: branches much elongated, bluish 

 green, 4- or 6-angled: spines 1-4, short: fls. large, white, 

 very fragrant, 7 in. long, the ovary covered with long 

 white hairs intermixed with the short acicular spines. 

 Mex. Lem. Cact. f. 11. Gesamtb. Kakteen f. 35 

 One of the commonest and best night-blooming cacti. 



CC. Sts. deep green. 

 D. Knobs on ribs terete and low. 

 MacD6naldiae, Brit. & Rose (Cereus MacDdnaldix, 

 Hook.). Clambering vines of rapid growth, freely 

 branching: branches deep green: the ribs rather low, 

 obtuse, somewhat interrupted: spines 1 or 2, short, 

 porrect, dark: fls. very large, 14 in. long, white. Hon- 

 duras, probably, but some recent writers claim it came 

 originally from Argentina. B.M. 4707. Cact. Journ. 

 2 : 135. -One of the largest-flowered species of the cactus 

 family and one of the best of the night-blooming kind. 



DD. Knobs on ribs flattened, rather high and reflexed. 



hamatus, Brit. & Rose (Cereus hamatus, Scheidw. C. 

 rostratus, Lem.). Sts. often weak and sprawling or 

 climbing and clambering, bright green, about 8 in. 

 diam.: ribs usually 4, interrupted by flattened reflexed 

 knobs bearing small areoles: spines 5 or 6, bristle-like, 

 white; hairs more or less deciduous: fls. large, 10-12 in. 

 long, white. Cent. Mex. Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 

 9:23. Gesamtb. Kakteen Nachtr. f. 7. Numerous 

 hybrids have been made by crossing some of these 

 species, especially S. grandiflorus, S. MacDonaldiae, and 

 S. hamatus, with certain species of related genera. Some 

 of these hybrids have been given distinct names in 

 Cereus, such as C. Maynardii, C. Regelii and C. urdnos. 



Cereus inermis, Otto. Sts. slender, climbing, 4-5-angled, deep 

 green: areoles small, naked except on juvenile shoots and then bear- 

 ing' several white bristles: fls. said to be large, probably nocturnal, 

 but not often appearing on cult, plants. This is a rather insignifi- 

 cant plant. Intro, from Venezuela many years ago. This is not a 

 true Cereus, and without seeing fls. or fr. its real status can not be 

 definitely stated. Karl Schumann, however, associated it with this 

 group, and if of this alliance, it should be placed near S. hamatus. 



J. N. ROSE. 



SELENIPEDIUM. For the species included in this genus in 

 "Cyclopedia of American Horticulture," see' Phragmopedilum. The 

 true Selenipediums (or Selenipedilum) are few and seem not to be 

 in cult. 



SELENOCYPRIPEDIUM (compounded from Seleni- 

 pedium and Cypripedium) . Orchidacese. A name pro- 

 posed to designate hybrids between Selenipedium and 

 Cypripedium. S. ltfalhouitri=S. (Phragmopedilum) 

 Schlimii x C. (Paphiopedilum) Harrisianum. 



SELF-HEAL: BruneUa. 



SELF-STERILITY OF FRUITS: Pollen and Pollination. 



SELINUM (Greek name for parsley). Umbelliferse. 

 Branched perennial herbs, glabrous, tall or rarely low, 

 of little horticultural value: Ivs. pinnately decompound: 

 umbels compound, many-rayed; fls. white or rarely 

 yellowish green; calyx-teeth obsolete or rarely notice- 

 able ; petals cuneate or broad, emarginate or 2-lobed : fr. 

 ovoid or nearly quadrate. About 35 species, mostly in 

 the northern hemisphere but 1 from the mountains of 

 Colombia and 1 from S. Afr. 



tenuifdlium, Wall (Oreocome Candollei, Edgew.). A 

 hardy perennial with finely cut fern-like foliage and st. 

 often 8 ft. high, branched, with numerous umbels of 

 white fls.: ultimate segms. of Ivs. narrowly lanceolate, 

 acute : fr. 2-3 lines long, much compressed dorsally, 4-6 

 times as broad as thick; lateral ridges much the broad- 

 est. India. Gn. 38, p. 221. Offered as a novelty in 

 Amer. in 1899 and recommended as a foliage plant for 

 single lawn specimens. p. TRACY HUBBARD.! 



SELLIERA (named for Natale Sellier, a French 

 engraver who worked for Cavanilles) . Goodeniacese. Two 

 creeping and rooting perennial herbs of Austral, and 

 New Zeal, and one of them extending to Chile: plant 

 glabrous: Ivs. entire, alternate or fascicled: fls. small, axil- 

 lary, sessile or stalked; calyx 5-lobed; corolla oblique, 

 split at the back, 5-lobed; stamens 5; ovary 2-celled or 

 imperfectly so: fr. fleshy and indehiscent. The plants 

 are probably not regularly in cult., but S. radicans, 

 Cav., has been listed abroad as an aquatic: it grows 

 in muddy or marshy and rocky places near the sea in 

 New Zeal., Austral., and S. Amer.: sts. sometimes 

 creeping several feet, forming matted and interlaced 

 patches: Ivs. very small to 4 in. long, nearly linear to 

 obovate-spatulate, obtuse, entire, narrowed into long 

 petiole: fls. 1 or 2 on the peduncle, J^in. long, white: 

 fr. about J^in. long, ovoid or obovoid. See Krause, in 

 Engler's Pflanzenreich, hft. 54 (IV. 277 & 277a). 1912. 



SELLIGUEA (personal name, from Selligue, naturalist 

 and mechanician). Polypodiacex. A group of ferns 

 referred by Diels (Engler '& Prantl, Die Natiirlichen 

 Pflanzenfamilien) to Polypodium. Only P. Fed, Mett. 

 (Selliguea Feei, Bory. Gymnogrdmma Feei, Hook.), 

 appears to be listed. It is described by Schneider as a 

 small stove species of the Malay Isls., Java, and Bor- 

 neo: fronds entire, from a creeping rhizome, the barren 

 ones 3-4 in. long and 2 in. or less broad, the fertile 

 ones narrower and longer-stalked. 



SEMECARPUS (Greek, mark and fruit, referring to 

 use of fruit-juice). Anacardiacex. Trees, sometimes 

 grown in the warmhouse, or in the open far S.: Ivs. 

 alternate, simple, leathery: fls. small, polygamous, in 

 terminal or lateral, branched, bracteate panicles; calyx 

 5-cleft, segms. imbricated and deciduous; petals 5, 

 spreading, somewhat unequal; disk annular and rather 

 broad; stamens 5; ovary superior, sessile, 1 -celled: nut 

 or drupe reniform. About 35 species, Trop. Asia and 

 Austral. 



Anacardium, Linn. f. MARKING-NUT TREE. A mod- 

 erate-sized deciduous tree with large, oblong or obovate- 

 oblpng Ivs. 8-24 in. long by 5-10 in. wide: fls. greenish 

 white, J^in. across, nearly sessile, in stout branching 

 panicles about the same length as the Ivs.: drupe 1 in. 

 long, smooth, black. India. The black acid juice of the 

 nut is used for printing cotton cloth. Cult, in S. Fla. 



SEMELE (named for the mother of Bacchus). 

 Lilidcese. CLIMBING BUTCHER'S BROOM. A warmhouse 

 plant, hardy outdoors in the extreme S.: st. shrubby 

 and branched, high-climbing over trees attaining a 

 height of 50-60 ft., cladodia If.-like, alternate or few, 

 solitary at the axils of fuscous-membranaceous scales, 

 ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, leathery: fls. small, yellow, 

 fascicled, the fascicles on the margins of the cladodia; 

 perianth persistent, tube very short, turbinate, almost 

 hemispherical; crown none; ovary sessile in the perianth- 

 tube, 3-celled: berry globose, pulpy, indehiscent. One 

 species, Canary Isls. What appear to be Ivs. are techni- 

 cally "cladophylla," i. e., If.-like branches. They are 

 organs which have the form and function of Ivs. but not 

 the morphology. Semele belongs to the small group 

 of 4 genera known as the Asparagus tribe, all the mem- 

 bers of which have cladophylla. Semele differs from 

 the butcher's broom (Ruscus) in having 6 anthers 

 instead of 3 and in having the fls. borne on the margin of 

 the cladophylla instead of along the midrib. Asparagus 

 differs from both in having the fls. not borne on the 

 cladophylla and the filaments free instead of grown into 

 an urn-shaped body. 



androgyna, Kunth (Ruscus androgynus, Linn.). 

 Scandent, branching: cladodia ovate or ovate-lanceo- 

 late, acuminate, leathery: fls. small, yellow, clustered; 

 ovary 3-loculed : berry globose, indehiscent. B.M. 1898 

 and 3029 (as Ruscus androgynus). R.H. 1894, p. 546. 



