SERRADELLA 



SETARIA 



3157 



SERRADELLA is an annual leguminous plant valua- 

 ble as a fodder crop on dry and sandy sterile soils. See 

 Ornithopus. 



SERRATULA (from serra, alluding to the roughly 

 toothed leaf-margins). Composite. A hortieulturally 

 unimportant group of composites consisting of about 30 

 species of herbaceous thistle-like perennials grown for 

 their purple or violet fig.: sis. simple or branched: Ivs. 

 alternate, dentate, or much cut into sharp but usually 

 unarmed segms., green both sides or sometimes pale 

 and canescent beneath: infl. of a single pedunculate 

 head or, as in the following, of a lax corymb; heads 

 equal-fld., the involucral bracts in many series, nar- 

 rowly acuminate at the apex, but not as in many 

 thistles, spiny; fls. purple, but not very showy. Cult, in 

 open border, but perhaps not in Amer. outside botanic 

 garden collections. Eu., X. Afr., to China and Japan. 



tinctdria, Linn. A much-branched, freely flowering 

 perennial, about 2-3 ft. tall: Ivs. very variable, usually 

 deeply pmnately cleft or divided and generally lanceo- 

 late in outline; the upper sometimes undivided and 

 petioled, the basal usually divided and nearly sessile: 

 fls. in a dense corymbiform infl. or thin, frequently 

 sparse and lax, purple. Cent. Eu. July and Sept. 



S. alriplicifolia, Benth. <fc Hook. Of vigorous growth: ITS. large, 

 heart-shaped: heads globular, attaining height of 5 ft.: fls. purple, 



N. TAYLOR. 



SESAMUM (Greek name taken by Hippocrates from 

 the Arabic). Pedaliacfs. Herbs, erect or prostrate, 

 scabrous or rarely glabrous, suitable for the wannhouse, 

 and for the open in the S.: lowest Ivs. opposite, the 

 upper and almost all alternate, petioled, entire, incise- 

 dentate. 3-cleft or pedately cut: fls. pale or violet, soli- 

 tary in the axils; calyx rather small, 5-parted; corolla- 

 limb 2-lipped and 5-lobed: stamens 4, didynamous; 

 ovary 2-celled: caps, oblong or ovoid. About 20 spe- 

 cies, "Trop. and S. Afr., E. Asia. The only species of 

 importance is S. indicum, which has been extensively 

 cult, in the tropics from ancient times. The seeds are 

 sold in Amer. under the name of bene. They yield 

 about half their weight of oil-of-sesame (known also as 

 benne-. gingili-, or teel-oil), which is odorless and does 

 not easily become rancid. This oil is universally used 

 in India for cooking and anointing. Large quantities 

 of oil and seed are imported from India to Eu. for the 

 manufacture of soap and adulteration of olive-oil. Also 

 cult, in northern states as a medicinal herb, the muci- 

 laginous Ivs. being used in dysentery and diarrhea of 

 children. The oil of sesamum, however, which is 

 expressed from the seeds is in large doses a laxative. 



indicum, Linn. (S. orientate, Linn.). Plant 1-2 ft. 

 high: Ivs. variable, 3-5 in. long, oblong or lanceolate, the 

 lower often 3-lobed or parted : corolla pale rose or white, 

 1 in. long, tubular, 5-cleft, the 2 lobes of the upper lip 

 shorter. July. Tropics. B.M. 1688. White- and black- 

 seeded varieties have been known for at least two cen- 

 turies. Runs wild in the extremes. WILHELM MILLER. 



SESBANIA (from Sesban, the Arabian name of S. 

 xgyptiaca). Syns., Daubentonia, Glottidium. Legumi- 

 nosx. Herbs or shrubs, sometimes arborescent, but 

 short-lived, suitable for the warm- and coolhouse, and 

 for outdoor planting in the far South. 



Leaves abruptly pinnate; Ifts. many-paired, very 

 entire; stipels minute or none: racemes axillary, lax; 

 fls. yellow, red-purple, variegated, or white, slender- 

 pedicelled ; calyx broad, tube truncate, toothed or sub- 

 equally lobed; standard orbiculate or ovate, spreading or 

 reflex, wings falcate-oblong, keel incurved, obtuse or 

 obtusely acuminate, with long claws; stamens free 

 from the standard; ovary often stipitate: legume linear 

 or rarely oblong, compressed, 4-angled or 4-winged. 

 About 30 species, widely distributed in the warmer 

 regions of both hemispheres. 



aegyptiaca, Poir. A much-branched, pale green, gla- 

 brous shrub, 5-10 ft. high: Ivs. nearly sessile; Ifts. 10-20 

 pairs, glabrous, glaucous, oblong-linear, blunt with a 

 faint mucro: fls. bright yellow, standard round, emar- 

 ginate, more or less clotted with purple : pod 6-8 in. long, 

 distinctly torulose. July, Aug. Tropics of the Old 

 World. Often cult, in European gardens. 



grandifldra, Poir. A short-lived, soft-wooded tree, 

 20-30 ft. high: Ivs. 6-12 in. long; Ifts. 41-61, linear- 

 oblong, pale green, glaucous: fls. rose-red, white, or 

 rusty red, 2-4, in short axillary racemes; standard oval- 

 oblong: pod 1 ft. or more long, falcate, firm, not torulose. 

 July, Aug. Mauritius, India to N. Austral. G.Z. 29, 

 p. 170. 



punicea, Benth. (Daubentonia punicea, DC.). Shrub 

 or small tree, several feet high, somewhat glaucous and 

 glabrous: Ifts. commonly 8-9 pairs, J^^in. long, nar- 

 rowly oblong; stipules small: fls. 8-10 lines long, bright 

 red-purple, in lax racemes; calyx truncate, teeth small; 

 standard broadly rotundate: pod 2-4 in. long, thick, 

 4-angled, wings leathery, about 2 lines broad. Brazil. 

 Intro, into S. Calif. 



Tripetii, Hort. (Daubentonia Tripetii, Poit. D. 

 Tripetidna, Ppit.). Shrub or small tree, about 6 ft. 

 high: Ivs. pinnately compound, dull green above, 

 glaucescent beneath: fls. orange-red, rather large, in 

 drooping racemes; standard scarlet, much paler on the 

 inner face, with a yellow spot on the claw; wings and 

 keel paler. Argentina. p. TRACY HUBBARD. 



SESELI (old Greek name for an umbelliferous plant). 

 UmbeUiferae. MEADOW SAXIFRAGE. Perennial and 

 biennial herbs in the temperate and cold regions of 

 the Old World, of perhaps 50-60 species, sometimes 

 mentioned in horticultural literature as acceptable 

 border plants. Erect and branched, with Ivs. decom- 

 pound or 2-3-pinnate, and compound umbels of small 

 white fls., the involucres of few or many bracts or some- 

 times wanting; calyx-teeth either prominent or minute; 

 petals notched; styles very short: fr. nearly terete, 

 ovoid or oblong. S. Libanotis, Koch, of wide distribu- 

 tion in Eu., is perhaps most likely to appear as a cult. 

 plant: perennial, 1-2 ft., erect and stout, glabrous or 

 slightly pubescent: Ivs. bipinnate, the Ifts. ovate and 

 sessile: umbel rounded, with many pubescent rays, 

 and many-bracted involucres and involucels. 



SESUVIUM (derivation unknown). Aizoaceae. Erect 

 or prostrate, branched, succulent herbs or subshrubs, 

 adapted to the warm- or coolhouse: Ivs. opposite, some- 

 what fleshy, linear or oblong: fls. axillary, sessile or 

 pedunculate, solitary, clustered or rarely subcorymbose, 

 frequently flesh-colored or purple, with 2 bracts or 

 bractless; calyx-tube turbinate, the lobes 5, oblong, 

 obtuse, colored inside; petals none; stamens 5; ovary 

 free: caps, oblong, membranaceous, 3-5-celled, cir- 

 cumscissilly dehiscent. About 13 species, warmer 

 temperate and tropical regions of the world, usually 

 littoral. S.Portulocdstrum,IADii. A diffuse procumbent 

 or prostrate herb often wholly blood-red or purple: Ivs. 

 succulent, linear to oblanceolate or obovate-oblong, 

 much narrowed at the base: fls. axillary, purplish or 

 rose, peduncles equaling or shorter, rarely longer than 

 the fls.; calyx deeply 5_-lobed, the lobes ovate-lanceolate, 

 obtuse with a mucro just below the apex behind; ovary 

 usually 3-celled. Tropics and warmer regions of both 

 hemispheres. Sometimes used as a pot-herb. 



SETARIA (Latin, seta, a bristle). Graminex. Annual 

 or sometimes perennial grasses with bristly spike-like 

 panicles: spikelets as in Panicum, but subtended by 

 1 to several bristles that extend beyond the spikelet 

 and persist after the spikelet falls: the fr., that is, the 

 mature fertile floret, usually transversely wrinkled. 

 Species about 40 in the warmer regions of the world. 



