SIBTHORPIA 



SIDA 



3161 



SIBTHORPIA (named in honor of John Sibthorp, 

 1758-1796). Scrophidariacex. Hardy or greenhouse 

 perennial herbs, often rooting at the nodes, grown 

 mostly for the flowers. 



Leaves alternate or fascicled, petioled, orbiculate- 

 reniform, cparse-crenate or incise-pinnatifid : pedicels 

 axillary, solitary or fascicled: fls. yellow, yellowish rose 

 or red; calyx campanulate, 4-8-cleft, the lobes slightly 

 unequal; corolla-tube short or very short, rotate, limb 

 spreading; anthers sagittate: aps. membranaceous, 

 compressed, loculicidally dehiscent, the valves splitting 

 to the middle. About 7 species, E. Eu., Trop. and N. 

 Afr., mountains of India and S. Amer. 



europgea, Linn. A hardy trailing perennial with very 

 slender sts. : Ivs. orbicular, less than Kin- across, 7-9- 

 lobed: fls. small, on rather short pedicels, the 2 upper 

 lobes of the corolla yellowish, the 3 lower pink. Deep 

 woods, Eu. Var. variegate, Hort., a form with bright 

 golden green foliage, is cult, abroad. 



peregrina, Linn. Tender trailing greenhouse peren- 

 nial : Ivs. much crenated : peduncles frequently fascicled, 

 2 in. long: fls. yellow, 5-8-parted; stamens slightly 

 shorter than the corolla. June. Mauritius. B.M. 218 

 (as Disandra prostrata) . p. TRACY HXJBBARD. 



SIC ANA (Peruvian name). Cucurbitdcese. Annual 

 slender subglabrous tall-climbing vines, used out-of- 

 doors in the S. for ornament: Ivs. palmately 5-9-lobed, 

 very glabrous and shiny; tendrils 3-5-cleft, the branches 

 adhering at the tip : fls. rather large, yellow, monoecious, 

 all solitary; calyx-tube short-campanulate, 5-lobed, the 

 lobes ovate-lanceolate, recurved; corolla inflated-cam- 

 panulate, 5-lobed above the middle, the lobes broad- 

 ovate; stamens 3 in the male fl.: fr. large, fleshy, many- 

 seeded, fragrant and edible. Three species, Trpp. 

 Amer. Allied to Cucurbita, but differing in having 

 wide-spreading or reflexed calyx-lobes and the anthers 

 not united. 



odorifera, Naudin, the CURUBA and PEPINO ANGOLO 

 of the tropics, has been intro. in the U. S. as the CAS- 

 SABANANA. Fig. 3614. It is a very quick-growing and 

 interesting ornamental vine: plant glabrous, the sts. 

 angled: Ivs. large (often 1 ft. across), nearly orbicular 

 in outline, deeply cordate at the base, strongly about 

 5-lobed and the lobes repand-toothed or angled: fls. 

 solitary, monoecious, the corolla small and yellowish, 

 urn-shaped, with small reflexed lobes; stigmas 3, each 

 2-lobed: fr. like a slender vegetable marrow, 1-2 ft. 

 long, smooth, nearly cylindrical, orange-crimson, with 

 a very strong aromatic odor. R.H. 1890:516. Prob- 

 ably native to Brazil, but occurring also in Mex. and 

 the W. Indies. The curuba seems to be grown in the 

 tropics as an ornamental plant, although it is said to 

 afford edible preserves. The plant climbs 30-50 ft. It 

 is well worth growing on summer arbors, or under glass 

 if one has room for it. The frs. are very interesting, 

 fragrant, and ornamental. Perennial. 



S. atropurpiirea, Andre 1 . Has shorter subpyriform, brilliant 

 violet-purple frs., and purple-tinted under surfaces of the Ivs. Per- 

 haps a form of S. odorifera. Uruguay. R.H. 1894:108. S. 

 spherica. Hook. f. Fls. large and spreading, more like those of 

 Cucurbita: Ivs. reniform, 3-5-lobed: fr. globose, size of a small 

 orange. Jamaica. B.M. 7109. L H B 



SICYOS (Greek name for the cucumber). Cucurbita- 

 ce3e. Climbing or prostrate annual herbs useful for 

 ornamental purposes, one especially for covering walls 

 and the like: Ivs. membranaceous, angulate or lobed, 

 rarely deeply 3-5-lobed; tendrils 3-cleft: fls. small or 

 minute, whitish, monoecious, the sterile and fertile 

 mostly from the same axis, the former corymbed, the 

 latter in a capitate cluster, long-peduncled ; petals 5, 

 united below into a bell-shaped or flattish corolla; 

 ovary 1-celled: fr. ovoid, dry, and indehiscent, 1-seeded. 

 About 50 species, warmer parts of N. and S. Amer., 

 Pacific islands, and Austral. 



angulatus, Linn. BUR CUCUMBER. Annual climbing 

 herb: ivs. very broadly rhombic-ovate, more or less 

 shallow, 5-angled or lobed, palmately veined; the lobes 

 rather broad-deltoid, the midlobe abruptly and nar- 

 rowly acuminate, the lateral lobes apiculate, base some- 

 what halberd-shaped with a rounded rather narrow 

 sinus; the petiole slender and glandular-pilose. S. 

 Maine and W. Que. to Fla. and west to Minn., E. Kans., 

 and Texas. Used on account of its rapid growth for 

 screening walls, lattice-work, and the like. 



SIDA (from the old Greek name for Nymphaea alba; 



g'ven without explanation by Linnaeus). Malvacex. 

 erbs or shrubs with the indumentum frequently soft 

 or tomentose, adapted to the warm- or coolhouse or 

 some of them hardy; one species, S. rhombifolia, now 

 cultivated in India for its fiber. 



Leaves simple or lobed, usually serrate or dentate: 

 fls. sessile or pedunculate, solitary or glomerate, axil- 

 lary or in terminal racemose spikes or heads, various 

 colored and sometimes showy, often small, yellow or 

 whitish; calyx 5-tpothed or 5-cleft; staminal column 

 divided at the top into numerous filaments: carpels 5 or 

 more, when ripe separating from the axis, generally 

 2-awned at the summit; seed 1 to a carpel and pendu- 

 lous. About 120 species, widely distributed in Afr., 

 Asia, Austral., and N. and S. Amer. 



3614. Sicana odorifera, the cassabanana. ( X M) 



A. Lf. -blades palmately lobed: fls. white. 



hermaphrodite, Rusby (S. Napsea, Cav. Napasa her- 

 maphrodlta, Linn.). A hardy herbaceous perennial 5-8 

 ft. high, from a stout root: Ivs. 3-^8 in. long, 3-7-lobed; 

 lobes triangular, long-acuminate, irregularly serrate: fls. 

 perfect, white, about 1 in. across, in terminal corym- 

 bose panicles. June- Aug. S. Pa., W. Va., and Va. B.B. 

 2:422. Cult, same as for hollyhocks; prop, by seed. 

 Index Kewensis refers the above species to Napsea 

 dioica, Linn., but according to Gray's Synoptical Flora 

 of North America the two species belong to separate 

 genera, the fls. of the first being hermaphrodite, of the 

 second dioecious. Napsea dimca is a strong-growing 

 perennial 5-9 ft. high, with large radical Ivs. often 1 ft. 

 across and 9-11-cleft, the segrns. cut into lanceolate 

 serrate lobes: fls. dioecious, white, smaller than in Sida 

 Napsea. For pictures of the two plants, see B.B. 2:420, 

 422. 



AA. Lf. -blades merely toothed: fls. of various colors. 

 B. Lvs. ovate to cuneate or lanceolate. 



rhomb if 6Ka, Linn. Shrubby or subshrubby : Ivs. very 

 variable, rhomboid-lanceolate to lanceolate, lower sur- 

 face usually paler or even hoary: fls. axillary, solitary, 

 pale yellow, rarely white, the petals blotched with red 

 at the base. Tropics and subtropics of both hemi- 

 spheres. Yields a good fiber, and its cult, for this pur- 

 pose has recently been encouraged in India. Probably 

 of little value for ornament. 



