SPARMAXXIA 



SPATHELIA 



3201 



Sparmannia africana is of easy treatment under glass 

 in a moderate temperature with plenty of air and 

 light. The plants are benefited by being plunged in the 

 garden in the summer and syringed during dry weather. 

 Plants should be potted early in spring. The tips of 

 young shoots root readily with 60 of heat. 



A. Lvs. deeply 5-7-lobed. 



palmata, E. Mey. A slender shrub much smaller in 

 all its parts than S. africana: branches half-herba- 

 ceous: Ivs. on long petioles, the lobes long-acuminate, 

 incisely sinuate and unequally toothed, prominently 

 5-7-nerved below: fls. white or purplish, densely 

 arranged on the subterminal peduncles: caps. 4-celled. 

 S. Afr. Sparingly cult, in S. Calif. 



AA. Lvs. not lobed. 



africana, Linn. A large shrub or tree, 10-20 ft. high: 

 lv>. cordate-acuminate, 5-7-angled, unequally toothed, 

 5-6 in. long, 7-9-ribbed below: fls. white, on many-fld. 

 peduncles: caps. 5-celled. S. Afr. B.M. 516. G.M.37: 

 233. R.H. 1858, p. 105. Gn. 45:528; 76, p. 192. G. 22: 

 689; 27:195. Gn.W. 22: suppl. March 25. G.W. 5, p. 

 566. A useful greenhouse plant. Var. fldre-pleno, Hort., 

 is also grown. G.C. II. 19:477. S. africana is not com- 

 mon in S. Calif., but is highly esteemed. One specimen, 

 40 years old, is 12 ft. high and 16ft. through, and con- 

 sists of about 50 trunks l /^-A in. diam. It is literally 

 covered with snowballs of 4 in. diam., the blooms being 

 so heavy that the ends of the branches touch the 

 ground, necessitating severe pruning as soon as blooms 

 were past beauty. No viburnum, hydrangea, or other 

 shrub can compare with it at its blooming season. Dur- 

 ing the remainder of the year it has the appearance 

 of a clump of basswood suckers, the Ivs. being nearly 

 identical in appearance with those of the basswood. It 

 is therefore a dense mass of broad Ivs. and looks well 

 anywhere and at any time. This is one of the finest 

 white-fld. shrubs or trees in cult. The double variety is 

 not so desirable as the single. (Ernest Braunton.) 



F. W. BARCLAY. 



SPARTINA (Greek, spartine, a cord, referring to the 

 tough leaves). Graminese. Perennial marsh-plants of 

 various parts of the world, most or all of which are 

 found in the U. S. : culms rigid and reed-like: Ivs. coarse 

 and rough, usually becoming rolled inward: spikelets 

 1-fld., strongly flattened, sessile, closely imbricated in 2 

 rows on one side of a narrow rachis; spikes 2 to several 

 in a raceme. Species about 10, most of them found 

 in saline marshes of the seacoast. 



Michauxiana, Hitchc. (S. cynosurmdes, Amer. Auth., 

 not Roth). FRESH-WATER CORD-GRASS. Fig. 3655. 

 Culms 3-6 ft.: blades narrow, 2-4 ft., tapering to a long 

 slender point, flat but soon involute in drying, the mar- 

 gins very scabrous : spikes 5-20, scattered, spreading, 2- 

 4 in. long. In the West known as "slough-grass." A 

 common coarse fresh-water marsh grass, occurring across 

 the continent in the northern states. Recommended for 

 cult, along the margins of ponds and artificial lakes. 

 Procurable from collectors. 



S. cynosuroides. Roth (S. pqlystachya, Willd.), on the Atlantic 

 and 5. folidsa, Trin., on the Pacific coast act as mud-binders and are 

 important factors in the natural reclamation of salt-marshes. In 

 England, S. stricta, Roth, and S. Tdwnsendii, Groves, perform the 

 same service. G.C. III. 43:33. S. alternifldra, Loisel., is common 

 * 11 BntIS " I ? Ies and tne St - Lawrence and New England coasts. 

 A yellow-margined form (S. cynosuroides var. aureo-marginata) is 

 shown in G. 31:171. A o TT 



A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



SPARTIUM (Greek, spartos, the ancient name of the 

 plant). Syn., Spartidnthus. Legumindsx. Ornamental 

 hardy shrub grown chiefly for its bright yellow flowers. 



Leaves alternate, simple, small: fls. in terminal, loose 

 racemes; calyx split above, hence 1-lipped, with 5 

 minute teeth; keel incurved, acuminate: pod linear, 

 compressed, many-seeded; seeds with callose appen- 

 dage at the base, like in Genista. One species in the 



Medit. region and the Canary Isls. Allied to Genista 

 and Cytisus, but chiefly distinguished by the 1-lipped 

 calyx. The slender branches yield fiber, which is used in 

 S. France and Spain for making ropes, cords, and cloths. 



This is a handsome shrub with long and slender rush- 

 like green branches, small and sparse foliage and showy 

 papilionaceous flowers in terminal racemes. It is 

 especially adapted for warmer and drier regions; in the 

 East it is probably hardy as far north as Philadelphia. 

 It becomes naturalized easily, as happened in several 

 localities in South America, whence it was afterward 

 described as S. american um, Meyen. It grows in almost 

 any kind of well-drained 

 soil and is well suited 

 for planting on exposed 

 sandy and rocky situa- 

 tions. Propagation is by 

 seeds and by greenwood 

 cuttings under glass. 



junceum, Linn. (Gen- 

 ista juncea, Lam. Sparti- 

 dnthus junceus, Link). 

 SPANISH BROOM. Up- 

 right shrub, 10 ft. high, 

 with slender, terete, 

 green, rush-like branches 

 sparingly leafy or almost 

 leafless: lys. oblanceo- 

 late to linear, entire, 

 bluish green and spar- 

 ingly appressed pubes- 

 cent, ^-l^i in. long: fls. 

 fragrant, yellow, about 

 1 in. long, with ample 

 standard: pod linear, 

 pubescent, 2-3 in. long. 

 June -Sept., in Calif, 

 blooming almost the 

 whole year. B.M.. 85. 

 B.R. 1974 (as S. acuti- 

 folius). Gn. 22, p. 404; 

 34, p. 284; 44, p. 57. 

 There is a double-fld. 

 form. Var. ochroleucum, 

 Sprenger, has whitish 



gg 3655. Spartina Michauxiana. 



For other species sometimes referred to Spartium see Genista 

 and Cytisus. For S. aetnense, Biv., S.ferox, Ppir., S. monospermum, 

 Linn., S. rodiotum, Linn., and S. tirgotum, Ait., see Genista; for S. 

 purgans, Linn., S. scoparium. Linn., and S. multiflorum, Ait., see 



Cytisus - ALFRED REHDER. 



SPARTOCfTISUS FfLIPES, Webb.: Cytisus filipes. 



SPATHELIA (from the Greek for a staff). Ruta- 

 ce3e. Odd evergreen trees without branches, grown in 

 the warmhouse and the American tropics. 



Trunk simple, the Ivs. aggregated at its extremity, so 

 that the plant has the look of a tree-fern or palm: Ivs. 

 alternate, odd-pinnate; Ifts. many-paired, alternate, 

 linear-oblong or sickle-shaped, subentire or serrate, the 

 margin glandular: fls. polygamous, rather large, short- 

 pedicelled, in large panicles, which are terminal, elon- 

 gated and branched, the ultimate branches somewhat 

 cymose; calyx 5-parted, the segms. spreading, valvate 

 or subvalvate; petals 5, imbricate; disk none; stamens 

 5; ovary 3-angled, 3-celled: drupe without juice, elliptic- 

 oblong, 3-edged, 3-winged, the shell stony. About 5 

 species, W. Indies. 



simplex, Linn. St. slender, usually leaning, resemb- 

 ling a palm, 20-50 ft. high: the Ivs. and panicles are 

 frequently several feet long; Ifts. 20-40 pairs, very 

 variable, opposite or alternate, sessile or petiolulate, 

 cordate or obliquely rounded at base, oblong- or linear- 

 lanceolate, crenate or entire: panicle powdery. Some- 

 times planted in the W. Indies. B.R. 670. 



F. TRACT HTJBBARD. 



