3278 



STROPHOLIRION 



STYLIDIUM 



celled : caps, included in the persistent calyx, globose. 

 One species, Calif. Very like Brodisea, and sometimes 

 referred to that genus, but differing in always having 3 

 stamens and a perianth which is contracted at the 

 throat and saccate at the base. S. californicum, Torr. 

 (Brodisea volubilis, Baker). Fig. 3740 (adapted from 

 Pacific R. R. Rep.). In many ways it resembles Bre- 

 voortia Ida-Maia, except that the scape is climbing to a 

 height of 3-4 ft., and bearing an umbel of delicate 

 rosy pink fls. The scape twines readily about any stick 

 or bush that stands near it. Lvs. 1 ft. or. more long, 

 keeled, %in. or less broad: corm about 1 in. diam. Cent. 

 Calif. B.M. 6123. G.C. III. 20:687. Cult, as for Bre- 

 voortia Ida-Maia. CARL PURDY. 



STRUTraOPTERIS: Matteuccia. 



STRYCHNOS (an old Greek name used by Theo- 

 phrastus for some plants belonging to Solanaceae). 

 Loganiacese. Scandent shrubs with short tendrils, or 

 trees, of economic importance ; some of the species have 

 been introduced into the southern United States. 



Leaves opposite, in scandent species some axils bear 

 short clavate tendrils ; the adjacent If. being often sup- 

 pressed: cymes terminal or lateral; bracts small: fls. 

 white to yellowish; calyx 5-4-lobed; corolla 5-4-cleft, 

 tube short or long or hardly any, lobes valvate; sta- 

 mens 5 ; ovary 2-celled (or 1 -celled above) : berry glo- 

 bose or oblong. About 220 species, tropics of both 

 hemispheres. 



Nux-v6mica, Linn. Tree attaining a height of 40 ft. : 

 Ivs. ovate, 5-nerved, glabrous, 3)^x2 in.: cymes ter- 

 minal, short-peduncled, 1-2 in. diam.; pedicels hardly 

 any: fls. numerous; corolla-lobes glabrous: berry 1}^ in. 

 diam., globose, many-seeded. India. The seeds yield 

 the drugs, nux-vomica and strychnine, and the bark is 

 somewhat used as a tonic. 



potatSrum, Linn, f . Tree attaining a height of 40 ft. : 

 Ivs. elliptic, 2^2 x 1 in., 3-nerved, subsessile, glabrous or 

 nearly so: cymes axillary, nearly sessile, 1 in. diam.: 

 berry ^-%in. diam. India and Ceylon. The seeds are 

 known as the clearing-nut as they have the property of 

 clearing muddy water when they are rubbed on the 

 inside of the vessel into which it is put. 



spinosa, Lam. Low tree: branchlets slender, armed 

 with pungent spines from the nodes: Ivs. obovate or 

 suborbicular, 5-nerved from near the base, glabrous, 

 subcoriaceous: cymes short, dense, terminal, very com- 

 pound: fls. greenish; calyx-tube very short, segms. 

 linear; corolla-tube short, campanulate, the lobes usu- 

 ally 5, ovate: fr. the size and color of an orange, the 

 shell leathery, the pulp abundant and edible; seeds 

 large. Trop. and S. Afr., Madagascar, and Seychelles. 

 A promising fr. intro. into the S. U. S. 



S. Schumannidna, Gilg (S. Schumanni, Hort.). Tree, 12-22 ft. 

 high with axillary recurved spines: Ivs. decussate, elliptical, gray- 

 pilose on both surfaces: cymes terminal on the gray branches, 

 many-fld.: calyx gray-hirsute, lobes linear; corolla-lobes deltoid- 

 ovoid: fr. edible. Trop. Afr. Reported as intro. into S. Calif, but 

 not successful. S. Volkensii, Gilg. Tree, 30-40 ft. high: branch- 

 lets armed at the nodes with curved pungent spines: Ivs. oblong or 

 oblong-ovate, glabrous: cymes lax, many-fld., from the tip of the 

 branches; sepals ovate; corolla-lobes ovate: fr. shaped like an 

 orange, edible. Trop. Afr. Reported as intro. into S. Calif. 



F. TRACY HTJBBARD. 



STRYPHNODENDRON (Greek, astringent and tree; 

 the bark has a puckery taste) . Leguminosse. Unarmed 

 trees, usually small, with thick branches, grown in the 

 greenhouse and also outdoors in the extreme S.: Ivs. 

 twice pinnate, Ifts. small, many-paired, frequently 

 rather broad: fls. small, hermaphrodite or somewhat 

 polygamous, borne in short-peduncled, axillary spikes, 

 5-merous, sessile; calyx campanulate; petals connate to 

 the middle, finally free; stamens 10, free; ovary short- 

 stipitate, many-ovuled: legume linear, compressed, 

 thick. Nine species in Trop. Amer. 



guianense, Benth. Branchlets subterete, they and 

 the petioles rusty-tomentellous: pinnae 6-12 pairs; Ifts. 

 with 8-10 pairs of divisions, oblique, oval-oblong, 4-5 

 lines long, shiny above, reddish beneath : corolla smooth, 

 about 3 times as long as the calyx: pod straight or 

 slightly incurved. Guiana and intro. into Fla. 



S. floribundum, Benth. (Acacia pulcherrima, Willd.). Spineless: 

 pinnse 13 pairs; Ifts. many pairs, oblong-linear, obtuse, pubescent 

 beneath; petiole pubescent and with 2 convex glands at base: 

 spikes twin, axillary, filiform: fls. 5-parted, pilose. Brazil. 



STUARTIA: Stewartia. 



STYLIDIUM (stylos, a column, referring to the body 

 formed by the union of the stamens and style). Can- 

 dolleacese or Stylididcese. Herbaceous or somewhat 

 woody perennials of many perplexing species mostly in 

 Australia, seldom grown under glass or in the open in 

 mild climates. 



Confusion has arisen in the name of this group, and 

 recent authorities adopt the name Candollea, but Can- 

 dollea is itself confused. In 1805, La Billardiere founded 

 the genus Candollea for the plants which a few months 

 earlier were named Stylidium, Swartz, by Willdenow 

 (Sp. PI. iv. 146). As the first application of the name 

 Candollea was thus invalidated, La Billardiere, in 

 1806, used Candollea for a genus belonging to Dillen- 

 iacese; this is the group described on page 653, Vol. 

 II, now included in Hibbertia by Gilg in Engler & 

 Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien, although kept separate by 

 Bentham in Flora Australiensis and by Bent ham 

 & Hooker in Genera Plantarum. Although the name 

 Stylidium, Swartz, is antedated by Stylidium, Loureiro, 

 founded in 1790 on a plant of the Cornaceae, Swartz's 

 name stands, since Loureiro's Stylidium belongs as a 

 synonym to the earlier genus Alangium (see page 243, 

 Vol. I). According to the International Rules, as well 

 as on the principle of fifty years of accepted usage, it is 

 correct to retain Candollea for the Dilleniaceous plants 

 (page 653) and to use Stylidium for the genus we are 

 now considering, as is done by Bentham & Hooker. 

 Schonland, however, in Engler & Prantl, and, earlier, F. 

 von Mueller, revive the Candollea of 1805 and make 

 Stylidium a synonym, and in this case the Candollea of 

 1806 would become Eeldea of Durand if it is retained 

 as a genus distinct from Hibbertia. According to the 

 Philadelphia or American Code, however, the existence 

 of earlier homonyms, no matter whether valid names or 

 synonyms, prevents the use of Stylidium, Swartz, and 

 of Candollea of 1806, and Forsteropsis would apparently 

 be the name to be used for the Stylidium of Swartz, 

 while Eeldea would replace Candollea. The latest monog- 

 rapher, Mildbraed, in Engler's Pflanzenreich, hft. 35 

 (iv. 278. 1908), adopts Stylidium, Swartz. It may be 

 said in passing that the generic name Candollea has 

 also been used for plants distinct from either of the 

 groups we are here considering, but these applications 

 are of later origin. 



The stylidiums are of very minor importance horti- 

 culturally and scarcely appear in the American trade, 

 although S. adnatum has been listed in southern Cali- 

 fornia. The species are difficult of determination in 

 Australia; Mildbraed describes 103. Most of the 

 species "form a rosette or spreading tuft of radical 

 leaves from the midst of which springs the scape. Some- 

 times the following year the new leaves and scape are 

 close to the old ones, forming a dense, tufted stock, the 

 bases of the leaves sometimes assuming a bulbous 

 appearance; in others, one or two short stems are formed 

 above the old tuft, each crowned by a new rosette and 

 scape, and sometimes several successive tufts of 

 leaves, separated by short stems or branches, may be 

 observed." The plants are more or less lobelia-like, with 

 pink, purplish, yellow, or white fls. in racemes, pani- 

 cles, or cymes; corolla irregular, five-lobed of which 

 four lobes ascend in pairs and the other (the lip) much 

 smaller and deflexed or sometimes nearly as large as 



