264" EXPLANATION OF 



The terms are applied also to the down of seeds, 

 when there is no pillar, or stalk, between it and the 

 seed. [Wood-cut, page 210.] 



SKINNY; like skin, or gold-beater's leaf ; thin, tough, 

 and transparent. 



SOLITARY; flowers, seeds, or leaves, are so called, 

 when only one grows upon the same part of a 

 plant. 



SPATHA. See SHEATH. 



SPEAR-SHAPED ; shaped like the head of a spear : as 

 the leaves of the Mouse-ear. [Plate 8.] 



SPECIES ; a group of plants, which agree in the general 

 structure of their flowers and fruit, and therefore 

 belong to the same Genus ; but which differ in the 

 characters of their stem, leaves, and other parts. 



SPECIFIC NAME ; Linnaeus used these words in a dif- 

 ferent sense from that which is now frequently 

 connected with them. His " specific names " were 

 brief enumerations of the essential differences of 

 the species, derived from the number, figure, situa- 

 tion, and proportion of the parts of plants. What 

 we now commonly speak of as the specific name, 

 consisting of one word only, was called by Linnaeus 

 the " Trivial name/' (See TRIVIAL.) 



SPIKE ; a number of sessile flowers, placed alter- 

 nately on each side of a simple fruit-stalk : as in 

 lavender, the ear of wheat or barley, and many of 

 the Grasses. 



SPI'KET (a little spike) : a part or subdivision of a 

 spike : chiefly applied to the Grasses. [Plate 6.] 



SPOKES ; the little stalks which support the umbel- 



