380 DICTIONAPwY OF POPULAR NAMES SKUNK 



(Umbelliferse), native of China, introduced more than 300 

 years ago, and cultivated as a vegetable ; the root, which is like 

 a radish, and about the thickness of the finger, is the part used. 

 It is now seldom seen. 



Skunk Cabbage [Symplocarpus fatidus), a perennial plant 

 of the Arum family (Aroideae) ; it has simple leaves, the flowers 

 are contained in a spathe, which has a fetid smell like the 

 animal called the skunk. It is a native of North America, 

 where it is held in medical reputation, its roots and seeds in 

 cases of coughs, and its leaves in healing ulcers. 



Slipper Flower. {See Calceolaria.) 



Sloak, or Slook. {See Laver.) 



Sloe, also called Blackthorn {Fritnus spmosa), a rigid prickly 

 shrub of the Plum family (Drupacese) growing in hedges in 

 this country, its pretty white flowers making it very ornamental 

 in the month of May. Its fruit is harsh, and too austere to 

 be eaten ; in Germany a spirit is distilled from it. Its wood is 

 hard and takes a fine polish, and is used for walking-sticks, and 

 for making handles for carpenters' and other tools. The leaves 

 when dried make the best substitute for Chinese tea, and were 

 at one time extensively used in its adulteration. 



Smut {Ustilago segetum), a dust fungus common to the 

 Grass family (Gramineai) ; it affects wheat, barley, oats, Indian 

 corn, and dhoora, often doing considerable damage to the crops. 

 It destroys the young grain in the ear, which becomes a sooty 

 mass of closely-packed fungus spores, which ultimately break 

 up, and are dispersed by the wind or fall to the ground, where 

 they are ready to attack and impregnate the sprouting grains of 

 the next year's crop. Experiments made by the celebrated 

 microscopist and botanical artist Francis Bauer show that the 

 spores are absorbed into the tissues of the plant, and carried up 

 until they reach the ear, where they develop and multiply to 

 the destruction of the grain. 



Allied to the preceding is another grain-destroyer called 

 Bunt or Pepper Brand {Ustilago fcetida) ; like the preceding, 

 it is common to corn crops, but in this case the ear is only 



