394 DICTIOXAP.Y OF POPULAR NAMES STRA:\I0NIUM 



Jacob, but its nature of growth is such that its branches can 

 scarcely be called rods. Liquid Storax is furnished by Liquid- 

 miibar orientalis, a small tree of the family Hamamelidese, native 

 of Asia Minor, as also by L. altingia, a tree native of the 

 Malayan Archipelago. 



Stramonium. {See Datura.) 



Straw, the culms (flower-stalks) of wheat, barley, oats, 

 and rye, which, after being deprived of their grains, furnish the 

 straw used for many purposes in domestic economy — such as 

 thatching, making baskets, beehives, cradles, hassocks, and mats, 

 as also hats and bonnets, the latter being generally made of 

 wheat straw, which forms an important part of the occupation 

 of the people of St. Albans, Dunstable, and Luton. The large 

 fashionable bonnets worn fifty years ago, which came from 

 Italy^ and were called Leghorn bonnets, were made of Triticitm 

 Spelta. (See Spelt.) 



Their high price, £2 each, led the celebrated political writer 

 "William Cobbett to endeavour to find a native grass capable of 

 making as flue bonnets as the expensive Leghorn. He selected 

 the sweet-scented vernal grass Antlioo:anthum odoratum. He 

 employed two women to collect it in Kew Gardens, but the 

 project proved a failure. The large sun-hats of India are made 

 of wheat straw. 



Strawberry. — Fragaria resca and F. clatior, perennial herbs 

 of the Eose famil}^ (Eosaceae). These are the wild or native 

 strawberries of this country. They were the only ones known 

 in early times. The cry " Strawberry ripe " was to be heard in 

 London 400 years ago. After the introduction of F. virginiana 

 from Xorth America, F. chilcnsis from South America, and F. 

 graiidiflora from Surinam, by crossing them with the native 

 species many fine varieties were obtained, such as the Alpine, 

 hautbois, scarlet, pine, and others. Of late years much atten- 

 tion has been paid to the cultivation of strawberries, and 

 fruits of the size of small apples are now to be seen at horti- 

 cultural exhibitions. Before the time of railwavs and lidit 

 spring vans, strawberries were conveyed to the London markets 



