SAC 



SAL 



mina have three capillary filam^nti, the length 

 of the corolla : anthers somewhat oblong: the 

 pistilliini is an oblong germ : styles two, fea- 

 thered : stigmas plumose : there is no pericar- 

 pium : corolla invests the seed : the seed single, 

 oblong. 



The species cultivated is S. officinarum, Com- 

 mon Sugar-cane. 



It has a jointed root, like that of other sorts 

 of cane or reed : from this arise four, five, or 

 more shoots, proportionable to the age or 

 strength of the root, eight or ten feet high, ac- 

 cording to the goodness of the ground : in some 

 moist rich soils, canes have been measured near 

 twenty feet long; but these are not near so good 

 as those of middling growth ; abounding in 

 juice, but having little of the essential salt : the 

 canes are jointed, and these joints are more or 

 less distant, in proportion to the soil : a leaf is 

 placed at each joint, and the base of it embraces 

 the stalk to the next joint above its insertion, 

 before it expands j hence to the point it is three 

 or four feet in length, according to the vigour of 

 the plant ; there is a deep whitish furrow or hol- 

 lowed midrib, which is broad and prominent, 

 on the under side ; the edges are thin, and armed 

 with small sharp teeth, which are scarcely to be 

 discerned by the naked eye, but \vill cut the 

 skin of a tender hand, if it be drawn along it : 

 the flowers are produced in panicles at the top of 

 the stalks ; are from two to three feet long, and 

 composed of many spikes nine or ten inches in 

 length, which are again subdivided into smaller 

 spikes : these have long dow n inclosing the flow- 

 ers, so as to hide them from sight : the seed is 

 oblong-pointed, and ripens in the valves of the 

 flower. It is a native of both the Indies, and 

 the Islands of the South Seas. 



There are three remarkable varieties mentioned 

 by Loureiro, differing in the culm, not in the 

 flower: the White Sugar-cane, with the culm 

 long, white, of a middling size, very sweet, the 

 knots distant ; the Red Sugar-cane, with the culm 

 short, thicker, red, very juicy, the knots ap- 

 proximate; the Elephantine Sugarcane, with 

 the culm very thick, red, long, less sweet, the 

 knots approximate : and there are, probably, no 

 others in a plant so much cultivated. 



Culture. — This plant is capable of being in- 

 creased by slips or suckers from the root, and by 

 cuttings of the main stalks ; but here generally 

 by slips from the bottom ; or any side-shoots 

 arising from the stems near the root, having 

 earth raised about the bottom part will soon 

 emit fibres, and be fit for separation : the slips 

 or offsets may be taken off at any season iiv 

 which they appear lit for the pur'poso, being 



careful to detach them with some fibres to each, 

 and plant them separately in pots of rich earth, 

 plunging them in the bark-bed, watering and 

 occasionally shading them till they have got root, 

 retaining them always in the bark-bed in the 

 stove, treating them as other exotics of that sort. 



They aflbrd variety among other stove plants, 



SAFFLOVVER. See Carthamus. 



SAFFRON. See Crocus. 



SAGE. See Salvia. 



SAGE OF JERUSALEM. See Phlomis. 



SAINT ANDREW'S CROSS. See Ascr- 



RUM. 



SAINT BARNABY'S THISTLE. See Cen- 



TAUREA. 



SAINT JOHN'S BREAD. See Ceratonia. 



SAINT JOHN'S WORT. See Hypericum. 



SAINT PETER'S WORT. See Hypericum. 



SALIX, a genus containing plants of the de- 

 ciduous tree aquatic kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Dioec'ia Di- 

 aiidria, and ranks in the natural order of Amen- 

 taccic. 



The characters are : that in the male the calyx 

 is an ament oblong, imbricate every w«y, con- 

 structed of an involucre from the bud, consist- 

 ing of scales one-flowered, oblong, flat, spread- 

 ing : there is no corolla : petals none : nectary 

 a gland cylindric, very small, truncate, mellife- 

 rous, in the centre of the flower : the stamina 

 have two straight, filiform filaments, longer than 

 the calyx : anthers twin, four-celled — female ; 

 the calyx ament and scales as in the male : there 

 is no corolla: the pistillum is an ovate germ, at- 

 tenuated into a style scarcely distinct, a little 

 longer than the scales of the calyx : stigmas two, 

 bilid, erect: the pericarpium is an ovate-subu- 

 late capside, one-ctUcd, two-valved : valves re- 

 volute : the seeds numerous, ovale, very small,^ 

 and crowned with a simple hirsute pappus oi 

 down. 



The species cultivated are: 1. S. triandrOf 

 Long-leaved Three-stamened Willow ; 2. S. 

 penlundra. Bay-leaved Willow ; 3. S. viteU'ma, 

 Yellow Willow; 4. S. amygdalina. Broad- 

 leaved Three stamened Willow ; 5. S. haslaia, 

 Halbert-leaved Willow ; 6. S. fragllis, Crack 

 Willow; 7. S. Babijlonica, Weeping Willow ; 

 8. S. purpurea. Bitter Purple Willow ; 9. S. 

 Helix, Rose Willow ; 10. S.jiisa, Basket Osier; 

 11. S. rubra. Green Osier; 12. ^S. caprea, 

 Roimd-leaved Sallow ; 13. S. c/«erea, Cinereous- 

 leaved Sallow; 14. 5. alba, White Willow; 

 \5. S. vhnuKilh, Osier. 



The first is naturally a tree thirty feet or more 

 in height,, but being one of the best osiers for 

 the use of basket-makers is generally cut and 



