S C I 



SCO 



The second specits has a scaly root like the 

 Lily ; it is oblou'i; and vellow, very likt' that of 

 jVIartaoon; the leaves are shaped like those of the 

 Wliite Lily, but are smaller: the stalk is slender, 

 and rises a foot high ; it is terminated bv blue ' 

 tlc-.vers, which appear in June. It is a native 

 cf Spain, I'onuoal, <n:c. 



The third has a roundish solid bulb, like that 

 of the hyacinth : the leaves come out sparsedlv, 

 and are very like those of the PJnulish hare-bells : 

 tlie stem seven or eight inches high, terminated 

 by clustered flowers of a pale blue colour; at 

 first disposed in a sort ef umbel or d'epressed 

 spike, but afterwards drawing up to a point and 

 foririing a conical corymb. 



The fourth species has a large solid root, 

 raised a litlle ]iyramidal in the middle, covered 

 villi a brown coat, from this come out before 

 Avinter five or seven leaves, six or eight inches 

 long, of a lucid green, keeled, and spreading 

 almost flat on the ground : from the centre of 

 these come out one, two, or three scapes, 

 thick, succulent, six or e'ght inches high, ter- 

 minated by a conical corymb of flowers, upon 

 prettv long ])edicels. 



There are varieties with a deep blue, and with 

 a white flower ; it is often known bv the name 

 of Hyacinth of Peru. It is a native of Spain, Por- 

 tugal, and Barbary. 



The fifih has a large solid purplish root, from 

 which come out five or six leaves, lying on the 

 ground, above a loot lonsr, and an inch broad, 

 keeled, channelled, and of a lucid green ; from 

 among these arise two, three, or four purplish 

 s'alks, eight or nine inches high, sustaining to- 

 wards the top five or six flowers, which come 

 out singly from the side; they are of a violet- 

 blue colour, and appear in April. It is a native 

 of the Levant. 



In the sixth species the bulb is oblong, white, 

 whence come out five or six leaves, a foot long, 

 and half an inch broad, of a lucid green, and a 

 little keeled: scape nine or ten inches high, 

 firm, and sustaining many flowers at the top, 

 disposed in a loose panicle, each on a pretty 

 long pedicel which is erect, but the flower it- 

 self nods: the corolla is of a deep blue violet 

 colour- It is a native of Spain and Portugal, 

 ■flowering in May. 



The seventh has the bulb ovate- roundish, 

 coated, whitish : the leaves numerous, much 

 shorter than the scape, two or three inches long, 

 linear, obtuse, channelled, spreading, scape from 

 three or four to six inches in height, round, 

 upright, striated, below whitish green, above 

 purplish, appearing villose when magnified. 

 Sometimes there is a second scape : the flowers 

 six, ten, or even twenty in a corymb, which is 



soon lengthened out into a raceme. It is a na- 

 tive of France. Spain, &c. 



It is observed that " most old writers distiii- 

 guish a larger and a smaller sort; but these difler 

 'merely in size : and some have noticed a variety 

 with white flowers." 



Culture. — These plants may be increased by 

 offsets from the roots, and by seeds, but the 

 first is the better mode. 



The oflsets may be taken off every other year, 

 and be planted out at the lime the leaves and 

 stems decay. 



The seed should be sown in the autumn, on 

 light mould in shallow boxes or pans, in the 

 same manner as in the Hyacinth, the same cir- 

 cumstances being attended to in the culture. 

 'l"he plants are long in flowering in this way, 

 except in the last species, which should have, a 

 dry loamy soil. 



The first sort, as being a native of the sea-shores, 

 cannot be well propagated in other situations, 

 as the plants are apt to be destroyed by the frosts 

 in winter, and to grow indifferently in the sum- 

 mer season from the want of salt \\ ater. 



They afford variety in the beds and borders 

 of pleasure-grounds. 



SCORPION SENNA. See Coeonilla. 

 SCORPIUKUS, a genus containing hardy 

 herbaceous plants of the annual kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Diadelphia 

 Decundna, and ranks in the natural order of. 

 PapUioiiacecB or Leguminosce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a simple- 

 umbel : perianth one-leafed, erect, inflated, 

 very slightly compressed, half-five cleft, acute: 

 teeth almost equal : the upper ones less divided: 

 the corolla papilionaceous: banner roundish, 

 emarginate, reflexed, spreading : wings sub- 

 ovate, loose, with a blunt appendix : keel half- 

 mooned, with the belly gibbous, acuminate, 

 erect, two-parted below : the stamina have 

 diadelphous filaments, (simple and nine-cleft,) 

 ascending : anthers small : the pistillum is an 

 oblong germ, cylindrical, a little reflexed : style 

 bent-in upwards : stigma a terminating point : 

 the pericarpium is an oblong legume, subcylin- 

 drical, coriaceous, striated, rugged, revolute, 

 divided internally into several transverse cells, 

 obscurely knobbed externally by the contraction 

 of the joints : the seeds are solitary, roundish. 



The species cultivated are : I. S. vermiadata. 

 Common Caterpillar; 2. S. muricato, Two- 

 flowered Caterpillar ; 3. S. sulcata, Furrowed 

 Caterpillar. 



The first has the stalks herbaceous, trailin>r, above 

 a foot long, lying on the ground, and having at 

 each joint a spatulate leaf on a long footstalk ; 

 the peduncles axillary, sustaining at the top one 



