SPARAXIS 



SPARTIUM 



more long, usually yellow or purple, and larger anthers. 

 B.M. 779 (fls. primrose inside, flamed purple outside). 

 B.R. 3:258 (fls. white inside, midvein on the back 

 purple). B.M. 541 (Ixin grandiflora. Fls. rich purple, 

 margined lighter). According to Baker, the principal 

 named forms are : atropurpurea, 

 dark purple ; anemonaefldra, 

 pale yellow ; Liliago, white, 

 flushed with claret-purple out- 

 side; and stellaris, dark purple, 

 the segments narrower than the 

 type, oblanceolate and acute 

 rather than oblong. 



tricolor, Ker. Fig. 2358. Dif- 

 fers from S. grandiflora only 

 in the color of the flowers, 

 which are very variable but al- 

 ways have a bright yellow throat 

 and often a dark blotch at the 

 base of each segment. B.M. 

 1482 ; 381 (Ixia tricolor). F.S. 

 2:124. F. 1843:213 (S. picta, 

 purpurea, pulchellaJ. Aecord- 

 ing to Baker, this is the favor- 

 ite species among cultivators. 

 It certainly has the greatest va- 

 riety of colors and markings. 

 In the works cited the floral 

 segments range from nearly 

 white through rose, brick-red, 

 carmine, crimson and light pur- 

 ple to dark purple, excluding 

 blue and yellow, which latter 

 color usually appears in the 

 throat. -^Y jj 



SPARGANIUM (Greek, fillet; 

 referring to the ribbon-like Ivs.) 

 Typhacece. BUR-KEED. Bur- 

 reeds are marsh herbs closely 

 " ^~ allied to cat-tails but with fls. 



2358. Sparaxis tricolor, in globular heads instead of ob- 

 (X^). long spikes. Three hardy per- 



ennial kinds are advertised by 



collectors of native plants and one or two are procurable 

 from specialists in aquatics. Bur-reeds are desirable 

 only in bog gardens or in wild gardening operations. 

 The beauty of these plants often lies in each species 

 being massed alone, as well as in the mixing with other 

 plants. 



Sparganiums have creeping rootstocks and fibrous 

 roots. Some are floating plants. Stems branched or 

 not: Ivs. linear, alternate, sheathing at the base: fls. 

 monoecious, in globose heads, the staminate uppermost: 

 fr. sessile or peduncled, mostly 1-loculed and nut-like. 



A. Inflorescence unbranched. 



simplex, Huds. Stems weak and slender, 1K-2 ft. 

 high, unbranched: Ivs. more or less triquetrous: stami- 

 nate heads 4-6: pistillate 2-6, 5-8 lines in diam.: fr. 

 stalked. June-Aug. N. Amer. B.B. 1:64. 



AA. Inflorescence branched. 



B. Height 3-8 ft. 



eurycarpum, Engelm. Stems stout, 3-8 ft. high, 

 branching: Ivs. linear, flat, slightly keeled beneath: 

 staminate heads numerous, pistillate 2-4 on a stem or 

 branch, 10-16 lines in diam.: fr. sessile. Mav-Aug 

 N. Amer. B.B. 1:63. 



BB. Height 2-3 ft. 



ramdsum, Curt. Lvs. flat: heads 5-9, disposed in ax- 

 illary and terminal, interrupted spikes, the lowest one 

 larger atfi pistillate, the others wholly staminate: pistil- 

 .ate heads 8-10 lines in diam. July. Southern U. S., 

 particularly in mountain bogs. -^ ** 



SPARMANNIA (after Andreas Sparmann, who visited 

 the Cape with Thunberg). Tiliacece. About 5 species 

 of African shrubs or trees with cordate, dentate or 

 lobed leaves and white flowers in terminal, umbelliform 

 cymes: sepals 4; petals 4, naked at the base; stamens 



several, free, the anther -bearing ones interior, the 

 staminodia exterior: capsule globose or ovoid, spiny. 



S. Africana is of easy treatment under glass in a tem- 

 perature never lower than 35, with plenty of air and 

 light. The plants are benefited by being plunged in the 

 garden during the summer and syringed during dry 

 weather. Plants should be potted early in spring. The 

 tips of young shoots root readily with 60 of heat. 



A. Lvs. deeply 5-7-lobed. 



palmata, E. Mey. A slender shrub much smaller in 

 all its parts than S. Africana: branches half herba- 

 ceous: Ivs. on long petioles, the lobes long-acuminate, 

 incisely sinuate and unequally toothed, prominently 5-7- 

 nerved below: fls. white or purplish, densely arranged 

 on the subterminal peduncles: capsule 4-celled. Cult. 

 in S. Calif. 



AA. Lvs. not lobed. 



Africana, Linn. A large shrub or tree, 10-20 ft. high: 

 Ivs. cordate-acuminate, 5-7-angled, unequally toothed, 

 5-6 in. long, 7-9-ribbed below: fls. white, on long, rnany- 

 fld. peduncles: capsule 5-celled. B.M. 516. G.M. 37:233. 

 R.H. 1858, p. 105. Gn. 45:967. -A useful greenhouse 

 plant. Var. flore pleno is also grown. G.C. II. 19:477. 



F. W. BARCLAY. 



Sparmannia Africana is not common in S. California, 

 but is highly esteemed. One in Singleton Court, 25 

 years old, is 12 ft. high and 16 ft. through, and consists 

 of about fifty trunks K-4 inches in diameter. It was in 

 full bloom in January and February and one of the fin- 

 est sights imaginable. It was literally covered with 

 snowballs of 4 inches diameter, and admired by num- 

 bers of people. The blooms were so heavy that the ends 

 of the branches touched the ground, necessitating se- 

 vere pruning as soon as blooms were past beauty. No 

 viburnum, hydrangea or other shrub can compare with 

 it at its blooming season. During the remainder of the 

 year it has the appearance of a clump of basswood suck- 

 ers, the leaves being nearly identical in appearance with 

 those of the basswood. It is therefore a dense mass of 

 broad leaves and looks well anywhere and at any time. 

 This is one of the finest white-flowered shrubs or trees 

 in cultivation. The double variety is not as desirable 

 as the single. ERNEST BRAUNTON. 



SPARROW- GRASS. Provincialism for Asparagus. 



SPARTINA (Greek, spartine, a cord ; on account of 

 the tough leaves). Graminece. Species 7. Perennial 

 marsh plants of various parts of the world, most or all 

 of which are found in the United States. Culms rigid 

 and reed-like: Ivs. coarse and rough, usually becoming 

 rolled inwards: spikelets 1-fld., in rows on two sides of 

 the triangular rachis ; spikes 2-several in a raceme. 



cynosuroldes, Willd. FRESH-WATER CORD-GRASS. In 

 the West known as "Slough-grass." A common coarse 

 fresh-water marsh grass, occurring across the continent 

 in the northern states. Recommended for cultivation 

 along the margins of ponds and artificial lakes. Pro- 



curable from collectors. 



A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



SPARTIUM (Greek spartos, the ancient name of the 

 plant). Syn., Spartidnthns. Legumindsce. Ornamental 

 shrub, with long and slender green branches, small and 

 sparse foliage, and showy papilionaceous yellow fls. in 

 terminal racemes. It is a handsome shrub especially, 

 adapted for warmer and drier regions; in the East it is 

 probably hardy as far north as Philadelphia. It becomes 

 naturalized easily, as happened in several localities in 

 S. America, whence it was afterwards described as S. 

 Americanum, Meyen. It grows in almost any kind of 

 well-drained soil and is well suited for planting on ex- 

 posed sandy and rocky situations. Prop, by seeds and 

 by greenwood cuttings under glass. One species in the 

 Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands. Allied 

 to Genista and Cytisus, but chiefly distinguished by the 

 1-lipped calyx : Ivs. simple: fls. in terminal, loose ra- 

 cemes; calyx split above, hence 1-lipped, tip with 5 mi- 

 nute teeth; keel incurved, acuminate: pod linear, com- 

 pressed, many-seeded; seeds with callose appendage at 

 the base like in Genista. The slender branches yield 



