412 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



SHA 



imperfectly acquainted with the Irish lan- 

 guage, the word shamsog might easily be con- 

 founded with the name Shamrock, if they 

 judged by the eye, as S and K have nearly the 

 same form in the Irish alphabet. Clearly, 

 then, Shamrock, or, to give it its true orthog- 

 raphy, Seamarog (Trifolium minus) could 

 never have been used for Wood Sorrel, except 

 through ignorance, as Seamar is the generic 

 name of all the species of Trifolium, and 

 could never have been applied to so utterly 

 different a plant as Oxalis acetosella." Others, 

 however, argue that in the days of St. Patrick 

 Ireland was very thickly wooded, and that as 

 his meetings would, in all probability, be held 

 in their shelter, where the Oxalis is so very 

 plentiful as to be in many places the only 

 covering, it would be most readily used by 

 St. Patrick to illustrate his subject. Mr. 

 Mackay, in " Flora Hibernica," says, "that old 

 authors said it was a sour, indigenous plant, 

 showing itself on St. Patrick's day, and that 

 it was eaten." He therefore concludes that 

 it was not Trifolium repens but undoubtedly 

 Oxalis Acetosella. We understand that nowa- 

 days any species of Clover with a tripartite 

 leaf is used indiscriminately, Trifolium fili- 

 formK and Medicago lupulina being worn with 

 other species in Dublin on St. Patrick's day. 



Shamrock Pea. A name given to Parochetus 

 communis. 



Sheath. A part which is rolled round a stem 

 or other body, as the lower part of the leaf 

 that surrounds the stem. 



Sheep Berry. Viburnum Lentago. 



Sheep Laurel. See Kalmia angustifolia. 



Sheep's Scabious. See Jasione. 



Sheep's Sorrel. Rumex acetosella. 



Sheffe'ldia repens, is a little New Zealand 

 creeping plant of the Nat. Ord. Primulacece, 

 with small, slender stems and small leaves. 

 It is perfectly hardy, producing tiny white 

 flowers in summer, and is an interesting plant 

 for the rock- work or rock-garden. 



Shell-bark Hickory. See Carya. 



Shell-Flower. See Chelone. 



Shell-Flower. Mexican. Tigridia conchiflora. 



Shephe'rdia. Named after the late John Shep- 

 herd, 'Curator of the Botanic Garden of Liver- 

 pool. Nat. Ord. ElceagnacecB. 



A small genus of native shrubs or low- 

 growing trees common on the banks of the 

 Missouri River. They are favorite plants for 

 shrubbery or lawn decoration, on account of 

 their blooming very early in spring and their 

 fine appearance in autumn, when their 

 branches are thickly clad with rich clusters of 

 crimson berries, resembling somewhat, in 

 color and size, the common red Currant. 

 They are popularly known as the Buffalo- 

 berry, Rabbit-berry, and sometimes as Beef- 

 suet trees. Syn. Ekeagnus. 



Shepherd's Club, or Shepherd's Flannel. Pop- 

 ular names for Verbascum Thapsus. 



Shepherd's Knot. Tormentilla officinalis. 



Shepherd's Purse. Capsella Bursa-pastoris, one 

 of our most common weeds. Introduced from 

 Europe. 



Shield Fern. See Aspidium 



Shield Flower. The popular name for Aspi- 

 distra. 



SHR 



Shield Shaped. Round or oval and flat, with 



stalk attached to the lower surface. 

 Shin-leaf. The popular name of Pyrola elliptica. 



Shittim Wood. Supposed to be the timber of 

 Acacia nilotica. 



Shoeblack Plant or Shoe Tree. A common 

 name for Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. 



Shooting Star. A western name for the Dode- 

 catheon Meadia, which see. 



Shoots. Blind. A name given to such shoots 

 as do not flower, but which are often utilized 

 for cuttings, as in Roses, Carnations, etc. 



Sho'rtia. A genus placed by Professor Asa 

 Gray in the sub-order Galacinece, of the Nat. 

 Ord. Diapensiacece. It differs vory slightly 

 botanically from Galax. S. galacifolia is in- 

 teresting, not only as being one of our rarest 

 native plants, but on account of Professor 

 Gray's persistent endeavors to re-discover it. 

 When he was in Europe in 1839, while exam- 

 ining the herbarium of the elder Michaux, 

 collected in 1788 and preserved in the Museum 

 at Paris, he found an unnamed specimen of a 

 plant with the habit of Pyrola and the foliage 

 of Galax, of which only the leaves and a single 

 fruit were preserved, and which had been 

 collected, the label said, in the "Hautes mon- 

 tagnes de Carolinie." Two years later, having 

 in vain searched for Michaux's plant, he ven- 

 tured to describe it upon the strength of the 

 scanty material already mentioned, dedicat- 

 ing it to Dr. C. W. Short, the author of a cat- 

 alogue of the plants of Kentucky. Attention 

 having thus been drawn to it, diligent search 

 was made by eager botanists through all the 

 mountainous region to which Michaux's label 

 assigned the plant, but without success, until 

 in May, 1877, it was re-discovered by Mr. G. 

 Hyams on the banks of the Catawba River, 

 near the town of Marion, at a considerable 

 distance from the original station. These new 

 specimens, gathered when the plant was in 

 flower, confirmed at once Professor Gray's 

 original ideas of the proper relationship of 

 his genus, and enabled him to complete its 

 characters and remodel the family to which it 

 belonged. Its nearest allies are Galax aphylla, 

 a beautiful evergreen herb with tall, erect 

 racemes of pure white flowers, found on the 

 southern slopes of the western Alleghanies, 

 and the beautiful little Pixidanthera barbulata, 

 of the New Jersey pine-barrens. 



Showy Orchis. See Orchis. 



Shrub. A woody plant which does not form a 

 true trunk like a tree, but has several stems 

 rising from the roots. 



Shrubberies. This term is usually applied to 

 a plantation of shrubs, which are generally 

 arranged and planted with a view to produc- 

 ing an effect throughout the summer, but, by 

 making a suitable selection and arranging 

 with judgment, they may be rendered attract- 

 ive, either in the flower or foliage, through- 

 out the whole year. As a boundary or 

 screen, dividing cultivated from wild grounds, 

 or as a background for a mixed border in a 

 flower garden, evergreen shrubs are unsur- 

 passed. A large number of subjects, both 

 evergreen and deciduous, may be planted in a 

 mixed shrubbery, though forest-trees should 

 not be admitted, or, if they are, merely with 

 a view to their subsequent removal. The 



