S E S 



S E S 



SERUSKUI, a town of European Turkey, in Romania; 

 30 miles N. of Gallipoli. 



SERWEEZ, a town of Ruffian Lithuania; 64 milei 

 E. of Wilna. 



SERWEL, a province of the Cuttore country. 



SERWOY, in Natural Hi/lory, a name given by 

 Theodore de Bry, and others, to the animal called by us 

 the opojfum, and by the natives of Brafil the carigueya. 



SERYA, in Geography, a town of Hindoollan, in Oude ; 

 32 mile? S.W. of Lucknow. 



SESA, a town of Nubia, on the Nile ; 210 miles S.S.W. 

 of Syene. 



SESAMION, a word ufed by the ancients to exprefs a 

 preparation of the fcfamum, or oily grain. It was a cake 

 made of fefamum, honey, and oil. 



SESAMOID, in Anatomy, a name given to fome fmall 

 bones of the thumb and great toe. See Extremities. 



SESAMOIDES, in Botany, a name firft pubhfhed by 

 Clufius, as applied at Salamanca to two very different plants, 

 neither of them bearing any evident refemblance to Sefamum. 

 Thefe are Silene Otites and Refeda SefamoiHes ; fee Reseda 

 and SiLENE. Tournefort has founded on the lait-men- 

 tioned fpecies, along with R. canefcens TtnA purpurafcens, his 

 genus SefamoHes, Inft. 424. t. 238, whofe charafter de- 

 pends on the deep divifions of the ripe fruit, each of which 

 embraces a feed, and feems a diftindt capflile. But this is 

 only one inftancc, amongft others, of the proteus like nature 

 of the very peculiar genus of Refeda. 



SESAMUM, an ancient Latin name, o-nTapiv in Greek, 

 for which fome vague derivations have been propofed, but 

 which appears, as profeflor Martyn obferves, to have been 

 taken from Sempfem, the Egyptian name of the fame plant, 

 or grain, the ufe of which, as food, has been, from the molt 

 remote antiquity, common in the Eaft. Thofe who have 

 read the Arabian tales, will not forget the magic power of 



the word Sefame Linn. Gen. 323. Schreb. 422 ■ Willd. 



Sp. PI. V. 3. 358. Mart. Mill. Did. V. 4. Ait. Hort. 

 Kew. V. 4. 52. Juff. 138. Lamarck lUultr. t. 528. 

 Grertn. t. no. — Clafs and order, Didynamia Angio/permia. 

 Nat. Ord. Lurldx, L,\nn. Bignsnu, Jui^. 



Gen. Ch. Ca/. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, ereft, ihort, 

 permanent, in five deep, equal, lanceolate fegments, of 

 which the upper one is ftorteit. Cor. of one petal, bell- 

 (haped ; tube roundifh, almoft as long as the calyx ; throat 

 inflated, fpreading, bell-diaped, very large, declining ; limb 

 in five fegments, four of v.'hich are fpreading, and nearly 

 equal, the fifth, which is the lowcrnioll, ovate, ftraight, 

 twice as long as the reft. Stam. Filaments four, originating 

 from the tube, fhorter than the corolla, tapering, afcending, 

 the two inncrmoll fhortelt ; anthers oblong, acute, ercft ; 

 there is an imperfeft filament befidcs. Pi/l. Gcrmen fu- 

 perior, ovate, hairy ; llyle thread-(hapcd, afcending, rather 

 longer than the ftamcns ; lligma lanceolate, deeply divided 

 into two parallel plates. Perk. Capfule oblong, obfcurely 

 quadrangular, comprelTcd, pointed, of two valves and four 

 cells. Seedt numerous, nearly ovate. 



EfT. Ch. Calyx in five deep fegments. Corolla bell- 

 fhaped, five-cleft at the border ; the To well fegment largelt. 

 A rudiment of a fifth filament. Stigma lanceolate, divided. 

 Capfule of four cells. 



Obf. Linnaeus remarks that the flower agrees with Digi- 

 talis, but the fruit is widely different. 



\. ?i. orientate. Common Sefamum or Oily-grain. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 883. Willd. n. I. Alt. n. I. (Sefamum feu 

 Sempfem ; Alpin. .£gypt. 98. t. 100. S. five Sliamiim ; 

 Ger. Em. 1232.) — Leaves ovate-oblong, undivided; the 

 lower ones fomewhat ferraled. — Native of the Eall Indies. 

 Voj.. XXXII. 



A tender annual, occafionally raifed, for the fake of curi- 

 ofity, in the (loves of Europe. The oil of its feeds is 

 much ufcd in Egypt and the Eaft, being preferred to that 

 of the olive. The feeds themfelves are alfo a great article 

 of food. An external application of the herb, cither in 

 the form of a fomentation or cataplafm, is fuppofed to be 

 ufeful in cutaneous, and various other, diforders. The roDt 

 is fibrous. Stem ereft, near two feet high, branched, 

 round, fmooth, leafy. Leaves oppofite, ftalked, more or 

 lefs ovate, one and a half to three inches long, finely downy ; 

 paler beneath ; the upper ones entire ; the lower often 

 coarfely toothed, but not lobed or divided. Floiuers ax- 

 illary. If alked, white, about an inch long. Calyx and co- 

 rolla hairy. Capfule eieft, beaked, an inch long, tranf- 

 verfely furrowed, rough with minute clofe-preffed hairs. 



2. S. luteum. Yellow- flowered Sefamum. Retz. Obf. 

 fafc. 6. 31. Willd. n. 2. — " Leaves lanceolate, on long 

 ilalks. Corolla externally hifpid." — Found by Koenig, 

 in groves at Nidrapur, in the Eaft Indies. "The flem is 

 upright, leafy, very little zig-zag. Leaves alternate, acute, 

 rough at the edges, as well as the ribs beneath, with very 

 fhort hairs. Flotvers axillary, folitary, each on a ftiort 

 ftalk, which proceeds from the bafe of the footllalk it- 

 felf. Calyx and capfule hifpid. Corolla deep yellow. Ret- 

 zius. 



3. S. indicum. Indian Sefamum. Linn. Sp. PI. 884. 

 Willd. n. 3. Rumph. Amboin. v. j. 204. t. 76. f. I. 

 (S.alterum, fohis trifidis, orientale, femine obfcuro ; Pluk. 

 Phyt. t. 109. f. 4.) — Lower leaves ternate, or three-lobed, 

 ferrated ; upper undivided. Stem ereifl — Native of the 

 Eaft Indies, Mauritius, &c. Differs from the firft fpecies 

 principally in the divifion of its lower leaves. The Jloivert 

 are whitilh, compared by Rumphius to thofe of Henbane. 

 Both calyx and corolla are externally hairy, as in S. orientale. 

 There is a variety with black, and another with brown or 

 greyifti, feeds. Both are ufed in Amboyna, but the latter 

 is preferred. 



4. S. laciniatum. Jagged Sefamum. Willd. n. 4. — 

 " AH the leaves deeply three-cleft, jagged. Stem prof- 

 trate, hifpid." — Gathered by Klein, in the Eaft Indies, 

 near Hydrabad. — The Jlem is branched, the extremities 

 of its branches only afcending. Leaves oppofite, on fhort 

 ftalks, rough on both fides ; whitilh beneath ; their feg- 

 ments blunt, deeply toothed. Flowers axillary, folitary, on 

 very ftiort ilalks. Capfule obtufe at each end, tipped with 

 the broad permanent ttylc. Willdenow. 



Both this and the preceding may poffibly be mere va- 

 rieties of the firft fpecies. S- luteum appears to be 

 diftinft. 



5. S. proflratum. Dwarf Hoary Sefamum. Retz. 

 Obf. fafc. 4.28. (Euphrafiae affinis pufilla planta, pcri- 

 carpio lignofo oblongo quadrate bivalvi ; Pluk. Amalth. 8y. 

 t. 373. f. 2.) — Leaves roundifli, toothed, hifpid; hoary 

 beneath. Stem proftrate, villous — Native of loofe fands 

 near Madras ; very rare clfewhere. Ktcnig, Rottlcr, Root 

 woody, tiiick and ilrong, evidently perennial. Stems 

 fevcral, woody at the bale, about a fpan long, much 

 branched, leafy, villmis, fpreading flat on the ground in 

 every diredlion. Leaves o\->-pciC\Xe, ftalked, fmall, from one 

 quarter to three quarters of an inch long, obtufe or abrupt, 

 coarfely toothed, often wedge-ftiaped at the bafe ; the upper 

 furface hairy ; lower white and cottony ; the upper ones, 

 beyond the flowers, often alternate. 7'7oiwr/ axillary, foli- 

 tary, ftalked, thrice as long as the leave-;, very handfomc. 

 Corolla externally dlaggy and hoary ; internally yellow, 

 beautifully ftaincd and dotted with blood-red. Capfule 

 ovate, quadrangular, hard, woody, hairy, fcarccly more than 



U \\ half 



