S E S 



S E S 



SESLERIA, in Botany, received that appellation from 

 Scopoli, who in the firft edition of his excellent Flora Car- 

 niohca, fays, he could never forget the delightful garden, fo 

 rich in fcarce plants, wliich he often ufed to vifit, while at 

 Venice, in the year 1745. It was formed in the idand of 

 St. Helen, by Dr. Leonard Sefler, whcie great diligence in 

 obferving and cultivating plants jullly f ititled him, in Sco- 

 poli's opinion, to this botanical commc noration. A letter 

 of his, defcribing a fuppoied new gen': . under the name of 

 Vitaliana, is fubjoined to Donali's St -u Naturale del Adri- 

 at'ico, but Linnsus reduced the plar.t to Primula. — Scop. 

 Carn. ed. i. 1S9. Sm. Fl. Brit. 93. Prodr. Fl. Grasc. 

 Sibth. V. I. 52. Ait. Hon. Kew. v. i. 13-3. Juil. 31. 

 Lamarck Did. v. 7. 138. Ulu.h. t. 47. — Clafs and 

 order, Triandria Digynia. Nat. O- i Gramina. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Glume of two, nerrly equal, ovato-lan- 

 ceolate, concave, pointed valves, ccitaining about three 

 flowers. Cor. of two unequal, erecl parallel, acute, valves ; 

 the inner folded, two-ribbed, clo -or ; outer rather the 

 longelt, entire or three-cleft. Slam. Filiments three, capil- 

 lary, longer than the fluwer ; anthers i^endulous, oblong, 

 cloven at each end. Pi/l- Germen fuperior, ovate ; ityles 

 two, various in length, capillary, more or lefs combined ; 

 ftigmas oblong, cylindrical, feathery. Perk, none, except 

 the corolla, which embraces the leed, but is not attached to 

 it. Seed fohtary, ovate, fraooth. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx of two valves, containing about three 

 florets. Corolla of two valves ; the inner cloven ; the outer 

 varioufly pointed. Styles united at their bafe. 



1. S. carulea. Blue Moor-grafs. Scop. Carn. ed. 2. 

 V. 1.63. Fl. Brit. n. i. Engl. Bot. t. 1613. Knapp 

 Gram. t. 43. Ait. n. i. Arduin. Spec. 2. 18. t. 6. 

 f. 3 — 5. Poiret in Lam. Did. n. i. Hoft Gram. Auftr. 

 V. 2. 69. t. 98. (Cynofuruscxruleus ; Linn. Sp. PI. 106. 

 WiUd. Sp. PI. v. 1.414. Ehrh. Calam. 14. Mart. Ruft. 

 t. 20. Jacq. Ic. Rar. v. I. t. 21. Gramen glumis variis ; 

 Bauh. Pin. 10. Prodr. 21. Theatr. 158. Scheuchz. 

 Agr. 83. t. II. f. 9. A, B.) — Spike ovate-oblong, im- 

 bricated. Brafteas alternate. Outer petals with three 

 teeth. — Native of mountainous paftures, or calcareous rocks, 

 in various parts of Europe, flowering in the early part of 

 fummer. It occurs in Weltmoreland and Scotland, but not 

 frequently. The root is perennial, tufted, deeply defcending, 

 witFi long firm fibres. Stems a fpan or more in height, 

 iimple, round, without joints, fmooth, naked, except at the 

 bafe. Leaves linear, obtufe, recurved, broadifh, keeled, 

 rough-edged ; each with a fhort, tubular, comprefl^cdySfa/A, 

 and a very miuWie Jlipula . Spike terminal, folitary, ere<S, an 

 inch or inch and halt long, of a (hining purplifh-grey, with 

 folitary, jagged, membranous IraBcas, of the fame colour, at 

 the bafe of fome of the lowcriyivjll fpikelt-ts. Tm fpikelets 

 are rather numerous, ufually turned one way, and molUy in 

 pairs, each of two or three flowers. Calyx with fhort awns. 

 Petals ribbed ; the outer with tliree teeth, the middle tooth 

 flightly awned; inner petal with two equal teeth; all the 

 ribs fringed. .S/y/« joined at the lower part only. 



2. S. alha. White Moor-grafs. Sm. Fl. Gra^c. Sibth. 

 v. I. 56. t. 72. V. 2. 2. (Carex dubia ; Sibth. MSS.) — 

 Spike ovate-oblong, imbricated. Bradtcas alternate. Outer 

 petals lanceolate, acute, undivided. — Difcovered by Dr. 

 Sibthorp, in woods about the village of Belgrad, near Con- 

 ftantinople. The general afpeft of this grafs, fo like fome 

 ot our common fpteies of Cares, with compound andro- 

 gynous fpikes, eafily led its learned difcoverer to refer it to 

 that genus. He was, at the fame time, too accurate to over- 

 look the differences of its generic charaAer ; though not 

 fufficiently acquainted with Sejleria, to perceive its agreement 



herewith. This fpecies is fomewhat larger in every part 

 than the foregoing, and has a creeping root, fheathed with 

 the wnnkled bafes of old leaves. Thejlems are twelve or 

 eighteen inches high, and the foliage nearly as tall. Spiie of 

 a greenifti-white, rather (hining, fcarcely branched. Spikelets 

 two or three together, ftalked. Calyx three or four- 

 flowered, membranous, taper-pointed ; the middle Jlorett 

 ftalked. Petals membranous, whitifli, with green roughilh 

 kesls ; the outer one lanceolate, pointed, undivided ; inner 

 cloven a little way down into two fliarp-pointed lobes, each 

 of which has its own folded rib or keel. Stamens white, 

 confiderably longer than the flowers ; anthers pale yellow, 

 drooping. Styles fmooth, united throughout, the length of 

 the corolla ; Jligmas divaricated, awl-fhaped, clothed with 

 Ihort pubefcence. This Sejleria ferves greatly to confirm 

 the genus, and to indicate its true eflential charafter. 



3. S. fphxrocephala. Round-headed Moor-grafs. Ar- 

 duin. Spec. 2. 20. t. 7. Poiret in Lam. Dift. n. 2. La- 

 marck Illuftr. t. 47. f. 2. (Cynofurus fphserocephalus ; 

 Jacq. Mifc. v. 2. 71. Ic. Rar. t. 20. Willd. Sp. PI. 

 V. I. 414. C. microcephalus ; Hoffm. Germ. 49.) — Spike 

 capit:.te, globofe, braAeated at the bafe. Outer petals with 

 three teeth ; the middle tooth awned. — Native of the loftieft 

 alps of Carinthia, Auftria, the Tyrol, &c. A very much 

 more flender plant than either of the former. The root is 

 fibrous. Stem four or five inches high, fomewhat quadran- 

 gular, bearing one leaf only, at the lower part, which is flat, 

 fliort and broad, with a long ftriated^M/A, and a more elon- 

 g^teAJiipula than that of the other fpecies. Radical leaves 

 larger and narrower, folded, numerous. Spike almoft glo- 

 bular, the fize of a common currant, fubtended by two or 

 three oppofite, broad, concave, notched, membranous, co- 

 loured hraSeas, not half its own length. Spikelets imbri- 

 cated every way, of a blueilh-purple, nearly Icflile. Each 

 calyx contains two or three Jlcrets. The petals are divided as 

 in S. carulea, but the middle fegment of the outer one is 

 lengthened out into an awn, of a dark hue, twice or thrice 

 as long a-i the reft. Wulfcn, who communicated this fpecies, 

 and its defcription, to Jacquin, obferved what he luppofed a 

 variety, with wliite ^oiyfrj, in rather larger fpikes, four or 

 fi\e florets in each calyx, and a fhorter central awn to the 

 corolla. This feems to be reprefented in Jacquin's plate, 

 and Hoffmann, after Hank and Hopp, has made it a dif- 

 tinft fpecies, by the name of Cynofurus fphitrocephalus, calling 

 our's microcephalus. We do not lee hitficiently permanent 

 characters to authorize this. Haller makes another Sefleria, 

 at his n. 1447, which is Poa diflicha, Jacq. Mifc. v. 2. 74. 

 Ic. Rar. t. 19. AVilld. Sp. PI. v. i. 400. Allioni has 

 giv.ii it the barbar.jus appellation of P . feflerioides. This 

 plai • 's unqueftion;ib!v a true Poa, fee that article. 



SESQSTRIS, in Biography, king of Egypt, of whom 

 the accounts are fo much mixed with fable, and fo obfcured 

 by antiquity, that it has been found extreir.ely difficult to 

 form a coniiftent and probable fti.ry. Hiftorians are even 

 divided as to the identity of the name Sefollris with that of 

 fome other refembhiig n.imes in the Egyptian hiftory, and 

 feveral hold him to be the fame with the Sefac or Sheftiac of 

 the Hebrew fcripturis. The following is regarded as the 

 moft probable account of this monarch. He is generally 

 placed by tl ronologers in the 15th century B.C., and is by 

 fome thought to have been the fon of Amenophis. Edu- 

 cated in manly exercifes v.'ith a number of companions, he \% 

 faid to have been fent, by his father, at an early age, upon an 

 cxped ion into Arabia; and after fubduirg that country, 

 into .-\lnca. While engaged in the conqueft of the latter, 

 his tdther died ; and his fucceffes having inflamed his am- 

 bition, he refolved to grafp at univerfal empire. Before 



his 



