SID 



dian to the meridian again in 365 days. But the equinoftial 

 points go backward with refpeft to the Itars, at the rate 

 of lifty feconds of a degree in a Juhan year ; which caufeth 

 the ftars to have an apparent progreffive motion eaftward 

 fifty feconds in that time. And, as the fun's mean motion 

 in the echptic is o ily 1 1 figns 29 degrees 48 minutes 40 fe- 

 conds 15 thirds, in 36J days, it is plain, that at the end of 

 that time he will be 14 minutes 19 feconds 45 thirds (liort of 

 that point of the ecliptic from whicii he fet out at the be- 

 ginning ; and the liars will be advanced 50 feconds ol a de- 

 gree with refpeCt to that point. 



Conlequently, if the fun's centre be on the meridian 

 with any ilar on any given day of the year, that ilar will be 

 14' 19" 45'" + 50", or 15' 9" 45'" eaft of the fun's centre, 

 on the 365th day afterward, when the fun's centre is 

 on the meridian ; and therefore that Itar will not come to 

 the meridian on that day till the fun's centre has paffed it by 

 I minute o lecond 38 thirds 57 fourths of mean folar time ; 

 for the fun takes fo much time to go through an arc of 

 15' 9" 4j"' ; and then, in 365 days o hour i minute o fecond 

 38 thirds 57 fourths, the ftar will have jull completed its 

 366th revolution to the meridian. 



This table was calculated by Mr. Fergufon ; and it is 

 the only table of the kind in which the rcceffion of the cqui- 

 nodlial points has been taken into the calculation. 



SIDERITE, in Mineralogy, a name given by Bergman 

 to a fuppofed pecuhar metallic fubllance, which is the prin- 

 cipal caufe of the brittlenefs of certain kinds of bar iron. 

 It has fince been difcovered to be phofphate of iron. 



3IDERITES, a name which fome authors give to tlie 

 load-ltoiie. See Magnet. 



SIDERITIS, in Botany, fuppofed to be the o-iJ»;j;»ti5 of 

 the Greeks, of which Diofcorides defcribes three fpecies, 

 all celebrated for ftaunching blood, and healing wounds. 

 The firit quality they might very well pofTefs, being, ac- 

 cording to his account, rough herbs, akin to Marrubium, 

 in which alfo there might be fomewhat of an allringent or 

 tonic quality. They anfwer indeed to the general idea of 

 the genus to which modern botanifts have applied the name, 

 whofe etymology is to be fought in crior^o.;. Iron ; but 

 whether it alludes to that metal as the caufe ot wounds, to 

 the rulty colour of the flowers, as De Theis imagines, or to 

 any other circumftance, nothing but conjcfture can be of- 

 fered.— Linn. Geti. 290. Schreb. 387. WiUd. Sp. PI. 

 V. 3. 63. Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 3. 

 384. Sm. Prodr. Fl. Grasc. Sibth. v. i. 400. .luil. 113. 

 Tourn. t. 90. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 505. — Clafs and order, 

 Diilynamia Gymnnfpermia. Nat. Ord. Ferticillalir, Linn. 

 I.abiiits, Juif 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, tubular, 

 oblong, cut nearly half way down into five acute, almoll 

 equal, fegments. Cor. of one petal, nearly equal ; tube 

 cylindrical, oblong ; throat oblong, fomcwhat cylindrical ; 

 upper lip eredt, narrow, divided ; lower in tiiree fegments, 

 of which the lateral ones are molt acute, and fcarcely fo 

 large as the upper lip, the middle one roundifli. Statn. Fila- 

 ments four, within the tube of the corolla, and fliorter than 

 the throat, two of them fmaller than the rtll ; anthers 

 roundifli, two of them with two diitinft lobes. Pifl. Ger- 

 men four-cleft ; ftyle thread-fhaped, rather longer than the 

 Itamens ; ftigmas two ; the uppermoil cylindrical, concave, 

 abrupt ; die lower membranous, fliortcil, fheathing the 

 other. Piric, none, the feeds being lodged in the bale of 

 the calyx. Seeds four. 



Eli'. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla ringent ; its upper 

 lip eredt, divided; lower deeply thrcc-cleft. Stamens 



S ID 



within the tube of the corolla. One ftigma fhorter, em. 

 bracing the other. 



1. S. canarienjis. Canary Iron-wort, or Sage-tree. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 801. Ait. n. i. Jacq Hort. Vind. v. 3. 

 18. t. 30. (Stachys ampHITimis vcrbafci foliis, iloribui 



albis, &c. ; Pluk. Almag. 356. Phyt. t. 322. f. 4.) 



Shrubby and villous. Leaves oblong-heart-fhaped, acute, 

 ftalked. Spikes fimple, wlmrled, drooping before flower- 

 ing. Branches fpreading. Calyx awiied. — Native of Ma- 

 deira, and the Canary iflands. Cultivated in our green- 

 houfes I 20 years ago, and itill prefcrved in general collec- 

 tions, flowering throughout the fummor. The Jlem and 



Jlalks are clothed with foft, denfe, white, velvet-like pu- 

 befcence. Leaves green above, elegantly edged with white, 

 finely crenate, rather fliaggy ; more thickly clothed be- 

 neatli. JFhorls denfe, numerous, accompanied by dimi- 

 nifhed leaves, fo as to form a long fpHe, drooping while 

 young, but deftitute of proper hraQeas. Flowers very 

 numerous, white, with a wide orbicular mouth, and fliortilh 

 limb, whofe upper fegment hardly anfwers to the generic 

 charafter, being notched, but not cloven in the middle. 



2. S. cantllcans. Mullein-leaved Iron-wort. Ait. n. 2. 

 Willd. n. 2 ; excluding the fynonym. — Shrubby and 

 downy. Leaves denfely downy, ovato-lanceolate, taper- 

 pointed ; heart-fhaped at the bafe ; fnow-white beneath. 

 Spikes compound. Whorls remote, each of about eiglit 

 flowers. Calyx obtufe, pointlcfs. — Native of Madeira ; 

 long known in the gardens of England, ae well as Holland ; 

 flowering from April to July, and flickered in the green- 

 lioufe in winter, with moderate fupplies of water. Akin to 

 the preceding, with which Liniixus confounded it ; but dif- 

 fering in the peculiar denfe fnow-wiiite clotiiing of the leaves, 

 which almoft refemble thick white leather. The Jloivcrs 

 are larger, and fewer, with an obtufe, very woolly, calyx, 

 deftitute of awns, and grow in compound, whorled, leafy 



/pikes. The inflorefcence is fo dificrent from Commelin's 

 figure, cited by Ailon and Willdenow, that we rather 

 follow Linnaeus in applying that fynonym to the following 

 fpecies; though not quite without a fufpicion of its really 

 belonging to S. canarienjis. 



3. S. crelica. Cretan Iron-wort. Linn. Sp. PI. 801, 

 excluding the reference to Tournefort. Willd. n. 3. 

 (Stachys canarienfis frutefcens, verbafci foliis ; Commel. 

 Hort. V. 2. 197. t. 99?) — Shrubby and downy. Leaves 

 denfely downy, heart-fllapcd, bluntiih, broadly crenate, on 

 long lialks ; fnow-white beneath. Spikes fimple, whorled. 

 Calyx obtufe, pointlefs. — Native of Crete and Greece. 

 This has the very denfe white pubefcence of the lait ipecies, 

 but diflers in its larger, blunter, more llrongly crenate 

 leaves, and efpecially its folitary unbranched leaflefs /pikes. 

 The whorls confill each ot eight or more Jloiuers, whofe 

 calyx, though lefs woolly, nearly agrees with the preceding, 

 being totally unlike the fpinous-pointed calyx of S. canari- 

 enfis. If Commelin's plate had been executed with any 

 care, this circumftance would have determined his fynonym, 

 which certainly belongs either to our firft or third fpecies, 

 and not to the fecond. 



4. S. /yriaca. Syrian Iron-wort. Linn. Sp. PI. 8oi. 

 Willd. a. 7. Ait. n. 6. Sm. Fl. Gnec. Sibth. t. 5^°' 

 unpubliflied. (S. cretica tomentofa candidiflima, flore 

 luteo ; Tourn. Cor. 12. Stachys; Ger. Em. 695. S. 

 lychnoides incana angultifolia, flore aureo, italica ; Barrel. 

 Ic. t. I 187. ) — Shrubby, clothed with woolly down. Leaves 

 elliptic-lanceolate, nearly entire. Wliorls axillary, many, 

 flowered. Calyx acute, without awns. — Native of I'aly, 

 Crete, and various parts of the Levant. The root is pe« 



4 P J roanial 



