S I D 



SIDERO-CAPSA, a town of European Turkey, in 

 Macedonia ; 32 miles E.S.E. of Saloniki. 



SIDEROCHITA, in Natural Hi/lory, a clafs of cruf- 

 tated ferruginous bodies, of a moderately firm and compaft 

 texture, compofed of ferruginous mixed with earthy matter, 

 and formed of repeated incrultations, making fo many coats 

 or crults round a fofter or harder nucleus, or round loofe 

 earths, or an aqueous fluid. 



Under this clafs are comprehended the empherepyra, hete- 

 ropyra, geodes, and enhfdr't. 



SIDERODENDRUM, in Botany, from o-.J.;?^-, iron, 

 and }i\ilfm, a tree, a name given by Schreber to the Sideroxy- 

 lo'ides of Jacqum, which the latter had fo called for a while 

 only, till he fliould be more certain of the genus, by afcer- 

 taining the true nature of the fruit. This Schreber has 

 determined ; and the name he has chofen alludes to the 

 hardnefs of the wood, known to the French in Martinico 

 by the appellation of Bois de fer, or Iron-wood. The 

 analogy of the neighbouring genus Sideroxylum is alfo thus 

 kept in mind. — Schreb. Gen. 71. Willd. Sp. PI. v. i. 

 612. Mart. Mill. Dift. v. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. i. 245. 

 (Sideroxyloides ; Jacq. Amer. 19.) — Clafs and order, 7>- 

 trandrla Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Dumofa, Linn. Sapotti, 

 JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth fuperior, of one leaf, minute, 

 with four acute teeth. Cor. of one petal ; tube cylindrical, 

 incurved, many times longer than the calyx ; limb in four 

 oblong, obtufe, flat, reflcxed fegments, half the length of 

 the tube. Stam. Filaments four, very (hort, infcrted under 

 the divifions of the limb ; anthers oblong, erert. Pijl. 

 Germen roundifli, inferior ; ftyle thread-fhaped, the length 

 of the tube of the corolla ; ftigma oblong, .ibtufe, thickifh. 

 Peru. Berry two-lobed, crowned with the calyx, two-celled, 

 with a tranfverfe partition. Seeds folitary, convex and 

 rugged at the outer fide, flat on tiie inner, bordered, at- 

 tached to the partition. 



Efl^. Ch. Corolla of one petal, falver-fliaped. Calyx 

 with four teeth. Berry inferior, two-lobed, two-celled. 

 Seeds folitary. 



I. S. tiiflorum. Three-flowered Iron-tree. Willd. n. i. 

 Ait. n. I. (Sideroxyloides ferreum ; Jacq. Amer. 19. 

 t. 175. f. 9. Sideroxylum americanum, five lignum duritie 

 ferrum aemulans ; Pluk. Almag. 346. Phyt. t. 224 f. 2.) 

 — Native of mountainous woods, in the iflands of Martinico, 

 Moiitferrat, Barbadoes, &c. A tail branching tree. Leaves 

 oppofite, ftalked, ovato-lanceolate, acute, entire, Ihining, 

 fix inches long. Fhwer-Jlalhs axillary, very (hort, moitly 

 three-flowered, chiefly on the older and leaflefs branches. 

 Flowers fmall and flender, about half an inch long, rofe- 

 coloured at the outfide, white within. — Mr. Ryan obferved 

 the corolla to be often changed, polTibly by the attack of 

 feme infeft, into an oblong, hollowr, fle(hy bag, pointed at 

 the top, half an inch in length, refembling a fruit. 



SIDEROMANTIA, Z>}nfojj.ccnux, in Antiquity, a kind 

 of divination performed with a red-hot iron, upon which 

 they laid an odd number of draws, and obferved what 

 figures, bendii gs, fparklings, Sic. they made in burning. 



SIDEROXYLUM, in Botany, from o-j^rpo;, iron, and 

 |v^ov, nvood, alluduig to its hardnefs, was firft correftly ap- 

 plied to tlu prefent geiuis, (as Dillenius obferves,) in the 

 Paradifi Batavi Prodromus, 375. fubjoined to Sherard's 

 Scliola Botanica; fee She:; akd. — ^Linn. Gen. 104. Schreb. 

 141. Willd. Sp. PI. v. I. 1089. Mart. Mill. Dift. v. 4. 

 Ait. Hort Kew. v. i 13. Dill. Elth. 357. Jacq. Amer. 

 55. Juir. 151. L marck lUuftr. t. 120. Gsertn. Fil. 

 Suppl. t. 202. — Clafs and order, Pentandria Monogynia, 

 Nat. Ord. Dumojii, Linn. Sapott, Jufl. 



SID 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, fmall, ereA, in five 

 fegments, permanent. Cor. of one petal, wheel-(haped, in 

 five concave, ereft, roundi(h fegments, with a little pointed 

 inflexed fcale, at the bafe of each fegment Stam. Filaments 

 five, awl fhaped, the length of the corolla, into which they 

 are inferted alternately with the fcales ; anthers oblong, in- 

 cumbent. PiJl Germen roundifh, fuperior ; ftyle awl- 

 fhaped, the length of the ftamens ; lligma Cmple, obtufe. 

 Peric. Drupa roundifh, pointed, of one cell. Seed Nut 

 ovate, large, of one cell. 



E(r. Ch. Corolla five-cleft. Stamens inferted into the 

 corolla, with five fcales between. Stigma fimple. Drupa 

 fuperior. 



Obf. Ser.s.'VLIsia of Mr. Brown, fee that article, differs 

 in having a berry, with from one to five feeds ; but in the 

 former cafe we know not how to diftinguiQi it from the pre- 

 fent genus. Sideroxylum fpinofum, Linn. Sp. PI. 279, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Brown, conllitutes a very diftin£l genus of 

 the fame natural order. 



1. S.mite. Harmlefs Iron-wood. Linn. Syft. Nat. ed. 12. 

 V. 2. 178. Willd. n. I. Jacq. Coll. v. 2. 249. (S. mas 

 inerme ; Mill. Ic. t. 299.) — Thorns none. Leaves acute. — 

 Native of Africa. Jacquin defcribes his plant, which ap- 

 pears to be the fame with Miller's, as an elegant evergreen 

 tree from the Cape of Good Hope, flowering abroad in 

 fummer, fheltered in the greenhoufe in winter. The leaves 

 are fcattered, ftalked, lanceolate, pointed, entire, coria- 

 ceous, fmooth ; of a fhining deep green above ; paler be- 

 neath. Footjlalks fliort, purple. Flowers white, on fimple 

 or branched axillary (talks. — We know nothing of this fpe- 

 cies but from the above authors. Linnaeus defines his plant 

 as having feflile Jlomers, but we find no fpecimen in his her- 

 barium to afcertain «hat he meant. 



2. S. inerme. Smooth Iron-wood. Linn. Sp. PI. 278. 

 Willd. n. 2. Ait. n. i. Jacq. Coll. v. 2. 250. (Sider- 

 oxyli primum, dein coriae indorum nomine data arbor ; 

 Dill. Elth. 357. t. 265. f. 344-) — Thorns none. Leaves 

 obovate, obtufe. Flower-ltalks fimple, round. — Native 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. This Jhruh has long been 

 known in the greenhoufe^ of Europe, but has no beauty 

 to boaft, at lea(t in W-sJloiuers, which are fmall and incon- 

 fpicuous, growing on fhort, cylindrical, fimple, axillary, 

 generally z^gregate Jlalis. The leaves are thick and coria- 

 ceous ; rounded at the end, and often emarginate ; fomewhat 

 tapering at the bafe ; two or three inches long. 



3. S melanopbleum. Laurel-leaved Iron-wood. Linn. 

 Mant. 48. Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 2. Jacq. Hort. Vind. 

 v. I. 29. t. 71. (Padus foliis oblongis, fruftu folitario : 

 Burm. Afr. 238. t. 84. f. 2. Laurifolia africana ; Com- 

 mel. Hort. v. i. 95. t. 100.) — Thorns none. Leaves lanceo- 

 late. Flower-ftalics fimple, angular. — Native of the Cape 

 of Good Hope. Communicated to Linnaeus in 1761, by 

 the late profeffor David Van Roycn ; and fent to Kew in 

 1783, by Mr. GraefFer. This has dark purplifh branches, 

 and elliptic-lanceolate /^Tf J, longer and more acute than the 

 laft. The flowers and their Jlalks are altogether of a palilh 

 red hue. Linnxus fays the fcales between the Jiamens are 

 wanting, which Jacquin feems to confirm. The fruit is 

 blue, the fize of a pea. 



4. S. cymofum. Cymofe Iron-wood. Linn. Suppl. 152. 

 Willd. n. 4. Thuiib. Prodr. 36. — Thorns none. Leaves 

 oppofite, (talked, ovate. Cymes i.>nce or twice compound. 

 — Found by Thunberg on the Table Mountain, at the 

 Cape of Good Hope. A imM. Jhrub. We have leen no 

 fpecimen. 



5. S. fericeum. Silky Iron-wood. Ait. n. 3. Willd. 

 n. 5. (Serfalifia fericea ; Brown Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. i. 



530-)— 



