S I s 



S I s 



The Malay name on the Linnaean fpecimen is Sa/avt Silitna, 

 given by Burmann Sefuri-china. He defcribes the leaves as 

 lyrate, of which \Ve trace fome indications on the fpecimen, 

 and doubt not the lower ones are fo. Linnreus has defcribed 

 this fame fpecimen twice, not adverting to his Sp. PL, when 

 he wrote the Maiitl/fa; but both are fufficiently corrcft. The 

 plant is annual, unknown in our gardens. Its affinity to 5. 

 hifpamcum, induces us, with Willdenow, to place it in this 

 feftion, rather than in the firft, to which Linnaus firft re- 

 ferred it ; but not having feen the lower leaves, we cannot 

 be pofitive. Tliejlem is (lender, fmooth, and leafy. Flowers 

 fmall, white, fucceeded by long clulters of pods, each pod 

 hardly an inch in length, nearly cylindrical, obfcurely qua- 

 drangular, curved upwards, fupported by a horizontal ftalk, 

 a quarter of an inch long. Stigma elevated on a fhort ftyle. 

 The pods have not the fhort turgid afpeft proper to the firft 

 feftion of the genus, but accord precifely with the plants 

 ranged in feveral of the latter feftions, whofe pods have 

 more or lefs of a quadrangular fhape, though two of the 

 angles ai-e often merely indicated by an elevated line along 

 each valve. 



Whoever fhall take the trouble of tracing our remarks 

 through this genus, and examining the other fpecics, which, 

 for brevity's fake, we have palled over, will fee how niuch 

 is ftill wanting towards a correft generic diflribution of the 

 whole order. Mr. Brown's, in Hort. Keiu., is, notwith- 

 Itanding, an able and ufeful attempt at a reform, of which 

 we may fay more hereafter under the article Tetradynamia. 

 See alio Siliquos^. and Siliculos^. 



Sifymbrium, among the Romans, was one of the ingre- 

 dients, of which the nuptial garlands were compofed. 



Sisymbrium, in Gardening, contains a plant of the hardy 

 herbaceous kind, of which the fpecies cultivated is the com- 

 mon water-crefs (S. nallurtium). 



Method of Culture. — This may be effefted by parting the 

 roots, or by feed. In the firft method, while the plants are 

 young, a quantity of flips (hould be made with root-fibres to 

 them, and be planted out immediately in a (hallow, trick- 

 ling, watery fituation, when they will readily ilrike roots, 

 feed, and increafe themfelves. 



The feed (Iwuld be colletled during the fummer feafon, 

 and fown in the fame places ; or, which is better, the plants, 

 with the ripened feeds upon them, be thrown into them, 

 where they will ftrike root, and (hed their feeds for future 

 increafe. 



Thefe plants are in much efteem as winter and fpring 

 fallad herbs. 



Sisymbrium Najlurtium, Water-Creffes, in the Materia 

 Medica. The leaves of the water-crefles have a moderately 

 pungent tafte, and emit a quick penetrating fmell, like that 

 of muftard-feed, but much weaker. Their pungent matter 

 is taken up both by watery and fpirituous menftrua, and ac- 

 companies the aqueous juice, which iffues copioufly upon 

 espreffion : it is very volatile, fo as to arife, in great part, 

 m diftillation, with reftified fpirit, as well as with water, 

 and almoft totally to exhale in drying the leaves, or infpif- 

 fating by the gentleft heat to the confidence of an extrad, 

 either the exprelTed juice, or the watery or fpirituous tinc- 

 tures. Both the infpilTated juice, and the watery extraft, 

 difcover to the tafte a faline impregnation, and in keeping 

 throw up cryftalline efRorefcences to the furface. On dif- 

 tilling confiderable quantities of the herb with water, a fmall 

 proportion of a fubtile, volatile, very pungent oil is ob- 

 tained. 



Water-crefTes obtain a place in the materia medica for 

 their antitcorbutic quahties, which have been lon^ very 

 generally acknowledged by phyficians. They are alfo fup- 



pofed to purify the blood and humours, and to open vifcerai 

 obftruftions ; they are nearly allied to fcurvy-grafs, but are 

 more mild and pleafant, and for this reafon are frequently 

 eaten as fallad. In the pharmacopeias the juice of this 

 plant is directed with that of fcurvy-grafs and Seville 

 oranges ; and Dr. CuUen has remarked, that the addition 

 of acids renders the juices of the planta: fihquofae mod cer- 

 tainly effectual, by determining them more powerfully to 

 an acefcent fermentation. Lewis Mat. Med. Woodville 

 Med. Bot. 



Sisymbrium is alfo a name ufed to exprefs the wild 

 water-mint. See Mint. 



SISYRA, among the Ancients, a woolly (kin ufed for a 

 covering to beds. 



SISYRINCHIUM, in Botany, from tr./,-, a hog, and 

 fuy;^;');-, a fneut, the name of a bulb, mentioned by Pliny 

 amongft other bulbs, under various Greek denomiRations. 

 He relates, after Theophrallus, book vii. chap. 13. that 

 it is remarkable for increafing, during winter, in the lower 

 part, which in fpring becomes contrafted, and the upper 

 part is then eatable. Nobody has afcertained the real 

 c-arj'jiyxi'^'' of Theophrailus or Pliny. Botanifts have ap- 

 phed this appellation according to tlieir fancy, without even 

 pretending to afcertain whether it alludes to the fondnefs of 

 fwine for the root, or to any refemblancc io its figure to 

 their fnout. The Sifyrinchium of Columna, Ecphr. 328. 

 /. 327, is Ixia Bulbocodium, in whofe minute bulb that 

 fanciful author traces fuch a refemblance. That of Bauhin 

 and Tournefort is Iris Sifyrinchium of Linnasus, a common 

 Greek plant, whofe bulb increafes at its fummit, and is 

 eatable. The name is now retained for a modern genus, of 

 the fame natural order indeed, but otherwife having nothing 

 in common with the plant of the ancients. — Linn. Gen. 465. 

 Schreb. 450. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 3. 577. Mart. Mill. 

 Did. V. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 4. 135. Gawler (Ker) 

 in Sims and Kon. Ann. of Bot. v. i. 246. Pur(h 31. 

 Cavan. Dili'. 344. Ju(r. 57. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 569. 

 (Bermudiana ; Tourn. t. 208. Gaertn. t. 11.) — Clafs 

 and order, Monadelphia Triandria. ( Gynandria Triandria, 

 Linn.) Nat. Ord. Enfata, Linn, hides, Ju(f. 



Gen. Ch. Common Wm/A two-edged, of two comprefl'ed, 

 pointed valves ; partial ones feveral, lanceolate, concave, 

 obtufe, inferior, fingle-flowered. Perianth none. Cor. 

 fuperior, of fix nearly equal, flattifh, obovate, minutely 

 pointed petals, fpreading in their upper half ; the three al- 

 ternate exterior ones a little the broadeft. Stam. Filaments 

 three, united half way up, or more, into an obfcurely tri- 

 angular tube, (horter than the corolla, their extremities 

 fpreading ; anthers incumbent, roundifh. Pi/l. Germen 

 inferior to the corolla, obovate ; ftyle triangular, the length 

 of the tube ; ftigmas three, ered, fearcely tumid, undivided, 

 notched. Peric. Capfule obovate, rounded, with three 

 (light angles, of three cells, and three valves ; the parti- 

 tions from the centre of each valve. Seeds numerous, 

 roundifh, inferted in two rows, into each of the partitions. 



Eft. Ch. Common (heath of two or more leaves. Calyx 

 none. Petals fix, nearly equal, flat. Style one. Cap- 

 fule of three cells, inferior. 



I. S. latifoUum. Broad-leaved Sifyrinchium. Swartz 

 Prodr. 17. Ait. n. i. (S. palmifohum ; Cavan. DifT. 

 348. t. 191. f. I. Morxa plicata; Willd. Sp. PI. v. i. 

 243. M. palnr.ifolia ; Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 227. Coll. v. 3. 

 192. Marica plicata; Curt. Mag. t. 6$^. Bermudiana 

 palmas folio, radice bulbofa ; Plum. Ic. 35. t. 46. f. 2.) — 

 Stalk round. Sheath many-flowered. Leaves lanceolate, 

 plaited. Native of the Well Indies. Cultivated by Miller 

 in 1737. It requires the heat of a ftove, flowering from 



June 



