SOL 



c±. S. humilis. Humble Golden-rod. Purth n. 48.— 

 «< Stem fimple, ereft, fmooth. Leaves Unceolate, ft^fated, 

 fmooth ; tapering and elongated at the bafe. Clufler ered. 

 —Native of North Anierica, according to the iJankliaii 



herbarium. PurJIi. ,. 0.. _ 



cc. S. elata. Lofty Golden-rod. Purfh n. 49.—" Stem 

 hairy, round. Leaves lanceolate; rather hairy beneath. 

 Clulters ereft. Rays elongated."-Native of North Ame- 

 rica, according to tlie fame authority. Purfi. 



c6 S rislda. Hard-leaved Golden-rod. Linn. bp. i'i. 

 12,/. Willd.n.39. Ait. n. 30. Purftin. 50. (Virga 

 aure^ Novae Anglige, lato rigido folio ; Herm. Parad. 243. 

 t 243 )— Leaves ovate-oblong, rough, hke the corymbole 

 ileni, with minute rigid hairs ; thelowermoft ferrated ; upper 

 entire. Cluilers compaa. Rays twice the length ot the 

 obtufe calyx.— In the traft of mountains from New Jerfey 

 to Carolina, flowering from Auguft to Oftober. Purfo. 

 Thcjlcm is four or five feet high, round, ftriated, leafy, 

 rough with copious rigid pubefcence, and branched copi- 

 oufly, in a corymbofe manner, at the top. Leaves rough 

 liice a file, fomewhat hoary ; the radical ones ftalked, a foot 

 long, broad, pointed, ribbed, more or lefs ferrated ; the reft 

 from one to four inches long, either obtufe or fomewhat 

 pointed, entire, or occafionally crenatc ; thofe on the flower- 

 ing branches numerous, fmall, and entire. Floivers rather 

 large, but various in fize. Scales of the calyx blunt, or 

 rounded at the end, ribbed, membranous at the edge, vari- 

 able in breadth.— A Pennfylvanian fpecimen, fent by the 

 late Dr. Muhlenberg, has crenate, exaftly ovate, leaiits on 

 tlic ftem, TcaAJin'ujers about half the ufual fize ; but we dare 

 not make it a diftinft fpecies. 



57. S. noveboiacenjis. New York Golden-rod. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1235. WiUd. n. 40. Purfli n. 51. — Radical 

 leaves eUiptic-oblong, ftalked, rough. Stem almoft naked, 

 branched, furrowed, level-topped. Rays twice as long 

 as the taper-pointed calyx. — In fandy fields and woods 

 of North America, flowering in September and OAober. 

 Purjfj. The root is thick and fomewhat woody. Stem one 

 afld a half or two feet high, flout, rough, round, plentifully 

 furrowed, quite ereft, bearing two or three oblong-lanceo- 

 late leaves at the origin of the flovi'ering branches, but 

 otherwife naked. Leaves chiefly radical, on long, ereft 

 ftalks, elliptical, tapering at each end, three inches long, 

 rough like a file with minute tubercles, the margin fur- 

 iiiftied with fliallow ferratures. Flowers large, not numerous, 

 on corymbofe hairy ttalks, with a few rough lanceolate 

 braBeas. Calyx-fcaks narrow, purplifli, downy, with long 

 tapering points. The radiant )?o«/x appear to be fometimes 

 more than ten. They^'^^^ are hairy ; their down long, very 

 {lender, minutely rough. This fpecies appears to be a 

 ftranger in our gardens. Its habit is that of an AJler. 



SoLiDAGO, in Gardening, contains plants of the tall, her- 

 baceous, flowering, perennial kind, of which the fpecies culti- 

 vated are ; the common golden-rod ( S. virgaurea) ; the Ca- 

 nadian golden-rod (S. canadenfis) ; the tall golden-rod (S. 

 altifiima) ; the Mexican golden-rod (S. mexicana) ; the 

 twiggy golden-rod (S. viminea) ; the two-coloured golden- 

 rod (S. bicolor) ; the hard-leaved golden-rod (S. rigida) ; 

 the Maryland golden-rod (S. cxfia) ; the crooked-llalked 

 golden-rod (S. flexicaulis) ; and the narrow-leaved ever- 

 green golden-rod (S. fempervirens). 



The firft fort has fometimes tlie names of Wound-wort 

 and Aaron's rod. There are feveral varieties of it, as the 

 purple-ftalked broad-leaved, which has the ft'alks ftiff', pur- 

 plifh-brown, two feet high : the panicles axillary and ter- 

 minating ; each flower on a long flender footftalk, pale 

 yellow, appearing at the beginning of Auguft ; th« leaves 



SOL 



lanceolate, almoll four inches long, and a quarter of an inch 

 broad, deeply ferrate, pale green beneath. 



The common golden-rod, which has the lower leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, two inches long and an inch broad, flightly 

 ferrate, on pretty long footftalks ; the ttems flender, a foot 

 and a half high ; with fmall, narrow, entire, feflile leaves ; 

 the flowers in panicled bunches, cluftered together, forming 

 a thick ereft fpike, appearing in Auguft and September. 

 The narrow4eaved, which has the ftalk round, fmooth, a 

 foot and a half high ; the leaves narrow-lanceolate, an inch 

 and a quarter long, and an eighth of an inch broad, almoft 

 entire, felTile ; the flowers in fmall cluftered bunches from 

 the axils, to which they fit very clofe ; and the ftalk is ter- 

 minated by a roundifli bunch. The dwarf golden-rod, which 

 has the lower leaves indented ; the ftalk feldom more than 

 a foot high, branching out almoft from the bottom ; the 

 branches terminated by fliort, cluftered, ereft fpikes j the 

 leaves on the ftem and branches very narrow, acute-pointed, 

 and entire. The Welfti golden-rod, which has the Iswer 

 leaves narrow-lanceolate, an inch and half l«ng, and a quarter 

 of an inch broad, fmooth, flightly ferrate, a little hoary oM 

 the under fide ; the ftalk about fix inches high, with the 

 fame fort of leaves on it, only fmaller ; the flowers in round- 

 ifli cluftered terminating fpikes, much larger than thofe of 

 the common fort, and appearing five or fix weeks earlier in 

 the feafon. 



In the third fort there are feveral varieties ; as the talleft 

 golden-rod, the hairy golden-rod, the recurved golden-rod, 

 the Virginia golden-rod. 



Method of Culture. — Thefe plants are all readily increafed 

 by flipping or parting the roots, and planting them out in 

 the autumn or winter foon after their ftems decay, or very 

 early in the fpring before they begin to flioot, but the 

 former is the better feafon, in the places where they are to 

 grow ; they fucceed in almoft any foil or fituation, and 

 afterwards require only to be kept clean from weeds, and to 

 have the decayed ftems cut down when they begin to decay 

 in the antumn. When they have increafed confiderably in 

 the roots, they fliould always be flipped as above. 



Thefe plants are very hardy and durable in their roots, by 

 which moft of them foon become large, the fmall flips not 

 unfrequently growing into large bunches in one feafon, 

 many of them, of courfe, require to be well cut in with a 

 fliarp fpade all round about their roots annually, or nearly 

 fo, to prevent their fpreading too greatly and having an 

 improper appearance, as well as being injurious to other 

 neighbouring plants of fmall growth. 



In planting out they require much room, as they fpread 

 confiderably. But they afford confiderable variety and 

 ornament in larger borders and clifmps, on all pleafure- 

 grounds towards the autumnal feafon. 



SoLiDAGo, in the Materia Medica. The flowers and 

 the leaves of the common golden-rod, or virga aurea, 

 have a flightly aromatic odour, and a fubaftringent fome- 

 what aromatic tafte. Boihng water extrafts the aftive 

 matter. The infnfion changes flightly to green fyrup of 

 violets, and precipitates fulphate of iron black. Golden- 

 rod is aitringent, and has been regarded as lithontriptic. 

 It may be, fays Thomfon (Difp."l, of fome ufe in a weakened 

 ftate of the vifcera, and, hke other tonics, beneficial in cal- 

 culous habits, but it is not entitled to much notice. The 

 dofe of the powdered leaves and flowers may be from 

 grs, X to 3j or more. 



SOLID A R, in Gesgraphy, a town of Bengal ; 26 miles 

 S.S.W. of Rogonatpour. 



SOLIDITY, in Phy/ics, a property of matter or body, 



6 by 



