SPA 



from this correftnefs in the Umbelllfera ; and for want of 

 fufficient information refpeaing the flowers and fruit ot all 

 the Palma, he was obliged to advert to other parts, to 

 found any thing like plaufible genera. Such aberrations 

 from his own laws fliould rather be reformed, by thofe who 

 have the means, than ferve as examples for laxity of pnn- 

 ciple in other mftances. The greateft artiits ever require 

 the feweft tools, and moft fimple materials ; and the human 

 intelled never makes fuch attainments as when neceffarily 

 put to its utmoft exertions. Natural hittory, when ftudied 

 with all the accuracy and intenfity of which it is capable, 

 becomes as inftruaive and philofophical a fchool for the 

 mind as any fcience whatever ; nor does any one require 

 more deep judgment, as well as precife ohfervation. 



SPATHALIUM, among the Romans, an ornament 

 which the women wore about their hands, not unlike the 

 coral ones of the moderns. 



SPATHELIA, in Botany, altered from Dr. Patrick 

 Browne's name for the fame plant, Spathe, and alluding to 

 the fimple undivided Item, crowned with a tuft of luxuriant 

 leaves, like the Palm tribe ; o-TrxGn being a palm-tree, or 

 palm-branch.— Linn. Gen. 148. Schreb. 198. Willd. 

 Sp. PI. V. 1. 1496. Mart. Mill. Dia. V. 4. Ait. Hort. 

 Kew. V. 2. 171. Jufl'. 371. Lamarck lUuitr. t. 209. 

 Gsrtn. t. 58. (Spathe; Browne Jam. 187.) — Clafs and 

 order, Pentandria Trigyn'm. Nat. Ord. Terebintac£(C, Jufl. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of five oblong, co- 

 loured leaves. Cor. Petals five, oblong, equal. Stam. 

 Filaments five, awl-(haped, afcending, furnifhed with a 

 tooth at the bafe ; anthers ovate. Pijl. Germen ovate, 

 fhorter than the ilamens ; ftyles three, very (hort ; ftigmas 

 three, roundilh. Peru. Capfule oblong, triangular, with 

 three wings, of three cells, not burfting ; each cell fur- 

 nifhed with a lateral channel, full of refin. Seeds folitary, 

 oblong, prifmatic, or nearly cylindrical, tapering at 

 each end. 



EfT. Ch. Calyx of five leaves. Petals five. Capfule 

 with three winged angles, and three cells. Seeds folitary. 



Obf. Gaertner remarks, that the capfule is fometimes 

 comprefTed, with two oppofite wings only, and two cells ; 

 but this feems to arife merely from a failure of impregnation 

 of one of the ftigmas. 



1. Q. /implex. Sumach-leaved Spathelia. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 386. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. 1. (Aceri aut paliuro 

 affiiiis arbor, caudice non ramofo, foliis forbi fylveltris, 

 floribus pentapetalis racemofis fpeciofis purpureis, fruau 

 ficco tribus membranulis extantibus alato ; Sloane Jam. 

 V. 2. 28. t; 171.) — Plentiful by the fides of riverj, among 

 the rocky hills of Jamaica, accordinir to Sloane and Browne. 

 The latter erroneoufly calls it the Maiden-plum tree. This 

 very handfome plant is faid to have been introduced into the 

 ftoves of England, in 1778, by Dr. William Wright. 

 The root is ot a fpreading nature, not ftriking deep. Stem 

 quite fimple and erea, an inch thick, naked, round, rifing 

 like a palm-tree, Sloane fays, to the height of 40 feet, and 

 crowned at the fummit with a large tuft of pinnate, crenate, 

 fpreading leaves, furmounted, in the flowering feafon, with 

 a vail com^!-.AxxiA panicle, many feet in height, of handfome 

 purple fi'jivers. The capfules are about an inch long. 



SPATHESTER, the name of a chirurgical inftrument 

 ufed to draw the prepuce over the glans. 



SPATHINUS, in Natural Hijlory, a name given by the 

 Greeks to the ftag or deer, when in its fecond year. 



In the firft, it was cilled nebrus ; in the third year, di- 

 crotus ; and after this cerajles, as long as it lived. 



SPATHIUM, in Botany, fo denominated by Loureiro, 



SPA 



from avaQiov, a little Jheath, alluding to the form of its 

 calyx. — Loureir. Cochinch. 217. — Clafs and order, Hex- 

 andria Trigynia. Nat. Ord. Jnundata, Linn. Ndiadet, 

 Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Sheath flalked, of one leaf, roundilh, 

 fpreading, fmgle-flowered. Cor. none. Stam. Filaments 

 fix, fhort, inferted into the receptacle ; anthers roundifh, 

 of two cells. Pi/l. Germen (fuperior) roundilh, with four 

 horns ; flyle none ; ftigmas four, oblong, reflexed. Peric. 

 Berries four, ovate, pointed, fingle-feeded. Seeds roundifh. 



Efl". Ch. Sheath roundilh, ftalked, fingle-flowered. Co- 

 rolla none. Berries four, with fingle feeds. 



I. S. chinenfc. Thong pin ngau of the Chinefe. — Native 

 of marfhy places, near Canton in China. The Jlem is ereft, 

 three feet high, herbaceous, with fpreading, flaccid, fur- 

 rowed branches. Leaves heart-fhaped, lanceolate, five- 

 ribbed, fmooth, fcattered, with clafping footjlalks. Spikes 

 linear, nearly terminal. Such is the defcription of Loureiro, 

 who conceives the above plant to be fomewhat akin to the 

 Linnaean Aponogeton, and alfo to Potamogeton. We have no 

 acquaintance with it. 



SPATHODEA, a genus founded by Palifot de Beau- 

 vois, in his Flore d'Oware Cif de Benin, on feme of the 

 Linnsan Bignonia, and named from the Iheath-like form of 

 their calyx. It is adopted by Mr. Brown, in his Prodr. 

 Nov. HoU. v. I. 471, under the following charader. 



Calyx fheatli-like, cloven down one fide, either toothed 

 or entire at the end. Corolla fomewhat funnel-fhaped, 

 with a five-lobed, rather unequal, limb. Stamens two Icmg 

 and two fhort, with a fifth abortive filament. Capfule pod- 

 like, falcate, imperfeaiy four-celled. Partition tranfverfe, 

 corky. 



The genus is (hrubby or arboreous ; with oppofite, rarely 

 alternate, pinnate leaves, fometimes fimple. Flowers moltly 

 panicled. 



Bignonia fpathacea, fee BiGNON'iA, n. 18, is an example 

 of Spathodea, as is alfo S. heterophylla, and perhaps alterni- 

 folia, of Brown. 



SPATHOMELE, a word ufed by fume to exprefs the 

 fpatula, ufed by the apothecaries and furgeons in mixing and 

 fpreading ointments ar.d plafters. 



SPATHOSE, in Mineralogy, having a cryftalline 

 ftruaure. 



SPATHULARIA, in Botany, from the fpatulate Ihape 

 of its head, a genus of Fungi, confifting of only one fpecies. 

 — Perfoon Syii. Fung. 610. — Clafs and order, Cryptogamia 

 Fungi. Nat. Ord. Fungi. Sea. Gymnocarpi, helvelhidei. 



Eii. Ch. Club-fhaped. Head comprefTed, membranous, 

 decurrent at each fide. 



I. S.Javida. Yellow Spathularia. Perf. Difp. Meth. 

 36. Comment. 34 — 36. (Clavaria Spathula ; Dickf. 

 Crypt, fafc. i. 21. Fl. Dan. t. 658. C. fpatulata 

 glabra ; Schmid. Ic. t. 50. Eivela fecunda ; SchaefT. 

 Fung. t. 149. Helvella fpatulata; Sowerb. Fung. t. 35.) 

 — Found in fir woods, in autumn. Mr. Crowe firft dif- 

 covered it at Coffey, near Norwich, where, in the planta- 

 tions of fir George Jerningham, it is very abundant, grow- 

 ing erea, in tufts. The Jlali is about a finger's length, 

 half an inch iu diameter, hollow, rather uneven, whitifh. 

 Head vertical, obtufe, hollow, fomewhat obovate, or in- 

 verfely heart-ftiaped, pale buff, or yellowifh, difcharging 

 innumerable minute feeds, in the form of fmoke, from mar- 

 ginal pores. See Clavaria, n. 17. 



SPATIUM, Lat., fpace, is applied to the void be- 

 tween the lines of the ftaff, upon which raufic is written. 

 Spaces at firft were not ufed, but there was a line for every 



foHnd. 



