S T A 



aWeft artifts. Spagnoletto became jealous of him, and is 

 faid by Lanzi to have been guilty of a grofs piece of per- 

 fidy to deilroy the pifture he had painted in competition 

 with his Defcent from the Crofs, for the Certofa. The 

 fubjea of his picture was Chrill with the Maries, which 

 havmg fomewhat changed in tone, and become darker, 

 Spagnoletto perfuaded the monks to permit him to clean it ; 

 when he ufed fome noxious preparation, which nearly de- 

 ilroyed the work. Upon application to Stanzione to re- 

 medy the mifchief, he refufed, declaring it fhould remain as 

 it was, that the author of fo difgraceful a procedure might 

 reap the jull fruits of his perfidy. 



Among the confiderable works executed by Stanzione at 

 Naples, are the cielings of the churches of St. Paolo and 

 del Gefu Novo, and a large picture at the Certofa, repre- 

 fenting St. Bruno prefenting the regulations of his order to 

 his monks. The fmall cabinet piftures by him are numerous, 

 and much efteemcd. He died at the age of 71, in the year 

 1656. 



STAPEDIUS, or STAPiDSius, or Slapidis Mufculus, 

 in Anatomy, the fmallell mufcle in the body, fituated in the 

 tympanum of the ear. See Ear. 



STAPELBURG, in Geography, a town of Germany, 

 in the county of Wernigerode ; 6 miles W. of Werni- 

 gerode. 



STAPELIA, in Botany, an extenfive and very fingular 

 genus of African plants, fo named by Linnaeus, in honour 

 of Dr. John Bodaeus a Stapel, the laborious and learned 

 Dutch editor of Theophrallus. His edition of this ancient 

 author, publiflied in folio at Amfterdam, in 1644, is the 

 belt which has appeared. — Linn. Gen. 121. Schreb. 169. 

 Willd. Sp. PI. V. I. 1277. Mart. Mill. Dia. V. 4. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. V. 2. 84. Brown Tr. of the Wernerian So- 

 ciety, V. I. 23. Jufl'. 146. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 178. — 

 Clafs and order, Pentandria Digynia. Nat. Ord. Contortx, 

 Linn. Apoc'meue, Jufl". Afclcpiadea, Brown. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, fmall, in 

 five acute fegments, permanent. Cor. of one petal, large, 

 thick, divided more t-Iian half way into five broad, flat, 

 pointed fegments, iumetimes with intermediate teeth. Nec- 

 tary (or Crown of the ftamens) double; the outer in five 

 fegments or leaves, various in different fpecies ; inner of 

 five leaves, alternate with the outer, undivided, fometimes 

 obfolete ; all much (horter than the petal. Stam. Fila- 

 ments five, flat, fliort, more or lefs connefted ; anthers 

 fimple at the point ; " mafles of pollen attached by their 

 bafe, cartilaginous and pellucid at one margin." Br. P'tjl. 

 Germens two, ovate, flat on the inner fide ; ftyles none ; 

 common (tigma pointlefs. Per'ic. Follicles two, nearly cy- 

 lindrical, fmootli, taper-pointed. Stsds numerous, imbri- 

 cated, comprefled, crowned with fine hairs. 



Efi'. Ch. Corolla of one petal, five-cleft. Neftary a 

 double ftar, covering the organs of impregnation. Com- 

 mon ftigma pointlefs. Follicles two, fmooth. Seeds co- 

 mofe. 



Such is the Linman genus of SlapeUa, preferved entire 

 by the late Mr. Dryander, in Ait. Hort. Kew., though 

 Mr. Brown has feparated fome genera from it. (SeeHuER- 

 NiA and PiARANTHus. ) We have already, under thofe ar- 

 ticles, ventured to exprefs an opinion that the original genus, 

 on account of its very diftinft habit, and the varieties of 

 ftrufture in its neftary or crown, might beft. remain undif- 

 turbed. We fliall therefore confider it under that point of 

 view, giving examples of its various feftions. Linnxus has, 

 even in the fourteenth edition of Syfl:. Veg.,but five Stapeliit ; 

 Willdenow has forty-nine, moilly adopted from Mr. Maf- 

 fon's rich and fplendid illultration of this genus, publifhed 



S T A 



in 1796, with forty-one coloured folio plates. As this able 

 coUeitor fent mod of his difcoveries to Kew, forty-four 

 fpecies appear in Mr. Aiton's work. They are all natives 

 of the deferts of Southern Africa, except three found by 

 Forfltall in Arabia Felix, and one by Roxburgh in India. 

 Their habit is extremely fucculent, toothed, angular, and 

 gibbous, without leaves. Flowers lateral, italked, various 

 in fize, parti-coloured, generally of a dark and fpeckled 

 hue, often remarkable for an extraordinary fetor, refembling 

 carrion, rotten cheefe, corrupted water, or fuch delegable 

 odours, and grateful perhaps to the Hottentots, to whofe 

 country thefe flowers belong. The Stapelne are eafily culti- 

 vated in pots, in a dry Itove, with very fparing fupplies of 

 water, and as much fun as our fl<ies will afford. They 

 bloflom pretty freely, at various feafons, and if their odour 

 can be tolerated, their beauty will amply repay the mode* 

 rate care they require. 



Seftion 1. Corolla fimple, Jive-cleft, Us edges hairy. Twenty 

 fpecies. 



S. ciliata. Fringed Buff Stapelia. Willd. n. i. Ait. 

 n. I. Maflbn Stap. 9. t. i. Thunb. Prodr. 46. — Stem 

 procumbent. Teeth of the branches fpreading. Surface 

 of the corolla papillary ; its margin fringed ; fegments 

 ovate, acute. — Native of very dry fituations at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, below the hill called Bochland Berg. It flowers 

 in our gardens from Oftober to Dscember. lL\itfem is 

 branched, procumbent, taking root here and there, with 

 ftiort, eteGi branches, ftained with brown, intermixed with a 

 lefs glaucous green than in moit other fpecies ; its length 

 about a foot. The teeth of the branches are unufually large 

 and fpreading, fomewhat unequal and irregular. Flotuers 

 folitary, near three inches wide, buS^-coloured ; violet in the 

 centre. Hairs of their fringe minutely club fhaped. 



S. hlrfuta. Hairy Stapelia, or Carrion Flower. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 316. Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 3. Jacq. Mifc. v. i. 

 28. t. 3. (Afclepias africana aizoides, flore pulchre fim- 

 briato ; Commel. Rar. 19. t. 19.) — Branches afcending, 

 quadrangular, with ereft teeth ; flowering at the bafe. Co- 

 rolla hairy at the margin and centre ; fegments ovate, acute, 

 tranfvcrfely corrugated. — Native of the Cape. Introduced 

 very early from thence, by the Dutch, into the gardens of 

 Europe, where it has everfince been preferved. The^ow^r 

 is large andhaudfome, of a dark chocolate crimfon, llreaked 

 acrofs vfith yellow ; the marginal fringe refembling grey fur. 

 Its fcent is fo like carrion, that flefli-flies lay their eggs upon 

 it, and the maggots are ftarved for want of tl;eir proper 

 food. Sir John Hill aflerted, in an exprefs diflertation, that 

 thefe flies are a peculiar fpecies, whofe maggots feed on the 

 flower. For which falfehood he is itigmatized by the great 

 entomologill Fabricius, as " damnandts memtria Johannes 

 Hill." 



S. fororia, Maflbn, t. 39 ; grandiflora, t. 1 1 ; ambigua, 

 t. 12 ; and AJlerias, t. 14 ; are nearly related to hirjuta, in 

 the fize and general afpeft of their flowers, but all fufE- 

 ciently diltinft. 



S. pulvinata. CufliioB-flowered Stapelia. Mafl'on Stap. 

 13. t. 13. Willd. n. 7. Ait. n. 6. Curt. Mag. t. 1240. 

 — Stem procumbent. Branches quadrangular, with ereft 

 teeth ; flowering at the bafe. Corolla hairy at the margin ; 

 its rounded fegments fliorter than the diameter of the tumid 



fliaggy centre Native of the Cape, in bufhy places at 



Camiesberg. Majon. The Dutch inhabitants call this fpe- 

 cies the Arabian Rofe, notwithftanding its fetor. For fize 

 and beauty it is indeed confpicuous, and though akin to 

 hirjuta, and to the other fpecies we have juft named, is dif- 

 tinguifhed by the very tumid, fliaggy, cufliion-likc centre 

 of the_/?cwfr, and the Ihort, rounded fegments of the limb, 



each 



