pierced, as it were, by the bifid or trifid 

 stigma, and the single or two stamens— 

 when two they appear in succession. The 

 various species of this genus, as well as 

 others belonging to the same family, and 

 growing abundantly on the coasts in the 

 South of Europe and North of Africa, yield 

 a vast quantity of soda, much employed in 

 making both soap and glass, whence comes 

 the English name, Glasswort.'— Hooker and 

 Arnott. Large quantities of the ashes of 

 these and allied plants were formerly im- 

 ported under the name of barilla; but since 

 the introduction of Le Blanc's process for 

 obtaining soda from common salt, the im- 

 portance of barilla as an article of com- 

 merce has much diminished. French: 

 Salicome ; German : Glasschmalz. [C. A. J.] 



SALIERNE. (Fr.) A kind of olive. 



SALIGOT. (Fr.) Trapa natans; also 

 Tribulus. 



SALINE, SALSUS. Growing in salt 

 places ; having a salt taste. 

 SALIQUIER. (Fr.) Cuphea. 



SALISBURIA. This name commemo- 

 rates the botanical services of Mr. R. A. 

 Salisbury, and is applied to a genus of 

 Taxacece. The Maidenhair tree, or Ginkgo, 



Salisburia adiantifolia. 



S. adiantifolia, is a large Japanese tree of 

 much botanical interest, and of singular 

 appearance. It attains a height of sixty to 

 eighty feet, and has a straight trunk with 

 a pyramidal head. The small leaf-bearing 

 twigs are thick and tubercled, and bear a 

 tuft of four or five closely-packed stalked 

 leaves, surrounding a terminal scaly bud. 

 The leaves are fan-shaped, deciduous, lea- 

 thery, notched, and have numerous closely- 

 set forking veins like those of ferns. The 

 flowers are dioecious. The male catkins are 

 thread-like, stalked, borne at the end of 

 the branches ; the anther has two diver- 

 gent lobes, beyond which the connective 

 is prolonged in the form of a crest. The 

 female flowers are borne on axillary stalks, 

 and consist of an ovule, embedded partially 

 in a shallow fleshy cup formed by the dila- 



tation of the end of the flower-stalk. When 

 ripe the seed has an outer fleshy covering, 

 and a thin woody stone surrounding the 

 fleshy albumen. 



This tree is largely cultivated in China 

 and Japan, and also in this country, as an 

 ornamental object. As the leaves decay 

 they assume a yellow tint. The venation is 

 thought to indicate a slight degree of affi- 

 nity to ferns. The fruits are resinous and 

 astringent ; the kernels are thought by 

 the Japanese to promote digestion ; an oil 

 is extracted from them. [M. T. M.] 



SALISIA. A genus of Myrtacece, so 

 named in compliment to the Countess de 

 Salis, a lover of horticulture. 8. pulchella 

 is a pretty shrub, native of the Swan River 

 colony, with broad leathery hairy leaves, 

 and rose-coloured flowers, arranged in loose 

 corymbs. The tube of the calyx is pro- 

 longed beyond the ovary, the limb flve- 

 toothed ; the petals Ave, slightly stalked ; 

 the stamens numerous, longer than the 

 petals ; the ovary five-celled, the cells 

 opening by a longitudinal cleft even in 

 the flower-bud, and containing numerous 

 ovules. [M. T. M.] 



SALIN. The Willows form an important 

 family of trees and shrubs, giving name to 

 the order Salicaceo?-. Both willows and 

 poplars are amentaceous, and have their 

 seeds invested with cottony down ; but 

 they are sufficiently distinct not only in 

 the outline of the leaves, but in the form 

 of the scales or bracts of the catkin, 

 which in the poplars are jagged at the ex- 

 tremity, and in the willows are entire. 



The Willows constitute so extensive a fa- 

 mily that a perfect Salicetum or willow- 

 plantation, in which every known species 

 was represented, would assume the dimen- 

 sions of a small wood; and they are so 

 difficult of discrimination, that not even 

 the experienced botanist ventures to as- 

 sign individuals to their several species 

 unless he has an opportunity of examining 

 them in their various stages of growth. 

 British botanists are not agreed as to the 

 number of species into which the native 

 willows should be distributed, for while 

 Bentham reckons only fifteen, Babington 

 extends the list to fifty-eight. 



The Willows are natives of the temperate 

 regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and 

 are much more numerous in the Old World 

 than in the New. The majority grow by 

 the sides of watercourses, but a few high 

 up in the mountains, and one is found 

 nearer to the North Pole than any other 

 shrubby plant. As far as it is possible to 

 include under a general description so ex- 

 tensive an array of species, they may be 

 characterised as trees or shrubs, varying 

 in height from a fewinches to sixty feet. 

 They grow rapidly, and for the most part 

 shoot readily from cuttings. The wood is 

 white ; the bark of the trunk rather smooth 

 than otherwise, that of the branches either 

 downy or smooth, in the latter case some- 

 times to such a degree as to appear var- 

 nished. In most species it is stringy and 

 tough, and in all is of a bitter taste, owing 



