ioi; 



Wfyz Evt^uvv of 3Botann. 



[SAPI 



SAPALLO. A Spanish name for Cucur- 

 bita Melopepo. 



SAPANTTOOD. A dyewood obtained 

 in Malabar and the islands of the Eastern 

 seas, from Ccesalpinia Sappan, C. coriaria, 

 and C. pulcherrima. 



SAP-BALL. A local name for those 

 Poly port which grow on trees, but applied 

 more especially to P. squamosus, a species 

 which abounds on decayed ash, and is found 

 occasionally on other trees, the stems of 

 which when large, after the juice has been 

 squeezed out, is sometimes used by boys as 

 their foundation for tennis-balls. The 

 same species is sometimes used, when pro- 

 perly dried and shaped, to form razor- 

 strops, but it is not so good for this pur- 

 pose as P. betulinus. Specimens formed 

 from the latter, received from Denmark, 

 may be seen in the Museum of the Kew 

 Gardens. [M. J. B.J 



SAP-GREEN. A vegetable pigment 

 composed of limemixedwith the colouring- 

 matter of the berries of Rhamnus cathar- 

 tieus. 



SAPID. Having a pleasant taste. 



SAPIN. (Fr.) Abies. — A FEUILLES 

 D'lF, or ARGENTE. Abies pectinata. — 

 BALMIER. Abies balsamea. — BLANC. 

 Abies pectinata. — COMMUN. Abies ex- 

 celsa. -DE NORMANDIE. Abies pecti- 

 nata. — NORWEGE. Abies excelsa. — 

 PIN8APO. Abies Pinsapo. 



SAPINDACE^E. (JEscidacew, Hippocas- 

 tanea>, Soapworts). A large order of poly- 

 petalous dicotyledons, consisting of trees 

 or shrubs, sometimes climbing, and very 

 rarely almost herbaceous, with alternate 

 or rarely opposite leaves, most frequently 

 compound, aDd usually pinnate; the flow- 

 | ers usually small, paniculate or racemose, 

 , or rarely solitary. In the normal genera 

 the sepala and petals are four or five each; 

 the stamens either twice as many or of the 

 same number, or more frequently eight 

 whatever be the number of petals, and 

 inserted within or upon or rarely around 

 a more or less prominent hypogynous or 

 almost perigynous disk. The ovary is se- 

 veral-celled, with one or two ascending 

 ovules in each. The fruit is very various ; 

 the seeds usually without albumen,and with 

 an inferior radicle. There are above seventy 

 genera, chiefly tropical, but some are also 

 found in temperate regions of the Northern 

 Hemisphere. They are distributed into five 

 tribes or suborders :— 



1. Sapinde^e proper, with the stamens 

 inside the disk, albuminous seeds, and 

 leaves rarely opposite, including the large 

 or wide-spread tropical genera Serjania, 

 Cardiospermum, Paidlinia, Schmidelia, 

 Cv.pania, Sapindus, Nephelium, etc., as well 

 as Kolreuteria and JEsculus from more 

 temperate regions. 



2. AcEPaNE^E, scarcely differing from 

 Sapindece proper, except that the stamens 

 are less constantly within the disk, and the 

 leaves more constantly opposite, although 



generally considered as a distinct order. 

 It is limited to Acer and two small genera 

 separated from it : see Acerace^. 



3. Dodone^e, with the stamens outside 

 of or on the margin of the disk, and the 

 seeds without albumen. They comprise 

 Dodoncea and five small genera. 



4. Melianthe^e, with the stamens in- 

 side the disk and seeds with albumen, con- 

 taining only the two African genera Meli- 

 anthus and Bersama. 



5. STAPHYLE.£,with the stamens outside 

 the disk, seeds with albumen, and opposite 

 leaves. The two last are often considered 

 as distinct orders, and another separate 

 order is frequently adopted for the genera 

 sEsridus and Ungnadiaof Sapindece proper, 

 which have opposite and digitately com- 

 pound leaves, but differ in no other respect 

 whatever. 



SAPINDUS. The typical genus of Sapin- 

 dacea?, found in both hemispheres, mostly 

 within the limits of the tropics, and con- 

 sisting of trees or shrubs, with alternate 

 usually pinnate leaves without a terminal 

 leaflet ; and panicles of small white or 

 greenish, perfect or unisexual, five or four- 

 parted flowers. The fruits are fleshy ex- 

 ternally, and do not open when ripe. Those 

 of several species are acrid, and are called 

 Soap-berries, from their being used in the 

 tropics as a substitute of soap, their outer 

 covering or shell containing a saponaceous 

 principle {saponine) in sufficient abundance 

 to produce a lather with water ; but the 

 assertion of the old Jamaica historian, 

 Patrick Browne, that ' a few of them will 

 cleanse more linen than sixty times their 

 weight of soap,' must be received with 

 caution. Among the species thus used are 

 S. Saponaria and S. incequalis in the New 

 World, and .S'. Rarax and S. emarginatus in 

 the Old. Their excessively hard round 

 black seeds are used for making rosaries, 

 necklaces, bracelets, buttons, &c. ; and a 

 medicinaUoil is extracted in India from 

 those of S. emarginatus. The outer cover- 

 ing of the fruit of some species, such as 

 S. senegalensis and S. escidentus, is eatable, 

 but their seeds are poisonous. [A. S.J 



SAPINETTE BLANCHE. (Fr.) Abies 

 alba. — NOIRE. Abies nigra. 



SAPITJM. A genus containing about a 

 score of trees or shrubs of the order Eii- 

 phorbiacea, found in the tropics of both 

 hemispheres, and all of them yielding a 

 milky juice, which in some is very acrid 

 and even poisonous. The leaves resemble 

 those of the willow, the poplar, or the 

 laurel, and at their point of union with the 

 stalk are furnished with two round glands ; 

 while the small greenish flowers are dis- 

 posed in terminal spikes, the lower portion 

 bearing the fertile, the upper the sterile 

 flowers. 



S. indicum, a widely distributed eastern 

 species, is known under the name of Boroo 

 in Borneo, where, according to Mr. Motley, 

 the leaves are largely used for dyeing 

 and staining rotang of a dark colour. 

 The acrid milky juice produces a burning 



