SARl] 



El)t Erntgurp of 3Sfltang. 



1022 



S.bacciferum are occasionally brought to 

 us by the waves. [M. J. B.] 



SARTBUS. This genus of palms, origi- 

 nally established by Blume, is now com- 

 bined with Livistona, the characters by 

 which it was said to be distinguished from 

 that genus being very slight. Among the 

 species referred to it were Livistonarotun- 

 difolia, called Saribus by Rumphius; audi. 

 chinensis, and a species from Cochin China, 

 now called Livistona cochin chinensis. Two 

 Javanese species, S. olivceformis and S. sub- 

 globosa, were afterwards added. [A. S.] 



SARMENTACEiE. See Vitace^:. 



SARMENTIDIUM. A group of cymes 

 or spikes arranged centrifugally, as the 

 flowers are in the cyme itself. 



SARMENTUM. A runner, such as that 

 of the strawberry: hence sarmentose, bear- 

 ing runners. 



SARMIENTA repens is the sole repre- 

 sentative of a Chilian genus of Gesneracece, 

 easily distinguished from its allies by 

 having two fertile and three sterile sta- 

 mens, whilst all other Gesneracece have 

 one sterile and four fertile stamens. S. re- 

 pens is herbaceous, and climbs by means 

 of its rooting stems over forest-trees. Its 

 leaves are fleshy ovate and dotted ; its 

 peduncles are terminal, and bear from one 

 to two scarlet flowers. The calyx is four 

 and live-cleft ; and the corolla tubular, ven- 

 tncose towards the apex, and five-lobed; 

 whilst the capsule is ovate. [B. S.'J 



SAROTHAMNCS. The generic name 

 now generally adapted for the Common 

 Broom, 5. scoparius, better known as Spar- 

 Hum or Genista scoparia, and separated 

 from Genista chiefly because the lips of 

 the bell-shaped calyx are minutely instead 

 of deeply toothed. From Cytisus the ge- 

 nus differs in the very long curved style 

 and minute stigma. 



The Broom grows naturally in the 

 Canary Isles, Western Europe, and Scan- 

 dinavia, as well as in Britain, and is ap- 

 plied to various economic purposes. Neat 

 little baskets are made from the twigs 

 divested of their bark in Madeira ; and in 

 some parts of Europe the green tops are 

 used as winter food for sheep, preventing 

 (according to "Withering) the disease called 

 rot, and salutary in dropsy, to which sheep 

 are liable. The Broom has a place in our 

 ' Materia Medica.' Pereira says :— ' Broom- 

 tops in large doses are emetic and purga- 

 tive, in small doses diuretic, and laxative. 

 They are used almost entirely in dropsies, 

 sometimes with great benefit, and are ad- 

 ministered in the form of infusion or de- 

 coction. The seeds, which keep better than 

 the tops, are given in the form of a powder, 

 in doses of from ten to fifteen grains, in 

 mint-water. There are other species of the 

 genus, natives of Western Europe, most 

 of them bearing great resemblance to 

 the Common Broom, which is the badge 

 of the Forbes'. Thus, according to Sand- 

 ford, it was the bonny Broom which the 

 Scottish clan of Forbes wore in their 



bonnets when they wished to arouse the 

 heroism of their chieftains, and which in 

 their Gaelic dialect they called bealadh in 

 token of its beauty. 



The Ordre de la Geneste was the de- 

 nomination of an order of knighthood 

 instituted by Louis of France in 1234, and 

 continued till the death of Charles V. The 

 collar of this order consisted of a chain 

 of broom-flowers interlaced with lozenges 

 of gold and fleur-de-lis, with a pendent 

 cross having the inscription 'Exaltat Hu- 

 miles,'— the founder considering the 

 broom as the emblem of humility. 'This 

 humble shrub,' writes Baines, ' was not less 

 distinguished than the rose herself during 

 the civil wars of the fourteenth century; 

 for a sprig of the Planta Genista was the 

 adopted badge of Geoffrey Duke of Anjou, 

 father of our Henry II. ; and from this cog- 

 nizance he acquired the name of Plantage- 

 net, by him transmitted to his princely de- 

 scendants, who all bore it from Henry, who 

 has been called the first royal sprig of 

 Genista, down to the tyrant Richard, the 

 last degenerate scion of the plant of 

 Anjou.' [A. A. B.] 



SARRACENIACE^E. A small order of 

 polypetalous dicotyledons, consisting of 

 herbs from Northern or tropical America, 

 remarkable for their pitcher-shaped radi- 

 cal leaves. They are characterised by five 

 imbricate sepals ; petals also five and im- 

 bricate, or sometimes more ; numerous hy- 

 pogynous stamens ; a three or five-celled 

 ovary with numerous ovules; a loculicidal 

 capsule, and seeds with a copious albumen 

 and minute embryo. Some of these cha- 

 racters are, technically considered, nearly 

 those of TernstrbmiacecB, whilst the her- 

 baceous stem and the seeds indicate a 

 greater affinity with Papaveracew and 

 Ni/mphceacca?. There are only three small 

 genera known — Sarracenia, Darhngtonia, 

 and Heliamphora. 



SARRACENIA. A genus of Sarracenia- 

 cece, distinguished in the order by having 



• Sarracenia purpurea. 



five petals always present ; a five-celled 

 ovary and capsule ; and by the 1 style being 

 expanded into a large umbrella-shaped 



