1051 



CTjc Crragurg of 3&atxny. 



[SERI 



Tlie claims of S. Lawsoniana, recently 

 introduced to our gardens, have not yet 

 been critically examined. 



S. sempervirens is the Redwood of the 

 timber trade, and extends from "Upper 

 California to Nutka Sound. It attains 

 gigantic dimensions, being frequently 

 more than 300 feet high, and imparting to 

 the woods of its native country a peculiar 

 character— ' something,' Douglas tells us, 

 'which plainly shows that we are not in 

 Europe.' The Redwood has long been an 

 inmate of our gardens, and principally 

 differs from the Wellingtonia in having 

 linear rather obtuse and beneath whitish 

 leaves. 



S. Wellingtonia (the Wellingtonia of our 

 gardens, and the Big or Mammoth-tree of 

 the Americans) was at first thought to be 

 confined to a single spot, the so-called 

 Mammoth Grove of Calaveras in Upper 

 California; but it has since been found in 

 the Mariposa and Frezno Groves, and in 

 various other parts of the Sierra Nevada, 

 though nowhere attaining such a height as 

 in the spot where it was first discovered, 

 in June 1850, by an American bunting- 

 party. The tallest tree of the Mammoth 

 Grove, stripped of its bark for the purpose 

 of being exhibited, was 327 feet high, and 

 at the base was 90 feet in circumference. 

 The greatest dimensions seems to have 

 been attained by a tree which was found 



Sequoia "Wellingtonia. 



broken at a height of 300 feet, and which 

 measured at that place 18 feet in diameter. 

 Considering that it was 112 feet in circum- 

 ference at the base, and tapered regularly 

 to the point where broken.it is calculated to 

 have been when in the fullness of its growth 

 450 feet high. It was at first thought that 

 these trees might be 3,000 years old, but 

 that estimate has since been reduced by 

 actual counting of the concentric rings to 

 about 1,100 years. A specimen of this 

 gigantic tree, showing its enormous rela- 



tive proportions, may be seen at the 

 Crystal Palace, Sydenham. 



The Wellingtonia was introduced into 

 Europe by Mr. W. Lobb in 1853, and stands 

 our climate remarkably well. The wood 

 when first cut is white, but ultimately 

 turns to a mahogany colour. The young 

 branches are not unlike those of some 

 cypress or juniper ; and like many other 

 Coniferce, including the Redwood, they 

 have two kinds of leaves. The ordinary 

 leaves are evergreen, alternate subulate, 

 or ovate lance-shaped. In seedling plants 

 they are more compact than in fully-grown 

 trees. The cones are ovate, and rather 

 larger than those of the Redwood. [B. S.] 



SERAPIAS. A small South European 

 genus of terrestrial orchids belonging to 

 the ophrydeous suborder. Its flowers 

 have the lateral sepals agglutinated to the 

 upper one, forming a kind of hood open 

 in front, and out of which the lip g>ro- 

 trudes. The lip has a couple of plates at 

 its base, and is three-lobed, with the lateral 

 lobes rounded and embracing the column, 

 and the middle one long and pendulous. 

 The anther is erect beaked, and has its 

 cells parallel and contiguous; and the 

 caudicle of the two masses of pollen are 

 fixed to a single gland included within the 

 stigmatic hood. [A. S.] 



SERENTE. Abies Picea. 

 SEREQUE. (Fr.) Genista saxatilis. 

 SERIAL. Arranged in rows. 



SERICEOUS. Silky; covered with very 

 fine close-pressed hairs, silky to the touch. 



SERICOCARPUS. A genus of Compositce 

 peculiar to North America, closely related 

 to Aster, and characterised by the simple 

 unequal pappus, few ray and disk-florets, 

 and oblong imbricated involucres with 

 cartilaginous scales. They are perennial 

 herbs one to three feet high, with sessile 

 leaves, and corymbose flower-heads, having 

 the ray-florets white, those of the disk 

 pale-yellow. The generic name alludes to 

 the silky hairs on the achenes. There are 

 five species known. [A. A. B.] 



SERICOCOMA. A genus of Amarantha- 

 cece inhabiting the Cape of Good Hope. 

 They are annuals or perennials with alter- 

 nate leaves (.except the lowest and some- 

 times those of the branches), and bear 

 large flowers in solitary terminal compact 

 spikes or heads. These flowers are solitary 

 or two or three together, the middle one 

 three-bracted, the other with two bracts. 

 They have a perigone of five sepals, woolly 

 on the outside, nearly equal, or if unequal 

 the longer ones spinescent ; stamens five, 

 united at the base into a cup, with scale- 

 like intermediate staminodes; utricle very 

 woolly, one-seeded. [J. T. S.] 



SERICOGRAPHIS. A genus of Acan- 

 thacece containing several species of herbs 

 or undershrubs, natives of tropical Ame- 

 rica. The stem is jointed, and the flowers 

 are arranged in secund spicate racemes, 

 with small bracts and bractlets. The calyx. 



