SERl] 



Clje Erea£urg of $3ntanp. 



1052 



is five-parted ; the two stamens have many 

 parallel anther-cells ; and the capsule is 

 seed-bearing below, and contains four 

 seeds. [W. C] 



SERINGA. The Portuguese name for the 

 India-rubber tree. 



SERINGA, or SERINGAT. (Fr.) Phila- 

 delplius. 



SERINGIA. An East Australian genus 

 of Byttneriacece, the two known species of 

 which are shrubs with alternate ovate or 

 lance-shaped leaves, clothed underneath 

 with rusty down, as are also the small 

 white starry flowers, which are arranged 

 in axillary cymes. The calyx is bell-shaped, 

 deeply five-toothed ; corolla none ; stamens 

 ten, five of them anther-bearing ; ovary 

 five to seven-lobed, the lobes or carpels 

 beceming distinct when ripe, and not 

 uniting to form a capsule as in Tlwmasia 

 and other allied genera. It was named 

 after N. C. Seringe, a well-known Swiss 

 botanist. [A. A. B.] 



SERINGUE. A South American name 

 for the caoutchouc-yielding Siplwnia. 



SERIOLA. A small genus of the chicory 

 group of Composite, comprising three spe- 

 cies from the Mediterranean region, and 

 one from Southern Brazil. The latter is a 

 smooth perennial herb with the aspect of 

 a sowthistle, and is sometimes used like 

 endive as a salad in Brazil. The others 

 are perennial yellow-flowered weeds re- 

 sembling Hypocho?ris,aud only to be dis- 

 tinguished by the achenes, which are not 

 dissimilar, but all alike, terminating in a 

 long slender beak, tipped with a single se- 

 ries of feathery pappus-hairs. [A. A. B.] 



SERIPHIUM. A South African genus of 

 Composites ranking near to GnaphaUum, 

 and characterised by the crowded one- 

 fl^Qwered heads, and beakless achenes 

 crowned with a single series of pappus- 

 hairs, which are feathery towards the 

 apex— not a biserial pappus, as in the 

 closely-allied genus Stceoe from the same 

 country. Aboutadozen species are known 

 —much-branched undershrubs, with nu- 

 merous linear heath-like leaves, often 

 spirally twisted, and small white flower- 

 heads arranged in close terminal spikes 

 or round heads. [A. A. B.] 



SERISSA. An Indian shrub forming a 

 genus of Cinchonacece. The flowers are 

 white, in terminal tufts; the calyx-limb 

 divided into four or five segments, with 

 occasionally little teeth between them; 



! the corolla funnel-shaped, its tube hairy, 

 its limb four or flve-lobed ; the stamens 



I four or five, with very short filaments, and 

 anthers projecting beyond the tube of the 

 corolla , the ovary two-celled, surmounted 

 by a fleshy disk, with a simple style, and a 

 stigma divided into two linear branches ; 

 and the fruit succulent two-celled, each 

 cell containing a single seed. S. fcetida, a 



i native of India, Japan, China, &c, has 

 astringent properties. Its root is em- 

 ployed in cases of diarrhoea, also in 



ophthalmia and certain forms of ulcers- 

 This plant is cultivated as a pretty stove- 

 shrub. There is a variety with double 

 flowers, which is the more interesting in- 

 asmuch as 1 double flowers are rare in the 

 order. [M. T. M.] 



SERJANIA. A genus of Bapindacece 

 closely allied to Paullinia, and not distin- 

 guishable from it by its flowers, the dis- 

 tinctions between these and some other 

 genera of the order residing solely in the 

 structure of their fruit. In the present 

 j genus the fruit consists of three thin 

 j pieces or carpels firmly joined together in 

 the centre, and not separating from each 

 | other nor opening spontaneously at ma- 

 ; turity, each piece being drawn out into a 

 thin wing at the base, and containing a 

 single seed in the upper part— the seed 

 having a thin brittle shell, and usually a 

 minute two-lobed arillus. Like the Paul- 

 linias, the species of Serjania, of which 

 there are a considerable number, are con- 

 fined to the tropics of the Western Hemi- 

 sphere, and are climbing shrubs furnished 

 with tendrils for their support. Their 

 leaves are usually composed of one two 

 or three sets of leaflets in threes, or are 

 rarely unequally pinnate, and have minute 

 stipules at their base ; and their flowers 

 are borne in racemes produced near the 

 leaf-axils, the stalk of the raceme generally 

 having two tendrils close to its base. AH 

 the species possess narcotic poisonous 

 qualities of more or less intensity. S. 

 lethalis is supposed to be one of the plants 

 from which the wasp called ' Lecheguana 

 de niel vermellio' in Brazil collects its 

 poisonous honey. M. St. Hilaire has re- 

 corded the exceedingly violent effect of 

 this honey upon his own person. In most 

 cases it produces a sort of drunkenness or 

 delirium only to be removed by emetics, 

 but it sometimes occasions death. The 

 plant forms one of the fish-poisons called 

 Timboe by the Brazilians. [A. SJ 



SERM.ONTAISE. (Fr.) Zevisticum offi- 

 cinale. 



SEROTINOUS. Appearing late in a 

 season, or later than some other part or 

 species allied to it. 



SERP.EA. A Brazilian genus of the 

 tribe Helianthece of Compositce. There are 

 two species, both branching perennial 

 herbs, with opposite stalked rough leaves, 

 and long-stalked yellow flower-heads, 

 either two or three together, or solitary 

 at the ends of the branches. The ray- 

 florets are strap-shaped and neutral; 

 the disk-florets tubular and perfect; the 

 outer achenes three sided, and crowned 

 with three pappus-awns, the inner com- 

 pressed and two-awned, and all of them 

 seated on a conical chaffy receptacle. It 

 is named after Dr. Serpa, once Professor 

 of Botany at Pernambuco. [A. A. B.] 



SERPENTAIRE. (Fr.) Bracunculus, 



SERPENTARY-ROOT. The root of 

 Aristolochia Serpentaria. 



