1053 



EI)e €rra£urg ai 28otan«. 



[SESB 



SERPE^T-WITHE. Aristolochia odora- 



tissinta. 

 SERPICULA. A small genus of Halora- 

 . gacece inhabiting the tropical and sub- 

 , tropical regions of both hemispheres, most 

 i of the species being natives of the Cape 

 I of Good Hope. They are branched creep- 

 1 ing herbs, with alternate or opposite 

 | leaves, and axillary usually monoecious 



flowers, the males on long pedicels, the 

 I female perfect ones subsessile. [J T S.] 

 [ SERPOLET. An essential perfumery 

 ; oil obtained from Tliymus Serpyllum. 



divided stigma ; but they are well distrn* 



guished by their very different seeds, those 



j of the present genus having a thin brittle 



shell marked with a long scar or hilum, 



! and being destitute of albumen, while 



i those of Sideroxylon are hard and bony, and 



furnished with copious albumen. The 



three species of Sersalisia are small hard- 



; wooded trees, natives of the eastern coast 



j of tropical Australia. [A. S.] 



| SERTULUM. A simple umbel. 



Amelanchier cana- 



SERRATURES. The saw- 

 ; the edge of leaves and similar 



SERRA, 

 toothings a 

 bodies. 



SERRADELLE. (Ft.) The Serradilla, 

 Ornithopus sativus. 



SERRADILLA. (Port.) OmitJiopus sa- 

 tivus, a kind of green fodder. 



SERR-EA. An Arabian shrub belong- 

 ing to the Malvacece. The flowers have an 

 outer calyx of three membranous heart- 

 shaped entire leaves, concealing the inner 

 five-cleft calyx ; petals five, yellow with a 

 purple spot ; ovary five-celled, with two 

 ovules in each compartment , fruit a five- 

 celled flve-vaived capsule. [M. T. M.] 



SERRAFALCUS. A genus of grasses be- 

 longing to the tribe Festuceoe, now included 

 in Bromiis. 



SERRATE. Having sharp straight-edged 

 teeth pointing to the apex. When these 

 teeth are themselves serrate, they are 

 biserrate or duplicato-serrate. 



SERRATULA. A genus of herbaceous 



plants belonging to the tribe Cynaroce- 



phalce of compound flowers, distinguished 



by having a hairy (not feathery) pappus of 



several conspicuously unequal rows, the 



inner row longest ; and by the scales of 



the involucre, which are neither hooked 



■ nor spinous. The genus is represented in 



I England by S. tincloria, the Common Saw- 



I wort, a slender erect plant one to two feet 



I high, growing on commons and in bushy 



places. The leaves are entire or pinnatifid, 



serrated but not prickly ; and the flowers 



grow in terminal heads, small and shaped 



like those of a thistle ; but the oblong 



scales of the involucre are blunt, and 



nearly destitute of any cottony appendage. 



The herbage yields a yellow dye. Other 



species have been introduced from various 



! temperate countries of the Eastern 



Hemisphere. French : Sarrette ; German: 



Farberscharte. [C. A. J.] 



SERROX (Fr.) Chenopodium (or Blitum) 

 Bonus Henricus. 



SERRONIA. Ottonia. 



SERSALISIA. This genus of Sapotacece 

 is closely allied to Sideroxylon, and its 

 flowers agree with those of that genus in 

 having their calyx and corolla five-parted, 

 with Ave fertile stamens opposite the lobes 

 of the latter, and five sterile scale-like ones, 

 and also' in their five-celled ovary and un- 



| SERVICE-BERRY, 



! densis. 



I SERTICE-TREE. Pyrus Sorbus alias P 

 '. domestica. — , WILD. Pyrus torminalis. 



I SESAME. Sesamum orientate and S. in 

 dicum. 



I SESAMUM. A genus of Pedaliaeece, con- 

 : sisting of annual herbs indigenous to the 

 ' East Indies, but cultivated in various other 

 ! tropical and subtropical countries. The 

 leaves are opposite or alternate, quite en- 

 tire or variously lobed; the flowers axillary, 

 and of a yellow or pinkish colour. The 

 ! calyx is five-clef t, the corolla two-lipped, the 

 stamens four with the rudiment of a fifth, 

 and the capsule oblong quadrangular, two- 

 j valved and two-celled, each cell containing 

 numerous oily seeds. It is especially on 



Sesamum indicum. 



account of the latter peculiarity that S. 

 indicum is extensively cultivated. Its 

 seeds contain an abundance of a fixed oil, 

 as tasteless as that of the olive, for which 

 it might be substituted, and which is ex- 

 pressed in Egypt in great quantities. It is 

 sometimes called Gingelly oil, and, if of 

 very good quality, is employed for adulter 

 rating oil of almonds. It is, however, apt 

 to become rancid. The leaves of Sesamum 

 are emollient. [B. S.] 



SESBAN Sesbania cegyptiaca. 



SESBANIA. Twiggy sbrubs or shrubby 

 annuals dispersed over the tropics of both 

 hemispheres,belonging to the Leguminosce, 



