1065 



«ZTT)c Erea^urp flf 2Sotantj, 



[smil 



appearance. It is now frequent in cultiva- 

 tion. Other species are natives of Northern 

 India and Japan. [M. T. M.J 



SKIXXERA. A genus of Onagracece, 

 distinguished by the tube of .the calyx 

 being dilated above the seed-vessel, the 

 petals small and scale-like, and the fruit a 

 many-seeded berry. ,9. exconicata, alias 

 Fuchsia excorticata, is a New Zealand shrub, 

 ■with tbe leaves alternate acute slightly 

 toothed, and whitish beneath; the calyx 

 purple and yellow-green, the petals violet. 

 The genus was named in honour of Mr. 

 Skinner, an English botanist. [G. D.] 



SKIXXERIA. A genus of Convolvulacece, 

 containing a single species, a casspitose 

 herb from India. The calyx consists of 

 five sepals; the corolla is small and some- 

 what urceolate; the single style has a 

 two-lobed capitate stigma; and the ovary 

 is one-celled, aud has four ovules. [W. C.J 



SKIRRET. Slum Sisarum. 



SKULLCAP. Scutellaria. 



SEUXKWEED. Symplocarpus fcetidus. 



SLASHED. The same as Laciniate. 



SLATE-GREY. Grey bordering on blue. 



SLATEWOOD. Simaruba officinalis. 



SLEEP- AT-XOOX. Tragopogon pratensis. 



SLEEPWORT. Lactuca sativa. 



SLIMY. The same as Mucous. 



SLIPPER- PLAXT. Pedilanthus. 



SLIPPER WORT. Calceolaria. 



SLOAK, SLOKE, or SLOUKAWN. Sy- 

 nonyms partly of the common Porphyrce, 

 partly of Viva, but more especially of the 

 former, the latter being usually called 

 Green Sloke. [M. J. B.J 



SLOAXEA. A tropical American genus 

 of Tiliacece, comprising upwards of thirty 

 species, some of which on slight differ- 

 ences have been separated as distinct 

 genera with the names Ablania, Basynema, 

 and Dasycarpus. They are trees, often up- 

 wards of a hundred feet high, with alternate 

 feather-veined leaves, either evergreen or 

 deciduous, and varying in length from a 

 few inches to upwards of a foot and a half, 

 with the inconspicuous white or greenish- 

 yellow flowers disposed in racemes pani- 

 cles or clusters in their axils. The sta- 

 mens are very numerous, inserted on a 

 broad flat and not conical disk, as in 

 Elceocarpus. The fruits vary from the 

 size of a hazel-nut to that of an orange, 

 of a woody consistence, clothed outside 

 with stout bristles like those on the husk 

 of a Spanish chestnut, and when ripe split 

 into four or five pieces, with a few seeds 

 in each. The wood of many species is 

 extremely hard and difficult to work; that 

 of S.jamaicensis is known in Jamaica as 

 Breakaxe and Ironwood. The genus bears 

 the name of Sir Hans Sloane, the founder 

 of the British Museum. [A, A. B.J 



SLOE. The fruit of Primus spinosa. 



SLOGWOOD. Eufelandia pendula. 



SLOKE. The edible Porphyrce; also 

 called Laver. — , GREEN. A name given 

 to several species of Viva, also called 

 Oystergreen. See Sloak. 



SMALLAGE. The Wild Celery, Apiurn 



graveolens. 



SMARAGDINUS. Grass-green. 

 SMARTWEED. _ Polygonum Hydropiper. 



SMEATHMANNIA. A genus of Passi- 

 floracece from tropical Africa, remarkable 

 for its erect habit, in a natural order in- 

 cluding so many creepers and twiners. 

 The three or four species comprising the 

 genus have alternate oblong or obovate 

 often serrated leaves, and axillary white 

 flowers. Both calyx and corolla (or peri- 

 gone, as some writers call them) are 

 five-lobed; the corona is urn-shaped, the 

 stamens twenty, and the styles five in 

 number ; whilst the fruit is an inflated 

 one-celled five-valved capsule, enclosing 

 numerous seeds. S. laevigata has for some 

 years been an inmate of our hothouses, 

 being one of the numerous introductions 

 of the late Mr. Whitfield from Sierra 

 Leone. [B. S.J 



SMILACE^E. An order of monocotyle- 

 dons, with the six petal-like divisions of 

 the perianth, six stamens, and three-celled 

 free ovary of Liliacece, but differing from 

 that order in their netted veined leaves, 

 and in their fruit being a small berry in- 

 stead of a capsule. They are for the most 

 part climbers with small flowers, and are 

 distributed over the tropical and tempe- 

 rate parts of the world. The order is re- 

 stricted to the large genus Smilax, with 

 one or two lately separated from it, and 

 Ripogonum. Many botanists unite it with 

 Liliacece as a tribe or suborder. 



SMILACINA. A genus of herbaceous 

 plants, principally inhabiting North Ame- 

 rica, belonging to the Smilacece. S. bifolia 

 is a small plant, having the stem furnished 

 with two alternate triangular leaves; the 

 flowers, which are small white and four- 

 parted, grow in the form of a spiked 

 raceme; stamens four; fruit a two-celled 

 berry, yellow with brown spots. It is a na- 

 tive of the North of Europe. Several Ame- 

 rican species are cultivated. [C. A. J.J 



SMILAX. An extensive genus, giving 

 its name to the order Smilacece. The spe- 

 cies are climbing shrubs, natives of the 

 warmer temperate and tropical regions of 

 both hemispheres. The rootstocks are 

 tuberous or fibrous; the stems usually 

 prickly ; the leaves stalked net-veined, 

 and bearing on either side of the leafstalk 

 a tendril ; and the flowers are in globular 

 heads, sessile or stalked in the axils of the 

 leaves, rarely clustered, still more rarely 

 solitary. The latter are polygamous, and 

 have a six-parted spreading perianth, the 

 three outer segments of which are rather 

 larger than the three inner; stamens six, 

 filaments thread-like; fruit baccate, one to 

 three-seeded. 



