SOLE 



{JTlje €rea£urj) ai aSotang, 



1072 



In aspect it is very like our own daisy— 

 whence the specific name, bellidioides, 

 given to it; but the much smaller flower- 

 heads are different in structure. There 

 are no white ray-florets ; all are tubular 

 and yellow, the outer three-toothed and 

 pistil-hearing, the inner four or five- 

 toothed and with stamens only. The 

 achenes are oblong compressed beakless, 

 and without pappus. [A. A. B.] 



SOLENOPHORA coccinea is the sole 

 representative of a Mexican genus of 

 Gesneracece, with a long and large obconi- 

 cal five-cleft calyx, an obliquely funnel- 

 shaped corolla, and an ovary totally sub- 

 mersed in the calyx. & coccinea is a shrub 

 of four to six feet high, with pubescent 

 branches, opposite ovate duplicato-serrate 

 leaves, one of each pair being always of 

 smaller size than its companion ; the 

 flowers are scarlet, and appear in the axils 

 of the leaves. [B. S.J 



SOLENOSTBMMA. A genus of Ascle- 

 piadacece, containing a single species from 

 Arabia and Egypt. It is an erect branch- 

 ing hoary undershrub, with white fleshy 

 leaves, and white umbellate flowers. The 

 calyx and corolla are five-parted: the 

 staminal corona is cup-shaped and five- 

 lobed, surrounding the base of the stipi- 

 tate gynostegium ; the clavate compressed 

 pollen-masses are pendulous, and the 

 follicles ovoid and smooth, with many 

 comose seeds. [W. c.j 



SOLID. Not hollow or furnished with 

 internal cavities of any kind. 



SOLIDAGO. Perennial herbaceous 

 plants belonging to the tribe Corymbiferce 

 of compound flowers, distinguished by the 

 following characters :— Florets of the ray 

 about five, yellow, furnished with a hair- 

 like pappus ; anthers without bristles at 

 the base; involucre much imbricated; 

 fruit nearly cylindrical. Numerous species 

 are described ; most of them have erect 

 rod-like scarcely-branched stems, with al- 

 ternate serrated leaves, and terminal 

 spikes or racemes (often one-sided and 

 paniculate) of numerous small yellow 

 flowers. S.Virgaurea, the common Golden 

 Rod, the only British species, is common in 

 woods and heathy thickets, where it grows 

 to the height of one to two feet, while on 

 sea-cliffs it scarcely exceeds a few inches. 

 The American species are frequently culti- 

 vated , but owing to their coarse habit are 

 mostly confined to shrubberies and old- 

 fashioned borders, where their bright yel- 

 low flowers contrast well with Michaelmas 

 daisies. The leaves of S. odora are fragrant, 

 and the essential oil distilled from them has 

 been employed in medicine. French : 

 Verged' Or; German: Goldruthe. [C.A.J.] 



SOLITARY. Growing singly. 



SOLLYA. A genus of Pittosporaceas 

 found in South-western Australia and Tas- 

 mania, and consisting of climbing shrubs, 

 with simple leaves, and blue flowers in 

 cymes opposite the leaves. They have a 

 small five-parted calyx, five ovate cam- 



panulate spreading petals, five stamens 

 with arrowheaded anthers cohering into 

 a cone and emitting the pollen by pores, 

 a short style with a partially two-lobed 

 stigma, and a thin many-seeded papery 

 berry. [R. H.] 



SOLOMON'S SEAL Polygonatum. —, 

 FALSE. Smilacina. 



SOLUTE. Completely separate from 

 neighbouring parts. 



SOM. The Arabic name for Garlic. 

 SONALI. An Indian name for the pods 

 of Cathartocarpus. Fistula. 



SONCHUS. A genus of herbaceous 

 rarely shrubby plants belonging to the 

 tribe Cichoracea> of compound flowers. The 

 principal characters are :— Head composed 

 of many florets; fruit much compressed, 

 destitute of a beak ; pappus soft hair-like, 

 not feathery. The most common British 

 species are— £. arvensis, Corn Sowthistle, a 

 perennial herbaceous plant growing among 

 corn, with much-toothed clasping leaves, 

 and large yellow terminal flowers, of 

 which the stalks and involucre are thickly 

 clothed with glandular hairs ; and S. olera- 

 ceus and 8. asper, or Milk Thistle, annuals 

 too common as weeds in cultivated ground, 

 with hollow milky stems, glossy leaves, 

 which are so sharply toothed as to be al- 

 most prickly, and yellow flowers. Some 

 of the shrubby species, natives of Madeira 

 and the Canaries, are sometimes admitted 

 into the conservatory for the sake of their 

 elegant foliage. S. tenerrimus is eaten in 

 Italy as a salad, as was formerly the case 

 with S. oleraceus, though it has long given 

 place to more palatable herbs. French : 

 Laiteron ; German : Saudistel. [C. A. «L] 



SONDERA. A name proposed by Leh- 

 mann for two Australian Droseras, which 

 have the parts of the flower in fours in- 

 stead of being in fives. As there is no 

 other difference between these and other 

 species, the genus has not been adopted. 



SONERILA. A very extensive genus of 

 East Indian melastomaceous plants, re- 

 markable in the order for having all the 

 several parts of their flowers in whorls of 

 three, or trimerous, as it is technically 

 called. The plants belonging to it are 

 mostly herbaceous, though sometimes sub- 

 shrubby, and of variable habit— some with 

 and others without stems, some glabrous 

 and othershirsute,and some with different 

 kinds of leaves on the same plant. Their 

 flowers are mostly purple or violet, borne 

 in scorpioid racemes. [A. S.J 



SONF. An Indian name for Aniseed. 



SONNERATIA. A genus of Myrtacew, 

 comprising eight species, all trees of mo- 

 derate size inhabiting the coast-regions of 

 India and the islands of the Eastern 

 Archipelago. It has been referred to the 

 loosestrife order, but appears rather to 

 belong to the myrtleblooms, itsfruit being 

 an unopening berry divided internally by 

 thin partitions into from ten to fifteen 



