sper] 



Kty Crra^ttrti of 3Satang* 



1078 



what downy stems and leaves, the latter 

 awl-shaped and nearly cylindrical— the 

 longest an inch long or more, disposed in 

 opposite tufts at the knots of the sterns 

 which are swollen. The flowers, which are 

 white, grow in loose terminal panicles ; and 

 their stalks, when the fruit is approaching 

 maturity, become reflexed so as to form an 

 acute angle with the stem. According to 

 Don, this plant is grown on the Continent 

 to serve as pasture for cattle, imparting a 

 fine flavour to mutton, and enriching the 

 milk of cows. S. pilifera has of late years 

 been grown in English gardens as a sub- 

 stitute for grass on lawns. Its foliage is 

 of a pleasant green colour and delicate 

 texture; it soon establishes itself, and 

 possesses the recommendation of retaining 

 its verdure in the dryest and hottest sea- 

 sons. The latter advantage it owes to the 

 fact that it belongs to a class of plants 

 which evaporate their moisture slowly, 

 while its long fibrous roots descend to a 

 sufficient depth to be little affected by 

 drought. French. : Spergule ; German : 

 Ackerspergel. [0. A. J.] 



SPERGTJLARIA. A genus of TUecebracece 

 often called Lepigonum, and consisting of 

 small weedy herbs, occurring in the tem- 

 perate zones chiefly on the seacoast, with 

 opposite or fasciculate-whorled setaceous 

 or more or less cylindrical fleshy leaves, 

 scarious stipules, and lilac or pink flowers 

 in dichotomous or racemose cymes, the 

 pedicels reflexed after flowering. The 

 I calyx is five-parted ; the petals five, rarely 

 j absent; stamens five or ten (sometimes 

 j fewer), situated on an obsolete perigynous 

 i ring ; style three or Ave (rarely two) cleft ; 

 : capsule three or flve-valved ; seeds often 

 | margined or membranously winged. There 

 are several British species. ;J. T. SJ 



SPERM ACOCB. Tropical weeds of the 

 family Cinchonacece-. The flowers are axil- 

 lary sessile or somewhat whorled, white 

 or blue, the corolla salver-shaped. When 

 ripe the fruit splits into two valves from 

 above downwards, one valve remaining 

 attached to the partition, and therefore the 

 cavity formed by those parts remains, for 

 a time at least, closed ; the other valve 

 becomes detached from the partition, so 

 that the second cell of the fruit is thus 

 opened. Both cells contain a single seed. 

 S. ferruginea is employed instead of Ipeca- 

 cuanha in Brazil ; so also is S. Poaya. In the 

 West Indies S. verticillata is used for the 

 same purpose. The root of S. hispida is 

 employed in India as a sudorific; it is stated 

 to possess similar properties to Sa r sapa- 

 rilla. The generic name is derived from 

 sperma 'seed' and ake 'point,' said to be 

 in allusion to the point-like calyx-teeth 

 surmounting the seed-vessel. [M. T. M.] 



SPERMANGTUM. The case containing 

 the spores of Algals. 



SPERMATIA. See Spermogoxia. 



SPERM ATOCrSTIDIUM. The supposed 

 male organs of the muscal alliance. See 



AXTHERIDIA. 



SPERMATOZOIDS. It is now as certain 

 that impregnation takes place in many 

 cryptogams as in plnenogams, but the 

 mode in the two is very different, and that 

 in cryptogams follows rather the type of 

 the animal than that of the vegetable king- 

 dom. As however there was some doubt 

 on the subject when the structure of the 

 male organs was at first well ascertained, 

 the spiral bodies by which impregnation 

 is accomplished in acrogens were called 

 Spermatozoids, to distinguish them from 

 the spermatozoa of animals. In acrogens 

 they appear always to be more or less spiral, 

 though the spire is sometimes much ex- 

 panded ; and the bodies in this case, with 

 their two lash-like appendages, approach the 

 type which is usual amongst Algce, in which 

 class they are sometimes with difficulty 

 distinguished from the really reproductive 

 zoospores. In Fungi, unless Saprolegnia 

 and its allies be included, the impregnating 

 bodies or Spermatia are more like minute 

 pollen-grains, though there is no evidence 

 at present that they perform their func- 

 tions by a kind of germination. In ferns, 

 Equiseta, and Sahnnia, instead of the two 

 long appendages there are a multitude of 

 shorter ones. Their motion when im- 

 mersed in water is very lively and various. 

 They are produced in a peculiar cellular 

 tissue from the endochrome, and not, as 

 has been supposed, partly from that and 

 partly from the walls of the cells. It was 

 once believed, in consequence of the faith 

 reposed in Schleiden's theory of reproduc- 

 tion in phrenogams, that/the Spermatozoids 

 of ferns when entering the archegonia 

 did not perform the office of impregnation, 

 but themselves by cellular division became 

 the new plant. This notion, however, is 

 now exploded. [M. J. B.] 



SPERMIDIUM. One of the names of 

 the Achene. 



SPERMODERM. The skin or testa of a 

 seed. 



SPERMODON. A genus of sedge-grasses, 

 belonging to the tribe Shynchosporece. 

 Spikelets of inflorescence one or few-flow- 

 ered; flowers hermaphrodite or polyga-i 

 mous; scales subdistichous, without bris- 

 tles ; stamens one to three; styles two to 

 three-cleft. The few species described 

 under this genus are natives of Brazil and j 

 New Holland. [D. M.] 



SPERMOGONIA. Almost all Lichens 

 exhibit in different parts of the:'r thallus 

 black or brownish specks, whose nature 

 has been variously interpreted by authors. 

 Some have considered them as transfor- 

 mations of the shields by which Lecidece 

 or other shield-bearing genera are trans- 

 formed into Endocarpa or Yemicarieai ; 

 while others like Hedwig, with more pro- 

 bability, have regarded them as male or- 

 gans. With the older microscopes it was 

 impossible to ascertain their structure. It 

 now however appears that they all produce, 

 either on simple or branched threads, 

 'naked extremely minute bodies, which are 

 mostly short and linear and straight or 



