1079 



€i)t £rea£un) nf SSofcmtj. 



[SPHJE 



: curved, but in soine cases elliptic or irre- 

 gular like the otylospores of Fungi. These 

 ! bodies were at first asserted by Itzigsohn 

 ; to have active motion, but this has not 

 j been confirmed by the generality of ob- 

 ! servers, who regard whatever motion may 

 I appear as simply molecular or (as it is some- 

 | times called) Brownian. Certain it is that 

 j they have no whip-like appendages, such 

 as are so commonly found in the spenua- 

 j tozoids of Algoe, or even in their zoospores. 

 As these bodies are so general in Lichens, 

 '. as appears from the admirable memoirs of 

 the Tulasnes and Dr. Lindsay, it is highly 

 ' probable that they are of sexual impor- 

 tance. The case scarcely admits of direct 

 proof, but the absence of motile threads 

 or active motion, however produced, is of 

 little consequence, as it does not follow, 

 because they exist in some Cryptogams, 

 that they should exist in all. Since there 

 is some difference of structure, and doubts 

 may exist as to their real nature, the 

 Messrs. Tulasne have thought it best to 

 propose for the cyst? the name Spermo- 

 gonia, and for the spore-like bodies that of 

 Spermatia. In a few cases, as in Peltidea, 

 the spermatia, as said above, resemble 

 stylospores, but on the contrary in several 

 Fungi there are bodies exactly resembling 

 spermatia as well as stylospores. [il. J. B.] 

 SPERM OPHOROI . A cord which bears 

 the seeds of some plants ; also the placenta 

 itself. 



SPERMOTHECA. The seed-vessel ; the 

 case in which seeds are contained. 



SPERMOI. In Greek compounds a 

 seed, or any seed-like part. 



SPHACELE. A genus of Labiates, dis- 

 tinguished from its congeners by the fol- 

 lowing characters .-—Corolla having a wide 

 tube, the upper lip slightly bifid, the lower 

 longest and notched ; filaments of the sta- 

 mens smooth. The species are undershrubs, 

 natives of Western America from Califor- 

 nia to Chili, with wrinkled and opposite 

 leaves, which are hoary beneath, the flow- 

 ers in loose whorls. The name is from the 

 Greek word sphakos ' sage,' indicating 

 some resemblance to that plant. [G. DJ 



SPH.ERALCEA. Closely allied to Malm, 

 and belonging to the Malvaceee, this genus 

 is principally distinguished by the presence 

 of three ovules in each compartment of 

 the ovary ; the upper one ascending, the 

 two lower ones pendulous. The fruit is 

 globular, consisting of several carpels con- 

 taining three seeds.or by abortion one only. 

 The carpels open along one edge, and ulti- 

 mately separate one from the other. The 

 species are natives of Tropical America. 

 Some of them are employed medicinally 

 for their demulcent properties, as marsh- 

 mallow is with us. [Bf. T. M.j 



SPHJERAXTHPS. A genus of the Com- 

 posites containing about a dozen species 

 of much-branched glutinous smooth or 

 downy annual weeds, found in tropical or 

 tubtropical parts of Asia, Africa, and Aus- 

 ralasia. They have winged stems furnished 



with oblong or lance-shaped decurrent 

 leaves, and the flower-heads are borne in 

 dense spherical clusters, so that without 

 examination a cluster of flower-heads 

 might be readily mistaken for a single one. 

 The florets are pink, all tubular, the outer 

 ones fertile and three-toothed, the inner 

 sterile and five-toothed ; the achenes are 

 smooth or downy, and without pappus. 

 S. mollis, a common Indian weed on dry 

 cultivated land, is remarkable when fresh 

 for the strong honey-like odour secreted 

 by the innumerable soft glandular hairs 

 which clothe the whole plant. [A. A. B.] 



SPH^EREXCHYMA. Spherical or sphe- 

 roidal cellular tissue, such as is found in 

 the pulp of fruits. 



SPHiERIACEI. A large and interesting 

 order of sporidiiferous Fungi, but more 

 important in a botanical than an economi- 

 cal point of view. They are characterised 

 by carbonaceous or membranaceous cysts, 

 or perithecia composed of cells or very 

 rarely of interwoven threads pierced at 

 the tip with a pore or narrow slit, and 

 often ending in a distinct short or elon- 

 gated nipple or crest-like process. The 

 walls are lined within with a diffluent ge- 

 latinous mass of asci and barren threads 

 (paraphyses). The cysts are either free 

 from any stroma, whether naked or ex- 

 posed, or variously seated on or within a 

 filamentous fleshy or corky cellular mass 

 called, according to the prevalence of a 

 floccose or cellular structure, a subiculum 

 or stroma. Though the normal form of 

 fruit is ascigerous, there is reason to 

 believe that many of them produce a second 

 form of fruit, consisting of naked spores 

 contained like the asci within a perithe- 

 cium. Inthehighest genus, thesporiferous 

 state, if we may judge from Cordiceps pur- 

 purea and its allies, is a mere thin stratum 

 of exposed cells, while in some true Sphee- 

 ries and Hypoxylei it assumes the form of 

 different genera of moulds. The subject 

 is, however, still in its infancy, and the 

 whole theory of secondary fruit requires 

 many repeated observations before it, can 

 be considered as decisive, though the ana- 

 logy of the red-sporedAigrce and some others, 

 is in its favour. 



Sphwriacei are abundantly produced upon 

 decayed wood, herbaceous stems, &c. ; they 

 affect also more fugacious organs, and ap- 

 pear sometimes when there is some degree 

 of vitality left in the matrix. They occur 

 also on dung, on the naked soil, and on ani- 

 mal substances, as caterpillars, chrysalises, 

 &c. They are not uncommon on crypto- 

 gams, and occur even on marine Alga?, 

 while one at least in every stage of 

 growth is covered by the sea. One or two 

 curious species are found on truffles while 

 still in their native place of growth. They 

 are found in all parts of the world which 

 are not subject to such extremes of tem- 

 perature as are hostile to all vegetation, 

 save that of the lowest Algoe. [M. J. BJ 



SPHvERIA. The typical genus of the na- 

 tural order of Fungi Spharieicei, formerly 



