STAP] 



CIjc Crea^urj) at Sotany. 



1092 



Good Hope. The branches are generally 

 four-sided and toothed, and covered over 

 with dark tubercles, giving the plants a 

 very grotesque appearance; the calyx is 

 live-parted; the corolla rotate five-cleft 

 and fleshy; the staminal corona double, 

 the outer series of leaves or lobes entire 

 or cleft, the inner subulate and entire or 

 bifid; the gynostegiura is generally ex- 

 serted ; the anthers are simple at the top, 

 the pollen-masses being fixed by their base, 

 and having one edge cartilaginous and 



Stapelia Asterias. 



pellucid ; and there are two subcylindri- 

 cal follicles containing numerous comose 

 seeds. The singular and beautiful large 

 flowers spring from uncertain points of 

 the succulent stems. They exhibit a va- 

 riety of colours, forming exquisite marbled 

 or dotted patterns; and notwithstanding 

 the repulsive odour (like carrion) which 

 almost all the flowers possess, they are 

 extensively cultivated because of their 

 beauty. One of the finest of the species is 

 S. Asterias, figured above. [W. C] 



STAPHISAGRIA. Delphinium Staphis- 

 agria. 



STAPHYLEACE2E. (Bladder-nuts.) A 



small group of polypetalous Thalamiflorce, 

 formerly united with Celastracece, but 

 now recognised as having the essential 

 characters of Sapindacece, and added by 

 many botanists to that order as a tribe, dis- 

 tinguished by the stamens being inserted 

 outside instead of inside the disk, and by 

 albuminous seeds. They consist of trees 

 or shrubs, with opposite pinnate leaves 

 furnished with stipules, and white usually 

 small flowers in racemes or panicles. They 

 are natives of Europe, Asia, and Tropical 

 and North America, and comprise three 

 genera, Staphylea, Euscaphis, and Turpinia. 

 By some they are made a separate order. 



STAPHYLEA. A genus of Staphyleacece, 

 distinguished in that order (or suborder) 

 chiefly by the large inflated capsule. There 

 are four species known, dispersed over 

 the temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere. They are all shrubs, with 

 opposite pinnate leaves, consisting of 

 three five or more leaflets, and white 



pendulous flowers in axillary racemes or 

 panicles. S. pinnata from Central and 

 Eastern Europe, and sometimes also S. 

 trifoliata from North America, are culti- 

 vated in our shrubberies under the name 

 of Bladder-nuts. 



STARCH-CORN. Triticum Spelta. 



STARCHWORT. Arum maculatum. 



STARE, or STARR. Ammophila arun- 

 dhutcea, Carex armaria, and other coarse 

 seaside sedges and grasses. 



STAR-FLOWER. Trientalis americana. 



STAR-FRTJIT. Damasonium stellatum 

 alias Actinocarpus Damasonium. 

 STAR-HEAD. Asterocephalus. 

 STAR-JELLY. Nostoc commune. 



STAR OF BETHLEHEM. Ornithogalum 

 umbellatum ; also Hypoxis decumbens. 



STAR OF JERUSALEM. Tragopogon 

 porrifolius. 



STAR OF NIGHT. Clusia rosea. 



STAR OF THE EARTH. Plantago Co- 

 ronopus. 



STARRY. Arranged in rays like the 

 points of a star. The same as Stellate. 



STARRY PUFFBALL. Geastrum. 



STAR-SHAPED. The same as Stellate. 



STAR-SLOUGH. A name which is ap- 

 plied in some districts to the common 

 Nnstoc, supposing it to be the remains of 

 fallen stars. [M. J. B.] 



STARWORT. Stellaria; also Aster Tri- 

 poliiun and Heloniasdioica. — , ITALIAN. 

 Aster Amellus. — , WATER. Callitriche. 



STATICE. A very extensive genus of 

 herbaceous or subshrubby plants of the 

 order Plumbaginaceo?, characterised by 

 their flowers being spiked or panicled ; 

 the calyx funnel-shaped, of one piece, 

 plaited and somewhat scarious ; the petals 

 five, slightly connate; the stamens at- 

 tached to the base of the petals, and the 

 nut one-seeded, enclosed in the calyx. 

 They are amongst the most interesting 

 ornaments of our greenhouses and flower- 

 gardens, and are found in the south and 

 east of Europe, in the Canary group, and 

 in Central Asia. [T. M.] 



STATICE. (Fr.) Armeria vulgaris. 



STAUNTONTA. Now that the Indian 

 plants formerly referred to Stauntonia 

 have been separated and formed into dis- 

 tinct genera under the names Parvatia and 

 Holbcellia, the present genus is reduced to 

 two species, one of which (S. chinensis) is 

 a native of China, and the other (& 

 hexaphylla) of Japan. These are woody 

 climbing shrubs, with compound leaves 

 composed of from three to seven (usually 

 five) radiating leaflets, and few-flowered 

 racemes of largish unisexual flowers pro- 

 duced from the axils of the leaves. Both 

 sexes of flowers have six fleshy sepals, 

 but neither possess any petals ; and the 



