1097 



Oje Crra^urg of MatKixv. 



[STER 



Acantliacece containing several species of 

 herbs, from Tropical America. The calyx 

 has five equal divisions ; the tube and 

 limb of the corolla are small, but the 

 throat is more or less inflated ; and the 

 stamens are just included, and have slen- 

 der anthers. The flowers are in axillary 

 cymes, which have an umbellate arrange- 

 ment in most of the species. [W. C] 



STEPHAXO PODIUM. The name of a 

 Peruvian tree, constituting a genus of 

 Cliailletiacece. The leaves are entire bi- 

 stipulate, and the flowers placed in heads 

 on the swollen tops of the flower-stalks. 

 The calyx is five-cleft, the tube of the 

 corolla equalling the calyx, its limb five- 

 lobed and bilabiate ; stamens five ; ovary 

 two-celied, with two ovules in eacli com- 

 partment, surrounded at the base by five 

 glands; style simple, stigma two-lobed ; 

 fruit drupaceous, two-celled. [M. T. M.] 



STEPHAXOTIS. A genus of Asclepia- 

 dacecB, containing a few species from 

 Madagascar. They are sinistrorse climb- 

 ing shrubs, with smooth coriaceous leaves, 

 and beautiful fragrant pedicellate flowers 

 in interpetiolar umbels. The calyx is five- 

 leaved ; the corolla salve: -shaped, with a 

 tube somewhat swollen at the base, and a 

 limb with five oblique segments; the 

 staminal corona composed of five erect 

 simple short acuminate leaves; the an- 

 thers terminated by a membrane ; the 

 stigma conical and entire or obscurely 

 two-lobed; and the two follicles thick 

 horizontal and acuminate, containing 

 many comose seeds. The species are ge- 

 nerally cultivated for the great beauty of 

 their flowers. [W. C] 



STEPHEXSOXIA. A garden name of 

 Yerschaffeltia : more correctly Stevensonia. 



STERCULIACE.E. (Bombacece, Stercvli- 

 ads.) An orderof polypetalous dicotyledons, 

 with the valvate calyx, contorted petals 

 (sometimes wanting), and monadelphous 

 stamens of Malvacece, but differing from 

 them in their anthers being always two- 

 celled. They consist of tropical South Afri- 

 can or Australian herbs shrubs or trees, 

 with alternate entire lobed or digitately 

 compound leaves, furnished with stipules ; 

 and axillary or rarely terminal flowers, 

 often large and handsome. The order has 

 been variously extended or broken up into 

 smaller ones by different botanists. By the 

 most recent arrangement the Bombacece 

 have been referred to Malvacece, as having 

 always one-celled anthers ; and Sterculia- 

 cece, ' including Byttneriacece, have been 

 divided into seven tribes, comprising 

 forty-rme genera:— 1. Sterculiece proper, 

 with unisexual flowers, no petals, five to 

 fifteen anthers, adnate to the top of the 

 column, and carpels distinct when in fruit. 

 They are all trees or shrubs, including 

 Sterculia, Heritiera, and three other ge- 

 nera. 2. Ilelicterece : trees or shrubs, with 

 hermaphrodite flowers, five petals, five to 

 fifteen anthers, singly or by twos or threes 

 alternating with the teeth or lobes of the 

 staminal column, comprising six genera, 



of which Helicteres and Pterospermum are 

 the largest. 3. Eriolcenece, or the genus 

 Eriolcena, with numerous anthers cover- 

 ing the upper half of the staminal column. 

 4. Dombeyece : consisting of herbs shrubs 

 or rarely trees, with ten to twenty stamens 

 on a short column, two to four together, 

 alternating with the barren lobes of the 

 column or stamiuodia. They include Bom- 

 beya, Pentapetes, Melhania, and four other 

 genera, all African or Asiatic. 5. Herman- 

 niece: herbs or shrubs, with only five 

 stamens, including the large African 

 genus Hermannia, the tropical genera 

 Melochia and Waltheria, and three others. 

 6. Byttneriece ; mostly shrubs or trees re- 

 markable for their petals being concave or 

 hood-shaped at the base, and often termi- 

 nating in a long appendage. The principal 

 genera are Theobroma,Guazuma, Byttneria, 

 and Commersonia. 7. Lasiopetalece : shrubs 

 almost exclusively Australian, with five 

 stamens almost free, and petals reduced 

 to small scales or entirely wanting; eight 

 genera, including Lasiopetalum and Tho- 

 masia. See Bytt>>-e.riace>e. 



STEPi-CULIA. Although much reduced 

 by the separation of numerous groups 

 under the names Cola, Firmiana, Bracliy- 

 chiton, &c, Sterculia (which gives its name 

 to the order Sterculiacece) is still one of 

 considerable extent ; and its species are 

 widely dispersed through the tropics of 

 both hemispheres, occurring most abun- 

 dantly, however, in Asia and the Asiatic 

 Islands, more sparingly in America and 

 Africa, and rarely in Australia. Nearly all 

 the species are trees, sometimes of con- 

 siderable size ; and by far the greater 

 number have simple undivided feather- 

 veined leaves, comparatively few having 

 their leaves lobed so as to resemble a 

 hand, or divided into several distinct 

 leaflets radiating from a common centre. 

 Their flowers are borne in usually some- 

 what drooping panicles, and are most 

 commonly of one sex only. They have a 

 coloured bell-shaped calyx, and no petals; 

 and their fruits consist of five or fewer 

 more or less woody pieces called follicles, 

 radiating from a common centre and 

 opening along their inner or top edge, 

 each follicle containing several albumi- 

 nous seeds. 



S. carihaginensis, a fine tree forty feet 

 high or upwards, native of America from 

 Mexico to Brazil, has large roundish three 

 to five-lobed leaves, covered with velvety 

 hairs underneath but smooth above ; and 

 its yellowish flowers are scurfy outside 

 and spotted with purple inside. It is 

 called Chicha by the Brazilians, and Pa- 

 nama by the Panamians ; and its seeds, 

 which are about the size of pigeon's eggs, 

 are, like those of many other species, 

 commonly eaten by the inhabitants as 

 nuts. 



»S'. urens, an Indian and Cingalese spe- 

 cies, has five-lobed hand-shaped leaves 

 velvety underneath, erect panicles of 

 flowers covered with sticky yellow down, 

 and fruits clothed with stiff bristly sting- 



