SALPIGLO v SSIS. 



258 



SALVIA. 



size from the tree Willow, of seventy 

 or eighty feet high, to the creeping 

 half-herbaceous kinds called S. her- 

 bacea, S. vaccinifblia, &c. Of 

 these S. herbacea creeps so close to 

 the ground that it forms on the Swiss 

 mountains a kind of turf, not rising 

 more than an inch above the surface 

 of the ground, and yet forming, -when 

 closely examined, a complete minia- 

 ture tree. All the kinds of Willow 

 grow best in moist soi], or near water ; 

 and they all grow in such situations 

 very rapidly. The Weeping Willow 

 (Salia? Babylonica) has been known 

 to grow twenty feet high in ten years, 

 and the other species to increase in a 

 similar proportion. All the common 

 Weeping Willows grown in England 

 are female plants ; and it is supposed 

 that the kind imported from St. 

 Helena, and called Napoleon's Weep- 

 ing Willow, is the male plant. Of 

 the tall shrubby kinds of Willow, 

 Salix caprcea, the great round- 

 leaved Sallow, or Grey Withy, is, 

 perhaps the handsomest ; and it is 

 the flowering branches of this species 

 that are called Palms in the neighbour- 

 hood of London, and are gathered by 

 children on Easter Sunday. The 

 Willow will grow in any soil which 

 is not too dry ; and it is propagated 

 by cuttings, which strike root when 

 merely put into the ground, without 

 any other trouble being taken with 

 them. 



Sallow. — A kind of Willow, with 

 roundish shaggy leaves. 



Salpiglo v ssis. — Solanacece or 

 Scrophularinece. — Very beautiful 

 half-hardy annual plants, natives of 

 Chili. The seeds should be sown in 

 February on a slight hotbed ; and 

 the young plants should be planted 

 out in May. The soil should be 

 loam mixed with one-third of peat or 

 sand ; and the situation should be 

 sheltered, and partially shaded ; as, if 

 the collar of the plant should be ex- 



posed to the burning heat of the sun, 

 so as to become withered, the plant 

 will die off suddenly. It is also very 

 easily killed by the collar being ex- 

 posed to stagnant moisture. When 

 grown in pots, it should be frequently 

 shifted, always into pots only a little 

 larger than the previous ones, so as to 

 make the plant bushy. It varies very 

 much according to the soil and situa- 

 tion in which it is grown ; and if kept 

 through the winter in a greenhouse, it 

 will become partially woody, like the 

 mignionette. There are many differ- 

 ent lands, which are made species by 

 some botanists, but which are now 

 generally allowed to be only varieties. 

 Many gardeners sow the seeds in 

 autumn, and keep the plants in 

 frames all the winter, that they may 

 flower early in spring. 



Salsola Chenopodacece. — Salt- 

 wort. Annual and biennial succulent 

 plants which grow wild on the sea- 

 coast in Britain, and which are some- 

 times cultivated for their curiously- 

 shaped round stems. Soda is made 

 from one of the species. 



Salt-tree. — See Halimodendron. 



Salt-wort. — See Salsola. 



Salvia. — Labiatce. — The Sage. 

 No one who has only seen the com- 

 mon Sage growing in a kitchen-garden 

 could imagine the splendidly flower- 

 ing plants which belong to the genus 

 Salvia. Some of these, as for exam- 

 ple S.formbsa, are shrubby and have 

 dark scarlet flowers ; and others, such 

 as S. patens, have their flowers of 

 the richest blue ; others, such as S. 

 aurea, have golden yellow flowers ; 

 others, such as S. dentata, have 

 white flowers ; and in others, such as 

 S. involucrala, and S. purpurea, 

 the flowers are purple. Besides these, 

 some of the kinds have violet flowers, 

 and others pink or crimson ; and the 

 different kinds of Clsery (S. hormi- 

 num) are not cultivated for their 

 flowers at all, but merely because the 



