SOL 
and rife near three feet high ; they are garniflied with 
oval fpear-fhaped leaves, placed oppofite upon fhort 
foot-ftalks •, they are three inches long, and an inch 
and a quarter broad, their furface very rough, and 
their edges are crenated, of a dark green on their up- 
per fide, but pale on their under. The flowers are 
produced in fhort bunches from the wings of the 
leaves, at the upper part of the ftalk ; they are of a 
deep yellow colour, and pretty large. 
The thirty-ftrft fort grows naturally at La Vera Cruz, 
where it was difcovered by the before-mentioned gen- 
tleman. This rifes with a fhrubby ftalk feven or 
eight feet high, dividing into many fpreading branches 
which are (lender, ligneous, and covered with a fmooth 
gray bark. The leaves are fpear-fhaped, fmooth, 
and entire ; they are two inches and a half long, and 
one broad, of a light green, and ftand upon fhort 
foot-ftalks. The flowers are produced at the end of 
the branches in a loofe corymbus ; they are large, of 
a pale yellow colour, and ftand upon pretty long foot- 
ftalks. The common empalement of the flowers is 
cut almoft to the bottom. I believe Petiver has this 
plant in his Mufaeum, under the following title. Pul- 
monaria Jamaicenfis, falicis folio, calycibus paleaceis. 
Thefe plants are all of them hardy, (except the two 
forts laft mentioned) fo will thrive in the open air in 
England. Many of them have fpecious panicles of 
flowers, fo are great ornaments to the Englilh gardens 
at the end of the fummer, when there is a fcarcity of 
other flowers, which renders them more valuable. The 
five firft forts are feldom admitted into gardens, as 
they do not make any great appearance, but the forts 
from North America are better efteemed •, thefe have 
been greatly increafed in. their number of late years, 
and if we can judge from the forts which have been 
introduced from North America within a few years 
paft, we muft fuppofe that country abounds with ma- 
ny more forts than are yet known. 
Thefe plants when they are once obtained, may be 
propagated in plenty by parting of their roots ; the 
beft time for doing it is in autumn, as foon as their 
flowers are paft ; but thofe forts which do not flower 
till very late in the year, fhould be tranfplanted early 
in the fpring before they begin to fhoot, and the roots 
may be then parted ; but if the fpring fhould prove 
dry, they will require water to eftablifh them well in 
the ground, otherwife they will not flower ftrong the 
fucceeding autumn. Some of the forts fpread their 
roots, and propagate much fafter than others, fo thefe 
may be tranfplanted and parted every other year ; or 
if the plants are wanted, they may be every year di- 
vided, but then they will not flower fo ftrong as thofe 
which are fuffered to remain longer unremoved •, and 
thofe forts whole roots do not multiply fo faft, fhould 
be parted once in three years, if they are expedted to 
flower ftrong. 
The forts which grow tall, are not very proper furni- 
ture for fmall gardens, becaufe they require much 
room, for thefe fhould be allowed four or five feet, 
otherwife their roots will intermix with thofe of the 
neighbouring plants, and draw away their nourifh- 
ment therefore thefe plants are proper ornaments 
for large extended walks round fields, or for the 
borders of wood-walks, where they will make a fine 
appearance during their feafon of flowering ; and as 
they require little culture, fo they are adapted to thofe 
places. They will thrive in almoft any foil, but when 
they are planted in good ground they willjmow much 
larger, and make a better appearance. 
Thefe plants may alfo be propagated by feeds, but it 
is only the early flowering kinds which perfesft their 
feeds in England. Thefe feeds fhould be fown in au- 
tumn foon after they are ripe, for thofe which are 
kept out of the ground till fpring feldom fucceed, or 
at beft do not come up the fame year ; they may be 
fown in drills upon a bed of frefh earth, at about a 
foot afunder, but the feeds fhould be flattered pretty 
thick in the drills, and covered lightly over with 
fine earth. When the plants come up, they muft 
be kept clean from weeds, and where they are too 
SOP 
clofe, part of them may be drawn out, and planted 
in a fhady border, to allow room for the others to 
grow till autumn, when the fhould be tranfplanted 
Where they are defigned to remain. The following 
year they will flower, and theft roots will abide many 
years. 
The two laft mentioned forts are natives of a warm 
country, fo they will not thrive here, unlefs they 
have artificial heat in winter, efpecially the laft fort, 
which requires a warmer fttuation than the other. 
Thefe plants fhould be planted in pots, and the laft 
fhould be plunged into the tan-bed in the ftove, and 
treated in the fame way as other tender plants from 
the fame country. This may be propagated by cut- 
tings, which, if planted in pots filled with loamy 
earth, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, will 
take root. The other fort is propagated by parting 
of the roots, in the fame manner as the fort before 
mentioned ■, thefe fhould be kept in a moderate ftove 
in winter, and in fummer may be placed abroad in a 
fheltered fttuation. 
SOLSTICE is the time when the fun is in one of 
the folftitial points ; that is, when he is at his greateft 
diftance from the equator, which is twenty-three de- 
grees and a half ; thus called, becaufe he then ap- 
pears to ftand ftill, and not to change his place in the 
degrees of the zodiac any way ; an appearance owing 
to the obliquity of our lphere, and which thofe who 
live under the equator are ftrangers to. 
The Solftices are two in each year; the asftival, or 
fummer Solftice ; and the hyemal, or winter Solftice. 
The fummer Solftice is, when the fun is in the tropic 
of Cancer, which is on the 21ft of June, when he 
makes our longeft day. 
The winter Solftice is, when the fun enters the firft 
degree of Capricorn, which is on the 21ft of Decem- 
ber ; when he begins to turn toward us, and makes 
our fhorteft day. 
This is to be underftood, as in our northern hemi- 
fphere ; for in the fouthern, the fun’s entrance into Ca- 
pricorn makes thefummerSolftice, and that into Can- 
cer the winter Solftice. 
SONCHUS, Sowthiftle. 
Thefe are many of them weeds in England, fo are 
not planted in gardens •, for if their feeds are once 
permitted to flatter upon the ground, they will foon 
flock it with plants ; for which reafon they fhould 
always be extirpated, not only thofe in the garden, 
but alfo thofe in the parts near it ; becaufe their 
feeds being furnifhed with down, are wafted in the 
air to a confiderable diftance, where, falling on the 
ground, they foon come up and prove troublefome 
weeds. 
SO PH OR A. Lin. Gen. Plant. 456. 
The Characters are, 
The flower hath a floor t hell-Jhaped empalement of one leaf, \ 
cut at the brim into five obtufe fegments. The flower is of 
the butterfly kind the ftandard is oblong , broad , and 
reflexed on the fides. It has two oblong wings with appen- 
dages to their bafle •, the keel is of two leaves like thofe of 
the wings , whofe lower borders join like the keel of a boat. 
It hath ten diftincl ftamina which are awl-fhaped , paral- 
lel , , and the length of the petals , hid in the keel , and ter- 
minated by fmall fummits , and a taper oblong germen , flap- 
porting a ftyle the length of the ftamina , crowned by an 
obtufe ftignia. The germen afterward turns to a long 
fender pod, with flwellings where each feed is pofited, which 
are romdifb. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft feftion of 
Linnaeus’s tenth clafs, which includes thofe plants 
whofe flowers have ten ftamina and one ftyle. This 
agrees in every charafler with the' other butterfly 
flowers, except that the ten ftamina in thefe flowers 
ftand diftindt, and thofe of the other butterfly flowers 
have their ftamina joined in two bodies. 
The Species are, 
1. Sophora ( Alopecuroides ) foliis pinnatis, foliolis nu- 
merofis villofis oblongis, caule herbaceo. Lin. Sp. 
Plant. 373. Sophora with winged leaves, having a great 
number of oblong hairy lobes. Ervuni Orientale alope- 
6 curoides 
