S C L 
and Fall Bom. Emp. vols. vii. and x. Tooled s Rus¬ 
sian Emp. vol. i. 
SCLERANTHUS, [from a-KXypo; hard or juice less, and 
avdoi;, a flower ], in Botany* a genus of the class decandria, 
order digynia, natural order of caryophyllei, portulaceae 
(Juss .)—Generic Character. Calyx: perianth one-leafed, 
tubular, half-five-cleft, acute, permanent, contracted at the 
neck. Corolla none. Stamina: filaments ten, awl-shaped, 
erect, very small, placed on the calyx. Anthers roundish. 
Pistil: germ roundish. Styles two, erect, capillary, length 
of the stamens. Stigmas simple. Pericarp none. Seed 
single, (or two) ovate, inclosed in the cartilaginous tube of 
the calyx.— Essential Character. Calyx one-leafed, in¬ 
ferior. Corolla none. Seeds two inclosed in the calyx. 
1. Scleranthus annuus, or annual knawel.—Calyxes of 
the fruit patulous acute, stems spreading. Root annual, 
fibrous, small but striking deep, little or not at all branched. 
Stems very numerous, spreading in all directions, the outer¬ 
most decumbent at the base only, not prostrate their whole 
length, all round, a little downy, branched at top, leafy, pale 
sometimes reddish. Leaves opposite, united at their base by 
a membranous downy margin, linear, ciliate at the bottom, 
erf a grassy green. Heads of flowers of the same colour, 
sessile, terminating, leafy.—Native of Europe and Siberia. 
2. Scleranthus perennis, or perennial knawel.—Calyxes of 
the fruit closed obtuse, stems procumbent. Root perennial. 
It has the habit of the preceding, but the stems 
are perfectly prostrate, and close pressed to the ground, 
downy in the upper part, much branched especially towards 
their extremities. The colour of the whole herb is glaucous, 
and somewhat glittering with shining pellucid tubercles.— 
Native of Europe and .Siberia. In England it is much 
more rare than the preceding. 
3. Scleranthus polycarpus.—Calyxes of the fruit spreading 
very much, and spiny, stem subvillose. Root annual. Stem 
branching and procumbent, a little villose and ash-coloured, 
as are also the leaves. Flowers terminating, whitish, with a 
calyx slightly membranaceous. Anthers twice as large as in 
the first species.—Native of France and Italy. 
SCLERIA [so named by Bergius, from 'luX^oaq, hard; 
on account of the hardness of the seed and whole plant], 
in Botany, a genus of the class monoecia, order triandria, 
natural order of calamariae.—Generic Character. Male 
flowers in the same spikelet or panicle mixed with the females. 
—Male: spikelets solitary,or androgynous. Calyx: glume 
from two to six-valved, many flowered: valves ovate, acute, 
keeled, concave, awnless, permanent. Corolla: glumes very 
many, oblong, awnless, longer and more slender than those 
of the calyx, separating the stamens. Stamina: filaments 
solitary or three, within each coralline glume. Anthers 
linear.—Female: spikelets solitary, axillary, terminating, or 
inserted between the male calycine glumes. Calyx: glume 
two to four-valved, one-flowered: valves ovate, acute, awnless 
keeled, concave, permanent. Corolla none. Pistil: germ 
roundish, attenuated at the base. Style filiform, length of 
the glumes, undivided or trifid. Stigmas capillary, reflexed. 
Pericar pnone. Seed : nut sub-globular or oblong, coloured, 
shining. Nucleus roundish, veined.— Essential Character. 
Male Calyx : glume from two to six-valved, many flowered 
awnless. Corolla glumes awnless. Filament one to three. 
Female: calyx from two to six-valved, one-flowered, awn¬ 
less. Stigmas one to three. Seed: nut sub-globular, some¬ 
what bony, coloured. 
1. Scleria flagellum.—Culm three sided scandent very 
rugged, leaves prickly backwards three ways, flowers panicled, 
rachis villose.—Native of Jamaica, Surinam, and Africa. 
2. Scleria mitis.-—Culm three sided, scandent, leaves 
even, flowers panicled, rachis smooth.—Native of the East 
Indies, Africa near the Cape of Good Hope, and the Isle 
of Tan'na in the Pacific Ocean. 
3. Scleria lithosperma.—Culm three-sided somewhat 
rugged erect, leaves strict linear, rugged at the edge, flowers 
panicled, rachis rough. 
4. Scleria. filiformis.-r-Culm simple filiform even, two feet 
* S C L 811 
high, leaves subulate, spike almost simple, floscules smooth 
having a filiform leaflet under them.—This is a tufted grass. 
—Native of Jamaica and Hispaniola, in very dry rocky 
places. 
5. Scleria birtella.—Culm simple, filiform, pubescent, 
leaves linear, spike simple, floscules rough-haired. This 
grass is scarcely a foot high. Roots small, filiform, black. 
•—-Native of Jamaica. 
6 . Scleria latifolia.—Culm three-sided, leafy, erect, even, 
leaves broad-lanceolate nerved, flowers panicled. This grass 
is a fathom in height.—Native of Jamaica, especially in the 
western parts, in dry mountain woods. 
7. Scleria poaeformis.—Culm leafless, panicles contracted 
with flexuose branches, spikelets sessile; female spikes 
axillary, males two-flowered.—Native of the East Indies. 
8 . Scleria tenuis.—Culm leafy, leaves unarmed, panicle 
capillary, flowers sessile, outer male, inner female.—This has 
the appearance of a slender rush.—Native of Ceylon. 
9. Scleria kevis.—Culm leafy, leaves unarmed, branches of 
the panicle divided involucred; male spikes sessile and 
peduncled.—Native of the East Indies. 
SCLERIA [formed of c/cA^po?, hard], a word used by 
medical writers to express a hardness of the inner part of the 
eye-lids. 
SCLERIASIS, or Scleroma, in Surgery, a hard tu¬ 
mour. An obsolete term. 
SCLEROCARPUS [from o-kX'^o;, hard, and Kopm;, 
fruit], in Botany, a genus of the class syngenesia, order 
polygamia frustranea, natural order of discoideae, corymbi- 
ferag (Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx: common, of 
six leaflets, of which three are exterior, three interior, al¬ 
ternately : exterior biggish, of the same structure and ap¬ 
pearance with the leaves, spreading; two large, the third 
less: interior linear, channelled, acute, erect with a spread¬ 
ing tip, length of the floscules. Corolla : compound, ra¬ 
diate : corollets hermaphrodite, ten in the disk: female, 
three in the ray, each within one of the interior calycine 
leaflets.—Proper of the hermaphrodites tubular, five-cleft:— 
of the female ligulate, roundish. Stamina: in the herma¬ 
phrodites, filaments five, capillary. Anthers: five, small, 
united, each awned at the tip. Pistil: in the hermaphrodites, 
germ oblong, compressed, outwardly gibbous. Style fili¬ 
form, length of the corollet. Stigma deeply bifid, revolute. 
In the females, germ slender. Style none. Stigma none. 
Pericarp none, except the chaffs involving the seeds. Seeds, 
in the hermaphrodites, solitary, oblong, compressed, with 
the outer margin gibbous, the inner straight. Pappus none. 
The females have no seed. Receptacle convex, small. 
Chaffs of the hermaphrodites cartilaginous, compressed, 
gibbous at the back, striated and tubercled, opening at the 
inner straight side, the margins converging inwards, flat and 
even, the apex terminated by a short, almost upright, neck: 
mouth oblique, acuminate outwards; each inclosing a single 
seed. Chaffs of the females straightish, cylindrical, slender, 
shorter.— Essential Character. Calyx six-leaved, three 
exterior larger, like the leaves, three interior smaller, like 
scales, alternate. Pappus none. Receptacle chaffy. 
Sclerocarpus Africanus. — Herbaceous, but somewhat 
woody, with alternate three-nerved leaves, and terminating 
solitary flowers: flowrets in the disk about eight, fertile; in 
the ray from one to four, neuter. Chaffs permanent, harden¬ 
ing, acuminate. Seeds ovate, sub-compressed, remarkably 
narrowed downwards, black and shining, each wrapped up 
in the chaff.—Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
SCLERODERMA [from c/cA^po?, hard, and tebtxa, Gr., 
skin], a genus of fungi. See Lycoferdon. 
SCLEROLjENA [from cvcA^po?, hard, and yjouva., Gr., a 
covering, because of the indurated calyx, which makes 
an outer coat to the seed, or a sort of spurious pericarp], in 
Botany, a genus of the class pentandria, order digynia, na¬ 
tural order of holeraceee, atriplices (Juss.) chenopodeee 
(Decandolle and Brown.)—Essential Character. Calyx 
of one leaf, five-cleft. Corolla none. Stamens inserted into 
the bottom of the calyx. Seed vertically compressed, without 
albumen, 
