664 
SAP 
The earth is bought at a dollar a load, and the soap at six 
and a half a quintal. There are employed annually, in 
making soap at Smyrna, at least ten thousand quintals of 
oil. The bringing of the soap-earth to Smyrna employs a 
thousand camels, or fifteen hundred, for eight months of 
the year, the four summer months being too hot for camels 
to travel in. A common soap-house produces, at a medium, 
a thousand dollars a-year clear profit. Phil. Trans. N° 220, 
p. 230. 
SAPONA'CEOUS, or Saponary, (which is not so 
good,) adj. [from sapo, Latin, soap.] Soapy ; resembling 
soap, having the qualities of soap.—By digesting a solution 
of salt of tartar with oil of almonds, I could reduce them to a 
soft saponary substance. Boyle. 
SAPONARA, a small town in the west of the kingdom of 
Naples, in the Principato Citra. In the neighbourhood are 
the mins of the Roman town of Grumentum, and of an am¬ 
phitheatre, with some ancient buildings. Population 3200 : 
20 miles north-east of Policastro. 
SAPONAR1A [from sapo, soap. The leaves lathering 
with water, like soap], in Botany, a genus of the class de- 
candria, order digynia, natural order of caryophyllei, 
caryophylleaj (Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx : pe¬ 
rianth one-leafed, naked, tubular, five-toothed, permanent. 
Corolla: petals five. Claws narrow, angular, length of the 
calyx: border flat, with the plates wider outwards, blunt. 
Stamina: filaments ten, awl-shaped, length of the tube of 
the corolla, alternately inserted into the claws of the petals, 
five later. Anthers oblong, blunt, incumbent. Pistil . germ 
sub-cylindrical. Styles two, straight, parallel, length of the 
stamens. Stigmas acute. Pericarp : capsule length of the' 
calyx, covered, one-celled, oblong. Seeds numerous, small. 
Receptacle free. The figure of the calyx differs in the dif¬ 
ferent species.— Essential Character. Calyx one-leafed, 
naked. Petals five, clawed. Capsule oblong, one-celled. 
1. Saponaria officinalis, or common soapwort.—Root 
perennial, striking deep and spreading wide, and creeping 
by runners. Stems a foot and a half in height, smooth, 
often reddish, panicled at top. Leaves opposite) connate, 
three-nerved, smooth. Panicle hemispherical, many-flow¬ 
ered, bracteolate. Corolla rose-coloured, varying to white, 
smelling sweet. Petals entire, crowned at the throat. Seeds 
blackish, with a granulated surface.—Native of Europe, but 
not in the very northern parts. In England not uncommon, 
in pastures and hedges: flowering from July to September. 
A variety with double flowers is preserved in gardens, but 
has the same fault with the single one, of spreading very 
much at the root.—There is also another variety. 
2. Saponaria vaccaria, or perfoliate soapwort.—Calyxes 
pyramidal, five cornered, leaves ovate, acuminate, sessile. 
This is an annual plant, rising with an upright stalk, near a 
foot and a half high, branching out upwards into several 
divisions; these always are by pairs opposite, as are also the 
leaves ; they sit close to the stalks, are smooth, and of a gray 
colour. The flowers are produced at the end of the branches, 
each standing upon a long naked foot stalk.—Native of Ger¬ 
many, Switzerland, France, and Italy.—This has also a 
variety. 
3. Saponaria Cretica, or Cretan soapwort.—Calyxes five- 
corpered, striated, stem erect, sub-dichotomous, leaves awl- 
shaped. Petals small, entire.—Native of Candia or Crete, 
in dry places, 
4. Saponaria porrigens, or hairy soapwort.—Calyxes cy¬ 
lindrical, pubescent, branches very much divaricate, fruits 
pendulous. Stem two feet high, erect, jointed, stiffish, 
below smooth, above pubescent and viscid. Peduncles axil¬ 
lary, one-flowered. Stigmas simple.—Native of the Levant. 
5. Saponaria Illyrica, or Illyrian soapwort.—Calyxes sub- 
cylindrical , stem erect, viscid, purplish, branches alternate, 
corollas dotted. This is an upright plant, a span high. 
Leaves linear-lanceolate, smooth.—Found in Illyria by 
Arduini. 
6. Saponaria ocymoides, or basil-leaved soapwort.—This 
is an elegant plant, with a perennial root, and many prostrate 
or procumbent stems, which are dichotomous, knotted and 
SAP 
pubescent. Leaves opposite, entire, pubescent: the lower 
ones ovate ; the upper ones lanceolate. Flowers numerous, 
in terminating corymb. Peduncles villose, filiform. Calyx 
tubular, with five blunt teeth. Petals rose-coloured.—Native 
of Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Barbary, on 
mountains, covering the rocks with beautiful large tufts of 
flowers. 
7. Saponaria orientalis, or small annual soapwort.—Like 
the preceding, but with linear-lanceolate leaves. Calyxes 
of the fruit ovate, with raised dots bearing hairs scattered 
over them. 
It is a low annual plant, seldom rising more than four 
inches high ; dividing into spreading branches by pairs from 
the bottom. Flowers single from the axils.—Native of the 
Levant. 
8. Saponaria lutea.—Calyxes round, both they and the 
stem rough-haired, petals obovate, quite entire, flowers 
corymbed, leaves linear-lanceolate, channelled.—Native of 
the mountains of Switzerland and Savoy. 
9. Saponaria bellidifolia.—Calyxes round, rough-haired, 
stem smooth, petals linear, crenate, leaves spatulate.—Found 
on the summits of some mountains in Italy. 
Propagation and Culture. —These plants are easily pro¬ 
pagated by seeds, sown in autumn, in dry ground, where 
they are to remain, kept clean from weeds, and thinned 
where they are too close. 
The double variety will increase fast enough by its creep¬ 
ing roots, and will thrive in any situation. 
The hollow-leaved soapwort is easily propagated by¬ 
parting the roots in autumn, and loves a moist shady si¬ 
tuation. 
SAPONARIA Terra, in Mineralogy, a name given by 
some authors to the common fuller’s earth. 
SAPONARIA Terra alba, a name given by some 
authors to the common tobacco-pipe-clay. 
SAPONIES, Indians who inhabit a north branch of the 
Susquehannah river. 
SAPOR I. and II., kings of Persia. See Persia, pp. 
664, 665. &c. 
SAPOR, s. [Lat.] Taste; power of affecting or stimula¬ 
ting the palate.—There is some sapor in all aliments, as 
being to be distinguished and judged by the gust, which can¬ 
not be admitted in air. Brown. 
SAPORFFIC, adj. [saponjique, Fr.] Having the power 
to produce tastes. 
SA'POROUS, adj. Savoury.—In philosophy, saporous 
bodies are such as are capable of yielding some kind of taste. 
Bailey. 
SAPOTA, in Botany, the West Indian name of several 
sorts of fruit, somewhat resembling a plum. 
SAPOTJE, or Sapoteaj, a natural order of Jussieu’s, 
the 48th in his system, the 15th of his 8th class. The order 
is thus defined :— 
Calyx divided, permanent. Corolla regular; its segments 
in some instances agreeing in number with those of the calyx, 
but at the same time accompanied by an equal number of 
intermediate appendages ; in other instances twice as nume. 
rous, without any such appendages. Stamens opposite to 
the segments of the corolla, and agreeing therewith in 
number; or else twice as numerous, the appendages in that 
case bearing anthers. Germen one; style one; stigma 
mostly simple. Fruit either a berry or drupa, of one or 
many cells, each containing a solitary seed, which is bony 
and polished, marked with a lateral scar. Corculum flat, 
enveloped in a fleshy albumen. Stem shrubby or arboreous. 
Leaves alternate, for the most part undivided and entire. 
Flowers numerous, axillary; their stalks single-flowered. 
The plants are milky. 
The genera placed here by Jussieu are Jacquinia; Man- 
glilla, see Sideroxylum ; Bassiae; Mimusops; Imbricaria of 
Commerson; Chrysophyllum; Lucuma, a genus, with a 
Peruvian name, founded by Jussieu and Dornbey upon 
Achras mammosa; and Achras. 
The following are subjoined, as allied to the true Sapotae: 
Myrsine; Inocarpus; Olax; and Leea. 
Mr. 
