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SESELI. 
SERWELL, a small district of Afghanistean, province 
of Cabul. It is situated between the 34th and 35th degrees 
of north lat. but is very imperfectly known to Europeans. 
SERWOY, a name given by Theodore de Bry, and others, 
to the animal called by us the Opossum. 
SESA, a village of Nubia, on the Nile; 210 miles south- 
south-west of Syene. 
SE'SAME, s. [<T5)o-a/x>j, Gr.] A white grain or corn 
growing in India, of which an oil is made. Ainsworth. 
SESAMION, a word among the ancients to express a 
cake made of sesamum, honey and oil. 
SESAMOID, a name given to some small bones of the 
thumb and great toe. See Anatomy. 
SESAMOIDES, in Botany, a name first published by 
Clusius, as applied at Salamanca to two very different plants, 
neither of them bearing any evident resemblance to sesamum. 
These are silene otites and reseda sesamoides: see Reseda 
and Silene. 
SESAMUM [of Pliny. Sz/jcra/xov of Theophrastus and 
Dioscorides], in Botany, a genus of the class didynamia, 
order angiospermia, natural order of luridae, bignonise (Juss.) 
—Generic Character. Calyx: perianth one-leafed, five- 
parted, erect, equal, very short, permanent: segments lan¬ 
ceolate, the upper one shorter. Corolla one-petalled, bell¬ 
shaped : tube roundish, almost the length of the calyx: 
throat inflated, spreading, bell-shaped, very large, declined : 
border five-cleft; segments four, patulous, almost equal, and 
a fifth, which is the lowest, a little longer, ovate, straight. 
Stamina: filaments four, springing from the tube, shorter 
than the corolla, ascending, setaceous, the two inner shorter, 
with the rudiment of a fifth filament. Anthers oblong, 
acute, erect. Pistil: germ ovate, hirsute. Style filiform, 
ascending, a little longer than the stamens. Stigma lan¬ 
ceolate, two-parted: lamellae parallel. Pericarp: capsule 
oblong, obscurely four-cornered, compressed, acuminate, 
four-celled. Seeds very many, subovate. It has the flower 
of digitalis, but the fruit is very different.— Essential Cha¬ 
racter. Calyx five-parted. Corolla bell-shaped, five-cleft, 
the lower lobe larger. Rudiment of a fifth filament. Stigma 
lanceolate. Capsule four-celled. 
1. Sesamum Orientale, Oriental sesamum cr oily-grain. 
—This is an annual plant, rising with an herbaceous four- 
cornered stalk about two feet high, sending out a few short 
side-branches. Leaves opposite and a little hairy. Flowers 
in loose terminating spikes, small, of a dirty white colour, 
shaped somewhat like those of the foxglove.—Native of the 
East Indies. 
2. Sesamum Indieum, Indian sesamum or oily-grain.— 
The second sort grows naturally in India, and is also an an¬ 
nual plant. The stalk rises higheivtban that of the former ; 
the lower leaves are cut into three parts; and these are the 
only differences between them. There is a variety of this 
which grows naturally in Africa, and is also an annual plant, 
with a taller and more branched stalk than either of the for¬ 
mer. All the leaves are cut into three parts. 
3. Sesamum luteum, or yellow sesamum.—Leaves lance¬ 
olate on long petioles; corollas hispid on the outside. 
Propagation and Culture. —In England, these plants are 
preserved in botanic gardens as curiosities. Their seeds must 
be sown in the spring upon a hot-bed, and when the plants 
are come up, they must be transplanted into a hot-bed to 
bring them forward. After they have acquired a tolerable 
degree of strength, they should be planted into pots filled 
with a rich, light, sandy soil, and plunged into another 
hot-bed, managing them as has been directed for amaran- 
thuses. 
SESBAN, a barbarous generic name given by Poiret to a 
genus selected by him out of .ZEschynomene : see that 
article. 
SESELI [of Pliny. SeceXi of Theophrastus and Diosco¬ 
rides], in Botany, a genus of the class pentandria, order di- 
gynia, natural order of umbellatee or umbelliferse.-—Generic 
Character. Calyx: umbel universal, rigid; partial very 
short, manifold, globular. Involucre universal, none; par¬ 
tial of one or two leaflets, linear, acuminate, length of the 
umbellet. Proper perianth scarcely observable. Corolla 
universal, uniform. Florets all fertile. Proper of five inflex- 
cordate petals, flatfish. Stamina: filaments five, awl-shaped. 
Anthers simple. Pistil: germ inferior. Styles two, distant. 
Stigmas blunt. Pericarp none. Fruit ovate, small, striated, 
bipartile. Seeds two, ovate, convex and striated on one 
side, flat on the other.— Essential Character . Umbels glo¬ 
bular. Involucre of one or two leaflets. Fruit ovate, striated. 
1. Seseli filifolium, or thread-leaved meadow saxifrage.— 
Leaves filiform, stem flexuose, erect.—Native of the Cape 
of Good Hope. 
2. Seseli pimpinelloides.—Stem declined, umbels before 
they flower nodding. Root perennial.—Native of the south 
of Europe. 
3. Seseli montanum, or long-leaved meadow saxifrage.— 
Stem erect, near two feet high, sending out branches from 
the side. Leaves short, divided into small segments like 
hog’s-fennel; at the foot-stalk of each a bellied membrane 
embracing it. Flowers white.—Native of Italy and France. 
4. Seseli striatum.—Petioles branchy, membranaceous, 
emargina'e, stem striated, pinnas awl-shaped, grooved,— 
Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
5. Seseli glaucum, or glaucous meadow saffron.—Root 
perennial, running deep in the ground, and sending out- 
slender smooth stalks near two feet high. Leaves long and 
narrow, composed of seven or eight pairs of pinnas. They 
have a membrane embracing the petiole, and are of a gray 
colour. The stalks are terminated by umbels of flowers, 
which are purple on their outside and white within.—Native 
of France, Austria, Carniola, Silesia and Piedmont. 
6. Seseli aristatum, or bearded-leaved meadow saxifrage. 
—Root biennial. Leaves bipinnate, with the leaflets very 
narrow, and finely divided. Stems strong, a foot and half 
high, with shining pinnate leaves, and terminated by pretty 
large umbels of whitish flowers.—Native of the Pyrenean 
mountains. 
7. Seseli annuum, or annual meadow saxifrage.—Stem 
stiff, a span high and more, striated. Leaves bipinnate, la- 
ciniate. Flowers whitish with a tinge of violet.—Native of 
France, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and Pied¬ 
mont. 
8. Seseli chserophylloides, or chervil-leaved meadow saxi¬ 
frage.—Petioles branchy, membranaceous, ventricose, en¬ 
tire, stem dichotomous, panicled; leaves super-decompound, 
smooth.—Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
9 Seseli ammoides, or milfoil-leaved meadow saxifrage. 
—Root-leaves with the leaflets imbricate. This is an annual 
plant.—Native of Portugal and Italy. 
10. Seseli tortuosum, or hard meadow saxifrage.—Stem 
lofty, rigid, leaflets linear in bundles. The flowers are 
small and yellow. 
11. Seseli Turbith.—Universal, involucre one-leafed, seeds 
striated, villose, styled.—Native of the south of Europe. 
12. Seseli Hippomarathrum, or various-leaved meadow 
saxifrage.—Involucrets connate-one-leafed. Leaves bipin¬ 
nate; the first trifid and linear. Stem rushy, glaucous, as 
is the rest of the plant.—Native of Austria, Carniola, Silesia 
and Germany. 
13. Seseli Pyrenseum, or Pyrenean meadow saxifrage.— 
Leaves doubly pinnate, leaflets gashed, acute, involucrets 
bristle-shaped, longer than the umbellet. Stem a foot high, 
round, striated.—Native of the Pyrenees. 
14. Seseli saxifragum.—Stem filiform, divaricating, a 
foot high, leaves doubly ternate, linear, umbels subsexfid. 
—Native of Germany, and the borders of the Lake of Ge¬ 
neva. 
15. Seseli elatum.—Stem a foot and half high, the thick¬ 
ness of a pigeon’s quill, subdichotomous, with the branches 
divaricating; the uppermost very narrow. Leaves super¬ 
decompound ; the upper ones only ternate.—Native of 
France, Austria and Silesia. 
Propagation and Culture. —Sow the seeds in autumn, 
and they will rise the following spring ; whereas when they 
are sown in the spring, they frequently lie in the ground till 
the next year before they grow. Drill them eighteen inches 
asunder. 
