190 SID 
SIDE'REAL, ad/. [sidereus, Lat.] Astral; starry; 
relating to the stars.—The Egyptians called their heroes by 
the names of their sidereal and elementary deities. Shuck- 
ford. 
SI'DERITE, s. sideritis, Lat.] A loadstone.—Upon 
which he hangs in a cord a siderite of Herculean stone. 
Brewer. 
SIDERITIS [of Pliny. of Dioscorides. From 
<rdivjpo( t, iron], in Botany, a genus of the class didynamia, 
order gymnospermia, natural order of verticillatse, labiatee 
(Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx: perianth, one-leafed, 
tubular, oblong, about half five-cleft: segments acute, 
almost equal. Corolla: one petalled ; almost equal: tube 
cylindrical, oblong: throat oblong, roundish: upper lip 
erect, bifid, narrow: lower lip trifid; lateral segments 
sharper, commonly smaller than the upper lip; middle 
segment roundish crenate. Stamina: filaments four, within 
the tube of the corolla; shorter than the throat, two of 
which are smaller. Anthers roundish, two twin. Pistil: 
germ four-cleft. Style filiform, usually longer than the 
stamens; stigmas two : upper cylindrical, concave, truncate; 
lower membranaceous, shorter, sheathing the upper. 
Pericarp none. Calyx cherishing the seeds in its bosom. 
Seeds four.— Essential Character. Calyx five cleft. 
Corolla ringent: upper lip bifid; lower three parted. 
Stamina, within the tube of the corolla. Stigma, the 
shorter involving the other. 
I.—Without bractes. 
1. Sideritis Canariensis, or Canary iron-wort.—Stem five or 
six feet high, sending out several woody branches covered 
with a soft down. Leaves on long footstalks, five or six 
inches long, and two and a half broad near their base.; they 
are very woolly, especially on their under side, which is 
white, but their upper surface is of a dark-yellowish green. 
The flowers, which grow in thick whorled spikes at the end 
of the brauches, are of a dirty white, and appear early in 
June. The plants frequently produce flowers again in 
autumn.—Native of the Canaries and of Madeira. 
2. Sideritis candicans, or mullein-leaved iron wort.—Shrub¬ 
by, tomentose; leaves ovate-lanceolate, cordate, attenuated 
at the top, snow-white beneath; whorls about eight-flowered, 
remote.—Native of Madeira. 
3. Sideritis Cretica, or Cretan iron-wort.—Shrubby, tomen¬ 
tose, leaves cordate-oblong, obtuse, petioled; branches 
divaricating; spikes whorled. Flowers about eight in each 
whorl.—Native of the island of Crete or Candia. 
4. Sideritis montana, or mountain iron-wort.—Herbaceous 
without bractes, calyxes larger than the corolla spiny, upper 
lip trifid. This is an annual plant, with a stem decumbent 
at bottom and then upright, a foot in length.—Native of 
Italy, Austria and Silesia. 
5. Sideritis elegaus, or dark-flowered iron-wort.—Herbace¬ 
ous without bractes, villose ; stem diffused; segments of the 
calyxes almost equal, spinulose.—The native place of 
growth not known. 
6. Sideritis Ronrana, or Roman iron wort.—Herbaceous, 
decumbent, without bractes; calyxes spiny; upper lip 
ovate. The roots seldom continue longer than two years 
in England. Flowers small, whitish, in small, compact, 
remote whorls, having two very short leaves immediately 
under them, which end in a sharp spine.—Native of the 
South of Europe, and Barbary. 
II.—Bracted, with the bractes quite entire. 
7. Sideritis Syriaca, or sage-leaved iron-wort.—This has a 
short woody stem, with a few branches about a foot long. 
Leaves thick, wedge-shaped, very downy and white. 
Flowers in whorls towards the end of the branches, yellow 
with smooth downy calyxes.—Native of the Levant. 
8. Sideritis Taurica, or Tauric iron-wort.—Suffruticose 
tomentose; leaves lanceolate, crenate; flowers whorl-spiked, 
whorls approximating, bractes, cordate, acuminate netted- 
nerved. Stem suffruticose.—Native of the Chersonesus 
Taurica. 
S I D 
9. Sideritis distans, or distant-whorled iron-wort.-—Suf¬ 
fruticose hoary; leaves lanceolate, quite entire, acute; 
flowers whorl-spiked, whorls distant, bractes acuminate, 
mucronate, netted-nerved.—Native place not known, but 
perhaps from the Levant; shrubby. 
10. Sideritis perfoliata, or perfoliate iron-wort,—Herbace- * 
ous, hispid-hairy; upper leaves lanceolate, embracing 
toothletted; bractes cordate, acuminate, netted-nerved, hairy 
at the edge. Root (perennial, but) seldom continuing 
longer than two years in England.—Native of the Levant. 
11. Sideritis ciliata, or ciliated iron-wort.—Herbaceous; 
leaves petioled, ovate, serrate; bractes nerved, ciliate.—Native 
of Japan. 
III.—Bracted, with bractes toothed. 
12. Sideritis incana, or lavender-leaved iron-wort.—Suf¬ 
fruticose, tomentose; leaves lanceolate-linear, quite entire, 
bractes toothed; lateral lobes of the upper lip of the corolla 
acute.—Native of Spain. 
13. Sideritis virgate, or rod-like iron-wort.—Suffruticose, 
tomentose; leaves linear, quite entire; bractes toothed; 
lateral lobes of the upper lip of the corolla obtuse.—Native 
of Barbary, on sandy hills near Mascar. 
14. Sideritis glauca, or glaucous iron-wort.—Herbaceous, 
perennial, pubescent, hoary; leaves linear-spatulate, quite 
entire; bractes toothed; lateral lobes of the lower lip of the 
corolla acute.—Native of Spain, in the kingdom of 
Valencia. 
15. Sideritis hyssopifolia, or hyssop-leaved iron-wort.— 
Leaves lanceolate, smooth, quite entire; bractes cordate, 
tooth-spiny; calyxes equal.—Native of Switzerland, Italy 
and the Pyrenees. 
16. Sideritis scordioides, or crenated iron-wort.—Leaves 
lanceolate, somewhat toothed, smooth above ; bractes ovate, 
tooth spiny; calyxes equal. Root perennial. Stems a foot 
long.—Native of the south of France, and of Spain. 
Sideritis hirta of Roth, is only a variety of the scordioides, 
there being intermediate specimens which connect them. 
17. Sideritis spinosa, or thorny iron-wort.—Hirsute, leaves 
lanceolate, with the bractes cordate, tooth-spiny. Stem 
perennial at the base, very much branched, hirsute, a foot 
high, spiny.—Native of Spain. 
18. Sideritis hirsuta, or hairy iron-wort.—Leaves lance¬ 
olate, obtuse, toothed hairy; bractes tooth-spiny; stems 
hirsute, decumbent. Root perennial.—Native of the South 
of Europe. 
19. Sideritis ovata, or ovate-leaved iron-wort.—Herbace¬ 
ous, pubescent; leaves petioled, elliptic, obtuse, crenate; 
spike four-cornered ; bractes ovate; tooth-spiny.—Native of 
Peru. Perennial. 
20. Sideritis lanata, or woolly iron-wort.—’Leaves cordate, 
obtuse, villose; calyxes awnless woolly; spike long ; stem 
erect.—Root annual. Plant a span high. . 
Propagation and Culture. —The first sort is generally 
kept in green-houses in England, but in moderate winters 
the plants live abroad without cover in a warm dry border. 
It is propagated by seeds which should be sown in autumn, 
for those which are sown in the spring seldom succeed, or if 
they do, the plants rarely come up the first year. 
Most of the sorts are hardy enough to thrive in the open 
air in England: they are propagated by seeds, which, if 
sown in autumn,-will succeed better than those which are. 
sown in the spring. 
The annual sorts (n. 4. 5.) should not be removed, but the 
plants thinned and left in the place where they were sown, 
keeping them clean from weeds. 
The sixth and seventh sorts, though properly green-house 
plants, will often live through the winter in the open air, 
if their seeds are sown upon dry rubbish. 
SIDERO, a village of European Turkey, on the west 
coast of the Morea, situated on a small rivulet to the left of 
the road from Gastuni. It occupies the site of the ancient 
Scylluris, and was the residence of Xeuophon in his latter 
years. 
SIDERO 
