S I w 
258 S I U 
of Hainaulf, with 2200 inhabitants; 18 miles south-south¬ 
west of Charleroi. 
SIUM [of Pliny: on a-eierou, from its being shaken by 
the stream in which it grows.], in Botany, a genus of the class 
pentandria, order digynia, natural order of umbellatse, or 
umbelliferse.— Generic Character. Calyx : umbel universal, 
various in different species: partial spreading, flat. In¬ 
volucre universal, many-leaved, reflex, shorter than the um¬ 
bel, with lanceolate leaflets: partial many-leaved, linear, 
small. Perianth proper, scarcely observable. Corolla: uni¬ 
versal uniform: floscules all fertile. Proper of five in flex- 
cordate, equal petals. Stamina: filaments five, simple. An¬ 
thers simple. Pistil: germ very small, inferior. Style two, 
reflex. Stigmas obtuse. Pericarp none. Fruit subovate, 
striated, small, bipartite. Seeds two subovate, convex and 
striated on one side, flat on the other.— Essential Character. 
Involucre many-leaved. Petals cordate. Fruit subovate, 
striated. 
1. Sium filifolium, or thread-leaved water parsnep.— 
Leaves filiform; involucres elongated.—Native of the Cape 
of Good Hope. 
2. Sium latifolium, or broad-leaved water parsnep.— 
Leaves pinnate, leaflets oblong-lanceolate, equally serrate.— 
Native of many parts of Europe, and of Siberia. 
3. Sium angustifolium, or narrow-leaved water parsnep.— 
Leaves pinnate, leaflets unequally lobed and serrate, umbels 
peduncled opposite to the leaves; stem erect. Root per¬ 
ennial, creeping, so as to occupy much space.—Native of 
most parts of Europe. 
4. Sium nodiflorum, or procumbent water parsnep.— 
Leaves pinnate, leaflets ovate equally serrate, umbels ses¬ 
sile opposite to the leaves; stem procumbent. Flowers small, 
greenish white, with slight traces of a calyx. Fruit ovate. 
—Native of many parts of Europe. 
5. Sium repens, or creeping water parsnep.-—Leaves 
pinnate, leaflets roundish, tooth-gashed, umbels peduncled 
opposite to the leaves ; stem creeping.—Native of Bohemia 
in wet meadows, Austria and England. 
6. Sium verticillatum, or whorled water parsnep.—Leaf¬ 
lets multifid-capillary in whorls. Root perennial, consist¬ 
ing of several oblong tubers, tapering to a point. Stem 
from twelve to eighteen inches high, erect. Leaves mostly 
radical and very remarkable, consisting of a simple rib, 
along which are arranged pairs of deeply cloven leaflets. 
—-Native of Germany, France, the Pyrenees, and Britain. 
7. Sium sisarum, or skirret.—Leaves pinnate, floral leaves 
ternate. The root of the common Skirret is composed of 
several fleshy tubers as large as a man’s little finger, and 
joining together in one head. The stalk rises a foot high, 
and is terminated by an umbel of white flowers, which 
appear in July, and are succeeded by striated seeds like 
those of parsley, which ripen in autumn. 
Our English name Skirret seems to be a corruption from 
the old name Skirivort. —Native of China and Cochinchina, 
in watery places. 
8. Sium rigidius, or Virginian water parsnep.—Leaves 
pinnate, leaflets lanceolate almost entire. Stem stiffish. 
Flowers small.—Native of Virginia. 
9. Sium Japonicum, or Japonese water parsnep.—Leaves 
pinnate, leaflets gashed, umbels terminating. Stem erect, 
flexuose, branched at top.—Native of Japan, in the island 
Nipon. 
10. Sium falcaria, or decurrent water parsnep.—Leaflets 
linear, decurrent, connate. Roots creeping, and spreading very 
far under ground, thick, fleshy, and tasting like those of 
■ Eryngo.—Sium falcaria is a native of many parts of 
Europe; also of Asia and Africa. 
11. Sium grandiflorum, or great-flowered water parsnep.— 
Leaves bipinnate, leaflets roundish, gash-toothed.—Native 
of the Cape of Good Hope, as are the two following. 
12. Sium paniculatum, or panicled water parsnep.— 
Leaves bipinnate, leaflets linear, gash-pinnatifid. 
13. Sium patulum, or spreading water parsnep.—Leaves 
bipinnate, leaflets trifid, branches diffused. 
14. Sium Graecum, or Grecian water parsnep.—Leaves 
bipinnate, leaflets lanceolate, serrate, the uppermost con¬ 
fluent. Flowers yellow.—Native of Greece. 
15. Sium decumbens, or prostrate water parsnep. Stem 
decumbent, dwarfish.—Native of Japan, on the island of 
Nipon, near Jedo and Fakona. 
16. Sium Siculum, or Sicilian water parsnep.—Radical 
leaves ternate, stem-leaves bipinnate. Of a lucid green. 
Stem two feet high, terminated, in July, by an umbel of 
yellow flowers.—Native of Sicily and the hills near Algiers. 
17. Sium asperum, or rough water parsnep.—Leaves 
tripinnate, peduncles and pedicels rugged.—Native of the 
Cape of Good Hope, as are the two following. 
18. Sium hispidum, or shaggy water parsnep.—Leaves 
tripinnate, petioles and peduncles rugged. 
19. Sium villosum, or villose-leaved water parsnep.— 
Leaves tripinnatifid, segments ovate, gash-serrate villose. 
Propagation and Culture .-—The first six being marsh 
or water plants, if cultivated in gardens, must be placed 
in tubs filled with water, having earth in the bottom, or by 
the sides of canals or ponds. 
The seventh is cultivated two ways; first by seeds, and 
afterwards by slips from the root. 
Of the tenth the least part of the roots will grow, so that 
it will soon multiply of itself. 
Sow the seeds of the sixteenth soon after they are ripe. 
S1UT, a large town of Upper Egypt, on the western bank 
of the Nile. The country round is exceedingly fertile, and 
produces in abundance all the fruits to be found in Egypt, 
particularly apricots and water-melons. A great quantity 
of hemp is also cultivated, not for manufacture, but for the 
intoxicating quality which the seed possesses when smoked. 
The inhabitants consist chiefly of Copts, in whose hands 
almost all the commercial transactions of Egypt are placed. 
They are employed in an extensive manufacture of blue 
cloth. Siut is also the rendezvous of the caravans which 
proceed from Egypt southwards into the interior of Africa, 
to Sennaar and Darfur ; from which countries they bring a 
considerable quantity of slaves and gold. The rich Copts 
immure their females, and live nearly in the same style as the 
Mahometans, except that they indulge in the use of brandy. 
Siut is the see of a Coptic bishop. It is built at the distance 
of about half a mile from the river, with which it communi¬ 
cates by a canal, crossed by a bridge of three arches. Siut 
is supposed to be the ancient Lycopolis; but the only 
remarkable antiquity which it presents, consists in the 
excavations made in the neighbouring mountains. They 
are numerous, and many of the chambers are thirty feet high, 
covered with hieroglyphics of elegant workmanship, and 
exhibiting symbolical figures. Various conjectures have 
been formed as to their origin, but the most probable seems 
to be, that they were excavated for sepulchral purposes; and 
some of them, in fact, contain fragments of the jars or urns 
in which were deposited animals considered as sacred, or 
slain to attend their master in the other world. Lat. 27. 10. 
14. N. long. 31. 13. 20. E. 
SIUTCHEI, a small island, one of the Kuriles, in the 
Eastern ocean. Lat. 50. 15. N. long. 155. 14. E. 
SIWAH, or Siouah, a considerable oasis or fertile island, 
occurring in the Lybian desert, on the route from Egypt or 
Fezzan. This valley is described by Horneman as fifty 
miles in circumference, hemmed in on every side by barren 
rocks. Browne, however, represents the fertile district as 
not more than six miles in length and four in breadth. The 
territory is exceedingly well watered by streams descending 
from the surrounding hills; and the soil, of a sandy loam, 
yields in the greatest abundance the date, the staple com¬ 
modity of this part of Africa. Almost every Siwahan 
possesses a date garden, well inclosed and carefully watered. 
The dates are piled up in storehouses, and form the object of 
an extensive trade. Siwah is built upon and around a mass of 
rock, whiih, according to tradition, was hollowed out into 
caves for the abode of the ancient inhabitants. The houses 
still resemble caves, and are huddled so close together, and 
in such confusion, that many of them are destitute of light, 
and the whole forms a labyrinth through which no stranger 
can 
