570 
S T E 
Style very short, permanent. Stigma headed. Pericarp 
none. Seed one, shining, beaked: a nut. Stellera passe- 
rina has eight, and Chamsejasme ten stamens.— Essential 
Character. Calyx none. Corolla four-cleft. Stamina 
very short. Nut one, beaked. 
1. Stellera passerina, or flax-leaved stellera.—This is an 
annual plant, resembling thesium alpinum. The stem and 
branches are terminated by long loose interrupted leafy 
spikes. Leaves linear. The flowers are sessile, three, four 
or five together, in the axils of two or rather three leaves, 
of which the two side ones are shorter, and may be con¬ 
sidered as bractes. Corollas small, greenish, with yellow 
tips.—Native of Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. 
It flowers in July and August. 
2. Stellera chamsejasme, or Siberian stellera.—Leaves 
lanceolate; flowers terminating, racemed, naked, five-cleft. 
Perennial.—Native of Siberia. 
STELLI'FEROUS, adj. Having stars. 
To STE'LLIFY, v. a. \stella and facio, Latin.] To 
make a star ; to turn into a star. This is a frequent word in 
our old poetry.—Whether Jove will me stellify. Chaucer. 
—By him who strives to stellif / her name. Drayton. 
STERLING, a hamlet of England, in Kent; 6 miles 
south-by-west of Canterbury. 
STELLIO, in Zoology, the name by which authors call 
the swift or spotted lizard. See Lacerta. 
STE'LLION, s. [stellio, Lat.] A newt. Unused. 
STE'LLIONATE, s. [stellionat, Fr.; stellionatus, Lat.] 
A kind of crime which is committed [in law] by a deceitful 
selling of a thing otherwise than it really is : as, if a man 
should sell that for his own estate which is actually another 
man’s.—It discerneth of crimes of stellionate, and the in- 
choations towards crimes capital, not actually committed. 
Bacon. 
STELOCHITES, a name given to osteocolla. 
STELO'GRAPHY, s. [trrvjXoypapfa, from err-i jX'/j, Gr., 
a pillar, and ygafu, to write; stelegraphie, Fr.] The art 
of writing upon a pillar.—This pillar (of Jacob) thus en¬ 
graved gave probably the origin to the invention of stelo- 
graphy. Stackhouse. 
STEM, s. [ stemma , Lat.; pcemn, Sax.; stamm. Germ., 
which Wachter derives from stan, to stand.] The stalk; 
the twig. 
Two lovely berries molded on one stem. 
So with two seeming bodies, but one heart. Shakspeare. 
The louring Spring with lavish rain 
Beats down the slender stem and bearded grain. Drydcn. 
[Staemma, Swed.; stamm. Germ.] Family; race; ge¬ 
neration. Pedigrees are drawn in the form of a branching 
tree. 
I will say her worth to celebrate. 
And so attend ye toward her glittering state; 
Where ye may all, that are of noble stem. 
Approach. Milton. 
Progeny; branch of a family. 
This is a stem 
Ot that victorious stock, and let us fear 
His native mightiness. Shakspeare. 
The prow or fore part of a ship. 
Orante’s barque, ev’n in the hero’s view, 
From stem to stern, by waves was overborn. Dry den. 
STEM, in Botany, that part of a plant arising out of the 
root, and which sustains the leaves, flowers, and fruits. 
To STEM, v. a. [ staemma , Su. Goth.] To oppose a 
current; to pass cross or forward notwithstanding the stream. 
Above the deep they raise their scaly crests. 
And stem the flood with their erected breasts. Denham. 
STEMMATA, in Entomology, are three smooth hemi¬ 
spheric dots, placed generally on the top of the head, as in 
most of the hymenoptera, and other classes. The name 
was first introduced by Linnaeus. See Entomology. 
S T E 
STEMODIA, in Botany, a genus of the class didyna* 
mia order angiospermia, natural order of personatae scro- 
phulariae (Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx: perianth 
one-leafed, five-parted, erect, equal, permanent. Corolla 
one petalled, irregular : tube length of the calyx : border 
subbilabiate, almost upright; upper lip ovate, entire; lower 
three-parted, with the parts rounded and equal. Stamina: 
filaments four almost equal, length of the tube, all bifid. 
Anthers eight, each placed on an ann of the filaments. Pistil: 
germ bluntish. Style simple, length of the stamens. Stigma 
bluntish. Pericarp: capsule oblong, ovate, two-celled, two- 
valved : partition contrary. Seeds numerous, globular. Re¬ 
ceptacle subcylindrical.— Essential Character. Calyx five- 
parted. Corolla twolipped. Stamina four, each filament 
bifid, two-anthered. Capsule two-celled. 
1. Stemodia maritima.—Root long, round, with lateral 
horizontal fibres. Stem from one to three feet high, erect, 
four-cornered, hirsute, sometimes in hedges near the sea- 
coast in a manner scandent. Leaves small, sessile, ovate- 
lanceolate, obtuse, serrate, thickish, hirsute: with smaller 
leaves in the axils of the larger. Flowers few, axillary, 
among the terminating leaves, small, white or blue.—Native 
of Jamaica, and very common by the sea-side, in all the 
southern parts of the island: it has a pleasant aromatic smell, 
with a bitterish taste. 
2. Stemodia durantifolia.—Leaves ternate and connate; 
flowers subtern, subsessile.—Native of Jamaica. 
3. Stemodia viscosa.—Leaves opposite, embracing; flow¬ 
ers peduncled, solitary. This is a small herbaceous plant, 
with a pleasant aromatic smell.—Native of Coromandel: 
found on dry fields, after the crop has been cut. The 
Telingas call it Boda-sarum. 
4. Stemodia ruderalis.—Leaves ovate, serrate, petioled. 
—Native of the East Indies. 
STEMONA, was so denominated by Loureiro, from the 
Gr. <rlrip.uv, a stamen, because of the remarkable form and 
connection of those organs in its flower; which latter cir¬ 
cumstance led him to refer the genus to the class mona- 
delphia. His genus, however, proves to be no other than 
Mr. Dryander’s Roxburghia ; see that article. 
STEMPIIYLA, a word used by the ancients to express 
the husks of grapes, or the remains of the pressings of wine. 
The same word is also used by some to express the remaining 
mass of the olives, after the oil is pressed out. 
STEMPHYLITES, a name given by the ancients to a 
sort of wine pressed hard from the husks. 
STEMPLES, in Mining, cross bars of wood in the shafts, 
which are sunk to mines. 
STENANTHERA, [from a-revo;, narrow, or contracted, 
and avOriga, an anther ] in Botany, a genus of the class petan- 
dria order monogynia, natural order of epacridese ( Brown.) 
—Generic Character. Calyx: perianth inferior, permanent, 
double; the inner of five broad, ovate, equal, convolute 
leaves; outer of numerous ovate, concave, imbricated, 
bluntish, pointless scales, not so long as the former. Corolla: 
of one petal, tubular, deciduous; tube twice the length of 
the calyx, limb in five short, spreading, lanceolate, bluntish 
segments, bearded underneath at the extremity. Nectary a 
cup-shaped undivided gland surrounding the base of the 
germen. Stamina: filaments five, inserted into the tube, and 
enclosed within it, thick and fleshy, broader than the anthers, 
which are linear, in the mouth of the tube. Pistil: germen 
superior, roundish of five cells; style capillary, the length 
of the tube; stigma simple, obtuse. Pericarp: drupa 
nearly dry, globose. Seed : nut of three or more cells, with 
a thick shell.— Essential Character. Outer calyx of many 
imbricated leaves. Corolla tubular; its tube swelling, twice 
as long as the calyx, naked within; limb much shorter, 
spreading, bearded half way. Filaments included in the 
tube, fleshy, broader than their anthers. Drupa almost dry, 
of from three to five cells. 
Stenanthera pinifolia, or pine-leaved stenanthera.—The 
stem is woody, erect, spreading, branched, scarred; the 
younger branches hairy, clothed with innumerable, crowded, 
awl-shaped, 
