156 SCHIZOPETALON. 
were introduced to Britain from Chili about 20 
or 24 years ago; and some other species and 
varieties have been obtained since that time ; 
and all are handsome and delicate, and well de- 
serve a place among the choicest annuals of the 
open garden. They have a height of from 12 to 
24 inches; and carry a great profusion of 
flowers ; and thrive best on a light loamy soil. 
The flowers of most are variegated in colour ; 
and those of the several species have a predo- 
minance of either red, scarlet, lilac, rose, purple, 
|| or white. : 
SCHIZOPETALON. A small genus of orna- 
mental exotic plants, of the cruciferous order. 
Walker’s species, S. Wadkerit, is a curious and 
interesting annual, and carries white flowers 
during about two months, and was introduced to 
Britain in 1822 from Chili. The name schizope- 
talon signifies ‘ torn petal,’ and is descriptive. 
SCHMIDELIA. A genus of tropical, orna- 
mental, evergreen shrubs and trees, of the soap- 
berry tribe. Four species, varying in height 
| from 8 to 25 feet, and all white-flowered, and 
loving a soil of peaty loam, and propagable from 
cuttings, have been introduced to British col- 
lections from the East and West Indies; and 
upwards of a dozen more are known. 
SCHMIDTIA. A small, curious, hardy, an- 
nual grass, of the agrostis tribe. It constitutes 
a genus of itself, and was introduced to Britain 
abont 28 years ago from Bohemia. 
SCH@NUS. See Boa-Rusu. 
SCHOTIA. A genus of ornamental, crimson- 
flowered, Cape-of-Good-Hope, evergreen shrubs, 
of the cesalpinia division of the leguminous 
order. Four or five species, of 5 to 6 feet in 
height, and mostly continuing in bloom through 
the greater part of summer and autumn, have 
been introduced to British gardens; they re- 
quire a higher degree of heat than most Cape 
plants, and thrive best in a soil of peaty loam. 
SCHUBERTIA, or Taxopium. A small genus 
of ligneous plants, of the coniferous order. It 
consists of two species which were formerly rank- 
ed as cypresses ; and it differs from the cypress 
genus, both in habit of growth and in the ar- 
rangement of its inflorescence,—its male flowers 
forming long, loose, pendulous catkins, some- 
what branched near their base, and its female 
flowers being scarcely apparent, and existing in 
small and almost sessile clusters. 
The two-rowed schubertia, or deciduous cy- 
press, or North American deciduous cypress, Schw- 
bertia disticha or Taxodium distichum—formerly 
|| called Cypressus disticha—isa native of theswamps 
and wet alluviums of Virginia, Florida, Louisi- 
ana, and other parts of North America, and was 
introduced to Britain before the middle of the 
17th century. It covers vast tracts in its native 
Cyprieres ; and sometimes attains a height of 
| regions; and gives them the popular name of | 
about 120 feet; and has generally a conical 
form of stem, with a girth 3 or 4 times greater | 
SCITAMINE. 
at the base than toward the top; and has some- 
times so vast a basal girth as from 20 to 40 feet. 
In Britain it is quite hardy; and requires a 
place in the moistest part of a plantation, or by 
the side of a rivulet, or spring, or pond ; and com- 
monly attains a height of from 30 to 60 feet. It 
grows conically while young ; but becomes wide- 
spreading and often flat-topped when old. It 
presents some resemblance to an evergreen in 
summer, and has very pleasing foliage, not 
unlike that of some kinds of acacia, and is, there- 
fore, well fitted to decorate certain parts of orna- 
mental grounds. Hach leaf is from 4 to 5 inches 
long, and has a midrib and two opposite rows of 
leaflets, and is of a pleasant light green colour 
in summer, and changes to a dull red in autumn. 
The leaflets are narrow, straight, fine, and slightly 
concave on the upper surface, and generally fall 
before the midribs. The full-grown cones are 
nearly globular and fully an inch in diameter, 
and have thick and woody scales, rounded at the 
outer extremity. The seeds are small, hard, and 
irregularly round ; and comprise each six or seven 
cotyledons. The timber has a reddish colour, 
and is elastic, strong, and durable, and neither 
so heavy nor so resinous as the timber of the 
pines. This tree is one of the most important 
timber trees of North America ; but is not suit- 
able to be grown in Britain, except for ornament 
or in warm, sheltered, swampy nooks, upon a soil 
of sandy peat. It may be propagated either from 
seeds in the same manner as the common cypress, 
or from cuttings planted in a moist sandy soil in 
October. Five very distinct varieties of it, all pro- 
pagable from seeds, occur in British collections, 
—the spreading, the lofty, the drooping, the 
Chinese, and the pendulous; and the two last 
of these are natives of respectively China and 
South America. 
The Cape schubertia, or African cypress, or juni- 
per-like cypress, Schubertia capensis or Taxodium 
capense—called by Linneus Cupressus juniper- 
ovdes—is an evergreen shrub of commonly about 
6 or 7 feet in height; and was introduced to 
Britain, about 90 years ago, from the Cape of 
Good Hope. Its branches are numerous and 
slender, and spread themselves all around ; its 
leaves are opposite, narrow, awl-shaped, of a 
light green colour, and about an inch in length; 
and its flowers come out from the sides of the 
branches, and bloom in April and May, and are 
succeeded by black fruit. 
SCILLA. See Seurtt. 
SCIRPUS. See Crus-Rvusz. 
SCITAMINEA. A natural order of mono- 
cotyledonous plants. It is nearly allied to the 
orchidaceous order, but differs in its pollen not 
cohering in masses, in its ovary being plurilo- 
cular, and in its seeds not being winged. It 
occurs only within the tropics, and consists al- 
most wholly of stemless or caulescent herbs, 
with long broad leaves, and with white, yellow, or 
red flowers, most of which are beautiful, and not 
(es 
| 
