Sarcocolla
(an old name used by Pliny for a kind of gum, from sarx, sarkos, flesh, and kolla, glue; in reference to the resinous secretion from some of the species). ORD. Penaeaceae. A genus comprising nine or ten species of small, greenhouse, South African shrubs, with the habit and inflorescence of Penaea. Flowers often larger; perianth tube cylindrical, often elongated; lobes valvate, the margins recurved, nearly reduplicate. Floral leaves in the typical species coloured. Sarcocool, a gum-resin now seldom met with, is generally said to be the produce of S. squamosa. The species known to cultivation are here described. For culture, see Penaea. S. imbricata (imbricated). fl. pink; perianth 1/4in. long, the tube scarcely longer than the lobes; bracteoles oblong-linear, shorter than the obovate, mucronate bracts. June. l. approximate, broadly ovate, acute, four to five lines long; young ones quadrifarious, erect. h. 1 1/2ft. 1824. SYN. Penaea imbricata (B. M. 2809).
S. squamosa (scaly). fl. red; bracteoles linear or linear-spathulate, ciliated, shorter than the bracts; bracts imbricated, as large as the leaves, broadly obovate, slightly mucronate, ciliated, resinous, six to eight lines long and broad. June. l. broadly obovate, obtuse, mucronate, five to eight lines long, four to six lines broad; young ones erect; older ones spreading, mucro-glandular. h. 1ft. 1787. SYNS. Penaea Sarcocolla, P. squamosa (B. R. 106).