Selago
(the old Latin name, used by Pliny, for a plant which the Druids gathered with mysterious ceremonies). ORD. Selagineae. A genus comprising nearly eighty species of green-house shrubs or under-shrubs, often Heath-like, rarely dwarf, annual herbs; one is a native of Madagascar, another is found in tropical Africa, and the rest are extra-tropical South African. Flowers in the axils of the ovate or narrow bracts, or rarely shortly pedicellate with a bract, in terminal spikes; calyx two, three, or five-cleft; corolla limb oblique or subblabiate; stamens four, didynamous. Leaves narrow or rather small, sometimes very small, alternate, scattered, or the lower ones rarely opposite; often fascicled in the axils, entire or toothed. A selection of species, including those best known in gardens, is given below. They are of easy culture in sandy loam or peat and sand. Propagation may be effected by seeds; or by cuttings of half-ripened wood, inserted in sandy soil, under a bell glass, in bottom heat. All are South African sub-shrubs, flowering in summer.
S. corymbosa (corymbose). fl. white, corymbose; corolla tube scarcely exceeding the calyx; bracts ovate-linear. l. linear, fascicled. Stem erect, branched, pubescent. h. 2ft. 1699.
S. c. polystachya (many-spiked). fl. loosely paniculate-spiked or thyrsoid; corolla larger. l. acute, flat. h. 9in. 1823.
S. distans (distant). fl. white; calyx segments acuminate, shorter than the corolla tube; spikes solitary, terminal, scattered-flowered; bracts oblong. l. fascicled, two to three lines long, slightly incurved, semiterete, obtuse. Stems sub-dichotomously branched; branchlets pubescent. h. 1ft. 1845.(B. R. xxxi. 46.)
S. fasciculata (fascicled). A synonym of S. serrata.
S. fruticosa (shrubby). fl. yellow, in pedunculate heads, spikes, or panicles; corolla scarcely exceeding the calyx. l. linear, slightly obtuse, glabrous, slightly spreading or the lower ones reflexed, solitary or sub-fasciculate, the margins revolute. h. 1ft. 1774.
S. Gillii (Gill's).* fl. pink; corolla tubular; spikelets terminal, 1in. to 3in. long, or the panicle shortened and loosely few-flowered. l. clustered, whitish, glabrous, elliptic-lanceolate or the lower ones ovate, three to six lines long. Stem branched. h. 6in. 1829. (B. M. 3028; B. R. 1504.)
S. rapunculoides (Rampion-like). A synonym of S. spuria.
S. rotundifolia (round-leaved). fl. purple; corolla tube filiform, three or four times longer than the calyx; spikelets terminal, straight, pedunculate, scarcely 1in. long. l. obovate-elliptic, glabrous, entire, clustered-fasciculate. Stem straight, terete. h. 1ft. 1814.
S. serrata (toothed). fl. blue, disposed in long spikes or fascicled corymbs; corolla tube filiform, elongated; bracts linear-subulate. l. obovate-elliptic, acute, serrated, decurrent, often glabrous. Stems straight, leafy. h. 1ft. 1774. SYN. S. fasciculata (B. R. 184; L. B. C. 1423).
S. spuria (spurious). fl. violet; corolla tube filiform, very long; spikes short, terminal. l. linear-elongated, acute, toothed, the upper ones shorter and entire. Stem nearly simple, erect. h. 2ft. 1824. SYN. S. rapunculoides.