sesbania

[From sesban, the Arabic name of Sesbania ægyptiaca.] Bot.: A genus of Galegere. Shrubs or herbs, with abruptly-pinnate leaves, having many pairs of leaflets; flowers axillary, in racemes, generally yellow; and the legumes long, slender, torulose, many seeded. Sesbania aculeata , a slightly prickly annual, is cultivated in India for its fiber. [DANCHI.] The plant occurs also in tropical Africa and the West Indies. The wood of S. ægyptiaca , which grows also in India, is made into good charcoal, and the bark into rope. An ointment made with the seeds is applied in India to eruptions, and the bark is given internally as a stimulant and an emmenagogue. The leaves are applied in the form of poultices to hydrocele and rheumatic swellings. The old S. grandiflora is now Agati grandiflora . [AGATI.] ses-ě-11, s. [Lat. seseli, seselis, from Gr. seselis = hartwort, Seseli elatum.] Botany : Meadow-saxifrage; the typical genus of Seseli nide (q. v.). Umbels compound, the bracts many, few, or wanting; bracteoles many; calyx teeth acute; petals obcordate, with an inflexed point. Fruit oval or oblong, with long reflexed styles; carpels dorsally compre ed, with five prominent, obtuse, corky ribs, having single vitte on the interstices. Known species about forty, from the eastern hemisphere. The seeds of S. indicum are carminatives, and are used as a medicine for cattle. ses-e-lineæ, s . pl . [Lat.sesel(i); fem. pl. adj. suff.-ineæ.] Botany: 1. A tribe of Umbelliferse. Fruit globose or ovoid, not laterally compre ed, commi ure broad, lateral ridges, generally distinct, rarely winged -- if so, wings of opposite carpels not in contact. Subtribes, Seselinese proper, Coriandreæ, Cachrydeæ, Enanthese, Schultziese, Selinese, and Angelicese. ( Sir J. Hooker .) 2. A sub-tribe of No.1 (q. v.). Fruit sub terete, edges not thickened or corky. ( Sir J. Hooker .) adj. suff. -inida.