QUINCE n.
quince (Bot.), an Eastern Asiatic shrub (Cydonia, formerly Pyrus, Japonica) and its very fragrant but inedible fruit. The shrub has very showy flowers, usually red, but sometimes pink or white, and is much grown for ornament. -- Quince curculio (Zoöl.), a small gray and yellow curculio (Conotrachelus cratægi) whose l…
ROSEMARY n.
the southern part of France, Spain, and Italy, also in Asia Minor and in China. It has a fragrant smell, and a warm, pungent, bitterish taste. It is used in cookery, perfumery, etc., and is an emblem of fidelity or constancy. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Shak. Marsh rosemary. (a) A little shrub (Andromeda…
SALICYLAL n.
A thin, fragrant, colorless oil, HO.C6H4.CHO, found in the flowers of meadow sweet (Spiræa), and also obtained by oxidation of saligenin, etc. It reddens on exposure. Called also salycylol, salicylic aldehyde, and formerly salicylous, or spiroylous, acid.
SPICE n.
A vegetable production of many kinds, fragrant or aromatic and pungent to the taste, as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, cloves, etc., which are used in cookery and to flavor sauces, pickles, etc. Hast thou aught in thy purse [bag] any hot spices Piers Plowman.
SPONGE n.
-- Sponge tree (Bot.), a tropical leguminous tree (Acacia Farnesiana), with deliciously fragrant flowers, which are used in perfumery. -- Toilet sponge, a very fine and superior variety of Mediterranean sponge (Spongia officinalis, variety Mediterranea); -- called also turkish sponge. -- To set a sponge (Cookery),…
STRAWBERRY n.
A fragrant edible berry, of a delicious taste and commonly of a red color, the fruit of a plant of the genus Fragaria, of which there are many varieties. Also, the plant bearing the fruit. The common American strawberry is Fragaria virginiana; the European, F. vesca. There are also other less common species. Strawberry…
STYROLENE n.
storax, by the decomposition of cinnamic acid, and by the condensation of acetylene, as a fragrant, aromatic, mobile liquid; -- called also phenyl ethylene, vinyl benzene, styrol, styrene, and cinnamene.
SWAMP n.
ot.), an American shrub (Azalea, or Rhododendron, viscosa) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with rose; -- called also swamp pink. -- Swamp hook, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling logs. Cf. Cant hook. -- Swamp itch. (Med.) See Prairie itch, under Prairie.…