Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/291

SAPROPHYTIC PLANTS 247 SARASATE ments of her poems we have in complete form only a "Hymn to Aphrodite" and an "Ode to a Beautiful Girl." SAPROPHYTIC PLANTS, plants that feed on decaying organic matter. In common with many of the Parasitic Plants (q. v.), which are plants that live on or in and at the expense of other organisms, they are often devoid of chlorophyll. The reason of this pecu- liarity is obvious; chlorophyll being the material used by ordinary plants for the decomposition of the carbonic acid of the air in order that they may retain the carbon, and with it build up all the car- bon compounds characteristic of organic nature, it is plain that those plants which obtain their carbon compounds ready- made up to a certain point do not re- quire chlorophyll from which to manu- facture them. If the saprophytism be not complete or "pure" there will be at least some chlorophyll remaining, as in the flowering axis of the orchid Neottia. Saprophytes may obtain their nourish- ment and especially their carbon com- pounds either from the remains of dead organisms or from organic compounds formed by living organisms. The Fungi that live on the bark of trees and the leaf -soil of forests and meadows (e. g., mushrooms) are examples of the former case; those that feed on the juice of fruits and sugary solutions (e. g., molds and yeasts) of the latter case. Fungi may be physiologically classi- fied as parasites and saprophytes; but this classification does not coincide with a morphological one. Further, there are certain species which lie between the two extremes, and these may be described as parasites which may become wholly or in part saprophytic through the whole course of their development or dur- ing certain stages of it; and also there are saprophytes which, with the same variations, may become parasitic. The external conditions necessary for the commencement of germination of Fungi are the same as those needful to the germs and seeds of other plants ; they are a certain temperature, a supply of oxygen and of water, in certain cases a supply of nutrient substances. The Bpores of the Perennosporeae and of the Uredinea? germinate on drops of pure water; nutrient solutions may even be a hindrance. The Mucorini, on the other hand, emit only rudimentary germ tubes in pure water; they require a nutrient solution for germination. Most Fungi vary toward one extreme or other accord- ing to the species. SAPSTTCKER, the popular American name of several small woodpeckers. SAPUCAIA NUTS, the seed of Lecy- this ollaria and L. zabucajo trees, plenti- ful in the forests of the N. of Brazil, and belonging to the natural order Lecy- thidacese. The fruit is urn-shaped, as large as a child's head. Each fruit con- tains a number of seeds or nuts, as in the case of the allied Brazil nut, but the flavor is finer. SAPULPA, a city of Oklahoma, the county-seat of Creek co. It is on the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad. It is an important industrial center, has railroad shops, large oil refineries, ma- chine shops, glass, mattress, candy and other factories, and is the seat of an Indian mission school. Pop. (1910) 8,283; (1920) 11,634. SARACEN, an Arabian or other Mus- sulman of the early and proselytizing period; a propagator of Mohammedan- ism in countries lying to the W. of Ara- bia. It was also applied to any infidel nation against which crusades were preached, such as the Turks. SARAGOSSA (Spanish, Zaragoza), a very old city of Spain, the capital of the old kingdom of Aragon, now the capital of a province of the same name (area, 6,726 square miles; pop. about 500,000), on the Ebro (which separates the city from its suburbs), 176 miles N. E. from Madrid. Without being regularly forti- fied, it is surrounded by an earthen wall and is built throughout of bricks. The houses are seldom above three stories in height; the streets narrow and crooked, except one long and wide one called the Cozo. There are two bridges over the Ebro. The public buildings are numer- ous — churches, convents, and two cathe- drals celebrated throughout Spain. The older one is much resorted to by pil- grims, as it contains a pillar on which the Virgin is said to have descended, and her image believed to have fallen from heaven. The city has a university, founded in 1474; also an academy of fine arts, and other educational institu- tions. It is a railroad center and its commerce and industries are of impor- tance. It is noted in history for the memorable siege it sustained against the French, under Marshals Mortier and Lannes, and which lasted with slight intermission from July 15, 1808, to Feb. 21, 1809, when it finally surrendered, 54,000 of the inhabitants having died, meantime, chiefly of plague. Pop. (1918) 124,998. SARASATE, PABLO MARTIN ME- LITON DE SARASATE Y NAVAS- CUES, Spanish violinist; born at Pam- plona, March 10, 1844. He went to France as a child and entered the Paris Con-