266 pFant "l^oi*©, IseQQr^/, an^ Isijrie/'. 



and there are are six hundred species, two of which are specially 

 cultivated, viz., Opuntia Cochinellifera (Nopal plant), largely grown 

 in Mexico, as the food plant of the Cochineal insect [Coccus Cadi), 

 which produces a beautiful crimson dye; and C. vulgaris, or Prickly 

 Pear, which is cultivated for its grateful Gooseberry-like fruits in 



barren rocky parts of North Africa and Southern Europe, 



Peruvian sorcerers make rag dolls, and stick the thorns of Cacftus 

 in them, or hide these thorns in holes under or about houses, or in 

 the wool of beds and cushions, that those they wish to harm may be 

 crippled, maddened, or suffocated. 



Calf's-snout. — See Antirrhinum. 



CAMELLIA. — The flower of the beauteous Rose of Japan 



{Camellia Japonica) has been well described as — 



" The chaste Camellia's pure and spotless bloom, 

 That boasts no fragrance and conceals no Thorn." 



The tree was introduced into Europe in 1639, and is named after 

 G. J. Kamel, or Camellus, a Moravian Jesuit, and traveller in Asia, 

 who, returning to Spain from the Isle of Luzon, sought an audience 

 of Queen Maria Theresa, and presented her with a mother-o'- 

 pearl vase, in which grew a small shrub with glossy green leaves, 

 bearing two flowers of dazzling whiteness. Plucking the fair 

 bloom, she ran to the king's chamber, which he was pacing in one 

 of his periodical fits of melancholy. " Behold the new flower of 

 the Philippines," she cried, as her husband welcomed her with a 

 fond embrace; "I have kept the best for you; the other you shall 

 present to-night to Rosalez, who plays so well in Cinna, at the 

 Theatre del Principe." Ferdinand pronounced the flower of which 

 his wife was so enraptured to be " beautiful but scentless," but 

 spite of the latter defect, the plant was assiduously cultivated in 

 the hothouses of El Buen Retiro, and called after the giver, the 



Camellia. In Japan, the Camellia is a large and lofty tree, greatly 



esteemed by the natives for the beauty of its flowers and evergreen 

 foliage, and grown everywhere in their groves and gardens: it is 

 also a native of China, and figures frequently in Chinese paintings. 

 The Camellia Sasanqua, the Cha-Hwa of the Chinese, has fragrant 

 flowers, and its dried leaves are prized for the scent obtained from 

 them; a decocStion is used by the ladies of China and Japan as a 



hair-wash. This shrub so resembles the Tea-plant, both in leaf 



and blossom, that they are not readily distinguished: the leaves 

 are mixed with Tea to render its odour more grateful. 



CAMPANULA. — One of the chief favourites in the family 

 of Campanulaceae, or Bell-flowers, is Campanula Speculum, or 

 Venus's Looking-glass. The English name was given to this little 

 plant probably because its brilliant corollas appear to reflecft the 

 sun's rays, although some authorities state that it is so called from 

 the glossiness of the seeds. Still another derivation is the resem- 



