208 Ofaat bore, '\9^g^'r^f, oo^ Tsijricy. 



peculiar to the Cordillera of the coast. It was also found by 

 Mr. Bridemeyer, a botanist, at a distance of three days' journey 

 to the east of Caraccas, in the valley of Caucagua, where it is 

 known by the name of Arbol de Leche, or the Milk-tree ; and where 

 the inhabitants profess to recognise, from the thickness and colour 

 of the foliage, the trunks that yield the most juice, — as the herds- 

 man distinguishes, from external signs, a good milch cow. At 

 Barbula, this vegetable fountain is more aptly termed the Palo de 

 Vaca, or Cow-tree. It rises, as Humboldt informs us, like the 

 broad-leaved Star-apple [Chvysophyllum Cainito), to a height of from 

 thirty to forty feet, and is furnished with round branches, which, 

 while young, are angular, and clothed with a fine heavy down. 

 The trunk, on being wounded, yields its agreeable and nutritious 

 fluid in the greatest profusion. Humboldt remarks that "a few 

 drops of vegetable juice recall to our minds all the powerfulness 

 and the fecundity of nature. On the barren flank of a rock grows 

 a tree with coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large woody roots can 

 scarcely penetrate into the stone. For several months of the year, 

 not a single shower moistens its foliage. Its branches appear 

 dead and dried; but when the trunk is pierced, there flows from 

 it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at the rising of the sun that 

 this vegetable fountain is most abundant. The blacks and natives 

 are then seen hastening from all quarters, furnished with large 

 bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow, and thickens at its 

 surface. Some empty their bowls under the tree itself, others carry 

 the juice home to their children. We seem to see the family of a 

 shepherd who distributes the milk of his flock." 



CRANE'S BILL. — The Crane's Bill, or English Geranium, 

 derived its name from a fancied resemblance of the fruit to the 



beak of that bird. Another name for the plant is Dove's Foot. 



Astrologers say that it is under the dominion of Mars. 



CRANBERRY. — The Cranberry {Vaccinium Oxycoccus) was 

 formerly known as the Marsh-wort or Fen-berry. The Druids 

 called the plant Samohis, and used great ceremonies in gathering it; 

 these consisted in a previous fast, in not looking back during the 

 time of their plucking it, and lastly in using their left hand only. 

 This plant was considered to be particularly efficacious in curing 

 the diseases incident to swine and cattle. 



CRESS. — Chaucer calls the Cress by its old Saxon name of 

 Kers, which may possibly have been the origin of the vulgar saying 

 of not caring a " curse" for anything — meaning a Cress. Gerarde 

 tells us that the Spartans were in the habit of eating Cresses with 

 their bread ; this they did no doubt on account of an opinion held 

 very generally among the ancients that those who ate Cress became 

 firm and decided, for which reason the plant was in great request. 

 Water-Cresses, according to astrologers, are herbs of the Moon. 



Cross-Flower. — See Milkwort. 



