AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



73 



CAR 



Caryoph'yllaceae. An extensive order of herbs, 

 with stems swollen at the joints, the flowers 

 terminal, solitaiy, or disposed in racemes, 

 panicles or corj'mbs ; the leaves entire and 

 opposite. The plants of this order are natives 

 principally of temperate and cold regions. 

 They inhabit mountains, I'ocks, hedges and 

 waste places. Humboldt says that Clove- 

 worts constitute a twenty-secondth part of 

 the flowering plants of France, one twenty- 

 seventh of those of Germany, one seventeenth 

 of Lapland, and one seventj'-secondth of 

 North America. There are some very showy 

 flowers in the order, such as the well-known 

 and popular Pinks and Carnations ; but the 

 greater number are mere weeds. The Clove 

 Pink {Dianthus Caryophylliis) is the origin of 

 all the cultivated varieties of Carnations, as 

 Picotees, Bizarres and Flakes. The common 

 Chick weed (Stellaria media) and Spurry {Sper- 

 gula arvensis), the latter used as fodder for 

 sheep, are other examples. There are about 

 sixty genera and 1,100 species. Dianthus, 

 Silene, Lychnis, Cerastium, Arenaria, Alsine, 

 Saponaria, are examples of this order. 



Caryophy'llus. Clove-tree. From karuon, a 

 nut, and phyllon, a leaf; referring to the 

 appearance of the flower-buds. Nat. Ord. 

 MyrtacecR. 



C. aromaticus, the tree producing the well- 

 known spice called Cloves, is a handsome 

 evergreen, I'ising from fifteen to thirty feet, 

 with large elliptic leaves and purplish flowers, 

 arranged in terminal heads on short-jointed 

 stalks. It is a native of the Molucca Islands, 

 where it is not only cultivated for its great 

 commercial value, but also as an ornamental 

 tree. The whole tree is highly aromatic, and 

 the foot-stalks of the leaves have nearly the 

 same pungency as the calyxes of the flowers. 

 A celebrated writer who had visited the 

 islands, says : " Clove-trees as an avenue to a 

 residence are perhaps unrivalled — their noble 

 height, the beauty of their form, the luxuri- 

 ance of their foliage, and, above all, the spicy 

 fragrance with which they perfume the air, 

 produce, on driving through a long line of 

 them, a degree of exquisite pleasure only to 

 be enjoyed in the clear, light atmosphere of 

 those latitudes." 



Caryo'pteris. From kanton, a nut, and pteron, a 

 wing; the fruit is winged. Nat. Ord. Ver- 

 benacew. 



C. Mastacanthiis, the best known species, is 

 a hardy herbaceous plant, of easy culture, 

 blooming in autumn. The flowers are light 

 azure-blue in color, and are borne in axillary 

 globose heads. It groAvs about two feet high, 

 and was introduced from China in 1844. 



Caryo'ta. Toddy Palm. The old Greek name 

 used by Dioscorides ; the Greeks first applied 

 this name to their cultivated Date. Nat. Ord. 

 PalmacecB. 



C. urens, commonly called Fish-tail Palm, is 

 the most prominent species of this genus. It 

 is a beautiful tree, growing from sixty to 

 eighty feet high, with a trunk a foot in diam- 

 eter, producing many pendulous spikes of 

 flowers, which are succeeded by strings of suc- 

 culent globular berries, dark red Avhen ripe, 

 and are very sharp and acrid in taste. In 

 Ceylon it yields a sort of liquor, sweet, whole- 

 some, and no stronger than water. It is taken 

 from the tree two or three times a day, each 



CAS 



yield from a large tree being from three to 

 four gallons. When boiled down it makes a 

 coarse brown sugar called jaggory. When the 

 tree has come to maturity there comes out a 

 bud from the top ; that bud the natives cut 

 and prepare by putting salt, pepper, lemons, 

 garlic, leaves, etc., over it, which keeps it 

 from ripening. They daily cut off a thin slice 

 from the end, and the liquor drops into a ves- 

 sel, which they set to catch it. The buds are 

 most delicious to the taste, resembling wal- 

 nuts or almonds. The species are natives of 

 the Indies, and are grown in the green-house, 

 where they succeed well with the same treat- 

 ment which other tropical Palms require. 



Cascari'lla Bark. See Croton. 



Cashew-Nut. See Anacardium. 



Cassa'ndra. Leather-leaf. C. Calyculata, the 

 only known species, sometimes included under 

 Andromeda, is generally distributed through- 

 out the northern hemisphere. It is a low, 

 much-branched shrub belonging to the Nat 

 Ord. Ericacece, and produces its pretty 

 white flowers on one-sided racemes, early in 

 spring. 



Cassava Bread, or Cassava Meal. See Mani- 

 hot lUilissityia. 



Ca'ssia. Senna. From the Greek name of a 

 plant, Kassian, of the Bible. Nat. Ord. 

 LegtiminoscB. 



An extensive genus of hardy herbaceous and 

 green-house perennials, found scattered over 

 nearly all parts of the globe. Many of the 

 species are well known, and considered of 

 great importance for their medicinal proper- 

 ties. The leaflets of several of the species 

 constitute what is known in medicine as 

 Senna leaves. Those from C. acutifolia and 

 C. obovata, African and East Indian species, 

 are the most highly esteemed. The leaves of 

 C. Marilwidi^^a, wild Senna, a native of the 

 Middle and Southern States, have, to some 

 extent, the same properties, and are some- 

 times used as a substitute for the officinal 

 Senna. This species may be justly regarded as 

 one of our most valued plants for the border. 

 It grows from three to four feet high ; foliage 

 a beautiful deep green, not unlike the finer 

 Acacias ; flowers bright yellow, produced in 

 short axillary racemes, continuing a long time 

 in succession. Some of the roadsides of Long 

 Island are bordered with this plant, and no 

 public park, with all that art can bestow upon 

 its drives in the way of ornamentation, can 

 compare in simplicity and beauty with 

 these roadsides. C. nictitans, Wild Sensitive 

 Plant, another native species, is a very beau- 

 tiful hardy annual, common on our roadsides, 

 growing about six inches high, and in appear- 

 ance almost identical with the Sensitive Plant, 

 Mimosa pxidica, and well worth cultivating for 

 its beautiful foliage. C. chaimjecrista, com- 

 monly known as Partridge Pea, is a very 

 pretty species, common in the Southern 

 States. 



Cassi'nia. Named after M. Henri Cassini, an 

 eminent French botanist. Nat. Ord. Com- 

 positcE. 



A very handsome genus of shrubby plants 

 or herbaceous perennials, natives of Australia 

 and New Zealand. C. Vauviliersii produces 

 numerous small white flowers in compact 



