290 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING. 



Celosia continued. 



forming a crested mass, as in C. crutata, they 



normal form in elegant plants. A. lift. India, 



assume a more 

 dia, 1820. There are 



legant plants, h. lift. , 



a great number of varieties of this species, all of which ar 

 very ornamental, and, in a small state, are suitable for table 

 decoration. 



CELSIA (named after Olaus Celsius, 1670-1756, 



professor in the university of Upsal, author of " Hiero- 



botanicon," a work on biblical botany). OED. Scrophu- 



larinece. Hardy or half-hardy herbs. Flowers disposed 



in loose, terminal racemes or spikes. Leaves crenate, 



sinuate, dentate, or pinnatifid. This genus differs from 



Verbascum merely in having four didynamous stamens. 



The seed may be sown in the open borders, in June, and 



thinned out for flowering, or raised in nursery beds and 



transplanted. C. Arcturus should be increased by cuttings, 



young wood striking freely in a cool house or frame. 



C. Arcturus (Arcturus).* fl. yellow, large ; filaments bearded with 



purple hairs. July to September. I., radical ones lyrate ; superior 



ones oblong, h. 4ft. Candia, 1780. Half-hardy shrubby species. 



This is a pretty plant for pot culture in a cool house. (B. M. 1962.) 



C. betonicsefolia (Betony-leaved). /. yellow, the two superior 



segments marked each by a purple spot. July. I. ovate-oblong, 



wrinkled, crenated. Plant hairy. A. 2ft. Algeria, 1824. Half- 



hardy biennial. (B. M. 6066.) 



C. bugulifolia (bugle-leaved).* fl. yellowish, with curious brown 

 markings. 1. stalked, ovate, crenate. A. 1ft. South-east Europe, 

 1877. Hardy. SYN. lanthe bugulifolia. 



C. erotica (Cretan).* /. yellow, marked with two rust-coloured 



spots at the bottom on the upper side ; liin. in diameter ; nearly 



sessile. June. I. hairy, lyrate-oblong ; upper ones oblong. A. 



4ft. to 6ft. Crete, 1752. Hardy biennial. (B. M. 964.) 



C. orientalis (oriental), fl. yellow, shorter than the bracts. 



June, July. I. lower ones jagged ; cauline ones bipinnate ; seg- 



ments narrow. A. 2ft Levant, 1713. Hardy annual. (S. F. G. 605.) 



CELTIS (name used by Pliny for the Lotus). Nettle- 



tree. ORD. Urticacece. A genus of rather large, hardy, 



deciduous trees or shrubs, with greenish fascicled or 



racemose flowers, small one-seeded drupaceous fruit, and 



strongly-nerved, simple, alternate leaves. They thrive in 



ordinary soil, and are very suitable for the back of a shrub- 



bery. Increased by seeds, which should be sown as soon 



as ripe ; by layers ; and by cuttings of ripened shoots, in 



autumn. The stove species are not worth growing. 



C. australis (Southern), fl. greenish, solitary. May. I. ovate- 



lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or acuminate, argutely serrated, 



unequal at the base ; upper surface rough, under one downy. 



A. 30ft. to 40ft. South Europe, 1796. (W. D. B. 105.) 



C. cordata (cordate). Synonymous with C. crassifolia. 



C. crassifolia (thick-leaved).* American Hackberry. fl. green- 



ish ; peduncle slender, one or two-flowered. May. I. rather 



leathery, cordate, auricled, and unequal at the base, 6in. long, 



Sin. to 4in. broad, serrated, rough on both surfaces. A. 20ft. to 



30ft. North America, 1812. SYN. C. cordata. 



C. Davidiana (Rev. Father David's). I. elliptic, narrowed to 



both ends, irregularly toothed, thick, coriaceous, glabrous, deep 



glaucous-green above, light green beneath. China, 1864. A 



much-branched tree, with pendulous twigs. 



C. occidentalis (Western).* North American Nettle-tree, fl. 



greenish, small. May. I. reticulated, ovate-acuminate, un- 



equal at the base, serrate, rough on the upper surface, hairy on 



the under one. A. 30ft. to 50ft. Canada, 1656. (W. D. B. 147.) 



C. o. pnmlla (dwarf). A dwarf form, seldom exceeding 8ft. in 



height, with more membranous (at length) glabrous leaves. 

 C. Tournefortii (Tournefort's). fl. greenish. I., when adult, 

 ovate, acute, unequal at base, crenately serrated, roughish on the 

 upper surface ; when young, subcordate at the base. A. 10ft. to 

 12ft. Armenia, 1738. 



CENTAUREA (from Kentaurion, the name given by 

 Dioscorides to the Centaury, Erythrcea Centaurium, which 

 was said to have cured a wound in the foot of the centaur 

 Chiron, caused by the arrow of Hercules). Centaury. ORD. 

 Composites. Pappus short and bristly, rarely none; involucre 

 globose or oblong; bracts imbricated, scarious, fringed, 

 toothed, or spinous ; receptacle bristly ; florets all tubular. 

 the outer ones sometimes large and neuter. Of this genus! 

 about four hundred species (annuals, biennials, and peren- 

 nials) have been described ; comparatively few, however, are 

 worth growing, but these are of the easiest culture in 

 ordinary soil. Seeds of the annual kinds may be sown 

 in the open border, in April, and the plants subsequently 

 thinned out to three or four in a patch, where they are to 



Centaurea continued. 



remain and flower. The biennials may be sown in March, 

 in a slight heat, and planted out in May. The herbaceous 

 perennials require merely ordinary care and attention, and 

 common garden soil, wherein to thrive well. C. ragu- 

 sina and C. Cineraria are very extensively cultivated, 

 and as failures are occasionally experienced in their 

 propagation, the following plan, practised by a successful 

 grower, is recommended : First, make the cuttings, about 

 the beginning of September, take 

 off the bottom leaves, and allow 

 only about lin. of wood to remain. 

 Insert them in 60-sized pots, in a 

 compost of loam, leaf mould, and 

 sharp sand, in equal proportions ; 

 plunge in a cold frame, and keep 

 them close for about four weeks, 

 by which time they will be rooted. 

 Great care must be taken in wa- 

 tering. When they become pot- 

 bonnd, shift into 48-sized pots, in 

 which they may remain until bed- 

 ding-out time. Seeds may also be 

 easily procured and raised. They 

 should be sown in August, in 

 slight heat ; and when the seed- 

 lings are large enough to handle, 

 they should be potted off singly 

 into small thimble pots, in which 

 they may be kept through the 

 winter, in a cold frame or cool 

 house, a shift being given in the 

 spring. Much stronger plants are 

 thus obtained than if the seed is 

 sown in the early part of the year. 



C. alpina (alpine).* fl.-heads yellow ; 

 involucral scales egg-shaped, obtuse. 

 July. I. decurrent, spinous, downy 

 beneath. A. 3ft. Southern and 

 Eastern Europe, 1640. Hardy her- 

 baceous. 



C. americana (American), fl. -heads 

 red; outer scales of involucre three 

 times as short as their appendages ; 



rduncles ventricose at top. August, 

 oblong, membranous, entire. A. 

 3ft. North America, 1824. Hardy 

 annual. See Fig. 396. 



C. atropurpurea (dark purple).* fl.-heads dark purple ; involucral 

 scales ovate-lanceolate, serrate, ciliated. June to August. I. bi- 

 pinnatifid ; segments lanceolate. A. 3ft. Eastern Europe, Ac., 

 1802. Hardy perennial. 

 C. aurea (golden).* fl.-heads golden -y ellow ; 



FIG. 396. FLOWERING 

 BRANCH OF CEN- 

 TAUREA AMERICANA. 



. . .- - 



spinous ; spines spreading ; florets equal. July to September. 

 I. hairy ; lower ones pinnatifid. A. 2ft. South Europe, 1758. 

 Hardy perennial. (B. M. 421.) 



C. babylonlca (Babylonian).* fl.-heads yellow, small, numerously 

 produced close to, and along the stem. July. I., root ones lanceo- 

 late-ovate, stalked, with a few small teeth ; stem ones narrower, 

 lanceolate, decurrent ; large, clothed with a white cottony down, 

 which renders this species peculiarly well adapted for borders 

 and margins of shrubberies. A. 6ft. to 10ft. Levant, 1710. Hardy 

 perennial. See Fig. 397. 



C. candidissima (whitest). A synonym of C. Cineraria. 



C. Cineraria (Cineraria), fl. purple; involucre ciliated. July 

 and August. 1. downy, very white, all compound ; lowest bipin- 

 natifid ; upper ones pinnate-laciniated. A. 3ft. Italy, &c., 1710. 

 Ualf -hardy herbaceous perennial. SYN. C. candidiasima. 



C. Cyanns (dark blue).* Blue-bottle, Bluet, or Cornflower. /. 

 heads, florets of the disk purple, small ; of the ray, bright blue, 

 few, larger, spreading ; scales of the involucre greenish, with 

 brown margins. July. I. linear, entire ; the lower ones often 

 toothed ; cottony. A. 2ft. to 3ft. Britain. This is one of the 

 showiest of blue-flowered annuals. See Fig. 398. It varies in all 

 shades from white to deep rose. 



C. dealbata (whitened).* fl.-heads rose-coloured. Summer. I. 

 smooth above, and covered with white hairs underneatli ; radi- 

 cal ones stalked, pinnate, with obovate lobes, coarsely toothed, 

 often auricled at the base ; stem ones pinnate, with oblong- 

 lanceolate lobes. A. 1ft. to lift. Caucasus, 1804. Hardy her- 

 baceous. See Pig. 399. 



C. depressa (depressed), fl.-heads blue, with brownish-red centre 

 Summer. Orient, 1818. A. 1ft. This species resembles C. Cyanus, 



