226 



C A L 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



C A L 



where it flowers and perfects seeds from June to Au- 

 gust. 



Calf's Snout. See Antirrhinum. 



Oil la ; a genus of the class Gynandria, order Polyan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: spathe one-leafed, 

 ovate-cordate, acuminate, coloured at top, very large, spread- 

 ing, permanent ; spadix finger-shaped, quite simple, erect, 

 covered with fructifications. Corolla . none. Stamina : fila- 

 menta some, intermixed with the germina, the length of the 

 pistils permanent, compressed, truncate ; antherae simple, 

 truncate, sessile. Pistil : to each a roundish obtuse germen ; 

 style simple, very short ; stigma acute. Pericarp : berries 

 as many as there are pistils, four-cornered, globular, pulpy, 

 one-celled. Seeds; many, (six to twelve,) oblong, cylindric, 

 obtuse at both ends. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Spathe : flat. 

 Spadix : co'uered with floscules. Calix and Petals : none. 

 Berries: many seeded. The species are, 



1 . Calla Jithiopica ; ^Ethiopian Calla. Leaves sagittate, 

 cordate ; spathe crowded ; spadix, male at top. This plant 

 has thick fleshy tuberous roots, which are covered with a thin 

 brown skin, and strike down many strong fleshy fibres into the 

 ground ; the leaves rise in clusters, having foot-stalks more 

 than a foot long, which are green and succulent ; the leaves 

 are eight or nine inches in length, and of a shining green, 

 ending in a sharp point, which turns backward ; between 

 the leaves comes out the scape, which is thick, smooth, of the 

 same colour as the leaves, rises above them, and is terminated 

 by a single flower, shaped like those of the Arum ; the hood 

 or spathe is twisted at the bottom, but spreads open at the top, 

 and is of a pure white colour ; in the centre of this is situ- 

 ated the spadix or club, which is of an herbaceous yellow co- 

 lour, upon which the small herbaceous flowers are placed, 

 so closely joined as that the stamina and pistils are very dif- 

 ficult to distinguish without the assistance of glasses, it is 

 only about half the length of the spathe. It grows naturally 

 at the Cape, and has long been an inhabitant of the English 

 gardens. It propagates very fast by offsets which should be 

 taken off at the latter end of August, at which time the old 

 leaves decay; but this plant is never destitute of leaves, for 

 before the old ones decay there are young leaves produced, 

 which advance in height all the winter ; but at this season 

 the roots are in their most inactive state : these roots have 

 generally a great number of offsets about them, and the 

 largest of them only should be chosen, which should each 

 be planted in a separate pot, filled with kitchen-garden earth, 

 and placed with other hardy exotic plants in the open air till 

 autumn, when they must be removed into shelter for the 

 winter, during which time they must not have too much wet, 

 for that will rot the roots. This plant is so hardy as to live in 

 the open air in mild winters without any cover, if it be planted 

 in a warm border, and have a dry soil ; but with alittle shelter 

 in hard frost, it may be preserved in the full ground. It 

 flowers in May, and the seeds ripen in August; but as the 

 roots increase so plentifully, few persons care to sow the 

 seeds, because the young plants will not flower in less than 

 three years. 



2. Calla Palustris ; Marsh Calla. Leaves cordate ; spathe 

 flat ; spadix hermaphrodite all over. Leaves erect, acuminate, 

 streaked, bright or yellowish green, smooth, four or five 

 inches long, and three or four broad, alternately embracing 

 the stem, with thick, smooth, succulent petioles five or six 

 inches long ; scape round, thick, succulent, smooth, bright 

 green. The roots creep in the mud, so as sometimes to 

 cover whole marshes ; they have a hot biting taste, and yet 

 bread is sometimes made of them. It flowers from June to 

 August, and is a native of Lapland, Sweden, Denmark, Rus- 



sia, Germany, and Holland. It is rarely admitted into gar- 

 dens, and must be planted in an artificial bog, or at least 

 in the mud of a pond, or in a pot or tub set in water. 



3. Calla Orientalis ; Oriental Calla. Leaves ovate. This 

 has also a thick tuberous root, from which spring up several 

 ovate leaves, standing on pretty long foot-stalks ; the scape 

 rises between the leaves, about six or eight inches high, sup- 

 porting one white flower at the top. Native of the mountains 

 near Aleppo. The roots of this sort should be planted in 

 pots filled with light earth, and in summer placed, with 

 other exotic plants, in the open air ; but in winter they 

 should be put under a common hot-bed frame, to screen 

 them from frost, which would be fatal to the roots. 



4. Calla Occulta. Leaves cordate, ovate ; spathe spiral ; 

 spadix male at top. Plant one foot high, perennial, with 

 scarcely any stalks. Native of Cochin-china, in moist places. 



Callicarpa : a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 bell-form; mouth four-cleft, erect. Corolla: monopetalous, 

 tubular; border four-cleft, obtuse, spreading. Stamina: 

 filamenta four, filiform, twice the length of the corolla ; 

 antherae ovate, incumbent. Pistil : germen roundish ; style 

 filiform, thicker at the top ; stigma thickish, obtuse. Pe- 

 ricarp : berry globular, smooth. Seeds: four, oblong, shaped 

 like a meniscus, compressed, callous. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calir- four-cleft. Corolla: four-cleft. Berry: four- 

 seeded. The species are, 



1. Callicarpa Americana; American Callicarpa. Leaves 

 serrate, tomentose beneath. A shrub, from three or four to 

 six feet in height ; branches rather compressed ; the nerves 

 of the upper surface of the leaves, and the whole under sur- 

 face, tomentose ; the flowers in axillary, dichotomous, tomen- 

 tose panicles, scarcely the length of the leaves ; with minute 

 subulate bractes, opposite at each fork ; corolla funnel -form, 

 deep purple. Native of Cochin-china as well as of North 

 America, which shews the impropriety of the trivial name. It 

 is the only plant of its genus which has been yet cultivated 

 in England, and rises easily from seeds on a moderate hot- 

 bed ; it is best to sow the seeds in pots, and to plunge them into 

 a tan-bed of a moderate warmth ; when theplants come up, and 

 have attained some strength, they should be gradually inured 

 to the open air, into which they should be removed in June, 

 and placed in a sheltered situation, where they may remain 

 till autumn ; during this time they must be kept clean from 

 weeds, and gently refreshed with water in dry weather ; but as 

 these young plants are tender, they should be placed under 

 a frame before the early frost comes on, for autumnal frosts 

 will kill the tender part of their shoots, which often causes 

 their stalks to decay most part of their length before the 

 spring. During the winter season they should be screened 

 from frost, but in mild weather they must enjoy the free air, 

 otherwise their shoots will turn mouldy and decay. The 

 following spring, just before the plants shoot, they should be 

 carefully turned out of their pots, so as not to break their 

 roots, and part of them may be planted in small pots filled 

 with light earth, and the others in a nursery-bed in a warm 

 situation, at about four or five inches asunder ; those in the 

 pots should be plunged into a moderate hot-bed, which will 

 forward their taking root ; but afterwards they must be hard- 

 ened to bear the open air as before ; these should be shel- 

 tered under a frame in winter for three or four years, till 

 they have obtained strength ; then they may be turned out 

 of the pots, and planted in a warm situation, where they will 

 live in the open air through common winters ; but in severe 

 frost they are in danger of being killed, if they be not shel- 

 tered ; therefore the surface of the ground about the root? 



