C H I 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



C H I 



four-parted, erect, acuminate, permanent. Corolla : ino'.io- 

 petalous, funnel-form ; tube very short, length of the- 

 calix, spreading; border of four divisions, which are linear, 

 erect, acute, oblique, most extremely long. Stamina .- fila- 

 uienta two, very short, subulate, inserted into the tube: an- 

 therae cordate, erect. Pistil: germen ovate; style simple, 

 length of the calix ; stigtriS obtuse, triftd. Pericarp: drupe 

 round, one-celled. Sent . not striated. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 KACTER. Corolla : quadrifid, with the divisions extremely 

 long. Drupe: with a striated nut. The species are, 



1. Chionanthus Virginica ; I'im'miitu Fringe Trre, or SHOIC- 

 drop Tree. Peduncles three-cleft, three-flowered. It is a 

 common shrub in South Carolina, where it grows by the sides 

 of rivulets, and seldom is more than ten feet high ; the leaves 

 are as large as those of the. Laurel, but of a much thinner 

 substance ; the flowers come out in May, hanging in long 

 bunches, and are of a pure white, from whence it received 

 the name of Snowdrop-tree ; and, from the flowers being cut 

 into narrow segments, it has received the appellation of 

 Fringe-tree. After the flowers have fallen away, the fruit 

 appears, which becomes a dark -coloured drupe, about the 

 size of a sloe, having one hard seed in it. The best way to 

 obtain good plants is from the seeds, which must be procured 

 from America, for they never have produced any fruit in this 

 country : they should be sown soon after they arrive, in small 

 pots tilled with fresh loamy earth, which should be placed 

 under a hot-bed frame till the beginning of May, when they 

 must be removed to a situation exposed to the morning sun, 

 but screened from the sun in the middle of the day.: in dry 

 weather the pots must be watered, and kept clean from weeds; 

 tor, as the seeds lie in the ground a whole year before the 

 plants, will come up, they should not be exposed to the sun 

 the first summer, but removed in the following autumn, and 

 placed under a frame, to protect the seeds from being injured 

 by the frost: and if the pots be plunged into a moderate hot- 

 bed in the beginning of March, it will bring up the plants 

 much sooner than they will otherwise rise ; by which means 

 they will acquire more strength the first summer, and be better 

 able to resist the cold of the next winter. They are liable to 

 suffer from severe frosts while young, but when they are 

 grown strong, will endure unhurt the greatest cold of our cli- 

 mate in the open air ; they delight in a moist, soft, loamy soil. 



C Z. Chionanthus Zeylanica ; Ceylon Snowdrop Tree. Pedun- 

 cles panicled, many-flowered. Leaves egg-shaped, villose 

 underneath ; drupes inverselyegg-shaped. Nativeof Ceylon. 



S. Chionanthus Compacta, Panicles trichotomous, the 

 last flowers subcapitate ; calices villose ; leaves lanceolate- 

 oblong ; anthera; acuminate. This tree is fifteen feet in 

 height, with a dusky ash-coloured bark ; petals snow-white, 

 scarcely any tube, but the segments very long, and of alinear 

 shape. Native of the Caribbee Islands. 



4. Chionanthus Mayepea. Panicles axillary, trichotom- 

 ous, all the flowers distinct; anthera obtuse. This is a 

 middle-sized shrub, five or six feet high, and five inches in 

 diameter, the wood and bark whitish ; petals white, fragrant, 

 * concave, terminated by a thread three lines in length; fruit 

 the size of an olive ; rind violet, succulent, two lines thick, 

 bitter. Native of the forests of Guiana. 



Cliironia ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono- 

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

 five-parted, erect, acute, permanent; leaflets oblong. Corolla: 

 monopetalous, equal; tube narrower; border live parted, 

 spreading; divisions ovate, equal. Stamina: filamenta five, 

 broad, short, growing from the tip of the tube; anthene 

 oblong, erect, large, converging, and (after having shed the 

 pollcii) spirally twisted. Pistil .- germen ovate ; style fili- 



form, a little longer than the stamina, decimate ; stigma 

 headed, ascending. Pericarp .- ovate, bilocular. Seeds . nu- 

 merous, small. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: rotated. 

 Pistil: dcclinate ; stamina on the tube of the corolla. An- 

 tlierte: finally spiral. Pericatp: two-celled. The drooping 



stigma seems to constitute the essence of this genus. The 



species are, 



I . Cliironia Trinervia. Herbaceous : leaflets of the calix 

 membranaceous, keeled. Stem annual, quadrangular, acute; 

 leaves opposite, lanceolate, acuminate at each end, smooth, 

 entire, three-nerved ; flowers elegant, blue. Native of 

 Ceylon and the Cape. 



j. Cliironia Jasminoides. Herbaceous: leaves lanceolate : 

 stem four-cornered. Stem two feet high, glossy; leaves 

 opposite, sessile, erect, smooth. Native of the Cape. 



3. Cliironia Lychnoides. Stein simple ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate. Stem entirely simple, round, stiff, and straight, 

 two feet high ; flowers purple, disposed three or four toge- 

 ther, in a terminal panicle. 



4. Cliironia Campanulata. Herbaceous: leaves sublincar; 

 calices the length of the corolla. Stem a foot high, round, 

 with long branches ; flowers terminal, solitary, wheel-shaped, 

 purple, on a long peduncle. Observed in Canada by Kalni. 



5. Chironia Angularis. Herbaceous: stem acute-angled; 

 leaves ovate, stem-clasping. This has the appearance of 

 Lesser Centaury. Found by Kalm in Virginia. 



6. Chironia Linoides; Flax leaved Cliironia. Herbaceous, 

 leaves linear. An undershrub, with filiform, round, smooth 

 branches; leaves an .inch long, narrow ; flowers pile red, 

 solitary at the top of the upper branches; tube of the corolla 

 half the length of the calix. Native of the Cape. 



7. Chironia Nudicaulis. Herbaceous : leaves oblong, 

 hluntish. Stems many, subdiphyllous, quite simple, one- 

 flowered ; calices with setaceous teeth. This species is singu- 

 lar for its oblong leaves frequently rooted into a tuft. Din- 

 covered by Thunberg at the Cape. 



8. Chironia Tetragona. Shrubby : leaves ovate, three- 

 nerved, bluntish ; leaflets of the calix bluntish, keeled ; 

 corolla yellow, large. Native of the Cape. 



9. Chironia Baccifera ; Berry-bearing Chironia. Stem 

 shrubby at the base, much branched, four-cornered ; leaved 

 linear, green ; pericarp resembling a berry. Flowers pale 

 red, small, terminal, on short peduncles. This plant grows 

 to the height of a foot and a half or two feet, and becomes 

 very bushy, and is rather more so than is consistent with 

 ornament ; it produces both flowers and fruit during most 

 of the summer. Native of Africa. The seeds of this, and of 

 the tenth species, should be sown in small pots, filled with 

 light sandy earth, soon after they are ripe, and plunged into 

 a moderate hot-bed, and must be frequently but gently 

 watered : sometimes the seeds will lie a long time in tht 

 ground, so that if the plants do not appear the same season, 

 the pots should not be disturbed, but preserved in shelter till 

 the following spring. When they are fit to remove, they 

 should be transplanted into small pots, four or five in 

 each pot ; then plunge the pots into a moderate hot-bed, 

 and sprinkle them with water, shading them from the SUM 

 till they have taken new root ; after which they will require 

 a large share of air in warm weather, to prevent them 

 from being drawn up weak : when they have acquired sou>* 

 strength, they may be gradually inured to bear the open air, 

 but must be screened from great or long rains : when their 

 roots have filled the pots, they should be parted, and each 

 put into n separate pot filled with light sandy earth, but not 

 rich with dung, which must be shaded until they have take* 

 fresh root, and then removed to some warm situation, among 



