340 



C O I 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



COL 



six or seven parted ; berries red, oblong, ovate. Native of 

 Africa, on the coast of Zanguebar, and cultivated near 

 Mozambique, with the preceding species. 



5. Coffea Guianensis. Flowers four-cleft ; berries small, 

 violet-coloured, two-seeded. Stem branching, from one to 

 two feet in height ; branchlets quadrangular, knotty ; flowers 

 axillary, several together, small and white ; berry spherical, 

 and violet coloured. It flowers and fruits in September ; 

 and is a native of the great forests of Orapu in Guiana. 



6. Coffea Paniculata. Branches quadrangular ; leaves 

 ovate-oblong, acute ; corollas four-cleft ; berries two-seeded. 

 Trunk seven or eight feet high, and five or six inches in dia- 

 meter, covered with a gray, wrinkled, cloven bark ; boughs 

 opposite, branched, knotty, quadrangular ; flowers termi- 

 nating, panicled ; corolla white, very sweet-scented. Na- 

 tive of Guiana ; flowering and fruiting in April. 



7. Coffea Sambucina. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute ; 

 cymes corymbed, terminating. Native of the Friendly 

 Islands in the South Seas. 



8. Coffea Opulina. Leaves ovate-lanceolate ; cymes con- 

 tracted, globular, terminating. Native of New Caledonia. 



9. Coffea Odorata. Leaves ovate, acute ; cymes corymbed, 

 axillary. Native of Tanna, and the Friendly Islands. 



10. Coffea Triflora. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminate ; 

 peduncles terminating, three together, one-flowered. Na- 

 tive of Otaheite. 



Coir ; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Triandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flowers, disposed in a loose 

 spike. Ca.Hi : glume two-flowered, two-valved ; valves ob- 

 long-ovate, obtuse, awnless, the outer thicker. Corolla: 

 two-valved; valves ovate-lanceolate, length of the calix, 

 very thin, awnless. Stamina: filamenta three, capillary ; 

 antherae oblong, four-cornered. Female Flowers, fewer, at 

 the base of the male spike, on the same plant. Calix : glume 

 two-flowered, two-valved ; valves rounded, thick, shining, 

 hard ; the outer larger, shining. Corolla : glume two-valved; 

 outer valve ovate, larger ; inner narrower, smaller ; both awn- 

 less. Pistil: germen ovate, very small ; style short, two- 

 parted ; stigmas two, horned, longer than the flower, pubes- 

 cent on every side. Pericarp : none : the outward calycine 

 glume grows closely to the seed, it increases, grows shining, 

 falls, does not gape. Seed : solitary, roundish, covered by 

 the ossified calix. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Males, in re- 

 mote spikes. Calix : glume two-flowered, awnless. Co- 

 rolla : glume awnless. Female. Calix : glume two-flowered. 

 Corolla : glume awnless. Style : two-parted. Seed : covered 

 by the calix, ossified. The species are, 



1. Coix Lachryma; Job's Tears. Seeds ovate. Culm 

 six feet high, perennial, subcylindric, solid, jointed, erect, 

 branched ; leaves lanceolate, quite entire, long, wrinkled 

 underneath, reflex, clasping ; flowers axillary, on a long 

 slender, suberect, common peduncle ; at the top many males, 

 in a subovate spikelet, and at the base a solitary female ; the 

 two styles are capillary, and entirely distinct, with long villose 

 stigmas ; seed bluish-white, very hard, shining like pearls. 

 Annual. Native of the East Indies ; cultivated in Spain and 

 Portugal, where, in times of scarcity, a coarse kind of bread 

 is made of its seeds, and eaten by the poor. It is applied to 

 the same use in China and the Levant. The seeds are some- 

 times bored and threaded for necklaces, and other female 

 ornaments. Those who wish to cultivate this plant in Eng- 

 land, may procure the seeds from Portugal, and should sow 

 them upon a moderate hot-bed in the spring, to bring the 

 plants forward, and afterwards transplant them on a warm 

 border, allowing each two feet room apart ; when they have 

 taken root, they only require to be kept clean from weeds ; 



they will flower about midsummer, and in warm seasons 

 ripen seed at Michaelmas. There is a variety of this with 

 much broader leaves, which was imported from Smyrna. 



2. Coix Angulata; Large Job's Tears. Seeds angular. 

 This grows to the height of seven or eight feet ; the stem* 

 become hard, like the reed, or Indian corn, branching out ; 

 and producing several spikes of flowers. Native of America ; 

 and a perennial. This species will not bear the open air in 

 England, but must be plunged into the bark-bed, where it 

 will flourish, and produce ripe seeds the second year, and 

 may be continued longer if desired. 



3. Coix Agrestis ; Small Job's Tears. Culm entirely sim- 

 ple ; leaves smooth and even ; seeds roundish. Root peren- 

 nial, creeping ; culm three feet high ; leaves lanceolate- 

 linear, acuminate, quite entire, suberect, alternate, clasping : 

 peduncles long, erect, axillary, many-flowered ; males and 

 females from the same axil ; seed roundish, brown, shining, 

 small. Native of Amboyna, Ceylon, and Cochin-china. 



Colchicum ; agenus of the class Hexandria, order Trigynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none, except scattered 

 spathes. Corolla: six-parted 5 tube angulated, rooted; divi- 

 sions of the border lance-ovate, concave, erect. Stamina : 

 filamenta six, subulate, shorter than the corolla ; antheree 

 oblong, four-valved, incumbent. Pistil: germen buried 

 within the root ; styles three, thread-form, length of the sta- 

 mina ; stigmas reflex, channelled. Pericarp: capsule three- 

 lobed, connected internally by a suture, obtuse, three-celled ; 

 sutures gaping inwardly. Seeds: many, nearly globular, 

 wrinkled. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : a spathe. 

 Corolla: six-parted, with a rooted tube. Capsule: three, 

 connected, inflated. All the plants of this genus form a very 

 suitable variety for a flower garden, as they flower in autumn, 

 when few other plants are in beauty. In May the leaves 

 begin to decay, soon after which time the roots should be 

 transplanted, for if they be suffered to stay in the ground till 

 August, they will send forth fresh fibres, and after that it will 

 be too late to remove them ; the roots may be kept above 

 ground till the beginning of August, and if not then planted, 

 will produce their flowers as they lie out of the ground ; but 

 this will greatly weaken their roots. For the manner of 

 planting these roots, see Tulipa. Whoever desires to obtain 

 varieties in the flowers, must propagate them from seeds. 

 The species are, 



1. Colchicum Autumnale ; Common Meadow Saffron. 

 Leaves flat, lanceolate, erect. It has a bulbous root, :il)out 

 the size and shape of the Tulip, but not so sharp pointed at 

 the top ; the skin or cover is also of a darker colour : these 

 bulbs are renewed every year, for those which produce the 

 flowers decay, and new roots are formed above. The (lowers 

 come out in autumn, and rise, with long slender tubes about 

 four inches high, from the root ; these tubes are shaped like 

 those of the Saffron, but larger; and the number of flowers is 

 generally in proportion to the size of the roots, from two to 

 seven or eight. The green leaves appear in March, and are 

 generally four in number to a full-grown root ; they are 

 folded over each other below, but spread open above ground, 

 standing crossways ; their colour is a dee]) green, and when 

 fully grown they are five or six inches long, and one and a 

 half broad. The seed-vessel comes out between the leaves 

 in April, and the seeds ripen in May, soon after which the 

 leaves decay. The seeds lie buried all the winter within the 

 bulb ; in spring they grow up on a fruitstalk, and are ripe 

 about the time of hay-harvest. May not the very great 

 length of the styles account in sonic measure for the delay in 

 the ripening of the seeds ? As this plant blossoms late in the 

 year, and would not probably have time to ripen its seed* 



