S4C 



COM 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



CON 



shorter than the petals ; corpuscles filiform, five, villose, 

 from the divisions of the nectary. Stamina : filamenta five, 

 very short at the bases of the petals; anthers roundish, 

 twin. Pistil : germen globular, villose, with five swellings ; 

 styles five, filiform, approximating, short ; stigmas globu- 

 lar. Pericarp : capsule globular, five-celled, echinate, with 

 long hairy bristles ; cells two-seeded. Seeds : ovate. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: one-leafed, bearing the corolla. 

 Petals : five. Neciary .- five-parted. Capsule .- five-celled, 

 eehinate. The only known species is, 



1. Commersonia Echinata. A tree, with alternate, 

 obliquely ovate, acuminate, serrate leaves, hoary underneath ; 

 flowers white, minute, panicled, hoary. Native of Otaheite, 

 the other Society Isles, and the Moluccas. 



Comocladia ; a genus of the class Triandria, order Mono- 

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

 three-parted, spreading, coloured ; divisions roundish. 

 Corolla : petals three, ovate, acute, flat, very spreading. 

 Stamina: filamenta three, subulate, shorter than the 

 corolla; anthers roundish, incumbent. Pistil: germen 

 ovate ; style none ; stigma obtuse, simple. Pericarp : drupe 

 oblong, crooked, marked above with three dots. Seed : nut 

 nienibranaceous, the figure of the drupe. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Ctilix: three-parted. Corolla : three-parted. Drupe.- 

 oblong, with a tvvo-lobed nucleus. These plants are pro- 

 pagated by seeds, which can only be obtained from those 

 countries where they naturally grow, and should be sown in 

 pots, and plunged into a hot-bed ; when they are fit to 

 remove, they must be each planted in a small pot, and 

 plunged into a tan-bed, and in the autumn into the bark -bed 

 in the stove, where they must be treated as other tender 

 plants.- The species are, 



1. Comocladia Integrifolia. Leaflets entire. It seldom 

 exceeds twenty feet in height ; trunk erect, dividing into 

 few branches, adorned at Ihe end with pinnated smooth 

 leaves, two feet long, like a frond ; flowers very numerous, 

 small, sessile, scentless, of a deep-red colour, in loose 

 panicled racemes, a foot and a Half long ; many of them 

 have the calix and corolla four-parted, with four stamina. 

 The whole tree abounds in a watery and slightly glutinous 

 sap, which grows black in the air, and stain!* the hands so 

 deeply with black, that it can scarcely be washed out. The 

 fruit is eatable, but not inviting-; and the wood is hard, of a 

 fine grain, and reddish colour. Native of Domingo and Ja- 

 maica, where it flowers in December, January, and February. 



2. Comocladia Dentata. Leaflets egg-shaped, acute, 

 toothed, somewhat prickly, veined, and villose underneath. 

 A tree, much like the first ; the trunk is upright, with few 

 branches ; and the leaves a foot and half long, in tufts at the 

 ends of the branches. The juice is milky, glutinous, turn- 

 ing very black, not to be washed out from the skin or cloth. 

 If the tree be ever so slightly wounded, it has a strong 

 smell of dung. Native of Cuba, where the inhabitants 

 imagine it to be dangerous to sleep under it. 



3. Comoeladia llicifolia. Leaflets roundish, angular- 

 spiny, smooth on both sides. Native of the West Indies. 



Compfists. See Manures, Vol. II. p. Sfi. 



Comptnnla ; a genus of the class Moniccia, order Triandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flnicers. Calve : ament 

 cylindric, loosely imbricate all round with concave, kidney- 

 form, acuminate, caducous, one-flowered scales ; perianth 

 two-leaved ; leaflets equal, boat-shaped, shorter than the 

 scale of the anient. Corolla: none. Stamina: filamenta 

 three, shorter than the calix, forked ; antherse six, two- 

 valved. Female Floicen. Calix: ament ovute, closely im- 

 bricate all round with one-flowered scales, as in the male ; 



perianth six-leaved ; leaflets opposite, in puirs, filiform, 

 membrannceous at the base, many times longer than the 

 scales of the ament. Corolla : none. P'util -. germen 

 roundish; styles two, capillary. Pericarp: none. Seed : 

 nut oval, one-celled, valveless. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Male; ament. Calix -. two-leaved. Corolla: none. Anthers : 

 two-parted. Female: ament. Calii: : six-leaved. Corolla : 



none. Styles : two. Nut : oval. The only known 



species is, 



1. Comptonia Asplenifolia ; Fern-leaved Comptonia. It 

 rises with slender shrubby stalks, nearly to the height of 

 three feet, which are hairy, and divided into several slender 

 branches; leaves three inches long or more, dark green. 

 hairy on the underside, and sitting- close to the stalks. The 

 amentsof male flowers corne out on the side of the branches 

 between the leaves ; they are oval, and stand erect The 

 fruit isa bony nut, the size of a hazel nut, inclosing a single 

 seed. It flowers in England from March to May, and is a 

 native of North America, among Firs, in the county of Lair- 

 caster, and on the banks of the Northampton river. When 

 planted here in a loose moist soil, it thrives very well, 

 sometimes creeping at the roots, and sending up suckers 

 plentifully, as in its native country. It may be propagated 

 by these suckers, and will endure English winters very well. 

 Conferva, or River-weed ; a genus of the class Cryptoga- 

 mia, order Algae. GENERIC CHARACTER. Simple, uniform, 

 hair-like, thread-shaped fibres ; which are either continuous 

 or jointed. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Unequal tubercles, 

 in very long capillary filamenta. Linneus specifies twenty- 

 one species in his system of vegetables ; these are all inha- 

 bitants of the water, some in fresh, but more in salt water. 

 Dr. Withering has sixty species, which are natives of Eng- 

 land, in his fourth volume of the Botanical Arrangement u( 

 British Plants, published in 179(J. A singular instance of 

 irritability has been observed by Major VeUey in the Confen-n 

 Coroliina, upon its being immersed, when quite recent, into 

 fresh water: after it had been in the water a few minutes, 

 several fibres were observed to move in an horizontal direc- 

 tion, with a quick convulsive twitch.and to stop suddenly; this 

 they continued to do for some length of time; and the same 

 effect may be produced several times, provided the plant be 

 fresh. The experiment does not succeed in salt water. 



Conium; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digyniii. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calif: umbel universal with many 

 spreading rays ; partial similar. Involucre universal, 

 many-leaved, very short, unequal ; partial halved, three- 

 leaved ; perianth proper, scarcely observable. Corolla ; uni- 

 versal, uniform ; proper of five petals, inflex, heart-shaped, 

 unequal. Stamina: filamenta five, simple ; anthcras roundish. 

 Pistil: germen inferior; styles two, reflex; stigma* obtuse. 

 Pericarp; none. Fruit: nearly globose, five-streaked, tin- 

 streaks notched, bipartile. Seeds; two, convex on one side, 

 almost hemispherical, striated, flat on ttie other side. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Partial Involucre: halved, three- 

 leaved. Fruit : nearly globular, five-streaked, notched on 

 each side. The species are, 



1. Conium Maculatum; Common Hemlock. Seeds striated. 

 Root biennial, resembling that of a small parsnip : stem 

 from three to fourfeet and upwards in height, hollow, round, 

 shining, smooth, covered with a bluish powder which easily 

 wipes off, spotted and streaked with lividpurple, branched and 

 striated towards the top; bottom-leaves very large, two feel in 

 length, of a dark green colour, but paler underneath, shining, 

 superdecompound,or several times pinnate; pinnules oblong, 

 Cashed, and serrate; petiole spotted, smooth, fistulous, suc- 

 culent, round, being scarcely flatted at top ; sheath grooved ; 



