372 



COR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



COS 



In the spring, the plants will soon appear if the pots be re- 

 moved into a moderate hot-bed. They should be trans- 

 planted when about an inch high, each into a separate small 

 pot, shading them until they acquire new roots, and gradually 

 inuring them soon after to the open air. In June they should 

 be placed abroad in a sheltered situation, where they may 

 remain till October, and should then be placed in a common 

 frame to protect them from the frost. 



2. Corymbium Glabrum. Very smooth : leaves ensiform, 

 plane-nerved ; panicle lax, diffuse ; flowers distinct. Native 

 of the Cape. 



3. Corymbium Filiforme. Leaves filiform, very smooth, 

 erect, shorter than the stem. Native of the Cape. 



4. Corymbium Villosum, Villose, woolly : stem-leaves 

 clasping, subulate, straight, plain. Native of the Cape. 



Corynocarpus ; a genus of the class Pentandna, order Mo- 

 nogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth inferior, 

 five-leaved ; leaflets oblong, concave. Corolla : petals five, 

 roundish, narrowed at the base, erect. Nectary : leaflets 

 five, erect, shaped like the petals, but narrower, scarcely 

 shorter, having a globular gland at the base, alternate with 

 the petals. Stamina : filamenta five, subulate, from the base 

 of the petals ; antherae oblong. Pistil : germen superior, 

 globular ; style short, filiform ; stigma obtuse. Pericarp . 

 nut turbinate-club-shaped, one-seeded. Seed : an oblong 

 kernel. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Nectaries : five, petal- 

 shaped, alternate with the petals, glandulous at the base. 

 The only known species is, 



1. Corynocarpus Lcevigata. Leaves alternate, petioled, 

 obovate or wedge-shaped, subemarginate, entire, veined, very 

 smooth; panicle terminating, sessile, large, wrinkled 5 flowers 

 white. Native of New Zealand. 



Corypha ; a genus of the class Palmse, order Flabellifolioe. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : spathe universal none ; 

 spathes partial numerous, alternate, on a common peduncle 

 or spadix, one-leafed, embracing the peduncle, producing 

 panicles of hermaphrodite flowers ; perianth proper, short, 

 with three divisions. Corolla . petals three, egg-shaped, con- 

 cave, half open, longer than the calix. Stamina : filamenta 

 six, about the length of the petals ; antherse almost arrow- 

 shaped, short, versatile. Pistil : germen superior, conicnl 

 style short ; stigma obtuse, pubescent. Pericarp : berry (or 

 drupe) spherical, smooth. Seeds : solitary, bony, with a 

 white, rather firm kernel. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Flowers, 

 hermaphrodite. Spatlie universal, none. Spathes partial, 



numerous. Berry, or Drupe, globular. Seed, bony. 



The species are, 



1. Corypha Umbraculifera ; Great Fan Palm. Fronds 

 pinnate-palmate, plaited, and having a thread between them ; 

 stipes ciliate-spiny. Linneus says, that this tree seldom 

 flowers before it is thirty or forty years old. Knox gives us 

 the following description of it, under the name of talli/mt. 

 " It is as big and tall as a ship's mast, and very straight ; the 

 leaves, which all grow on the top of the tree, are of great use, 

 one being so broad and large that it will cover twenty men. 

 Being dried, it is very strong and limber, and, though it be 

 very broad when open, will fold close like a fan, and is then 

 no bigger than a man's arm ; the whole leaf when spread out 

 is round, but is cut into triangular pieces for use, which the 

 Malays and Ceylonese lay upon their heads as they travel, 

 with the narrow end foremost, to make their way through 

 thickets, Soldiers always carry them, not only to shade them 

 from the sun, and to screen them from rain, on their march, 

 but also to make their tents to lie under. The tree bears no 

 fruit until the year before it dies, and then the most beautiful 

 strong-smelling yellow blossoms come out on the topj and 



spread out in great branches, terminating in a very hard round 

 fruit, about the size of our largest, cherries, which are pro- 

 duced in such plenty, that one tree will yield seed enough for 

 a whole country, but unfortunately they are not fit to eat; 

 and the flowers smell so strong that the tree is generally cut 

 down when it grows near to any houses. The trunk consists 

 of nothing but pith, which the natives beat in a mortar to 

 flour, and bake into cakes, which have the taste of white 

 bread ; the leaves, besides the uses above-named, also serve 

 for thatching houses, and for writing on with an iron style ; 

 and most of the books shown in Europe for the Egyptian 

 papyrus are made from the leaves of this palm." Native of 

 Malabar, the island of Ceylon, anil other parts of the East 

 Indies, and of the Marquesas and Friendly Islands. 



2. Corypha Minor. Fronds palmate, tan-shaped, plaited, 

 subbifid, having a few threads interposed ; stipes unarmed. 

 Leaves springing from the crown of the root, smooth, rigid, 

 striated, plaited below, and spreading upwards into sword- 

 shaped, acute segments ; spadix erect, two or three feet high, 

 rising among the leaves from the crown of the root, clothed 

 with membranaceous sheathing spathes ; liowers in panicled 

 racemes, white, sessile, small, without scent, all herma- 

 phrodite, numerous ; fruit the si/e of a pea, and of a sweet 

 taste, smooth, black, not very succulent. 



Costmary. See Tanacetum. 



Costus ; a genus of the class Monandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth three-toothed, 

 very small, superior. Corolla : petals three, lanceolate, some- 

 what erect, concave, equal; nectary one-leafed, large, oblong, 

 tubular, inflated, two-lipped, lower lip broader, longer than 

 the corolla ; border spreading, three-cleft, middle division 

 three parted : upper lip lanceolate, shorter, doing the office of 

 a filamentum. Stamina : the office of a iilamentum is per- 

 formed by the upper lip of the nectary : to which grows a 

 two-parted anthera. Pistil : germen inferior, roundish ; style 

 filiform, length of the filamentum , stigma headed, com- 

 pressed, emarginate. Pericarp : capsule roundish, crowned, 

 three-celled, three valved. Seeds : many, three-cornered. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla .- inner inflated, ringent ; the 

 lower lip trifid. These plants are propagated by parting their 

 roots in the spring, before the roots put out new stalks : they 

 should \>e planted in pots filled with light kitchen garden 

 earth, and plunged into a tan bed in the stove, where they 

 ought constantly to remain, and may be treated in the 

 same manner as Ginger ; see Amomum. The species are, 



1 Costus Arabicus ; Arabian Coitus. Leaves silky under- 

 neath. Root perennial, irregular, two inches thick, knotty : 

 stems annual, simple, round, three or four feet high, near an 

 inch indiameter at bottom, fleshy.with a strong bark, sheathed 

 all over ; spike very handsome, terminating, subsessile, soli- 

 tary, erect, close, as big as the hand closed. Native of the 

 East Indies ; whence the roots were formerly imported, being 

 much used in medicine, but of late years they have not been 

 regarded, the roots of Ginger being used in their stead. 



2. Costus Glabratus. Leaves smooth on both sides ; spike 

 few-flowered ; scales leafy at the tip, the upper ones fasti- 

 giate. Spike or head of flowers imbricate, with ovate, blunt, 

 concave scales, each one flowered, permanent, green, not 

 coloured. Native of the West Indies. 



3. Costus Spicatus. Leaves smooth on both sides ; spike 

 many-flowered, subovate, closely imbricate ; scales ovate, 

 simple. Root perennial, fleshy, irregular, white; stems some- 

 what jointed, almost upright, round, smooth, one or two feet 

 high ; flowers yellow, scentless, and quickly withering. Na- 

 tive of the Caribbee islands, where it is found by the side of ' 

 torrents. It is called canna de rniere, in Martinique, where 



