COT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



COT 



3?3 



a decoction of the roots and stulks is often given in the 

 gonorrhoea, &c. as a cooling drink. 



4. Costus Malacensis. Leaves very finely tomentose un- 

 derneath ; raceme terminating ; bunches six flowered. Stems 

 several, approximating.-upright, simple, a little compressed, 

 smooth, clothed with the sheaths of the leaves, half as high 

 as a man ; all the flowers are on very short club-shaped pe- 

 dicels, somewhat compressed. Native of thick woods near 

 Tsing, in the neighbourhood of Malacca. 



Cotton. See Gossyplum. 



Cotton Grass. See Eriophorum. 



Cotton Silk. See Bombax. 



Cotton Thistle. See Onopordum. 



Cotton Weed. See Athanasia and Filago. 



Cotula ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polygamia 

 Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : common, con- 

 vex, divided into about sixteen ovate parts, of which eight 

 are exterior, of these the inferior ones are rather bigger than 

 the interior ones. Corolla : compound the length of the 

 calix, a little convex ; corollules hermaphrodite, numerous in 

 the disk ; females in the circumference more than twenty : 

 proper of the hermaphrodites tubular, four-cleft, unequal, 

 the outer division larger ; of the females, scarcely any. Sta- 

 mina : in the hermaphrodites, filamenta four, very small, 

 anther* tubular, the length of the corollule. Pistil : in the 

 hermaphrodites, germen obovate ; style filiform ; stigmas 

 two, obtuse : in the females ; germen obovate, compressed, 

 two-edged, larger ; style filiform, length of the hermaphro- 

 dite ; stigmas two, simple. Pericarp : none. Calix : un- 

 changed, permanent. Seeds ; of the hermaphrodites, soli- 

 tary, smaller, ovate, three-sided, the interior angle obscure ; 

 down marginated : of the females, solitary, larger, cordate 

 on one side, flat on the other, gibbous, surrounded by an ob- 

 tuse border ; down bordered. Receptacle: almost naked, 

 flat. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Receptacle; almost naked. 

 Doton : margined. Corollules: of the disk, four-cleft, in the 

 ray, scarcely any. The species are, 



1. Cotula Anthemoides ; Dwarf Cotula. Leaves pinnae, 

 multifid, dilated ; flowers floscular. Root annual ; stem about 

 six feet high, at first erect, then procumbent ; flowers 

 drooping, much compressed before they open, the size of a 

 lentil ; florets yellow. Native of Spain, and the island of St. 

 Helena. If the seeds of this and of the second species be 

 permitted to scatter, the plants will come up in the spring and 

 require no other care but to keep them clean from weeds and 

 thin them. 



2. Cotula Aurea ; Golden Cotula. Leaves pinnate-setaceous, 

 multifid ; flowers floscular, drooping. The flowers have no 

 chaffs, and the florets are four-cleft. Annual : and a native 

 of Spain 



3. Cotula Stricta; Silvery Cotula. Leaves pinnatifid, 

 plane, naked, dotted ; stem erect, strict ; flowers radinte. 

 Stem herbaceous, five feet high, erect, somewhat angular, 

 even, covered with a bluish dew ; corollets of the disk four- 

 cleft. Native of the Cape. This, as well as all the other 

 natives of the Cape, must be raised on a moderate hot-bed in 

 the spring, and when the plants have obtained strength, they 

 may be transplanted into a warm border, where they will ripen 

 their seeds very well. All the Cotulas flourish best, how- 

 ever, under the protection of the dry-stove, and several of 

 them may be increased, not only from seeds, but freely from 

 cuttings. 



4. Cotula Coronopifolia ; Buck's-liorn Cotula. Leaves 

 lanceolate-linear, stern-clasping, toothed ; flowers floscular. 

 It is an annual, and sends out trailing stalks about six inches 

 long, with succulent leaves, shaped like those of Buck's-horn 



TOL. i. 32. 



Plantain : the flowers grow from the divisions of the stalks, 

 upon short weak footstalks, being destitute of rays ; they 

 are of a sulphur-colour, appearing in July, and, like those of 

 the eighth species, stand erect when they first appear, but 

 as soon as the florets become impregnated, their colour 

 changes, the footstalks become very flaccid towards the top, 

 and the flowers hang downwards ; but when the seeds are 

 ripe, the footstalks become stiff, and their heads stand erect 

 for the winds to disperse the seeds. Native of the Cape. 



5. Cotula Umbellata. Leaves lanceolate, hirsute ; flowers 

 umbelled ; stem erect, round, hirsute, a foot and a half in 

 length ; receptacle naked. Native of the Cape. 



6. Cotula Quinqueloba. Leaves five-lobed, subtomentose ; 

 stems erect, simple, pubescent; leaves petioled. Native of 

 the Cape. 



7 . Cotula Viscosa. Leaves alternate, lyrate, pini.ate ; 

 flowers radiate ; stem a span high ; recepticle conical, naked. 

 Found in the island of La Vera Cruz. 



8. Cotula Turbinata. Receptacles underneath, inflated, 

 turbinate ; flowers radiate. It sends out many branching- 

 stalks, which spread on the ground : leaves very finely divided, 

 covered with a cottony substance. Flowers solitary, on long 

 peduncles, from the side of the branches they have a nar- 

 row border of white rays, with a pale yellow disk. Annual : 

 flowering in July and August. Native of the Cape. 



9. Cotula Tanacetifolia. Leaves trip! nnate, the small seg- 

 ments acute ; stem erect ; flowers floscular, corymbed. Stem 

 scarcely suffruticose, but rather entirely herbaceous, firm, 

 slightly angular, pubescent, much branched ; leaves glaucous, 

 petioled ; corymb of flowers compound, fastigiate, large, 

 terminating, consisting of several corymbiferous branches ; 

 scarcely any female, florets ; those of the disk four-cleft. 

 Annual : Native of the Cape. 



10. Cotula Capensis ; Ctipe. May-weed. Leaves pinnate, 

 somewhat fleshy and columnar, the lowest subbipinnate ; 

 flowers radiate. Stems many, very much branched, diffused 

 a span in height, round, somewhat glossy. Annual : native 

 of the Cape. This plant has the appearance of Chamo- 

 mile. 



11. Cotula Pilnlifera ; Rounded Matf-wrcd. Leaves bi- 

 pinnate; heads globular ; stems erect, subfastigiate, with a 

 panicle. Native of the Cape. 



12. Cotula Sericea. Leaves superdecompound, tomentoso, 

 linear. Root perennial ; corolla floscular, shorter than the 

 calix, yellow ; stems herbaceous, short, tomentose, simple, 

 procumbent, white. Native of the Cape. 



13. Cotula Pyrethraria. Leaves opposite, ovate, crennte, 

 petioled ; peduncles one-flowered. Stem herbaceous, diolio- 

 tomotis ; flower ovate, white, with four-cleft corollets. 

 Native country unknown. 



14. Cotula Minuta. Leaves alternate, almost stein-c.asp- 

 ing, oblong, toothed ; flowers solitary, sessile, opposite to 

 the leaf. Native of New Caledonia. 



15. Cotula Bi color. (Specific character not given.) Native 

 of the isle of Tanna in the South Seas. 



Cotyledon ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Penta- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, five-cleft, acute, very small. Corolla .- petal bell- 

 shaped, five-cleft ; nectary consisting of a concave scale, 

 seated at the exterior base of each germen. Stamina : fila- 

 menta ten, subulate, straight, the length of the corolla; ;;r.'- 

 therae erect, four-furrowed. Pistil : germina five, oblong', 

 thickish, ending in subulate styles, which are longer than the 

 stamina ; stigmas simple. Pericarp : capsules five, oblong, 

 bellied, acuminate, one-valved, gaping longitudinally in- 

 wards. Seeds : very many, small. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 5 C 



