C R A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



C R A 



375 



11. Cotyledon Cacalioides. Leaves columnar ; flowers 

 corymbed ; .stem shrubby. Native of the Cape. 



12. Cotyledon Reticulata. Leaves columnar ; flowers net- 

 corymbed ; stem shrubby. Native of the Cape. 



13. Cotyledon Paniculata. Leaves oblong-ovate, sessile ; 

 panicle divaricated, racemed ; stem shrubby. Native of the 

 Cape. 



14. Cotyledon Laciniata ; Cut-leaved Navelwort. Leaves 

 pinnatiftd ; flowers four-cleft in a panicle. Stem leafy to the 

 very top ; the inflorescence panicled ; stamina eight short, 

 two long ; peduncles terminating, about six inches long, sus- 

 taining seven or eight small flowers of a deep yellow colour. 

 It flowers in July and August. Native of Egypt, and the 

 East Indies. This, and the next species, require a warm 

 stove to preserve them through the winter in England ; nor 

 should they be exposed abroad in summer ; for if they receive 

 much wet, the stalks are very subject to rot, so that they 

 should constantly remain either in the stove, or in summer 

 should be placed in an airy glass case. They are propagated 

 by cuttings, which should be taken off in summer and planted 

 into small pots, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, and 

 when they have taken root they should be removed into the 

 stove, and must have but little water, especially in winter 



15. Cotyledon Nudicaulis. Leaves spatulate, ovate ; flow- 

 ers four-cleft, in a cyme ; stem almost naked at the end. 



16'. Cotyledon Fascicularis ; Cluster-leaved Navelwort. 

 Leaves wedge-shaped, fascicled, terminating ; trunk thickened 

 branches fleshy, subconic. It flowers from July till Septem- 

 ber. Root perennial ; leaves green ; flowers drooping, re- 

 flexed. Native of the Cape. 



17. Cotyledon Viscosa. Leaves columnar; racemes ter- 

 minating, villose, viscid; stem branched. Root annual; corolla 

 bell-shaped, pale yellow, with purple streaks. Native of the 

 mountains of Spain, near Toledo, and elsewhere. 



118. Cotyledon Lanceolata. Leaves lanceolate, serrated 

 towards the tip ; panicle villose ; flowers quadrifid. Native 

 of Arabia. 



19. Cotyledon Alternans. Lsaves orbiculate-spatulate, 

 quite entire ; flowers panicled, smooth, quadrifid. The whole 

 plant smooth. Native of Arabia. 



Coventry Bells. See Campanula 



Cow Itch. See Dolichos. 



Cow Parsley; Cow Weed. See Chxrophyllum. 



Cow Quakes. See Briza. 



Cowslip. See Primula. 



Cowslip, Virginian. See Dodecathean. 



Crab Tree. See Mains. 



Crake Berry. See Empetrum. 



(ramie; agenusofthe class Tetradynamia, order Siliquosa. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth four-leaved ; 

 leaflets ovate, channelled, somewhat spreading, deciduous. 

 Corolla: four-petalled, cruciform ; petals large, obtuse, broad, 

 spreading ; claws erect-spreading, length of the calix. Sta- 

 mina : tilamenta six, two the length of the calix, four longer, 

 With a two-cleft tip"; antherse simple, on the exterior branch 

 of the filatnenta ; a melliferous gland between the corolla and 

 : the longer stamina on each side. Pistil : germen oblong ; 

 style none ; stigma thickish. Pericarp : berry dry, globose, 

 one-celled, deciduous. Seed : single, roundish. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Filamenta : the four longer two-cleft at the 

 end, one only of the tips bearing an anthera. Berry : dry, 

 globose, deciduous. The species are, 



1. Crambe Maritima ; Sea Colewort. Leaves and stem 



smooth. The roots are perennial, creep under ground, and 



> propagate it very fast ; stems several, proceeding from the 



crown of the roots, spreading, a foot and half or two feet 



high ; leaves alternate, petioled, elliptic-oblong, or roundish, 

 variously lobed and toothed. The whole plant is smooth ; the 

 flowers white, and on long peduncles. Therearetwo varieties, 

 one with jagged leaves, and another with yellowish blossoms. 

 The young leaves, covered up with sand, and blanched, are 

 boiled and eaten as a great delicacy ; but when full grown 

 they are said to produce giddiness, although all sorts of cattle 

 eat them. It is found on the sandy shores and beaches of 

 Denmark, Sweden, and Britain ; as, at Rosebeck in Low 

 Furness, Lancashire; nearMegavissey, in Cornwall; between 

 Whit?table and the isle of Thanet, near Colchester ; about 

 LydeinKent, andelsewhereon the Essex and Kentish shores ; 

 and in great plenty on the coast of Sussex and Dorsetshire. 

 It flowers in May and June. In order to cultivate the Sea 

 Colewort, or Sea-cole, prepare the bed intended to receive 

 the seeds as for Asparagus. Sow them in March. Before 

 putting them in the ground, bruise the outer coat without 

 wounding the seeds, which will accelerate their growth. Set 

 three seeds in a triangular form, six inches apart, leaving a 

 space of two feet between the triangles, and bury the seeds 

 about three inches deep. They will make their appearance 

 in four or five months, but should not be cut until the third 

 spring. About the end of November, when the leaves are 

 become rotten, let them be cleared away, and the bed covered 

 with a coat of half-rotten dung. In the second year, about 

 March, when the plants are beginning to perforate the sur- 

 face, take or rake off lightly the coat of dung, and give the 

 plants full liberty to grow. And in November, or sooner if 

 the leaves be rotten, clear them off, and cover with rotten 

 dung, as in the preceding year. In the third year, immedi- 

 ately after removing the dung in the spring, cover the plants 

 with a thick coat of sand, or coal ashes, or small pebbles. As 

 they grow, continue to keep them from the air until they be 

 cut for use, and in cutting them remove the sand, ashes, or 

 pebbles, and then cover the roots again. Some of them will 

 bear cutting twice or thrice in a season. After the last cut- 

 ting is finished, remove the cover, and let the plants grow 

 until the leaves are decayed ; afterwards clear and cover 

 them for the winter. Some prefer to cover their plants with 

 earthern pans, or large garden pots, putting a tilesherd over 

 the hole, for all air must be excluded in order to have them 

 white. 



2. Crambe Orientalis ; Eastern Colewort. Leaves sca- 

 brous; stem smooth ; root biennial. Native of the Levant. 

 This and the next species may be propagated in the same 

 manner as the preceding. 



3. Crambe Hispanica ; Spanish Colewort. Leaves and stem 

 scabrous; root whitish, annual, fusiform; flowers in corymbs; 

 calices yellowish ; petals white. It flowers in June, and the 

 seeds ripen in autumn. Native of Spain and Italy. 



4. Crambe Tatarica ; Black Colewort. Leaves decom- 

 pound-multifid. Root perennial, fusiform, as thick as the 

 human arm, from two to four feet long, round, brown or 

 blackish -on the outside when fresh, within fleshy, white, with 

 a tinge of dirty yellow, of a sweet taste ; flowers very nume- 

 rous, in terminating branched corymbs, smelling strong of 

 honey. It flowers about the middle of April, and the fruits 

 ripen in June, but few of them come to maturity. The roots 

 are eaten, in a scarcity of bread, by the Tartars and Hun- 

 g-arians, and the hares also are very fond of them. Native of 

 Hungary, Tartary, Moravia, and Bohemia. 



5. Crambe Fruticosa ; Shrubby Colewort. Shrubby : 

 leaves ovate, pinnatifid, serrate, hoary ; racemes in a dishe- 

 velled dichotomous panicle. It is a stiff shrub, with leafy 

 branches and flowers during most part of the year. Found 

 by Masson in the highest rocks of the island of Madeira. 



