S84 



C R E 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



C R E 



JO. Crcpis Sibirica. Leaves stem-clasping, oblong, wrin- 

 kled, toothed at bottom ; stem rough with hairs ; calices dil- 

 ute on the keel. Perennial : stem stiff, two feet high, straited 

 hispid. It flowers in July and August. Native of Siberia 

 and Switzerland. 



11. Crepis Tectorum ; Smooth Crepis. Leaves Ian eeolate- 

 runcinate, sessile, even, the lower toothed. This is a very 

 common plant, of an ash-coloured green ; stem angular, fur- 

 rowed, with branches as long as the stein ; root annual ; 

 leaves very variable, smooth, or sHghtly hirsute ; flowers 

 yellow, in a kind of loose corymb. The flowers, heads, and 

 seeds of this plant, are smaller than most English Hawkweeds. 

 The flowers expand about four in the morning, and close 

 about noon. Our old writers call it Yellow Succory, Succory- 

 dandelion, and Succory-hawkweed. Petiver calls it Hawk- 

 iieard; and Dr. Withering applies that name to the whole 

 genus. It flowers from June till September ; and is a native 

 of Europe, in pastures, by way-sides, on banks, and on walls. 



12. Crepis Biennis ; Rough Succory-Hawkwec.d. Leaves 

 runcinate-pinnatifid, scabrous, toothed at the base above ; 

 calices muricate. Stem angular, scabrous, from four to six 

 feet high, brittle ; flowering branches divaricate, bearing seve- 

 ral flowers on separate peduncles. The flowers close between 

 three and four in the afternoon. Native of Scania, Switzer- 

 land, Italy, Germany, and of England, where it is found in 

 calcareous soils, near Northfleet, and between Sittingbourne 

 and Rochester, in Kent, and about Linton in Cambridgeshire. 

 It is biennial ; flowering in July and August. 



13. Crepis Virens. Leaves runcinate, smooth, stein-clasp- 

 ing ; calices subtomentose ; root-leaves lanceolate, obtuse, 

 smooth, somewhat toothed ; flowers small; and yellow. Na- 

 tive of France, Switzerland, Silesia, and Italy. 



14. Crepis Dioscorides. Root-leaves runcinnte ; stem- 

 leaves hastate ; calices subtomentose. Annual ; stem a foot 

 high, somewhat angular, smooth, and even ; branches but few, 

 round, and spreading ; corolla yellow, puq>le beneath before 

 it expands. It flowers in June ; and is a native of France, 

 the Palatinate, Silesia, Italy, and Siberia. 



15. Crepis Pulchra ; Small-lowered Crepis. Leaves sagit- 

 tate, toothletted ; stem panicled ; flowers pyramidal, smooth. 

 It is an annual ; flowering from July till August. Native of 

 France and Italy. 



16. Crepis Neglecta. Leaves stem-clasping, runcinate, 

 toothed, somewhat hairy ; stem panicled ; culices with one or 

 two spines on each leaflet. Stem a foot high, branched, some- 

 what hairy, erect ; flowers small, yellow. Native of Italy. 



17. Crepis Albida ; Pale-flowered Crrpii. Leaves runci- 

 nate-toothed, somewhat hoary ; peduncles naked, one flow- 

 ered ; calioine scales whitish at the edge. Perennial : stems, 

 several, twice or thrice dichotomous, with a sessile leaf at each 

 division of the branches ; root-leaves elliptic, gradually lessen- 

 ing into a leafy petiole, thickish, toothed, seldom quite entire; 

 stem-leaves half embracing, rougher, sharper, with a more 

 evident prickle ; flowers large, pale yellow, or whitish, com- 

 posed of a great number of florets. Native of the south of 

 France and Italy. 



IS. Crepis Rigens ; Bristly-leaved Crepis. Leaves ob- 

 long, doubly serrate, bristly ; stem naked, branched ; flowers 

 panicled ; calices cylindric, smooth ; down sessile. It flowers 

 in July and August ; is perennial ; and a native of the Azores, 

 or Western Ules. This, and the two following, require the 

 shelter of a green-house. 



19. Crepis Filiformis ; Rm-leavtd Crt-pis. Leaves linear, 

 filiform, very entire, smooth ; down sessile ; biennial, flower- 

 ing in June, and Native of Madeira. 

 "20. Crepis Succulent* ; Fleshy-leaved Crepis. Leaves 



pinnatifid, or toothed, somewhat fleshy, even , calices some- 

 what tomentose ; down sessile. It is annual, flowering in 

 August and September ; and native of Madeira. 



Creictntia ; a genus of the class Dklynamia, order Angio- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calve: perianth 

 leafed, two-parted, short, deciduous ; divisions roundish, 

 concave, obtuse, equal. Corolla : one-petalled, unequal ; 

 tube gibbous, crooked, torulose ; border erect, five-cleft , 

 divisions unequal, tooth-sinuated. Stamina : lilamenta four, 

 subulate, length of the corolla, spreading, of which two are 

 a little shorter ; anthers incuuibent, obtuse, twin. Pistil : 

 germen pedicelled, ovate ; style filiform, length of the corolla ; 

 stigma headed. Pericarp: berry oval, hard, one-celled. 

 Seeds : very many, suhcnrtlatc, nestling, two-celled. ESSEN- 

 TIAI. CHARACTER. Calix : two-parted, equal. Corolla : 

 gibbous. RKTTIJ : pedicelled, one-celled, many-seeded. See'ls, 

 two-celled. These trees require a warm stove, to preserve 

 them in England. They are easily propagated by seed, which 

 must be procured from the countries where they naturally 

 grow ; the best way of doing which, is to import the entire 

 fruit when fully ripe. They must be sown on a good hot-bed 

 in the spring, and when fit to remove should be each trans- 

 planted into a small pot filled with light sandy earth, and 

 plunged into a hot bed of tanner's bark, where they must be 

 shaded from the sun until they have taken fresh root, and be 

 afterwards treated in the same manner as other plants which 

 are natives of the same countries. They should be gently 

 watered two or three times a week in summer, according to 

 the warmth of the season, and must have a large share of air 

 in hot weather. In winter they should be placed in the tan- 

 bed of the bark-stove, and should have but little water during 

 that season. With this management the plants will make 

 great progress ; and, their leaves being of a line green, they 

 make a pretty variety in the stove. The two first species have 

 been long cultivated in England, but have not yet flowered. 

 The species are, 



1. CrescentiaCujete ; Nitrrow-leaved Gilabaih Tree. Leaves 

 wedge-lanceolate, crowded. This tree grows to the height of 

 about twenty feet, and is easily distinguished from all others 

 by its peculiar appearance. It divides at top into \ery long, 

 thick, scarcely subdivided branches, stretching out almost 

 horizontally, adorned with leaves disposed in bundles or tuft, 

 scatteringly, at irregular distances. The wood is light and 

 pliant ; the bark unequal, ash-coloured, or whitish ; tlic 

 leaves are four or five inches long, bright green, and \ fined . 

 flower large, sometimes entirely green, but often differently 

 variegated, with purple, red, and yellow ; it does not wither, 

 but becomes putrid, and in that st.ite exhales a cadaverous, 

 very nauseous, and intolerable stench. The form of the 

 fruit varies on different trees, being spherical, spheroidal, 

 or shaped like a bottle ; and differing in size, from two 

 indies to a foot in diameter : but it must be confessed, that if 

 these be only varieties, they are very constant. The fruit is 

 covered with a thin skin, of a greenish yellow colour when 

 ripe ; and under this is a hard, thin, woody shell, inclosing a 

 pale yellowish soft pulp, of a tart unsavoury flavour, sur- 

 rounding a great number of flat seeds. The shells, when 

 cleansed of their pulp, deprived of the outer skin, and dried, 

 are used in the West Indies for drinking-cups, tipped with 

 silver, and with handles fastened to the neck. The long 

 small fruit is formed into spoons and ladles ; that which is 

 round is cut through the middle, and used as chocolate cups, 

 and other domestic utensils. They are frequently large 

 enough to hold a gallon, und are so thin and close, that they 

 serve to boil water us well as an earthern pot, and will bear 

 the fire equally well. The thicker parts are manufactured 



