C R I 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



C R I 



385 



into button-moulds throughout the colonies. The Caribs 

 engrave the outside of these shells with a variety of grotesque 

 figures, which they sometimes colour black or red. They also 

 eat the pulp occasionally, but it is not esteemed to be either 

 agreeable or wholesome, although much used as a poultice, 

 and yielding a syrup, which is greatly esteemed by the natives 

 in inward bruises, contusions, and disorders of the breast. 

 The wood being very tough and flexile, is well adapted for 

 the coach-maker, and is frequently used for making saddles, 

 stools, and other furniture. In times of scarcity, the leaves 

 and branches are eaten by cattle, as well as the pulp of the 

 fruit. Native of the low lands of Jamaica, the Leeward 

 Islands, and the neighbouring continent. 



2. Crescentia Cucurbitina ; Broad leaved Calabash Tree. 

 Leaves egg-shaped, petioled, alternate ; fruit egg-shaped, 

 acuminate ; seeds orbicular, compressed. A middle-sized 

 tree, with a large umbrageous head, nearly upright branches, 

 and a trunk thicker than the human body. Leaves six inches 

 long and three broad, shining, ending in a sharp point, on 

 short petioles ; flowers whiter than those of the preceding ; 

 fruit nearly the shape of a citron, but larger, with a thin 

 brittle shell and whitish pulp. Native of St. Domingo. 



3. Crescentia Jasminoides. Leaves wedge-shaped, obtuse, 

 emarginate ; flowers funnel-shaped ; border equal, five-cleft. 

 A shrub, six or seven feet high, with stem the thickness of 

 a finger ; flowers resembling the common Jasmine, white, 

 with a mixture of red ; fruit yellowish-green, oval, obtuse, 

 about the consistence of a soft pear, and containing a pulp 

 not unlike Cassia in taste and colour. Native of the Bahamas. 

 Cress. See Cardamine. 

 Cress, Bastard. See Thlaspi. 

 Cress, Garden. See Lepidium. 

 Cress, Indian. See Troptxolum. 

 Cress, Rock. See Ibcris. 

 Cress, Pocket. See Vella. 

 Cress, Swine's. See Cochlearia. 

 Cress, Water : Cress Winter. See Sisymlrium. 

 Cressa ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth five-leaved ; 

 leaflets ovate, obtuse, incumbent, permanent. Corolla: one- 

 petalled, salver-form ; tube length of the calix, bellied below ; 

 border live-parted ; divisions ovate, acute, spreading. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta five, capillary, long, sitting on the tube of 

 the corolla; antherae roundish. Pistil: germen ovate, styles 

 two, filiform, length of the stamina ; stigmas simple. Peri- 

 carp : capsule ovate, one-celled, two-valved, a little longer 

 than the calix. Seeds .-. single, ovate-oblong. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: five-leaved. Corolla: salver-form. 

 filamrnttt : sitting on the tube. Capsule : two-valved, one- 

 seeded. The species are, 



' 1. Cressa Cretica. Corollas beardless ; capsules one- 

 seeded. This is a small and very shrubby plant ; root long, 

 slender, jointed, white ; stems several, long, slender, round, 

 whitish ; leaves the size and form of a lentil ; flowers sumll 

 at the ends of the twigs ; fruit resembling a grain of wheat. 

 The whole plant is white, and has a salt taste. Native of 

 the sea-shores of Crete, and of Ostia near Rome. 

 S2. Cressa Indica. Corollas bearded at the tip ; capsules 

 four-seeded ; corolla snowy white, hairy on the outside. 

 Native of salt marshes in the East Indies. 

 Crimson-grass Vetch. See Lathyrus Nissolia. 

 Crinodendrum ; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order 

 Decandria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : none. Corolla. .- 

 bell-shaped ; petals six, oblong, erect, spreading at the tip. 

 Stamina: filamenta ten, erect, united at die bottom; anthers 

 ovate, erect. Pistil : germen superior, ovate ; style subulate, 

 VOL. i. 33. 



a little longer than the stamina. Pericarp : capsule coriaceous, 

 obtusely three-cornered, one-celled, gaping elastically at top. 

 Seeds : three, roundish. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : 

 none. Corolla: bell-shaped, six-petalled. Capsule : one-celled, 

 gaping elastically at top. The only known species is, 



1. Crinodendrum Patagua ; Lily-tree. This is a superb 

 evergreen branchy tree, with a body of seven feet in dia- 

 meter. The leaves are opposite, much longer than the 

 petioles, of a bright green, lanceolate, and serrated. There 

 are no stipules : the flowers are scattered and axillary ; the 

 peduncles one-flowered, the flowers having the odour of lilies. 

 The seeds are the size of a lentil. It is a native of Chili. 



Crinum; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : involucre spathe- 

 form, two-leaved, oblong, umbelluliferous, after gaping, 

 reflected. Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form ; tube oblong, 

 cylindric, inflected; border six parted ; divisions lanceolate- 

 linear, obtuse, concave, reflected, of which the three alter- 

 nate ones are distinguished by a hooked appendicle. Sta- 

 mina : filamenta six, subulate, from the base of the border, 

 of the length of the border, converging ; anthera? oblong, 

 linear, rising upwards, incumbent. Pistil : germen inferior. 

 Style : filiform, length of the flower ; stigma three-cleft, very 

 small. Pericarp : capsule subovate, three-celled. Seeds : 

 several. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: funnel-form, 

 half six-cleft ; tube filiform ; border patulous, recurved ; seg- 

 ments subulate, channelled ; filamenta inserted into the 

 throat of the tube, distinct. These bulbs are very ornamental 

 plants for the stove, and are easily propagated by offsets, 

 which the roots put out in plenty j or by the bulbs which 

 succeed the flowers, and ripen perfectly in England. They 

 must both be planted in pots of rich earth, and if plunged 

 into the tan-bed in the stove, will make greater progress, and 

 flower oftner, than when placed on shelves, even when kept 

 in a good temperature of heat. The roots should be trans- 

 planted in the spring, and all the offsets taken off, otherwise 

 they will fill the pots, and starve the old plants : they must 

 be frequently refreshed with water, but it must not be given 

 them too plentifully, especially in winter. They flower at 

 every season of the year, which increases their value j for 

 where there are many plants, there will be almost a perpetual 

 succession of flowers, which emit a very agreeable odour. 

 The species are, 



1. Crinum Asiatieum. Leaves keeled. Root solid, turbi- 

 nate, surrounded with long branching fibres ; stem short, 

 thick, coated, white, single ; leaves three feet long, three 

 inches wide, subulate-linear, erect, striated, thick, imbricate ; 

 flowers white, large, in a simple flat umbel. Rumphius extols 

 the efficacy of the roots in expelling the poison of both ser- 

 pents and arrows, and also in redematous swellings, &c. 

 Native of Malabar, Ceylon, Tranquebar, and Cochin-china. 



2. Crinum Americanum; Great American Crinwm. Leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, very smooth at the edge, with the end 

 contracted and hooked ; flowers pedicelled, with the tube 

 shorter than the border ; flowering-stem a foot and a half 

 in height, the thickness of a finger, slightly compressed, 

 coming out, not from the centre of the leaves, but on one 

 side ; leaves two feet or more in length, and a hand broad ; 

 flowers pale yellow before they open, each opening succes- 

 sively, and lasting a day or two ; when open of a milky 

 whiteness, not disagreeable in scent. They appear in July 

 and August ; and the plant is a native of South America. 



3. Crinum Erubescens ; Small American Crinum. Leaves 

 lanceolate, cartilaginous-crenulate, the end produced and 

 unfolded ; flowers sessile ; tube longer than the border. The 

 flower-stem arises immediately from the root, on the outside 



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