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OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



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39 7 



12. Cucubalus Otites ; Spanish Campion or Catchfly. 

 Flowers dioecous ; petals linear, undivided. Root long, fusi- 

 form, slender ; the root-leaves form a thick tuft, and are 

 wedge-shaped, or rather spatulate, entire, and acuminate, 

 diminishing into a long channelled footstalk ; from these rise 

 one or several stems, from one to two feet high, upright, and 

 the lower part clothed with a few opposite leaves, shaped like 

 the root-leaves, the upper part of which is naked and clammy ; 

 at the bottom of the panicle are two membranaceous connate 

 bractes, and the same under each set of flower-stalks ; the 

 lower part of the panicle, both of the male and female flowers, 

 consist of opposite branches, each topped with a kind of 

 umbel. The male plant, says Haller, has a larger flower, and 

 a redder calix ; the female a smaller, and a green calix : the 

 male flowers often produce abortive pistils, and the females 

 abortive stamina. According to Scopoli, the male flowers are 

 apetalous,and have the rudiment of a three-styled germen. In 

 England, both sexes have the same narrowentire yellowish pe- 

 tals ; and in Tartnry it is found with an hermaphrodite flower. 

 Neither Gerarde nor Parkinson seem to have been aware that 

 this plant is a native of England. Ray seems to have been the 

 first who noticed this, and says it was known in Suffolk by the 

 name of Star of the Earth, being in great repute as a remedy 

 for the hydrophobia ; but although Mr. Ray entertained no 

 doubt of its efficacy, we should be sorry now to depend on 

 such a remedy in such a disorder. This plant flowers in 

 July and August, and is a native of Germany, Denmark, Swit- 

 zerland, the Valais, France, Italy, Carniola, Spain, Siberia, 

 and of England, in gravelly and sandy soils ; as in gravel pits, 

 on the north side of Newmarket, about Chippenham ; be- 

 yond Barton mills in the way to Brandon ; beyond Brandon, 

 in the road to Hillborough ; and near Swaffham and Narbo- 

 rougli, in Norfolk. 



13. Cucubalus Heflexus. Flowers spiked alternate in one 

 row, subsessile ; petals subbipartite, obscure. According to 

 Magnol, root white, fibrous ; stem (sometimes there are two) 

 a palm and half in height ; root-leaves hairy, forming a tuft 

 on the ground, like those of the Daisy ; stem-leaves two, 

 opposite at each joint, narrow and oblong ; at the top of the 

 stem a spike of flowers, bent down at first like a scorpion's 

 tail, but becoming gradually erect after the fall of the flowers; 

 petals whitish, deeply cloven, bending inwards when they 

 begin to wither. Annual : and a native of Montpellier. 



14. Cucubalus Saxifragus. Petals bifid ; calices striated, 

 the terminating ones subsessile, the side ones peduncled ; 

 root perennial ; stem a palm in height, with linear leaflets. 

 Native of the Levant. 



15. Cucubalus Pumilio ; Dwarf Campion. Stems one- 

 flowered, shorter than the flower ; root -leaves forming a tuft, 

 linear, obtuse, smooth and even ; stem very simple and short, 

 bearing one flower, but having often three joints ; corolla red, 

 the borders elliptic; germen sessile; stylesshort. Found near 

 Geneva; in Stiria, and the mountains bordering on Carinthia; 

 and also in the mountains of Italy and Moravia : perennial. 



16. Cucubalus Glutinosus. Petals two-parted ; calices 

 club-shaped ; panicle dichotomous, spreading very much ; 

 stamina and pistils straight. Root flowering the second year ; 

 stems erect, dichotomous, somewhat villose, here and there 

 covered with a tenacious viscid juice ; leaves lanceolate, 

 acute, very entire, hispid, especially the midrib, the upper 

 ones linear ; corolla greenish white ; claws the length of the 

 calix ; border cloven almost to the base ; stamina straight, 

 the length of the corolla, or rather longer ; antheroe incum- 

 bent. Native country unknown. 



17. Cucubalus Paniculatus. Root-leaves ovate, acute ; 

 stem-leaves lanceolate, opposite ; flowers, panicled, erect. 



VOL. i. 34. 



Root-leaves many, on long petioles ; from among which rises 

 an upright stalk, sending out two opposite side-branches at 

 each joint, under each of which is one lanceolate acute leaf : 

 the side-branches, and also the upright stems, are terminated 

 by whitish flowers, formed into a panicle, and standing erect. 

 They appear in June. The plant itself is biennial ; and a 

 native of Spain and Italy. 



Cucumis ; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Syngenesia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flowers. Calix : perianth 

 one-leafed, bell-shaped, the margin terminated by five subu- 

 late teeth. Corolla : five-parted, growing to the calix, bell- 

 shaped ; divisions ovate, veiny-wrinkled. Stamina: filamenta 

 three, very short, inserted into the calix, converging, of which 

 two are bifid at the tip. The anthera; are lines creeping up- 

 wards and downwards, outwardly adnate. Receptacle : three- 

 cornered, truncated, in the centre of the flower. Female 

 Flowers, on the same plant with the males. Calix: perianth 

 as in the males, superior, deciduous. Corolla : as in the males. 

 Stamina : none ; filamenta three, acuminate, very small, 

 without antherffi. Pistil : germen inferior, large ; style cy- 

 lindric, very short; stigmas three, thick, gibbous, two-parted, 

 turned outwards. Pericarp: pome (berry, according to Gart- 

 ner) three-celled, or four-celled ; cells membranaceous, soft, 

 separated into two secondary ones. Seech : numerous, ovate- 

 acute, compressed, placed in a double order. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: five-toothed. Corolla : five-parted. Male. 

 Filamenta ; three. Female. Pistil; three-cleft. Pome: with 

 acute seeds. The species are, 



1. Cucumis Colocynthis; Bitter Cucumber or Gourd, 

 or Coloquintida. Leaves multifid ; fruits globular, smooth. 

 The leaves are dark green, rough, and deeply laciniated : the 

 stems rough and trailing, like those of Bryony; the flowers are 

 small, andofadull yellowish colour ; the fruit round, and the 

 size of an orange ; it is green at first, but grows yellow when 

 quite ripe; the pulp or internal part, is light, spongy,and white, 

 it is most intensely and intolerably bitter, and, when dried, 

 constitutes the coloquintida of the shops.which is an extremely 

 strong and irritating cathartic, and has been sometimes com- 

 mended, not only as an efficacious purgative, but also as an 

 alterative in obstinate chronical disorders ; others, however, 

 have considered it as a dangerous drug. It has been princi- 

 pally used as a stimulus to other purgative medicines, as, for 

 instance, an extract has been ordered in conjunction with 

 aloes, and for mixing with various purgative pills, &c. It 

 flowers from May to August, Native place unknown. This 

 species, together with the second, third, fourth, fifth, tenth, 

 eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, are raised from seeds; and, 

 coming from hot or warm climates, require the protection of 

 the dry or bark stove, especially the third. 



2. Cucumis Prophetarum ; Globe Cucumler. Leaves cor- 

 date, five-lobed, toothletted, obtuse ; fruits globular, spiny- 

 muricate. This plant is every way smaller than the common 

 melon, and has a nauseous odour : the fruits are smooth, but 

 armed with soft prickles ; they are variegated with uncertain 

 streaks, alternately greenish and yellowish ; and are as bitter 

 as coloquintida itself. Native of Arabia and the Levant, 

 flowering from June to September. Its specific name is an 

 allusion to Jonah's gourd. 



3. Cucumis Anguria ; Round Priclcly -fruited Cucumber. 

 Leaves palmate -sinuate ; fruits globular, echinate. Root 

 annual ; stems angular, hispid, four or five feet long ; flow- 

 ers small, like those of Bryony. The fruit seldom grows 

 so large as a pigeon's egg, which it resembles in shape ; 

 bnt the rind is closely beset with blunt prickles, some- 

 what like the skin of a hedgehog : where it is exposed 

 to the full air, it is of a dark green colour, but when closely 



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