CUR 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



CUR 



411 



one-celled ; seeds in pairs, oblong, shining. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Cu/ir . five leaved. Petals .- four. Styles i 



tvro. Capsule : two-parted, with two seeds in a cell. The 



only known species belonging to this genus is, 



1. Curatella Americana. It is of the stature of Coccoloba. 

 Leaves alternate, oblong, subsessile, large, very rough ; 

 flowers in racemes, from the axils of the leaves which have 

 already fallen, the division of the raceme having two bractes. 

 Native of South America. 



Curcutigo ; a genus of the class 1'olygamia, order Monrecia. 

 GKNERIC CHARACTER. Hermaphrodite Flowers, few, 

 below. Calix : none. Corolla .- petals six, oblong, spread- 

 ing, withering. Stamina; filamenta six, very short; an- 

 thers linear, erect. Pistil: germen sessile, lanceolate; style 

 very short ; stigma large, tapering, with a three-cleft apex. 

 f'fi-ii-arp : capsule, when a germen, three-celled, with the 

 rudiments of six or eight seeds in-each cell; when ripe, ap- 

 pearing one-celled. Seeds : one to four, shining, black, 

 beaked. Male Flowers several, above. Corolla and Stn- 

 iiiinu : as above. Pistil: wanting. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calix: none. Corolla: six-petalled. Filamenta: six. 

 Pistil: one. Capsule: seeds beaked. 'The only known 



1. Curculigo Orchioides. Root tuberous, with many fleshy 

 vermicular fibres ; leaves numerous, all radical, petioled, 

 sword-form, nerved, slender, with very few soft white hairs 

 Mem while young, from six to eighteen inches long, and 

 or three quarters of an inch broad ; flowers pretty large, 

 yellow, the one or two lowermost hermaphrodite, above all 

 male. Native of the shady uncultivated places about Samul- 

 cotah. It is ihenallalady of the'Felingas. Gtertner remarks, 

 that it differs from all other plants in the singular structure of 

 the style and capsule, and the roundish horny process from 

 the outer and upper part of the seed, thickening upwards, 

 and being slightly incurved. 



Curcuma; a genus of the class Monandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth superior 

 obscure. Corolla : tube of the petal narrow ; border three- 

 parted ; divisions lanceolate, spreading, gaping more on the 

 sinus ; nectary one-leafed, ovate-acuminate, larger than the 

 divisions of the petal, inserted into the more open sinus. 

 Stamina : filamenta five, of which four are erect, linear, bar- 

 ren ; one, (the fifth,) within the nectary, linear, petal-form, 

 with a two-cleft tip ; anther* adnate. Pistil ; germen round- 

 ish, inferior; style length of the stamina; stigma simple, hook- 

 ed. Pericarp: capsule roundish, three-celled, three-valved. 

 /s .- very many. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Stamina: four, 

 barren, a fifth fertile. Corolla : four-parted. Nectary : 

 three-lobed. Filamenta : flat. These plants must be placed 

 in the bark-stove ; they are only propagated by parting their 

 roots, in the spring, before they put out new leaves : plant 

 them in rich kitchen-garden earth, and keep the pots con- 

 stantly plunged in the bark-bed. In summer, when the plants 

 are in a growing state, refresh them frequently with water, 

 but not in large quantities, and admit a large share of air to 

 them in warm weather. When the leaves are decayed, they 

 should have very little wet, and be kept in a warm tempera- 

 ture. They usually flower in August, but strong roots only 

 produce flowers. The species are, 



1. Curcuma Rotunda ; Round-rooted Turmeric. Leaves 

 lanceolate-ovate; lateral nerves very few. Root perennial, 

 with a large ovate bulb, frequently as big as a goose's egg, 

 'overed with a thin rufescent pellicle, that has parallel root- 

 ing rings, within solid, fleshy, reddish-yellow, of a bitterish 

 wste, and slightly aromatic smell. It creeps underground 

 by means of little bulbs of the same ovate-form, growing by 



the side of the maternal bulb. Stem none : leaves annual, 

 three feet high, grooved, bright green ; flowers in a loose 

 spike, of a yellowish colour, enclosed in several spathes, or 

 sheaths which drop off. Native of the East Indies, and the 

 mountains of China and Cochin-china. 



2. CurcumaLonga; Long-rooted Turmeric. Leaves lanceo- 

 late; lateral nerves very numerous. Root perennial, creeping, 

 fleshy, palmate, with columnar branches, and parallel rooting 

 rings, the skin thin and pale, the flesh saffron-coloured, with 

 a bitterish taste, and a smell of salve ; stem none ; leaves broad 

 lanceolate, large, quite entire, smooth, annual, pale, green, 

 grooved with oblique, slender, frequent lines ; flowers ses- 

 sile, white, with a yellow nectary, solitary, and inclosed 

 within the scales of the spike ; corolla one-petalled, funnel- 

 shaped ; tube slender, equal to the calix, widening above ; 

 seeds round, few ; it has no barren filamenta. Nat've of the 

 East Indies, China, and Cochin-china, &c. It very seldom pro- 

 duces seed. It was much used formerly in cookery, to give 

 things a colour, for which purpose it is still used in the East, 

 as well as for dying. The root of this plant had the repu- 

 tation of being a powerful aperient and resolvent, being com- 

 monly prescribed in obstructions of the liver, and other chro- 

 nic complaints ; the disease in which it has been thought to 

 be most efficacious, is the jaundice ; it is now, however, very 

 rarely employed in Europe : it tinges the urine of a deep yel- 

 low colour. It is yet in high repute in the East. The first 

 species being stronger, is seldom internally applied, but is 

 used externally as a cataplasm, with the root of CrinumZey- 

 lanicum and the leaves of Artemisia, and are esteemed a sove- 

 reign remedy in swellings of the abdomen, arising from a sup- 

 pression of the menses. The English druggists, says Hill, 

 keep the dried roots, which are good in the jaundice, and all 

 obstructions, operating as a diuretic, and promoting the 

 menses. Meyrick declares the root of Turmeric to be one of 

 the most effectual remedies known in obstructions of the 

 viscera and mesentery, as also of the menses, strangury, 

 and affections of the kidneys. The dose in substance is from 

 a scruple to a drachm, and three or four times as much in 

 decoction or infusion. 



3. Curcuma Pallida ; Pale Turmeric. Bulbs knotted ; 

 scape long, bracted. An annual plant, without any stem, 

 upright, three feet high. Root perennial, horizontal, creep- 

 ing, oblong, columnar, twisted and knotty, within and with- 

 out pale, fleshy, with little smell or taste ; leaves lanceolate, 

 large, with several oblique slender grooves; corolla yellowish 

 white. Native of China near Canton, and of Cochin-china. 



Currants. See llil>ef. 



Curtisia ; a genus of the class Tctrandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GEN-ERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one leafed, 

 four-parted ; parts ovate, acute. Corolla : petals four, ovate, 

 obtuse, sessile, longer than the calix. Stamina .- filamenta 

 four, inserted into the receptacle, subulate, shorter than the 

 petals ; anther ovate. Pistil : germen superior, ovate ; 

 style subulate, the length of the stamina ; stigma four or five 

 cleft. Pericarp : drupe subglobular, smooth. Seed : nut 

 roundish, bony, four or five-celled ; kernels solitary, oblong. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : four-parted. Petals : 

 four. Drupe: superior, roundish, succulent, with a four or 

 five-celled nut. The only known species is, 



1. Curtisia Faginea; Beach-leaved Curtisia, or Hassagay 

 Tree. This is one of the largest trees in the African woods, 

 with very diminutive flowers. The Hottentots and Caffres 

 make the shaft of their javelins or assagays from the wood of 

 this tree .- they always carry one or two of these with them 

 on their journeys ; they consist of an iron speair hollowed 

 out on each side about six inches long, with or without art 



