412 



c u s 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



C Y A 



iron shaft, which is sometimes round and smooth, and some- 

 times grooved ; it is fastened with thongs of leather to a 

 slender round stick, five feet lone;, tapering towards the end, 

 and made of this wood. With these lances, which they throw 

 with great dexterity to the distance of an hundred paces, the 

 Hottentots and Caffres defend themschcs, and kill buffaloes 

 and other wild animals. The Dutch call this tree u-ite-else, 

 athi/i-lwiit, and at^gway-fout. 



Citscuta ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calif : perianth one-leafed, cup- 

 form, four-cleft, obtuse, fleshy at the base. Corolla : one- 

 petalled, ovate, a little longer than the calix ; mouth four- 

 cleft, obtuse ; nectary of four scales, which are linear, two- 

 cleft, sharp, and growing to the corolla at the base of the 

 stamina. Stamina : filamenta four, subulate, length of the 

 calix ; anthrne roundish. Pittil : germen roundish ; styles 

 two, erect, short ; stigmas simple. Perirarp .- fleshy, round- 

 ish, two-celled, cut round, or opening horizontally. .V<W.v . 

 in pairs. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calir : four-cleft. Co- 

 rolta: one-petalled. Capsule : two-celled. This genus con- 

 sists of parasitical plants, fastening themselves to, and draw- 

 ing their nourishment from others ; the seed does not split 

 inlo lobes, but opens and puts forth a little spiral body, which 

 is the embryo : the stalk twines about some other plant, 

 contrary to the apparent motion of the sun, sending out from 

 the inner surface a number of little vesicles, which attach 

 themselves to the bark of the plant. They have no leaves, 

 except here and there a small membranaceous scale, close un- 

 der a branch. They adhere to the ground by the original 

 root, and at first draw a part of their nutriment thence ; but 

 the original root withers away as soon as the young stem has 

 fixed itself to any other plant. The species are, 



1. Cuscuta Europ;ca ; Common Dodder. Flowers conglo- 

 merate, sessile ; corolla pitcher-shaped, with bluntish seg- 

 ments; number of parts generally four. Stem slender, filiform, 

 smooth, four-cornered, reddish ; a small, single, ovate-acute 

 scale under each ball of flowers, where also it frequently puts 

 forth a branch ; corolla white, or with a tinge of purple ; 

 seeds generally two in each cell. Nativeof Europe, in hedges, 

 usually upon Hops, Brambles, Woody Nightshade, Fern, 

 Thistles, Hemp ; also on Flax, Nettles, Clover, Grass, &c. 

 and lofty plants in general : it flowers in July and August. 

 The whole plant is bitter ; an infusion of it, according to 

 Meyrick, in the proportion of an ounce to a pint of water, is 

 a brisk purge, and is of considerable efficacy in obstructions 

 of the viscera, as well as in the sciatica and scorbutic com- 

 plaints. The fresh herb, bruised and applied externally, is 

 excellent in dispersing scrofulous tumours. Dodder, says 

 Hill, is best fresh gathered ; it is to be boiled in water, with 

 a little ginger and allspice, and the decoction works by stool 

 briskly ; it also opens obstructions of the liver, and is good 

 in the jaundice, and many other disorders arising from the 

 same cause. The Dodder which grows upon garden Thyme 

 has been usually preferred to others, and supposed to possess 

 peculiar virtues from the plant on which it grows; but this is 

 imaginary, as experience shows it to be only a purge like the 

 other, only less powerful ; the common Dodder is preferable, 

 because we can gather it fresh ; while that which is import- 

 ed looses a considerable portion of its virtues in passing 

 through the hands of the druggist. 



2. Cuscuta Epithemum ; Small Dodder. I'lowers conglo- 

 merate ; corolla bell-shaped, deeply cloven with acuminate 

 segments; number of parts constantly five. Corolla paler than 

 that of the common sort, deeper cut ; the segments sharper 

 nd smaller; the balls of flowers closer. From its destruc- 

 tive quality of suffocating plants, it has the opprobrious names 



of fall-weed, and devils-guts. It is annual, and flowers from 

 June to August. It is found in cultivated fields, particularly 

 among pulse, nettles, and heath ; it has been also often seen 

 on beans, furze, flax, thyme, wild thyme, lavender, spurge, 

 hops, grass, &c. 



3. Cuscuta Americana ; American Dodder. Flowers pe- 

 duncled. This is a very branching, leafless, twining, parasi- 

 tical plant, tender, shining, and yellowish ; common pedun- 

 cles very short ; flowers small, without scent, aggregate, yel- 

 lowish or greenish. fSloane says, the steins are very long and 

 strong, stretching themselves over very large trees, and whole 

 fields and pastures. Native of America. 



4. Cuscuta Lupuliformis ; Hop Dodder. Flower racemed, 

 sessile ; number of parts four. Stem round, branching, vt i-y 

 thick like hop-binds ; bark reddish-green or brown-purple, 

 rough and studded with stiff rising grains like millet ; flowers 

 on racemes, coming out laterally, an inch or two in length, 

 sometimes branched ; they are scattered, solitary, or onlv 

 two or three together, not glomerate, sessile, not peduneled. 

 It is annual ; a native of Silesia, and the Levant ; and 

 flowers in July and August. 



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

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : umbel none, but three or 

 more peduncles, umbelled, collecting the flowers into a raceme 

 or spike ; involucre none, but scattered bractes at the base of 

 the peduncles : perianth one-leafed, truncate, obscurely five- 

 toothed, shorter than the corolla, permanent. Corolla : pe- 

 tals five, oblong, acute. Stamina: filamenta five, very short ; 

 antherae ovate. Pixtit : germen inferior, turbinate; styles (wo, 

 filiform, patulous ; stigmas simple, obtuse. Pericarp : twin, 

 compressed, angular, crowned with the calix and styles, two- 

 celled, two-valved. Seeds: solitary. ESSENTIALCHAHACTEH. 

 Petals: three-cornered; margin of the receptacle dilated into 

 a five toothed calix. The species are, 



1. Cussonia Thyrsiflora. Leaves digitate ; leaflets sessile, 

 wedge-form, truncate, three-toothed ; flowers racemed. Stem 

 frutescent, at bottom scabrous, unequal, simple, the thickness 

 of a finger, very simple at top. A shrub. There is a variety 

 of this with jointed leaflets, the lowest joint dilated at tin- 

 end into smaller lobes, whence the leaflets are as it were 

 proliferous. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



2. Cussonia Spicata. Leaves digitate ; leaflets petioled, 

 spatulate ; ligule three or five palmate, finely serrate; flowers 

 in spikes. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



Custard Apple. See Annona. 



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

 gynia GENERIC CHARACTER. (Mix : none. Corolla : pe- 

 tals six, cohering by their claws, oblong, concave, patulous, 

 the three inferior ones hanging forwards. Stamina : fila- 

 menta six, contiguous at the base, very short, somewhat 

 spreading, the lower one declined, and twice the length of 

 the others: antherse oblong, erect, gaping at the tip, with 

 four obtuse teeth. Pistil : germen three-cornered, obtuse ; 

 style filiform, declinate, length of the lower stamina ; stigma , 

 somewhat sharp. Pericarp : capsule superior, roundish, 

 three-furrowed, three-celled, three-valved. Seeds: many. ol>- 

 lomr. ESSKMTIAI. CHARACTER. Corolla: six-petalled, the I 

 three lower petals hanging forwards. Stamina : lower, de- 

 clined, longer than the rest. The roots of these plants 

 should be planted in pots filled with light earth, placed in 

 winter in a frame, and treated in the sauie manner as 

 directed for Ixia. The species are, 



I. Cyanella Lutea ; Yellow-cowered Cyanella. 

 ensiform ; branches erect. It flowers in July, am 1 

 by Span-maim at the Cape of Good Hope. 



'.J. Cyanella Capensis ; Purple-flowered Cyan' 



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