474 



C Y P 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



C Y P 



clothed with long, hollow sword-shaped leaves, covering 

 each other like scales, and fortifying the foot of the plant ; 

 theyare of a dusky brown or yellow colour. It grows in the 

 lakes of Ethiopia and Egypt; in the river Jordan, between 

 I'iineas and the hike of Tiberias; and at the confluence of 

 the Tigris and Euphrates ; but was not probably imported 

 into Greece until the use of it, as manufactured into paper, 

 was first known. It does not grow in the midst of the Nile, 

 hut in the c-alishes or places into which that river overflows, 

 and is stagnant : the head is too heavy, the stalk too slen- 

 der, tall, and fee I tie, and the root too short and weak, to re- 

 sist the violent pressure of wind and current in an open plain 

 country, and a deep rapid river. The Papyrus seems to have 

 come down from Ethiopia at a very early period, and to 

 have been used in Upper Egypt immediatelyafterthediscon- 

 tinuance of hieroglyphics. According to Varro, it did not 

 come into general use in Greece till after the conquest of 

 Egypt by Alexander : yet it is plain from Anacreon, Alcseus, 

 ^Eachylus, and the comic poets, that it was known in their 

 time. Plato and Aristotle speak of it, and so do Hero- 

 dotus and Theophrastus ; we also know that it was anciently 

 in use among the lonians, who probably brought it in very 

 early days directly from Egypt : Numa, who lived three cen- 

 turies before Alexander, is said to have left a numberof books 

 written on Papyrus. The ancients divided this plant into 

 three parts : the top, with the thyrse- of flowers, adorned the 

 temples, and crowned the statues of their gods ; and Agesilaus, 

 the Spartan king, preferred this crown before any other, on 

 account of its simplicity. Antigonus made use of nothing 

 else but the stalk, for ropes and cables to his fleets, before 

 the use of spartum became known, which, though very little 

 better, still serves that purpose in small ships on the coast of 

 Provence to this day. The top of the Papyrus was likewise 

 used for caulking the vessels, by forcing it into the seams, and 

 afterwards covering it with pitch. Pliny tells us, that the 

 whole plant together was used for making boats, apiece ofthe 

 Acacia-tree being put in the bottom to serve as a keel , and 

 this is still the only boat used by the Abyssinians, who call 

 it tancoa. Probably the junks of the Red Sea, said to be 

 made of leather, were first built with Papyrus, and covered 

 with skins. The bottom, root, or woody part of this plant, 

 before it turned hard, was chewed for the sweet juice con- 

 tained in it ; indeed the Ahyssinians still chew it, as well as 

 the root of the Indian corn, and evsry species of Cyperus. 

 Herodotus states, that about a cubit of the lower part of the 

 stalk was roasted over the fire and eaten. On account of 

 the great scarcity of wood in Egypt, this lower part was like- 

 wise used in making cups, moulds, andotherutenails, as also 

 for boards or covers to their books. Paper was prepared from 

 it in the following manner: the thick part ofthe stulk being 

 cut in half, the pellicle between the pith and the bark, or per- 

 haps the two pellicles, were stripped off, and divided by an 

 iron instrument, which probably was sharp-pointed, but did 

 not cut at the edges ; this was squared at the sides, so as to be 

 like a riband, then laid upon a smooth table or dresser 

 after being cut into the lengths required for each leaf : these 

 stripes or ribands were lapped over each other by a very 

 thin border, and then pieces of the same kind were laid 

 transversely, thelength of these last answering to the breadth 

 of the first ; a weight was then laid on them while moist, 

 and they were thus left to dry in the sun. It was sup- 

 posed that the water of the Nile had a gummy quality in 

 it ; but this is without foundation, as the saccharine juice of 

 the plants causes the adhesion of the stripes, and the water 

 merely serves to dissolve and diffuse that juice. Paper, says 

 the AbW Rochon, is manufactured in Madagascar from the 



Papyrus, which the natives call sanga-sanga. They pull off 

 with great dexterity the inner bark, divide it into very thin 

 filamenta, which they moisten with water, and, having laid 

 them across each other in various directions, press them well 

 down ; they are then bailed in a strong lye of ashes, and 

 afterwards pounded in a strong wooden mortar till they are 

 reduced to a paste : this paste is washed and drenched with 

 water, upon a frame made of bamboos in the form of a grate. 

 When this operation is finished, the leaves are spread out to 

 dry in the sun, and are glazed with a decoction of rice-water. 

 This paper is of a yellowish colour, but when it is well glazed 

 does not imbibe the ink. The pens used by these islanders 

 are made of the bamboo; theirink, from a decoction in boiling 

 water of the bark of a tree which they call arandratn . this ink 

 is not so black as the European, but more shining . As how- 

 ever, the Abbe Rochon unfortunately calls the Papyrus Nilo- 

 tica a tree, we cannot judge with certainty from what mate- 

 rials the Madagascar paper is really made. 



28. Cyperus Spathaceus. Culm clothed with sheaths of 

 leaves ; peduncles pinnate, lateral. Si/e of the Sugar-cane. 

 Perennial : native of Virginia, and the Cape. 



29. Cyperus Alternifolius. Culm naked, alternately leafy 

 at the end ; peduncles lateral, proliferous. Culms afoot high; 

 leaves at the top crowded, ensiform, half a foot long, even, 

 roughish at the edge; a small subulate bracte from each axil. 

 It flowers in February and March. Native ofthe island of 

 Madagascar. Perennial. 



30. Cyperus Denudatus, Involucre scarcely any. Culm 

 two feethigh.with onesheath in the middle of it; umbel com- 

 pound, not much expanded. Native ofthe Cape. 



31. Cyperus Distans. Culm naked; umbel leafy, super- 

 decompound ; spikes alternate, filiform ; floscules distant. 

 Root tuberous ; culm two feet high, three-sided, striated, 

 yellowish ; leaves alternate, lanceolate, keeled, reflex, glau- 

 cous, investing the lower half of the culm with their sheaths. 

 Native of Malabar. 



32. Cyperus Pannonicus ; Dwarf Cyperus. Culrn obscurely 

 three-cornered. prostrate; spikes about four together, sessile. 

 Root annual; the whole plant smooth and shining; culms 

 in a very thick tuft, from half an inch to six inches in length, 

 leafless scales membranaceous, roundish, blunt, pale with 

 green streaks; seeds pale bay, smooth. Native of Hungary. 

 Annual; flowering in July and August. 



*** New Species. 



33. Cyperus Viscosus ; Clammy Cyperus. Culm three>- 

 sided, clammy; leaves rough, triangular at the tip. Peren- 

 nial; flowering from May till August. Native of Jamaica. 



34. Cyperus Pygmaeus. Culm round ; umbel compound, 

 involucred; spikes lanceolate, glumes murronate. Root-h 

 filiform, twice as long as the culm, which is striated, and 

 scarcely an inch and half in height ; umbel with five or six 

 umbellulate peduncles ; involucre four-leaved, three times as 

 long as the umbel. Native ofthe sands of Tranquebar. 



35. Cyperus Arenarius. Culm compressed, naked: spikes 

 ofthe head glomerate, sessile; involucre one or two-leaved. 

 Roots jointed, creeping, from which proceed bunches of leaves 

 sheathed at the base; leaves filiform, naked, from three to 

 six inches long, compressed, striated, channelled on one side, 

 yellowish-green. Native of loose sands in the East Indies. 



3t>. Cyperus Capitatus. Culm subangular, striated, leafx 

 in the middle ; head terminating, three-leaved ; spike- 

 sile. Culm four inches long, compressed, with a leaf or 

 two at the base, and a bunch of leaves in the middle ; 

 glumes imbricate, scariose, ending in a recurved daggered ' 

 point somewhat awned. Probably a native of the Kast 

 Indies. 



