C Y T 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



C Y T 



427 



five parted ; segments roundish, the three lower more pro- 

 duced ; tilamenta inserted into the margin of the corolla, 

 incurved, with a fifth barren ; anthers cohering. Germen: 

 inferior, half emerging, with a nectareous lid ; style bent 

 down; stigma two-lobed. Capsule: half two-celled, with two 



parted receptacles ; seeds numerous. The only known 



species is, 



1. Cyrilla Pulchella. A handsome plant : root branched, 

 fibrose, stoloniferous. The young shoots resemble aments 

 or catkins, are cylindric and closely imbricate, with ovate 

 pubescent scales, thickened at the base, emarginate, and red ; 

 stems several, almost upright, branched, round, extremely 

 villose, dusky purple, herbaceous ; branches ternate, spread- 

 ing; stem-leaves in threes, on the branches usually opposite, 

 pctioled, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, sharp at both ends, 

 loosely serrate, entire at the base, with nerves prominent be- 

 low, grooved above, villose on both sides, bright green, be- 

 neath paler, and very frequently blood-red ; petioles round 

 on one side, on the other flattish, and slightly channelled, 

 one-third of the length of the leaves ; flowers resembling 

 those of Ruellia, axillary, solitary, peduncled, inclined, of 

 the most vivid scarlet ; peduncles spreading very much, 

 round, villose, red, twice the length of the petioles ; calix 

 villose, ending in a turbinate germen, red at the base. It 

 flowers in England at the end of summer and the beginning 

 of autumn. Native of Jamaica. It must be kept in the bark- 

 stove, and may be propagated by suckers, but neverproduces 

 seed in England. In the West Indies, where it thrives best in 

 a cool moist gravel mixed with rich mould, it well deserves 

 to be cultivated for its beauty and elegance. 



Cyrtanthus ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mo- 

 nogvnia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : none. Corolla: 

 one-petalled, club-shaped, bent, six-cleft at top ; segments 

 ovate-oblong ; the three inner blunt, the three outer termi- 

 nating in a little horn. Stamina .- filamenta six, fastened to 

 the tube, filiform-subulate, a little shorter than the corolla; 

 antherae oblong, erect. Pistil : germen inferior, ovate, ob- 

 tusely three-cornered ; style filiform ; the length of the corolla; 

 stigma trifid. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla : tubular, 

 club-shaped, crooked, six-cleft ; segments ovate, oblong. 

 Filamenta ; inserted into the tube, converging at top. These 

 plants may be increased by offsets or seeds, but the former is 

 much the best method ; they require the same treatment as 

 other bulbs from the Cape. The species are, 



1. Cyrtanthus Angustifolius ; Narrow-leaved Cyrtanthus. 

 Leaves obtusely keeled, straight ; flowers drooping, narrow, 

 purple, with a bent tube, from which hitter circumstance it 

 takes the name. The small glandular hook at the extremity 

 of each alternate segment of the corolla, is deserving of no- 

 tice. It flowers from May to July ; and is a native of the 

 Cape. 



'i. Cyrtanthus Obliquus ; Oblique-leaved Cyrtanthus. Leaves 

 fiat, oblique ; flowers pendulous. This plant is singular for 

 its oblique long leaves ; flowers purple, variegated with 

 orange and green; tube turbinate ; border bell-shaped, erect. 

 It flowers from May to July, and is a native of the Cape. 



Cytinus ; a genus of the class Gynandria, order Octandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 tubular, bell-form, permanent; tube cylindric; border patu- 

 lous, four-parted, somewhat obtuse, coloured. Corolla: 

 none. Stamina : sixteen ; filamenta none ; antherse oblong, 

 growing to the tip of the style under the stigma, oblong, two- 

 vulved. Pistil : germen inferior, rounded ; style cylindric, 

 length almost of the calix ; stigma eight-cleft, gibbous, ob- 

 tuse. Pericarp : berry crowned, roundish, coriaceous, eight- 

 celled; seeds numerous, minute, roundish. ESSENTIAL 



CHARACTER. Style: one. Calix : four-cleft, superior. Corolla: 

 none. Antherte : sixteen, sessile. Berry : eight-celled, with 

 many seeds. The only species is, 



1. Cytinus Hypocistis ; Rape of Cistus. A parasitical 

 plant, growing at the root of the Cistus ; leaves sessile, closely 

 imbricate ; flowers terminating, heaped ; below the flowers 

 are two opposite scales, becoming purple by age. The co- 

 lour of the flower itself is a dirty yellow. The number of an- 

 therae, and the divisions of the stigma, vary ; the number of 

 the antherae is double the divisions of the stigma. It is an 

 annual plant, and u native of the county of Nice, Spain, 

 Portugal, and Barbary. 



Cytisus ; (Trefoil Tree) a genus of the class Diadelphia, 

 order Decandria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth 

 one-leafed, bell-form, short, obtuse at the base ; mouth 

 two-lipped ; upper-lip two-cleft, acuminate, lower three- 

 toothed. Corolla : papilionaceous ; standard ovate, rising 

 upwards, sides reflex ; wings the length of the standard, 

 straight, obtuse ; keel somewhat bellied, acuminate. Stamina : 

 filamenta diadelphous, (single and nine-cleft,) rising upwards ; 

 antherae simple. Pistil : germen oblong ; style simple, 

 rising upwards ; stigma obtuse. Pericarp : legume oblong, 

 obtuse, attenuated at the base, stiff. Seeds : a few, kidney- 

 form compressed. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: two- 

 lipped ; upper lip two-cleft, lower three-toothed. Legume : 

 attenuated at the base. All the species of Cytisus are shrubs 

 without spines, most of them very fit for ornamental planta- 

 tions. They are chiefly hardy ; the leaves ternate ; the flow- 

 ers, except in the twelfth, yellow, and growing in bunches. 

 -The species are, 



1. Cytisis Laburnum ; Laliirni/m, anciently called Beau- 

 trefoil Tree. Racemes simple, pendulous; leaflets ovate ob- 

 long. The common height of the Laburnum is from eight to 

 fifteen feet ; but in a good ground, and when planted thick, 

 it will run up much higher ; leaves ternate, on long petioles, 

 commonly three together from one point ; leaflets quite 

 entire, smooth, and pale green on the upper surface, glaucous, 

 aad covered with short appressed hairs on the lower, which 

 has a strong prominent nerve or mid-rib. The flowers come 

 out from the same short spurs with the leaves, in naked, 

 handsome, villose racemes, a span in length ; and beyond 

 these, young shoots are produced, which are white, and bear 

 the ternate leaves singly. Each flower hangs from a long 

 pedicel ; calix yellowish, small, two-lipped ; the upper lip 

 cloven, the lower having three minute teeth ; corolla pale 

 yellow ; standard broad, emarginate, with dusky spots and 

 dots within at the base; wings longer than the keel, hooked ; 

 keel in two parts ; staminiferous sheath in one piece, the two 

 upper filamenta standing crosswise; germen smooth ; legume 

 from an inch to nearly two inches in length, covered with 

 white appressed hairs, containing from one or two, to six or 

 seven ripe seeds, which are black and shining, several at one 

 or both ends are frequently abortive. There are two 

 varieties of Laburnum : the first broad-leaved, which for- 

 merly was more common in the English gardens than it is 

 at present ; and the second, narrow-leaved, which having 

 much longer spikes of flowers, makes a finer appearance, and 

 has in a manner supplanted the other from our ornamental 

 plantations. The first, however, grows to be the largest tree, 

 and the wood of it is very hard, of a fine colour, and will 

 polish very well ; it approaches nearly to green ebony, and 

 is called ebony of the Alps by the French, for the Swiss use 

 it for many kinds of furniture; but in England there are few 

 of these trees that have been suffered to stand long enough 

 to arrive to any considerable size ; for as they have only been 

 looked upon as ornamental, the frequent alterations which 



