CAMERARIA CAMPANULACE^. 



683 



the action of the stomach, to increase the flow of 

 urine, nnd to cause gentle diaphoresis. Some authors 

 have said that the habitual use of it prevents the 

 formation of calculi, and favours the evacuation of 

 gravel. 



Camellia olcifera, oil-bearing camellia, a tree six or 

 eight feet high, with white blossoms ; is cultivated 

 chiefly on account of its seeds, which furnish a limpid 

 yellowish oil, used in China for domestic purposes. 

 In order to obtain the oil, the seeds are reduced to a 

 coarse powder, stewed and boiled in bags, and then 

 subjected to pressure. The seeds of Camellia sa.iftn- 

 f/itn also yield an oil which is used as an article of 

 food in Japan. 



Camellia Japonica, Japan rose ; is a lofty tree 

 found in the groves and gardens of Japan, and ex- 

 tensively cultivated in the greenhouses and con- 

 servatoiies of this country on account of its fine 

 form, its rich green foliage, and its elegant red and 

 white flowers. There are upwards of fifty garden 

 varieties known in Britain. Of these the double red, 

 double white, variegated waratah, double striped, 

 peony-flowered, and fringed-white, are the chief 

 favourites. The single red Camellia Japonica is 

 propagated by cuttings, layers, and seeds, and is used 

 as a stock on which the other sorts are reared. The 

 camellias are the glory and pride of gardeners. They 

 are best cultivated in houses expressly devoted to 

 them. Some of them endure the winter well, when 

 trained on a wall, and covered with mats. In order 

 to make them flower freely, artificial heat and some 

 degree of care is necessary. Their flowers, though 

 remarkable for their beauty, are not at all fragrant. 



CAMELOPARD. See GIKAFFE. 



CAMERARIA (Linnsus), is the bastard man- 

 chineel ; a genus of arborescent plants, natives of 

 both Indies. Linnsean class and order Pcntandria 

 Monogynia; natural order Apocyneas. Generic cha- 

 racter: calyx of five teeth; corolla funnel-shaped, 

 and hypocrateriform, gashes of the limb oblique ; 

 stamens inserted into the tube of the corolla ; anthers 

 acuminate, connivent, having their apices drawn out 

 into threads; style scarcely any; stigma inconspi- 

 cuous; seeds membranous, and peculiarly inserted. 

 This genus is allied to the oleander of our green- 

 houses, and the periwinkles of our shrubberies. The 

 flowers are beautiful, and fine ornaments of the stove, 

 where the plants grow healthily in loam and moor 

 earth. It is propagated readily by cuttings in sand, 

 under a glass, in a little heat. 



CAMMARU.M is the title of a tribe belonging to 

 the genus Aconitum, specifically distinguished by the 

 sepals being deciduous; helmet conical, compressed; 

 ovaries three or five ; flowers blue, white or varie- 

 gated, rarely flesh-coloured ; root tuberous ; lobes of 

 Lrapeziform, pinnate. 



CAMPANULA (Linnaeus). This is the bell- 

 flower of our fields and gardens, a numerous family 

 of herbaceous perennial plants, chiefly natives of 

 Europe. Linnaean class and order Pcntandria Mo- 

 no^ynin ; natural order Campanulacece. Generic 

 character : calyx five-cleft; corolla bell-shaped or 

 subrotund, limb in five divisions ; filaments dilated 

 at the base ; stigma, in from three to five divisions ; 

 capsule three or five-celled, having lateral pores or 

 bursting valves at the top. The campanulas are 

 chiefly hardy, and grow in any common soil, in flower 

 borders or on rock-work; and are easily propagated by 

 parting the roots of the perennial species, and sowing 



the seeds of those which are annuals or biennials. 

 The rampion, C. rapunculus, is cultivated for its 

 roots, which are used as a culinary vegetable. 



CAMPANULACE/E. The bell-flower family. 

 A natural order of dicotyledonous plants, containing 

 twelve or thirteen genera, and about three hundred 

 species. It is closely allied to the Lobeliace<e, 

 Goodenoviae, and Styl'ideee, from which it is, however, 

 at once distinguished by its regular corolla. It 

 approaches in habit, and in many of its characters, to 

 the Composites, but difl'ers from this order in its fruit 

 and mode of inflorescence. 



The essential botanical characters of the order are : 

 tube of the calyx adnate with the ovary, usually five- 

 cleft, equal and persistent ; corolla monopetalous, 

 deciduous or marcescent, regular, and generally five- 

 cleft ; stamens inserted into the calyx alternately 

 with the lobes of the corolla, to which they are 

 equal in number ; anthers two-celled ; pollen round ; 

 ovary two or many celled, many seeded ; style 

 simple, covered with collecting hairs ; stigma naked ; 

 capsule inferior, opening by lateral irregular apertures 

 or by valves at the apex ; seeds small, and numerous, 

 with a fleshy albumen ' 



The plants belonging to this order are shrubs or 

 undershrubs, with alternate simple and deeply-divided 

 leaves, and flowers in racemes, spikes, panicles, or 

 heads. Nine-tenths of the campanulacese have 

 flowers of a blue colour, the remainder being white, 

 and rarely yellow. They generally yield a milky 

 bitter juice, possessing more or less acrid properties. 

 When young, they abound in mucilaginous matter, 

 and are much less bitter and acrid than when fully 

 grown. The roots of most of them may be used as 

 articles of food when young and properly prepared. 



The campanulacese are natives of temperate 

 countries, and are found in Asia, Europe, and North 

 America. Out of three hundred species, only nine- 

 teen grow in tropical regions. Some curious species 

 are found in the Canaries, St. Helena, and Juan 

 Fernandez. Numerous species exist on the Alps, 

 the Caucasian, and Altaian range of mountains, and 

 a considerable number are found at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. 



The plants of this order are chiefly valued on 

 account of their beauty, They constitute very 

 striking ornaments of the fields, meadows, and forests 

 of the countries which they inhabit. The chief 

 genera are, Campanula, Phyteuma, Canarina, Pris- 

 matocarpus, Trachelium, Jasione, Michauxia, Light- 

 footia, Adenophora, Wahlenbergia, and Roilla. 



Campanula is a showy genus, the species of which 

 are interesting, and easily cultivated. The name is 

 derived from the circumstance of the corolla being in 

 the form of a bell. In Campanula, or Prismatocarpm 

 speculum, the corolla is like a small round mirror, 

 and hence the plant is called Venm's Looking-glass. 



Campanula rapunculus is cultivated in France, 

 Italy, and Britain, on account of its white biennial 

 roots, which are eaten as a salad under the name of 

 Rampion. They are often gathered in spring before 

 the stem appears, and in gardens they are frequently 

 blanched. Campanula persicifolia, Rapuncuioides, and 

 Trachelium, are used in a similar manner. The last- 

 mentioned species has bristles on its leaves, which 

 are as pungent as those of a nettle, though not 

 venomous. A decoction of the plant, which is bitter 

 and somewhat acrid, was formerly employed in 

 medicine as a garlic. Campanula pyranadalit is u 



