136 



CONVOLVULUS COPPER 



jalap, cream of tartar, and sulphate of potass. It is 

 sometimes triturated with sugar or almonds, and is 

 then said to be mild in its operation. It is often used 

 in cases of dropsy and worms. 



Both scammony and jalap, when rubbed externally 

 oil the skin, produce purgative effects. 



Convolvulus arvensis, small bindweed, is common in 

 corn-fields and by the sides of hedges in Britain. Its 

 flowers are small and rose-coloured, and it has a 

 white-jointed root, which runs deep into the ground, 

 and is difficult of extirpation. It twines round wheat 

 and other kinds of grain, and is a troublesome weed 

 in cultivated grounds. Its presence is said to indi- 

 cate in general a dry soil. Its juice is slightly 

 purgacive, and its blossoms give to water a deep 

 yellow colour, which is increased by the addition of 

 alum and alkaline substances. 



Convolvulus, or Calystegia septum, great bindweed, 

 is another indigenous species, which is much larger 

 than the preceding, and produces showy white 

 flowers. The inspissated juice, in doses of twenty or 

 thirty grains, is said to be purgative. 



Convolvulus, or Calystegia Soldanella, sea-side bind- 

 weed, is the only other British species. It is common 

 on sandy places by the sea-shore. Its root is long 

 and creeping, and its flowers few, large, and rose- 

 coloured. 



Convolvulus batatas, skirrets of Peru, Spanish 

 potatoes, or the common sweet potato of Europe, is 

 a native of the East and West Indies and of China. 

 It was first brought to Spain from the West Indies, 

 and its root used to be imported into this country as 

 an article of food. Its root is the potato of Shak- 

 speare, and the writers of his day, at which time our 

 present potato (Solatium tuberosum) was scarcely 

 known in Europe. In tropical countries it is still 

 cultivated like the potato. Not only its tubers, but 

 also its young leaves and shoots, are boiled and 

 eaten. The root of Convolvulus edulis is also fre- 

 quently used as food. 



The roots of Convolvulus Jloridus and scnparius 

 produce sneezing. The wood of the latter species, 

 which grows in the Canary Islands, is remarkable for 

 its fine rose-like odour. Convolvulus repens is em- 

 ployed as a pot-herb in the East Indies and China. 

 Convolvulus turpethum (turbith or turpetli), is a native 

 of the East Indies, and furnishes a root which has 

 been used medicinally as a cathartic. A resinous 

 matter is obtained from it. Convolvulus Malabaricus, 

 a native of the Malabar coast and Cochin-China, is 

 considered in India a valuable horse-medicine. The 

 genus Ipomcea consists of twining stove plants, which 

 are easily cultivated, and flower very readily. Up- 

 wards of one hundred species are described by 

 botanists. They are remarkable for the beauty of 

 their flowers, which, though they are individually 

 short-lived, yet they are succeeded so rapidly by 

 others, that there are few more showy ornaments of 

 the forests in warm countries, or of stoves in our own. 

 Ipomcea tuberosa is a plant of great beauty and frag- 

 rance. In Jamaica it is evergreen. It is thickly 

 covered with leaves and large flowers, and is a 

 beautiful ornament of arbours. It yields a milky 

 juice, which, when concrete, resembles scanimony. 

 Ipomcea inamoclit is a beautiful annual. Its root is 

 used as a sternutatory. 



Cwtcuta dodder, a genus of leafless plants, which, 

 after germinating in the ground and deriving nourish- 

 ment from it, become parasitical, and attach them- 



selves to some plants in the neighbourhood. Tiiei'r 

 stalks twine round these plants, contrary to the sun's 

 apparent motion, or from right to left, sending out 

 from their inner sides little papillae or tubercles, 

 which attach themselves to the bark of the supporting 

 plant, and finally become firmly and intimately united 

 with it. They then derive their support and nourish- 

 ment from the plant to which they become attached. 

 Cuscuta Europeea, great dodder, is found in Britain 

 on nettles, flax, &c., and produces flowers of a pale 

 yellowish rose-colour. Cuscuta epithymam, lesser 

 dodder, another British species, is found on furze, 

 heath, and thyme. It is distinguished from the pro- 

 ceding species by having a scale at the base of each 

 stamen. 



CONVOLVULUS (Linnaeus), is the very sig- 

 nificant generic name of all that family of plants called 

 bindweed. They belong to the fifth class and first 

 order of Linnaeus, and, as we have already stated in 

 the previous article, give a title to an order in the 

 natural system. This genus is spread over every part 

 of the known world, and appears in every degree of 

 bulk and beauty, and of every grade as to duration ; 

 some are annuals which embellish our flower borders 

 for a few months.and then disappear; somearc biennials, 

 but the great majority are perennials. They are nearly 

 all either creepers, twiners, or climbers ; many are trou- 

 blesome weeds, though the flowers of all are no,wy. 

 They are all easy of cultivation, and thrive in almost 

 any kind of soil. This genus, though still very nume- 

 rous, was formerly much more so, many of the species 

 having been separated, and added to the two con- 

 enerous genera of Ipomcea and Calyttegia, 



CONYZA (Linnaeus). A genus of shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants found in many and distant parts of 

 ;he world, and known by the common name of flea- 

 sane. Linnsean class and order Syngenesia supcrflua, 

 and natural order Composite. Generic character : 

 anthodium scaly ; receptacle naked ; florets of the 

 ray trifid, or somewhat two-lipped. The fleabane is 

 a British biennial of no great beauty ; the foreign 

 are mostly of like character. Some of the shrubby 

 species are kept in greenhouses, where they are easily 

 increased by cuttings treated in the usual way. 



COOKIA (Sonnerat). A genus of fruit tree indi- 

 genous to China and the neighbouring countries, and 

 called by the natives wampee. Linnaean class and 

 order Decandria monogynia, and natural order Auran- 

 tiacetE. Generic characters : calyx in five parts ; 

 petals five, white, and villous ; stamens filaments 

 linear; anthers roundish, apple imperfectly two-celled, 

 one seed in each. The tree has been long in our 

 collections, and grows well in a large pot, in loamy 

 soil. From what we have experienced of other 

 Chinese plants, such as the tea-plant, camellia, and 

 others, it may be expected that the wampee may 

 bear our winters if planted against a south wall, and 

 be allowed sufficient protection against frost. 

 COOT. See FULICA. 



COPPER. The mineralised ores of this metal 

 are very numerous, and it is found in a native state 

 in many parts of the world. Native copper occurs 

 in a variety of forms, massive, dendritic, granular, 

 and crystallised in cubes, octohedra, &c. This mine- 

 ral is accompanied by several other substances, as 

 the ores of zinc, and occasionally of lead ; sometimes 

 of tin, silver, and arsenic, with quartz and fluate of 

 lime, and calcareous spar in abundance. It is met 

 with in Cornwall, the Hartz, Saxony, Sweden, and 



