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CYNOSURUS-CYPERACE^E. 



CYNOSURUS (Linnaeus) is the dog's-tail grass 

 of British farmers, and a useful grass both in meadows 

 and pastures, and when prevalent enhances the value 

 of hay. 



CYNTHIA, (Fabricius). A handsome genus of 

 lepidopterous insects, belonging to the section 

 Diurna, and family NymphalidcE, having the wings 

 scalloped, the anterior triangular, and somewhat 

 hooked ; the antennae have an abrupt, short, terminal 

 club ; the larva is spinose, and the chrysalis orna- 

 mented with golden spots, and of an angulated form. 

 The only British species is the Papilio cardui of 

 Linnaeus, termed the painted lady ; it is of a rosy 

 buff colour, with black and white markings, the lower 

 wings being marbled beneath, with four eyelets ; the 

 larva feeds solitarily upon various kinds of thistles, 

 nettles, &c. beneath a silken web ; the chrysalis is 

 of a greyish colour. It appears in the spring, and 

 again in August, but its appearance is very irregular, 

 several seasons intervening before it is again met 

 with. This is one of those species which with certain 

 trifling alterations are met with in almost every quarter 

 of the globe, 



CYPELLA (Herbert). A bulbous-stemmed her- 

 baceous perennial, introduced into this country from 

 Buenos Ayres. It belongs to Iridece. This bulb 

 requires to be planted in a warm border, where it 

 flowers and ripens seed in summer, but should be 

 protected from frost in winter. 



CYPERACEjE the sedge family. A natural 

 order of monocotyledonous or endogenous plants 

 containing nearly thirty genera, and between four 

 and five hundred known species. It bears a strong 

 affinity to Graminece or grasses, and by superficial 

 observers would at once be referred to this family. 

 It differs, however, in its solid and angular stem, in 

 the absence of a diaphragm at the articulations, in 

 the flowers being covered by a single bractea, and in 

 the embryo lying at one end of the albumen, within 

 which its cotyledonary extremity is included. In its 

 general habit this order is also allied to Junceee and 

 Restiacece. Its essential characters are : flowers 

 hermaphrodite or unisexual, each with a glume or 

 chaffy scale ; perianth either wanting or resembling 

 bristles, rarely membranaceous ; stamens hypogynous, 

 definite, generally three ; anthers fixed by their base, 

 entire, two-celled ; ovary one-seeded, often surrounded 

 by bristles ; ovule erect ; style single, trifid, or bifid ; 

 stigmas undivided, occasionally bifid ; fruit a crusta- 

 ceous or hard nut ; albumen of the same figure as 

 the seed ; embryo lenticular, undivided, enclosed 

 within the base of the albumen ; plumule incon- 

 spicuous. 



The plants belonging to the order are herbs with 

 fibrous roots, angular stems generally without joints, 

 sheathing leaves, the sheath being entire, and spirate 

 glumes, the lowermost of which are sometimes empty 

 and sterile. They are extensively distributed all over 

 the globe, and are found growing in marshes, ditches, 

 and streams, in woods and meadows, on the sands of 

 the sea-shore, and on the tops of mountains. In the 

 northern regions, cyperacese are numerous, and bear 

 nearly an equal proportion to the true grasses, but as 

 we approach the equator the number of the species 

 diminishes much, and at the same time the character 

 of the genera becomes changed. 



By some authors the order has been divided into 

 four sections : I. The true Cyperacea;; II. Scripea;; 

 III. Sclcrina: ; IV. Caricincc. The chief genera are, 



Cyperus, Scirpus, Sclerina, Carex, Uncinia, Schcenus, 

 Rhynchospora, Eleocharis, Cladium, Mariscus, Erio* 

 p/torum, and Kyllinga. 



The plants of this order possess in general mucila- 

 ginous and demulcent properties, but they are not 

 much used in medicine. They are not celebrated for 

 their nutritive qualities, and are scarcely eaten by 

 cattle. In these respects a wide difference exists 

 between them and the grasses. They are by no 

 means ornamental, and are not used in agriculture. 

 In some sandy districts they are useful in binding the 

 soil. 



Of the genus Cyperus, whence the name of the 

 order is derived, there are 287 species already de- 

 scribed, and of these only two are natives of Britain. 

 Most of the species are tropical, and their number 

 gradually diminishes as we recede from the tropics. 

 Some of them yield tubers which are esculent. 



The root of Cyperus longus, sweet cyperus or 

 English galingale, has an agreeable aromatic odour 

 and an astringent bitter taste, and has been used as 

 a tonic and stomachic. Cyperus rotundits, a native of 

 the south of Europe and Asia, produces bitter tuber- 

 ous roots about the size of a nut, which are said to be 

 employed successfully by the Hindoos in cases of 

 cholera. On account of their fragrance they are used 

 in Greece to keep away insects from clothes. The 

 tubers of C. perennis, after being dried and powdered, 

 are used by the Indian ladies for scouring and per- 

 fuming their hair. The root of C. odoratm has a 

 fragrant odour and a warm aromatic taste. C. hydra 

 is a troublesome weed in sugar plantations in the 

 West Indies. The tubers of C. esculcnhts have an 

 agreeable sweet taste, and are eaten in Spain, Italy, 

 and Egypt. They consist of starch, fixed oil, sugar, 

 albumen, gum, malic acid, vegeto-animal matter, and a 

 substance analogous to tannin, various salts of potash 

 and lime, and some oxide of iron. The starchy 

 matter constitutes the chief portion of the root. The 

 fixed oil which has an amber colour, and a slightly 

 aromatic taste, forms a sixth part of it. In Germany 

 the tubers when roasted are used as a substitute for 

 coffee. C. papyrus is interesting on account of being 

 the plant which yielded the papyrus of the Egyptians, 

 whence the English word paper is derived. This 

 plant is now rare in Egypt, and is not cultivated as 

 in former times, when it constituted a source of riches 

 to the inhabitants of the borders of the ancient lakes 

 of Meuzaleh and Bourlos. It is still found growing 

 in marshy places in some of the countries bordering 

 on the Mediterranean. The papyrus or paper of the 

 ancients was made from the cellular substance or 

 inner rind of the stem, thin slices of which were laid 

 over each other transversely, moistened and subjected 

 to considerable pressure. They were afterwards exposed 

 to the rays of the sun, so as to acquire a sufficient 

 degree of dryness, and were ultimately sized. The 

 slices cohered together by means of the mucilaginous 

 matter which enters into their composition. This 

 paper was formerly made on a large scale at Alexan- 

 dria and other Egyptian cities, and yielded a con- 

 siderable revenue both to the manufacturers and the 

 government. The mode in which it was prepared 

 was for a long time lost, and has been only recently 

 discovered by some Egyptian travellers. 



This plant was used by the Egyptians as medicine, 

 food, and fuel. Sugar was procured from it, and its 

 fibres were manufactured into canvas and ropes. 

 The top of the stalk, with th umbel of flowers, 



