COPROSMA 



CORDIA 



841 



Baueri, Endl. (C. Baueridna, Hook, f.) Shrub or 

 email tree, in exposed and rocky places in its native 

 habitat sometimes not more than 1-3 ft. high and with 

 branches nearly prostrate, in better conditions often a 

 round-topped tree 20-25 ft. high: Ivs. thick, shining 

 jireen, 1-3 in. long, wide-ovate or oblong, obtuse or 

 notched at the apex, the margins usually revolute: 

 male fls. in dense heads on short axillary peduncles; 

 females 3-6, the heads with shorter peduncles; calyx 

 very small; corolla of female fls. tubular, 4-lobed. New 

 Zeal. In cult, there are two forms, both with varie- 

 gated Ivs. ; one has Ivs. broadly blotched creamy yellow, 

 at times the green disappearing altogether (var. 

 variegdta or picturdta); the other (C. Stdckii, Hort.) has 

 Ivs. blotched yellow-green on a deeper ground. C. Baueri 

 is a favorite in S. Calif., and probably the only one 

 grown there; thrives near the sea. 



acerdsa, A. Cunn. Low and spreading, much branched, 

 with minute Ivs., small white fls., and pretty sky-blue 

 drupes or berries. New Zeal. Once catalogued in 

 Calif. 



Petriei, Cheesem. Prostrate and creeping, forming 

 mats, the branches to \Y^ ft. long: Ivs. J^in. or less 

 long, linear-oblong or -obovate, rigid and thickish : fls. 

 solitary, on the ends of short erect branchlets, the 

 males 4-toothed and without calyx, the females smaller, 

 irregularly toothed and calyculate: drupe J^-J^in. 

 diam., mostly purplish. N. Zeal. Mentioned abroad 

 for cultivation. L. H. B. 



COPTIS (Greek, to cut, from the cut 

 leaves). Ranunculdcese. Hardy per- 

 ennial herbs of the cooler parts of 

 the northern hemisphere, sometimes 

 planted in bogs and moist places. 



Low, stemless plants, with slender 

 rootstocks: Ivs. radical, compound or 

 divided, lasting over winter: fls. white 

 or yellow, scapose; sepals 5-7, petal- 

 like; petals 5-6, small, linear, hood-like; 

 stamens numerous: carpels stalked, 

 few, becoming an umbel of follicles. 

 Eight species, only one of which is 

 used in American gardens. 



The bitter roots yield the tonic med- 

 JJ\ ^ icine known as "gold thread;" also a 



>/3Jr7 ^^ yellow dye. The plants should have 

 peaty soil, with a little sand, and prefer 

 shade, in damp situations. They are 

 rather hardy. The roots withstand 

 severe winters, being native of the 

 cooler parts of the northern hemisphere. 

 If the plants are given some protec- 

 tion in winter, as in a cold pit or by a 

 dressing of litter, the leaves remain 

 green and fresh. The plants are valu- 

 able in hardy borders because of the 

 leaves and also the flowers. 



The plants are very easily propa- 

 gated in either early spring or late fall, 

 the former being preferred. Seeds may 

 be sown when ripe, before they become 

 old, and will grow readily in moist but 

 well-drained soil. They should be only 

 slightly covered with 

 soil but the surface 

 should be kept moist 

 \ jflcjwk by a close covering 



L\V' / "l^*k > d A* witn leaves or P a P er > 

 m^>^L^a r Jr^*l and partial shade is pre- 

 ferred. The seedlings 

 may be transplanted 

 at any time after the 

 leaves are large, by 



1050. Corallorhiza multiflora. keeping plenty of soil 



about the roots. 



trifdlia, Salisb. No st.: rootstock yellow: Ivs. com- 

 pound, long-petioled ; Ifts. broadly obovate, cuneate, 

 obtuse, the teeth mucronate: fl.-st. slender; sepals 

 white, with yellow base; petals small, club-shaped: 

 follicles 3-7, spreading, equaled by their stalk; seeds 

 black. May-July. Adirondacks and westward. L.B.C. 

 2 : 173. Neat and pretty, with shining Ivs. 



K. C. DAVIS. 



.CORAL BERRY: Symphoricarpus vulgar is. 

 CORAL DROPS : Bessera elegans. 



CORALLORHIZA (Greek for coral-root). Orchidd- 

 ceae. CORAL-ROOT. Low orchids, growing in woods and 

 parasitic on roots, destitute of green foliage, the plant 

 usually brownish or yellowish and inconspicuous. 



Flowers small, somewhat 2-lipped, usually obscurely 

 spurred at the base; sepals and petals nearly alike; 

 lip small, slightly adherent to the base of the column; 

 pollinia 4. Species few, in N. Amer., Eu. and Asia. 

 The coral-roots have little merit as garden plants, 

 although very interesting to the student. They may 

 be grown in rich, shady borders. Two species have been 

 offered by dealers in native plants. C. multifldra, 

 Nutt. (Fig. 1050), is purplish, 1^ ft. or less high, 10-30- 

 fld., lip deeply 3-lobed : grows in dry woods in northern 

 states; C. Mertensiana, Bong., scape many-fld., 8-15 

 in. high, the lip entire and broadly oblong: occurs in 

 Brit. Col. and north to Alaska. C. odontorhiza, Nutt., 

 provides what is known as crawley-root, said to be 

 used for its diaphoretic and febrifuge properties: it is 

 a slender plant, in woods S., but extending north as far 

 as Canada, light brown or purplish, 6-^7 in. tall: lip 

 nearly or quite entire, white spotted with crimson. 



L. H. B. 



CORAL-PLANT: Jatropha. . 

 CORAL-ROOT: Corallorhiza. 

 CORAL-TREE: Erythrina. 



CORCHORUS (name refers to some reputed virtue, 

 as an eye remedy, of one of the species). Tilidcese. 

 Shrubs or herbs of the tropics, two of which supply 

 jute. 



The jute plants are C. capsularis Linn, and C. olitor- 

 ius, Linn. The latter differs from the C. capsularis 

 in having an elongated, not semi-globose, pod. B.M. 

 2810. They are annual plants, natives of Asia but 

 cult, throughout the tropics, growing 10-12 ft. high, 

 with a straight st. as thick as the little finger and 

 branched only at the top. Fls. small, yellow, with 4-5 

 glandless petals and a slender caps., or sometimes 

 the caps, is globose. The young shoots of both are 

 used as pot herbs. C. olitorius is much grown for this 

 purpose in Egypt, and is known as Jews' mallow. 

 Jute is made from the fibrous bark of these and 

 other species of Corchorus. It is released from the sts. 

 by retting in stagnant pools. See Cyclo. Amer. Agric., 

 Vol. II, pp. 282, 507. 



C. Bal&dccii, Fedde, has very recently been men- 

 tioned in foreign horticultural literature. It is described 

 as a perennial, woody at the base: Ivs. linear-elliptic, 

 pilose above and white-tomentose beneath: fls. solitary, 

 axillary and minute. Italian Somaliland. 



The corchorus of trade lists is likely to be Kerria. 



CORDIA (an early German botanist, Valerius Cor- 

 dus, born 1515). Boraginacese. W arm " c h' ma te trees, 

 shrubs or almost herbaceous, sometimes planted. 



Leaves mostly alternate, petioled, entire or dentate: 

 fls. in dense heads or clusters or scirpioid cymes, per- 

 fect or polygamous, the corolla usually white or orange ; 

 calyx tubular or campanulate, toothed or lobed; 

 corolla tubular, funnelform or salverform, lobed, the 

 parts and the stamens 4 or more; style 4-lobed: fr. a 

 drupe which is 4-loculed and usually 4-seeded. Species 

 about 230 in tropical and subtropical regions, mostly 



