CORYPHA 



COSMOS 



861 



margins; sheaths split: spadix solitary, erect, panicu- 



lately much branched ; spathes many, tubular, sheathing 



the peduncle and branches; fls. green, the plant dying 



after once flowering and fruiting: frs. as large as a 



cherry, with a fleshy pericarp. Species 6, 



Trop. Asia and Malay Archipelago. G.C. 



II. 24:362. These fan-palms are cult, the 



same as ChamsDrops and Livistona. They 



are warmhouse plants, prop, by seeds. 



Large fans, umbrellas and tents are made 



of the talipot palm by the natives of 



Ceylon. Coryphas are but little grown 



commercially, the growth of young plants 



being slow. Good loam well enriched with 



stable manure, a night temperature of 65 



and abundant moisture, are the chief 



requisites in their cult., with a moderately 



shaded house during the summer. 



elata, Roxbg. (C. Gebdnga, Blume). Fig. 1076. 

 Trunk straight, 60-70 ft. high, 2 ft. diam., spirally 

 ridged: Ivs. lunate, 8-10 ft. diam.; segms. 80-100, 

 separated nearly to the middle, ensiform, obtuse or 

 bifid; petioles 6-12 ft., with black margins and 

 curved spines: spadix about one-fourth the length 

 of the trunk, but narrow. Bengal and Burma. 



umbraculifera, Linn. TALIPOT PALM. Trunk 

 ringed, 60-80 ft. : Ivs. sub-lunate, 6 ft. long by 13 

 ft. wide, palmately pinnatifid, folded lengthwise 

 above the middle; segms. obtusely bifid; petiole 7 ft., 

 the spines along its margins often in pairs: spadix 

 sometimes 20 ft. long, with spreading branches. 

 Malabar coast and Ceylon. A.F. 12:313. Gng. 5: 

 213. Lvs. used as a substitute for paper. 



C. austr&lis, R. Br.=Livistona. C. macrophylla, Hort.= 

 (?). C. minor, Jacq.=Sabal. C. Wdganii, Hort., is a dwarf 

 round-lvd. plant. A.G. 15:307. -M- 



CORYSANTHES (helmet-flower, Greek). Orchid- 

 acese. Not to be confounded with Coryanthes. Fif- 

 teen or more terrestrial orchids of Austral., New 

 Zeal, and Malaysia, little cult. Dwarf, delicate, 

 tuberous-rooted or fleshy-rooted herbs, bearing a 

 solitary broad If. and a large solitary fl.: upper 

 sepal large, helmet-shaped ; lateral sepals free, linear 

 or filiform; petals (sometimes wanting) smaller than 

 lateral sepals and similar to them ; lip large, tubular 

 at base, the margins inclosing the column, the upper 

 part extended into a broad reflexed limb; pollinia 

 4. C. picta, Lindl., Malaya, is 3-4 in. high: upper 

 part of fl. deep purple and yellow, and lower part 

 with four long awl-like segms. and a bract at base 

 of ovary. C. limbdta, Hook, f., Java, is mostly even 

 lower, with fl. purple and white, the ovate-cordate 

 If. with reticulating white veins. B.M. 5357. 



CORYTHOLOMA (referring to the 

 helmet-shape). GesneriacesK. By some 

 referred to Gesnera: a half-hundred 

 or more leafy-stemmed tuberous herbs 

 of Trop. S. Amer., with mostly red 

 or speckled tubular fls. in terminal 

 umbels or racemes, or solitary or few 

 in the axils: lip of corolla erect, con- 

 cave; disk 5-glandular; stamens didy- 

 namous. It is doubtful whether any 

 of the species are in the trade. C. 

 macropodum, Sprague, recently men- 

 tioned, is a glandular-hirsute herb, 

 6-9 in. high, from a subglobose tuber: 

 Ivs. 3-5 in. across, suborbicular : fls. 

 in solitary axillary cymes, 5-7-fld., cinnabar-red, the 

 corolla-tube about 1 in. long and nearly cylindric, the 

 limb only slightly 2-lipped, the 3 lower lobes blotched 

 purple. S. Brazil. B.M. 8228. A handsome little 

 plant. These plants are probably to be handled after 

 the manner of gloxinias and similar things. 



1076. Corypha elata, having spent itself 

 in blooming. 



COSMANTHUS: Phacelia. 

 COSMEA: Cosmos. 

 COSMfDIUM: Thelesperma. 



COSMOPHfLLUM : Podachxnium. 



COSMOS (from the Greek word with a 

 root idea of orderliness; hence an orna- 

 ment or beautiful thing). Syn., Cosmea. 

 Composite. Annual or perennial herbs, 

 now popular as flower-garden subjects. 



Often tall, usually glabrous: Ivs. oppo- 

 site, pinnately cut in the garden kinds fls. 

 typically shades of rose, crimson and 

 purple, with one yellow species, and white 

 horticultural varieties, long peduncled, 

 solitary or in a loose corymbose panicle: 

 achenes glabrous: chaff of thie receptacle 

 in C. bipinnatus with a long and slender apex, in 

 other species with a blunt and short apex. Perhaps 

 species, all Trop. American, mostly Mexican. 

 The genus is distinguished from Bidens chiefly by the 

 seeds, which are beaked in Cosmos but not distinctly 

 so in Bidens, and by the color of the rays, which in 

 Cosmos is typically some form of crimson, while in 

 Bidens the rays are yellow or white. 



The "black cosmos" (C. diversifolius) is, perhaps, 

 better known to the trade as a Bidens or Dahlia. It 

 has the dwarf habit and dark red early flowers of 

 some dahlias, but the achenes are very puzzling. 

 They resemble those of Bidens in being four-angled, 

 and not distinctly beaked. They are unlike Bidens, 

 and like Cosmos, in being not distinctly com- 



Eressed on the back. They resemble both genera in 

 aving two rigid persistent awns, but, unlike these 

 genera, the awns have no retrorse barbs or prickles. 

 The achenes are linear, as in Cosmos and all our 

 native tropical species of Bidens; but, although 

 narrowed at the apex, they are not distinctly 

 beaked, as in most species of the genus Cosmos. The 

 plant is, perhaps, nearest to Bidens. 



Until 1895 there were in the two leading species 

 only three strongly marked colors: white, pink and 

 crimson. These and the less clearly defined inter- 

 mediate shades have come from C. bipinnatus', and 

 the yellow forms have come from C. sulphureus, 

 which was introduced in 1896. At first cosmos 

 flowers were only an inch or two across. The best 

 varieties now average 3 inches, and sometimes 

 reach 4 or 5 without thinning or disbudding. Pure 

 white flowers of cosmos are rarely if ever found 

 wild, but some of the cultivated varieties are clear 

 white. The group is lacking in bright deep reds. 

 There are no full double forms of cosmos as yet, 

 and, as regards strongly marked types of doubling, 

 the cosmos rnay be decades behind the China asters, 

 In the single forms, flat, incurved, or cupping, and 

 reflexed flowers are to be looked for. Stellate forms 

 are now offered; and also dwarfs, 

 and other variants. 



It is a mistake to grow cosmos in 

 ;: too rich soil, as one gets too vigorous 

 ;<-_ . growth and too few flowers, which are 

 also late. A sandy soil is to be pre- 

 ferred as being earlier, and not too 

 rich. It is well to pinch out the lead- 

 ing shoots of young plants in order 

 to make them bushy and symmetrical, 

 instead of tall and straggling. In the 

 East, for best results it is still neces- 

 sary to sow seed indoors in April and transplant 

 outdoors as soon as danger of frost is past. Seed sown 

 in the open ground often fails to produce flowers in 

 some northern localities before frost. The early frost 

 kills the typical species, but some of the new strains 

 are said to resist a degree or two of frost. 



