COTYLEDON 



COV ER-CROPS 



871 



24. lanceolata, Benth. & Hook. (Echeveria lanceolata, 

 Nutt. Dudleya lanceolata, Brit. & Rose). Green or 

 slightly glaucous, acaulescent: Ivs. in a rosette, lan- 

 ceolate, acuminate, slightly mealy; st.-lvs. or bracts 

 small, cordate, clasping, distant: panicle narrow, dichot- 

 omous: fls. red and yellow; calyx-lobes broad-ovate, 

 ^in. long; corolla M m - or more long. S. Calif. 



25. californica, Baker (D. Cotyledon, Brit. & Rose. 

 Sedum Cotyledon, Jacq. Echeveria calif drnica, Baker). 

 Plant acaulescent, tinged red: Ivs. in a rosette, con- 

 cave, ligulate, lanceolate, acute, glaucous, mealy, 

 slightly yello wish, 8 in. long: fls. pale yellow, on weak 

 lateral flowering sts. 1-2 ft. long, with short, ovate, 

 clasping Ivs. or bracts and bi- or trifid racemes. Calif. 



Many garden names occur in Cotyledon, some of which are 

 unidentifiable and some of which probably represent hybrids. 

 C devensis, Hort. Hybrid between probably C. glauca and C. 

 gibbiflora: fl.-sts. 5-7 ft. long. B.M. 8104. C. elegans, N. E. Br.= 

 Oliveranthus. C. eximia, Hort.=(?). C. globdsa, Hort., see 

 page 1087. C. globularixfMia, Baker. Rosulate, 8 in.: Ivs. 30-40, 

 obovate-spatulate, 2J-i in. or less long: fls. white tinged red, 20-40 

 in a dense thyrse-like cluster. Syria. C. imbricdta, Hort., described 

 on p. 1087. C. inslgnis, N. E. Br. About 2 ft., wholly glabrous, 

 erect, light green: Ivs. opposite, broad, to 5 in. long: fls. light red 

 with lobes greenish yellow inside, 1 1 A in. long, in terminal and 

 axillary cymes. Cent. Afr. B.M. 8036. C. mirdbilis, Hort., hybrid. 

 C. mucronata, Baker.=Echeveria, p. 1086. C. ndna. Marl. Very 

 dwarf, 1 y> in. or less high, densely branched and forming a tuft: Ivs. 

 yellowish green, not apiculate. S. Afr. C. Pestalozzx, Mast. Lvs. 

 distributed, the radical ones spatulate-obtuse and margins slightly 

 denticulate, the cauline obovate-oblong: fls. pale rose, somewhat 

 secund in a glandular-hairy panicle. Cilicia. C. puhindta, Hook. f. 

 =Echeveria, p. 1086. C. sedoides, DC. Annual, creeping, smooth: 

 Ivs. sedum-like, oblong and obtuse, convex: fls. few, pink, in summer. 

 Pyrenees. Distinguished from Sedum by the gamopetalous corolla. 

 C. spindsus. Linn. Small and quaint, Apicra-like, with a rosette 

 of flat spoon-shaped spine-tipped Ivs., 12 in. or more tall: fls. yellow, 

 in early summer. Siberia to China and Japan, but not hardy. 

 C. superba, Hort., is an annual with yellow fls. C. terelifdlia, 

 Thunb. St. somewhat woody, 6-8 in. high, simple or branched: 

 Ivs. 4-5 in. long, opposite, nearly terete, acute or cuspidate, hir- 

 sute or subglabrous: fls. many, corymbed, the peduncle to 18 in., 

 yellow: corolla-tube a little shorter then calyx. S. Afr. 



L. H. B.f 



COUCH GRASS: Agropyron re-pens. 



COURANTIA (personal name). Crassulacex. Caules- 

 cent: Ivs. alternate, closely set, broad: fls. in a dense 

 bracteate spike ; calyx-lobes nearly equal, linear, brightly 

 colored; corolla not angled, yellow; stamens 10; fila- 

 ments united into a tube for half their length. Only 

 one species. First brought into cult, about 1842. For 

 cult., see Cotyledon. C. rdsea, Lena. (Cotyledon roseata, 

 Baker). See No. 21, p. 870. j. N. ROSE. 



COUROUPITA (from a vernacular name in Guiana). 

 Lecythidacese. Trees of Trop. Amer. (about 9 species) 

 sometimes planted as oddities or for shade, particularly 

 for the curiosity of the great ball-like frs. borne on 

 the trunk. Lvs. alternate, oblong, reticulate, entire or 

 crenate-serrate: fls. showy and odd, borne in racemes, 

 often from the trunk and larger branches; calyx-tube 

 top-shaped, the limb 6-lpbed or -divided; petals 6, 

 somewhat unequal, spreading and more or less incurved, 

 borne on a disk; stamens many, in 2 sets, one series 

 forming a ring or cup in the center of the fl. and about 

 the single 5-7-celled ovary, the other longer and rising 

 from one side like a fringed palm or ladle over the 

 pistil: fr. a large nearly or quite globular ball, coria- 

 ceous or woody, indehiscent, with many seeds imbedded 

 in the pulp. C. guianensis, Aubl. CANNON-BALL TREE. 

 Figs. 1084, 1085. Tall soft-wooded tree in Guiana, 

 where it is native: Ivs. oblong-obovate, elliptic or broad- 

 lanceolate, acute, entire or very obscurely toothed: fls. 

 with concave petals about 2 in. long, yellow- and red- 

 tinged on the exterior and crimson-lilac within, very 

 showy, in racemes 2-3 ft. long: fr. nearly or quite 

 globular, 6-8 in. diam., reddish, hard on the exterior, 

 pulpy inside, with very disagreeable odor when ripe. 

 B.M. 3158-9. Sometimes planted in the tropics, in 

 botanic gardens and elsewhere. Shell of the fr. used for 

 utensils, and the pulp said to be eaten by negroes and 

 to be used for the making of beverages. L. H. B. 



COUSSAPOA (Caribbean name). Moracese. Fifteen 

 to 20 milky-juiced trees or shrubs of Trop. S. Amer., 1 or 

 2 sometimes grown under glass, but apparently not in 

 the American trade. They are sometimes scandent and 

 epiphytic, like other Ficus-like things, sending down 

 branches and completely enveloping the supporting 

 tree and strangling it. Lvs. alternate, stalked, thick, 

 penninerved or 3-nerved, entire: fls. dioecious, in 

 globose heads, the peduncles solitary or in pairs and 

 axillary, the male clusters few-fld. and often paniculate, 

 the females on shorter peduncles: fr. oblong, becoming 

 succulent and with the including thickened perianth 

 forming a mulberry-like multiple fruiting body. C. 

 dealbata, Andre (Flcus dealbata, Hort.), is described as 

 a very beautiful greenhouse subject, with coriaceous 

 elliptic Ivs. 1 ft. long and half as broad, white-silky 

 beneath and deep green above. I.H. 17:4. 



L. H. B. 



COVER-CROPS. Green temporary crops, grown for 

 the purpose of improving the soil, either as protection 

 or to be turned down as 

 green manure; word used 

 chiefly in speaking of 

 fruit-growing operations. 



The use of cover-crops 

 has become an essential 

 part of orchard manage- 

 ment. The name is de- 

 rived from the fact that 

 the seed is sown in the fall 

 or late summer, and suf- 

 ficient growth results so 

 that the ground is covered 

 and protected during the 

 winter. The crops are 

 grown for their effect 

 upon the orchard, not for 

 the direct value of the 

 crop. The term was first used in this connection by 

 Bailey, Bulletin No. 61, of the New York Station at 

 Cornell, p. 333, December, 1893. 



Cover-crops make use of the available plant-food at 

 a time when the trees are beginning to use it less and 

 less. In this way, food that otherwise might be lost is 

 stored up until it becomes available to the trees the 

 following spring through the rotting of the cover-crops. 

 The presence of the coyer-crop, with its mat of roots, 

 also prevents soil-washing and erosion with its accom- 

 panying loss of plant-food. The legumes, through the 

 action of the bacteria found in their root-nodules, are 

 able to add to the total amount of nitrogen present in 

 the soil. This is the only way in which cover-crops 

 increase the total supply of the plant-food elements, 

 but the decay of the cover-crops increases the humus 

 in the soil and, by the activities thus set up, the locked- 

 up plant-food is released in a soluble form and thus the 

 total available plant-food is increased. The ability of 

 a soil to absorb and retain water is greatly increased in 

 proportion to the humus that the soil contains. For this 

 reason, soils rich in humus are less likely to be injured 

 by erosion from the rapid run-off of the rainfall and less 

 liable to suffer from drought. In soils plentifully sup- 

 plied with moisture and plant-food, the trees are likely 

 to continue growth so long that the wood does not 

 mature and harden before winter, thus rendering them 

 liable to injury during a severe winter. Such trees 

 usually bear fruit that is poor in quality and in color. 

 To produce mature, well-colored apples, it is essential 

 that excessive growth after midsummer be prevented. 

 The best means of doing this is to grow a crop in the 

 orchard that will compete with the trees for the food 

 and water. Soil protected by a cover-crop does not 

 freeze so quickly or so deeply as when uncovered, and 

 therefore the tree roots under a cover-crop are less 

 likely to be injured by freezing and by heaving. Many 



1085. Flower of 

 Couroupita gui- 

 anensis. One of 

 the petals has 

 fallen. 



