86 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Crataegus tomentosa, Linne. 



North America, up to 20 feet high. Fruit edible. By the 

 species mentioned the list of American hedgethorns is probably 

 not yet exhausted. 



Crithmum maritimum, Linne. 



The real Samphire. Sea-shores of Middle and South Europe, 

 North Africa and the Orient. A perennial herb. Settlers on 

 the coast might readily disseminate and naturalise it. It is 

 held to be one of the best plants for pickles, the young leaves 

 being selected for that purpose. 



Crocus sativus, Linne. 



The Dye Saffron. South Europe and Orient. The stigmata 

 of this particular autumnal flowering crocus constitute the 

 costly dye substance. The best is collected from the flowers 

 just as they daily open in succession. At any early stage of 

 colonisation it would not be remunerative to grow saffron 

 commercially; but as the plant is well adapted for many 

 extra-tropical countries or for high elevations within the tropical 

 clime, it might be planted out into various unoccupied mountain 

 localities with a final view to naturalise it, and to render it 

 thus available at a later period from native sources. 



Crocus serotinus, Salisbury. (C. odorus, Bivona.) 



South Europe. This species also produces saffron rich in 

 pigment. The bulbs of several are edible. 



Crotalaria Burhia, Hamilton. 



Beluchistan, Afghanistan, Scinde. This perennial herb grows 

 in arid places and yields, like the following, Sunn fibre. 



Crotalaria juncea, Linne. 



The Sunn hemp. Indigenous to South Asia, and also widely 

 dispersed through tropical Australia. An annual herb, rising 

 under favourable circumstances to a height of 10 feet. In the 

 colony of Victoria, Sunn can only be cultivated in the warmest 

 and moistest localities. It comes in four or five months to matur- 

 ity. The plant can also be grown as a fodder herb for cattle. 

 It requires rich, friable soil. If a superior soft fibre is desired, 

 then the plant is pulled while in flower; if strength is the 

 object, then the plant is left standing until it has almost 

 ripened its seeds. The steeping process occupies about three 

 days. For the purpose of obtaining branchless stems it is sown 



