104 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES CENTAURY 



Centaury, Californian {E. chironoides), a plant similar in 

 habit of growth to the preceding, native of California, where it is 

 called Canchalagna, and is held in high repute as a bitter tonic. 

 It is also found in Mexico, and has by Grisebach, in his Flora 

 of the West Indies, been separated from Erythrcea as a distinct 

 genus under the name of G-yrandra. 



Cereus, the name of a section, or by some considered a genus 

 of the Cactus family (Cactacese). It contains — 1st, the well- 

 known domestic window-plant, the Creeping Cereus {C.fiagellifor- 

 mis), native of Peru, recorded to have been introduced into this 

 country in 1690. 2d, Night-flowering Cereus {C. graiidiflorus). 

 This, like the preceding, is a slender, trailing or climbing species. 

 It is a native of Jamaica and other West Indian islands, and 

 was early introduced. It is remarkable for its large white and 

 partially straw-coloured flowers, which open in the evening 

 and close early in the morning. It is, however, surpassed by 

 C. MacDonaldice, a native of Honduras, introduced to Kew 

 about thirty years ago, the flowers of which are also white, and 

 only of a few hours' duration, and when fully expanded are more 

 than a foot in diameter, consisting of numerous petals, thus 

 vying with the Victoria Lily in size; and wdien eight or ten 

 flowers are open in one night (as with a plant at Kew) the sight 

 is magnificent. {See Torch Thistle.) 



Ceylon Moss {Plocaria lichenoides), a plant of the Seaweed 

 family (Ceramiacete), a delicate w^hite seaweed found growing 

 upon rocks in the Indian and Malayan Seas, and known also by 

 the Malayan names of Agar Agar, or Agal Agal. It is largely 

 collected, and made into a jelly, and forms an extensive article 

 of trade at Singapore and in Borneo, constituting part of the 

 cargo of the Chinese junks on their return voyages. It is also 

 used as a varnish, more especially for the paper employed in 

 the manufacture of Chinese lanterns, to which it imparts a 

 yellow tinge. When boiled with sugar it forms a sweet jelly, 

 much resembling that made from calves' feet, and is liighly 

 esteemed both by Europeans and natives for the delicacy of its 

 flavour. 



