C E R 



C E R 



rhey are afterwards to be managed as other 

 greenhouse plants. 



CERCIS, a genus containing hardy deciduous 

 trees of the flowering kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Decandria 

 Monngynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Lomentacece. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianthium, very short, bell-shaped, gib- 

 bous below, melliferous; mouth five-toothed, 

 erect and obtuse: the corolla is pcntapetalous, 

 inserted into the calyx, resembling a papilio- 

 naceous corolla: wings: petals two, bent up- 

 wards, affixed by long claws: standard: petal 

 one, roundish, clawed beneath the wings, and 

 shorter than tbe wings : keel : petals two, con- 

 verging into a cordate figure, including the 

 organs of generation, affixed by claws : the 

 nectary is a style-shaped gland, below the germ : 

 the stamina consist of ten, distinct, subulate 

 filaments, bent downwards, of which four are 

 longer than the rest, and covered : the anthers 

 oblong, incumbent, rising upwards : the pis- 

 tillum is a linear-lanceolate, pedicellcd germ: 

 style of jhe length and situation of the stamens: 

 stigma obtuse, ascending: the pericarpium is 

 an oblong legume, obliquely acuminate, uni- 

 locular: the seeds some, roundish, connected 

 to the superior suture. 



The species are : 1 . C. siliquastrum, Common 

 Judas-tree; 2. C. Canadensis, Canada Judas- 

 tree, or Red Bud-tree. 



The first rises with an upright trunk to the 

 height of twenty feet, covered with a dark 

 brown bark, dividing upwards into many irre- 

 gular blanches, with leaves placed irregularly on 

 the branches, on long foot-stalks; they are of 

 a pale green on their upper, and of a grayish 

 colour on their under side, and fall off in 

 autumn. The flowers come out in the spring 

 with the leaves on every side the branches, and 

 many times from the stem of the tree in large 

 clusters, arising from the same point, on short 

 peduncles, and are of a very bright purple 

 colour, being in full beauty before the leaves 

 have attained half their size. When the flowers 

 fall off, the germ becomes a long flat pod, con- 

 taining a row of roundish seeds, a little com- 

 pressed. 



The wood is very beautifully veined with 

 black and green, taking a fine polish. It is a 

 native of the Levant, &c. 



There are varieties with white flowers; with 

 flesh-coloured flowers, but without the beauty 

 of the first; also with broader pods. 



The second sort grows to a middling stature 

 in the places where it is a native, but in this 

 dim tte rarely rises with a stem more than 



twelve feet high, but branches out near tbe root. 

 The branches of this are weaker than those of 

 the first sort; the leaves are downy, and ter- 

 minate in points ; whereas those of the first are 

 smooth, and round at the end, where they are 

 indented. The flowers are also smaller; but 

 the trees are equally hardy, thriving in the open 

 air. It is a native of North America, where it 

 is known by the title of Red Bud, from the ap- 

 pearance of the flower-buds in spring before the 

 leaves come out. 



The wood is of the same colour and texture 

 as the first. 



Culture. — This is effected by sowing the seeds 

 in the spring season, as about March, in beds 

 of common ground, to the depth of half an 

 inch. As soon as the plants appear, they should 

 be kept clean, and occasionally watered, and 

 when of sufficient growth be removed into the. 

 nursery, planting them in rows at the distance 

 of one foot, and two feet between the rows. 

 Having remained in this situation for two or 

 three years, they become proper for planting out 

 in the shrubbery. 



They may be raised by layers and cuttings; 

 but they seldom succeed so well in this way. 



These are highly ornamental when planted 

 out in the clumps, borders, and other quarters, 

 among hardy, flowering, deciduous trees of 

 other kinds. 



CEREUS. See Cactus. 



CERINTHE, a genus which furnishes plants 

 of the hardy, ornamental, flowering, annual 

 kind. The Honeywort. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentandria 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 AspenfoUce. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a five- 

 parted perianthium; divisions oblong, equal, per- 

 manent: the corolla is monopetalous and bell- 

 form: tube short, thick: border tube-bellied, 

 rather thicker than the tube: mouth five-cleft; 

 throat naked, pervious: the stamina consist of 

 five, subulate filaments, very short: anthers 

 acute, erect : the pistillum is a four-parted germ : 

 style filiform, length of the stamens: stigma 

 obtuse: there is no pericarpium: calyx un- 

 changed: the seeds two, bony, glossy, sub- 

 ovate, outwardly gibbous, and bilocular. 



The species cultivated is C. major, Great Ho- 

 neywort. 



It rises with stems eighteen inches high and 

 more, round, smooth, branching, and leafy: 

 the leaves are glaucous, becoming blue by age, 

 smooth, without prickles, but ciliated about The 

 edge, and dotted with white : the branches are 

 leafy and nodding ; with flowers among the 

 leaves, hanging on long peduncles: the tube of 

 S K 2 



