C H A 



CHE 



by perforations. All the other particulars as in 

 the hermaphrodites. 



The species cultivated is C. humilis. Dwarf 

 Fan Palm. 



' It never rises with an upright stem, but the 

 foot-stalks of the leaves proceed immediately 

 from the head of the root, and are armed on 

 each side with strong spines ; are flat on their 

 upper surface, and convex on their und t side i 

 the centres of the leaves are fastened to the foot- 

 stalk, and spread open like a fan, having many 

 foldings, and at the top arc deeply divided like 

 the fingers of a hand: when they first come out 

 they are closed together like a fan when shut, 

 and are fastened together by strong fibres which 

 run along the borders of the leaves; and when 

 the leaves spread open these fibres or strings 

 hang from the sides and ends : the orders of 

 the leaves are finely sawed, and have while nar- 

 row edgings: they are from nine to eighteen 

 inches long, and near a foot broad in their 

 widest part, As the lower leaves of the plants 

 decay their vestiges remain, and form a short 

 stump above ground, in the same manner as our 

 Common Male Fern : from between the leaves 

 comes out the spadix or club, which sustains the 

 flowers; this is covered with a thin spathe or 

 hood, which falls off" when the bunches open 

 and divide. It grows naturally in Italy, &c. 



Culture. — It is capable of being propagated 

 by seeds and side-slips from the head of the 

 root. In the first method, the seeds procured 

 from abroad, should be sown in pots of light 

 sandy earth, and plunged in a hotbed of tanners' 

 bark, occasional waterings being given. In the 

 autumn or spring following the plants will be 

 in a proper state to be pricked out in separate 

 pots. Much depends on having good seeds. 



In the second method the slips of the crown 

 of the roots or side off-sets should be separated 

 with the root fibres, and planted out in pots filled 

 with sandy earth, and plunged in a hotbed. The 

 plants arc stronger from seeds than when raised 

 in this way. 



In ten or twelve months the plants will be fit 

 to be removed into other pots, which should be 

 done in such a manner as not to injure their 

 roots, as when that is the case they are liable to 

 be destroved. 



TUey mostly require the protection of a stove 

 while young; but when become hardy by gra- 

 dual exposure to the air, they will succeed in a 

 full exposure in summer, and in a greenhouse 

 in winter ; but must always be kept^in pots of 

 light sandy earth, and be frequently watered in 

 summer, but more moderately when the weather 

 is cold. 



They afford variety in the stove collections. 



CHAMEMOILE. See Antiiemis. 



CHAMPIGNON. See Agaricus. 



CHANGEABLE ROSE. See Hibiscus. 



CHASTE TREE. See Vitex. 



CHEIRx\NTHUS, a genus comprising plants 

 of the herbaceous, annual, biennial, and peren- 

 nial flowery kinds. Wall-flower and Stock Gilli- 

 flower. 



It belongs to the class and order Tetradynamia 

 Siliquosa, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Siliquosce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a four- 

 leaved compressed perianthium: leaflets lanceo- 

 late, concave,erect,parallel converging, deciduous; 

 the two outer gibbous at the base : the corolla is 

 four-petalled, cruciform : petals roundish, longer 

 than the calyx : claws the length of the calyx: 

 the stamina consist of six subulate filaments, 

 parallel, the length of the calyx : two of them 

 within the gibbous leaflets of the calyx, a little 

 shorter than the other four: anthers erect, bifid 

 at the base, acute at the tip, and reflected : a 

 nectareous gland surrounds the base of the 

 shorter stamens on each side: the pistillum is 

 a prismatic germ, four-cornered, the length of 

 the stamens, marked with a tubercle on each 

 side : style very short, compressed : stigma ob- 

 long, two-parted, reflected, thickish, permanent: 

 the pericarpium is a long compressed silique ; 

 the two opposite angles obliterated, marked with 

 a toothlet, two-celled, two-valved, furnished 

 with the very short style and the erect bifid 

 stigma: the seeds are very many, pendulous, 

 alternate, subovate, compressed, with a mem- 

 branous edge. 



There is a great number of species; but those 

 mostly cultivated for ornament are: 1. C. c/ieiri, 

 Common Wall-flower; 2. C. incanus, Queen's 

 Stock Gilliflower; 3. C. fenestralis, Cluster- 

 leaved Dwarf Stock Gilliflower; 4. C. annum, 

 Annual Stock Gilliflower, or Ten-week Stock; 

 5. C. maritimus, Dwarf Annual Stock Gilli- 

 flower, or Virgin Stock. 



The first rises with a woody stem from a foot 

 to two feet or more in height, ascending : the 

 branches are angular: the leaves crowded, up- 

 right, lanceolate, with few seiratures, smooth, 

 and concave : the petioles hardly distinct from 

 the leaves: the peduncles four-cornered. In 

 garden culture the branches are wide and the 

 leaves broad, with large flowers. It is a native 

 of Switzerland, &c. flowering from April till 

 June. 



The chief varieties are the common dwarf 

 yellow with a low busby head, the large yellow 

 with a branchy stem forming a bushy head, the 

 large yellow bloody with a branchy head, the 

 true bloody with a branchy stem, the narrow- 



