330 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



CRU 



flowering plants, such as the Stock, Wall- 

 flower, Kocket, etc. Brassica oleracea is 

 the origin of the Cabbage, Cauliflower, 

 Broccoli, Savoy, and Curled Kale. Bras- 

 ,fu-a Rapa is the origin of the Turnip, but 

 the Swedish Turnip is thought by some 

 to be a variety of Brassica campestris, 

 while others think it to be a hybrid be- 

 tween B. Rapa and B. Napus, the wild 

 Naveu Rape, or Coleseed. Grambe marit- 

 ima supplies Sea-Kale, which is blanched 

 to fit it for the table. Some plants of 

 the order are pungent, as Sinapis nigra, 

 Black Mustard, from the seeds of which 

 the best Mustard is made; 8. alba, White 

 Mustard, is less pungent. Other pungent 

 plants are Lepidium sativum, common 

 Cress; Nasturtium qfficinale, Water Cress; 

 Cochlearia Armoracia, Horseradish; and 

 Baphanus sativus, the Radish. Isatis tinc- 

 toria, Woad, yields a blue dye; and /. in- 

 digotica is used as Indigo in China. 

 Cochlearia officinalis grows on the sea- 

 shore, and has been used by ships' crews 

 affected with scurvy, and has hence been 

 called Scurvy Grass. The seeds of many 

 species yield an oil, such as oil of Mus- 

 tard, Rape oil, and Camelina oil; and the 

 cake left after pressing the oil from Rape 

 seed is used as food for cattle. There are 

 206 known genera and about 1,730 spe- 

 cies. Brassica, Cheiranthus, Erysimum, 

 Arabis, Lunaria, Draba, Teesdalia, Hespe- 

 riis, Isatis, Capsella, etc., are illustrative 



Cruciform. The same as Cruciate, which 



see. 

 Cruentus. Marked wih red blotches; also 



where any part is wholly red. 

 Crusta. The upper surface of Lichens. 

 Crustaceous. Hard, thin, and brittle, as 



the seed skin of Asparagus, and the thal- 



lus of many Lichens. 



CRY 



Crypta, (a vault.) The sunken glands or 

 cysts which occur in dotted leaves ; re- 

 ceptacles for the oily and other secre- 

 tions of plants, like those which occur 

 in the leaves of Myrtacece. The same as 

 Cyst, which see. 



Cryptogams, (Cryptoganua.} Many names 

 have been applied to the vast class of 

 plants comprehended under this name, 

 such as Asexual or Flowerless Plants, 

 Acrogens, Agamse, Anandrse, Acotyledons, 

 Cryptogams, Cryptophyta, Cellulares, 

 Exeinbryonata, etc. Of these, the term 

 Cryptogam has been adopted by Berkeley 

 and others, as being the least objection- 

 able in our present state of knowledge. 

 "The distinctive point in Cryptogams 

 does not consist in the absence of decided 

 male and female organs, nor in their mi- 

 nuteness, for in the greater part their 

 presence has been ascertained beyond all 

 doubt, and the analogous organs in Phae- 

 nogams often require the assistance of 

 the lens to make out even their external 

 form clearly. The main point is, that the 

 reproductive organs are not true seeds 

 containing an embryo, but mere cells 

 containing one or two membranes in- 

 closing granular matter. These bodies, 

 whether called spores or sporidia, pro- 

 duce by germination a thread or mass of 

 threads, a membrane, a cellular body, 

 etc., as the case may be, which either at 

 once gives rise to the fruit, or to a plant 

 producing fruit. Indeed, the differences 

 are so great, that these spores seem 

 rather to be relatives, or what is techni- 

 cally called homologues, of pollen grains, 

 than of true seeds." Cryptogams are di- 

 vided into two great classes, Thallogens . 

 and Acrogens, the distinctive characters 

 of which will be found under those 

 heads. 



