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202 



CALOSTEMMA. A genus of Amarylli- 

 dacece consisting of bulbous herbs with 

 linear lorate leaves, and bearing at the top 

 of the scape a many-flowered umbel of 

 pedunculated flowers. These flowers con- 

 sist of a cylindrical tube, a funnel-shaped 

 limb, and a coronet or crown, uniting the 

 stamens into a cup, winch is sometimes 

 split. The filaments are short and erect ; 

 the stigma small and simple ; and the 

 ovary usually two-seeded. There are four 

 or five recorded species, all natives of 

 New Holland. C. purpureum, with purple 

 flowers, has twelve triangular teeth placed 

 between the filaments on the edge of the 

 staminal cup. G. luteum has narrower 

 leaves, and yellow green-ribbed flowers, 

 with six purple spots at the base of the 

 cup, which is toothed as in the former. 

 C. album has white flowers and linear teeth 

 to the cup ; and C. carneum has pretty pale 

 rose flowers and is without the teeth to 

 the staminal cup, the spaces between the 

 filaments being either emarginate or 

 merely rounded. C. candidum is said to 

 be fragrant, and G. luteum to have a strong 

 smell of mint. [T. M.] 



CALOSTIGMA. A genus of Asclepiada- 

 cece, containing three species of climbing 

 shrubs, natives of Brazil. They have 

 opposite elliptical or oblong leaves, and 

 lateral interpetiolar peduncles with many 

 flowers. The calyx is five-parted ; the co- 

 rolla bell-shaped with a five-cleft limb, the 

 divisions being long, linear and spreading. 

 The staminal corona is composed of five 

 fleshy leaves, and adheres to the tube of 

 the corolla, above which it projects. The 

 gynostegium is short ; the anthers termi- 

 nate in a short membrane ; and the elon- 

 gated projecting stigma has a prominent 

 dilated apex. The pollen masses are con- 

 nected by a kneed and, in the upper 

 portion, by a winged process to a linear 

 corpuscle. [W. C] 



CALOTHAMNTIS. One of the beautiful 

 genera of Myrtacece, in which Australia 

 abounds. The calyx limb has four to five 

 teeth ; the petals are four to five ; the 

 stamens are arranged in four to five 

 bundles opposite the petals, some sterile 

 or more or less joined to the neighbouring 

 parcel, the anthers attached by the base ; 

 the many-seeded capsule is enclosed within 

 the base of the hardened hemispherical 

 calyx tube. The plants are shrubs with 

 scattered needle-shaped leaves. The name 

 indicates that the branches become cover- 

 ed with the beautiful flowers. «[M. T. M.] 



CALOTIS. A genus of simple or branch- 

 ed small Australian herbs of the composite 

 family. The leaves are alternate, varying 

 much in form, but most generally oblong 

 and toothed. The flower-heads are ter- 

 minal and solitary: the strap-shaped ray- 

 florets, lilac, and rolled backwards spirally 

 after expansion, the disc florets tubular 

 and yellow. The seed crown (pappus) con- 

 sists of two dilated ear-shaped scales, and a 

 few long needle-shaped awns furnished 

 with reflexed bristles. The genus is near 



that of the daisy, but differs in the pap- 

 pus. It receives its name from the two 

 ear-shaped scales of the pappus. C. cunei- 

 folia is a slender herb about a foot high 

 with small flower-heads. The awns of 

 the pappus being furnished with very 

 minute reflexed points get entangled in 

 the wool of the sheep, and it is almost 

 impossible to rid them of it. There are 

 about twenty species known. [A. A. B.] 



CALOTROPIS. A genus of asclepiads, 

 consisting of three species, which form 

 shrubs or small trees, and are natives of 

 the tropics of Asia and Africa. Their 

 flowers have a somewhat bell-shaped 

 corolla, expanding into five divisions, the 

 tube being composed of five angular 

 swellings. The coronet of the stamens is 

 composed of five narrow leaflets, which 

 are united to the central column, but free 

 and recurved at the base, with their edges 

 rolled inwards. The fruits are produced in 

 pairs resembling the horns of an animal, 

 each being swollen or bulged out on the 

 inside ; they contain numerous seeds sur- 

 mounted by tufts of beautiful silky hairs. 

 C. gigantea,t\\e largest of the genus, forms 

 a branching shrub or small tree about 

 fifteen feet high, with a short trunk four 

 or five inches in diameter. Its leaves are 

 about six inches long by two or three 

 broad, and egg-shaped, covered on the 

 under-surface with soft silky down, and 

 they are arranged on the stem in pairs, 

 each pair being at right angles with that 

 above and below ; its flowers are of a 

 pretty rose-purple colour, and have the 

 segments of the corolla bent downwards. 

 This plant is called Mudar or Ak in North- 

 ern, and Yercum in Southern India. The 

 inner bark of its young branches yields a 

 valuable fibre, capable of bearing a greater 

 strain than Russian hemp. All parts 

 abound in a very acrid milky juice, which 

 hardens into a substance resembling gutta 

 percha; but in a fresh state it is a valuable 

 remedy in cutaneous diseases. The bark 

 of the root also possesses similar medical 

 qualities ; and its tincture yields mudarine, 

 a substance possessing the property of 

 gelatinizing upon the application of heat, 

 and returning to its fluid state when cool. 

 Attempts have been made to spin the 

 silky down of the seeds, but its fibre is too 

 short ; a soft kind of cloth is, however, 

 made by mixing it with cotton ; paper has 

 also been made from it. Another species, 

 C. procera, a native of India, Arabia, 

 Persia, and various parts of Africa, pos- 

 sesses similar qualities. It is a much 

 smaller plant, and has white flowers with 

 straight segments. [A. S.] 



CALPANDRIA. Camellia. [B. S.] 



CALTHA. A family of herbaceous 

 plants belonging to the Banunculacece, 

 distinguished from Ranunculus by the 

 absence of a green calyx, and from Helle- 

 bonis by the absence of tubular petals 

 (nectaries). C. palustris, the Marsh Mari- 

 gold, is a stout herbaceous plant with 

 hollow stems, large glossy roundish 



