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Qftz Creagurw at 3Sotan». 



222 



CARDIOCHL.ENA. A name proposed 

 for a group of large-growing aspidium-like 

 ferns, now referred to Sagenia. [T. M.] 



CARDIOMANES. An unnecessary name 

 under which it has been proposed to separ- 

 ate Trichomanes reniforme from the rest of 

 the genus. [T. MJ 



CARDIONEMA. A genus of Illecebracece 

 containing a small perennial herb from 

 Mexico, with numerous stems, opposite 

 crowded linear leaves, and small sessile 

 axillary greenish-white flowers, the calyx 

 of which is five-parted, surrounded by an 

 involucre of bracts, five of which are 

 larger than the other, serrulate, terminat- 

 ing in conical points ; the petals absent ; 

 the stamens five, two sterile, the anthers 

 subrotund ; the ovary one-celled with 

 a single ovule, and two revolute styles ; the 

 fruit an oblong-ovate utricle. [J. T. S.] 



CARDIOSPERMUM. A genus of the 

 soap-wort family (Sapindacece), composed 

 of a number of scandent or climbing 

 shrubs, or herbs having tendrils like the 

 vine. The leaves are twice ternate or very 

 compound, and the leaflets vary much in 

 form ; and theflowers.generally small.white 

 or green, and disposed in short axillary 

 racemes, which are furnished below the 

 flowers with two tendrils. The fruit is a 

 three-celled bladdery capsule, with few 

 round seeds. The name of the genus is 

 derived from the Greek, and signifies heart 

 seed, in allusion to the prominent white 

 heart-shaped scars on the seed, which indi- 

 cate its point of attachment. The common 

 Heartseed (G. HaUcacabum), sometimes 

 called also Winter cherry, or Heart-pea, is a 

 widely distributed plant, found in all tro- 

 pical countries. Its leaves are twice ter- 

 nate, the leaflets lanceolate and coarseiy 

 toothed. In the Moluccas they are cooked 

 and eaten as a vegetable, and on the Mala- 

 bar coast are used with castor-oil, and 

 taken internally for lumbago, &c. The 

 root is laxative, diuretic, and demulcent. 

 It is mucilaginous, but has a slightly nau- 

 seous taste, and is used in rheumatism. 

 There are upwards of a dozen species 

 known, the greater portion of them natives 

 of South America, but there is no tropical 

 country in which some of the species are 

 not found. [A. A. B.] 



CARD-LEAP TREE. A West Indian 

 name for Clusia. 



CARDOST or CARDONETTE. (Fr.) Cyna- 

 ra Gardunculus. 



CARDOON. Cynara Cardunculus. 



CARDOPATIUM. A genus of peren- 

 nial thistle-like plants of the composite 

 family, natives of the Mediterranean 

 region, and also very common in Algeria. 

 They vary in height from six inches 

 to one and a half foot, The leaves 

 are pinnatifid with much cut and spin- 

 ous segments, and have considerableresem- 

 blance to those of the common wayside 

 thistle (Carduus). The flower-heads are 

 small, and disposed in dense corymbs at 



the ends of the branches ; the outer scales 

 of the involucre are pinnatifid and spinous, 

 the inner entire and pointed ; the florets 

 are of a fine blue colour, all of them 

 tubular, with a five-parted limb, and 

 containing both stamens and pistil. The 

 achenes are covered with villous hairs. 

 According to Gibourt, the C. corymbosum 

 is the true black Chamasleon of the 

 Ancients ; its roots contain an acrid caus- 

 tic juice, and resemble those of the white 

 chamseleon (Carlina gummifera), but differ 

 in their caustic properties. [A. A. B.] 



CARDO SANTO. A Brazilian name for 

 Argemone mexicana. 



CARDUNCELLUS. A genus of the 

 thistle group of the composite family, 

 and closely related to the saffron thistle 

 (Carthamus tinctorus), but the achenes, 

 instead of being naked, are crowned with 

 a pappus consisting of numerous bearded 

 hairs of unequal length united at the base 

 into a ring. The stamens also have a tuft 

 of hair on the middle of the filament. 

 There are about nine known species dis- 

 tributed over the Mediterranean region. 

 Some are stemless herbs, with toothed or 

 pinnatifid spiny-pointed leaves lying close 

 to the ground, and sitting in their midst 

 is a large thistle-like flower-head, one to two 

 inches across, containing numerous tubu- 

 lar florets of a blue colour, surrounded by 

 an involucre of many scales, the outer roAV 

 of which are often leafy, and have spinous 

 teeth. Others have elongated simple or 

 branched stems, one to two feet high, each 

 branch terminating in a flower head. Some 

 of the species are cultivated in botanic 

 gardens. [A. A. B.] 



CARDUUS. A genus of compound or 

 composite flowers, distinguished among 

 the thistle-like plants by having the per- 

 fectly smooth fruit crowned by a stalkless 

 tuft of simple deciduous hair. C. nutans, a 

 common English species, is distinguished 

 by having the upper part of its stalk 

 almost bare of leaves, and by its large 

 solitary drooping rich purple -flowers, 

 which have a strong odour, thought by 

 some to resemble that of the substance 

 from which it derives its name, Musk- 

 Thistle. This is sometimes called, but 

 incorrectly, the Scottish Thistle (see 

 Onopoedum). The Holy Thistle (C. Maria- 

 nus) is well marked by the white veins on 

 its large shiny leaves, fabled to have been 

 produced by a portion of the milk of the 

 Virgin Mary having fallen on them. The 

 other British species are uninteresting 

 weeds. Of the hundred species which the 

 genus comprises, some are cultivated, and 

 are considered ornamental plants. Care, 

 however, should be taken how they are 

 introduced into small gardens, many of 

 the perennial species being exceedingly 

 difficult to eradicate when they have once 

 taken possession of the soil, and all having 

 great facilities of dissemination by means 

 of their downy seeds. The seeds of the 

 thistle tribe are the favourite food of many 

 of the hard-billed small birds, especially the 



