225 



&l)t t&xczguvy of 23otang. 



[CARO 



CARLIXA. A genus of prickly herba- 

 ceous plants distinguished among the 

 thistle-like group of compound flowers by 

 having the inner leaves of the calyx or 

 involucre coloured, and of the texture 

 usually called everlasting (scariose). The 

 species, which closely resemble each other 

 in habit are natives of most parts of J 

 Europe, growing on dry commons and ' 

 sea cliffs. C. vulgaris, the only English 

 species, is a common weed about a foot 

 high, on dry heaths and soil which has 

 been long undisturbed, less conspicuous 

 from its dull purple disk than from the 

 radiating straw-coloured involucre, which 

 expands horizontally in dry weather, and 

 becomes erect during rain. This portion 

 of the flower is very durable, retaining its 

 form long after the spiny leaves" have been 

 reduced to a skeleton. It preserves its 

 hygrometric properties for a long period, 

 and is sometimes gathered and suspended 

 in the house to serve as a natural weather- 

 gage. Olivier de Sevres says that this plant 

 received its name after the famous 

 Charlemagne, whose army was cured of 

 the plague by using it medicinally. 

 LiunaBus ascribes the name to the Em- 

 peror Charles V., whose army was relieved 

 in Barbary from the same disease by a 

 similar remedy. Several of the species, 

 especially C. gummifera, contain an acrid 

 resin in which the medicinal virtue of the 

 plant is supposed to reside. The tender 

 roots of some species are said to be 

 eatable, and of others the flowers furnish 

 a substitute for artichokes. French, 

 Carline ; German, Eberwurz. [C. A. J J 



CARLINE THISTLE. The common 

 name for Carlina. 



CARLUDOVICA. A small genus of 

 screw-pines (Pandanacew) confined to 

 tropical South America. Some of them 

 have long climbing stems, sending out 

 aerial roots which fasten upon the trunks 

 of trees, or hang down like ropes, whilst 

 others have no stems, and form dense 

 thickets. They have large stiff plaited 

 leaves, deeply cut into from two to five 

 divisions. Their flowers are of separate 

 sexes, and disposed in squares arranged 

 very close together in a spiral manner, 

 and forming cylindrical spikes, which, 

 while young, are enclosed within four 

 leafy bracts fspathes). Each square consists 

 of a female flower surrounded by four 

 males, giving the spikes a tessellated, 

 appearance. The males have a calyx cut 

 into numerous lobes, and an indefinite 

 number of stamens ; and the females a 

 calyx of four sepals, four barren ^tamens, 

 and a square-sided ovary surmounted by a 

 cross-like stigma, eventually producing a i 

 square-sided berry with numerous seeds. 



C. palmata is a stemless species, common ! 

 in shady places all over Panama and along j 

 the coasts of New Grenada and Ecuador. 

 Its leaves are shaped and plaited like a fan, 

 and are borne on three-cornered stalks 

 from six to fourteen feet high : they are 

 about four feet in diameter and deeply cut 

 into four or five divisions, each of which 



is again cut. The Panama hats commonly 

 worn in America, and now becoming 

 common in this country, are manufactured 

 from these leaves. Those of the best 

 quality are platted from a single leaf 

 without any joinings, and, as the process 

 sometimes occupies two or three months, 

 their price is very high, a single hat often 

 costing 150 dollars, and cigar-cases of the 

 same material 61. each. The leaves are cut 

 whilst young, and the stiff parallel veins 

 removed, after which they are slit into 

 shreds, but not separated at the stalk end, 

 and immersed in boiling water for a short 

 time, and then bleached in the sun. [A. SJ 



CARMEL. The Arab name for 

 lum simplex. 



CARMICHAELIA. A genus of New 

 Zealand shrubs belonging to the pea- 

 flowered group of the leguminous family. 

 The branches are sometimes round, but 

 more commonly flattened and tape-like. 

 The plants when in a seedling condition 

 are furnished with unequally-pinnate 

 leaves, but after they are a few weeks old 

 no more leaves are produced. The flowers 

 are small, very numerous, pink or lilac in 

 colour, and disposed in short racemes. 

 The pods are roundish, slightly turgid, 

 about half an inch long, and contain two 

 or four seeds. They are remarkable in the 

 family because of their having a thin 

 partition (replum) between the valves of 

 the pod, which remains after the valves 

 have fallen : to this partition the seeds are 

 attached. The genus is named in honour 

 of Captain Carmichael, who published an 

 account of the plants of the island Tristan 

 d'Acunha. [A. A. B.] 



CARNATION. A garden variety of 

 Dianthus Caryophyllus. —, SPANISH. 

 Poinciana pztlcherrima. 



CARNATION TREE. A garden name 

 for Kleinia neriifolia. 



CARNAUBA. A Brazilian palm, Coryplia 

 ccrifera, the leaves of which yield a wax, 

 which is used for making candles. 



CARNETTS. Flesh : colour ; the pale red 

 of roses. 



CARNILLET. (Fr.) Silene inflata. 

 CARO. The fleshy part of fruit. The 

 flesh or tissue of which fungals consist. 



CAROB TREE. The Algaroba Bean, 



Ceratonia Siliqua. 



CAROLINEA. The designation given 



to a genus of Bombacece by the younger 

 Linnaeus in honour of the Princess Sophia 

 Caroline of Baden, a name which he says 

 will always be cherished by botanists. The 

 plants are familiar in our hothouses under 

 this name ; but the inexorable law of prior- 

 ity has led botanists generally to adopt 

 that of Pachira : which see. [T. M.] 



CAROUBE A v SILIQUES or CAROT/GE. 

 (Fr.) Ceratonia Siliqua. — -, A v MIEL. 

 Gleditschta triacanthos. 



