229 



£f)e CreaSun) of 23otang. 



[CAEY 



species. The leaflets are seven in number, 

 each about four inches long, lance-shaped, 

 and tapering to a fine point, their edges 

 being very regalarly cut like the teeth of 

 a saw The fruit is pear-shaped, and has a 

 thin husk which splits open only at the top 

 end. The nut has a very thick hard shell, 

 and is without the ridges common in other 

 hickory-nuts ; its kernel is small and sweet, 

 and is eaten by pigs, squirrels, and other 

 animals. [A. S.] 



CARTOCAR. One of the two genera 

 forming the order of Rhizobols (Rhizobo- 

 lacece), and distinguished by its flowers 

 having free petals, and only four styles, 

 and by its leaves being always opposite ; 

 the other genus, Anthodiscus, having 

 cohering petals, numerous styles, and 

 often alternate leaves. There are about 

 eight species of Caryocar, all large hard- 

 wooded trees, growing in the tropical 

 regions of South America. The most 

 interesting is C.nuciferum, which produces 

 the Souari or Butter-nuts, occasionally met 

 with in English fruit-shops. These nut3 

 are shaped something like a kidney flat- 

 tened upon two sides, having an exceed- 

 ingly hard woody shell, of a rich reddish- 

 brown colour, covered all over with round 

 wart-like protuberances, and enclosing a 

 large white kernel, which has a very plea- 

 sant nutty taste, and yields a bland oil by 

 pressure. It is a lofty tree, frequently as 

 much as 100 feet in height, inhabiting the 

 forests of British Guiana, particularly the 

 banks of the rivers Essequibo and Berbice, 

 where its timber, which is very durable, is 

 employed for ship-building. Its leaves are 



Caryocar tomentos 



composed of three broadly lance-shaped or 

 elliptical taper-pointed leaflets, each about 

 six inches long. Its flowers are of great 

 size, and both calyx and corolla are of a 

 deep purplish-brown colour. The fruit is 

 nearly spherical, and about the size of a 

 child's head, containing, when perfect, 

 four of the above-mentioned nuts or seeds ; 

 but they are more frequently imperfect 

 and contain only two or three. 



Another species, G. butyrosum, also a 

 native of Guiana, has white flowers, and 

 leaves composed of five oval-pointed 

 leaflets radiating from a central stalk. 

 It is called Pekea by the natives, and its 



nuts resemble those of the last ; its 

 timber, also, is valuable for ship-building, 

 mill-work, &c. [A. S.] 



CARYODAPHNE. Under this name are 

 included certain Javanese trees of the 

 laurel family, possessed of scaly leaf-buds, 

 three-nerved leaves, a funnel-shaped six- 

 cleft perianth, and twelve stamens in four 

 rows, the nine outer ones fertile. Of 

 these stamens the three innermost have a 

 stalked gland on each side of their base, 

 and all have anthers opening by two valves, 

 inwardly in those of the first and second 

 row, outwardly in those of the third row. 

 The three innermost sterile stamens are 

 stalked, with a long pointed head. The 

 drupe is one-seeded, adherent to the persis- 

 tent tube of the perianth. ft densiflora 

 has a bitter-tasting bark ; its leaves are 

 aromatic, and used in spasms of the 

 bowels, &c. [M. T. MJ 



CARYOLOPHA. A section of the genus 

 Anchusa, one of the Boraginacece, contain- 

 ing A. semperinrens, which has a salver- 

 shaped corolla with a very short straight 

 tube, and the ring at the base of the nuts 

 prolonged on the inner side into an 

 appendage, in which it differs from the 

 other sections of the genus. [J. T. SJ 



CARYOPHYLLACE^E (Silenece, Alsinece, 

 Queriacecp, Minuartiece, Molluginece, Steude- 

 lice, Silenads, Cloveworts, the Chickiveed 

 family). A natural order of thalami floral 

 dicotyledons belonging to Lindley's silenal 

 alliance. Herbs with stems swollen at 

 the joints, entire and opposite leaves, and a 

 definite (cymose) inflorescence; sepals four 

 to five, separate or cohering ; petals four to 

 five, with narrow claws, sometimes want- 

 ing; stamens usually as many or twice as 

 many as the petals. Ovary often supported 

 on a stalk(gynophore), usually one-celled 

 with a free central placenta ; styles two to 

 five, with papillae on their inner surface. 

 Fruit a capsule, opening by two to five 

 valves, or by teeth at the apex, which are 

 twice as many as the stigmas ; seeds usually 

 indefinite ; embryo curved round mealy 

 albumen. There are three suborders : 

 1. Silenece, the pink tribe, with united 

 sepals opposite the stamens, when the 

 latter are of the same number. 2. Alsinece, 

 the chickweed tribe, with separate sepals, 

 bearing the same relation to the stamens as 

 in Silenece. 3. Molluginece, the carpet- 

 weed tribe, in which the petals are wanting, 

 and the stamens are alternate with the 

 sepals when of the same number. Natives 

 principally of temperate and cold regions. 

 They inhabit mountains, hedges, rocks, and 



; waste places. Humboldt says that clove- 



. worts constitute JL. of the flowering plants 

 of France, -£ 7 of those of Germany, T x ? of 

 Lapland, and ^l of North America, The 



j order has no very marked properties. 

 Some say that the principle, called saponine, 



1 which is found in some of the plants, has 

 poisonous qualities. There are some showy 



; llowers in the order, such as pinks and 

 carnations ; but the greater number are 



I mere weeds. The clove pink, Bianthus 



