233 



®l)t Eixa^urg of aSutang, 



[CASS 



nterior of Africa, to the Botanic Garden at 

 the Mauritius, without knowing what the 

 plant was from which they were derived, 

 hut stating that the natives prepared and 

 used them as coffee. On investigation the 



Cassia lanceolata. 



seeds turned out to he those of this 

 species used for a like purpose in the 

 Mauritius. C. fistula, called the Pudding 

 Pipe Tree from its peculiar pods, is a very- 

 handsome tree, with the foliage of the ash, 

 and the inflorescence of the lahurnum. 

 It is a native of India, hut has been intro- 

 duced into the "West Indies, Northern 

 Africa, &c, whence its pods, called cassia 

 pods, are imported. These pods are very 

 unlike those of the other species, being 

 cylindrical, black, woody, one to two feet 

 long, not splitting, but marked by three 

 long furrows, divided in the interior into a 

 number of compartments by means of 

 transverse partitions, which project from 

 the placentae. Each compartment of the 

 fruit contain s a single seed, imbedded in 

 pulp. From this peculiarity of the fruit 

 the plant is occasionally placed in a 

 separate genus Cathartocarpus. The pulp 

 surrounding the seeds is used as a mild 

 laxative. 



Several kinds of this extensive genus 

 are in cultivation, most of them having 

 handsome foliage and conspicuous yellow 

 flowers. . [M. T. M.] 



CASSIA BUDS. A commercial name for 

 the flower-buds of Cinnarnomum aroma- 

 ticum. 



CASSIA, CLOVE. The bark of Dicypel- 

 hum caryophyllatum. —, POET'S. Osyris. 

 — , PURGING. Cassia or Cathartocarpus 

 fistula. 



CASSIA PODS. The black cylindrical 

 woody pod3 of Cassia or Cathartocarpus 

 fistula. 



CASSIDEOUS, Having the form of a 

 helmet ; as the upper sepal in the flower of 

 an aconite. 



CASSINE. A genus of South African 



plants belonging to the spindle-tree family, 

 Celastraceai. They are smooth, erect or 

 climbing shrubs, with four-angled twigs, 

 and opposite leathery entire or toothed 

 leaves. The flowers are small and white, 

 disposed in cymes ; the calyx four or five- 

 parted; the petals and stamens of a like 

 number. The fruit is a fleshy drupe 

 containing one or two seeds enclosed in a 

 stony shell (putamen) and destitute of an 

 aril. The Lapelhout or Ladlewood of the 

 Cape, G. Colpoon, furnishes a useful and 

 handsome wood for cabinet-work and 

 other fancy purposes ; it is hard and tough, 

 and when polished, the veining has an 

 exceedingly beautiful appearance ; it grows 

 to a height of ten feet, with a diameter of 

 eight to twelve inches. The Hottentot 

 Cherry, C. maurocenia, is a bush of like 

 dimensions. The wood takes a good polish, 

 and is particularly adapted for the manu- 

 facture of musical instruments. It is some- 

 times placed in a separate genus called 

 Maurocenia. Seven species of Cassine are 

 enumerated. [A. A. BJ 



CASSINIA. A genus of the composite 

 family comprising a number of elegant 

 evergreen shrubs, natives of New Holland, 

 Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Auckland 

 Islands. The leaves are small, mostly 

 linear, with the margins rolled backwards. 

 The flower-heads are very numerous and 

 small, white, pink, or yellow in colour, and 

 disposed in terminal corymbs or panicles ; 

 the florets all tubular, having both stamens 

 and pistil, or with a few slender female 

 ones near the circumference. The recep- 

 tacle is furnished with linear scales, like 

 the inner ones of the involucre, and the 

 presence of these scales serves to distin- 

 guish the genus (which is named in honour 

 of M. Henri Cassini, an eminent French 

 botanist) from Ozothammus, to which it is 

 nearly allied. C. aurea, a species with 

 golden yellow flowers and linear leaves, is 

 in cultivation. One species (C. aculeata) is 

 found in Tasmania ; and three in New Zea- 

 land, one of them {C.Yauvilliersii) occurring 

 also in the Auckland Islands. The re- 

 mainder are chiefly natives of the eastern 

 portion of Australia. More than thirty 

 species are known. [A. A. B.] 



CASSIOBERRY BUSH. Viburnum Ice 

 vigatum. 



CASSIOPE. A genus of Ericacece, con- 

 sisting of small Arctic or Alpine evergreen 

 plants, resembling lycopods or heaths, 

 with solitary flowers nodding on slender 

 erect peduncles of a white or rose colour. 

 The calyx consists of four or five nearly 

 distinct ovate sepals, and is without bracts ; 

 the corolla is campanulate and deeply four 

 to five-cleft; and there are eight to ten 

 stamens, the anthers of which are fixed by 

 their apex, and have ovoid cells, each 

 opening by a large terminal pore, and 



