CASS] 



&f)e ^Treasure of SBotang. 



234 



bearing a long recurved awn behind. The 

 ovoid capsule has four to five cells and as 

 many valves, with a four to five-lobed 

 placenta pendulous from the summit of 

 the columella, and contains many smooth 

 wingless seeds. [W. C.j 



CASSIPOUREA. A genus belonging to 

 that section of the mangrove family called 

 Legnotidece, containing three species, na- 

 tives of the West Indies, Central America, 

 Venezuela and Guiana. They are trees with 

 opposite entire or serrated leaves, ovate or 

 elliptical in form, and smooth and leathery 

 in texture. The flowers are small, in 

 axillary clusters, and sessile or shortly- 

 stalked ; the calyx four or five-lobed ; the 

 petals four or five, clawed and fringed like 

 those of a Pink. The fruit is ovoid, about 

 the size of a pea, somewhat fleshy, and 

 containing few seeds. [A. A. B.J 



CASSIS. (Fr.) Ribes nigrum. 



CASSOLETTE. (Fr.) Hesperis matro- 

 nalis. 



CASSOUMBA. A pigment made by the 

 Amboynians of the burnt capsules of 

 Sterculia Balanghas. 



CASSUVIUM. The plants formerly so- 

 i called are now considered to belong to 

 I Anacardiuji : which see. [M. T. M.] 



| CASSYTHA. A curious genus of semi- 

 i parasitical leafless thread-like plants, usu- 

 ! ally considered as a section of the Laura- 

 i cete. They grow sometimes in, and receive 

 their entire nourishment from, the soil ; 

 but when they come in contact with other 

 plants, they twine round them with their 

 Avire-like branches, and, at the place of 

 contact, emit root-like tubercles, by which 

 they derive their future nourishment from 

 the plant to which they are fixed, the roots 

 in the soil dying away. The flowers are 

 small and white, disposed in short spikes 

 which arise from the axils of small scales. 

 The calyx is six-parted. The stamens are 

 petal-like, twelve in number, arranged in 

 four rows ; the two external rows perfect, 

 the anthers opening inwards with two 

 recurved lids, the next row smaller and 

 having a pair of glands at the base of each 

 stamen, the anthers opening outwards, 

 while the fourth row is scale-like and 

 abortive. The fruit is about the size of a 

 pea, enclosed in a berried calyx, and 

 contains one seed. The plants of this 

 genus are much like dodders in appearance, 

 and are often called Dodder-laurels. They 

 only differ from true laurels in the absence 

 of leaves and the berried calyx. Some of 

 the Australian species are called Scrub- 

 vines ; they groAv so thickly in some places 

 as to be almost impenetrable. The white 

 j drupes of C. cuseutiformis, a X. Australian 

 j species, are eatable. C.flUformis, a common 

 I Indian species, is said to be reduced to a 

 powder, mixed with sesamum oil, and used 

 ! as a head-wash for strengthening the hair; 

 ! it is also used by the Brahmins of S. India 

 | for seasoning their butter-milk; and in 

 medicine as a remedy for cleansing in 



veterate ulcers, for which it is prepared by 

 mixing the powdered plant with ginger 

 and butter. The juice mixed with sugar 

 is considered a specific in inflamed eyes. 

 The species are found, more or less, in 

 all tropical countries. [A. A. B.] 



CASSYTHACEiE. The genus Cassytha, 

 consisting of leafless parasitical twiners, 

 resembling the dodders in habit, is so 

 very different in this respect from the I 

 trees or shrubs which constitute the Lcm- 

 racece, that it has been proposed to esta- 

 blish it as a distinct familyunder the name 

 of CassythacecB. The structure of the 

 flower and fruit presents, however, no 

 difference whatever ; the number of parts, 

 and the peculiar anthers are precisely the 

 same, and Cassytha is more generally re- 

 tained as an anomalous genus or tribe of 

 Lauracece. There are five or six species, 

 natives of the tropical regions both of 

 the New and Old World, where their 

 thread-like or wiry stems attach themselves 

 to herbs or shrubs precisely like our dod- 

 ders, only on a somewhat larger scale. 



CASTANEA. The Chestnut. This, the 

 most magnificent tree which reaches per- 

 fection in Europe, belongs to the Cory- 

 lacece, and is so well known that any 

 statement of its distinctive characters is 

 superfluous. Up to a recent period, it 

 appears to have been an almost generally 

 received opinion that the Chestnut was an 

 indigenous tree in Great Britain. This 

 belief was founded mainly on the supposed 

 fact that Chestnut timber existed in large 

 quantities in old buildings. Evelyn says, 

 ' It hath formerly built a good part of our 

 ancient houses in the city of London, as 

 does yet appear : I had once a very large 

 barn near the city, framed entirely of this 

 timber ; and certainly the trees grew not 

 far off, probably in some woods near the 

 town, for in that description of London 

 written by Fitz-Stephen, in the reign of j 

 Henry II., he speaks of a very noble and 

 large forest, which grew in the bcreal part 

 of it,' &c. Other writers, equally deserv- 

 ing of credit, make mention of Chestnut 

 timber being found in old buildings; and, 

 among them, Hasted went so far as to 

 broach a theory that a traffic was anciently 

 carried on between Normandy and Eng- 

 land, the latter supplying Chestnut timber 

 in exchange for stone. 



That this wood should be found in ancient 

 buildings in very large quantities would 

 carry great weight; but it has recently 

 been discovered that the timber supposed 

 to be Chestnut is in reality a kind of Oak 

 [Quercus sessiliflorcO or Denmark Oak, dif- 

 fering from common oak timber in those 

 very characters which had been fixed on 

 as distinctive of Chestnut. Besides this, 

 Chestnut timber of large dimensions is 

 neither in Great Britain nor the South 

 of Europe found to possess the qualities, 

 strength and durability, which were sup- 

 posed to have recommended it to the notice 

 of ancient builders. Evelyn's quotation 

 from Fitz-Stephen is a very unhappy one, 

 and the citation of the same passage from 



