253 



Kfyz eTrcaSurg at 28ntang. 



[CERA 



] the Flemish, had probably been introduced 

 • at the above period, and likewise the Big- 

 ! arreau ; the former is the Cerise de Mont- 

 morency, and had most likely been ob- 

 i tained by the Dutch from France ; but it 

 would appear from Knoop that the Bigar- 

 I reau tribe of Cherries had been introduced 

 ! to the Continent from Spain ; for, he says, 

 ; in Germany and the Netherlands these are 

 I called Spanish Cherries {Spaense Eersen). 

 I The cultivated varieties are now very 

 : numerous in this country. The following 

 ; rank among the best : May Duke, Knight's 

 1 Early Black, Elton, Bigarreau, Florence, 

 Kentish and Morello. The last two are 

 i not properly dessert kinds, but are other- 

 ! wise very useful. The Kentish is chiefly 

 i used for pies ; its stalk is so strongly 

 ■ attached to the stone that the latter may 

 i be withdrawn from the fruit by it, so as to 

 , leave the cherry apparently whole, and in 

 this state the fruit is laid on hair sieves 

 and exposed to the sun, where it dries like 

 ] a sultana raisin, becomes a delicious 

 I sweet-meat, and will keep thus for twelve 

 I months. The Morello is the sort chiefly 

 I employed for preserving in brandy. 



Several highly-esteemed liqueurs are 



I prepared from Cherries. The German 



i Kirschwasser is made by distilling the fer- 



! mented juice of the pulp with which the 



stones and kernels are ground and mixed. 



, Maraschino, the most celebrated liqueur of 



Italy, is also obtained by the distillation 



of a small black Cherry, with which, while 



fermenting, honey, some cherry leaves, and 



the kernels of the fruit, are mixed. The 



celebrated Ratafia of Grenoble is prepared 



from pounded Cherries, to which brandy, 



sugar, and spices are added, the mixture 



being then placed in the sun or near a fire. 



1 The gum of the Cherry tree closely resem- 



i bles gum Arabic in its nature and proper- 



: ties. The wood is hard and tough, and is 



used by the cabinet-makers. It has been 



I occasionallv employed for rifle stocks in- 



, stead of walnut. [R. TJ 



I CERATANDRA. Under this name are 

 j collected several species of terrestrial 

 j Orchids, inhabiting the Cape of Good Hope. 

 They have grassy leaves, covering the 

 : scape, and closely packed green or yellow 

 1 flowers, turning black in drying. The 

 anther is a great inverted horseshoe- 

 shaped body ; the lip, which is heart-shaped 

 I or angular, and bears some kind of process 

 j in its middle, is attached to the face of the 

 ! column by a narrow unguis. The species 

 j grow in sand, into which they introduce 

 long succulent hairy fibres ; they seem to 

 | be uncultivable. 



CERATIOLA. A small heath-like ever- 



; green shrub, belonging to the Empetra- 



i ceae, among which it is distinguished by 



i its two-leaved membranaceous calyx, with 



four scales at the base, two petals, and two 



1 stamens. C. erico'ides, the only species, is 



j an upright much-branched shrub, greatly 



resembling a heath, and varying from two 



to eight feet high ; the branches are erect,. 



I somewhat whorled, and marked with the 



| scars of the fallen leaves ; the leaves are 



in whorls of four, very narrow and spread 

 ing. Flowers brownish, and very small, 

 solitary in the axils of the upper leaves. 

 ' A native of South Carolina, on the Edisto 

 River, where it covers a space 300 or 400 

 yards in width, and two or three miles 

 long, which appears to have been a sand- 

 bank formed by some of the ancient 

 freshets of the river. According to Pursh, 

 it is also found in the gravelly dry soil of 

 Georgia and Florida ; and in great plenty 

 on the islands at the mouth of St. Mary's 

 River.' (Loudon.) [C. A. J.] 



CERATITES. A name applied by Link 

 to the long rag.ced species of jEcidium 

 which grow on the leaves of the moun- 

 tain ash and whitethorn, sometimes at- 

 tacking the fruit of the latter and distort- 

 ing it. They are now placed in the genus 

 Ecestelia, to which we shall have occasion 

 to refer hereafter. [M. J . B.] 



CERATITJM. This is usually called a 

 capsula siliquiformis. A long slender 

 horn-like one-celled superior fruit, as in 

 Eypecoum. 



CERATOCALYX. A genus of Oroban- 

 chacece, containing a single species, para- 

 sitic upon the roots of other plants, a 

 native of mountains in Spain. It has a 

 simple scaly stem, and solitary sessile 

 flowers in the axils of the bracts, like Oro- 

 banche, from which it scarcely differs, 

 except in the structure of the calyx, which i 

 is gamosepalous, with a campanulate tube j 

 lengthened out laterally into two acute 

 narrow lobes, truncate before and behind, 

 and exhibiting no traces of the union 

 of the sepals. [W. C] 



CERATOCAPNOS. A genus of Fumari- ; 

 acece, the four petals of which are spurred 

 at the base and two-lobed at the apex; | 

 stamens six, united into two bundles ; > 

 style simple, deciduous. Fruit either a one- 

 seeded nut, marked with five ribs, and ! 

 terminated by a long beak or a lance- i 

 shaped pointed capsule, two-valved and 

 two-seeded, the valves marked with five 

 rifts. The plants are scrambling shrubs, 

 natives of Syria and Algeria. [M. T. M.] i 



CERATOCEPHALUS. A small genus of i 

 Ranunculacece, natives of Central and < 

 Southern Europe. They are small annuals 

 covered with cottony hairs, having many- j 

 cleft radical leaves, and numerous short 

 one-flowered scapes ; calyx with five 

 sepals ; petals five, small, yellow : stamens 

 five to fifteen ; ovaries numerous. Achenes 

 in an oblong spike on the receptacle; they 

 have two protuberances and two empty 

 cells at the base, and terminate in sword- 

 shaped beaks, about half an inch long 

 when mature. This beak which charac- 

 terises the genus, is curved upwards in the 

 commonest species, C./alcatus, but is nearly 

 straight in C.orthoceras. [J. T. SJ 



CERATOCHILUS. Under this name 

 stand three very little known diminu- 

 tive orchids with simple stems, fleshy dis- 

 tichous leaves, andminute axillary flowers. 

 They inhabit trees iu Java, where they 



