inches long, of a green colour and oval 

 form, having a broad scar at the top 

 caused by the flowers falling away ; when 

 ripe they burst into three or four pieces, 

 which curve back so as to resemble a 

 flower. Inside they contain numerous little 

 black seeds imbedded in a crimson-coloured 

 pulp which the Pimos and Papagos Indians 

 make into an excellent preserve; and they 

 1 1 also eat the ripe fruit as an article of food, 

 gathering it by means of a forked stick 

 tied to the end of a long pole. 



C. MacDonaldice is one of the night- 

 flowering kinds, and is of great beauty, 

 its flowers when fully expanded being as 

 much as fourteen inches in diameter, 

 having numerous radiating red and bright 

 orange sepals and delicately white petals. 

 The stems are cylindrical, creeping, and 

 branched, not much thicker than the little 

 I finger, and having here and there small 

 I swellings with a spine in the centre. It is 

 j a native of Honduras. The most common 

 ! night-flowering kind is the C. grandiflorus, 

 a native of the West Indies. [A. S.] 



CERFEUIL. (Fr.) Scandix Cerefolium. 



— A v AIGUILLETTES. Scandix Pecten- 

 Veneris. — CULTIYE'. Anthriscus Cere- 

 folium. — DES FOTJS. Anthriscus vulgaris. 



— MUSQUE'. Myrrhis odorata 



CERIXTHE. A small genus of borage- 

 worts, consisting, with one exception, of 

 annual plants, with oval glaucous stem- 

 clasping leaves, and tubular flowers in 

 one-sided drooping leafy racemes. The 

 species are mostly European, and are more 

 remarkable for their singularly glaucous 

 aspect than for beauty. Two species, C. 

 major and C. minor, have been long culti- 

 vated in gardens under the name of 

 i Honeywort, an appellation due to the 

 j abundance of honey secreted by their 

 ! blossoms, which are much resorted to by 

 I bees. C. major grows about a foot high, 

 ! with a branched stem, oval stem-clasping 

 I leaves, minutely toothed at the margin, 

 j set with rough white dots, and covered 

 j with a bluish white bloom. The crook-like 

 I racemes of flowers have on each side a 

 ; row of imbricated oval leaves, the purplish 

 I corolla being about an inch long, con- 

 I tracted at the mouth, with a narrow five- 

 i toothed spreading margin, and a fruit 

 [ of two conical black nuts. C. minor has 

 smaller yellow flowers, the segments of 

 which are connivent and not reflexed. In 

 C. retorta the tube of the corolla is curved, 

 and the leaves are blotched with silvery- 

 white. [W. T.] 

 CERINTJS. The colour of yellow wax. 



CERIOPS. Trees distinguished from the 

 neighbouring genus Rhizophora, by their 

 small five-parted flowers, the petals of 

 which are hairy at the points. The ten 

 stamens are placed in pairs before the 

 petals. The lower part of the ovary has 

 three compartments and six ovules, while 

 the upper part is solid, and ends in a style 

 which is longer than the stamens. Like 

 the rest of the mangrove family the seed 

 has the curious habit of germinating and 



protruding from the fruit while still 

 attached to the bough. The trees are 

 natives of the shores of tropical Asia and 

 Australia, [M. T. M.] 



CERISETTE. (Fr.) Solanum pseudo- 

 capsicum. 



CERISIER A^ BOUQUETS. (Fr.) Cerasus 

 vulgaris. — D' AMOUR. Solanum pseudo- 

 capsicum. — DE LA TOUSSALXT. Cera- 

 sus semperflorens. — NAIN. Lonicera 

 tatarica, and also Cerasus Chamaecerasus. 

 — PETIT DES HOTTENTOTS. Celastrus 

 lucidus. 



CERIUM, CERIO. Same as Caryopsis. 



CERXUE. (Fr.) Agrostis stolonifera. 



CERNUOUS. Inclining a little from the 

 perpendicular ; generally applied to droop- 

 ing flowers. 



CEROCHILUS. Bhamphidia. 



CEROPEGIA. A genus of Asclepiadacece, 

 containing more than fifty species of 

 perennial herbaceous plants or under- 

 shrubs, natives of India and Africa. They 

 have a bulbous root, and short erect or 

 slender twining stems, with opposite 

 leaves and interpetiolar umbels of few or 

 many flowers. The calyx is five-parted. 

 The corolla tube is slender in the middle, 

 expanding more or less below as well as 

 above, where the limb divides into five 

 generally slender portions, which being 

 united at their points form a globose head. 



j The staminal corona consists of five, ten, 

 or fifteen ligulate lobes in one or two 

 series. The gynostegium is included. 

 The anthers have no membrane. The 

 pollen masses are rounded, have a pellucid 

 interior margin, and are connected by 

 short processes. The slender follicles are 

 cylindrical with comose seeds. Several 



i species are employed for food ; in some 

 cases the whole plant is eaten as a salad, in 

 others the fleshy leaves, stems and tubers, 

 are used as pot vegetables. [W. C] 



| CEROPTERIS. A name formerly pro- 

 posed but not adopted for the species of 



| Gymnogramma, which have the surface 



i covered by a coloured powdery secretion, 

 and which are familiarly known as Gold 



! Ferns and Silver Ferns, from the colour of 

 this substance which is of a waxy nature, j 

 whence the name. [T. M.] 



CEROXYLON. This genus of palms is 

 by some botanists combined with the 

 genus Iriartea, from which, however, it is 

 distinguished by the spathe or bract which 

 covers the young flower spikes being 

 entire (in Iriartea it is divided), by some 

 of its flowers being perfect, while those of 

 Iriartea are all imperfect, and also by a 

 slight difference in the position of the 

 embryo in the seed. Both calyx and 

 corolla are three-parted, the calyx being 

 very minute; the stamens are generally 

 twelve in number, but occasionally vary 

 from nine to fifteen; and the females have 

 a three-celled ovary and three stigmas. 

 The fruit is a small round berry containing 



