259 



Z\)t CrcaSttrg of Volant). 



[CHAF 



■which are found here and there scattered ' 

 in old books.' It is said, however, to be 

 still usefully employed as a bait for rock- 

 cod flshiug on the coast of Wales. The 

 genus is a somewhat anomalous one as to 

 classification, the indusium, which is one 

 of the characteristics of the Aspleniece, be- 

 ins here either wholly wanting or merely 

 I rudimentary. The sori are nevertheless 

 ' unilateral, and something like an indusium 

 : has been detected, so that it is now gene- 

 ! rally associated with the Aspleniwm as it 

 was by Linnneus. The name Ceterach has 

 i also been used by Presl to distinguish a 

 ' section of Gymnogramma. [T. M.] 



I CETRARIA. A genus of lecidineous 

 lichens distinguished by the fructification 

 being fixed laterally to the borders of the 

 thallus, and consequently margined by it. 

 It is not, however, peltate. It deserves 



: notice here as containing C. islandica, or 

 the well-known Iceland Moss, which 



. affords at once a nutritious article of 



i food, and a doubtful medicine. Before 

 using it requires to be steeped for several 



[ hours to get rid of a bitter principle. It 

 is sometimes boiled to form a jelly, which 



! is mixed with milk or wine; sometimes it is 



j reduced to powder and used as an in- 



i gredient in cakes or bread. It is esteemed 

 by many useful in pulmonary complaints 



; or as a restorative, but after the bitter 

 principle has been extracted it seems to 



: possess no active qualities. [M. J. B.] 

 CEVADILLA. The seeds of Asagrcea 



' officinalis. 



! CHA DE FRADE. A Brazilian name for 

 a decoction of Casearia lingua. — DE 

 PEDRESTE. A Brazilian name for Lan- 

 tana pseudo-thea. 



CHABR.EA. The generic name of plants 

 belonging to the composite order, having I 

 the flowers uniform, smooth, two-lipped, I 

 the lips bent down, the outer largest and 

 three-toothed, the inner with two teeth ; | 

 the fruit narrow below, covered with short I 

 projections, and crowned with feathery ! 

 appendages. The name was given in 

 honour of Chabre, a botanist of Geneva. 

 The species of this genus are natives of 

 Chili and of the Straits of Magellan ; they ! 

 have alternate leaves, those below mostly 

 twice pinnate; and the heads of flowers ■ 

 are purplish. Dr. Hooker, in the Flora \ 

 Antarctica, alludes in these terms to C. i 

 suaveolens : ' Tlje odour of this plant, which 

 is a great ornament to the grassy hills of 

 the Falkland Islands, is decidedly that 

 of benzoin.' [G. D.] 



CHACA, or CHOCO. Sechium edule. 



CTTffiNABTHE. Biadenium. 



CH.ENE8THES. A genus of trees or J 

 large shrubs, belonging to the solanace- 

 ous family, and having long crimson or 

 orange-coloured flowers of much beauty, 

 like those of Dunalia, an allied genus ; but 

 the stamens, in the present instance, are 

 destitute of the lateral appendages which 

 characterise Dunalia. There is another 



distinguishing feature in the peculiarity 

 of the tubular calyx, which splits open by 

 the growth of the fruit. The trees grow 

 in the valleys of the Andes. fM. T. M.] 



CH.ENOSTOMA. A considerable genus 

 of herbs or undershrubs, belonging to 

 Scrophulariacece, natives of South Africa. 

 They have opposite dentate rarely entire 

 leaves, and axillary or racemose pedicel- 

 late flowers, which do not blacken in dry- 

 ing. The calyx is five-parted , the decidu- 

 ous corolla is funnel-shaped, sometimes 

 with a short tube, and its limb is five-cleft. 

 There are four didynamous stamens the 

 length of the corolla or slightly exserted. 

 The style is simple, and the stigma sub- 

 clavate. The capsule is membranaceous 

 and two-celled. [W. C] 



CH--ERADOPLECTRON Glossula. 



CHjETA. A bristle. The slender stalk 

 of the spore-case of mosses . also called 

 Seta. 



CH.ETACHINE. A small spiny S. African 

 genus, belonging to the Ulmacece. Itdiffers 

 from the elm in not having winged fruits, 

 and from Sponia or Celtis in its natural 

 habit more than in anything else. The 

 leaves are smooth or downy, oval or ellip- 

 tical in form, with entire or toothed mar- 

 gins, and from one to two inches long; 

 they are generally terminated by a bristle, 

 and accompanied at the base of the stalks 

 by two short spines. The flowers are 

 small and green, male and female on the 

 same plant ; the males are numerous in the 

 axils of the leaves, and have a five-parted 

 calyx with five stamens opposite its divi- 

 sion ; the females are single in the axils of 

 the leaves, with a similar but smaller 

 calyx, enclosing a one-celled ovary, which 

 is crowned with two reflexed stigmas. 

 The fruit is a little oval nut, about the size 

 of a pea, with one seed. In some works 

 the name has been spelt Chcetaehyne and 

 Chwtackne by mistake. [A. A. BJ 



CH^ETOGASTRA. A genus of Melasto- 

 macew, natives of tropical America, allied 

 to Arthrostemma, but with the parts of the 

 flower in fives. Like that genus the pre- 

 sent is an unnatural one, the species hav- 

 ing only trifling technical characters in 

 common. [J. T. S.] 



CH.ETOSTOMA. A genus of small dry 

 heath-like Brazilian shrubs, belonging to 

 Melastomacem. Stems leafless at the base ; 

 flowers solitary, rather small, purple with 

 yellow anthers ; parts of the flowers in 

 fours or fives, the stamens being twice as 

 many as the petals ; capsule free, cylin- 

 drical, three-celled. [J. T. S.] 



CELETURUS. A genus of grasses belong- 

 ing to the tribe Agrostidece. The only 

 species described, C. faseiculatus,is a small 

 annual grass, a native of Spain. [D. M.] 



CHAFF, CHAFFY. The same as pale- 

 aceous. 



CHAFF-FLOWER Alternanthera Achy- 

 rantha. 



