cham] 



El;c STrcasurij af Matmg* 



262 



Their leaves are shaped and plaited like a 

 fan, having the margin deeply cut into 

 numerous sharp-pointed divisions ; and the 

 bases of their long and generally prickly 

 footstalks are inserted into amass of coarse 

 fibrous matter. Their flowers are produced 

 in panicles from among the bases of the 

 leaves, and are either perfect or of sepa- 

 rate sexes, and consist of a three-parted 

 calyx, and a corolla of three petals with 

 from six or nine stamens attached to 

 their bases; the fertile ones having, in 

 addition, three distinct ovaries tapering 

 into awl-shaped styles. The fruit is a 

 berry about the size of an olive, contain- 

 ing one seed. 



C. humilis, the only European species of 

 the palm tribe, does not extend farther 

 north than Nice. It is generally very 

 dwarf, not more than three or four feet 

 high, sending up numerous suckers from 

 its creeping roots, and thus forming dense 

 tufts, which, in Sicily and North Africa, 

 take the place of our furze bushes ; but if 

 these suckers are not allowed to grow, the 

 plant forms a trunk twenty or thirty feet 

 high. The leaves of this Palm are com- 

 monly used in the south of Europe for 

 making hats, brooms, baskets, &c, and for 

 thatching houses; they also yield a large 

 quantity of fibre, from which the French 

 manufacture a material resembling horse- 

 hair—for which it is substituted. The 

 coarse fibre from the bases of the leaves 

 is used by the Arabs for mixing with 

 camel's hair to make their tent covers. 



C. Fortuni grows to about twelve or 

 twenty feet in height, and is a native of the 

 north of China, but is perfectly hardy in the 

 southern parts of England, a plant having 

 attained ten feet in height in Her Majesty's 

 garden at Osborne. The Chinese agricul- 

 tural labourers use the coarse brown fibre, 

 obtained from the bases of the leaves, for 

 making hats and also the garment called 

 So-e, worn in wet weather. [A. S.] 



CHAMiESPH.ERION. The name given 

 to a pigmy plant of the composite family 

 found in W. Australia. The whole plant 

 is about the size of a large pea, and consists 

 of a globular dense cluster of white 

 flower-heads, surrounded by a rosette of 

 narrow leaves a quarter of an inch in 

 length. The genus differs from its nearest 

 allies in the crown-shaped lacerated pap- 

 pus and its few flower-heads. The generic 

 name has reference to the appearance of 

 the plant, and is derived from two Greek 

 words signifying 'on the ground' and 'a 

 little sphere.' [A. A. B.] 



CHAMBURU. Carica digitata. 



CHAMISSOA. A genus of tropical 

 herbs belonging to Amaranthacece with 

 alternate leaves and flowers in axillary or 

 terminal spikes or globular heads; differing 

 from Amaranthus by having the seeds 

 furnished with a small white axil at the 

 liilum, and the radicle of the embryo 

 superior. [J. T. S.] 



CHAMOMILE. Anthemis nobilis, some- 



times written Camomile. — ,WILD. Ma- 

 tricaria Chamomilla. 



CHAMP. The timber of Michelia ex- 

 celsa. 



CHAMPIGNON. The French name for 

 mushrooms in general, but applied in this 

 country only to Agaricus (Marasmius) 

 Oreacles or by mistake to very different 

 and often dangerous species. In some 

 parts of the country it is known under the 

 name of Scotch Bonnets. The Champig- 

 non grows in fairy rings, generally of 

 a few feet only in diameter. It seems to 

 luxuriate most in a sandy soil, but occurs 

 everywhere in exposed pastures. The 

 pileus when moist is of a dull fawn colour, 

 when dry of a creamy white ; the stem is 

 tough with a villous bark, the gills broad, 

 cream-coloured, free from any attachment 

 to the stem, and very distant. The only 

 species with which it can be fairly con- 

 founded is A. (Marasmius) wens, which 

 has narrow browner gills, and leaves a 

 burning sensation in the throat, while the 

 true champignon is the mildest and most 

 sapid of fungi. It is excellent as a fri- 

 cassee, or stewed like common mushrooms, 

 and it has the great merit of drying ad- 

 mirably. Few comparatively are ac- 

 quainted with its excellent qualities, but 

 those who are, gladly avail themselves of 

 it as a most welcome article for the table. 

 The Champignon cultivee of the French 

 is Agaricus campestris. [M. J. B.J 



CHAMPIONIA. A genus named after 

 the late Lieut.-Col. Cham pion, who was mor- 

 tally wounded at Inkerman, containing a 

 single species, an undershrub from Ceylon, 

 belonging to the cyrtandreous division of 

 Gesneracece, which is characterised as 

 having the seeds without albumen, and 

 the fruit wholly free. The plants of this 

 genus have opposite oblong leaves, and 

 short axillary trichotomous peduncles. 

 The calyx is hairy and cut into five equal 

 linear-subulate lobes; the white glabrous 

 and rotate corolla is longer than the 

 calyx, and has a very short tube, and a 

 four-parted limb, the lobes of which are 

 equal and oblong-lanceolate. There are 

 four equal stamens and no hypogynous 

 glands. The ovary is one-celled with two 

 parietal placentae ; and the style filiform 

 with a capitate stigma. The oblong cap- 

 sular fruit exceeds the persistent calyx ; 

 it is one-celled and contains many ovate 

 seeds with a reticulated testa. [W. C] 



CHANDELIER TREE. Pandanus Can- 

 delabrum. 



CHANNELLED. Hollowed out like a 

 gutter, like many leaf -stalks. 



CHANTARELLE. The French name 

 for Cantharellus cibarms, adopted in this 

 country. The genus Cantharellus is dis- 

 tinguished from Agaricus by the gills of 

 the latter being replaced by veins which 

 are frequently branched, and if they ever 

 approach the appearance of gills, they are 

 distinguished by their very obtuse edge, 



