263 



Elje CreaSurg at 23otanj?. 



[CHAR 



the shorter ones not being distinct as in 

 mushrooms, but connected with the longer 

 as if immediately given off by them. 

 The Chantarelle is a common though 

 seldom an abundant inhabitant of our 

 woods. The rich yolk-of-egg yellow and 

 fragrant fruity smell at once distinguish 

 it. It is rather acrid when eaten raw, but 

 makes an excellent fricassee if steeped 

 before dressing in boiling milk, and then 

 stewed very gently. It is, however, of 

 far less frequent use in this country than 

 on the continent, where it is highly 

 esteemed. "We are not aware that there is 

 any deleterious fungus with which it can 

 be confounded. [M. J. B.] 



CHAXYRE. (Fr.) Cannabis. — D'EAU. 

 Bidens tripartita. — SAUVAGE. Galeop- 

 sis Tetraliit. 



CHASTRT:n~E. (Fr.) Eupatoriumcannabi- 



CHAPEATJ D'E'YEQUE. (Fr.) 

 dium alpinum. 



Epiiih 



CHARACE.E. A small natural order of 

 acrogens consisting of two or at most 

 three genera. The species are all aquatic, 

 j i and are found in almost all parts of the 

 ; | world, but are most common in temperate 

 ! countries. In the genus Nitetta, the struc- 

 ture of the plant has much resemblance to 

 : that of Cladophora, which circumstance, 

 ;l combined with the aquatic habit, has 

 1 caused these plants to be associated with 

 >! Alga. In Chara, however, the axis is 

 j , coated with tubes, and a large quantity of 

 ; , calcareous matter is deposited upon tliem. 

 i , The branches are given off in whorls, 

 j| those of the fruit-bearing branchlets, 

 i however, being imperfect on the outer 

 side. The species are either monoecious 

 j! or dioecious, the two kinds of fruit being 

 j I often seated close to each other. The 

 ,| female fruit consists of an ovate nucleus 

 a extensively coated with spirally-arranged 

 II- tubes, the tips of which are free and look 

 like so many stigmas, and secondly with a 

 firm spirally-ribbed integument, the cells 

 of which abound in starch granules. The 

 male fruit is globose and brick-red, the 

 surface being divided into eight equal 

 ascse consisting of tubes radiating from a 

 common centre. From each of these a 

 short tube is given off within the eight 

 tubes, meeting in the centre, and joined to 

 a cellular mass, which is supported by a 

 ninth bell-shaped process which is fixed by 

 the broader end to the plant, and keeps the 

 globule from falling prematurely. At this 

 point of junction a number of jointed 

 threads are attached, each cell of which, 

 contains a spiral spermatozoid with two 

 long slender thong-shaped processes at 

 one end, by means of which they move 

 about. Wallroth asserts that he has seen 

 the globules vegetate, a circumstance 

 which is not impossible after they have 

 performed their function. A more com- 

 mon mode of reproduction is by means of 

 little tuberiform bodies attached to the 

 creeping roots. Each articulation in these 

 plants has a distinct system of circulation 



which seems to be connected with the 

 manner in which the grains of chlorophyl 

 are arranged on the walls of tubes, a free 

 longitudinal colourless space being left 

 round which the juices circulate from the 

 base upwards at the rate of about two 

 lines in a second. An ordinary microscope 

 is amply sufficient to show this interesting 

 phenomenon. A little alcohol, as also 

 many other chemical substances, at once 

 arrests the motion, as is also the case when 

 the distribution of the chlorophyl is dis- 

 turbed. "We know of no use to which these 

 plants can be applied. The smell which 

 they emit resembles that of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen, and it is to this cause probably 

 that they have an evil report as productive 

 of fevers. Their nucules, known to miner- 

 alogists under the name of Gyrogonites, 

 are found for the first time in the lower 

 freshwater formations. [M. J. B.] 



CHARACTER. A short phrase express- 

 ing the essential marks by which a given 

 plant or group of plants is distinguished 

 from others. A specific character distin- 

 guishes one species from other species ; 

 and so on. 



CHARAGNE. (Fr.) Chora. 



CHARBON. (Fr.) Vredo Carlo. 



CHARDINIA. A genus of the com- 

 posite family with a single species, C. 

 xeranthemoides, which is a pretty' little 

 annual herb, a few inches high, found in 

 Asia Minor and Persia. It has alternate 

 lance-shaped entire leaves, nearly an inch 

 long, covered with white pubescence; 

 and twigs terminating in solitary silvery 

 flower-heads, which when mature are 

 nearly an inch across, and owe their beauty 

 to the shining chaffy lance-shaped pappus 

 scales which crown the cylindrical striate 

 achenes, and are nearly half an inch in 

 length. In the closely-related genus Xe- 

 ranthemwm the inner scales of the invo- 

 lucre are much longer than the others, 

 bent out at the top, and often of a bright 

 pink colour, so that they look like ray 

 florets; here, however, the inner scales 

 are erect like the outer, not much longer, 

 and of the same silvery hue. [A. A. B.] 



CHARDON. (Fr.) Car duns. — A'BOX- 

 KETIER. Dipsacus fullonum. — AR- 

 GEXTE'. SilyJmmMarianum. — E'TOILE'. 

 Centaurea Caleitrapa. — HEMORRHOI- 

 DAL. Cardiacs arvensis. —MARIE. Sily- 

 bum Marianum. — ROLAND. Eryngium 

 campestre. 



CHARDS. The late summer blanched 

 leaves of the Artichoke, Cynara Scolymus. 



CHARIANTHTJS. A genus of Melasto- 

 macem from the West Indies. Erect 

 shrubs with opposite stalked five-nerved 

 leaves, generally entire. Flowers purple 

 in a trichotomous corymbose cyme ; 

 calyx-tube adhering to the ovary, its limb 

 slightly four-lobed ; petals four ; stamens 

 eight; fruit a globose berry depressed in 

 the centre, with four cells and numerous 

 seeds. [J. T. S.] 



