chim] 



Wfyt Crotfurp flf Matany. 



270 



pedicels one-flowered, bearing handsome, 

 bell-shaped, white flowers, tinged with 

 purplish-red, and very sweet-scented. The 

 leaves contain a bitter extractive matter, 

 on which account they have been used in 

 medicine, in North America. [J. T. S.] 



CHIMNEY PLANT. Campanula pyra- 

 midalis. 



CHIMONANTHUS. The Japan Allspice, 

 C fragrans, is the only representative of 

 this genus of the Calycanthus family, and 

 it is well-known in gardens for its early 

 flowering and the sweet scent of its blos- 

 soms. It was introduced from China in 

 1766, and for a long while was known 

 under the name of Calycanthus pracox, 

 until it was shown to differ from that 

 genus in having but ten stamens arranged 

 in two rows ; while in Calycanthus they are 

 very numerous, and arranged in four rows. 

 The Japan Allspice is a much-branched 

 shrub, and generally treated as a wall-plant 

 in gardens ; its leaves are opposite, stalked, 

 between oval and lanceolate in form, and 

 very rough on the surface ; they generally 

 fall late in the autumn, but sometimes a 

 few remain till the spring. The flowers are 

 sessile on the branches, about an inch in 

 diameter, and made up of a large number 

 of pale yellow waxy petals, arranged in 

 several rows: the inner series in one 

 variety chocolate-coloured, and in an- 

 other mottled with red. These flowers in 

 mild winters often appear about Christ- 

 mas, and last for a long time. [A. A. B.J 



CHINA ASTER. Callistephus chinensis, 

 also called Callistemma hortense. 



CHINA BARK. The bark of Buena hex- 

 andra, an indifferent febrifuge. 



CHINA GRASS. The fibre of Bbhmeria 

 nivea, the Rheea, or Ramee. 



CHINA ROOT. The tuberous rhizome 

 of Smilax Cliina. 



CHINCAPIN. (Fr.) Castanea pumila. 



CHINCH IN. A Chilian name for Poly- 

 gala thesioides. 



CHIN-CHON. A gummy or glutinous 

 matter, much used as a glue or varnish in 

 China and Japan, and supposed to be the 

 produce of Plocaria tenax. 



CHINESE SWALLOWS' NESTS. These 

 curious productions, which sell at such a 

 high price in China, though they have 

 no especial points of recommendation be- 

 yond many other gelatinous ingredients in 

 soups, were formerly supposed to be made 

 of some species of the rose-spored Algw, as 

 Sphcerococcus lichenoides; but this is now 

 ascertained to be amistake, and it is known 

 that thev are formed of a secretion from 

 the mouth of the bird itself. [M. J. B.] 



CHINESE TREE. Posonia Moutan. 



CHINESE VARNISH. Ehus vernici- 

 fera. 



CHINKWORT. The popular name in 

 some districts for the different species of 



| Opegrarpha and their allies, which grow on 

 i the trunks of trees. These lichens are also 

 : sometimes called Letter-lichens, or Scrip- 

 1 ture-worts. [M. J. B.] 



CHINQUAPIN. An American name for 

 Quercus prinoides; also for Castanea pu- 

 mila. 



CHIOCOCCA. A genus of the Cinchon- 

 aceous family, consisting of small shrubs, 

 with a funnel-shaped yellowish corolla, 

 concealing the five stamens, which are 

 provided with hairs. Ovary two-celled, 

 with two inverted ovules. Fruit a berry 

 with two seeds. The species are remark- 

 able for the violent emetic and cathartic, 

 properties possessed by the roots, which 

 are administered in Brazil as a certain 

 remedy for snake bites, though their in- 

 tense action would seem to be, from the 

 account of Von Martius, almost as danger- 

 ous as the wound they are intended to 

 cure. The name is derived from two Greek 

 words, signifying 'snow-berry,' in allu- 

 sion to the white fruit. [M. T. MJ 



CHIONANTHUS. The Snowdrop tree of 

 North America, or the Snow-flower, as the 

 name implies, belongs to a gen us of Oleacea?, 

 and is distinguished by its deciduous leaves, 

 and the long narrow ribbon-like segments 

 of the corolla. The fruit is a drupe like 

 that of the olive. C. virginica is a decidu- 

 ous shrub or small tree, with large smooth 

 leaves like those of a M agnolia, and bearing 

 flowers in terminal panicles. It blossoms 

 in this country in June, and is highly or- 

 namental. [M. T. MJ 



CHIONOPHILA. A genus of Scrophu- 

 lariacece, nearly allied to Pentstemon, but 

 differing from that genus in its five- 

 toothed (not five-cleft) calyx, as well as in 

 habit. C. Jamesii, the only known species, 

 found in the Rocky Mountains near the 

 snow limit, is a small unbranched herb 

 about two inches high, with a few smooth 

 linear leaves which are enveloped near the 

 base by a number of membranaceous 

 scales. The tubular flowers grow one or 

 two on the apex of ashort scape. The fruit 

 is not known. [A. A. BJ 



CHIP. A material used for plaiting into 

 various articles of ornament and use, and 

 obtained from the leaves of the palm called 

 Thrinax argentea. 



CHIQU1CHIQUI. The Venezuelan name 

 for Attalea funifera, which yields the Pias- 

 saba fibre of commerce. 



CHIRATA. An Indian tonic, 

 Chrrayta; also called Chireeta or Chi- 

 retta. 



CHIRITA. A small genus of Gesnera- 

 cece, natives of tropical Asia. They are 

 herbaceous plants with a short stock or a 

 simple leafy stem, the leaves opposite, and 

 the flowers solitary or umbellate, on axil- 

 lary or radical peduncles. The calyx is 

 flve-lobed ; the corolla tubular, the limb 

 two-lipped. Of the four stamens the two 

 upper are small and sterile, and the fertile 

 pair have divaricate anther-cells cohering 



