Elje ErcaSurg of ^otaiiD-. 



[CHLO 



laterally. The stigma is flattened and 

 emarginate or two-lobed. The linear 

 capsule contains many minute seeds with- 

 out appendages. [W. C.J 



CHIROXIA. A genus of the gentian 

 family, somewhat singularly named after 

 Chiron, one of the reputed fathers of 

 medicine, inasmuch as the species in- 

 habit a district unknown in those days, 

 to wit, the Cape of Good Hope. The ge- 

 nus consists of herbs or small shrubs with 

 narrow ribbed leaves, and a corolla with 

 a short tube, and a five-cleft bell-shaped 

 limb with deciduous segments. The five 

 stamens are short, inserted on the throat 

 of the corolla and bent downwards, and the 

 anthers open by two pores at the top. 

 The ovary is partly two-celled, .by the 

 bending inwards of the placenta, bearing 

 the numerous seeds ; the style terminal, 

 curved at the top, and directed away from 

 the stamens. The capsule has a somewhat 

 fleshy external rind, and an inner membra- 

 nous one. Several kinds are in cultivation. 

 They have for the most part pretty pink 

 flowers. [M. T. M." 



CHIRONIS. (Fr.) Slum Sisarv.m. 



CHIROPETALUM. A genus of Euphor- 

 Macece, allied to Croton, but differing in the 

 stamens being united into a column, not 

 free, and also to Ditaxis, which, however, 

 has ten stamens in two tiers, instead of five 

 in one tier. The plants are herbs or small 

 shrubs confined to the temperate parts of 

 South America, some of them having all 

 their parts covered- with little simple hairs. 

 The leaves are alternate entire or serrate, 

 generally lanceolate in form and three- 

 nerved. The small green flowers are 

 disposed in axillary or terminal racemes, 

 I the upper portion of the raceme being 

 j occupied by the males, which are the most 

 numerous, the lower by the females. The 

 • calyx is five-parted, and the petals, of a like 

 j number, are three or seven-lobed. The 

 i ovary is crowned with three styles, each 

 I forked at the summit in the form of a Y, 

 and bent back on the fruit which is three- 

 lobedand contains three seeds. The leaves 

 of some of the species are of a reddish- 

 brown colour owing to the presence of 

 j colouring matter. [A. A. B.] 



j CHITOXIA. A genu3 of West Indian 

 | shrubs of the family Melastomacece, some 

 species of which are grown in this country 

 as ornamental stove-plants. They form 

 shrubs or small trees, and have opposite 

 ovate acute five-nerved leaves, and termi- 

 nal panicles with three-flowered branches. 

 The limb of the calyx is described as 

 being in two rows, the outer consisting 

 of aw]-shaped teeth, the inner of short 

 very blunt membranous processes, adhe- 

 rent to the base of the outer teeth ; the 

 anthers open by one pore only ; the ovary 

 is enclosed within the tube of the calyx, 

 and has six compartments. [M. T. MJ 



CHITTA-EITA. An Indian name for 

 Ph cunix fa rin if era. 



CHITTAGOXG WOOD. The timber of 



several Indian trees, especially of Cedrela 

 Toona, and Chickrassia tabularis. 



CHITTAH-PAT. The Assam name for 

 Licuala peltata. 



CHIVES or CITES. Allium Schceno- 

 p r rasum, a garden esculent. 



CHL^ENACE^E. A small family consisting 

 of only four genera of one or two species 

 each, all from the island of Madagascar, 

 and as yet but very imperfectly known. 

 They are trees or shrubs with the habit, 

 alternate leaves, stipules, and terminal 

 inflorescence of some Sterculiacece, of which 



j they have also the free petals, monadel- 

 phous stamens and anthers ; and the 

 structure of the ovary fruit and seed is 

 the same as in some genera of that 

 family ; but the calyx is said to be always 



j three-cleft or composed of three sepals, 

 and enclosed in a five-toothed involucre, 

 an anomaly which has prevented the abso- 

 lute union of Chlcenacece with Sterculiacece. 



CHLAMYDANTHUS. A name now ap- 

 plied to a section of the genus Thymelcea, 

 in which the tubular calyx remains 

 attached after withering and encloses the 

 nut. The plants embraced in this section 

 are low woody-stemmed bushes, chiefly 

 natives of the Mediterranean regions. 

 Their bark is very tough as in all the 

 plants of the family to which they belong 

 (Thymelacem). Their leaves are seldom 

 more than half an inch long, and generally 

 linear in form ; and the flowers are small 

 and inconspicuous in the axils of the 

 leaves. [A. A. B.] 



CHLIDANTHUS. A genus of South 

 American amaryllids having truncated 

 bulbs, linear-lorate leaves sheathing at the 

 | base, developed after the flowers, and a 

 scape, one and a half foot high, supporting 

 ; an umbel of a few large fragrant flowers. 

 i The perianth has an erect cylindrical 

 j tube widened at the mouth, and a nearly- 

 | equal somewhat spreading limb of six 

 j segments. The filaments of the six 

 stamens are inserted in the points of the 

 alternately unequal teeth of a thin mem- 

 brane adhering completely to the tube and 

 base of the petals, but partible. This 

 membrane Dr. Herbert regarded as an 

 incipient manifestation of the staminife- 

 rous cup of his pancratiform section of 

 amaryllids, with which Chlidanthus thus 

 becomes a connecting link. C. fragrans, 

 the only species, has glaucous erect leaves 

 about a quarter of an inch wide ; its flowers 

 are yellow, fragrant, sub-sessile, with the 

 tube two to four inches long, and the 

 limb one inch and a half. [T. M.J 



CHLO ANTHES. A genus of Verbenacea? 

 from extra-tropical New Holland, consist- 

 ing of undershrubs thickly covered with 

 opposite or ternate sessile linear and 

 revolute leaves, and having solitary axil- 

 lary flowers with short peduncles. The 

 calyx is campanulate, five-cleft, and spread- 

 ing. The tube of the corolla has a woolly 

 ring on its interior above the apex of the 

 ovary, and the ringent limb has the upper 



