cice] 



fflf)Z Crragurg of Matmy. 



282 



guish the genus from its allies. The calyx 

 of the females is like that of the male. The 

 ovary is three or five-celled, crowned with 

 a like number of styles, each divided at the 

 apex in the form of a V, and each cell 

 contains two seeds. 0. disticha, sometimes 

 called the Otaheite Gooseberry, is an ele- 

 gant small tree and a native of India, 

 where it is cultivated, as well as in many 

 other countries, for the sake of its fruits. 

 The slender leaf-bearing branches, about a 

 foot long, are furnished with numerous 

 oval smooth leaves, and might by a super- 

 ficial observer be taken for pinnate leaves. 

 The racemes of small flowers proceed from 

 the old wood, and are provided with a 

 number of small scales, each of which 

 bears in its axil six to eight stalked flowers. 

 The fruits in size like those of a gooseberry 

 are green, three or five-furrowed, and 

 somewhat acid and cooling. In India they 

 are used as an article of food, either in a 

 raw state or cooked in various ways. Euro- 

 peans pickle or make preserves of them, 

 and also use them in tarts. In Java they 

 are brought to the markets and sold for 

 preserving at threepence per gallon. A 

 decoction of the leaves is used to cause 

 perspiration, and the roots are emetic, but 

 too violently so to be used. 



C. indica, sometimes called Prosoras 

 indicus, is a tree of thirty or forty feet 

 high, found in the Bombay district and 

 also in Ceylon ; its ovate-lanceolate entire 

 leaves are pale green underneath, and the 

 flowers are in axillary fascicles. The bright 

 blue seeds are contained in a dry capsule, 

 and according to Mr. Thwaites are a favou- 

 rite food of the green pigeon. Its wood is 

 white, tough, and used for building pur- 

 poses in Ceylon. [A. A. B.] 



CICELY, SWEET. Myrrhis odorata ; 

 also an American name for Osmorrhiza. 



CICER. A genus of leguminous plants, 

 which, in combination with five or six 

 others, closely allied, forms the vetch 

 tribe of that order. About a dozen or 

 fifteen species, natives of Southern or 

 Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and Abys- 

 sinia, are described. They are annuals or 

 perennial herbaceous plants or under- 

 shrubs, clothed with glandular hairs, and 

 having pinnate leaves, consisting either of 

 a definite number of leaflets in pairs with 

 the leaf-stalk terminating in a tendril, or 

 of several pairs of leaflets with an odd one 

 at the end, the leaflets being conspicuously 

 marked by veins. The generic character 

 consists in the tube of the five-lobed calyx 

 being puffed out on the upper side, and 

 two or three of the lobes being pressed 

 upon the upper petal of the pea-like co- 

 rolla. The pods have their sides swollen 

 out, and contain only a few (seldom more 

 than two or three) seeds, which bear some 

 resemblance to peas, but are of an irregular 

 shape. 



C. ariebinum is the Chick-pea, or Egyp- 

 tian pea of the English, the 'Cece' of the 

 Italians, the ' Garbanzos' of the Spaniards, 

 and the ' Gram ' of India. It is an annual 

 plant, growing about a foot or more in 



I height, and is a native of the south of 

 Europe, and also of India. Its leaves con- 

 sist of from three to seven pairs of leaflets 

 with an odd one at the end, the leaflets 

 being egg-shaped, and having their edges 

 cut into very sharp teeth. Both leaves and 

 stems are covered with glandular hairs 

 containing oxalic acid, which exudes from 

 them in hot weather and hangs in drops, 

 ultimately forming crystals. The flowers 

 are either white or rose-coloured, and are 

 produced singly upon stalks growing from 

 the bases of the leaves. The pods are from 

 an inch to an inch and a half long, of a 

 rhomboidal form, with puffed-out sides, 

 and generally contain two seeds, but some- 

 times only one. These seeds vary in size 

 and colour in different varieties, the finest 

 kinds being nearly a quarter of an inch in 

 diameter, slightly pointed, and of a pale- 

 yellow colour, with their skins netted in 

 consequence of inward shrivelling, and 

 having two swellings on one side ; the 

 peculiar form of these peas has given rise 

 to the specific name of the plant arieti- 

 num, which alludes to their supposed re- 

 semblance to a ram's head. 



This plant is extensively cultivated in 

 India and other eastern countries, and 

 likewise in the south of Europe. In India 

 the seeds form one of the pulses known 

 under the name of ' Gram,' and are greatly 

 used as an article of food by the natives, 

 being ground into meal, and either eaten 

 in puddings or made into cakes. They are 

 also toasted or parched, and in this state 

 are commonly carried for food on long 

 journeys ; rolled in sugar-candy, these 

 toasted peas form a rough sort of comfits, 

 and gram-flour made up with sesamuin 

 oil and sugar-candy is an Indian sweet- 

 meat. Small quantities of these peas 

 come to this country from Turkey, and are 

 used for grinding into pea-meal. Attempts 

 have been made to employ them as a sub- 

 stitute for coffee. In Paris they are greatly 

 used in soups. [A. S.] 



In Mysore the natives collect the dew 

 from the ' Gram ' plants by means of muslin 

 cloths, which become saturated with it. 

 The liquid thus obtained, which is very 

 acid, is preserved in bottles for use, and 

 is regarded as a sure medicine in cases of 

 indigestion, being administered in water. 

 It is stated that the boots of a person 

 walking through a dewy gram field will be 

 entirely destroyed by the pungency of this 

 acid given out by the leaves. [T. M.] 



CICHE. (Fr.) Astragalus, Cicer; also 

 Cicer arietinum. 



CICHORACEiE. (Chicory family.> A sub- 

 order of the natural order Composites or 

 Asteracece, under which its full characters 

 are given. The plants have numerous 

 florets (small flowers) on a common head, 

 and all of them are irregular, having a 

 ligulate form in consequence of the corol- 

 line tube being split down on one side, 

 and a tongue or strap-like process formed 

 by the united petals projecting on the other 

 side. The suborder sometimes receives the 

 name of Ligidifloros from the form of the 



