CLAV] 



€3)£ Erd^urj? of 3Sfltanj). 



296 



Fungi, distinguished by their fleshy sub- 

 stance and confluent stem. The species 

 are either simple or branched, and are ex- 

 tremely numerous, and from the great 

 difference of form, colour, and division 

 assumed under different circumstances, 

 often extremely difficult to recognise. 

 The surface is mostly smooth, biit some- 

 times wrinkled longitudinally. Many of 

 them afford excellent articles of food, but 

 they are not much used in this country, 

 probably from the scarceness of the larger i 

 species. C. vermicularis, which comes up ' 

 frequently on our lawns, looking like 

 little bundles of candles, is sometimes 

 very abundant, and extremely delicate 

 when dressed. [M. J. B.] 



CLAVARIEI. A natural order of hy- 

 menomycetous Fungi distinguished by | 

 their vertical growth and superior hyme- 

 nium, which extends to the very apex, and 

 is distributed equally on all sides (am phi- j 

 genous). The species generally grow on 

 the ground amongst leaves, a few appear 

 on rotten wood, and some of the lower 

 kind on decaying herbaceous stems. We 

 believe all the species which produce white 

 spores are wholesome ; some, moreover, 

 with yellow spores are esculent, though 

 one or two are doubtful. [M. J. B.] 



CLAVATUS, CLAVIFORMIS. Gradu- 

 ally thickening upwards, from a very taper 

 base ; as the appendages of the flower of 

 Schwenckia, or the spadix of Arum macula- 

 turn. 



CLAVICULA. A tendril. 



CLAVIGERA. The name applied by the 

 elder De Candolle to three Mexican plants 

 of the composite family, since shown by 

 Dr. Asa Gray to differ in no way from 

 Brickellia, and therefore placed in that 

 genus which numbers about thirty species, 

 mostly Mexican, and is distinguished from 

 Eupatorium by the many-striate instead 

 of five-angled achenes. [A. A. B.] 



CLAVTJA. A genus of the myrsine 

 family, comprising a number of shrubs or 

 small trees, confined to the tropical parts 

 of South America. Their unbranched rod- 

 like stems are furnished at the top with a 

 crown of large alternate coriaceous 

 leaves, often two feet in length, quite 

 smooth, oblong in form, and entire or 

 spinously-toothed at the margin. The 

 waxy white or orange-coloured flowers 

 are small and disposed in erect or droop- 

 ins racemes which are shorter than the 

 leaves, and either proceed from their axils 

 or from the bare stem where the leaves 

 have fallen. The tube of the corolla be- 

 ing very short, and the five stamens hav-.i 

 ing five roundish fleshy scales alternating 

 with them, are characters which distin- ; 

 guish the genus from the others in the | 

 family. The fruits are fleshy and contain 

 numerous seeds embedded in a pulp which 

 is said to be eatable. In size they vary, 

 but are seldom larger than a pigeon's egg. 

 The genus bears the name of J. Clavijo 

 Faxardo, a Spanish naturalist. 



C. ornata, a native of Brazil and Guiana, 

 is frequently to be met with in plant 

 stoves, where it is always a prominent ob- 

 ject from its straight unbranched stems, 

 bearing on their apex a cluster of large 

 handsome leaves often afoot or more in 

 length. Its starry wax-like flowers, of a 

 bright orange colour, are produced in great 

 abundance, and are disposed in erect ra- 

 cemes. The root of some of the species 

 is said to be emetic. [A. A. B.] 



CLAVIJLA. The receptacle, or spore- 

 case of certain fungals. 



CLAVUS. The disease which produces 

 ergot in grasses ; so called because it 

 causes the young grain to grow into the 

 form of a nail or club. 



CLAW The long narrow base of the 

 petals of some flowers ; the analogue of 

 the petiole. 



CLAYTONIA. A genus of purslanes, 

 chiefly North American, consisting of 

 dwarf annual or tuberous-rooted peren- 

 nial plants with entire leaves, and small 

 white or flesh-coloured flow T ers in terminal 

 racemes. Generically they are distinguished 

 by a calyx of two oval permanent sepals, 

 five petals usually with short claws coher- 

 ing at the base, five stamens inserted on 

 the claws, one style with its apex three- 

 cleft, and an ovary ripening into a one- 

 celled capsule, opening by three valves, 

 and containing from three to six seeds. 

 Of the annual section, C. perfoliata, one of 

 the best known, is a weedy little species 

 with fibrous roots, broadly ovate veinless 

 radical leaves on long foot-stalks, and 

 numerous simple naked flower-stems, 

 bearing at the summit a roundish leafy 

 bract formed by the cohesion of two op- 

 posite leaves, from which arise one or 

 more short racemes of small white flowers 

 with notched petals. The leaves of this 

 plant are used like those of the common 

 purslane, Portulaca oleracea. The peren- 

 nial Claytonias have for the most part 

 small tuberous or spindle-shaped roots, 

 from which arise a few simple stems a 

 foot high, bearing about the middle a 

 single pair of opposite linear or lanceolate 

 leaves, and being terminated by a loose 

 drooping raceme of pink flowers veined 

 ■with red. The species are rare in cultiva- 

 tion, but C. virgin ica is sometimes met with. 

 They are popularly known in America by 

 the name of Spring Beauty, from the early 

 season at which they flower. [W. T.] 



CLEARING NUT. An Indian name for 

 the nut of Strychnos potatorum. 



CLEAR WEED. An American name for 

 Pilea pumila. 



CLEAVERS. Galium Aparine. 



CLEGHORNIA. A Cingalese and Indian 

 genus of Apocynacea?, the plants of which 

 have small white flowers with a calyx of 

 five lobes alternating with five glands ; a 

 salver-shaped corolla with oblique lobes 

 and without scales in its throat ; included 

 anthers, arrow-shaped and sharply-pointed 



