CLES 



&!)£ CreaStttw at 280taug. 



298 



this account some of them are used in 

 Indian medicine. [W C] 



CLESTINES. Large cells of paren- 

 chyma, in which raphides are often de- 

 posited. 



CLETHRA. A genus of Ericacew, con- 

 sisting of shrubs or trees, with alternate 

 serrate deciduous leaves, and bearing white 

 flowers in terminal hoary racemes. They 

 are natives of North and tropical America. 

 The calyx is five-parted ; the corolla has 

 five distinct obovate-oblong petals. There 

 are ten hypogynous stamens, with in- 

 versely arrow-shaped anthers, which open 

 by terminal pores or short slits. The ovary 

 is three-celled with many ovules in each 

 cell. The style is slender with a three- 

 cleft stigma. The capsule is three-celled, 

 with many seeds in each cell, three-valved, 

 and enclosed in the calyx. [W. C] 



CLEYERA. A genus of Temstriimiacece, 

 comprising a few Indian and Japanese 

 evergreen bushes with camellia-like leaves, 

 and small axillary white or yellowish 

 flowers, sometimes sweet-scented. These 

 flowers are stalked, and have a calyx of 

 five leaves, Ave petals, numerous stamens 

 in two or three series, and an ovary sur- 

 mounted by a style which is three-parted 

 at the top. The five free petals, and the 

 numerous stamens slightly adhering to 

 their base, are the chief distinguishing 

 features of the genus. [A. A. B.] 



CLIANTHUS. A genus of Leguminosce 

 found in New Zealand, Norfolk Island, 

 and New Holland. It is nearly related to 

 Sutherlandia, a Cape genus which has 

 bladdery pods, while the pods in the present 

 are coriaceous. The plants are herbaceous 

 or woody branching shrubs, with unequally- 

 pinnate leaves made up of eight to sixteen 

 pairs of linear or elliptical leaflets half an 

 inch long. The large handsome flowers are 

 in terminal or axillary racemes. The calyx 

 is bell-shaped and five-toothed. The upper 

 petal or standard is oval, pointed, and bent 

 backwards, much larger than the wings 

 and shorter than the keel, which is skiff- 

 shaped. The pod is stalked, somewhat 

 woolly inside, and contains a number of 

 seeds. The name of the genus is derived 

 from the Greek, and signifies Glory Flower, 

 a name peculiarly applicable to the plants. 

 The best known species is C. puniceus, 

 called Parrot's-Bill in New Zealand, from 

 the resemblance of the keeled petal to the 

 bill of that bird. This plant was introduced 

 in 1831, and is often to be met with in 

 greenhouses, or on open walls with a 

 southern aspect, where it flowers freely if 

 protected in winter. It seldom attains 

 more than six feet in height, although in 

 Ireland, where the climate seems to suit 

 it better, it is sometimes to be seen cover- 

 ing on a wall a surface of twelve or four- 

 teen feet square. The pinnate-leaves are 

 about six inches long, and the leaflets, 

 about half an inch in length, are smooth 

 above and slightly pubescent underneath. 

 The flowers grow in oval clusters hanging 

 from the leaf-axils, each flower more than 



three inches from the tip of the standard 

 to the tip of the keel, and of a deep blood 

 colour. 



C. Dampieri is a native of the desert re- 

 gions of Australia, and is also in cultiva- 

 tion. In habit it is much like the former, 

 but it does not grow to such dimensions. 

 The whole plant is of a pale green colour, 

 and is thickly covered with long white 

 hairs. The peduncles proceed from the 

 axils of the leaves, and bear on their apex 

 four or five scarlet flowers, larger and 

 of a much brighter colour than those of 

 the former, the standard having also a 

 large black-purple boss at its base. This 

 plant has the most beautiful flowers in 

 the genus, but is unfortunately difficult 

 of cultivation. The only other known 

 species is C. carneus, a native of Norfolk 

 Island ; it has flesh-coloured flowers, and 

 although a pretty plant, is not to be com- 

 pared with the others, the flowers being 

 much smaller. [A. A. B.] 



CLIDEMIA. A genus of Melastomacece 

 from tropical America, containing hairy 

 branched shrubs with opposite stalked 

 leaves, generally unequal in size, with 

 three to seven ribs, and white or rose- 

 coloured flowers, often silky. The calyx is 

 adherent to the ovary at the base ; petals 

 five or six, rarely four ; stamens twice as 

 many as the petals ; ovary hairy, with as 

 many cells as there are petals ; ben-y fleshy, 

 often edible. [J. T. S.] 



CLIPFORTIA. A genus of small ape- 

 talous South African bushes, belonging to 

 the rosaceous family, whose principal dis- 

 tinction lies in the three-toothed calyx 

 and very numerous stamens. The leaves 

 are alternate, small, and composed of two 

 or three leaflets ; when the latter is the 

 case, the two lateral ones are small, and 

 more or less united to the central one, so 

 that the leaves appear to be simple. The 

 flowers are small, and seated in the axils of 

 the leaves. In the males the calyx tube is 

 contracted at the top, and bears about 

 thirty stamens. In the females the calyx 

 is similar to that of the male, and encloses 

 one or two achenes, each furnished with a 

 lateral bearded or feathery style. The 

 holly-like leaves of C. ilicifolia are used by 

 the Boers as an emollient and expec- 

 torant in coughs. C. crenatais remarkable 

 for the form and arrangement of the 

 leaves.which are composed of two orbicular 

 leaflets with notched margins, and are so 

 closely set on the stems that they lap over 

 each other in the manner of the scales of a 

 fish. [A. A. B.] 



CLIFFORTIACE^E. A name given some- 

 times to Eosacece proper, including San- 

 guisorbece, as distinguished from Amygda- 

 lece and Pomacece. 



CLINANDRIUM. The bed of the an- 

 ther of orchids ; an excavation of the top 

 of the column, in or on which the anther 

 lies. 



CLINANTHIUM. A flat or broad space, 

 on which flowers are packed closely ; the 



