309 



HLi)t €rca£ttrp of JSotanj). 



[COFF 



This plant has excited much interest he- 

 cause it is said to ripen its seeds without 

 the aid of pollen. Female plants (and fe- 

 males only) were sent to Kew by Allan 

 Cunningham in 1S29, where they flowered 

 and perfected their seeds apparently with- 

 out the aid of pollen. The circumstance 

 was noticed by Mr. Smith, who made it 

 the subject of a communication to the 

 Linnasan Society. ' This led to careful ex- 

 aminations by Klotzsch, Radlkofer, and A. 

 Braun, besides other continental botanists. 

 The former of these demonstrated from 

 the formation of the seed that it con- 

 tained no embryo but a bud ; while the 

 other two came to the opposite conclusion ; 

 and A. Braun made ' a most important 

 observation, still unexplained by him, 

 namely, that he found a pollen grain on 

 the stigma of Cozlebogyne.' Naudin and 

 Decaisne, in France, made experiments on 

 Hemp, Mercurialis, and Bryony, as well as 

 some other plants, and came to the conclu- 

 sion that female plants of any of these, 

 when sufficiently guarded against the ac- 

 cidental influence of pollen from the male 

 flowers, produce perfectly ripe seeds. More 

 lately, Regel in Russia has made exten- 

 sive experiments on these plants, and 

 affirms that no plant with evident sexual 

 organs can produce perfect seeds without 

 the aid of pollen. This is the opinion held 

 by most botanists. [A. A. B.] 



(XELESTINA. A genus of erect annual 

 Mexican plants of the composite family, 

 seldom more than two feet in height. 

 Their leaves are opposite, shortly-stalked, 

 and generally heart-shaped in form with 

 notched margins, and often clad with 

 short rough hairs. The blue flower-heads 

 are about the size of a pea, and disposed in 

 terminal corymbs. The florets are all 

 tubular and perfect, and their pappus is 

 cup-shaped and slightly toothed. In this 

 latter character only does the ger.us differ 

 from Ageratum, which has a pappus of 

 from five to ten awned scales. The spe- 

 cies are plants of little beauty. [A. A. B.] 



CCELIA. A genus of terrestrial orchids 

 with long grassy leaves, and dense spikes 

 of rather small flowers supported by 

 linear acuminate bracts. Three or four 

 species are said to be known, but the 

 genus has been little examined. C. Bauer- 

 ana, with fragrant white flowers, from the 

 "West Indies, is that on which the genus 

 was founded. It has a spurless lip, a 

 three-winged ovary, and eight pollen 

 masses without a gland. 



CCELOGLOSSFM. An obscure genus of 

 Indian terrestrial orchids with the habit 

 and general structure of Platanthera or 

 Peristylus, but with a concave lip, and a 

 pair of adnate processes arising from the 

 orifice of the spur. All have small green 

 flowers. 



CCELOGTKE. There occurs in the tro- 

 pical and sub-tropical regions of Asia a 

 race of pseudobulbous orchids, conspicu- 

 ous for large coloured membranous flowers, 



with converging and slightly-spreading 

 sepals, petals of like nature but narrower, 

 a great cucullate lip usually bearing fringes 

 on its veins, and a broad membranous 

 column. The pollen masses are four in num- 

 ber, waxy, and cohering by agranular sub- 

 stance ; the stigma is prominent, deeply 

 hollowed out (whence the name), and two- 

 lipped. Most of the species are beautiful 

 objects, and therefore favourites in culti- 

 vation. Some have tough persistent leaves 

 and loose racemes of flowers; others have 

 flowers peeping up from the soil in the 

 absence of the leaves, in the same way as 

 the crocuses of Europe ; to the latter the 

 name of Pleione has been given. Between 

 forty and fifty species are known, the 

 finest of which are G. cristata, with ivory- 

 white flowers, whose veins are fringed 

 with yellow ; C. odoratissima, unsurpassed 

 for fragrance ; and C. prwcox (a Pleione), an 

 Alpine plant, ornamenting with its large 

 rich rose-coloured flowers the branches of 

 oaks, at the elevation of 7,500 feet above 

 the sea in lat. 30° N. 



CCELOSPERMOUS. Hollow-seeded; when 

 the seed, or seed-like fruit, is hemispheri- 

 cal, and excavated on the flat side, as in 

 coriander. 



CCENANTHITJM. The receptacle of 

 flowers in the inflorescence called a Capi- 

 tulum ; same as Clinanthium. 



CCENOBIO. The same as Carcerulus. 



CCENOCLADIA. A name applied to the 

 natural grafting which is so common in 

 the beech in our own country and in many 

 tropical trees. Both branches and roots, 

 when growing so close together that there 

 is no room for their proper developement, 

 become intimately united, and form a sort 

 of network. Amongst herbaceous plants, as 

 in Asparagus, Hyacinths, &c, union often 

 takes place between two contiguous stems, 

 which in this case are generally flatter than 

 usual. Some cases of wide-flattened stems 

 arise from this cause, but others apparently 

 from the attack of insects. If two or more 

 buds concur in the formation of such a 

 stem, and they have different rates of 

 growth, we have curled fasciated branches 

 such as not uncommonly appear on the 

 ash. Similar branches are produced in the 

 elder by a species of JEcidium. The roots 

 of contiguous firs sometimes unite, so 

 that when one of the trees is cut down, the 

 stump still increases in diameter, in con- 

 sequence of receiving nutriment from the 

 tree with which it is united. [M. J. BJ 



COENTRILHO. A Brazilian name for 

 Xanthoxylum hiemale. 



(XERULETJS. Blue; a pale indigo co- 

 lour. 



CCESITJS. Lavender colour. 



COFFEA. A genus of Rubiacece or Cin- 

 chonacece, composed of between fifty 

 and sixty species, one of which yields 

 the well-known article coffee. All are 

 shrubs or small trees, seldom more than 



