COLA! 



3Tf)e STrcatfurg at SSotang. 



312 



sive trade is carried on in Cola nuts with 

 the natives of the interior; the practice of 

 eating Cola extending as far as Fezzan 

 and Tripoli. A small piece of one of these 

 seeds is chewed before each meal as a 

 promoter of digestion ; it is also sup- 

 posed to improve the flavour of anything 

 eaten after it, and even to render half- 

 putrid water drinkable. There are several 

 varieties of Cola nuts; the common kind 

 has an astringent taste, whilst another, 

 called bitter Cola, is intensely bitter, and 

 is thought to possess febrifugal properties. 

 Powdered Cola is applied to cuts. [A. S.] 



COLAX. A small genus of epiphytal 

 orchids, near Maxillaria, imder which 

 name some have been published. It is 

 especially remarkable for the condition of 

 its caudicle, which seems to have no dis- 

 tinct gland, but consists of a thin wavy 

 membrane gradually narrowing to the 

 point where a gland usually occurs. Max- 

 illaria virldis and placanthera are the best 

 known species. 



COLBERTIA. A genus of Billeniacea?, 

 the type of which is a tree from tropical 

 Asia with oblong or obovate shortly 

 stalked serrated leaves, and large yellow 

 flowers on one-flowered peduncles, several 

 of which arise from the same scaly bud. 

 It differs from Dillenia by the greater sepa- 

 ration of its ovaries, which are generally 

 fewer than in that genus. [J. T. S.] 



COLCHICUM. The well-known Meadow 

 Saffron, or, as it is erroneously called, 

 Autumn Crocus. The genus appertains to 

 MelanthacecB, and is known by its bell- 

 shaped coloured perianth, with a long 

 tube ; six stamens inserted into the upper 

 part of the tube; a three-celled ovary 

 placed at the bottom of the tube, and sur- 

 mounted by three long thread-shaped 

 styles; and a three-celled capsule which 

 bursts by as many openings. The appearance 

 of the flower is so like that of the crocus, 

 that it is frequently mistaken for it ; but in 

 the crocus there are three stamens only, 

 and the ovary is placed below the tube of 

 the perianth, not within it, as in the Col- 

 chicum ; or, more correctly speaking, in the 

 latter the ovary is free, while in the former 

 it is united to the lower part of the tube 

 of the perianth. C. autumnale, the Meadow 

 Saffron, found wild in some parts of Eng- 

 land, has a subterranean bulb-like stem, 

 called a corm, from which in autumn the 

 light purplish mottled flowers arise. The 

 leaves do not appear till afterwards ; they 

 are fully developed in the following spring, 

 in the shajn? of loose green sword-shaped 

 blades, among which the ripened fruit may 

 be found raised from below the surface of 

 the ground by the lengthening of the 

 flower-stalk. 



The Colchicum is valued not only for its 

 appearance, but more particularly for its 

 medicinal properties. The dried corms and 

 the seeds are the parts employed, the 

 former have much of the appearance of 

 tulip bulbs, but are not scaly like them, 

 but solid in the interior. The active prin- 



ciple is said to be an alkaline sitbstance of 

 a very poisonous nature called colchicine. 

 Colchicum is principally used in medicine 

 for the alleviation or cure of gout. In some 

 cases its use is very beneficial, but, like 

 other remedies, it has no claim to be con- 

 sidered infallible. It is acrid, sedative, and 

 acts upon all the secreting organs, particu- 

 larly the bowels and the kidneys. It is apt 

 to cause undue depression, and in large 

 doses acts as an irritant poison. Dr. Lind- 

 ley relates the case of a woman who was 

 poisoned by the sprouts of Colchicum , -which 

 had been thrown away in Covent Garden 

 Market, and which she mistook for onions. 

 The Hermodactyls of the Arabians, for- 

 merly celebrated for soothing pains in the 

 joints, are said by Dr. Royle to belong to 

 C. variegatwni. [M. T. MJ 



COLDENIA. A genus of Ehretiacea?, con- 

 sisting of herbs from India and Ceylon, 

 with wedge-shaped stalked plicate ser- 

 rated leaves, which are often more deve- 

 loped on one side of the mid-rib than on 

 the other. Flowers small, white, axiLary, 

 solitary; calyx five-parted; corolla funnel- 

 shaped. The nuts have a somewhat fleshy 

 covering, and are rugose. C. procumbens is 

 used in India for promoting suppuration, 

 for which purpose it is dried and powdered, 

 and mixed with the seeds of the fenu- 



greek. 



[J. T. S.] 



COLD-SEEDS. In the old materia medica 

 the seeds of the cucumber, gourd, pump- 

 kin, &c. 



COLEA. A genus of Bignoniaccce, na- 

 tives of Madagascar, Mauritius, and the 

 neighbouring islands. They consist of 

 glabrous shrubs or small trees, with im- 

 pari-pinnate bi- or many-jugate leaves. The 

 calyx is sub-campanulate and five-toothed; 

 the corolla is funnel-shaped, and the limb 

 is cleft into five spreading lobes. The four 

 didynamous stamens are inserted on the 

 corolla, and have two-celled anthers. The 

 fruit is oblong, fleshy, and indehiscent, 

 with two cells containing many imbricated 

 wingless seeds. [W. C] 



COLEBROOKIA. An East Indian genus 

 of shrubs, belonging to the family of 

 labiates. They are covered with reddish 

 down. The flowers are clustered, of a 

 white colour, with a bell-shaped equally 

 five-parted calyx, the segments of which 

 are feathery, and whose tube becomes con- 

 fluent with the ripe fruits ; a short-limbed 

 corolla divided into four nearly equal divi- 

 sions, the upper lobe notched, and four 

 stamens equidistant one from the other; 

 the anthers with two parallel cells. G. oppo- 

 sitifolia and C. ternifolia are in cultivation 

 as greenhouse shrubs. [M. T. M.] 



COLEONEMA. A beautiful genus of 

 Cape Eutacea?, related to Biosma, and con- 

 sisting of evergreen shrubs with sharp 

 linear leaves, and white flowers, consist- 

 ing of five petals attached to the base 

 of a five-lobed disc, which is adherent 

 to the tube of the calyx, and having 

 a broad stalk or claw which is furrowed 



