, COMOLIA. A genus of MelastamacecB, 

 consisting of Brazilian trees or shrubs, 

 I with four-sided branches and obovate three- 

 ! nerved leaves clothed with adpressed 

 ' hairs; flowers axillary, solitary, sessile, 

 white ; tube of calyx adhering to the base 

 of ovary, its limb four-lobed ; petals four ; 

 anthers one-celled curved; ovary gla- 

 brous ; capsule two-celled. [J. T. S.] 



COMPAGNON BLANC. (Fr.) Lychnis 

 dioica. 



COMPARETTIA. A small genus of epi- 

 phytal orchids inhabiting tropical Ameri- 

 ca. Four species are known, all Avith small 

 pseudobulbs, coriaceous leaves, and grace- 

 fully bending racemes of long spurred 

 rose coloured purple or scarlet flowers. 



COMPASS PLANT. Silphium lacinia- 

 tum, which is said to present the faces of 

 its leaves uniformly north and south. 



COMPLEXTTS. Tissue: C. cellulosus, cel- 

 lular tissue : C. membranaceus, the thin 

 membrane, which is the foundation of all 

 tissue— elementary membrane ; C.tubularis 

 tubular tissue, or woody fibre ; C. utricu- 

 laris, angular cellular tissue ; C. vascularis, 

 spiral vessels, properly so-called : often, 

 however, extended to all sorts of tubes 

 with markings on the side, thus losing pre- 

 cision, and with it its value as a scientific 

 term. 



COMPLICATE. Folded up upon itself. 



COMPOSIT2E. The more familiar name of 

 the Aster acece, a large natural order of gamo- 

 petalous calycifloral dicotyledons belong- 

 ing to Lindley's campanal alliance, con- 

 sisting of herbs and shrubs with alternate 

 or opposite leaves having no stipides ; the 

 stamens and pistils either in the same or 

 in separate flowers, which are collected 

 into a head on a common receptacle (hence 

 tne name Composite or compound flowers), 

 and surrounded by a set of floral leaves or 

 bracts, called an involucre. The fruit is 

 single-seeded, crowned with the limb of 

 the' calyx. The plants are found in all 

 parts of the world, in warm countries 

 sometimes assuming arborescent forms. 

 They were included by Linnaeus in his 

 class Syngenesia. The properties of the 

 order are various ; but bitterness seems to 

 prevail in it, and this is accompanied with 

 tonic, stimulant, aromatic, and sometimes 

 even narcotic qualities. Lactuca sativa, 

 the common lettuce, and L. virosa, supply 

 lactucarium, a substance used like opium. 

 [J. H. B.] 

 COMPOSITION. The arrangement of 

 . organs, or their order of development, or 

 their manner of branching, &c. 



COMPOUND, COMPOSITE. When formed 

 of several parts united in one common 

 whole : as pinnated leaves, and all kinds of 

 Inflorescence beyond that of the solitary 

 flower. 



COMPRESSED. Flattened lengthwise; 

 as tire pod of a pea. 



COMPTONIA. A deciduous bushy shrub 



belonging to the order Myricacem, bearing 

 both male and female flowers in catkins, 

 and on the same plant. A native of North 

 America in moist peaty soils. The leaves 

 are long and narrow, alternately arranged 

 and cut on each side into rounded and 

 numerous lobes, so as to resemble the 

 fronds of Ceterach (hence the name C. as 

 plenifolia), downy and sprinkled with 

 golden resinous transparent dots, which, 

 as well as the rest of the plant, have an 

 aromatic scent. It was introduced in 1714 

 by the Duchess of Beaufort, and was 

 named in honour of Henry Compton, 

 Bishop of London, the introducer and cul- 

 tivator of many curious exotic plants, and 

 a great patron of botany and horticulture. 

 It is hardy, but requires a peat soil and 

 shade. In America it is called the Sweet 

 Fern Bush ; in France Comptonie, or Li qui- 

 dambar & feuilles de Ceterach : but it must 

 not be confounded with Liquidambar Sty- 

 raciflua, Sweet Gum. [C. A. J.] 



CONANTHERA. A genus of Liliaceoz 

 containing a few small Chilian bulbous 

 plants, with linear leaves, and a scape 

 supporting paniculate blue flowers. Peri- 

 anth six-parted, adhering to the base of 

 the ovary, and breaking away by a trans- 

 verse split as the fruit ripens; stamens 

 six, united into a cone. [J. T. S.] 



CONCEPTACLE. A term sometimes ap- 

 plied to the capsular fruit of red-spored 

 Algce, in contradistinction to the fruit in 

 which the reproductive mass is ultimately 

 divided into four bodies, and hence called 

 tetrasperms. Modifications have received 

 the names of ceramidia, cystocarps, fa- 

 villa?, nuclei, &c. The explanation of these 

 terms belongs rather to a treatise on Alga? 

 than to the present work. [M. J. B.] 



Also, a special organ, developed in some 

 fungals on the surface, or in the interior 

 of a receptacle, and containing the organs 

 of reproduction as well as their accessories ; 

 it differs from a spore-case in the latter 

 being itself one of the accessories, and only 

 containing spores. 



CONCHIDIUM. Eria. 

 CONCHIFORM. Shaped like one valve of 

 a common bivalve shell. 



CONCHOCHILUS. Appendicula. 



CONCOLOR. Of the same colour as 

 some other thing compared with it. 



CONCOMBRE D'ANE, or SAUVAGE. 

 (Fr.) Ecbalium agreste, the Momordica 

 Elaterhim of some. 



CONDAMINEA. The name of a genus 

 of Cinchonacece, consisting of Peruvian 

 shrubs, some of which have similar tonic 

 properties to those contained in the true 

 Cinchona, while others are used for dyeing 

 purposes. The genus is known by the 

 j cup-shaped tube of the calyx, whose limb 

 is five-toothed, and separates from the 

 tube by a circular line. The corolla is 

 tubular, concealing the stamens, which are 

 attached near to the middle of its tube 



