coea] 



€Ije QixZciSuvy of 3Sotang. 



328 



CORACOA DE JESU. Mikania offlci- ' Corallorhiza; also sometimes applied to 



Dentaria bulbifera. 



nails. 



COR AIL DES JARDIN8. (Fr.) Capsi- 

 cum annuum. 



CORAL BERRY. An American name 

 for Symphor tear pus vulgaris. 



CORALLIFORM, CORALLOID. Re- 

 sembling coral in general appearance. 



CORALLINA, CORALLINES. A genus 

 and division of rose-spored Algce, the latter 

 characterised by their calcareous rigid 

 fronds, which when fresh are purple, fading 

 to creamy white. Some are shrubby and 

 jointed, others are crustaceous, and often 

 adhere closely to their matrix, as pebbles, 

 \ shells, seaweed, &c, while others present 

 clavate or nodular forms, and are at length 

 free from any attachment. When treated 

 with hydrochloric acid their structure be- 

 comes visible under the microscope, and 

 in some, as in Corallina, tetraspores have 

 been discovered. The whole group, how- 

 ever, requires further investigation, and 

 when the fruit is discovered in all the 

 genera, it is probable that they will be ab- 

 sorbed into other groups. From the great 

 quantity of carbonate of lime which they 

 contain, some of the species, but especi- 

 ally Corallina. officinalis, which is very com- 

 mon on our coasts, have been employed in 

 medicine. They have, however, no specific 

 properties beyond common chalk, which is 

 a much more convenient substance. Crabs' 

 eyes, crabs' claws, and red coral may be 

 considered as belonging to the same phar- 

 maceutical category. [M. J. B.] 

 CORALLINES. See Corallinece. 



CORALLORHIZA. A genus of orchids 

 consisting of a small number of brown or 

 yellowish terrestrial parasitical herbs, na- 

 tives of moist woods and sliady places in 

 Europe, North America, and Northern 

 Asia. Their leaves are reduced to small 

 scales of the colour of the stems ; their 

 flowers are small in a loose terminal spike, 

 the sepals and petals nearly alike, the lip 

 larger and often white, the column short, 

 with a terminal lid-like anther, and two 

 pairs of globular pollen masses attached 

 laterally. C. innata, the only European spe- 

 cies, occasionally occurs in some parrs of 

 Scotland. It is a slender plant of six to nine 

 inches high, of a pale colour, and remark- 

 able for its rootstock, formed of a number 

 of short thick whitish fleshy fibres, repeat- 

 edly divided into short blunt branches, and 

 densely interwoven, which, from their re 

 semblance to coral, have given the name 

 to the genus. 



Two species are found in Mexico, of 

 which one, C. bullosa, has its stem dis- 

 tended into a kind of corm at the base. 

 The largest flowered species inhabits 

 North-west America. C. indica was found 

 by Dr. T. Thomson in the North-western 

 Himalaya. A supposed species called C. 

 foliosa, because it bears a true leaf, now 

 forms i art of the genus Onorchis. 



CORAL-ROOT. The common name for 



CORAL-TREE. The common name for 

 Erythrina. 



CORALWORT. Dentaria bulbifera. 



CORBEILLE D'ARGENT. (Fr.) Iberis 

 sempervirens. — D'OR. (Fr.) Alyssum sax- 

 atile. 



CORBULARIA. A genus of amaryllids, 

 commonly called Hoop-petticoats. It is a 

 small group sub-divided from Narcissus,&nd. 

 its chief peculiarities are a funnel-shaped 

 tube to the perianth, an inconspicuous limb 

 with small narrow spreading segments. 

 and a large funnel-shaped cup, which is 

 longer than the tube itself; the filaments 

 and style are decimate and recurved, the 

 sepaline filament inserted at the base, and 

 the petaline near the base of the tube. The 

 species are pretty dwarf hardy bulbs with 

 A r ery narrow half-terete leaves, and com- 

 paratively large sliowy flowers, one to 

 three together on the scape. The species 

 are found in the middle and south of 

 Europe. C.Bulbocodium, the common Hoop- 

 petticoat and the type of the genus, is a 

 small plant, with conical bulbs as large as a 

 nut, three or more leaves from four to 

 eight inches long, and a one-flowered scape 

 four to six inches long; the flower an inch 

 long, pale yellow, with narrow linear lance- 

 olate segments, the cup or coronet promi- 

 nent truncate deep yellow-. Thefewspecies 

 vary chiefly in size and colour. [T. M.] 



CORCHORFS. This genus of Tiliaceas 

 contains between forty and fifty species of 

 herbaceous plants or small shrubs, with 

 simple leaves, inhabitants of both hemi- 

 spheres, but seldom found far beyond the 

 tropics. Their flowers are produced either 

 singly or in clusters opposite the leaves. 

 They have a calyx of five deciduous sepals, 

 and a corolla of five petals, with numerous 

 stamens, a very short tubular style, and 

 from two to five stigmas. Their fruit is 

 long and pod-like or roundish, and splits 

 when ripe into five divisions, each of which 

 has numerous seeds arranged in rows on 

 either side of a longitudinal partition. 



C. capsular is is an annual Asiatic plant, 

 growing about ten or twelve feet high, 

 and having a straight cylindrical stem as 

 thick as the little finger, and seldom 

 branching till near the top. Its leaves are 

 about six inches long by one and a half or 

 two broad towards the base, but tapering 

 upwards into a long sharp point, and hav- 

 ing their edges cut into saw-like teeth, the 

 two teeth next the stalk being prolonged 

 into bristle-like points. The flowers are 

 yellow, and produced in clusters of two or 

 three together: they are succeeded by a 

 small almost globular but flat-topped fruit. 

 This species, as well as C. olitorius, yields 

 the exceedingly valuable fibre known 

 under the name of Jute. Only twenty years 

 ago, Jute was hardly heard of out of India, 

 where it had long been in use amongst the 

 natives for making cordage and cloth, but 

 it now forms a very important article of 



