;33 



CTje Crca£urg nf SSntanj?. 



[corn 



rays : calyx-tube adhering to the ovary, 

 the limb four or five-toothed ; petals four or 

 five ou an epigynous ring ; stamens eight 

 or ten; styles two to four ; capsule with two 

 or four imperfect partitions. [J .T. S.] 



CORN-SALAD. The Lamb's lettuce, 

 Valerianella olitoria. 



CORNIJ (adj. CORNUTT7S). A horn-like 

 process, commonly solid, and usually a me- 

 tamorphosed state of some other organ. 

 Also employed in the sense of Calcar. 



CORNUCOPLE. A genus of grasses 

 belonging to the tribe Phalaridece. It is 

 distinguished chiefly by the involucre 

 being large, one-leaved, cup-shaped or 

 funnel-shaped, many-flowered ; glumes 

 two, united at the base, mitre-formed, and 

 equal ; pales one, bladder-shaped, split on 

 one side, with an awn below the middle ; 

 stigmas long. Only one species is des- 

 cribed, C. cucullata, the Horn of Plenty 

 grass, a native of Greece and Asia Minor, 

 which is frequently cultivated in gardens 

 amongst curious annuals. [JD. M.] 



CORNUELLE. (Fr.) Trapa nutans. 



CORNTJS. The typical genus of the 

 order of cornels, consisting of twenty or 

 thirty species distributed throughout tem- 

 perate Europe, Asia, and America, generally 

 forming small trees or shrubs, some, how- 

 ever, being humble herbs only a few inches 

 high. Their leaves are undivided and 

 generally opposite ; their flowers have a 

 calyx composed of four minute teeth, and 

 a corolla of four yellow or white petals ; 

 and their fruit contains a hard two-celled 

 stone with two seeds, and is marked at the 

 top with a scar from the remains of the 

 calyx. 



G. florida, a deciduous tree about thirty- 

 feet high, is common in the woods in vari- 

 ous parts of North America. It has shining 

 branches, and egg-shaped sharp-pointed 

 leaves, clothed with closely-pressed hairs 

 on both sides ; and its heads of yellowish 

 flowers are surrounded by four large white 

 bracts. In the United States the bark of 

 this tree is substituted for Peruvian bark 

 in intermittent fevers. Mixed with sul- 

 phate of iron it makes a good black ink ; 

 and the bark of the root dyes a scarlet 

 colour. Its wood is hard, heavy, and close- 

 grained, but being of small size it is only 

 used for handles of tools, &c. ; the young 

 branches stripped of their bark are used 

 for whitening the teeth. 



The Cornelian Cherry, C. rnascula, is a 

 native of many parts of Europe and 

 Northern Asia, forming a large shrub or 

 small tree about fifteen or twenty feet in 

 ! height, having smooth branches with oval 

 sharp-pointed leaves, and producing its 

 heads of small yellow flowers early in 

 spring, before the appearance of the leaves. 

 Its pulpy fruits resemble a cornelian in 

 colour, and are about the size and shape 

 of olives, for which they are sometimes 

 substituted. The ripe fruits have a harsh 

 acid taste, and are scarcely eatable, but 

 they are sold in the markets in some 



parts of Germany, and eaten by children, or 

 made into sweetmeats and tarts. The 

 Turks use the flowers in diarrhoea, and the 

 fruits against cholera, or for flavouring 

 sherbet. The wood is exceedingly hard 

 and durable, and also tough and flexible ; 

 in central Europe it is used for making 

 forks and other implements, ladder-spokes, 

 &c, and the young branches for butcher's 

 skewers. C. sanguinea, which grows wild 

 in England, is known under the names of 

 Dogwood, Dogberry tree, or Hound's tree, 

 in consequence of a decoction of its bark 

 having formerly been used for washing 

 mangy dogs. It is a shrub about six feet 

 high with dark red branches and broadly 

 egg-shaped pointed leaves, which are hairy 

 when young; and bearing heads of dull white 

 flowers without bracts, producing globular, 

 nearly black, and very bitter fruits, which 

 yield an oil fit for lamps. Its hard wood is 

 used like that of the other species, and its 

 young branches for skewers. C. suecica is 

 a humble little plant not more than six 

 inches high, native of Britain, Northern 

 Europe, Asia, and America. Its creeping 

 roots produce annual stems having a few 

 stalkless egg-shaped leaves, and termi- 

 nated by a head of very minute purple 

 flowers, surrounded by four large petal- 

 like white bracts. The little red berries of 

 this plant form part of the winter stock of 

 food collected by the Esquimaux ; and in 

 the Scotch highlands they are a reputed 

 tonic, and are supposed to increase the 

 appetite, the plant being called lus-a- 

 chrasis, or Plant of gluttony. [A. S.] 



Chemical analysis shows that the bark of 

 the root, stem, and branches of C. florida, 

 which are bitter, astringent and aromatic, 

 contain, in different proportions, the same 

 substances as are found in Cinchona, except 

 that there is more gum,mucilage,gallicacid, 

 and extractive matter, and less resin, qui- 

 nine, and tannin. The principle obtained 

 from it is called comine, and its salts have, 

 according to Dr. Blackie, all the properties 

 of these of quinine, though not so strongly 

 marked; the principle is also difficult to 

 ! obtain in any quantity. The extract of Dog- 

 wood, though inferior and less stringent 

 j than the best cinchona, is said to be better 

 than the inferior kinds ; this extract con- 

 tains all the tonic properties, while the 

 simple resin is merely a stimulant. In 

 ! cases of debility, Dogwood is a valuable 

 ! corroborant. Country people often use it 

 j as a decoction, or chew the twigs as a 

 prophylactic against fevers. Drunkards 

 sometimes employ a tincture of the berries 

 to restore the tone of the stomach, and 

 combat the pains of dyspepsia. The pow- 

 dered bark of the plant makes one of the 

 best tooth powders, as it preserves the 

 gums hard and sound, and at the same 

 time renders the teeth extremely white. 

 Rubbing the fresh twigs on the teeth has 

 this effect, and the Creoles of the West 

 | Indies, the pearly whiteness of whose teeth 

 i is universally acknowledged, use another 

 j species in this way. [T. MJ 



CORNWEED. Biserrula Pelecinus. 



