00 ry] 



IKfyt €rra£tirg at 2Sntango 



338 



them induce sleep, and they usually contain 

 more or less of a volatile oil. [J. H. B.] 



CORYMBIS. Under this name, and 

 those of Corymborchis, Centrosis, Rhyncan- 

 thera, Macrostylis, and Hysteria, botanists 

 have described a singular herbaceous plant 

 found in the tropical parts of Africa and 

 Asia, with the habit of a small bamboo, 

 and long slender white flowers. After 

 flowering the column grows to a great 

 length, with the remains of the other 

 organs at the base. Only one species, C. 

 disticha, is well known ; two others very 

 like it are described, 



CORYMBIUM. A genus of S. African 

 plants of the composite family, some of 

 them common on the flats .about Cape 

 Town, and on Table Mountain. They are 

 perennial plants about two feet high, with 

 grassy root leaves, which have parallel 

 nerves, and are furnished at the base with 

 a tuft of woolly hairs. The stem bears a 

 number of small linear leaves, and termi- 

 nates in a dense corymb of flowerheads, 

 each of which contains but a single floret 

 —a circumstance unusual in the family, by 

 far the greater portion having many florets 

 collected in one flower-head. The achene is 

 clothed with long soft hairs, and crowned 

 by a pappus of short scales. [A. A. B.] 



CORYNEPHORUS. A genus of grasses 

 belonging to the tribe Avenece. It is not 

 considered essentially distinct from Aira, 

 under which it is described in Steudel's Sy- 

 nopsis, as the Aira canescens of Linnaeus. 

 It is a. rare grass in Britain, and is not 

 found wild out of England. [D. M.] 



CORYNEUM. One of the most remark- 

 able genera amongst the coniomycetous 

 Fungi, distinguished by the dark naked 

 elongated articulated spores, radiating in 

 every direction from alittle raised cushion- 

 like receptacle. It is distinguished from 

 Hendersonia, which has somewhat similar 

 spores, by the absence of any surrounding 

 cyst or perithecium. From Bactridium it 

 is separated by its more developed re- 

 ceptacle and dark, not coloured, spores. 

 The species grow on dead twigs. C.Kunzei, 

 which is not uncommon on oak, affords a 

 pretty microscopical object. [M. J. B.] 



CORYNIDIA. Processes sunk into the 

 margin of the germinating leaf of ferns, 

 and containing spiral threads. 



CORYNOCARPUS. A New Zealand genus 

 of handsome trees belonging to the order 

 Myrsinacece. The leaves are entire and 

 smooth ; and the flowers small,white,in ter- 

 minal clusters. The sepals and petals are 

 five in number, the latter provided with a 

 narrow claw ; alternating with the petals 

 are five ascending scales, each with a small 

 globular gland attached to it ; there are 

 five stamens ; the ovary is globular. The 

 fruit is club-shaped, hence the name of the 

 genus ; it contains but one seed. C. laevi- 

 gatas is in cultivation in this country. 

 The tree, according to Dr. Bennett, is 

 valued in New Zealand for the sake of its 

 fruit and seeds ; the former is of the size 



of a plum, pulpy in the interior and sweet. 

 The seeds are used in times of scarcity, 

 and contain a tasteless farinaceous sub- 

 stance. The raw seeds, however, are poison- 

 ous, and produce spasmodic pains, giddi- 

 ness, and partial paralysis, to obviate 

 which effects they are steamed for twenty- 

 four hours, and then either buried in the 

 ground, or allowed to soak in water for 

 some days. [M. T. M.] 



CORYNOSTYLIS. Tropical American 

 climbing shrubs of the violet family, with 

 entire saw-toothed leaves, deciduous sti- 

 pules, and large handsome flowers. The 

 sepals are nearly equal ; the five petals 

 very irregular, the anterior ones the small- 

 est, the lateral ones erect, the hinder one 

 very large and prolonged at the base into a 

 spur ; the five stamens have short filaments 

 prolonged into a hairy appendage at the 

 base, the anthers surmounted by a mem- 

 branous crest ; the ovary is somewhat glo- 

 bular, three-celled ; the style terminal, club- 

 shaped ; the stigma ciliated, lateral ; the 

 fruit a capsule with many seeds. [M. T. M.] 



CORYPHA. A genus of fan-leaved 

 palms composed of about five species, all 

 natives of tropical Asia, and mostly form- 

 ing tall trees. All their flowers are perfect, 

 and produced on branching spikes, which 

 are surrounded at the base by numerous 

 leafy bracts. They have a cup-shaped 

 calyx, the rim of which is cut into three 

 teeth ; a three-petaled corolla ; six sta- 

 mens, whose bases are dilated so as to join 

 one another; and three ovaries, which 

 cohere, and have their awl-shaped styles 

 united together and crowned by a simple 

 stigma. The fruit is a one-seeded berry. 



The Talipot palm, C. umbraculifera, is a 

 native of Ceylon and the Malabar coast, 

 where it grows to sixty or seventy feet 

 high, with a straight cylindrical trunk, 

 marked by rings, and surmounted by a 

 crown of gigantic, fan-like leaves. These 

 leaves have prickly stalks six or seven 

 feet long, and when fully expanded form a 

 nearly complete circle of thirteen feet in 

 diameter, and composed of from ninety to a 

 hundred radiating segments, joined to- 

 gether and plaited like a fan till near the 

 extremity, where they separate and form 

 a fringe of double points. Large fans 

 made of these leaves are carried before 

 people of rank among the Cinghalese ; they 

 are also commonly used as umbrellas, and 

 tents are made by neatly joining them 

 together; besides which they are used by 

 the natives as a substitute for paper, being 

 written upon with a style. Some of the 

 sacred books of the Cinghalese are com- 

 posed of strips of them. The hard seeds 

 are suitable for turnery purposes. C: Tali- 

 era is a native of India, and is closely 

 allied to the preceding, but does not grow 

 I more than thirty feet high. Its leaves are 

 ! used for the same purposes. C. Oebanga 

 j is called Gebang iii Java, where it is a 

 native. The leaves are used for thatching, 

 ! plaiting into baskets, hats, and similar 

 J articles. From the interior of the trunk a 

 I kind of sago is obtained ; and the sliced 



