root is said to be an efficacious remedy 

 for diarrhoea. [A. S.J 



CORYSANTHES. Curious little swamp 

 orchids, inhabiting Australia and Java, 

 hare received this name in allusion to 

 their large dorsal sepal having the form of 

 a helmet. They have thin roundish soli- 

 tary leaves, from the axil of which rises a 

 single purple and green flower. One 

 species, named Calcearia by Blume, grows 

 among damp moss on the summit of 

 Mount Salak in Java. 



COSCINICM. A remarkable genus of 

 Menispermaeece, characterised by its large 

 petals, the irregularly-mottled albumen, 

 and the structure of its embryo, which has 

 its radicle superior, pointing towards the 

 apex of the drupe-like fruit, while the 

 cotyledons are rounded, widely-spreading, 

 either perforated with holes, or, according 

 to Miers, deeply-gashed ; but they are so 

 thin as not readily to be taken from the 

 albumen on which they lie. C.fenestratum, 

 formerly called Menispermum fenestration, 

 is considered in Ceylon to be a valuable 

 stomachic and tonic. The wood, which has 

 a peculiar structure, described in Hooker 

 and Thomson's Flora Indica, is of a yellow 

 colour, and yields a yellow dye. Medici- 

 nally the wood, bark, and root, are used as 

 tonics. [M. T. M.] 



COSMANTHUS. A small genus of an- 

 nual hydrophylls, closely allied to Eutoca 

 and Phacelia, so closely in fact, that by 

 some botanists both Eutoca and Cosman- 

 I thus are regarded as only sections of the 

 genus Phacelia. It scarcely differs from 

 the latter, but in its fringed corolla and 

 procumbent habit ; from Eutoca it is dis- 

 tinguished by the former character, and by 

 its fewer and larger seeds. The only 

 species at all known in this country, C.fim- 

 briatus, and which may serve as a type of 

 the genus, is a neat procumbent plant, 

 with rather succulent branched angular 

 spreading stems, pinnatifid leaves, those of 

 the stem stalklessand stem-clasping, those 

 at the root on long stalks, all with ovate 

 entire lobes ; it has very pale lilac purple 

 flowers produced in a curled or crook-like 

 raceme, the corolla wheel-shaped, and hav- 

 ing at the base of each lobe a scale rolled 

 into a tubular form ; five linear calyx, seg- 

 ments," five stamens with hairy filaments, 

 a single style with a circle of hairs at it3 

 base, and a four-seeded pod, complete the 

 description. The species are all natives of 

 North America, and appear to be destitute 

 of any marked properties. [W. T.] 



COSMELIA, A genus of Epacridacem, 

 consisting of two species of erect marshy 

 plants, with glossy leaves sheathing the 

 stem, and solitary reddish flowers at the 

 termination of the short branches. The 

 foliaceous calyx is surrounded with many 

 imbricated bracts; the corolla is five- 

 parted ; the anthers are exserted ; there are 

 Ave hypogynous scales; the capsule is 

 five-valved and many-seeded The species 

 are natives of New Holland. [W. C] 



COSMIDIT7M. A genus of composites, 

 recently separated from Coreopsis, from 

 which it differs in having an elongated ob- 

 scurely four-angled, and minutely mammil- 

 lated fruit, crowned by two short thick 

 horns, and partially enveloped in a mem- 

 branous scale, which remains attached when 

 the fruit separates from the receptacle. In 

 general habit and aspect, the species ap- 

 proach very closely to Calliopsis, having, 

 like that, smooth erect branched stems, 

 opposite leaves, pinnatifldly cut into dis- 

 tinct thread-like segments, and flower- 

 heads an inch and half in diameter, with a 

 ray of about eight broadly wedge-shaped 

 j florets, and a double involucre surround- 

 ing the capitule, each series consisting of 

 eight leaflets, the innermost broad and 

 erect, the outer narrow, spur-like and 

 spreading. C. fllifolium, till recently the 

 only species generally known or cultivated, 

 has the ray florets yellow, and the disk or 

 centre crimson-brown. The beautiful C. 

 Burridgeanum, of gardens, which is per- 

 haps but a variety of the preceding, has 

 larger flower-heads, with the ray florets of 

 a deep purple brown at their base, the tip 

 only being orange yellow. The fruit of 

 this plant is considerably shorter and 

 thicker than in C. fllifolium. [W. T.j 



COSMOPHYLLTJM. The name given to 

 a genus of the composite family found in 

 Guatemala. C. cacaliwfolium is the only 

 known species ; it is described as a shrub 

 or small tree, with leaves one to two feet in 

 length, oval in contour, with seven trian- 

 gular lobes, and having their surface 

 clothed with short white down. The 

 flower heads have some resemblance to 

 those of the chamomile, and are disposed in 

 terminal corymbs ; the outer florets are 

 white, strap-shaped and contain a pistil 

 only ; the inner are yellow, tubular, and 

 perfect. The four-sided achenes bear on 

 their angles rough points, and are crowned 

 with a hard short pappus composed of a 

 number of unequal-cut scales. [A. A. B.] 



COSMOS. A small genus of composites al- 

 lied to Bidens,v?ith large showy reddish-pur- 

 ple'or yellow flower heads, and finely divided 

 or pinnate foliage. They are better known 

 in gardens by Willdenow'sname Of Cosmea, 

 but Cosmos has priority in its favour. The 

 genus has a double involucre, as in Coreop- 

 sis, each series composed of from eight to 

 ten ovate leaflets, the outer ones spreading, 

 the inner ones erect ; the receptacle is flat 

 and set with membranous coloured scales, 

 drawn out to a thread-like point ; and the 

 fruit is four-angled, tapering to both 

 ends, and crowned with from two to four 

 deciduous barbed awns. C. bipinnatus is a 

 handsome annual, attaining in moist soil a 

 height of four or five feet, with a smooth- 

 ish erect furrowed stem, spreadingly- 

 branched ; opposite bipinnate leaves, the 

 segments of which are linear, pointed, 

 and somewhat curled; and flower heads two 

 inches or more in diameter, on long pe- 

 duncles, the ray florets about eight in 

 number, of a bright red purple, the disk 

 being composed of yellow florets tubular. 



