coug] 



€f)e €r*agurg at 38ntang. 



342 



stalked. The Indians make use of the bark 

 in the manufacture of their pottery. The 

 Caribbean name of the tree is Couepi, 

 whence the origin of the generic name. C. 

 bracteata, a Brazilian tree forty feet high 

 with leaves half a foot long, and panicles 

 of flowers furnished with large bracteas, 

 is remarkable in the family, according to 

 Mr. Spruce, for the fetid odour of its 

 cream-coloured flowers. [A. A. B.] 



COUGOURDETTE. (Fr.) Cucurbita ovi- 

 fera. 



COULEUVRE'E. (Fr.) Bryonia dioica. 



COUMARIN. The fragrant principle of 

 the Tonka bean, Dipterix odorata, and also 

 of Melilotus cceruleus, the latter of which 

 gives its peculiar odour to Chapziger cheese. 



COUNTRYMAN'S TREACLE. An old 



name for Ruta graveolens. 



COURGE. (Fr.) Cucurbita maxima. — 

 DE SAINT-JEAN. Cucurbita Pepo. 



COURONNE DES BLE'S. (Fr.) Agros- 

 temma Githago. — IMPE'RIALE. Fritil- 

 laria Imperialis, and also Cucurbita Me- 

 lopepo. 



COUROUPITA. A genus of trees belong- 

 ing to the order Lecythidacece, and natives 

 of tropical America. The clusters of flowers 

 spring from the trunk and branches. The 

 flowers are large whitish or rose-coloured, 

 with a top-shaped calyx-tube, adherent to 

 the ovary, its limb having six deciduous 

 segments ; the corolla consists of six pe- 

 tals inserted into a disc, which surrounds 

 the top of the ovary ; the cup formed by 

 the union of the filaments of some of the 

 stamens is inserted with the petals : on one 

 side it is very short, on the other it is pro- 

 longed into a petal-like hood overlapping 

 the style, and bearing anthers at its top ; 

 the stamens at the base of the cup are 

 minute and barren, those at the apex of 

 the petal-like hood are fertile ; ovary with 

 six compartments ; stigma sessile, hex- 

 agonal. The fruit is large, globular, and 

 woody, marked with a circular scar indicat- 

 ing the point of detachment of the limb of 

 the calyx ; the seeds are numerous and 

 imbedded in pulp. The fruit of C.guianen- 

 sis is called from its appearance the Can- 

 non-ball fruit , its shell is used as a drink- 

 ing vessel, and its pulp when fresh is of an 

 agreeable flavour. [M. T. M.] 



COURT. A kind of Catechu, obtained by 

 evaporating a decoction of the nuts of 

 Areca Catechu. 



COUSINIA. A genus of prickly-leaved 

 thistle-like plants of the composite family, 

 found in Western Asia, occurring as far 

 east as Kunawur in the Himalaya, having 

 their western limit in Asia Minor and 

 found in greatest numbers in Persia. They 

 are nearly allied to Carlina, but differ in 

 having a simple-haired, not feathery, pap- 

 pus. Upwards of thirty species are enume- 

 rated, some of which are annual, others per- 

 ennial ; some dwarf and prostrate, others 

 tall and erect. The root leaves of many 



are pinnately-parted, with spiny segments, 

 and covered, especially underneath, with a 

 loose white cottony substance ; those of the 

 stem, similarly cut and spiny, often have 

 their bases decurreut, which gives the stem 

 a winged appearance. Others have leaves, 

 which in size and form are not unlike 

 those of the holly. The flower-heads are 

 either large and few on the ends of the 

 branches, or numerous and small ; their in- 

 volucres, made up of many spiny-pointed 

 scales, enclose a great number of yellow or 

 pink florets. The achenes are smooth, or 

 have rough points, or longitudinal furrows, 

 and in some cases they are compressed and 

 angled. The pappus is composed of two 

 i or three series of short and unequal rough 

 hairs. [A. A. B.] 



COUSSAPOA. A genus of tropical Ame- 

 rican trees, abounding in a milky juice, 

 and belonging to the family Artocarpacea. 

 The trees are described as being at first 

 mere climbing shrubs, but after reaching 

 the summit of the tree upon which they 

 are supported, they send down branches 

 into the earth, these branches becoming 

 fused together so as to encircle completely 

 the tree which originally sustained them, 

 and cause its death. The branches are 

 spongy in texture, and hollow in the in- 

 terior. The flowers are dioecious and clus- 

 tered in heads, tiie male flower encircled 

 by three or four small bracts, and consisting 

 of a tubular perianth, from whose base two 

 conjoined stamens arise ; the female flower 

 without bractlets surrounding its perianth, 

 and consisting of four leaflets in close ap- 

 proximation. The one-celled ovary be- 

 comes succulent when mature, as also does 

 the investing perianth, so that a mul- 

 berry-like fruit is produced. [M. T. M.] 



COUSSINET. (Fr.) Oxy coccus palustris. 



COUTAREA. A genus of cinchonace- 

 ous trees inhabiting Guiana, &c, and hav- 

 ing large whitish flowers. The corolla 

 is funnel-shaped, its tube short, so that 

 the six stamens project from it, and its 

 limb six-parted. The fruit is a leathery 

 capsule, bursting by two valves, and con- 

 taining several kidney-shaped seeds. C. 

 speciosa is a very handsome stove plant; 

 its bark is used in Guiana as a substitute 

 for cinchona. It is also known by the 

 name of Portlandia hexandra. [M. T. M.] 



COVENTRY BELLS. Campanula Medi- 

 um, also called Canterbury Bells. 



COWAGE. The Cow-itch, Mucuna pru- 

 riens. 



COWANIA. A genus of the rosewort 

 family, distinguished from its congeners 

 by the ten-cleft calyx ; corolla of five petals ; 

 seed vessels five to ten, closely covered 

 with fine down, and when ripe, each 

 crowned with a feathery appendage, con- 

 sisting of the enlarged persistent style. The 

 genus was named by David Don in honour 

 of Mr. Cowan,who, in the course of visits to 

 Mexico and Peru, introduced many plants 

 of those countries into Britain. C. plicata 

 or mexicana, the only species, is an inter- j 



