ceem] 



Cije Ertragttrg at SSotanc. 



346 



undershrubs, with oblong or ovate leaves, 

 and elongated racemes of numerous yellow 

 flowers ; filaments not toothed ; pouoh 

 stalked, laterally compressed, constricted 

 at the partition as in Biscutella, with or- 

 bicular valves winged on the back, tipt by 

 the persistent style; seed solitary in 

 each valve. [J.T.S.] 



CREMOSTACHYS. M. Tulasne's name 

 for a genus of Stylaginacece, which had pre- 

 viously, unknown to him, received that of 

 Galearia : which see. [A. A. B.] 



CRENA, CRENATURE, CRENEL. A 



round or convex flat tooth. 



CRENATE, CRENELLED. Having con- 

 vex flat teeth. When these teeth are 

 themselves crenated, bicrenate is the term 

 which is used. 



CRENATO-DENTATE. Divided at the 

 edge into triangular notches. 



CRENATO-SERRATE. When serratures 

 are convex, and not straight. 



CRENUL ATE. Having the edge divided 

 into small crenels. 

 CRE'OX. (Fr.) Pinus Pumilio. 



CREPIS. A genus of herbaceous plants, 

 known as Hawk's-beards, belonging to 

 the chicory tribe of compound flowers, 

 and distinguished among its congeners by 

 the soft whitish deciduous pappus which 

 crowns the cylindrical achenes, which are 

 destitute of a beak, or furnished with but 

 a very short one. The species are common 

 hedge plants throughout Europe, and are 

 uninteresting. The most frequent British 

 species is C. virens, a branched herb from 

 twelve inches to two feet high or more, 

 with leaves not unlike those of the dande- 

 lion (Leontodon), and numerous small yellow 

 flowers. Its most favourite habitat is the 

 moss of thatched cottages, but it grows 

 also in dry hedges and in waste ground. 

 C. paludosa is a much larger plant, not un- 

 common in moist woods, where it grows to 

 the height of six feet or more. fC. A. J.] 



CRESCENTI-PINNATISECT. When the 

 lobes of a pinnated leaf become gradually 

 larger as they approach the end. 



CRESCENTIA. The typical genus of 

 Crescentiacece. Its four species are inhabi- 

 tants of the forests of tropical America, 

 and are either small trees or large shrubs, 

 having simple or trifoliate leaves arranged 

 alternately or in clusters upon the stem. 

 The flowers are produced upon the stem or 

 old branches, and are distinguished by 

 having a two-lipped calyx, with the lips 

 undivided; the corolla being somewhat 

 bell-shaped, and having a long tube puffed 

 out on one side. Their fruits have a hard 

 woody shell or rind, and contain numer- 

 ous seeds nestling in pulp. C. alata is a 

 native of Western Mexico, growing mostly 

 in the vicinity of the sea-coast ; but it is 

 cultivated in the Philippine and Ladrone or 

 Marianne Islands. It is called Tecomate 

 in Mexico, and forms a tree about thirty 



feet high, with its leaves growing in clus- 

 ters of three ; the two outer ones being 

 undivided and stalkless, while the central 

 one is composed of three distinct leaflets, 

 with a long winged stalk, and is compared 

 to a cross by the inhabitants of the 

 Philippines, the tree being called Hoja- 

 cruz, and a decoction of its leaves used as 

 a remedy against spitting of blood. The 

 fruit is about the size and of the same 

 colour as an orange, and contains a sourish- 

 bitter pulp, which the Mexicans boil with 

 sugar and administer internally as a cure 

 for chest complaints ; while the shells are 

 converted into drinking cups. 



C. cucurbitina, the Calabazo de playa of 

 the Panamians, is a shrub about twelve or 

 fifteen feet high, found growing very com- 

 monly on' the coasts of Central America, 

 the West Indian, and some of the Pacific 

 Islands, and cultivated in Java. Its leaves 

 are placed singly and alternately upon the 

 stem, and vary very much in shape. Its 

 fruit is either round, egg-shaped, or ellip- 

 tical, and has a very brittle shell. This 

 shrub has been reported to possess poison- 

 ous properties, but as the rest of the plants 

 belonging to the order are of a harmless 

 character, probably some mistake has oc- 

 curred. 



C. Cujete, commonly called the Calabash- 

 tree, from the Spanish word Calabazo, 

 which means a gourd or pumpkin, and 

 alludes to the resemblance of the fruits, 

 is a tree about thirty feet high, and is 

 found growing either wild or cultivated in 

 various parts of tropical America, and the 

 West Indies. Its flowers are variegated 

 with green, purple, red and yellow ; and its 

 leaves are arranged in clusters of five, all of 

 them undivided, and of a narrowly elliptic 

 form, the upper half being broader and 

 terminated by a short point, while the 

 lower tapers gradually to the base. The 

 fruits are generally of a globular form, or 

 sometimes slightly oval, and haA r e a very 

 hard woody shell, which is made to serve 

 many useful purposes in the domestic 

 economy of the inhabitants of the above- 

 mentioned countries— basins, cups, spoons, 

 water-bottles, pails, and even kettles being 

 made of them : the latter, it is said, stand- 

 ing the fire several successive times before 

 they are destroyed. In fact they in great 

 measure take the place of pottery-ware, 

 and many of them are carved and polished 

 or stained in various quaint devices. The 

 pulp is esteemed as a medicine, acting as a 

 purgative, and considered to be beneficial 

 in diseases of the chest ; it is also roasted 

 and used as a poultice for bruises and in- 

 flammations. The wood of the Calabash- 

 tree is light, tough, and pliant, but is only 

 obtainable in planks six or eight inches 

 broad. [A. SJ 



CRESCENTIACE^:. (Crescentiads.) A 

 small family of corollifloral dictoyledons, 

 closely allied to Bignoniacece, and often as- 

 sociated with them as a tribe or suborder, 

 but differing in their one-celled ovaries 

 with parietal placentas, and in their large 

 succulent fruits,with almond-like wingless 



