351 



GTfjs Erea£urp of 33Dtang. 



CROW 



appearance, some being herbs, others trees, 

 and some having entire, others divided 

 leaves. 



C. Tiglium is the most important tree of 

 this genus in a medicinal point of view, as 

 it produces the seeds whence croton oil is 

 extracted. The tree is a native of Coro- 

 mandel, the Indian Archipelago, &c, and 

 has oblong-pointed leaves covered with 

 stellate hairs, when young. One seed is 

 sufficient to act as a purgative, but the oil 

 expressed from the seeds is yet more 

 powerful, though sometimes uncertain in 

 its action : one drop is usually sufficient, 

 hence the great value of this drug in cases 

 where smallness of dose, speediness of 

 action, and powerful effects are required, 

 as in mania, apoplexy, dropsy, &c. It is 

 so acrid that it is exhibited usually in 



Croton Tiglium. 



pills in order to avoid the burning heat it 

 occasions in the throat if swallowed by 

 itself: on this account it is not used in 

 any case where there is inflammation of 

 the bowels. In large doses it acts as a 

 frightful poison, producing symptoms like 

 those of cholera. Externally it has been 

 used as a counter-irritant. It is obtained 

 by submitting the seeds to pressure, an 

 operation which affects the men engaged 

 in it with irritation of the eyes, and air 

 passages, and purging. Dr. Pereira gives 

 the case of a workman who suffered very 

 severely from inhaling the dust of the 

 seeds, he having been occupied for some 

 time in emptying packages of them. The 

 seeds of C. Pavana and C. polyandram, 

 Indian shrubs, are also used as purgatives. 

 Many of the species have aromatic pro- 

 perties. Of these the most important are 

 C. Eleutheria, the tree yielding Cascarilla 

 bark, which is chiefly collected on the 

 island of Eleuthera, one of the Bahamas. 

 This bark is esteemed in this country as an 

 aromatic bitter tonic, without astringency, 

 in cases of simple indigestion. It has a 

 fragrant smell when burnt, on which ac- 

 count it is said to have been at one time 

 mixed with tobacco for smoking. C. pseudo- 

 China, called in Mexico Copalche, yields a 



bark having similar properties with the 

 above, and which is used in Mexico in 

 place of cinchona. C. balsamiferum, a 

 "West Indian shrub, furnishes a spirituous 

 liquor called Eau de Mantes, which is used 

 in irregular menstruation ; whilst others 

 i are employed in the West Indies, the Cape, 

 I &c, for their aromatic, fragrant, and bal- 

 samic qualities. C. lacciferum in Ceylon, 

 ! and C. Draco in Mexico, yield resin used for 

 j varnish-making, &c. The plants known in 

 | cultivation as C.pictum, &c, are referred 

 to Codiceum. [M. T. M.] 



CROTONOPSIS. A North American 

 herb of the euphorbiaceous family, scat- 

 tered over with bran-like scales ; the fruit 

 and calyx with stellate hairs. The flowers 

 are monoecious, the males having a five- 

 parted calyx, with five petals, and as many 

 stamens ; the females likewise have a five- 

 parted calyx, two of the segments of which 

 are frequently suppressed, with five peta- 

 loid scales opposite the sepals ; the ovary 

 has three two-lobed stigmas. The fruit is 

 one-seeded. [M. T. M.] 



CROTTLES. A name given by the lichen 

 gatherers in Scotland to various species, 

 which they distinguish under the names 

 black, brown, dark, light, white, stone crot- 

 tles, &c. In Scotland the name is applied 

 indifferently, but the merchants and dyers 

 distinguish all the species with an erect or 

 pendulous habit by the name of weeds, 

 while the flat imbricated species, as Parme- 

 lia saxatilis, are called mosses. The word 

 Crottles is not confined to Scotland, but is 

 used in some parts of England. [M. J. B.J 



CROWBERRY. Empetrum nigrum. — , 

 BROOM. An American name for Corema. 



CROWEA. Pretty greenhouse shrubs 

 with simple dotted leaves, and purple 

 flowers, constituting a genus of Rutucece, 

 ! and natives of New Holland. The whorls 

 j of the flower are in fives ; there are ten 

 1 stamens with hairy filaments, five of which, 

 j opposite the petals, are shorter than the 

 j remainder ; the anthers have an awl-shaped 

 hairy appendage prolonged from the sum- 

 j mit ; the carpels are five on a five-lobed 

 I disc, with five styles fused into one. The 

 I fruit consists of five dry segments, which 

 burst into two pieces, each containing 

 one seed. [M. T. M.] 



CROWFOOT. The common name for 

 Ranunculus. 



CROW GARLIC. Allium vineale. 



CROWNBEARD. An American name 

 for Verbesina. 



CROWN IMPERIAL. Fritillaria Im- 

 perialis. 



CROWNWORTS. A name given hy 

 Lindley to the group Malesherbiacea. 



CROW'S-FOOT. Echinochloa crus-corvi. 



CROWSILK. A name sometimes given 

 to the Conferva and other delicate green- 

 spored Alga. [M. J. B.] 



