€f)t tErcajaitrj) of 28atang. 



360 



to the stem. In a great many the margins 

 are bordered with a single row of slender 

 hristles about an eighth of an inch in length 

 and in a few there is a double row of these 

 bristles, one set pointing upwards, the 

 other directed downwards. In all cases 

 the leaves are terminated by a bristle. 

 The yellow flower-heads are single on the 

 ends of the branches, and half an inch or 

 more in diameter. The scales of the 

 involucre, in many rows, are furnished with 

 bristles like the leaves. The florets of the 

 outer row are strap-shaped and barren, of 

 the inner tubular and fertile. Abouttwenty 

 species are enumerated. [A. A. B.] 



CULM. The straw of corn; a kind of 

 hollow stem. 

 CULMIFEROUS. Producing culms. 

 CULVER'S ROOT or CULVER'S PHYSIC. 



American names for Veronica virginica. 



CUMIN or CUMMIN. Cuminum Cymi- 

 num. — , BLACK. The pungent seeds of 

 Nigella sativa. — , SWEET. The Anise, 

 Pimpinella Anisum. — , WILD. Lagbecia 

 cumihoides. 



CUMIN CORNU. (Fr.) Bypecoum pro- 

 cumbens. — , NOIR. Nigella sativa. 



CUMINUM. Fennel-like plants, belong- 

 ing to the Umbellifera?, and botanically 

 characterised by the presence of both 

 general and partial involucres, the latter 

 one-sided ; by the calyx having five lance- 

 shaped teeth ; and by the elongated fruits, 

 slightly contracted at the side, and each 

 half provided with five thread-like ridges, 

 and four intermediate ones more promi- 

 nent and slightly prickly, beneath each of 

 which there is an oil channel or vitta. 

 The cumin seeds or fruits are the produce 

 of C. Cyminum. They are much like those 

 of caraway, but larger and of lighter 

 colour, and with nine in place of five 

 ridges on each half of the fruit. They are 

 but little used, as caraways are more agree- 

 able and more efficacious. The seeds of 

 cumin smoked were considered by the 

 antients to produce pallor of the counten- 

 ance. [M. T. M.] 



CUMINGIA. A genus of Liliacew, con- 

 sisting of bulbous Chilian herbs, with lin- 

 ear-lanceolate nervose leaves, and branched 

 scapes bearing panicles of nodding blue 

 flowers. The perianth is bell-shaped, the 

 tube adhering to the base of the ovary, 

 the limb six-parted with spreading seg- 

 ments. The six stamens are inserted in 

 the tube, and have short compressed fila- 

 ments; the ovary is three-celled with 

 many ovules, the style subulate and the 

 stigma simple. The genus is near Conan- 

 thera, but differs in having a less divided 

 perianth, in the same way as Kyacinthus 

 differs from Scilla. C. campanulata is a 

 very interesting plant, with linear-chan- 

 nelled leaves, and a stem from a span to 

 a foot high, bearing a racemose panicle 

 at top, the flowers violet, paler in the 

 throat around which they are spotted with 

 blackish purple. [T. M.] 



CUNEATE, CUNEIFORM. Wedge- 

 shaped. Inversely triangular, with rounded 

 angles. 



CUNICULATE. Traversed by a long 

 passage, open at one end, as the peduncle 



i of Tropceolum. 



CUNILA. A genus of Labiato?, contain- 

 | ing several species of perennial herbs or 

 j undershrubs, natives of N. America. They 

 ! have small white or purplish flowers, in co- 

 ■ rymbed cymes or close clusters. The calyx 

 i is ovate-tubular, equally five-toothed, and 

 1 hairy in the throat ; the corolla is two- 

 1 lipped, with the upper lip erect, flattish, 

 mostly notched, and the lower somewhat 

 equally three-cleft; the two inferior sta- 

 mens, which alone are fertile, are erect, 

 exserted, and distant, and there are no 

 traces of the superior stamens ; the apex of 

 the style is shortly bifid with subulate 

 lobes. The nucule is smooth. [W. C] 



CUNIX. The separable space which in- 

 tervenes between the wood and bark of 

 exogens ; an obsolete word. 



CUNNINGHAMIA. A lofty evergreen 

 tree, forming a genus of Coniferce of the 

 suborder or tribe Abietinece. The linear 

 falcate or lanceolate stiffly-pointed leaves 

 are nearly those of the American Arauca- 

 rias, but of a brighter green and less rigid. 

 In the flowers and cones, the genus is 

 nearly related to Pinus, but there are three 

 or four anther-cells instead of two to each 

 scale of the male catkins, and three instead 

 of two ovules or seeds to each scale of 

 the females. C. sinensis, the only species 

 known, is a native of South China, and too 

 tender for our climate without protection ; 

 but it is occasionally to be seen in our 

 conservatories, where, from the elegance 

 of its habit, it is a welcome inmate when 

 there is room for its development. 



CUNONIA. A genus of Cunoniacew, con- 

 sisting of a small tree from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, where it is called Rood Eize by 

 the Dutch colonists. It has reddish twigs, 

 and opposite pinnate leaves with oblong 

 coriaceous serrated leaflets, and ovate cadu- 

 cous stipules. The dense racemes of small 

 white flowers are axillary and opposite, 

 with the pedicels fascicled; calyx five- 

 parted, deciduous ; corolla of five oblong 

 petals ; stamens ten ; ovary free, with two 

 diverging styles ; capsule conical, two- 

 celled, separable into two many-celled car- 

 pels. [J. T. S.] 



CUNONIACE^. {Ochranthacece, Cunoni- 

 ads.) A family of dicotyledons, closely 

 allied to Saxifragacew, and very generally 

 considered as a tribe only of that family, 

 differing more in their habit than in the 

 structure of their flowers or fruit. They 

 are shrubs or trees with opposite leaves, 

 simple or compound, and have stipules be- 

 tween the leaf-stalks. The calyx is half- 

 superior or nearly inferior, the petals and 

 stamens perigynous, the latter definite or 

 more rarely indefinite. The ovary is two- 

 celled, with two or more ovules in each 

 cell ; the styles usually distinct ; the fruit 



