cupu] 



Cfjc Creagttrg of Matmxv. 



362 



and much liable to injury from wind and 

 severe frost. The second variety, C. hori- 

 zontal-is, or spreading Cypress, with all its 

 branches more or less spreading or quite 

 horizontal, is so different in aspect that it 

 would be difficult to conceive it to belong 

 to the same species, were it not that it will 

 frequently spring from the seed of C. fas- 

 tigiata. In the south of Europe it readily 

 grows to a tree, having much the form of 

 a Cedar, but it is seldom planted in Eng- 

 land. 



G. torulosa, from the Himalaya, is one of 

 the most elegant of modern introductions to 

 our pinetums and shrubberies; the branches 

 are erect or ascending, but less compact 

 than in the common tall cypress and the 

 colour is not so dark. It is hardy enough 

 to bear well the climate of some parts of 

 England, but in others suffers- much in 

 severe winters. C. glauca, another East 

 Indian species, is much more tender, and 

 will seldom outlive our winters without 

 protection, but it is much planted in Portu- 

 gal, and has thence acquired the name of O. 

 lusitanica. C. fnnebris, from North China, 

 with its long branches, said to droop like 

 those of a Weeping Willow, promises to be 

 a valuable addition to oar hardy ever- 

 greens. To these must be added G. macro- 

 car-pa and Goveniana, both Californian. The 

 first a noble tree with the habit of C. sem- 

 pervirens, the second of much smaller di- 

 mensions and with a less compact habit. 



Of the section Chammcyparis, two spe- 

 cies, G. thyoides and C. naikaensis (Thitjop- 

 sis nutkaensis of our garden catalogues), 

 from North America, and C. squarrosa (Be- 

 tinospora squarrosa of our garden cata- 

 logues) from Japan, are to be met with in 

 our plantations of conifers. 



CUPTJLE. The cup or husk of the acorn, 

 Spanish chesnut, &c. ; a collection of 

 bracts ; a sort of involucre ; a cup-like body 

 found in such fungals as Peziza. 



CUPULA-SHAPED. Slightly concave, 

 with a nearly entire margin ; as the calyx 

 of Citrus, or the cup of an acorn. 



CUBAGE. (Fr.) Polygonum Hydropiper. 



CURANA WOOD. The wood of Idea 



altissima. 



CURATELLA. A genus of small trees 

 from Tropical America, belonging to Dille- 

 niacea, with alternate ovate rough leaves 

 often with winged leaf stalks ; flowers 

 small, white, racemose ; calyx of four un- 

 equal roundish sepals ; petals four or five ; 

 stamens numerous ; ovaries two, subglo. 

 bose, united at the base, with sublateral 

 styles ; capsulesleathery, hispid, one-celled, 

 two-seeded; seeds -with a membranous 

 aril. The rough leaves of G. americana 

 are used in Guiana for polishing. [J. T. SJ 



CURCAS. A genus of Euphorbiaceai 

 formed for the reception of the Phj sic-nut 

 tree, C. purgaiis, or, as it was formerly 

 called, Jatropha Curcas. It differs from 

 Jatropha merely in having a bell-shaped 

 corolla, while the latter has a corolla of 



five distinct petals. It forms a large bush 

 or sometimes a tree of twenty feet high, 

 with soft spongy wood and smooth bark, 

 and is indigenous in Tropical America, 

 but is very generally found in all tropical 

 countries, being cultivated for the purga- 

 tive oil of the seeds. Its leaves, generally 

 crowded at the apex of the branches, are 

 smooth, entire, and heart-shaped, or more 

 commonly three or five-lobed, and includ- 

 ing the stalks, from six to eight inches in 

 length. The small green flowers are sup- 

 ported on stalked cymes about the length 

 of the leaves; the males occupy the ex- 

 tremities of the ramifications, and the fe- 

 males the forks. The former have a calyx 

 of five leaves ; a bell-shaped corolla with a 

 five-lobed border ; and a double stamen- 

 tube of ten stamens, the five inner longer 

 than the others. The females have a simi- 

 lar calyx and corolla, and a three-lobed 

 ovary crowned with a tripartite style, each 

 branch forked at the apex. 



Dr. Bennett in his Gatherings of a Natu- 

 ralist, states that this tree ' contains a 

 milky acrid glutinous juice, which when 

 dropped on white linen produces an indeli- 

 ble stain, at first of a light blue colour, but 

 after being washed, changing to a perma- 

 nent brown : it might therefore form a 

 very excellent marking ink. The fruit is 

 globular and fleshy, about the size of a 

 filbert, and contains three seeds in distinct 

 cells. When immature, it is of a green 

 colour, and when ripe black. On removing 

 the husk from the oblong seeds, a white 

 kernel remains, which contains much oil, 

 and has an agreeable almond-like taste. 

 The seeds are collected by the natives of 

 the Philippine Islands for the purpose of 

 expressing the oil, which they use for 



Curcas purgans. 



burning in their lamps, as well as for medi- 

 cinal purposes. The leaves are employed 

 for fomentations, and the juice of the 

 young buds or other parts of the tree as a 

 beneficial application to the ulcerated sur- 

 face of wounds.' The seeds are employed 



