363 



CTje Erca£uru af 23fltang. 



[CTTRT 



by the native doctors of the Philippine Is- 

 lands, and are considered excellent and 

 mild purgatives, in doses of from one to 

 four seeds. The effects which result from 

 an overdose are vomiting, purging, a burn- 

 ing sensation in the stomach and bowels, 

 with a determination of blood to the head. 

 The only antidote used by native prac- 

 titioners is cold water ; warm water they 

 affirm would be injurious. The kernels are 

 administered entire, or are pounded in a 

 mortar with water, and after being strained 

 given as a draught. Dr. Bennett has 

 himself administered these seeds to Euro- 

 peans, but has found their effects very 

 irregular, and occasioning in all cases a 

 burning sensation in the bowels, followed 

 with nausea and vomiting. 



The oil is said to be sometimes boiled 

 with oxide of iron, and used by the Chinese 

 ; as a varnish. It is of a light colour, and 

 j has been imported into England and used 

 as a substitute for linseed oil, as well as for 

 dressing cloth, burning in lamps, &c. Its 

 qualities differ little from those of castor 

 oil according to Dr. Christison, who says 

 that twelve or fifteen drops of it are equal 

 to an ounce of castor oil. The white milky 

 juice in which the plant abounds is re- 

 ported as having healing properties, and 

 a decoction of the leaves is used in the 

 Cape de Verd islands to excite secretion of 

 milk in women. 



The only other species of the genus is 

 C. spathulata, sometimes called Mozinna 

 spathulata, a low bush found in Mexico, 

 with stout succulent stems, having olive- 

 coloured bark, and furnished with nume- 

 rous warty excrescences from which the 

 leaves and flowers arise. The former are 

 small and spathulate, and the latter incon- 

 spicuous. [A. A B.] 



CURCULIGO. A genus of hypoxids 

 found in extratropical South Africa, in 

 tropical New Holland, and in India. They 

 are herbs with grassy ribbed leaves, and 

 short scapaceous spikes or fascicles of 

 small inconspicuous flowers, which have a 

 cylindrical tube adhering to the style, a 

 regular spreading six-parted limb, and six 

 stamens inserted in the mouth of the tube. 

 The roots of C. orchioides are bitter and 

 aromatic, and are used medicinally in In- 

 dia: while those of C. stems are eaten in 

 the Marianne Islands. [T. M.] 



CURCUMA A genus of Zingiberacece, 

 consisting of plants with perennial root- 

 stocKs and annual stems. The flowers are 

 in spikes with concave bracts ; they have a 

 tubular three-toothed calyx ; the tube of 

 the corolla is dilated above, five of its lobes 

 are equal, but the middle one of the inner 

 row or the lip is larger and spreading ; the 

 filament is petaloid, three-lobed at the top, 

 with a two-spurred anther on the middle 

 lobe. The substance called Turmeric con- 

 sists of the old tubers of C. longa, and 

 perhaps some other species. The powder 

 is nsed as a mild aromatic, and for other 

 medicinal purposes in India. It enters 

 into the composition of curry powder, and 

 is used as a chemical test for the presence 



of alkalies, which change its yellow colour 

 to a reddish brown. The young colourless 

 tubers of this plant furnish a sort of arrow- 

 root ; another species, however, C. angusti- 

 folia, furnishes East Indian arrowroot, 

 which is prepared by bruising and powder- 

 ing the tubers, and throwing the powder 

 into water, which is frequently changed 

 till the starch loses its originally bitter 

 taste. C. rubescens and C. leucorhiza also 

 furnish starch. C. aromatica and C. Zedo- 

 aria furnish Zedoary tubers, which are used 

 by the natives of India as aromatic tonics, 

 and as a perfume. Several species with 

 yellow or reddish flowers are cultivated 

 in hot-houses. [M. T. MJ 



CURL. A formidable disease in potatoes, 

 referrible to Chlorosis, in which the tubers 

 produce deformed curled shoots of a pallid 

 tint, which are never perfectly developed, 

 and give rise to minute tubers. It is sup- 

 posed to arise from the tubers being over- 

 ripe. It is, however, a local disease, and is 

 quite unknown in many districts. It must 

 not be confounded with a curled state of 

 the foliage, which arises from the presence 

 of aphides. [M. J. B.] 



CURLS, BLUE. An American name for 

 Trichostema. 



CURRANT. The common name for .Kibes, 

 but especially applied to Bibes rubrum, the 

 red, and B. nigrum, the black currant of 

 the gardens. The currants of the shops 

 are the dried berries of the Corinthian 

 grape. — , AUSTRALIAN. Leucopogon 

 Bichei. — , INDIAN. An American name 

 for Symphoricarpus vulgaris. — , NATIVE, 

 of New South "Wales. Leucopogon Bichei. 

 — , NATIVE, of Tasmania. A name applied 

 to some species of Coprosma. 



CURRANTWORTS. A name given by 

 Lindley to the Grossulariacece. 



CURRA-TOW. Ananassa Sagenaria. 



CURRORIA. A genus of Asclepiadacece, 

 containing a single species from "Western 

 Tropical Africa, It has a five-parted calyx, 

 with ovate-lanceolate sepals; the corolla 

 tube is short and subglobose, the divisions 

 of the limb are linear-lanceolate, and have 

 a twisted aestivation ; there are Ave linear 

 scales in the throat of the corolla ; the 

 gynostegium is included ; the pollen masses 

 are slightly stalked and erect; and the 

 stigma is short. rw. C] 



CURRY-LEAF TREE. Bergera Ebnigii. 



CURTISIA. A genus belonging to the 

 order of cornels, having a four-parted 

 calyx, four blunt petals, four stamens al- 

 ternate with them, and a stone fruit, the 

 hard part of which is four or five-celled. 

 The name was given in honour of Mr. 

 Curtis, a well-known English Botanist. 

 The only species is a large and fine tree, a 

 native of the Cape, with opposite shining 

 broad or toothed leaves, of a rusty colour 

 oeneath ; the flowers small and numerous. 

 The natives of the region where it abounds 

 employ it to form shafts for their javelins 



