3~3 



Cf)£ CrcaSurg cf Jacitaug. 



[CYPE 



j in crowded close thyrsoid panicles, with 

 I flowers pointing to one side; glumes 

 | nearly equal, scarious.and strongly keeled, 

 | two or more-flowered; each spikelet with 

 '< a pectinated bract at its base. The genus 

 comprises fire species, only one of which, 

 the Dog's Tail grass, C. cristatus, is truly 

 . a native of Britain. This is considered an ex- 

 cellent species for permanent sheep-pasture. 

 The roots penetrate deep into tue earth, 

 which enables the plant to withstand 

 droughts better than many of the other 

 pasture-grasses ; hence it may often be seen 

 looking quite fresh when they are partially 

 withered up. C. echinatus is an annual 

 i species, which is occasionally cultivated 

 ' in British collections of grasses. It is a 

 southern plant, but extends as far north 

 as the Channel Islands. [D. MJ 



CYPELLA. A genus of beautiful Iri- 

 : dacece, consisting of a single species, C. 

 | Herbert. The perianth is six-parted, con- 

 I cave at the base, the outer segments larger 

 ' and spreading, the inner ones small con- 

 volute and reflexed at top. There are 

 , three erect stamens, united at the base of 

 I the filaments ; a slender style ; and a three- 

 lobed stigma with trifle! segments, which 

 ! are appendic.ulate on both sides at the base. 

 The chief distinction of the genus consists 

 ; in its spreading not reflexed sepaline seg- 

 ments, and in their being deeply indented or 

 hollowed out, as it were, at the base, so as to 

 form a kind of bowl or cup. C. Herbert is a 

 very slender plant, with fleshy corms, long 

 lanceolate acute plaited glaucescent leaves, 

 and a slender stem 1£ to 2 feet high, 

 branched at top and producing in succes- 

 sion many flowers which last for several 

 days, unlike those of some allied plants 

 i which are very fugacious. The flowers 

 are bright orange yellow, the three outer 

 ! segments with a central dark purple stripe, 

 ! the three inner whitish in the centre, 

 spotted with purple. It is a native of 

 I Buenos Ayres. [T. MJ 



I CYPERACEJ2. (Cyperoidece, Sedges.) A 



j natural order of glume-bearing monocoty- 

 ledons belonging to Lindley's glumal alli- 



! ance. Grass-like tufted plants, having 

 solid, usually jointed, and frequently an- 

 gular stems ; leaves with their sheaths en- 

 tire mot split, as in grasses) ; and flowers 

 either perfect or incomplete (staminate 

 and pistillate), each borne on a solitary 



| bract or scale, and all united in an imbri- 

 cated manner so as to form a spike. In 

 the pistillate flowers there is often a mem- 

 branaceous covering within the scale. 

 Stamens hypogynous, varying from one to 

 twelve, usually three ; anthers attached at 

 their base to the filament. Ovary superior, 

 often surrounded at the base by bristles ; 

 ovule one ; style two to three-cleft. Fruit 

 a crustaceans or bony achene ; embryo lens- 

 shaped, and lying at the base of fleshy or 

 mealy albumen. The plants are generally 

 distributed over the world, and abound in 

 moist situations. Some of the sedges are 

 demulcent, others are bitter and astringent. 

 Some by means of their creeping under- 

 ground stems bind together the loose 



sands of the sea-shore. Their cellular tissue 

 is sometimes used for paper. The under- 

 ground stems of several species of Cyperus 

 are used as food. Carices abound in moist 

 temperate and cold regions. Carex aren- 

 aria is one of the sandy-shore plants; its 

 underground stems are used for sarsapa- 

 rilla. The species of Eriophorum, or cotton 

 grass, have long white silky hairs sur- 

 rounding the fruit. Papyrus antiquorum ap- 

 pears to be one of the plants called bulrush 

 in scripture. It formerly grew abundantly 

 at the mouth of the Kile, which was hence 

 called by Ovid papyriferous, but it is now 

 gone. The cellular tissue of its stems was 

 used in place of paper. Scirpus lacustris, the 

 bulrush, is used for making mats, baskets, 

 and the bottoms of chairs. In South 

 America it is used for making balsas or 

 boats; a similar use is referred to in 

 Isaiah (xviii. 1, 2). There are 120 known 

 genera, and upwards of 2,000 species. The 

 genera Carex, Cladium, Scirpus, Eleocharis, 

 Eriophorum, Cyperus, and Papyrus afford 

 examples. A plant of this family is shown 

 in Plate 10, fig. a. [J. H. B.] 



CYPERORCRTS. A name proposed by 

 Blume for the Cymbidium elegans of 

 Lindley, on account of its having a pro- 

 minent stigma and pyriform pollen masses. 



CYPERUS. A genus of plants giving 

 its name to the sedge family, Cyperacece. 

 It is distinguished chiefly by the stem 

 being triangular, and leafy at the base; 

 spikelets distichous, imbricated, in clus- 

 ters or heads, with a leaf-like involucre 

 under them ; glumes several in each spike- 

 let, with one flower in each glume ; seed 

 without bristles. According to Steudel's 

 untrustworthy Synopsis, the genus con- 

 tains 673 species, widely distributed over 

 the warmer parts of the earth, and gradu- 

 ally disappearing as the extremes of north 

 and south are reached. Two species only 

 are natives of Britain, both of which 

 are rare and not found out of England. 

 Dr. Lindley states that the roots of these 

 plants are succulent, and filled with an 

 agreeable and nutritive mucilage. The 

 English species, C. long us, contains also 

 a bitter principle, which gives its roots a 

 tonic and stomachic quality. The tubers 

 of C. hexastachys are said to be suc- 

 cessfully used by Hindoo practitioners 

 in cases of cholera, who call the plant 

 Mootha. Those of C. pertenuis, or Nagur 

 Mootha, are, when dried and pulverised, 

 used by the Indian ladies for scouring and 

 perfuming their hair. The root of C. 

 odoratus has a warm aromatic taste, and is 

 given in India in infusions as a stomachic. 

 The roots of some of the species are also 

 used as an article of diet. C. esculentus 

 yields tubers which are called by the 

 French Souchet comestible or Amande de 

 terre, and are used as food in the south of 

 Europe. According to Dr. Royle, they have 

 been proposed as a substitute for coffee 

 and cocoa wheD roasted. The tubers of 

 another species, C. bulbosus, are said to 

 taste like potatoes when roasted, and 

 would be valuable for food only they are 



