23 
ten upon with a style. Some of the sacred books of the Cinghalese are 
composed of strips of them. The hard seeds are used by turners. 
COUROUPITA GUIANENSIS.—The fruit of this tree is called, from its 
appearance, the Cannon-ball fruit ; its shell is used as a drinking-vessel, 
and, when fresh, the pulp is of an agreeable flavor. 
CRESCENTIA CUCURBITINA.—The Calabazo de Playa of the Panam- 
ians. The fruit has a very brittle shell, and has been reported to possess 
poisonous properties, which is doubted. 
CROTON TicLiumM.—A plant of the family Huphorbiacee, from the In- 
dian Archipelago, which produces the seeds from whence croton-oil is 
extracted. It is a very powerful medicine, and even in pressing the 
seeds for the purpose of extracting the oil, the workmen are subject to 
irritation of the eyes and other casualties. 
Croton CASCARILLA.—This plant furnishes Cascarilla bark, used as 
an aromatic bitter tonic, having no astringency. It has a fragrant 
smell when burnt, on which account it has been mixed with smoking- 
tobacco. 
CUBEBA OFFICINALIS.—A native of Java, which furnishes the cubeb 
fruits of commerce. These fruits are like black pepper, but stalked, 
and have an acrid, hot, aromatic taste, frequently used medicinally. 
CUPRESSUS SEMPERVIRENS.—This is the Cypress of Persia and the 
Levant, celebrated by Oriental poets for its elegance of form, and the 
special tree planted in Mohammedan and Armenian cemeteries. 
CUPRESSUS FUNEBRIS.—A native of China, and much used in that 
country for planting in cemeteries. As it attains age, its branches 
droop like a Weeping Willow, and is supposed to have been the tree 
represented on the ‘‘ willow pattern” of China-ware, at one time so much 
in use all over the globe. 
CURCUMA LONGA.—A plant belonging to the Zing giberacece, the roots 
of which furnish turmeric. This pow der is used in India as a mild 
aromatic, and for other medicinal purposes. It also enters into the 
composition of curry-powder, and a sort of arrow root is made from the 
young tubers. 
CuRCUMA ZEDOARIA.—This plant furnishes Zedoary tubers, much 
used in India as aromatic tonics. 
CYATHEA MEDULLARIS.—This beautiful tree-fern is a native of 
Australia, where it attains a height of twenty-five to thirty feet, having 
fronds from ten to fifteen feet in length. It contains a pulpy substance 
in the center of the stem, of a starchy, muecilaginous nature, which is a 
common article of food with the natives. The trees have to be destroyed 
in order to obtain it. 
CYBISTAX ANTISYPHILITICA.—A plant of the order of Bignoniacea, 
called Atunyangua in the Andes of Peru, where the inhabitants dye 
their cotton cloths by boiling them along with the leaves of this plant; 
the dye is a permanent blue. The bark of young shoots is much 
employed in medicine. 
CYCAS REVOLUTA.—The Sago paltwn of gardens. The stem of the 
plant abounds in starch, which’ is highly esteemed in Japan. A gum 
exudes from the trunks of the old plant. which is employed medicinally 
by the natives of India. 
CYCAS CIRCINALIS.—A native of Malabar, where a kind of sago is 
prepared from the seeds, which are dried and powdered ; medicinal 
properties are also attributed to the seeds. 
CYCLOPIA GENISTOIDES.—A native of South Africa, where the leaflets 
of the plant are used in infusion or decoction for promoting expectora- 
