CHXJPA OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 115 



pods are also used. Other species of Dolichos are cultivated 

 as food plants. 



Christ's Thorn. — Several plants are accredited with the 

 honour of having formed the Crown of Thorns ; some Bible 

 commentators consider it to have been made of the prickly 

 shoots of the bramble ; others, that it was one of the three more 

 formidable spiny shrubs — Faliurus aculeatus, Zizyjphus spina 

 Christi, or Z. vulgaris. They all belong to the Buckthorn family 

 (Ehamnacese), and are widely spread throughout the Mediter- 

 ranean regions and Palestine ; they are strong-growing shrubs, 

 with large slight hooked spines, forming impenetrable thickets, 

 often climbing up other plants and holding on by their hooks, 

 but when growing singly they form trees, especially Z. spina. 

 Christi. Z, vulgaris bears the fruit called Jujube; it is cultivated 

 in gardens, and may therefore be considered to have been the 

 most readily obtainable for the soldiers to form the Crown of 

 Thorns. {See Lotus ) 



Christopher, Herb. {See Baneberry.) 



Chrysanthemum, a name given to a genus of herbs of the 

 Composite family (Composite) represented in this country by 

 the Ox-eye Daisy {0, leucanthemum) and the Corn Marigold {C. 

 segetum)] but the most conspicuous species of the genus is 

 C, sinense, a native of China, introduced about 1764, and culti- 

 vated by Philip Miller at Chelsea. It was long kept as a 

 greenhouse plant, but having been proved to be hardy, and 

 many varieties having been introduced and also raised in this 

 country, it has now become a favourite in all gardens, and 

 Chrysanthemum shows now yearly take place during the 

 flowering season, which is in the autumn. 



Chupa-Chupa, a name in New Grenada for the fruit of 

 Matisia cordata^ a tree of the Sterculiad family (Stercu- 

 liaceas). Although never exceeding 60 feet in height, its broad 

 cordate leaves and curious mallow-like flowers, succeeded by a 

 cluster of fruit as if stuck on its trunk and larger branches, 

 make it one of the most interesting of tropical trees ; the fruit 

 is of an oval form, firm, 5 inches in length and 3 broad, covered 



