co'lchicum. 



60 



COLLI 'NSIA. 



white flowers and red berries. One 

 or two species will grow in the open 

 air. The soil should be loam and 

 peat, and the roots should be allowed 

 plenty of room. 



Coccus. — The scale-insect. These 

 insects are troublesome on many 

 plants ; but more so in the kitchen- 

 garden, on the vine and pine-apple, 

 than on flowering plants. One spe- 

 cies of Coccus infests the Opuntia, 

 and is what we call cochineal ; and 

 another on a kind of fig-tree in India, 

 produces the substance we call shell 

 lac, which is used in making sealing- 

 wax. The only cure for these insects 

 is brushing them off, and washing the 

 branches affected with soft soap and 

 water. 



Cochineal Fig. — See Opuntia. 



Cockscomb. — See Celosia. 



Cockspur-thorn. — See Crataegus. 



Coffea. — Cinchonacece, or Ru- 

 biacece. — The Coffee-tree, in Eng- 

 land, becomes a stove-shrub, which 

 should be grown in loam and peat, in 

 pots well drained, and sufficiently 

 large to allow of plenty of room for 

 its roots. The flowers, which appear 

 in August or September, are white 

 and sweet-scented, and the fruit is 

 round, and of a brilliant scarlet, in- 

 closing two closely-packed seeds, 

 which are the coffee. If the plant is 

 kept well watered, it will flower every 

 year, and the seeds will often ripen in 

 England ; but the coffee made from 

 them is very inferior to even the 

 worst of that ripened in the tropics. 

 The coffee-tree, being a native of 

 Arabia, requires a dry heat when it is 

 in a growing state, and only a mo- 

 derate degree of warmth in winter. 

 When kept in a moist stove, without 

 a free circulation of air, the leaves be- 

 come mildewed and infected with 

 insects. 



Co'lchicum. — Melanthacece. — 

 Meadow Saffron. A hardy bulbous- 

 rooted plant, which will grow in any 



common soil. The flowers come up 

 through the ground without the leaves 

 in autumn, and closely resemble those 

 of the crocus. The leaves do not 

 appear till the following spring, and 

 great care should be taken of them ; 

 as if they should be injured, so as to 

 prevent them from exercising their 

 proper functions in maturing the sap, 

 the bulb will not flower the next 

 autumn. An extract of Colchicum is 

 given in medicine for the rheumatism 

 and the sout ; and it is said to form 

 the basis of the celebrated eau medi- 

 cinale. It is, however, poisonous, if 

 taken in large quantities. 



Cold Houses for Plants are not 

 generally in use, though it is a com- 

 mon practice with gardeners to re- 

 move plants from hothouses into the 

 back sheds, in order to retard their 

 blossoming or the ripening of their 

 fruit. It is also the practice in some 

 ! countries to place pots of fruit-bear- 

 ing or flowering shrubs, in ice-houses, 

 so as to keep them dormant through 

 ' the summer; and in autumn to re- 

 move them to forcing-bouses, where, 

 in consequence of having been so long 

 j in a state of rest, they grow with 

 great rapidity, and come into flower 

 much sooner than if they had not 

 been so long retarded. Bulbs are 

 also retarded in a similar manner ; 

 and even nosegays are placed in ice- 

 houses in Italy and other warm coun- 

 tries, when it is wished to retard their 

 deeay for particular occasions. 

 Colic Root. — See Alectris. 

 Colli'nsia.— ScrophularinecB. — 

 j Californian annuals, of great beauty, 

 ' and well deserving cultivation. The 

 | handsomest species are C. bicolor, 

 I and C. heterophylla, which are very 

 ! nearly allied ; and which, if sown in 

 ! autumn, and grown in rich loamy 

 soil, will grow two feet high, and will 

 produce splendid spikes of flowers. 

 C. grandiflora and C. verna are 

 also very nearly allied, if not the 



