cra'ssula. 



66 



CRAT^GUS. 



velwort. Succulent plants, with fleshy 

 leaves, and yellow or red flowers, 

 nearly allied to the House-leek. They 

 should be groAvn in light earth, mixed 

 with lime rubbish, or in a compost of 

 peat and loam ; and the pots should 

 be well drained. The ornamental 

 species are all natives of the Cape of 

 Good Hope ; and they are propagated 

 by cuttings, which should be laid on a 

 shelf for a few days to dry before they 

 are planted. The European species 

 are scarcely worth cultivating. The 

 plant called Venus's Navelwort does 

 not belong to this genus, but to Orn- 

 phalodes. C. semper vivum, Bieb., 

 (Umbilicus sempervivum, Dec.,) is 

 one of the commonest species. 



Co'tula. — CompositcB. — Hardy 

 and tender annuals, of which, C. 

 aurea, L., the flowers of which are 

 like little golden balls, is the only 

 one worth cultivating. It will grow 

 in any common garden soil, and re- 

 quires to be sown in March, with the 

 usual treatment of hardy annuals. 



Cow-itch. — See Mucu^na. 



Cowslip. — Primulacece. — Pri- 

 mula veris, the common Cowslip, is 

 a well-known British plant, which, 

 when cultivated in gardens, should 

 be grown in a loamy soil and shel- 

 tered situation. 



Cranesbill. — See Geranium. 



Cra'ssula. — Crassulacece. — Suc- 

 culent greenhouse plants, natives of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, with heads of 

 red or white flowers. They should 

 be grown in sandy loam, and lime or 

 brick rubbish, and the pots should be 

 well drained. Like all the Cape 

 plants, all the kinds of Crassula should 

 have alternate seasons of stimulus 

 and repose. When they are growing, 

 and about to flower, they should be 

 well watered, at least once every day, 

 though the water should never be 

 suffered to stand in the saucer ; and 

 when the flowers begin to fade, the 

 supply of water should be gradually 



lessened, till, at last, very little is 

 given, and that not oftener than once 

 a week. The plants are propagated 

 by cuttings, which should be laid on 

 a shelf two or three days to dry be- 

 fore planting, or they will rot. When 

 plants of Crassula are not well drained, 

 or if. stagnant water is retained round 

 the roots, by letting water stand in 

 the saucer, the stems are very apt to 

 damp off. C. coccinea and some 

 other species were separated from the 

 others by Mr. Haworth, and formed 

 into the genus Kalosanthes ; but this 

 name does not appear to have been 

 adopted by many persons, and the 

 plants are still generally called Cras- 

 sula, both in nurseries and private 

 collections. 



Crat,e v gus. — Rosacece. — The 

 common Hawthorn, C. Oxyacantha, 

 is so well known for its fragrant and 

 beautiful flowers, that most persons 

 will be anxious to know the other 

 species of the same genus ; and, in 

 fact, several of the North American 

 thorns are the most ornamental low 

 trees we have in our gardens and 

 shrubberies. The species are all 

 hardy, and they all flower and fruit 

 freely, and are equally ornamental in 

 both states. Almost all the flowers 

 are white ; but the fruit varies in 

 colour, some being scarlet, some yel- 

 low, some purple, and some green. 

 The fruit varies also in size from 

 that of C. spathuldta, which is not 

 larger than a grain of mustard-seed, to 

 that of C. Meocicana, which is nearly 

 as large as a golden pippin. The 

 fruit of C. Azarolus, C. Aronia, and 

 C. tanacelifolia, all large and yellow, 

 and that of C. odoratissima, of a 

 bright coral colour, are all very good 

 to eat ; and many persons do not dis- 

 like the haws of the common haw- 

 thorn. There are nearly a hundred 

 different kinds of Crataegus, including 

 the hybrids and varieties; and of 

 these, thirty-one are varieties of the 



