CUVIERA 
339 
Lamb. = Chamaecyparis nutkatensis Spach. ; C. thujoides L. = Ch. 
sphaeroidea Spach. ; C. juniperoides L. = Callitris cirborea Schrad. 
C. japonic a L. = Cryptomena jap. Don. See Index Kewensis for 
further synonyms.] 
Coniferae (Arauc. 2c; see C. for genus characters). 12 sp. 
Medit., As., N.Am. The general habit is xerophytic, the leaves 
being much reduced and closely appressed to the stems. C. semper - 
virens L. is the cypress of the Medit. region: C.fnnebris Endl. the 
funereal cypress of China and Thibet, with ‘weeping’ branches. 
Several sp. yield useful timber, e.g. C. Lawsoniana Murr. (Calif., 
Oregon), C. Lmdleyi Klotzsch (Mexico), C. sempervirens , &c. 
Cupuliferae. (Of Benth. -Hooker) = Betulaceae 4- Fagaceae; (of Warm- 
ing) =Fagaceae. 
Curculigo Gaertn. Amaryllidaceae (ill). 12 sp. Indo-mal., N. Austr. 
Curcuma Linn. Zingiberaceae. 30 sp. trop. Afr., As., Austr. C. 
angustifolia Roxb. furnishes east indian arrowroot from its tubers. 
C. longa L. yields the yellow dye turmeric, consisting of the dried 
and ground rhizome. The tubers of C. Zedoaria Rose, yield Zedoary, 
used in the East as a tonic and perfume. 
Curtisia Ait. Cornaceae. 1 sp. S. Afr., C. faginea Ait., yielding a 
hard and useful timber (assegai-wood) . 
Curvembryae. The 1st series (Benth. -Hooker) of Monochlamydeae. 
The 7th cohort (Warming) of Choripetalae. 
Cuscuta (Tourn.) Linn. Convolvulaceae (11). 90 sp. trop. and temp. 
Many sp. have largely extended their boundaries through being 
carried about with their host plants. Leafless and rootless total 
parasites. The stem twines and is sensitive to contact like a tendril 
so that it clasps the support tightly; it rarely makes more than three 
turns about the same branch of the host. At the points in close con- 
tact with the host suckers are developed which penetrate the tissues of 
the host, growing into organic union with them and drawing off all 
the food materials required by the parasite, whicli has no green tissue 
of its own. The seeds of C. germinate later than those of the host 
plant ; a very short anchorage root is formed and the stem nutates in 
search of a host ; as soon as it has clasped one the root dies away. 
Much damage is often done by these plants: most of the sp. that 
occur in Brit, (known as dodder, scald, &c.) confine themselves to 
particular host plants, but others attack a variety of plants. For 
details see Kerner’s Nat. Hist . of Plants , vol. I., and papers by 
Peirce in Ann. of Bot. 1893 — 4; see also p. 176. 
Cusparia Humb. Rutaceae (v). 22 sp. S. Am. C. febrifnga Humb. 
(C. trifoliata Engl.) yields Angostura or Cusparia bark, sometimes 
used in place of cinchona bark. 
Cuviera DC. Rubiaceae (11. 11). 6 sp. W. trop. Afr. Several are 
ant-inhabited (p. 114) with hollow swellings of the stem above the 
nodes (see Schumann in Ber. d. bot . Ges. IX. 1891, p. 55). 
22 — 2 
