go.: 
COR 
®ac-petalled, irregular; tube the length of the calyx, 
cylindrical; border flat, five-parted; divi/ions oblong, 
emarginate, obtufe; the two inferior ones Ihorter, and 
more diftant. Stamina : filaments five, briflle-form, length 
of the corolla, declining ; antheras Ample. Piftillum : 
germ roundifh ; fuperior; ftyle filiform, length of the 
ftamens, declining; fiigma thickilh. Pericarpium : cap- 
fule globofe, placed in the bottom of the calyx, one- 
celled, five-valved. Seeds: very many, nearly ovate, 
fmall.— EJJential Character. Corolla one-petalled, irregu¬ 
lar ; calyx lpinous ; capfule five-valved, fuperior. 
There.is but one fpecies, the coris Montpelienfis, or 
Montpelier coris ; which feldom grows above fix inches 
high, and fpreads near the fiirface of the ground like 
heath. In June, when it is full of flowers, it makes a 
very pretty appearance. The ftem is red ; the leaves are 
alternate, linear, thickifli, fpreading; the flowers are in 
fpikes, purplifh or blueith ; ftigma fimple, not five-cleft. 
Native of the Couth ot France. Linnaeus fays the root is 
annual; in the Hortus Kewenfis it is marked as biennial j 
and according to Villars it is perennial. There are two 
varieties of this plant, one with a red, and the other with 
a white, flower. 
This plant may be propagated by fowing the feeds in 
the fpring, on a bed of fre fit earth: when the plants are 
about an inch high, they fiiould be tranfplanted, fome 
of them into pots filled with frefh light earth, that they 
may be flieltered in winter; and the others into a warm 
border, where they will endure the cold of our ordinary 
winters very well, but in fevere froft they are generally 
deftroyed ; for which reafon, it will be proper to have 
fome plants in pots, which may be put under a common 
hot-bed frame in winter, where they may be covered in 
frolty weather; but, when it is mild, they lliould have a 
great fhare of free air. They fometimes produce ripe 
feeds in England; but, as they do not conftantly perfect 
their feeds, it will be proper to increafe them from 
flips and cuttings, which will take root if planted about 
the end of Auguft on a very.gentle hot-bed, fliaded 
from the fun, and duly watered. See Euphrasia and 
Hypericum. 
CORIS'CQ, tw'o iflands of that name in the Atlantic, 
near the coaft of Guinea, belonging to Benin. 
CORISPER'MUM,/ Tick-seed ; [from zopi?, a bug 
or tick, and a-iri^yeci, feed.] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs monandiia, order digynia, natural order of oleraceae. 
The generic characters are—Calyx : none. Corolla : pe¬ 
tals two, comprefled, incurved, acuminate, oppolite, 
equal. Stamina: filament one, filiform, (horter than the 
petals ; antherae fimple. Piftillum : germ acute, com- 
prelled ; ftyles two, capillary; ftigmas acute. Pericar¬ 
pium: none. Seed: Angle, oval, comprefled, gibbous 
on one fide, with the margin acute. In the loweft flow¬ 
ers there are often'two, three, four, or five, ftamens; in 
the reft one.— EJfential Character. Calyx, none; petals, 
two ; feed, one, oval, naked. 
Species. i. Corifpermum hylfopifolium, or hyflop- 
leaved tick-feed : lpikes terminating ; leaves linear, 
nervelefs, awnlefs. Root annual; ftem varying from a 
long fpan to a cubit in height, upright in dry foils, but 
in moift ones fpreading and diffuled. The feeds are 
ripening at the bale of the fpike, whilft the flowers are 
Coming out at the top; the feed contains,a little fpire, 
having the radicle at one end, and at the other divided 
into two leaflets; whence its natural affinity to falfola 
and polycnemum. It varies much in different parts of 
the Ruffian empire ; being frnooth and very fucculent, 
becoming red in winter, a foot and half high and more, 
with very broad braCtes, long imbricate fpikes, and very 
large feeds; or in dry foils very flender, hoary, with 
fmall fpikes, braCtes, and feeds; or about the lake Bai¬ 
kal, not tall, but very robuft, with fhort fpikes like ftro- 
biles, and wide braCtes, the whole plant red in winter; 
or in the Cafpian defert, a cubit high or more, branching 
very much, with fpikes above a fpan long, and remote 
COR 
braCtes. It is common all over the Ruffian empire in 
bandy foils, efpecially on the banks of lakes and rivers, 
and in low moift places ; where it affords pafture for 
the camels, with the next fpecies, anil the various forts 
of atriplex and falfola. It is alfo found in the fouth of 
France. 
2. Corifpermum fquarrofuvn, or rough-fpiked tick- 
feed : fpikes axillary, fquarrofe ; leaves lanceolate-acu¬ 
minate, pungent, nerved. This varies in fize like the 
foregoing, but not in the proportion of the parts.- Root 
annual: native of Rullia, but more confined and local. 
Gmelin is of opinion that thebe are not fpecifically dif¬ 
ferent : but neither he nor Linnaeus feem to have been 
acquainted with the fecond fort. Linnaeus probably made 
out Iris firft fpecies from the laft variety mentioned above; 
and his fecond from the firft, fecond, and third, varieties. 
• Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants having little 
beauty are feldom cultivated, except in botanic gardens. 
'Ihe ground will be plentifully ftocked with the firft fort, 
if it be permitted to leaner its feeds. The fecond fort 
will not grow but in marfhy places ; it will boon extend 
over the furface of Handing water, when cnce it is 
eftablifhed. See Callitriche. 
CORI'TA, a town of Spain, in the province of Leon: 
feventeen miles fouth-fouth-weft of Leon. 
CORITA’NI,/ Anciently a people of Britain, occu¬ 
pying widely the inland parts ; as, Northampton, Leicef- 
ter, Rutland, Lincoln, Nottingham, and Derbyfhires. ■ 
Camden. 
CO'RITON, [of Cojuon, coriander, Sax. and ron, a 
town.] A village in Devonfhire, probably fo called from 
the great income they have by coriander; or el be from 
one Corius, who founded it. 
CORK,/; [ cortex , Lat. korck, Dut.] The outer bark 
of the quercusJubula of Linnaeus, a fpecies of oak, called 
the cork-tree. A piece of cork cut for the ftopple of a 
bottle or barrel.—I pr’ythe take the cork out of thy 
mouth, that I may drink thy tidings. Shakejpcarc, 
Be fure, nay very fure, thy cork be good ; 
Then future ages fliall of Peggy tell, 
That nymph that brew’d and bottled ale fo well. King. 
Although cork may.be confidered as one of the mod 
trivial conveniencies in domeftic ufe, yet it is a fubftance 
of fuch lingular properties, that no fubftitute has ever 
yet been found fully capable of fupplying its place ; for, 
notwithftanding that the fpondias lutea, or monbain of South 
America, the nyjfa of North America, and the roots of 
liquorice, have of late years, - from their foft, clofe, and 
elaftic, contexture, been introduced into England as fpe¬ 
cies of cork, all of them are highly inferior to the bark 
of the real cork-tree, brought to us from Spain, Portu¬ 
gal, and the fouth of France. The true cork, although 
it abounds with pores, which are the caufe of its light- 
nefs, never buffers water, beer, wine, or any common li¬ 
quid, to elcape through it; and it is only very llowly, 
and after a conliderable length of time, that it can be 
penetrated even by Ipirits. Before the difeovery of this 
ufeful fubftance, we every where find directions given to 
clofe up wine-calks, and other veffels, with robin, pitch, 
clay, gypfum, or potters-earth, or to fill the upper part 
of the velfel with oil or honey, in order to exclude the 
air, and preferve liquors, whi'ch cork now does in fo ef¬ 
fectual and fimple a manner. It is alfo ufed for a great 
number of other purpofes, fuch as foies for flioes, floats 
for fifliing, pads for fwiinming, &c. and the Dutch for¬ 
merly ufed it as buoys to their anchors, which they call 
boci, or bocyc ; and hence come their proverb, tiy heeft an, 
hop als een boci, He has a head like a buoy,, lie is a block¬ 
head. Spanifh black, ufed by painters, is the produc¬ 
tion of burnt cork ; and diftilled in fuming nitrous acid, 
and left to repofe in a cool place, the cork becomes 
changed into a thick vifeid matter refembling wax, and 
capable of being kneaded between the fingers. 
CORK, a county of Ireland, formerly a kingdom, 
bounded 
