c u s 
492 
Arabic cheffiith or chafuth. ] In botany, tlje lierb Dodder ; 
a genus of the clafs tetrandria, order diginia, natural or¬ 
der convolvuli. The generic characters are—Calyx : 
perianthium one-leafed, cup-form, four-cleft, obtufe, 
flefliy at the bafe. Corolla : one-petalled, ovate, a little 
longer than the calyx ; mouth four-cleft, obtufe ; nec¬ 
tary of four feales, which are linear, two-cleft, (harp, 
and growing to the corolla at the bafe of the flame ns. 
Stamina: filaments-four, fubulate, length of the calyx ; 
antherae roundifli. Piftillum : germ roundifli; flyles 
two, erect, fliort ; fligmas fimple. Pericarpium: flefhy, 
roundifn, two-celled, cut round, or opening horizontally. 
Seeds: in pairs. In forne a fifth part is added to the 
parts of fruClification .—EJfcntial CharaEler. Calyx, fbur- 
cleft; corolla, one-petalled ; capfule, two-celled. 
Species, i. Cufcuta Europaea, or common dodder: 
flowers conglomerate fertile ; corolla pitcher-fliaped with 
bluntiflt fegments; number of parts generally four. 
Thefe are parafitical plants, fattening themfelves to, and 
drawing their nourifitment front, others. The feed does 
not fplit injo lobes, but opens and puts forth a little 
fpiral body, which is the embryo ; the ftalk twines 
about fome other plant, contrary to the fun’s apparent 
motion, or from right to left ; fending out from the inner 
i'urface a number of little veficles, which attacli them¬ 
felves to the bark of the plant; by degrees, the longi¬ 
tudinal vertels of the fhdk fhoot from their extremities, 
and infinuate themfelves fo intimately with it, that 
it is eafier to break thin to difengage them from it. 
They have no leaves, except here and there a very fmall 
membranaceous fcale, dole under a branch. Linnaeus 
affects that thefe plants’defert the ground entirely ; and 
front the experiments made by Parkinfon and Ray it ap¬ 
pears, that plants railed from feed foon die, when they 
have no plant to which they can attach themfelves. 
They adhere to the ground by the original root, and 
draw a part of their nutriment from thence, at rirlt; 
but the original root w ithers away as foon as the young 
Item has fixed itfelf to any other plant. The firft fpecies 
has a Item (lender, filiform, fmootlt, four-cornered, red- 
dirti'; a fingle f.n 11 ovate acute fcale under each ball of 
flow : ers, w here alfo it frequently puts forth a branch ; 
thefe balls or globular, heads d not furround the Item, 
but proceed from the fide where it divides into branches; 
and have eighteen flow'ers or more ; calyx and corolla 
ufuully four-cleft, but fometimes five-cleft: the former 
lhaped like a fpice clove, running down, as it were, into 
a kind of peduncle ; the fegments ovate, often rounded 
at the end. Corolla white, or with a tinge of purple; 
fcarcely any nectaries in the primary flowers, but in the 
later ones- femibiiid; (tautens four or five; antherae 
yellow ; (tignia reddilh ; capfule membranaceous, tranf- 
parent, fmall, immerfed almo(t half way in the flefhy 
calyx, cut dole to the bafe, or below the middle, the 
partition rifing from the lower half. Seeds generally 
two in each cell, but fometimes three or four; they are 
sdnioft globular, covered with very minute raifed dots, 
and of a yellow bay colour. Gsertner obferves, that the 
embryo is filiform, one-lobed, yellow, and that it makes 
three revolutions round the albumen. Native of Eu¬ 
rope, in hedges, &c. ufually on bullies and the loftier 
plants, as hops, brambles, woody nightfliude, fern, thir¬ 
ties, hemp; alfo on flax, nettles, .clover, grafs, See. 
flowers in July and Augult. 
2. Cufcuta epithynium, or fntall dodder : flowers con¬ 
glomerate ; corolla bell-iltaped, deeply cloven, with acu¬ 
minate fegments; number of parts conftantly five. 
This, which is fupppfed by many to be ours, has been 
thought by Linnaeus and others to be only a variety of 
the foregoing. It is certainly very like it,-but differs in 
having all the parts fmaller and more tender, the Items 
more (lender. Coroila paler, deeper cut; the fegments 
lltarper and fmaller ; the balls of flowers clofer. Found 
in cultivated fields, particularly among, pulfe, nettles, 
and heath; others- have remarked it on furze, flax, 
c US 
thyme, wild thyme, lavender, and others of the didynff- 
mia clafs; fpurge, hops, grafs, &c. It flowers from 
June to Augufl; both are annual: from its deftructive 
quality of fuffocating plants, it has the opprobrious 
names of hell-zoecd and deviPs-guts. The other name is 
from the German dotter. Dr. Smith has no doubt but 
that the firft fpecies is our plant; and Monf. Villars is 
decidedly of opinion that they differ only in fize. 
3. Cufcuta Americana, or American dodder : flowers 
peduncled. This is a very branching, leaflets, twining, 
parafitical, plant; tender, (liming, and yellowiftt ; flowers 
fmall, without (cent, aggregate, yellowiftt or greenifh ; 
feeds two, three, or only one, arriving at maturity, the 
reft being abortive ; feeds few, convex on one fide, flat- 
tifli on the other: according to Swartz, roundifli, and 
four in each capfule. Native of America, on drubs 
and trees, and in hedges: according to Brown, creeping 
on the grafs and lower bufltes. Sloane fays the fie ms 
are very long and (trong, ftretching themfelves over very 
large trees, and whole fields and paftures. 
4. Cufcuta lupuliforntis, or hop dodder : flowers ra- 
cemed, fertile ; number of parts four. This fpecies alfo 
climbs trees. Stem round, branching, very thick like 
hop-binds; bark reddifti-green, or brown-purple, rough 
and ftudded with purplifh, (tiff, rifing grains, like millet; 
flowers on racemes coming out laterally, an inch or two 
in length, fometimes branched ; they are fcattered, fo- 
litary, or only two or three together, not glomerate; 
fertile, not peduncled; feeds wrinkled, rounded. Na¬ 
tive of Silefia, flowering in July and Auguft; annual. 
See Basella, Cassita, and Tillandsia. 
CUSE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Doubs, and chief place of a canton, in the diftri£t of 
Baume les Dame : three leagues north of Baunte. 
CUSH, f. [Heb. black.] The eldeft fon of Ham, and 
father of Nimrod ; the other fons of Ham were Seba, 
Havilah, Sabtali, Raamali, and Sabteclia. Gen.x. 6-8. 
Dr. Bryant lias (hewn that Cufti, in the Babylonifti dia¬ 
lect, is called Cuth ; and many places, where his pofterity 
fettled, were thence (tiled Cutha, Cuthaia, Cutaia, 
Ceuta, Cotlia, and Cothon. He was fometimes expreffed 
Cafus, Ceflius, Cafius ; and was (till farther diverfified. 
Chufiftan, to the eaft of the Tigris, was the land of Cufti; 
it was likewife called by different writers, Cutha and 
Ciflia. Cufti w r as evidently the father of all thofe na¬ 
tions (tiled Ethiopians, (Jofeph. Ant. Jud. lib. 1. c. 7.) 
who were more truly (tiled Cuthites, and Cufeans. They 
were more in number, and far more widely extended, 
than has been generally imagined. Magic and incanta¬ 
tions are attributed to Cufti, as the inventor; and they 
were certainly firft praftifed among his fons. (Sanchon, 
ap. Eufeb. Pr. Ev. c. 10.) He was however, efteemed a 
great benefadtor ; and many falutary inventions were at¬ 
tributed to him. He had particularly the credit of being 
the firft who ventured upon the feas. Whether this «an 
be faid truly of Cufti himfelf, is uncertain : it agrees full 
well with the hiltory of his fons ; who, as we have the 
greateft reafon to be affured, were the firft great naviga¬ 
tors in the world. There, were in India leveral cities, 
and temples, dedicated to the memory of Cuff. Some 
of thefe are famous at this day, though denominated 
after the Babylonifti dialect Cutha and Cuta : as witnefs 
Calcutta and Calicut. 
The defeendants of Cuff, after their fettlement in 
Ethiopia, were called AEthiops. The name is fuppofed 
to have been given to this people from their complexion ; 
as if it came from a. i6w and cif-: but it is not a name of 
Grecian original. Prometheus was ltyled Aithiops. 
Pliny, lib. 9.. (peaking of the country, fays, that it was firft 
called ^tlieria; then Atlantia; and” laftly Ethiopia. 
Homer fpeaks of two nations only, which were named 
VEthiopes: but this is certainly too limited. The 
feripture feems to mention three countries of this name. 
One v'as in Arabia, upon the verge of the defert, near 
Midian, and the Red Sea. Habukkuk, iii. 7. A fqcond 
lay 
