C N I 
698 
and almoft as hard as thofe of the box-tree, and the wood 
is of a pale yellow colour under the bark; the branches 
are garmftied with thick (lift' leaves, of an oblong oval 
fhape, about an inch and a half long, and a quarter of an 
inch broad, of a dark green colour, having a ftrong vein 
or rib through the middle ; the flowers are produced fin- 
• gle from the.wings of the leaves, towards the extremity 
of the branches ; they are of a pale yellow colour. After the 
flowers are fallen, the germ becomes a fruit, compofed of 
three feeds joined together after the fame manner as thofe 
of euphorbia or fpurge ; thefe are firffc green, afterwards 
turn of a brown colour, and, when ripe, are black.- The 
fruit is thus defcribed by the accurate Gsertner : It con- 
fifts of three fmall berried drupes, gibbous on one fide, 
and angular on the other, joined at a common axis, dark 
brown, when ripe ; flefli thin, herbaceous ; fhell bony, 
thick, fubglobular, wrinkled, with a groove and umbili¬ 
cal hole on the belly, two-celled, vaivelefs one of the 
cells, placed behind the other, both at the feat of the ra¬ 
dical, divided by a thin partition, lo that the upper part 
of the fhell appears to be four-celled; in each cell there 
is a Angle, fmall, ovate feed, doubled together like a 
worm, white, with a brown caruncle at the inlertion of 
the navel. The flowers begin to appear in May, and are 
iucceeded by others during the fummer months; and, 
when the autumn proves favourable, thefe fhrubs will 
continue in flower till theend of October. As this is a low 
evergreen flirub, it may be very ornamental, if placed in 
the front of plantations or evergreen trees and (limbs ; for 
as the branches grow pretty com pad, and are well gar- 
nifhecl with leaves, it will hide the ground between the 
taller (limbs better than mod other plants; and, being 
durable, will not wantto be removed. Native of the fouth 
of Fiance, Italy, and Spain ; in hot, dry, barren, and 
rocky, foils ; cultivated in 1596 by Gerarde. 
This was formerly preferved in green-houfes,and thought 
too tender to live in the open air in England ; but it has 
now long betn planted in the full ground, where it refills 
the cold of our ordinary winters very well, and is feldom 
injured hut by extreme bard frolls ; nor do thefe kill the 
plants which grow upon dry, rocky, or rubbifliing foils, 
where their (hoots are generally (liort and firm ; but in 
the moift rich ground, where the fnoots are more luxu¬ 
riant, they are fometimes injured. It is propagated by 
feeds, which (hould be Town in autumn, foon after they 
.are ripe, and then the plants will come up the following 
Jpring ; whereas thofe which are not fown till the fpring 
will remain a year in the ground, and often milcarry; 
thefe feeds may be fown in abed of common earth, cover¬ 
ing them half an inbli deep, and will require no other care 
but to keep the plants clear from weeds the following 
fummer; and in the autumn following the plants may be 
tranfplanted where they are to remain. See Convol¬ 
vulus and Daphne. 
CNE'SIS,y. [from v.iua, to fcratch.] A painful itching 
of any part. 
CNI'CUS, /. [from v.nu, to cut, prick, or fcratch ; 
hence zn'/.os, a prickly plant.] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs fyngenefia, order polygamia squalis, natural order 
of compofitae capitatae. The generic characters are—Ca¬ 
lyx : compound ovate, guarded with braftes, imbricate; 
fcales ovate, clofe, branched thorny. Corolla: compound 
tubular, uniform ; corollets hermaphrodite, equal; pro¬ 
per funnel-form, oblong : border, five-cle(t, ere<St, nearly 
equal,. Stamina: filaments five, capillj/ry, very (hort; an¬ 
thers cylindric, tubular. Pillillum : germ (hort; llyle 
filiform, length of the llamens ; ftigma oblong, emargi- 
nate. Perianthium : none; calyx doled. Seed : folitary; 
clown, plumofe. Receptaculum : flat, villofe,— Effential 
Char after. Calyx : ovate, imbricate with branch-thorny 
fcales, guarded with braftes ; corollets equal. 
Defcription. Some of the fpecies approach to carduus, 
others to ferratula, >and one to carthamus; hence La¬ 
marck has fupprefied this genus, inferring fome of the 
Ipecies among the cardui, and others amongthe carthami; 
C N I 
front which Linneus feparates the cnicus'principally be- 
caufe the fcales of the calyx are ovate and branch-fpiny 5 
whereas in carthamus they are narrowed at the bafe, and 
have a leafy, ovate, fpreading appendicle at the tip. 
1. Cnicus oleraceus, or pale-flowered cnicus: leaves 
pinnatifid; keeled, naked; braftes concave, entire, fome- 
what coloured. lit the woods of Swiflerland, near brooks 
it grows to the height of fix feet, with the leaves more 
thorny, and the branches, in the mature ftate of the plant, 
more elongated and leaflels : flowers pale yellow. Native 
of mod: countries'of Europe, except the mod fouthern ; 
flowering in July and the autumnal months, in moilt 
woods, meadows, and marfhes. The Ruffians boil the 
leaves in the fpring, and eat them as coleworts. No cattle 
touch it for food, according to Schreber. Cultivated in 
1570 by Mr. Hugh Morgan. Air. Miller’s defcription of 
cnicus erifithales feems to belong to this fpecies. 
2. Cnicus erifithales, or clammy cnicus: leaves ftetn- 
clafping, pinnatifid, awn-ferrated; peduncles drooping; 
calyxes glutinous. Stem three feet high and more, angu¬ 
lar, fometimes a little tomentofe, not branched, unlefs at 
the top, naked far under the flowers; flowers three or 
four, frequently two.oppofite, feflile, never guarded with 
leaves, leldom folitary, nodding in a ftate of maturity; 
florets purple, yellow, or white, with purple ftamens and 
pillil; feed two lines long, ancipital, with the angles ob- 
tufe, crowned with a ring, whence arife feathered rays, 
as far as forty. The geftation of this fpecies lafts a month. 
Native of France, Swiflerland, Auftria, Carniola, and Si- 
lefia; begins to flower in June. Introduced in 1787 by 
M. Vare; perennial. 
3. Cnicus ferox, or prickly cnicus : leaves dccurrent, 
lingulate, tooth-thorny ; Item branching, ereft. This fpe¬ 
cies refembles carduus eriophorus; ftem firm, deeply 
grooved, covered with a cobwebbing pubefcence. A large 
head of white or purple flofcules terminates the branches, 
and is guarded with linear ftrigofe braftes having fmall 
fpines about the edge. Native of the fouth of France and 
Piedmont; flowers in July and Augult. Introduced in 
1775 by M. Thouin ; biennial. 
4. Cnicus pygmseus, or pigmy cnicus: leaves feffile, 
fublinear, very much crowded; calyx unarmed. Root 
perennial, black; ftem upright, hollow, from two to five 
inches high, thickened at the top, very clofely covered 
with white hairs ; leaves many, both on the root and on 
the ftem, (harp, three inches long, fome quite entire, 
others toothletted, unarmed, the fides rolled back, grooved 
on the upper furface where the'midrib projefts on the un¬ 
der, hairy, efpecially beneath and near the ftem, deep green 
above, pale green underneath ; it flowers in July and Au- 
guft. Native of the mountains of Auftria. Found alfo 
on Mount Grindoviz, in 1761, by Scopoli, who refers it 
to the genus cirfium, and Jacquin to that of ferratula. 
5. Cnicus acarna, or yellow cnicus: leaves decurrent, 
lanceolate, undivided ; calyxes pinnate-thorny. Stem her¬ 
baceous, winged by the leaves running down it, hoary, a 
foot high, but fometimes much fmaller; leaves feffile, 
fcattered, extremely acute, hoary, keeled, having a few 
teeth about the edge, with two or three yellow fpines in 
each ; feeds ovate, (harp at the bafe, fomewhat comprefled, 
(billing, yellovvifii white, crowned with a feathered egret, 
half an inch long, fpreading out into a ball. Native of 
the fouth of France and of Spain ; and was cultivated in 
1683 by Mr. Jafnes Sutherland. 
6 . Cnicus fpinofiflimus, or thorny cnicus : leaves ftem- 
clafping, fmuate-pinnate, thorny; head Ample; flowers 
feffile. Stem unbranched, twelve to eighteen inches high ; 
the top entirely covered with leaves, angular, not winged ; 
(tern-leaves molt fiercely thorned ; pinnas angular, many- 
lobed, the nerves continued into ltrong thorns; the leaves 
on the top of the ftem form a neft for the flower, broader, 
ovate-lanceolate, pinnate, whitifli yellow, pubefcent; ca¬ 
lyx connate, with lanceolate fcales, ending in a (lout 
(pine; flofcules pale yellow. The ftem of our plant is 
twice as long as in Haller’s figure, grooved, villofe; leaves 
4. fubdecurrent. 
