1} 
| scriptive of their general character. 
CALAMAGROSTIS. 
marshy situations of Arabia; and is mentioned 
by Niebuhr under the name of Arum esculentum. 
A curious species, of about a foot in height, C. 
lividum, was brought to Britain a few years ago 
from the West Indies ; a highly fragrant species, 
C. fragrantissimum, was brought a few years ago 
from Demerara; and a large-leafed species, C. 
grandifolium, was brought in 1803 from Deme- 
rara ; but the esculent species of India and Ara- 
bia has not, so far as we know, been yet intro- 
duced. 
CALAMAGROSTIS. A genus of grasses of the 
arundinaceous tribe. Its name indicates its 
plants to be reedy bents, and is sufficiently de- 
The strict 
species, C. stricta, grows wild in the marshes of 
Scotland ; and the terrestrial and lanceolate spe- 
cies, O. epigejos and C. lanceolata, grow wild in some 
| moist places of both Scotland and England ; but 
all these, as well as two species from Germany 
_ and Bohemia, were formerly classed, and are still 
sometimes classed, under the genus arundo. Two 
| species from Germany, C. sylvatica and C. speciosa, 
were formerly, and are still sometimes assign- 
ed to the genus agrostis, the former as Agrostis 
arundinacea, and the latter as Agrostis calama- 
grostis, See the articles Acrostis and ARUNDO. 
About twenty species, inclusive of three indigen- 
ous ones, exist in Britain, and all are hardy, per- 
ennial, and unfit for cultivation as grasses; and 
ten or twelve other species have been scientifi- 
cally described. 
CALAMBOAC. See Atoz-Tren. 
CALAMINH, or Lapis Canaminaris. The im- 
pure carbonate of zinc. It is one of the chief 
native ores of zinc; and occurs, in considerable 
abundance, in the secondary limestone of Cum- 
berland, Derbyshire, Flintshire, and Somerset- 
shire. It is usually accompanied with other ores 
of zinc, and with galena, quartz, and calcareous 
spar; and, though used indiscriminately or treat- 
ed as if uniform in composition, is commonly found 
of three varieties. According to analyses by Mr. 
Smithson, one variety consists of 65°2 per cent. 
of oxide of zinc and 34°8 of carbonic acid ; ano- 
ther, of 64°8 of oxide of zine, and 35:2 of carbonic 
acid ; and the third, of 71:4 of oxide of zine, 13°5 
of carbonic acid, and 15°1 of water. But all the 
varieties, previous to being sent to the druggists, 
are usually deprived by calcination of a portion 
of their carbonic acid. Native calamine, in its 
general occurrence, has a greyish-yellow or red-~ 
dish yellow colour, is amassed in friable, opaque, 
lustreless lumps, breaks with an irregular earthy 
| fracture, and has a specific gravity varying from 
3'584 to 4334. 
Prepared calamine occupies a place in all the 
British pharmacopeeias, and also in the formule. 
of cattle-medicine. The London and Dublin 
colleges direct it to be pulverized and levigated 
in the same manner as prepared chalk ; and the 
Edinburgh college says, “Impure carbonate of 
zinc, roasted by those who make brass, being 
CALAMUS. 
rubbed to powder in an iron mortar, and levi- 
gated with a little water on a porphyry, is to be 
put into a large vessel, and water poured over it, 
which, after frequently agitating the vessel, is to 
be poured off loaded with the powder. The fine 
powder which subsides after the water has re- 
mained at rest, is then to be dried. The coarse, 
which the water cannot suspend, is to be again 
levigated, and treated as before.” 
made of this almost impalpable powder and hog’s 
lard and wax, and long known under the name 
of Turner’s Cerate, is the most healing application 
known for many kinds of sores, particularly for 
ulcers, for excoriations, for burns which have 
ceased to be inflamed, and for ophthalmia tarsi. 
This ointment has so great efficacy in veterinary 
practice as to be pretty commonly known under | 
the name of “ healing ointment ;” and sometimes 
the dry prepared powder itself is very advantage- 
ously sprinkled on cracked heels and superficial 
sores. 
CALAMINT,—botanically Calamintha. A ge- 
nus of ornamental plants, of the labiate tribe. 
The common species, Calamintha vulgaris—called 
by Linnzeus Melissa calamintha, and by Sowerby 
and Smith Thymus calamintha—is a perennial- | 
rooted herbaceous plant, of about two feet in 
height, and grows wild at the base of hedges and | 
on the borders of fields in England. Its leaves are 
roundish and dark-green ; and its flowers are red- 
coloured, and appear in July and August. 
plant has a strong, agreeable fragrance ; and is 
said to possess the property of preserving meat 
for some time from taint.—The wood calamint, | 
C. sylvatica, is a scarce and quite recently dis- _ 
covered British species, and forms a very beauti- | 
Its flowers have a pale | 
ful floricultural object. 
rose-colour, spotted with purple or blood-red, and 
are produced in whorls along the stems. It loves | 
An ointment, | 
This | 
shade with some degree of warmth and shelter, — 
and ought to be planted in a damp part of the | 
garden, with exposure to only a moderate degree 
of sunshine.—The Nepete species, C. nepeta—eal- 
led by Linneeus Melissa nepeta—grows wild on the 
chalky hills of England, has a height of about 20 
inches, and carries blue flowers from July tiil 
October.—T wo species, the Cretan and the shrubby, 
are small, half-tender, evergreen, under-shrubs, | 
from the south of Europe, carrying purple flow- | 
ers in June and July.—The great-flowered spe- 
cies, O. grandiflora, is an herb of a foot high from 
Italy, producing red-flowers from June till Sep- | 
tember; and it has a variegated-leaved variety. | 
Two other hardy, perennial-rooted, herbaceous | 
species have been introduced to Britain.—The 
name calamint signifies “beautiful mint,” and | 
is often loosely applied to handsome plants of — 
several genera of the mint and thyme division 
of the labiate-flowered tribe. 
CALAMUS. A genus of deciduous, tropical 
trees, of the palm tribe. The dragon species, Cal- 
amus draco, usually grows to the height of about 
50 feet, and has an ornamental appearance. It 
ear S| 
