“oe + 
| tiful flowering-plants known to the florist. 
| popular name is Indian shot ; and this name al- 
CANKERED GRAIN. 
Mr. Johnson, Mr. Drummond, and Mr. Pearson, 
in Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.—The Canker 
Controversy in the Gardener's Gazette. — Keith’s 
Botanical Lexicon —Marshall’s Rural Economy of 
the West of England.—Loudon’s Gardener's Maga- 
zine.—Memoirs of the Horticultural Society. 
CANKERED GRAIN. Wheat affected with 
pepperbrand. See the articles PpppERBRAND and 
AXCIDIUM. 
CANNA. A genus of ornamental, evergreen, 
herbaceous, tropical plants, forming the type of 
the natural order Cannes. This order is very 
nearly allied to that which contains ginger, car- 
damom, zedoary, turmeric, and other aromatic 
plants; but though entirely resembling that or- 
| der, scitamineze, in appearance and in geographi- 
cal distribution, it differs in wanting aromatic 
principle, and in two minute botanical charac- 
ters of its parts of fructification. The genus 
| canna comprises no fewer than nearly forty 
| known species, all of which have been introduced 
to the gardens of Britain; and it is highly and 
justly celebrated for the great beauty of its 
flowers. The Indian species, Canna Indica, grows 
naturally in both the Hast and the West Indies, 
and was introduced to Britain in 1570, and, 
though long very common in greenhouses, con- 
tinues to possess the fame of one of the most beau- 
Its 
ludes to the roundness and hardness of its seeds. 
Its roots are thick, fieshy, tuberous, and divided 
into many irregular knobs; its stem rises to the 
height of from two to four feet, and is encom- 
passed by the broad leafy footstalks of the leaves; 
its leaves are produced in a disorderly manner 
from the crown of the roots,—they at first are 
twisted like a horn, but afterwards become ex- 
| panded, and are nearly a foot in length, and five 
inches across the middle, gradually diminishing 
in breadth toward each end, and terminating in 
a point,—and they have many large transverse 
veins, running from the midrib to the edges; its 
flowers are produced in loose spikes at the upper 
| part of the stem, and consist each of one petal, 
cut nearly to the bottom into six slender seg- 
ments, the upper three of which are the broadest 
and of a bright scarlet colour, while the other 
three are narrower and havea mixture of a paler 
colour ; and its fruit is a capsule which opens 
lengthways into three cells, filled with round, 
hard, black, shining seeds. This plant properly 
flowers in June and July; but, when properly 
managed, it always flowers again in winter and 
Spring; and it can easily be so treated as to 
flower during the greater part of the year. It 
needs during winter the heat either of a hot- 
house or of the warmest nook and degree of the 
greenhouse ; yet, in summer, can be placed with 
tender exotics, in a sheltered situation in the 
open air, and has even been successfully treated 
as if it were half-hardy. The Hindoos make 
necklaces and other ornaments of its seeds. A 
CANTHARIDKES., 677 
variety of it called the spotted, C. 7. maculata, 
carries reddish-yellow flowers.—The lofty and the 
broad-leaved species, C. excelsa and C. latifolia, 
the former carrying scarlet flowers, and the lat- 
ter pink-coloured flowers, were introduced from 
Brazil in 1820, and usually grow to the height of 
respectively sixteen and ten feet. The other 
species grow to heights varying from two to six 
feet ; most carry scarlet or crimson - coloured 
flowers, and some carry flowers of yellow, car- 
mine, brown, orange, and reddish-yellow colour ; 
and, with scarcely an exception, they are very 
decidedly handsome. The eatable species, C. 
edulis, is cultivated in Peru as an esculent, 
and may possibly be capable of cultivation in | 
the open ground, in the extreme south of Eng- 
land. ‘This species was introduced from Peru in 
1820; and another esculent species, C. esculenta, 
was introduced from South America in 1822. | 
These two species, and indeed the whole genus, 
possess a very close relationship to the arrow- 
root plants. 
CANNABIS. See Hemp. 
CANTER. See AmsBuz. 
CANTERBURY BELLS. See Brtirtower. 
CANTHARIDES. The name of a kind of fly, 
—the Cantharis vesicatoria of Geoffroy,—Meloe | 
vesicatoria of Linnzeus,—Lytta vesicatoria of Fabri- 
cius; belonging to the family of the 7rachelides. | 
They are very common in Spain, Italy, and France, 
where they are found in large families on the ash, 
lilac, viburnum, &c. Their body is from 6 to 10 
lines long ; the feelers are black, setaceous, com- 
posed of 12 articulations; the elytra long, flex- | 
ible, of a shining, golden green, and the tarses of | 
Their odour is strong, penetrat- | 
ing, peculiar, and unpleasant; their taste ex-_ 
tremely acrid; their powder is of a brownish- | 
grey, intermixed with shining particles of a me- | 
a deep brown. 
tallic green colour. According to Robiquet, they 
contain, with several other ingredients, a pecu- 
liar substance, called cantharidin. These insects 
are, of all the vesicating substances, those which 
are most commonly used. Their action is prin- 
cipally confined to the skin; however, their ac- 
tive principles may be absorbed, and cause seri- 
ous accidents. The application of a blister is 
often followed by strangury, hzematuria, pria- 
pism, &c. 
Taken internally, they act as the most | 
energetic acrid poison; they produce irritation _ 
on the intestines, and especially affect the genito- | 
urinary organs, which they stimulate violently. | 
In certain disorders, they are administered in | 
small doses, as powerful stimulants. The medi- 
cine is of a very dangerous character, and its 
use requires the greatest caution on the part of 
the physician. Several species of blistering fly 
are found in the United States, some of which 
are more powerful than the Spanish fly. In ve- 
terinary practice, cantharides form the chiefly 
active ingredient of all the best blisters, whether 
unguent or liquid; and they are also adminis- 
tered internally, in very small doses, as a remedy 
