700 
CARIES. 
allied to a fig in character, and similar to a quince 
in shape and size; and the tree, while advancing 
in height, casts its lower leaves from beneath the 
flowers, and suspends its fruit upon the leafless 
part of the stem, like the flowers of cercis, the 
spines of gleditchia, or the bread-fruit. The 
male flowers are sometimes on different trees 
from the female, giving just occasion for ranking 
the plant as dicecious; yet both male and female 
flowers are sometimes found on one tree, and 
| sometimes flowers are found to be hermaphrodite. 
| Every part of the plant yields an acrid and some- 
what milky juice. The flowers appear at almost 
all seasons of the year, but are most abundant in 
July; and the fruit is usually ripened in autumn 
and in early winter. The fruit is eaten with 
pepper and sugar by the inhabitants of some of 
| its native countries, but has not an agreeable 
flavour ; more commonly it is gathered in a half- 
grown state, well-pickled, and used as a tolerably 
good substitute for mangoes ; and sometimes it 
is boiled and baked in the manner of turnips and 
apples, and esteemed not a bad esculent. Some 
fruit has been produced in the stove-houses of 
British gardens; but it has not, by any means, 
proved palatable. The juice of the pulp is used 
as a vermifuge, as a cosmetic, and as a substitute 
for soap; and, when diluted with water, it has 
the remarkable property, by immersion in it 
during only eight or ten minutes, of rendering 
meat tender. It appears to effect a separation 
of the muscular fibres of meat; and it has been 
found, by chemical analysis, to contain fibrin or 
animal matter. The very vapour of the tree 
seems to produce the same effect as the juice of 
the pulp; for recent butchers’ meat and newly 
killed fowls are suspended upon it to acquire ten- 
derness. The flesh of hogs which have fed upon 
the fruit will not keep by salting. The seeds 
contained in the centre of the fruit are dark-col- 
oured, and taste like water-cress.— Five other 
species, all about the same height as the papaw- 
tree, are known to botanists, and have been in- 
troduced to Britain,—two from the Caraccas, 
and three from respectively Lima, Guiana, and 
Guinea.—Carica is also the specific name of the 
common fig-tree, /icus carica. See the article 
Fig-TREE. 
CARIES. A mortified or dead condition of the 
bones of animals. It is produced by inflamma- 
tory and suppuratory action in the interior tis- 
sues of a bone; or by the loss of the medium by 
which the bone is covered and partially sup- 
ported. <A mortified or dead condition of the 
wood or bark of trees is also called sometimes 
caries, but more frequently canker. See the ar- 
ticle CANKER. 
CARISSA. A genus of evergreen, tropical 
trees and shrubs, of the dog’s-bane tribe. The 
Carandas species, Carissa carandas, is a native of 
India, and was introduced to Britain in 1790. 
It usually has a height of about fifteen feet ; its 
flowers are white, and resemble those of jasmine, 
CARNATION. 
and appear in July; and its fruit is black, and 
about the size of a large olive, and has a very 
pleasant taste, similar to that of a damson, and 
is much esteemed by the inhabitants of India for 
making both pickle and jelly —The spiny species, 
Carissa spinarum, grows wild in the woods of 
India, and was introduced to Britain in 1809. Its 
stem usually attains a height of about twenty 
feet, and is used as timber; its leaves have a 
leathery texture; its flowers are white, and 
appear from August till December; and its fruit 
is small, dark-coloured, pleasant-tasted, and much 
esteemed by the Hindoos.—Three ornamental 
species, the ovate-leaved, the lanceolate-leaved, 
and the bitter-wooded, were, about twenty-five 
years ago, introduced to Britain,—the last from 
Mauritius, and the other two from Australia. 
CARLINE THISTLE,—botanically Carlina. A 
genus of herbaceous plants, principally hardy, of 
the thistle division of the composite order. The 
common species, C. vulgaris, is a biennial weed of 
dry pastures, and arid barren soils, in Britain, 
and in most other countries of Europe. It has a 
height of about twenty inches, and carries yel- 
lowish-purple flowers from June till September. 
Its flowers expand in dry weather, and close 
in moist weather.—The dwarf or stemless spe- 
cies, C. acaulis, is a native of Italy, and was 
introduced thence to Britain about the middle 
of the 17th century. Its root is black, woody, 
perennial, and about an inch in thickness; its 
entire height is about nine inches; and its 
flowers are white, and appear in June. ‘The 
root of the full grown plant contains acrid resin- 
ous matter, and is said to act as an alexipharmic ; 
but the upper part of the young root, and the 
tender receptacle of the flower, may be used as 
esculents.—Nine other species—two of these an- 
nual, and the others perennial—have been intro- 
duced to Britain from the south of Europe; seven 
or eight additional species are known to botan- 
ists; and some species, formerly classed as car- 
line thistles, are now assigned to other genera. 
CARNATION, —botanically Dianthus Caryo- 
phyllus. One of the most fragrant, beautiful, 
and popular of florists’ flowers, and the type of 
the natural botanical order Caryophyllez. This 
order comprises twenty-six genera, and has, 
within the gardens of Britain, about 550 species. 
Its plants are natives of the mountains and pas- 
tures, chiefly of Europe and northern Asia, and 
partially of almost all other regions of the world. 
About five hundred of the species in Britain are 
hardy herbaceous plants; one is a hardy ligneous 
plant ; and the others are herbs and undershrubs 
of the hothouse and the greenhouse. Many are 
mere weeds; a few are medicinal; one or two are 
esculent ; and a large number, including all those 
of the dianthus genus, are eminently handsome, 
and, in some instances, splendid. The genera 
most nearly allied to the carnation, or to the ge- 
nus to which it belongs, are silene, lychnis, gyp- 
sophila, saponaria, drypis, cucubalus, and vele- 
al 
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