CELANDINE. 
CHIBA. See Srzx Corton Tree. 
CELANDINE,—botanically Chelidoniwm. <A 
small genus of herbaceous plants, of the poppy 
tribe. The common species, Chelidonium majus, 
is a perennial-rooted weed of thickets, waste 
lands, shady banks, and other similar places of 
Great Britain. Its stem is round, green, and 
about two feet high ; its leaves are large, long, 
yellowish-green, and deeply divided, and are pro- 
duced in pairs at each joint of the stem; and its 
flowers are small and yellow, and grow in little 
groups upon long footstalks, and bloom from April 
till October. The whole plant is brittle, and 
yields, on pressure, an acrid, orange-coloured, 
medicinal juice. Two hardy, perennial-rooted, 
| yellow-flowered species, from respectively Dau- 
' ria and the South of Europe, are sometimes cul- 
tivated as-ornamental plants in gardens.—The 
frutescent species of bocconia, a stove, evergreen 
shrub, of ten feet high, from the West Indies, is 
popularly called the frutescent celandine. 
CELASTRUS,—popularly Staf-Tree. A genus 
of ornamental plants, principally evergreen shrubs, 
forming the type of the natural order celastrinez. 
This order is nearly allied to the buckthorn tribe ; 
yet is readily distinguishable from it by the im- 
brication of its sepals, and by the alternation of 
its stamens with its petals. It comprises 18 ge- 
nera, and has within the gardens of Great Britain 
_ about 120 species; and all of these are shrubs or 
small trees with white or greenish inconspicuous 
flowers, and, for the most part, simple, alternate, 
| or opposite leaves. Four of the best known and 
most ornamental genera are celastrus, staphylea, 
euonymus, and ilex; and one subdivision of the 
order, comprising two species, takes staphylea 
for its type,—another, comprising eight species, 
takes euonymus, and includes celastrus,—and a 
third, also comprising eight species, takes ilex. 
Nearly thirty species of the genus celastrus 
have been introduced to Britain; and about sixty 
other species have been scientifically described. 
The blistered species, .C. bullatus, was introduced 
| from Virginia in 1759. It isa hardy, deciduous 
climber, of from 4 to 20 feet in height ; several 
| stems rise from each root-stock ; and are covered 
with a brownish bark, and ramify into numerous 
branches; the leaves grow alternately on the 
branches, and have an oval, unserrated outline, 
and a fine green colour; and the flowers are 
white, and bloom in July.—The climbing spe- 
cies, C. scandens, was introduced from North 
America upwards of a century ago; and is also 
a hardy, deciduous, and very handsome climber. 
Its stems are woody and twining, and rise, with 
the aid of neighbouring shrubs or trees, to the 
height of 12 or 15 feet; its leaves are oblong, 
serrated, and pleasantly green, and grow alter- 
nately on the branches ; its flowers have a green- 
ish colour, and are produced in small bunches 
from the sides of the branches, and appear in 
x and June; and its fruit are beautiful, 
red, roundish, three-cornered capsules, similar to 
CELERY. 751 
those of the spindle-tree, and ripen in autumn, 
and appear in great profusion, and with exquisite 
ornamental effect, on the tops of the shrubs and 
small trees which assist the plant to climb.—The 
spotted and the nodding species are evergreen 
climbers from Japan and India; the shining 
species is an evergreen undershrub of two feet 
in height, from the Cape of Good Hope; the 
myrtle-leaved species is an evergreen tree of 20 
feet in height from Jamaica; and all the other 
introduced species are evergreen shrubs, of from 
3 to 10 feet in height, principally from the Cape 
of Good Hope, but in five instances from tropical 
America, the Canaries, and the south of Europe. 
CELERIAC. See Crrery. 
CELERY,—botanically Apiwm graveolens. A 
biennial herb, of the parsley genus, and umbelli- 
ferous order. It grows wild as a weed in Britain, 
under the popular name of smallage ; and it is 
cultivated as an esculent in our gardens, under 
the well-known names of celeriac and celery ; 
but the weed differs very widely, in at once ap- 
pearance, characters, and properties, from the | 
cultivated plant. Wild celery grows in ditches 
and marshy situations, particularly near the sea ; 
its root is tapering; its stem is smooth and tubu- 
lar ; its leaves are acrid, disagreeably flavoured, | 
and far from wholesome; its flowers are small, 
numerous, and greenish-white, and appear in 
August and September ; and its seeds possess the 
same kind of acrid and unwholesome properties 
as the leaves. But the stems of the cultivated 
plant are solid and fleshy; and both these and | 
the leaves, when duly blanched by culture, as | 
well as the seeds in their ordinary condition, 
possess an agreeable aromatic flavour, and very 
generally recommend themselves to the human 
palate. 
crop, the solid-stemmed upright, the red-stemmed 
upright, the large red-stemmed upright, and the 
turnip-rooted, spreading, or celeriac. The last 
of these is the hardest, and swells at the bottom 
like a turnip, and differs so widely from the other 
varieties in characters and habit as to have been 
frequently regarded as a separate species. 
The blanched leaf-stalks of cultivated celery 
are eaten raw as a salad, and are in season from 
July or August till March. They are used also 
to flavour soups, and are sometimes boiled as a 
dinner vegetable. In Italy, the unblanched leaves 
are used in soups; and both there and in Eng- 
land, the seeds are employed to flavour soups. 
Only the root of the celeriac variety is used. 
“This,” says Sabine, “is excellent in soups, in 
which, whether white or brown, slices of it are 
used as ingredients, and readily impart their 
flavour. With the Germans it is also a common 
salad ; for which the roots are prepared by boil- 
ing, until a fork will pass easily through them ; 
after they are boiled and become cold, they are 
eaten with oil and vinegar. ‘They are also some- 
times served up at table, stewed with rich sauces. 
— 
Five principal varieties are in cultiva- | 
tion,—the common, upright Italian, for the main | 
ey 
{ 
{ 
~ | 
