CHROMIUM. 
i ere 
CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
rativeis quite general, and was fitted to designate | tries; and nearly twenty more are known to 
all or any of the numerous thorny plants which 
grow in Palestine; yet the Paliurus aculeatus is 
fully as likely as any of these plants to have fur- 
nished the actual thorns of the crucifixion. Han- 
bury reasons away all doubt from his mind on 
the subject, and with well meant piety concludes, 
“These plants, therefore, should principally have 
a share in those parts of the plantation that are 
more peculiarly designed for religious retirement ; 
for they will prove excellent monitors, and con- 
duce to due reflection on and gratitude to ‘Him 
who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins 
in his own blood.’ ”—The twiggy species, Paliurus 
virgatus, called by some botanists Zezyphus incur- 
vus, is rather taller than the common species, 
blooms in August and September, and was intro- 
duced about 30 years ago from Nepaul. 
CHROMIUM. A simple or undecomposable 
mineral substance, of a metallic nature. It was 
discovered in 1797 by Vauquelin, and received 
the name of Chromium, from a Greek word sig- 
nifying colour, in allusion to its great tendency 
to form coloured compounds. It naturally occurs 
in a beautiful red mineral, the dichromate of lead, 
and in a compound of the oxides of chromium 
and iron, called chromate of iron. It has a yel- 
lowish white colour, and a distinct metallic lustre ; 
it is brittle, easily reduced by heat, and difficult 
of attack by acids; it has a specific gravity of 
something between 5 and 6; and it becomes con- 
verted first into green oxide, and next into chro- 
mic acid, when fused with nitre. The principal 
compounds of chromium are salts of its oxide 
with alkalies, salts of its acid with alkalies and 
metals, three fluorides of chromium, a sulphuret, 
and a phosphuret. One of the salts of its acid, 
chromate of lead, has a rich yellow colour, and is 
of great importance and extensive use in the arts 
of painting and dyeing. 
CHRYSALIS. The pupa of a lepidopterous 
insect. Every larva of a butterfly or a moth, or in 
other phrase, every caterpillar, becomes a chry- 
salis before arriving at its final condition. See the 
articles CATERPILLAR and Burturriy. A chry- 
salis is at first very soft, but afterwards hardens ; 
and it then sinks into a torpid condition, and re- 
mains in it till the time arrives for its transfor- 
mation. Its period of duration, in each species, 
varies according to the state of the temperature, 
or the mildness of the weather, being retarded by 
cold, and accelerated by heat. When the insect 
has all ceased to be chrysalis, or all attained to 
be moth or butterfly, except the skin or envelop- 
ing sheath, it bursts from this integument, and 
emerges feeble and languid, with crumpled wings, 
but speedily becomes active and excursive, re- 
taining not a vestige of either the torpor or the 
outward form of its chrysalis condition. 
CHRYSANTHEMUM. A genus of ornamental 
plants, of the chamomile division of the composite 
family. Two species grow wild in Britain; about 
thirty have been introduced from foreign coun- 
botanists. Three species, the pinnatifid, the 
anomalous, and the rooting, are white-flowered, 
greenhouse undershrubs from Spain and Madeira ; 
two, the tripartite and the Chinese, are herbace- 
ous evergreens, with various-coloured flowers ; 
three are hardy annuals, and two hardy peren- 
nials, with yellow flowers; and all the others are 
hardy herbs, either annual, evergreen, or peren- 
, nial-rooted, with white flowers. 
But almost all 
the practical interest of the genus, whether for 
its annoyances or for its attractions, is concen- 
trated in the two indigenous species and the 
Chinese species. 
The corn chrysanthemum, C. segetum, is one of 
the best known, most conspicuous, and most 
annoying weeds of the corn fields of Britain. It 
is a prevalent and abundant yellow-flowered an- 
nual ; and is known, in general popular language, 
as corn marigold,—in Kent, as yellow-bottle,—in 
Norfolk, as budland,—in the midland counties of 
England, as golds or gowls,—in the north of Eng- 
land, as goldens and gules,—and in Scotland, 
as gule, gules, gule-gowans, and yellow-gowans. 
Its root is tapering and fibrous; its stem is 
round, stiff, ramose, and from 18 to 26 inches 
high; its leaves are bluish- green, long, very 
broad, narrowest at the base, and deeply in- 
dented at the sides; and its flowers are yellow 
and brilliant, have a broad, open disc, and bloom 
from June till August. An old method of sub- 
duing this troublesome though showy weed, was 
to manure the land in autumn, to lay it out to 
summer fallow, and to harrow it about five days 
after sowing; but at once the easiest, the most 
economical, and the most successful method of 
attempting its extermination is to pull it up or 
cut it down by hand as soon as it comes into 
flower. 
The ox-eye daisy, Chrysanthemum leucanthe- 
mum, is & herbaceous evergreen, quite as gener- 
ally known as the corn chrysanthemum, but 
contributing far more to ornament and utility 
than to mischief. It is called sometimes the 
moor daisy, sometimes the great white ox-eye 
maudlinwort, and sometimes simply ox-eye. It 
abounds in our pastures and grass fields, and by 
the sides of our by-roads and less frequented 
public-roads; and is often a conspicuous and 
pleasant feature of the concluding part of sum- 
mer. Its root is woody, tough, branched, and 
profusely fibrous; its stem is erect, about two 
feet high, and sometimes simple, sometimes 
branched ; its radical leaves are obovate, stalked, 
and deep green; its other leaves are oblong, ob- 
tuse, cut, pinnatifid at the base, and sessile or 
rather embracing the stem; and its flowers are 
terminal, solitary, large, and open in their form, © 
with yellow disc and brilliant white rays, often 
far excelling in beauty some of the favourites of 
the parterre, and usually blooming in June and 
July. The whole plant is softly herbaceous, 
and slightly but not agreeably aromatic; and 
ee 
