CULM. 
CUNONIA. 
Some other indigenous species of the old, multi- popular name is rather a misnomer; yet is al- 
tudinous genus gnaphalium occasionally share the most the only thing which recommends it to po- 
popular name of cudweed. 
CULM. The stem of a grass, of a scitamineous 
plant, or of any other kind of plant which, when 
cut and dried, yields straw or haulm. A culm is 
tubular or hollow, and has a series of knots or 
joints; and at each joint, in most instances, is a 
single, narrow, long, sharp-pointed leaf. 
CULMIFEROUS PLANTS. Plants whose stems 
are culms. The chief examples of them are the 
cereal grasses. 
CULTIVATION. The working and improving 
of the soil by tillage, weeding, manuring, and 
other processes. Its object is to obtain an ab- 
normal development and production of plants, or 
of parts of plants, used for the purposes of food, 
industry, or human enjoyment; and the plants 
with which it deals are called cultivated plants, 
and contradistinguished by it from wild plants. 
CULTIVATOR. Any horse-hoeing implement, 
but especially the grubber. See the article Grus- 
BER. 
CUMIN,—botanically Cuminum. A hardy, an- 
nual, medicinal plant, of the umbelliferous family. 
It constitutes a genus of itself, and takes for its 
specific name Cyminum. It is a native of Egypt, 
and was introduced thence to Britain toward the 
close of the 16th century. Its stem is slender, 
round, branching, and frequently procumbent ; 
its leaves are linear, narrow-pointed, and of a 
deep green colour; its flowers are produced in 
numerous, four-rayed umbels, have a white col- 
our, and appear in June and July; and its seeds 
are oblong, striated, and of a pale brown colour, 
and are produced in twos, which are united to 
each other on their flat sides. The seeds have a 
peculiar strong odour, and a warm, bitterish, un- 
pleasant taste; they possess carminative and tonic 
properties; and they are used in medicine as an 
external stimulant, and in the arts for flavouring 
the spirits of the distillery. The plant is exten- 
sively cultivated in Malta, Sicily, Holland, Ger- 
many, and some other European countries; and 
it serves the same purposes throughout the north- 
west of Europe which are served by caraway and 
coriander in Britain. It requires a rich soil, and 
is rather late in ripening its seeds; so that it is 
ill-suited to field husbandry in any part of Bri- 
tain except some of the best lands in the south of 
England. In Germany, it is either.sown broad- 
cast among spring-corn, or transplanted into rows 
alternately with cabbages, beet, or parsnip. 
CUMIN (Basrarp),—botanically Lagecia. A 
curious, hardy, annual plant, of the umbelliferous 
family. It abounds in Provence and in some 
other districts near the Mediterranean; and it was 
introduced to Britain from the Levant about the 
middle of the 17th century. Its stem grows about 
a foot high; its leaves resemble those of honey- 
wort ; and its flowers have a greenish-yellow col- 
our, and grow in spherical heads at the extremity 
of the shoots, and appear in June and July. Its 
| 
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pular notice. 
CUMMINGIA. A genus of superbly-flowering, 
bulbous-rooted, Chilian plants, of the asphodel 
tribe. The campanulate species, C. campanulata, 
was introduced to Britain about twenty-three 
years ago; but is regarded by some botanists as 
a Conanthera. Its leaves are grassy; its stem 
grows to the height of nine or ten inches; and 
its flowers have an elegantly bell-shaped form 
and a beautiful blue colour, and bloom from July 
till November.—Two very handsome, winter- 
flowering species, of about the same height of 
stem and with the same general colour of flower 
as the preceding, C. tenella and C. trimaculata, 
were introduced in 1829. 
CUNNINGHAMIA. A very beautiful and 
nearly hardy, evergreen, ornamental tree, of the 
coniferous family. It is a native of China, and 
was introduced to Britain in 1804. It furnishes 
an awkward instance of the want of proper un- 
derstanding among botanists in adjusting the 
nomenclature of their science; for it figures va- 
riously as Pinus lanceolata, Belis gaculifolia, Au- 
racaria lanceolata, Cunninghamia sinensis, and 
Cunninghamia lanceolata ; but it may now be re- 
garded as having chosen the last of these names, 
and as constituting a genus of itself. Its stem 
usually attains a height of about 20 feet; its 
branches, foliage, and general appearance, closely 
resemble those of the altingia division of the au- 
racarias; and its leaves are lanceolate, stiff, and 
| pungent, and, in the mature years of the plant, 
collect into cones. It closely approaches the 
Norfolk-Island pine in supereminence of dendri- 
tic beauty ; and, in spite of much difficulty of pro- 
pagation and.some tenderness of habit, has al- 
ready found its way into very numerous British 
collections. It requiresa light soil, and succeeds 
in the open air, not only in the south of England, 
but in sheltered situations in the vicinity of 
Edinburgh. The grand difficulty in propagating 
it is to make it throw up a vigorous leader, or 
to assume the habit of a tree, from a rooted 
cutting; but this difficulty can, in every case, 
be overcome. Its shoots, as soon as it is well 
established, should be bent into horizontal posi- 
tion, and fastened down with pegs; and if the 
leading shoot which then arises should, after a 
year or two, relax its upward growth and become 
bushy, it also must be bent down and confined 
with pegs; and by this management a good stem- 
shoot is certain to be obtained. 
CUNONIA. A genus of plants constituting the 
type of the natural order Cunoniaceze. This 
order was formerly included in the Saxifrageee ; 
and its flowers have the same construction as 
those of the Saxifragez, but, instead of being 
loosely arranged, are either racemose or densely 
spiked. Its leaves are opposite, and, in most in- 
stances, pinnated ; and the colour of its flowers is 
It consists of trees and 
either red or white, 
