Part 3

97. CASUARINA QUADRIVALVIS.--This Tasmanian tree produces a very hard wood of a reddish color, often called Beef wood. It is marked with dark stripes, and is much used in some places for picture frames and cabinetwork. This belongs to a curious family of trees having no leaves, but looking like a gigantic specimen of Horse-tail grass, a weed to be seen in wet places.

98. CATHA EDULIS.--This plant is a native of Arabia, where it attains the height of 7 to 10 feet. Its leaves are used by the Arabs in preparing a beverage like tea or coffee. The twigs, with leaves attached, in bundles of fifty, and in pieces from 12 to 15 inches in length, form a very considerable article of commerce, its use in Arabia corresponding to that of the Paraguay tea in South America and the Chinese tea in Europe. The effects produced by a decoction of the leaves of Cafta, as they are termed, are described as similar to those produced by strong green tea, only more pleasing and agreeable. The Arab soldiers chew the leaves when on sentry duty to keep them from feeling drowsy. Its use is of great antiquity, preceding that of coffee. Its stimulating effects induced some Arabs to class it with intoxicating substances, the use of which is forbidden by the Koran, but a synod of learned Mussulmans decreed that, as it did not impair the health or impede the observance of religious duties, but only increased hilarity and good humor, it was lawful to use it.

99. CECROPIA PELTATA.--The South American trumpet tree, so called because its hollow branches are used for musical instruments. The Waupe Indians form a kind of drum by removing the pith or center of the branches. The inner bark of the young branches yields a very tough fiber, which is made into ropes. The milky juice of the stem hardens into caoutchouc.

100. CEDRELA ODORATA.--This forms a large tree in the West India Islands, and is hollowed out for canoes; the wood is of a brown color and has a fragrant odor, and is sometimes imported under the name of Jamaica cedar.

101. CEPHAELIS IPECACUANHA.--This Brazilian plant produces the true ipecacuanha, and belongs to the _Cinchonaceae_. The root is the part used in medicine, it is knotty, contorted, and annulated, and of a grayish-brown color, and its emetic properties are due to a chemical principle called _emetin_.

102. CERATONIA SILIQUA.--The carob bean. This leguminous plant is a native of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. The seed pods contain a quantity of mucilaginous and saccharine matter, and are used as food for cattle. Besides the name of carob beans, these pods are known as locust pods, or St. John's bread, from a supposition that they formed the food of St. John in the wilderness. It is now generally admitted that the locusts of St. John were the insects so called, and which are still used as an article of food in some of the Eastern countries. There is more reason for the belief that the husks mentioned in the parable of the prodigal son were these pods. The seeds were at one time used by singers, who imagined that they softened and cleared the voice.

103. CERBERA THEVETIA.--The name is intended to imply that the plant is as dangerous as Cerberus. The plant has a milky, poisonous juice. The bark is purgative; the unripe fruit is used by the natives of Travancore to destroy dogs, as its action causes their teeth to loosen and fall out.

104. CEREUS GIGANTEA.--The suwarrow of the Mexicans, a native of the hot, arid, and almost desert regions of New Mexico, found growing in rocky places, in valleys, and on mountain sides, often springing out of mere crevices in hard rocks, and imparting a singular aspect to the scenery of the country, its tall stems often reaching 40 feet in height, with upright branches looking like telegraph posts for signaling from point to point of the rocky mountains. The fruits are about 2 or 3 inches long, of a green color and oval form; when ripe they burst into three or four pieces, which curve back so as to resemble a flower. Inside they contain numerous little black seeds, imbedded in a crimson-colored pulp, which the Indians make into a preserve. They also eat the ripe fruit as an article of food.

105. CEREUS MACDONALDIAE.--A night-blooming cereus, and one of the most beautiful. The flowers when fully expanded are over a foot in diameter, having numerous radiating red and bright orange sepals and delicately white petals. It is a native of the Honduras.

106. CEROXYLON ANDICOLA.--The wax palm of New Grenada, first described by Humboldt and Bonpland, who found it on elevated mountains, extending as high as the lower limit of perpetual snow. Its tall trunk is covered with a thin coating of a whitish waxy substance, giving it a marbled appearance. The waxy substance forms an article of commerce, and is obtained by scraping the trunk. It consists of two parts of resin and one wax, and, when mixed with one third of tallow, it makes very good candles. The stem is used for building purposes, and the leaves for thatching roofs.

107. CHAMAEDOREA ELEGANS.--This belongs to a genus of palms native of South America. The plant is of tall, slender growth; the stems are used for walking canes, and the young, unexpanded flower spikes are used as a vegetable.

108. CHAMAEROPS FORTUNEI.--This palm is a native of the north of China, and is nearly hardy here. In China, the coarse brown fibers obtained from the leaves are used for making hats and also garments called So-e, worn in wet weather.

109. CHAMAEROPS HUMILIS.--This is the only European species of palm, and does not extend farther north than Nice. The leaves are commonly used in the south of Europe for making hats, brooms, baskets, etc. From the leaf fiber a material resembling horse hair is prepared, and the Arabs mix it with camel's hair for their tent covers.

110. CHAVICA BETEL.--This plant is found all over the East Indies, where its leaf is largely used by Indian natives as a masticatory. Its consumption is immense, and has been said to equal that of tobacco by Western peoples. It is prepared for chewing by inclosing in the leaves a slice of the areca nut, and a small portion of lime. It is thought to act as a stimulant to the digestive organs, but causes giddiness and other unpleasant symptoms to those not accustomed to its use.

111. CHIOCOCCA RACEMOSA.--This plant is found in many warm countries, such as in southern Florida. It is called cahinca in Brazil, where a preparation of the bark of the root is employed as a remedy for snake bites. Almost every locality where snakes exist has its local remedies for poisonous bites, but they rarely prove to be efficient when truthfully and fairly tested.

112. CHLORANTHUS OFFICINALIS.--The roots of this plant are an aromatic stimulant, much used as medicine in the Island of Java; also, when mixed with anise, it has proved valuable in malignant smallpox.

113. CHLOROXYLON SWIETENIA.--The satinwood tree of tropical countries. It is principally used for making the backs of clothes and hair brushes, and for articles of turnery-ware; the finest mottled pieces are cut into veneers and used for cabinet-making.

114. CHRYSOBALANUS ICACO.--The cocoa plum of the West Indies. The fruits are about the size of a plum, and are of various colors, white, yellow, red, or purple. The pulp is sweet, a little austere, but not disagreeable. The fruits are preserved and exported from Cuba and other West India Islands. The kernels yield a fixed oil, and an emulsion made with them is used medicinally.

115. CHRYSOPHYLLUM CAINITO.--The fruit of this plant is known in the West Indies as the star apple, the interior of which, when cut across, shows ten cells, and as many seeds disposed regularly round the center, giving a star-like appearance, as stars are generally represented in the most reliable almanacs. It receives its botanic name from the golden silky color on the under side of the leaves.

116. CICCA DISTICHA.--This Indian plant is cultivated in many parts under the name of Otaheite gooseberry. The fruits resemble those of a green gooseberry. They have an acid flavor; are used for preserving or pickling, and eaten either in a raw state or cooked in various ways.

117. CINCHONA CALISAYA.--The yellow bark of Bolivia. This is one of the so-called Peruvian Bark trees. The discovery of the medicinal value of this bark is a matter of fable and conjecture. The name cinchona is derived from that of the wife of a viceroy of Peru, who is said to have taken the drug from South America to Europe in 1639. Afterwards the Jesuits used it; hence it is sometimes called Jesuit's bark. It was brought most particularly into notice when Louis XIV of France purchased of Sir R. Talbor, an Englishman, his heretofore secret remedy for intermittent fever, and made it public.

There are various barks in commerce classified under the head of Peruvian barks. Their great value depends upon the presence of certain alkaloid substances called quinine, cinchonine, and quinidine, which exist in the bark in combination with tannic and other acids. Quinine is the most useful of these alkaloids, and this is found in greatest quantities in Calisaya bark. The gray bark of Huanuco is derived from _Cinchona micrantha_, which is characterized by its yield of cinchonine, and the Loxa or Loja barks are furnished in part by _Cinchona officinalis_, and are especially rich in quinidine. There is some uncertainty about the trees that produce the various kinds of bark. These trees grow in the forests of Bolivia and Peru, at various elevations on the mountains, but chiefly in sheltered mountain valleys, and all of them at a considerable distance below the frost or snow line. They are destroyed by the slightest frost. Plants of various species have been distributed from time to time, in localities which seemed most favorable to their growth, but all reports from these distributions have, so far, been discouraging.

118. CINNAMOMUM CASSIA.--This furnishes cassia bark, which is much like cinnamon, but thicker, coarser, stronger, less delicate in flavor, and cheaper; hence it is often used to adulterate cinnamon. The unexpanded flower buds are sold as cassia buds, possessing properties similar to those of the bark. It is grown in southern China, Java, and tropical countries generally.

119. CINNAMOMUM ZEYLANICUM.--A tree belonging to _Lauraceae_, which furnishes the best cinnamon. It is prepared by stripping the bark from the branches, when it rolls up into quills, the smaller of which are introduced into the larger, and then dried in the sun. Cinnamon is much used as a condiment for its pleasant flavor, and its astringent properties are of medicinal value. It is cultivated largely in Ceylon. The cinnamon tree is too tender to become of commercial importance in the United States. Isolated plants may be found in southern Florida, at least it is so stated, but the area suited to its growth must be very limited.

120. CISSAMPELOS PAREIRA.--The velvet plant of tropical countries. The root furnishes the _Pareira brava_ of druggists, which is used in medicine.

121. CITRUS AURANTIUM.--The orange, generally supposed to be a native of the north of India. It was introduced into Arabia during the ninth century. It was unknown in Europe in the eleventh century. Oranges were cultivated at Seville towards the end of the twelfth century, and at Palermo in the thirteenth. In the fourteenth century they were plentiful in several parts of Italy. There are many varieties of the orange in cultivation. The blood red, or Malta, is much esteemed; the fruit is round, reddish-yellow outside and the pulp irregularly mottled with crimson. The Mandarin or Tangerine orange has a thin rind which separates easily from the pulp, and is very sweet and rich. The St. Michael's orange is one of the most productive and delicious varieties, with a thin rind and very sweet pulp. The Seville or bitter orange is used for the manufacture of bitter tincture and candied orange-peel. The Bergamot orange has peculiarly fragrant flowers and fruit, from each of which an essence of a delicious quality is extracted.

122. CITRUS DECUMANA.--The shaddock, which has the largest fruit of the family. It is a native of China and Japan, where it is known as sweet ball. The pulp is acid or subacid, and in some varieties nearly sweet. From the thickness of the skin the fruit will keep a considerable time without injury.

123. CITRUS JAPONICA.--This is the Kum-quat of the Chinese. It forms a small tree, or rather a large bush, and bears fruit about the size of a large cherry. There are two forms, one bearing round fruits, the other long, oval fruits. This fruit has a sweet rind and an agreeably acid pulp, and is usually eaten whole without being peeled. It forms an excellent preserve, with sugar, and is largely used in this form.

124. CITRUS LIMETTA.--The lime, which is used for the same purposes as the lemon, and by some preferred, the juice being considered more wholesome and the acid more agreeable. There are several varieties, some of them being sweet and quite insipid.

125. CITRUS LIMONUM.--The lemon; this plant is found growing naturally in that part of India which is beyond the Ganges. It was unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is supposed to have been brought to Italy by the Crusaders. Arabian writers of the twelfth century notice the lemon as being cultivated in Egypt and other places. The varieties of the lemon are very numerous and valued for their agreeable acid juice and essential oil. They keep for a considerable time, especially if steeped for a short period in salt water.

126. CITRUS MEDICA.--The citron, found wild in the forests of northern India. The Jews cultivated the citron at the time they were under subjection to the Romans, and used the fruit in the Feast of the Tabernacles. There is no proof of their having known the fruit in the time of Moses, but it is supposed that they found it at Babylon, and brought it into Palestine. The citron is cultivated in China and Cochin-China. It is easily naturalized and the seeds are rapidly spread. In its wild state it grows erect; the branches are spiny, the flowers purple on the outside and white on the inside. The fruit furnishes the essential oil of citron and the essential oil of cedra. There are several varieties; the fingered citron is a curious fruit, and the Madras citron is very long and narrow; the skin is covered with protuberances.

127. CLUSIA ROSEA.--A tropical plant which yields abundantly of a tenacious resin from its stem, which is used for the same purpose as pitch. It is first of a green color, but when exposed to the air it assumes a brown or reddish tint. The Caribs use it for painting the bottoms of their boats.

128. COCCOLOBA UVIFERA.--Known in the West Indies as the seaside grape, from the peculiarity of the perianth, which becomes pulpy and of a violet color and surrounds the ripe fruit. The pulpy perianth has an agreeable acid flavor. An astringent extract is prepared from the plant which is used in medicine.

129. COCOS NUCIFERA.--The cocoanut palm. This palm is cultivated throughout the tropics so extensively that its native country is not known. One reason of its extensive dissemination is that it grows so close to the sea that the ripe fruits are washed away by the waves and afterwards cast upon far-distant shores, where they soon vegetate. It is in this way that the coral islands of the Indian Ocean have become covered with these palms. Every part of this tree is put to some useful purpose. The outside rind or husk of the fruit yields the fiber from which the well-known cocoa matting is manufactured. Cordage, clothes, brushes, brooms, and hats are made from this fiber, and, when curled and dyed, it is used for stuffing mattresses and cushions. An oil is produced by pressing the white kernel of the nut which is used for cooking when fresh, and by pressure affords stearin, which is made into candles, the liquid being used for lamps. The kernel is of great importance as an article of food, and the milk affords an agreeable beverage. While young it yields a delicious substance resembling blanc-mange. The leaves are used for thatching, for making mats, baskets, hats, etc.; combs are made from the hard footstalk; the heart of the tree is used as we use cabbages. The brown fibrous net work from the base of the leaves is used as sieves, and also made into garments. The wood is used for building and for furniture. The flowers are used medicinally as an astringent and the roots as a febrifuge.

130. COCOS PLUMOSUS.--A Brazilian species, highly ornamental in its long, arching leaves, and producing quantities of orange-colored nuts, in size about as large as a chestnut, inclosed in an edible pulp.

131. COFFEA ARABICA.--The coffee plant, which belongs to the _Cinchonaceae_ and is a native of Abyssinia, but is now cultivated in many tropical regions. It can not be successfully cultivated in a climate where the temperature, at any season of the year, falls below 55 degrees, although it will exist where the temperature all but falls short of freezing, but a low fall of temperature greatly retards the ripening of the fruit. Ripe fruits are often gathered from plants in the extreme south of Florida. The beans or seeds are roasted before use, and by this process they gain nearly one half in bulk and lose about a fifth in weight. Heat also changes their essential qualities, causing the development of the volatile oil and peculiar acid to which the aroma and flavor are due. The berries contain theine; so also do the leaves, and in some countries the latter are preferred.

132. COFFEA LIBERICA.--The Liberian coffee, cultivated in Africa, of which country it is a native. This plant is of larger and stronger growth than the Arabian coffee plant and the fruit is larger. This species is of recent introduction to commerce, and although it was reported as being more prolific than the ordinary coffee plant, the statement has not been borne out in Brazil and Mexico, where it has been tested. It is also more tender than the older known species.

133. COLA ACUMINATA.--An African tree, which has been introduced into the West Indies and Brazil for the sake of its seeds, which are known as Cola, or Kola, or Goora nuts, and extensively used as a sort of condiment by the natives of Africa. A small piece of one of these seeds is chewed before each meal to promote digestion. It possesses properties similar to the leaves of coca and contains theine. These nuts have from time immemorial occupied a prominent place in the dietetic economy of native tribes in Africa, and the demand for them has established a large commercial industry in the regions where they are obtained.

134. COLOCASIA ESCULENTA.--This plant has been recommended for profitable culture in this country for its edible root-stock. It is cultivated in the Sandwich Islands under the name of Tara. The young leaves are cooked and eaten in the same manner as spinach or greens in Egypt. They are acrid, but lose their acridity when boiled, the water being changed. The roots are filled with starch, and have long been used as food in various semitropical countries.

135. CONDAMINEA MACROPHYLLA.--This plant belongs to the cinchona family, and contains tonic properties. The Peruvian bark gatherers adulterate the true cinchona bark with this, but it may be detected by its white inner surface, its less powerful bitter taste, and a viscidity not possessed by the cinchonas.

136. CONVOLVULUS SCAMMONIA.--This plant furnishes the scammony of the druggists.

137. COOKIA PUNCTATA.--A small-growing tree from China, which produces a fruit known as the Wampee. This fruit is a globular berry, with five or fewer compartments filled with juice. It is much esteemed in China.

138. COPAIFERA OFFICINALIS.--This tree yields balsam of copaiba, used in medicine. The balsam is collected by making incisions in the stem, when the liquor is said to pour out copiously; as it exudes it is thin and colorless, but immediately thickens and changes to a clear yellow. Like many other balsams, it is nearly allied to the turpentines; it has a moderately agreeable smell, and a bitter, biting taste of considerable duration. Distilled with water it yields a limpid essential oil.

139. COPERNICA CERIFERA.--The Carnuba, or wax palm of Brazil. It grows about 40 feet high, and has a trunk 6 or 8 inches thick, composed of very hard wood, which is commonly employed in Brazil for building and other purposes. The upper part of the young stem is soft, and yields a kind of sago, and the bitter fruits are eaten by the Indians. The young leaves are coated with wax, called Carnaub wax, which is detached by shaking them, and then melted and run into cakes; it is harder than beeswax, and has been used for making candles. The leaves are used for thatch, and, when young, are eaten by cattle.

140. COPROSMA ROBUSTA.--A cinchonaceous shrub. The leaves of this plant were formerly used in some of the religious ceremonies of the New Zealanders.

141. CORDIA MYXA.--This produces succulent, mucilaginous, and emollient fruits, which are eaten. These qualities, combined with a slight astringency, have led to their use as pectorals, known as Sebestens. The wood of this tree is said to have furnished the material used by the Egyptians in the construction of their mummy cases; it is also considered to be one of the best woods for kindling fire by friction.

142. CORDYLINE AUSTRALIS.--The Australian Ti, or cabbage tree, a palm-like plant of 15 to 20 feet in height. The whole plant is fibrous, and it has been suggested as good for a paper-making material. The juice of the roots and stem contains a small amount of sugar, and has been employed for procuring alcohol.