The Carob-tree has been cultivated in England since 1570; it endures our ordinary winters very well, but requires some little protection in severe seasons. Gerarde speaks of it as newly sown in his garden, and promising well. F CAROLINA ALLSPICE. CALYCANTHUS FLORIDUS. CALYCANTHIDEÆ. ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA. Calycanthus is derived from two Greek words, signifying calyx and flower; some persons considering the petals of the blossom as mere calycine leaflets.-French, calycanth, le pampadour.-Italian, pampadurra. In its native country this shrub will grow nine or ten feet high, but in England its height seldom exceeds four feet. It divides near the ground into many slender branches, covered with a brown aromatic bark, with t leaves placed opposite at every joint. The flowers grow on short footstalks at the ends of the branches; their colour is a dingy purple, and their scent by no means agreeable: they blow in May. The inhabitants of Carolina gave it the name of Carolina Allspice, from the aromatic scent of its bark. It was introduced here by Mr. Catesby, in 1726, but was very scarce till the year 1757. There are two varieties, the long-leaved, and the round-leaved. LEGUMINOSE. CASSIA. DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. The derivation of the word is uncertain. MOST of these plants require artificial heat in this country, but the Maryland Cassia, Cassia Marilandica, in a dry soil and not too much exposed, will live abroad. It grows four or five feet high, the blossoms are of a pale yellow, and grow in loose spikes. It is a native of North America. The senna of the apothecaries is obtained from an Egyptian plant belonging to this genus. The poets' Cassia is of another genus, (Osyris alba): it has been asked why the epithet alba has been given to this plant, the flowers being yellow, and the berries red. The Cassia is described by the poets as white : Fair as some wonder out of fairy-land, Hung from his shoulder: like the drooping flowers KEATS'S Poems, p. 24 Some have supposed the true Cassia to be the Cneorum, but that also has yellow blossoms; others have believed that the Romans had two sorts of Cassia, one of which was the Cneorum, and the other a species of wild cinnamon. In this case, the white blossom is understood, but not the reason for calling the Osyris alba. Mr. Keats expressly contrasts the blossom of the Cassia with that of the Laburnum : "Where the dark-leaved laburnum's drooping clusters And, intertwined, the Cassia's arms unite With its own drooping buds, but very white." KEATS'S Early Poems, p. 55. CATALPA. CATALPA SYRINGIFOLIA. BIGNONIEÆ. DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. This genus was named Bignonia by Tournefort, in compliment to Abbé Bignon, librarian to Louis the Fourteenth.-French, catalpe; Italian, catalpa. THE Catalpa is a deciduous tree, rising with an upright stem to the height of forty feet; it has many lateral branches, on which the leaves are placed opposite, at every joint: they are heart-shaped. The flowers grow in jarge branching panicles, towards the ends of the branches; they are of a dingy white, with a few purple spots, and faint stripes of yellow on the inside these open in August, and are succeeded by long taper pods; but it does not produce the fruit in this country. In this This tree was found by Mr. Catesby, in South Carolina, at a great distance from the English settlements; and brought to England in the year 1726. It is now not uncommon in our nurseries and plantations. climate the leaves come out very late; which, before the tree was well understood, has often led persons to think them dead, and even to cut them down on that supposition. The branches dye wool a kind of cinnamon colour. Thunberg says, the Japonese consider the leaves as beneficial to the nerves, and lay them on any part of the body affected with pain, as a cure for it. |