CALUMBO-ROOT, the bitter tonic root of an Afribitteplant'&a.11ed CoceuZus palmatus. Coecntus.] sa 'I,,,, 10,• cif IsYCANTFIA' E/E, Calyeanths, the Calycanthus TribeOnsaturfil order of hardy Dicotyledonous Plant; well known in gardens for the delicious fragrance of their blossoms. They are in some respects allied to the Magnolia, or Star-Anise Plant (Illicium), in consequence of their chocolate-coloured flowers with the segments overlying each other in several rows, and because also of their peculiar fragrance ; their true affinity is however with Rosacece, as the mass of their characters sufficiently proves; especially the unusual circumstance of the cotyledons of the embryo being rolled up both in this order and in the genus Chameemeles in Rosacece.
Calyeanthacees consist of but two genera, Calycanthus and Chimo nanthus, which agree in having—lat, an imbricated calyx and corolla that pass insensibly into each other, and combine at their bases into a thick fleshy tube ; 2nd, a small number of perigynous stamens, whose anthers are adnate and are tipped by a projection of the connective ; 3rd, several one-seeded nuts inclosed in the tube of the calyx ; and 4th, a convolute embryo, destitute of albumen. Their wood is remarkable for the glandular nature of the woody tubes; and for having, in addition to the usual structure of exogena, four imperfect axes with concentric circles, lying at equal distances in the bark near the circumference, on which they produce externally four elevated lines or wheals.
The two genera are thus distinguished :— Ca/yeanthus, or the Carolina Allspice, has 48 stamens arranged in four rows, the inner most being rudimentary ; and a great many nuts inclosed in a calyx, which is naked at its apex. It consists of small shrubs, natives of North America, with fragrant chocolate-coloured flowers, appearing along with the leaves in May or June.
Chimonanthus, or the Japan Allspice, has 10 stamens, all perfect and inserted in a double row ; only one or two nuts to each calyx tube, which is crowned and closed up by. the permanent recurved stamens. Thp only species is found wild in Japan, and has fragrant lemon-coloured blossoms, appearing in the winter after the fall of the Botanists call it Chimonanthus fragrans, and distinguish three varieties :-1st, the pale kind, which has long been in gardens, and has flowers the colour of which is very slightly yellow ; '2nd, the large-flowered, with bright yellow flowers twice as large as those of the last ; and 3rd, the small-flowered, which is in all respects the same as the first, except that its blossoms arc less than half the size. These plants are multiplied with some difficulty by layering.
(Lindley'a Vegetable Kingdom.)