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A genus of leguminous plants; rattlebox.

A genus of poisonous serpents, including the rattlesnakes.

A genus of euphorbiaceous plants belonging to tropical countries. Croton oil (Med.), a viscid, acrid, brownish yellow oil obtained from the seeds of Croton Tiglium, a small tree of the East Indies. It is a most powerful drastic cathartic, and is used externally as a pustulant.

Of or pertaining to, or derived from, a plant of the genus Croton, or from croton oil. Crotonic acid (Chem.), a white crystalline organic acid, C3H5.CO2H, of the ethylene, or acrylic acid series. It was so named because formerly supposed to exist in croton oil. Also, any acid metameric with crotonic acid proper.…

A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles. It has a harsh, croaking note. See Caw.

A heathlike plant of the genus Empetrum, and its fruit, a black, scarcely edible berry; -- also called crakeberry.

The genus Ranunculus, of many species; some are common weeds, others are flowering plants of considerable beauty.

A plant of the genus Arum (A. maculatum); the European wake- robin.

A creeping plant, and its fruit, of several species of the genus Cucumis, esp. Cucumis sativus, the unripe fruit of which is eaten either fresh or picked. Also, similar plants or fruits of several other genera. See below. Bitter cucumber (Bot.), the Citrullus or Cucumis Colocynthis. SeeColocynth. -- Cucumber beetle. (…

A genus of plants including the cucumber, melon, and same kinds of gourds.

A genus of dipterous insects, including the gnat and mosquito.

A kind of lichen, of the genus Cladonia.

A genus of plants of the order Scitamineæ, including the turmeric plant (Curcuma longa). Curcuma paper. (Chem.) See Turmeric paper, under Turmeric.

A wading bird of the genus Numenius, remarkable for its long, slender, curved bill.

A shrub or bush of several species of the genus Ribes (a genus also including the gooseberry); esp., the Ribes rubrum. Black currant,a shrub or bush (Ribes nigrum and R. floridum) and its black, strong-flavored, tonic fruit. -- Cherry currant, a variety of the red currant, having a strong, symmetrical bush and a very…

A Chilian burrowing rodent of the genus Spalacopus.

A cephalopod of the genus Sepia, having an internal shell, large eyes, and ten arms furnished with denticulated suckers, by means of which it secures its prey. The name is sometimes applied to dibranchiate cephalopods generally.

A genus of trees, intermediate in character between the palms and the pines. The pith of the trunk of some species furnishes a valuable kind of sago.

A genus of plants of the Primrose family, having depressed rounded corms, and pretty nodding flowers with the petals so reflexed as to point upwards, whence it is called rabbit's ears. It is also called sow bread, because hogs are said to eat the corms.

A genus of minute Entomostraca, found both in fresh and salt water. See Copepoda.