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A dwarf umbelliferous plant, somewhat resembling fennel (Cuminum Cyminum), cultivated for its seeds, which have a bitterish, warm taste, with an aromatic flavor, and are used like those of anise and caraway. [Written also cummin.] Rank-smelling rue, and cumin good for eyes. Spenser. Black cumin (Bot.), a plant (Nigella…

Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the family of plants ot which the oak and the chestnut are examples, -- trees bearing a smooth, solid nut inclosed in some kind of cup or bur; bearing, or furnished with, a cupule.

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

The edible flower head of certain brassicaceous plants, as the broccoli and cauliflower. Broccoli should be cut while the curd, as the flowering mass is termed, is entire. R. Thompson. Cauliflowers should be cut for use while the head, or curd, is still close and compact. F. Burr.

Shortened or reduced; -- said of the distance of a planet from the sun or earth, as measured in the plane of the ecliptic, or the distance from the sun or earth to that point where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet upon the plane of the ecliptic, meets the ecliptic. Curtate cycloid. (Math.) See Cycloid.…

The interval by which the curtate distance of a planet is less than the true distance.

pe, location, singular points, and other perculiarities of a curve from its equation. -- Plane curve (Geom.), a curve such that when a plane passes through three points of the curve, it passes through all the other points of the curve. Any other curve is called a curve of double curvature, or a twisted curve.…

The outermost skin or pellicle of a plant, found especially in leaves and young stems.

riety of cellulose, occuring as a fine transparent membrane covering the aerial organs of plants, and forming an essential ingredient of cork; by oxidation it passes to suberic acid.

hich itself forms a cutter, or a rotating stock to which cutters may be attached, as in a planing or matching machine. Knight.

A caterpillar which at night eats off young plants of cabbage, corn, etc., usually at the ground. Some kinds ascend fruit trees and eat off the flower buds. During the day, they conceal themselves in the earth. The common cutworms are the larvæ of various species of Agrotis and related genera of noctuid moths.…

Any plant of the natural order Cycadeceæ, as the sago palm, etc.

Pertaining to, or resembling, an order of plants like the palms, but having exogenous wood. The sago palm is an example.

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 curve generated by a point in the plane of a circle when the circle is rolled along a straight line, keeping always in the same plane.

Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a large family of plants of which the sedge is the type.

A large genus of plants belonging to the Sedge family, and including the species called galingale, several bulrushes, and the Egyptian papyrus.

A genus of orchidaceous plants including the lady's slipper.

A concretion of mineral matter within a leaf or other part of a plant.

A skillful hand; a dabster; an expert. [Colloq.] One excels at a plan or the titlepage, another works away at the body of the book, and the therd is a dab at an index. Goldsmith.