BROMELIA- , 201 



BOLETUS, L. Touchwood. , Fungi with pores be- 

 neath 5 we have nearlj 200 species : those with cells 

 beneath are mj G. PJiorima; Polyponts has a central 

 stern, Dedalea a labyrinth beneath, Fistulina hollow 

 tubes beneath. The true Boletus are sessile, equivalent 

 to ^^garicits to make tinder and styptic lint- A ciyina- 

 barinus dies red. jB. suberosies is made into corks in 

 Sweden, -B. igniarius and B. foment arius chiefly used 

 for spunk or tinder. B, 77iarginatus exudes an acid. B. 

 odoratus and B. suaveolens smell like anniseed, their 

 powder preserves clothes from insects, used in Europe 

 with honey in phthisis. The B. laricis is tonic and 

 used in fevers. Almost all the fleshy species of Poly- 

 poms are edible, test same as for Amanita^ B. eduUs, B* 

 juglandis, &c. are excellent 



BOTROPHIS- Add, used for rheumatic pains, dis- 

 eases of languor and squirrous tumors, in tmcture or 

 decoction, by the Cherokees and Southern tribes. 



BOTRYCHIUM, Mx. Eattlesnake Ferns. Several 

 species, mild astringents, equivalent of Osmtmda. 



BRASSICA OLERACEAjL. Cabbage. Wellknmvn 

 vegetable, healthy, antiscorbutic, pectoral when boiled- 

 Raw in coldslaw, or pickled in sourcrout, almost indi- 

 gestible. Cauliflowers still better than cabbage, the 

 best taste like beef marrow. Cabbage is good food for 

 cattle, but spoils the milk of cows. Eaten by^ horses, the 

 leaves cure the salivation or slabber. It contains sulphur. 



BRASSICA RAP A, L. Turnips. Nutritive, diluent, 

 flatulent, aphrodisiac, diuretic. Spontaneous with us. 

 The Rutabaga is a variety much liked by cattle. Leaves 

 good boiled for greens. The seeds produce much oil j 

 tliis oil, as well as the decoction and soup of the roots, 

 useful in gravel, cholic, asthma, aphtha, strangury, otal- 

 o^Y, &c. The Br. napus {Kale or Cole) is a native of 

 Arkansas, little known as yet with us : the leaves 

 bleached like Cellery, are sweet and tender j the oil of 

 Coleseed or Br. campestris, almost exclusively used in 

 Holland. Belzic and Flanders, to cook and burn, 



BROMELIA ANANAS, L. P/«^ ^7^/>/e. Cultivated 

 in Florida. Delicious fruit, diuretic, menagogue and 

 aphrodisiac: an excellent wine like Malmsey made with 



