— 
_ 
mistaken for the flowers of a scarlet 
Fuchsia. The Nepal species are: 
B. Asidtica, a robust plant with 
coarsely veined leaves, short ra- 
cemes of flowers, and purplish fruit, 
which is very good to eat, and which | 
BIGNONIA. 
130 
ba NP oe Pee 
BIRDS. 
|for their large, brilliant-coloured 
flowers. Many of the species have, 
however, been now removed to 
the genera Tecoma and Spathodea. 
Most of the plants which are still 
called Bignonia require the hot- 
is covered with a fine bloom; B.; | house, but some will thrive in the 
aristdta is less robust, with glossy | 
fine-veined leaves, and long racemes | 
of flowers; B. floribunda with long | 
racemes of small flowers, and large | 
leaves ; and B. Coridria with short | 
racemes of large flowers, and finely- 
veined lanceolate-leaves, and red 
fruit. All these species have bright 
yellow flowers, which appear in 
spring, and are very ornamental. 
They are also all quite hardy, 
thriving in any common soil, and 
easily propagated by ripened cut- 
_ greenhouse, and one, B. capreolata, 
is hardy. JB. venista is one of the 
_handsomest hothouse species, and 
when planted in the free soil, it 
will produce its pale orange flowers 
during the greater part of the sum- 
|mer. ‘They are all of easy culture, 
‘requiring chiefly abundance of 
room, and cuttings of them all root 
readily in sand. (See Tecoma.) 
BILperry. 
Brix, or Hangitees oak cuca 
blade fixed in a wooden handle ; if 
tings, layers, suckers, or seeds.—_| short, it is called a handbill, and if 
See Manso'nia. 
Be’/reeray.—See Be'rperis. 
Bercamote.—A kind of mint. 
See Me'nrma. 
Brenntats._—Plants that do not 
produce their flowers till the second 
year, and then die after they have 
ripened their seeds. The Brompton 
Stocks, Hollyhocks, Wallflowers, 
Snapdragens and Canterbury-bells, 
are erent, though the latter four 
frequently live three or four years. 
Biennials should be sown in March 
or April, thinned out in May, and 
transplanted in September to the 
place where they are to flower the 
ensuing year. A little earth should 
be taken up with the reots, when 
they are transplanted, and they 
should be well watered, and shaded 
for a day or two, till their roots are 
established. Those kinds which 
require a peculiar soil, should have 
pits prepared for them about a week 
before they are transplanted, that 
the earth may have time to settle. 
Bicno'nia aE Eis 
Bignonias or Trumpet-flowers once 
formed a very large and splendid 
genus, chiefly of climbers from 
tropical countries, and remarkable 
long, a hedge or pruning bill, and it 
is used for cutting hedges, er pruning 
| off the branches of trees. 
BILLiaRDIE RA. — Piitosporee. — 
|Appleberry. Climbing half hardy 
shrubs, natives of Australia, with 
bell-shaped flowers, and long berry- 
like fruit which tastes like roasted 
apples. The beautiful plant now 
called Sollya was at first supposed 
to belong to this genus. For the 
culture, see AUSTRALIAN SHRUBS. 
Binpweep.—The common Bind- 
weed (Convéivulus s*pium L., Ca- 
lystegia sépium, R. B.) with large 
white flowers, and not unfrequent 
in hedges, is one of the most orna- 
mental of British twiners ; but in 
gardens it has this disadvantage, 
that its roots, or rather underground 
shoots, spread rapidly, and aré very 
difficult to eradicate. 
Birps are generally considered 
| enemies of gardens, and some kinds, 
as the common sparrow, (when seeds 
which are their usual foed, are 
scarce), are apt to live upon buds, 
especially blossom-buds, as being the 
largest ; and others live upon fruits. 
As, however, all the soft-billed kinds, 
| which constitute the great majority 
& 
