An Encyclopedia of Horticulture. 



201 



Bombaz — confinxfed. 

 scarlet or white, larg-e, usually rising laterally from the 

 truuk or branches, either singly or in clusters. They grow 

 best in a rich loamy soil. Cuttings, not too ripe, taken off 

 at a joint, placed in sand under a bell glass, in moist heat, 

 will root readily ; but plants raised from seeds brought 

 from their natural habitats make finer trees. 

 B. Ceiba (Ceil)a). fl. pale red, lar^e. I. palmate, witli five leaflets. 

 Jr. turl'inate, concave at the apex. h. 100ft. South America, 1692. 



BOMBYX NBUSTBIA. SVe Lackey Moth. 

 BONA-NOX. See Ipomaea Bona-Nox. 

 BONAPARTEA. Nre Tillandsia. 

 BONAFABTBA JUNCEA. A synonym of Agave 



gemin^tiora. 



BONATBA (in honour of M. Bonato, a distinguished 

 Italian botanist, and a Professor of Botany at Padua). 

 Ord. Orchidece. A handsome terrestrial stove orchid, 

 allied to Hahenaria^ and requiring similar culture. 

 B. speclosa (showy).* jl. whiie, galeate ; petals bipartite; 



raceme maiiy-tiowered, compact ; bracts cucullate, acuminate. 



Aufiust. I. oblcmii, sub-umlulate. .Stem leufy. h. 2ft. Cape of 



Good Hope, 1820. (B. U. 292b ; L. B. C. 284.) 

 BOlTGABiDIA (named after Heinrich Guetav Bongard, 

 a German botanist). Ord. Berheridem. A very pretty 

 hardy tuberous-rooted perennial, requiring a sandy soil, 

 and good drainage, with protection at all seasons from 

 excessive wet, otherwise it will rot. It should be care- 

 fully planted in a compost of loam, peat, leaf soil, and 

 sand, in equal proportions, and covered with a handlight. 



B. Raiiwolfil (Rauwolf's). jl. golrten yellow, on pyrEimidal 

 branched panicles ; stamens and petals nearly equal in length. 

 Alay. I. radical, pinnate ; leaflets sessile, oval-oblong, three to 

 five-cleft at the apex, glaucous, each with a dark purple blotch at 

 the base. h. (An. Syria, Persia, 1740. SvN. Leontice Chryno- 

 gomnn. (B. W. 6244.) 



BONNATA (named after Bonnay, a German botanist}. 

 Obd. ScrophfdariacecB. A small genus of usually glabrous, 

 rarely pilose, slender, creeping or erect, annual, biennial, or 

 perennial stove plants, almost unknown in cultivation. 

 Flowers axillary, opposite, or alternate from abortion, 

 usually pedicellate, the upper ones sometimes racemose, 

 pinkish, or blue. Leaves opposite, quite entire, or toothed. 

 They thrive in a rich sandy loam. The annual species are 

 propagated by seeds, the others by divisions and cuttings. 



BONNBTIA (commemorative of Charles Bonnet, a 

 French naturalist, who wrote some botanical papers in 1754). 

 Ord. Ternstrcemiacece. A genus of elegant middle-sized 

 stove trees or shrubs. Flowers large, terminal ; peduncles 

 one or many-flowered. Leaves scattered, exstipulate, 

 coriaceous, entire, one-nerved, marked with transverse 

 veins, sub-sessile, narrowed to the base. They thrive well 

 in a mixture of loam and peat. Cuttings of firm young 

 shoots will root if placed in sand under a hand glass, in a 

 moderate heat. 

 B. sessills (stalkless). ji. purplish, terminal. I. oblong, coriaceous, 



entire, h. 15ft. Guiana, 1819. 



BORAGE. See Borag-o officinalis. 



BORAGIN'ACE.S:. A large order of herbs or shrubs, 

 having spirally-coiled inflorescence ; corolla usually regular 

 and five-lobed, with an imbricated aestivation ; throat gene- 

 rally hairy ; stamens flve, inserted in the corolla. Leaves 

 alternate, rough. Among other genera belonging to this 

 order may be named Anchusa, Borago, Cynoglossum, 

 Erhium, Lithospermuni, and Myosotis. 



BORAGO (derivation very uncertain ; probably a cor- 

 ruption of some eastern name). Borage. Ord. Boraginacece. 

 A genus of hardy herbaceous perennials or annuals, excel- 

 lently adapted for naturalising in dry stony places. Flowers 

 blue, panicled, drooping ; corolla rotate ; throat furnished 

 with emarginate vaulted processes ; anthers distinct, oblong 

 or lanceolate, awned, fixed by the inner side, conniving 

 into a cone. Nuts four, one-celled, turbinate, fixed to the 

 bottom of the calyx. Leaves oblong or lanceolate. All 

 the species are easily cultivated, thriving in any common 

 Boil. Propagated by divisions, in spring, or by striking 



Borago — continued. 

 the young cuttings in a cold frame. They may also be 

 raised from seed, which should be sown from March to 

 May, in any good garden soil, and the plants, when large 

 enough, thinned out to 1ft. or more apart. In hot 

 weather, Borage is generally in demand for claret cup and 

 other drinks. 



B. laxiflora (Inose-flowored).* Jl. on long pedicels, racemose, 

 driMipin,:;; l-iiV(i]];i iKiIe libie ; segments ovate, bUmtish, erectly 

 spn-adin^. May tu August. I. ublon;^, and rough from strij^je ; 

 radical unes msulate ; cauline <Mies half stem-clasping. Stem 

 ikMunihfUt, maiiv from the same rout, hispid from retrograde 

 bri.stles. forsiru", 1813. (B. M. 1789.) 



B. longifolia (long-leaved).* _fl. disposed in a terminal bracteate 

 pauiL-le i L-nioIla blue ; segments ovate, acute, spreading. July and 

 Aut^ust. I. linear-lanceolate, scabrous anil downy beneath ; 

 cauline ones half stem-clasping, h. 1ft. Numidia, 1825. 



Fig. 265. Flower of Borago officin.m.is. 



B. officinalis (officinal).* Common Borage. /. blue, purple, or 

 white; segments of the corolla limb ovate, acute, spreading. 

 June to September. I., lower ones obovate, attenuated at the 

 base ; cauline ones oblong, sessile, subcordate at the base. h. 1ft. 

 tu 2ft. Britain. This is the kind most cultivated in gardens for 

 flavouring. See Fig. 265. (Sy. En. B. 36.) 



BORASSUS ( a name applied by Linnieus to the 

 spatho of the Date Palm). Ord. Palmacece. A very small 

 genus of stove trees, containing two noble species, which 

 are distinguished by unisexual flowers, produced ujion dis- 

 tinct plants, the males being borne in dense branching 

 catkins, and the females on simple, or, more rarely, slightly 

 branched spikes. Fruit very large, brown, three-seeded. 

 Leaves fan-shaped, with spiny petioles. Trunks unarmed, 

 often 70ft. high. Thoy may be grown in good fibrous loam, 

 leaf mould, and sand, mainly the former. Increased by 

 seeds only, which require to be sown in strong bottom 

 heat. Rarely seen in cultivation. 



B. jethlopicum (African). I. nearly circular, and plaited, sup- 

 ported upuM stunt petioles, 6ft. to 7ft. long. Western Tropical 

 Africa. This handsome, but rare, species is remarkable for the 

 bulging out or swelling in its stem, near the middle, or about 

 two-thu'ds of its height from the ground. 



B. flabelliformis (fan-sliaped).* /. nearly circular, and plaited 

 like a partialtyopeu fan, with about seventy ribs, which radiate 

 from a connnon centre, h. 30ft. India, 1771. 



BORBONIA (named after Gaston de Bourbon, Duke 

 of Orleans, son of Henry IV. of France, a great lover 

 and patron of botany). Ord. Leguminosoi. A genus 

 of very ornamental greenhouse evergreen shrubs, natives 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. Flowers yellow, disposed 

 in terminal heads, axillary. Leaves simple, amplexicaul, 

 alternate, exstipulate, pungent. They thrive well in a 

 mixture of peat, loam, and sand, with good drainage. 

 Cuttings, half-ripened, obtained in April, will root freely 

 in sandy soil if placed under a bell glass, in a cool house. 



B. barbata (bearded).* Jl. sessile, villous on the outside. July. 

 I. narrow, lanceolate, niauy-nerved, complicated, ciliately-bearded, 

 and very much acuminated ; branches diverging, h. 3ft. to 4ft. 

 1825. 



B. cordata (heart-sltaped). _/!., corolla densely villous, with the 

 vexilliini ol.inrdate. July. I. cordate, many-nerved, quite 

 entire, glahruus. Bramlies villous, h. 3ft. to 6ft. 1759. 



B. crenata (crenated).* Jl. less villous than in the rest of the 

 species. July. I. cordate, roundish, acute, denticulated, many 

 nerved and reticulated between the nerves, and are. as well as 

 the oranches, glabrous, h. 3ft. to 6ft. 1774. (B. M. 274.) 



B. lanceolata (lance-shaped), fl. densely villous. July. I. ovate- 

 lanceolate, pungent, many nerved, quite entire, sessile, glabrous, 

 as well as the stem. h. 2ft. to 3ft. 1752. (L. B. C. 81.) 



B. ruscifoUa (Ruscus-leaved). /. .sparingly villous. July. I. cor- 

 date, many-nerved, minutely ciliated, but are otherwise glabrous, 

 as well as the branches, h. 2ft. to 4ft. 1790. (B. JI. 2128.) 



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