BEL 



BEL 



with alieiT.atc cyliudric branches : the leaves 

 arc acute or acuuiiiiatc, ahnost entire or ob- 

 sclirclv toothed, scven-ncrved ; one lobe of the 

 base is double ihe>izeot' tiie other; the younger 

 ones arc rose-coloured about the edge ; they are 

 all vcrv smooth and shinins:, of a aright green 

 colour, paler beneath, permanent, spreading, 

 four sr five inches long, and two or three inches 

 broad: the petioles are cyiindric, thick, spread- 

 inn, one-third onlv of the length of ihjlcaf: 

 the stipules are sessile, oblong, one-nerved, and 

 as it were three-win>;ed, from a rib winged un- 

 derneath produced into a point ; on the sides 

 membranaceous and rcvohite ; they arc spread- 

 ing:, deciduous, and the length of the petiole : 

 the racemes are compound, cymosc, androgy- 

 nous ; the males very numerous; the females few 

 at the top, solitary, axillary, on long peduncles, 

 dichotomous, three inches wide: the peduncles 

 upright, cyiindric, longer than the leaf, the 

 thickness of the petiole : the bractes opposite, 

 below the dichotomies and the pedicels, half em- 

 bracing, ovate or roundish, membranaceous, 

 caducous : the corolla is flesh- or rose-coloured, 

 sometimes of a dark red ; in the female flowers 

 six-petalled. It is an elcsrant shrub flowering 

 from May to December, and is a native of Ja- 

 maica. 



There are varieties with rose-coloured flowers; 

 and with white flowers. 



Culture. — These plants may be raised either 

 by seeds, layers, or cuttings. The seeds should 

 be sown in pots of light earth, in the early 

 spring season, and brought forward by being 

 plunged in a moderate bark hot-bed. When 

 the plants have attained sufficient sta-ngth, they 

 mav be removed into separate pots, and placed 

 in the stove. 



In the second method the layers may be laid 

 down in the carlv spring, and be taken off" in 

 the autumn, and planted in separate pots. The 

 cuttings mav likewise be planted out in the 

 spring months, beine transplanted into separate 

 pots after they have become well rooted, and 

 then placed again in the stove. The plants suc- 

 ceed ■.veil when kept in the bark-stove, or even 

 over the flue of the dr\' stove, being very orna- 

 mental boih in (heir leaves and flowers, which 

 appear in the summer. 



BELLADONNA. See A.maryllis. 

 BELLIS, a genus containing an elegant lit- 

 tle perennial plant. The Daisy. 



It beloncs to the class and order Syrigtiicuii 

 Polygamia Superjlua, and ranks in the natural 

 order of Coiipositep Discoidta. 



The characters are : that the calyx U com- 

 mon hcmisphefic, upright : leaflets ten to twenty 



in a double row, lanceolate and equal : the corolla 

 is compound radiate : eorulluks liermaphrotlile, 

 tubular, and numerous in the disk : fenialt litru- 

 lale, more in num'.ier than the leaves of the cal) x 

 in the ray. I'lOper of liie hermaphrodite fun- 

 nel-t.irm, five-cleft : of the female ligulatc, lan- 

 ceolate, ficarcely three -toothed : the stamina of 

 the hennaphrodite filaments arc five, capillary, 

 verj' short : the anther cyiindric and tubular : 

 the pistillum is an ovate serm : of the herm.a- 

 phrodite the stvlc is simp"li; : the sticma emargi- 

 nate : of the female, tlie style is liliform : the 

 stigmas two, patulous : there is no pericarpium : 

 the calyx unchanged: the seeds solitary, obovate, 

 and compressed : no dow n : the receptacle naked 

 and conical. 



The species which affords the cultivated va- 

 rieties is £. pcrctinis. Common Perennial 

 Daisy. 



This is sufficiently distinguished by its per- 

 ennial root ; truncate or praeinorse at the end : 

 the leaves are radical, inversely ovate or lanceo- 

 late, or rather spatulate, blunt at the end. notched 

 and often waved about the edge, an inch or mor« 

 in length, and about half ait incli in breadth : 

 scapes hirsute, solid at bottom, hollow at lop, 

 from two to four inches long, having sometimes 

 a single leaf, and terminated by (me radiate 

 flower, frequently near an inch ni diameter : 

 the florets in the disk velhiw, numerous (one 

 hundred and fifty) ; in the ray white, often pur- 

 ple on the outside, and sometime* at the tip, 

 amounting frequently to near fifty in number z. 

 the receptacle is surrounded by very small tuber- 

 cles, which perhaps may be nectaries : the seeds 

 arc cordate-oblong or emarginate, compressed, 

 surrounded by a whitish rim, bay-ash-coloureii 

 in the middle, having a few whitish hairs on 

 them. It is a native of most parts of Europe ; 

 flowering almost all the year, shutting up in 

 the night and in wet weather. 



The Garden Daisies are all varieties of thi> 

 species arising from cultivation, &c. They are 

 very numerous: but the principal arc the double 

 white ; red ; white and red striped ; variegated ; 

 scarlet and pied : double-quilled, or with tistular 

 florets : double cock's-coinb-shaped, white, 

 red, and s|Hckled: and the proliferous, childing 

 orhcn and chicken daisy, which is ver\' curious. 

 Culture. — All the cultivated varieties of the 

 Daisy are hardy, and succeid in most sort.- of 

 sioils and situations, but in the most perfection 

 in such as are of a mellow loamy nature, and 

 which have not been enriched by manure. In 

 this, they are capable of being increa'^cd and 

 preserved, without varying, by parting and trans- 

 planting the roots annually in the autumnal or 



