n 



imr 



BRUNONIACE.K. 



liber, or inner bark, it also correspond* with the general character of 

 that order. It U from that port that the preparati 

 to have bean obtained Sir Jame* Smith give* the 



that order. It U from that part that the preparations above alluded 

 to have been obtained. Sir J.uiu-.< Smith give* the following abridg- 

 ment of luempfer'i account of the preparation of paper from its bark 



by the Japanaw : " For this purpose the branches of the present 

 year, after the leave* are fallen, in December, are chosen, and being 

 cut into piece* about a yard long are boiled till the bark nhrinlu and 

 U easily separable from the wood, which U then thrown away. The 

 bark being dried is preserved till it U wanted. In order to make 

 paper it U soaked for three or four hours in water, after which the 

 external akin and the green internal coat are scraped off; at the same 

 time the stronger and firmer pieces are selected, the produce of the 

 youngest shoots being of an inferior quality. If any very old portions 

 present themselves they are, on the other hand, rejected as too coarse. 

 All knotty parts and everything which might impair the beauty of 

 the paper are also removed. The chosen bnrk ia boiled in a lixivium 

 till iu downy fibres can be separated by a touch of the finger. The 

 palp so produced is then agitated in water till it resembles tufts of 

 tow. If not sufficiently boiled the paper will be coarse though strong ; 

 if too much, it will be white indeed, but deficient in strength and 

 solidity. Upon the various degrees and modes of washing the pulp 

 much also depends as to the quality and beauty of the paper. 

 Mucilage obtained from boiling rice, or from a root called Oreni 

 (Kaerapf., 474), one of the mallow tribe, is afterwards added to the 

 pulp. The paper ia finished much after the European mode, except 

 that stalks of rushes are used instead of brass wires." 



BRU'CEA, a genus of plants, named in honour of James Bruce the 

 celebrated traveller in Abyssinia, belonging to the natural order 

 Sutocta. It has the following characters : Flowers monoecious ; 

 calyx 4-parted ; petals 4, hardly equal the length of the calyx ; sta- 

 mens 4, inserted round about a 4-lobed gland-like central body ; the 

 piatiliferouB flowers with four abortive stamens ; ovaries 4, seated on 

 a 4-lobed receptacle, each terminated by a single, acute, reflexed 

 stigma ; fruit a drupe, 1 -seeded. The species are shrubs, with un- 

 equally pinnated leaves, 6 pairs of opposite, entire, or serrated leaflets, 

 without Jots. 



B. antidytcnterica (Brucea femtginea of L'Heritier), Woodginoos, 

 has entire leaflets covered with rusty rilli on the nerves beneath ; 

 racemes simple, spike-like. This plant is a native of Abyssinia, and 

 is said to be a tonio and astringent, and to act favourably in dysentery. 

 By some mistake it was at one time supposed to be the plant which 

 yielded the false Angostura Bark of the shops. By the substitution 

 of the False Angostura for the true Angostura Bark [GALIPJIA] fatal 

 effects have been known to follow. At the time that the false Angos- 

 tura Bark was supposed to be the produce of Brucia ferrvginea an 

 alkaloid was discovered in it which had been called on that account 

 Brucia. It appears now however that there can be little doubt that 

 the false Angostura Bark of the shops is a species of Strychno*. On 

 this subject Dr. Chriatison, in the last edition of his ' Dispensatory,' 

 has the following remarks : " The Angostura Bark (Galipaa Cuiparia) 

 of thin country is seldom adulterated ; but on the continent a most 

 serious fraud has been often practised by the substitution of a highly 

 poisonous bark long erroneously conceived to be that of the Brucea 

 femyinca or antidytentcrica. This bark, commonly called False 

 Angostura, presents externally a dirty grayish-yellow ground with 

 numerous irregular spots or tubercles of a lighter gray tint, which 

 appearances are in the larger pieces displaced in patches, or entirely, 

 by a uniform, loose, bright, rusty-coloured efflorescence. The speckled 

 gray pieces alone bear some resemblance to the smaller pieces of true 

 Angostura, but are easily distinguished by their greater thickness, 

 their far more intense bitterness, without either aroma or pungency, 

 and also, as the Edinburgh College hag indicated, by the transverse 

 fracture becoming bright red when touched with nitric acid. Another 

 excellent character mentioned by the college, but applicable only 

 where rusty specks exist, is, that such spots become deep bluish-green 

 with the same acid ; which, on the other hand, scarcely affects the 

 true bark. Nitric acid does not similarly alter the spurious bark 

 where it is quite free of rusty efflorescence. Fatal accidents from the 

 substitution of the spurious for the true bark were at one time not 

 uncommon on the Continent, and in Austria they were so frequent 

 that upon one occasion the government ordered the whole Angostura 

 Bark in the empire to be destroyed. This adulteration has never been 

 publicly noticed in Britain, and experienced wholesale and retail 

 dealers whom I have consulted both here and in London were unaware 

 of ite existence. A few weeks ago however Dr. Moore Neligan of 

 Dublin informed me, that on inquiring for Angostura Bark at an 

 extensive and respectable drug warehouse in that city he got the 

 spurious bark, which proved to have been part of a considerable stock 

 kept in the establishment since at least the beginning of this century, 

 but never previously displaced. From specimens I owe to the kind- 

 ness of Dr. Neligan there can be no doubt of the accuracy of his 

 observation, BO that druggists ought to be aware of the possible risk 

 even in this country of so serious an error." 



B. Sumatrana has serrated leaflets rillous beneath, the racemes 

 usually compound, the petals longer than the calyx. This plant is a 

 native of Sumatra, the Moluccas, China, and Cochin-China. The 

 leaves are intensely bitter, and posses* the same medicinal properties 

 as the former. (Christiaon, IHtpentatery ; Don, Gardener'i Dictionary.) 



BRU 'CH US, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the section Tttramen 

 and family KJiyitchojAora. It has the following characters : Head 

 slightly produced, and forming a abort and broad rostrum ; labrum 

 distinct : antenna 11 -jointed, either filiform, serrated, or pectinated ; 

 eye* emarginated ; thorax narrower before than behind, anteriorly 

 rounded, posteriorly furnished with a lobe near the scutellum ; 

 somewhat oblong, not reaching to the apex of the abdomen ; femora of 

 the hinder legs thick and generally dentated. 



The female Bruthi deposit their eggs in the yet tender germ of 

 various leguminous plants ; the seed becoming matured is devoured 

 by the larva, which lives entirely within the seed, where it undergoes 

 its metamorphosis. The holes so often observed in pea* and other 

 seeds of a similar nature are those funned by the perfect insect to 

 effect its escape ; after which it is generally found in flowers. 



From the habits of these insects as above related it may easily be 

 conceived that when numerous they become exceedingly destructive. 

 In Kirby and Spence's ' Introduction to British Entomology ' we are 

 told that in North America a species Bruchut Piri is moat alarm- 

 ingly destructive to peas, " ite ravages being at one time so universal 

 as to put an end in some places to the cultivation of that favourite 

 pulse." This insect is less than a quarter of an inch in length, of a 

 blackish colour, and has a gray spot at the base of the thorax in the 

 middle, and several spots of the same colour on the elytra, which are 

 striated. The four banal joints of the antennae and the anterior tibia: 

 and tarsi are red. The thorax has a little tooth on each side, and the 

 femora are also dentate. 



/(. I'iii is a native of our own country (having most probably been 

 introduced in the seeds of the pea), but fortunately it is not sufficiently 

 abundant to do much mischief. 



Two other species of Bruehui also infest the pea, B. granariut and 

 li. ptctinicornu: the latter is common in China and Barbary ; the 

 former is a native of this country, and is found among beans, vetches, 

 and other seeds, the lobes of which it devours. It very much resembles 

 B. Pitt, but is rather less. 



The true Bruchi are generally of small size. 



BRUC1TE. [MAGNESIA.] 



1 ; 11! ( ; M A ' \ s I A. Two very different plants have been called by 

 this name, one a Rhizauth belonging to the order Rafflttiacra, the 

 other a plant belonging to the natural order Solanacca. The species 

 of the latter are now referred to Datura. D. arborta in the Bovochevo 

 of the Columbians, and is known in our gardens under the name of 

 Bruijinnimit. Like the rest of the natural order Solanact<r it is 

 narcotic in a high degree. "This remarkable plant is a nathv ( 

 elevated and cold situations in the provinces of Tariim, \ 

 Huarochesi, Canta, and Humalies, where it grows among rubbish ; it 

 is also found near the village of La Cruz and on the banks of the river 

 Mayo, between Almaquer and Pasto in New Granada, where it was 

 found by Humboldt and Bonpland at nearly 7000 feet above the sea. 

 It begins to flower in June and ceases in November. By the Peru- 

 vians it is called Floripondio Encarnado and Campanulas Eucarnadas ; 

 by the Columbians Bovochevo. Ite stature varies from 10 to 12 feet, 

 the stem being generally undivided and terminated by a roundish 

 leafy head. The flowers are either a bright yellowish-orange < 

 or a deep orange-red : we believe they change from the former to the 

 latter. They are succeeded by an oblong, smooth, yellow, pendulous 

 capsule, which is as much as 8 inches long. The needs, like those of 

 the common Stramonium, are narcotic in a high degree. In the Temple 

 of the Sun in the city of Sogamoza there is a famous oracle, the priests 

 of which inspire themselves with the intoxicating seeds of this plant, 

 just as the Pythoness at Delphi is said to have received the influence 

 of her god by chewing laurel leaves and inhaling a gaseous vapour. 

 From the fruit it -fit' the Columbians prepare a drink called ' Tonga,' 

 which when weak is merely soporific, but drank in stronger doses 

 produces frenzy, which can only be removed by administering imme- 

 diate draughts of cold water." (' Botanical Register.') 



In cultivation it is hardy during the summer, but requires the 

 protection of a greenhouse in winter. 



BRUNI'ACE J&, Bntniadi, the Brunia Tribe, a small natural order 

 of Exogens belonging to the albuminous group, and, notwithstanding 

 the different habit, nearly allied to the currant tribe, Gronsulariacear. 

 The species are small heath-like shrubs, with minute closely-imbri- 

 cated leaves, and small flowers collected in little compact heads. They 

 have a superior 6-cleft calyx, 5 petals, 5 perigynous stamens, and a 

 dicoccous or indehiscent 2- or 1 -celled fruit, crowned by the persistent 

 calyx. The seeds are solitary or in pairs, and have a short aril. All 

 the specie* except one from Madagascar are natives of the Capo of 

 Good Hope. They are of no known use. 



Jlruniacem differ from Orottulartacea in their dry fruit and central 

 placenta; from Etcalloniactte in the very small number "t their seeds; 

 from Rhamnacea in their minute embryo ; and from both I'mbelltfera 

 and Araliiirrtt in their flowers not being in umbels. Their relations 

 are with Hamamelulacea, Myrlatca, Santalacecr, and I'mbcllifcrte. 

 The order contains 15 genera and 65 species. 



BRUNONIA'CE.E, Brunoniadt, the Brunonia Tribe, a natural 

 order of plants belonging to the Monopetalous Exogens. This order 

 was defined by Robert Brown, and has for ite type a genus which was 

 named after him. He placed it as a section of the natural order 

 (ioodenvriir, but it is raised to the rank of an independent order by 



