NATURAL HISTORY 



731 



a tree -eventy-.-even feet in girth having a tap- 

 root 110 feet in length. The leaves are deep 

 green, divided into five unequal parts, lanceolate 

 in shape, and radiating from a common center. 

 The flowers resemble the white poppy, having 

 snowy petals and violet-colored stamens; and 

 the fruit, which is large and of an oblong shape, 

 is said to taste like gingerbread, with a pleasant 

 add flavor. The wood is pale-colored, light and 

 soft. The tree is liable to be attacked by a 

 fungus which, vegetating in the woody part, 

 rs it soft and pithlike. By the negroes of 

 the west coast these trunks are hollowed into 

 chambers, and dead bodies are suspended in 

 them. There they become perfectly dry and 

 well pre-erved. without further preparation or 

 embalming. The baobab is emollient and muci- 

 laginous: the pulverized leaves constitute lalo, 

 which the natives mix with their daily food to 

 diminish excessive perspiration, and which is 

 even used by Europeans in fevers and diarrhoeas. 

 <cd juice of the fruit is used as a 

 cooling drink in putrid fevers, and also as a 

 seasoning for various foods. 



Ha ii a n a . A plant of the genus Musa, nat- 

 ural order Mu-acese, being M. sapient um, while 

 the plantain is M. paradisiaca. It is originally 

 indigenous to the East Indies, and an herba- 

 plant with an underground stem. The 

 apparent stem, which is sometimes as high as 

 thirty feet, is formed of the closely compacted 

 < of the leaves. The leaves are six to 

 t longf and one or more broad, with a 

 midrib, from which the veins are given 

 right angles; they are used for thatch, 

 basket-making, etc., besides yielding a useful 

 fiber. The spikes of the flowers grow nearly 

 four feet long, in bunches, covered with purple- 

 colored bracts. The fruit is four to ten or twelve 

 long, and one inch or more in diameter; 

 it grows in large bunches, weighing often from 

 to eighty pounds. The pulp is soft and 

 of a luscious taste; when ripe it is eaten raw or 

 fried in slices. The banana is cultivated in 

 tropical and sub-tropical countries, and is an 

 important article of food Manilla hemp is the 

 product of a species of banana. 



ISarbary Ape. A species of ape, or tail- 

 less monkey, with gri-i-iiisli-brown hair, of the 

 size of a large cat, remarkable for docility, also 

 ealhd tin- magot. It is common in Barbary and 

 other parts of Africa, and some used to live 

 formerly on Gibraltar Hock, being the only 

 m monkey, though probably not in- 

 It lias been the "showman's ape" 

 time immemorial. 



IJ;ir brrry. A iremis o f shrubs, the com- 

 mon I, vinu' bum-lies of .-mall, beautiful 

 red berries, somewhat oval; serrated and pointed 

 iier. upon the branches 

 yellow flowers. The 

 ly approach the tamarind in respect 

 lity, and when boiled wi- ake an 

 agreeable preserve, rob, or jelly They are 

 tmeat, and in sugar- 

 iifit-; are picklrd with vim-gar, and 

 the L'anii-hiii: The bark 

 ! >ave medicinal pro|*-rt ies. and tin- 

 inner bark and roots with alum \ 

 yellow dye. Tin- shrub was orit:m-d|y a natm- 



of eastern countries, but is now generally diffused 



| in Europe, as also in North America. In Eng- 



; land it has been almost universally banished 



from hedgerows, from the belief that it causes 



j rust on corn a supposition supported by the 



fact that it is subject itself to attacks of a sort 



of epiphyte. Numerous other species belong to 



, Asia and America. 



Bar bet s. A family of climbing birds with 

 a thick, conical beak, having tufts of bristles at 

 its base. Their wings are short and their flight 

 somewhat heavy. They have been divided into 

 three sub-genera: The barbicans (Poaonias), in- 

 habiting India and Africa, and feeding chiefly 

 on fruit; the barbels proper (Bucco), found in 

 Africa and America, and nearly related to the 

 woodpeckers; and the puff-birds (Tamatia). in- 

 habiting America, and feeding on insects. 



Bark. The exterior covering of the stems 

 of exogenous plants. It is composed of cellular 

 and vascular tissue, is separable from the wood, 

 and is often regarded as consisting of four 

 layers: (1) The epidermis or cuticle, which, how- 

 ever, is scarcely regarded as a part of the true 

 bark; (2) the epiphlcrum or outer cellular layer 

 of the true bark or cortex; (3) the mesophlcrum 

 or middle layer, also cellular; (4) an inn- 

 cular layer, the liber or endophlcrum, commonly 

 called bast. Endogenous plants have no true 

 bark. Bark contains many valuable products, 

 as gum, tannin, etc.; cork is a highly useful 

 substance obtained from the epiphloeum; and 

 the strength and flexibility of bast makes it of 

 considerable value. Bark used for tanning is 

 obtained from oak, hemlock-spruce, species of 

 acacia growing in Australia, etc. Angostura 

 bark, Peruvian or cinchona bark, cinnamon, 

 cascarilla, etc., are useful barks. 



Bark, Peruvian, is the bark of various 

 species of trees of the genus Cinchona, found in 

 many parts of South America, but more par- 

 ticularly in Peru, and having medicinal prop- 

 erties. It was formerly called Jesuit's bark, 

 from its having been introduced into Europe 

 by Jesuits. Its medicinal properties dejH-n.l 

 upon the presence of Quinine, which is now 

 extracted from the bark, imported, and pre-' 

 scribed in place of nauseous mouthfuls <! 



Barley. The name of several cereal plants 

 yielding a grain used as food and also for making 

 inalt. from which are pi. and 



whisky. Barley has been known and cultivated 

 from remote antiquity, and beer was made from 

 it among the Egyptians. Kxcellent barl- 

 produced in Britain. I isj principally 



cultivated are llordlum tiitfirhum. two 

 barley; // n///iir,-. four-row -.! barley: and //. 

 -hum. M\- rowed, of which tin* small va- 

 riety is the sacred barley of the ancients. The 

 varieties ,,f the four anil M\ r..\\.-.| specie* are 

 generally BOttm than tliosr of the two- rowed. 

 and adapted for a poorer noil and more exposed 

 -it nation. Some of these an- fn'gg. 



In Britain barley o.-cupie- abut the same area 

 as wheat, but in North 



it as a crop is rompa- : m 



da. how. . ly greater than in the 



tea, and the Canadian b:> high 



quality. Bail' , <h 



mat.- than any other grain, and wn 



