

AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



1G1 



BASTARD VERVAIN. See Stachytarpheta. 



BASTARD VETCH. See Phaca. 



BASTARD WIND FLOWER. See Geutiana 

 Pseudo-pneumonantlie. 



BASTARD WOOD-SAGE. See Teucrium Pseudo- 

 scorodonia. 



BAST MATS. See Bass Mats. 



BATATAS (its aboriginal name). ORD. Convolvulacea:. 

 This genus is now referred to Ipomoea. Strong, free-grow- 

 ing, greenhouse or stove deciduous twiners. Calyx of five 

 sepals ; corolla carapanulate ; stamens inclosed. They are 

 of easy culture, only requiring plenty of room to spread, 

 and are well adapted for trellis work, or to run up pillars. 

 They are all tuberous rooted, and therefore require to bo 

 kept dry when in a dormant state. A rich, open, loamy 

 soil is most suitable. Young cuttings strike readily under 

 a hand glass, in heat. 

 B. blgnonioides (Bignonia-like). fl., corolla dark purple, funnel- 



shaped, with a curled limb ; peduncles many-flowered, nutant, 



-lobed; 



July. 



Cayenne, 1824. 



I. three- 

 (B. M. 2645.) 



hind lobes 



shorter than the petioles. 

 rounded, imbricate. 

 B. Cavanillesii (Cavanilles').* fl. 

 corolla obtuse, crenulated ; pedun 



August. I. quinate ; leaflets ovate, entire, unequal. Nativ 

 country unknown, 1815. 



fl. pale whitish-red; lobes of 

 uncles one to three-flowered. 



Fio. 208. BATATAS EDUUS, showing Tuber. 



B. CdUllS. (edible).* Sweet Potato, fl., corolla lin. long, white 

 outside and purple inside ; peduncles equal in length to the 

 petioles, or exceeding them, three to four-flowered. I. variable, 

 usually angular, also lobed. Stem creeping, rarely climbing. 

 East Indies, 1797. See Fig. 208. 



B. glaucifolia (milky-grcen-leaved). /., corolla small, purplish, 

 with an inflated tube, and ovate, acute segments ; peduncles two- 

 flowered, length of leaves. May. I. sagittate, truncate behind, 

 on long petioles. Mexico, 1732. 



B. heterophylla (various-leaved). Jl. blue ; peduncles solitary, 

 axillary, bearing each three sessile (lowers. July. I. quinately 

 palmate; lobes or leaflets ovate-spathulate, acute. Plant very 

 vUlous. Cuba, 1817. 



B. paniculate (panic-led).* fl. large, purple ; peduncles much 

 exceeding the petioles, many-flowered, dichotomously and coryin- 



Batatas continued. 

 bosely panicled. Jane, L palmate, five to seven-cleft 



..-i..-,i . lobes 

 b-acuminatcd. 



or purplish, large; 

 ately palmate; lobes 

 em white, tubercular. 



ovate-lanceolate or elliptic," bluntish, rarely 



India, 1799. (G. C. n. s., x., 341.) 

 B. senegalensis (Senegalese). /. white or 



peduncles three-flowered. June. I. quinat 



ovate, obtuse, middle one the largest. Stem 



Guinea, 1823. 

 B. venosa (veiny). Jl. purple; peduncles umbellate, with an 



ovate-cordate, solitary leaf at the base of each pedicel. July. 



I. digitately quinate ; leaflets petiolate, acuminated, quite entire 



France, 1820. 



BATEMANNIA (named after Mr. J. Batcman, a 

 collector and cultivator of Orchids, and author of a 

 " Monograph of Odontoglossnm," and other works on orchi- 

 daccous plants). OBD. Orchidece. A small, and easily- 

 grown genus of dwarf, compact-growing epiphytes, closely 

 allied to Maxillaria ,but differing from that genus in having 

 the anther-bed with a membranous border. They may be 

 grown in pots, in a compost of peat and moss, or on blocks 

 of wood with moss. They require an intermediate house 

 and plenty of water in the growing season. Propagated by 

 divisions and offsets. They have generally a free-flower- 

 ing habit ; but some of the species are not so ornamental 

 as many other Orchids. 



B. armillata (braceleted). /t. green, white. 1875. (R. X. O. 316.) 

 B. Burtil (Burt's). fl. red-brown, yello%v base, Sin. across ; lip 



white, tipped chocolate. Autumn. I. elliptic-oblong, or ligulate, 



sub-distichous. Plant bulbless. Costa Rica, 1872. (B. M. 6003.) 

 B. Colleyl (Colley's). fl. on a pendulous raceme, rising from the 



base of the pseudo-bulbs ; sepals and petals brownish-purple 

 within, green without ; lip white. 

 1834. (B. R. 1714.) 



Autumn. A. 6in. Demerara, 



B. grandiflora (large-flowered).* Jl., flower-spike coming up with 

 the young growth, bearing^ three or four flowers, of curious struc- 

 ture ; sepals and petals olive-green, striped with reddish-brown ; 

 lip white, with reddish-purple streaks, orange or yellow towards 

 the base. Pseudo-bulbs ovate, Sin. or 4iu. long, and bearing two 

 large, broad, leathery leaves. New Grenada, 1866. (B. M. 5567.) 



B. Wollisll (Wallis 1 ).* Jl., sepals light greenish -yellow outside, 

 olive-green to chestnut-brown inside, with some yellow at tho 



base ; petals with scarlet stripes at the 



ye 



very base, but otherwise 

 enish, with a brownish 



coloured like the sepals ; lip blade gree. 



hue at the anterior part ; peduncles slender, corymbose. A. 1ft. 



Columbia, 1876. 



BATSCHIA. See Lithospermum. 



BATTERA (named after 'Francis and Ferdinand Bauer, 

 German botanical draughtsmen). OED. Sa.n'fragsce. Small 

 shrubs, natives of Australia, New Zealand, &c. Flowers 

 axillary, solitary, pedunculate. Leaves six in a whorl, ap- 

 proximating by threes, and therefore, as it were, opposite 

 and ternate, exstipulate. Easily cultivated in a compost of 

 sandy loam and peat. Propagated by cuttings, placed in 

 sandy soil, under a glass. These very pretty little green- 

 house evergreens flower nearly the whole year through. 

 B. humilis (low), fl.., corolla red, one-half smaller than A 



rubioides, and the plant is altogether much smaller. July to 



December. /. oblong, crenated. A. 1ft. New South Wales, 



1804. (L. B. C. 1197.) 



B. rublfolia (Madder-leaved). Synonymous with B. rubioidet, 

 B. rubioides (Madder-like).* fl. pale red, or pink. 1. lanceo- 



late, crenated. A. 1ft. to 2ft. New South Wales, 1793. Svs. B. 



rubiasfolia. (A. B. R. 198.) 



BATJHINIA (in honour of John and Caspar Bauhin, 

 two famous botanists of the sixteenth century). Moun- 

 tain Ebony. OBD. Leguminosae. Very showy stove ever- 

 green shrubs. Flowers racemose; petals five, spreading 1 , 

 oblong, rather unequal, upper one usually distant from tho 

 rest. Leaves two-lobed, constantly composed of two jointed 

 leaflets at the top of the petiole, sometimes nearly free, but 

 usually joined together, more or less, and with an awn in 

 the recess. They succeed well in a mixture of sand, loam, 

 and peat, requiring good drainage and moderately firm 

 potting. Propagated by cuttings, which should be taken 

 when the wood is neither very ripe nor very young; tho 

 leaves must be dressed off, and the cuttings planted in 

 sand, under a glass, in moist heat. Although glorious 

 objects in the tropics, few of the species flower under 

 our comparatively sunless skies ; those which hitherto have 

 succeeded well in Britain aro marked with an asterisk. 



