AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



201 



Bomb ax continued. 



scarlet or white, large, usually rising laterally from the 

 trunk 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 (Ceiba). JL pale red, large. 1. palmate, with five leaflets. 



Jr. turbinate, concave at the apex. A. 100ft South America, 1692. 

 BOMBYX NEUSTRIA. See Lackey Moth. 

 BONA-NOX. See Ipomaea Bona-Nox. 

 BONAPARTEA. See Tillandsia. 

 BONAPARTEA JTJNCEA. A synonym of Agave 

 geminiflora. 



BONATEA (in honour of M. Bonato, a distinguished 

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

 OBD. Orchidea. A handsome terrestrial stove Orchid, 

 allied to Habenaria, and requiring similar culture. 

 B. speciosa (showy).* JL white, galeate; petals bipartite; 



raceme many-flowered, compact ; bracts cucullate, acuminate. 



August L oblong, sub-undulate. Stem leafy. A. 2ft Cape of 



Good Hope, 1820. (B. M. 2926 ; L B. C. 284.) 



BONGARDIA (named after Heinrich Gustav Bongard, 

 a German botanist). OBD. Berberidece. 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. Ranwolfii (Rauwolf s). JL golden yellow, on pyramidal 



branched panicles ; stamens and petals nearly equal fit length. 



May. L radical, pinnate; leaflets sessile, oval-oblong, three to 



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



the base. A. 6in. Syria, Persia, 1740. SYN. Leontiee Chryto- 



gonum. (B. M. 6244.) 



BONNATA (named after Bonnay, a German botanist). 

 OBD. Scrophularinev. 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. 



BONNETIA (commemorative of Charles Bonnet, a 

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

 OBD. Ternstrceminece. 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.sessilis(stalkless). JL purplish, terminal. L oblong, coriaceous, 

 entire. A. 15ft Guiana, 1819. 



BORAGE. See Borago officinalis. 



BORAGINE2E. 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 five, inserted in the corolla. Leaves 

 alternate, rough. Among other genera belonging to this 

 order may be named Anchvsa, Borago, Cynoglosswn, 

 Echium, Lithospermvm, and llyosotis. 



BORAGO (derivation very uncertain ; probably a cor- 

 ruption of some eastern name). Borage. OBD. Boragineae. 

 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. Leares oblong or lanceolate. All 

 the species are easily cultirated, thriving in any common 

 soil. 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 (loose-flowered).* /. on long pedicels, racemose, 

 drooping ; corolla pale blue ; segments ovate, bluntish, erectly 



spreading. Hay to August. 1. oblong, and rough from strigae ; 

 radical ones rosnlate; cauline ones half stem-clasping. Stem 

 decumbent, many from the same root, hispid from retrograde 



bristles. Corsira, 1815. Perennial. (B. M. 1789.) 

 i. longlfolia (long-leaved).* fl. disposed in a terminal bracteate 

 panicle ; corolla blue ; segments ovate, acnte, i 

 August. I. linear-lanceolate, scabrous anc 

 cauline ones half stem-clasping. A. 1ft. NumidiaJS 



L in a terminal oracteate 

 ;nte, spreading. July and 

 s and downv beneath; 

 Xumidia, 1825. 



FIG. 265. FLOWER OF BORAGO OFFICIXALIS. 



B. officinalis (officinal).* Common Borage. JL 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. 

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

 flavouring. See Fig. 255. (Sy. En. B. 36.) 



BORASSTTS (a name applied by Linnaeus to the 

 spathe of the Date Palm). OKD. Palmes. A rery small 

 genus of store trees, containing two noble species, which 

 are distinguished by unisexnal flowers, produced upon dis- 

 tinct plants, the males being borne in dense branching 

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

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

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

 often 70ft. high. They mar 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. Barely seen in cultivation. 



B. tethiopicmn (African). L nearly circular, and plaited, sup- 

 ported upon stout petioles, 6ft to Hi. 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-thirds of its height from the ground. 



B. flabelliformls (fan-shaped).* L nearly circular, and plaited 



like a partially-open fan, with about seventy nbs, which radiate 



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



BORBONTA (named after Gaston de Bourbon, Duke 



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



and patron of botany). OBD. Leguminosas. 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. namSrJanceolate, niany-nerved, complicated, riUately-bearded, 



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



1823. ' 



B. cordata (heart-shaped). JL, corolla densely villous, with the 

 ve^unrobcordate. 'july. L cordate, many-nerved, quite 

 entire, glabrous. Branches vfflons. A. 3ft to 6ft 1759. 

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

 ^pXTjiOy. tewdate, roundish, acute, denticulated, many 

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

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

 B. lanceolate (lance-shaped), /.densely villous. July, L ovate- 

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

 as well as the stem. A. 2ft to 3ft 1752. (L. B. C. 8L) 

 B. ruscifolia (Ruscus-leaved). <L sparingly vfflons. July. J. cor- 

 date, manv-nerved, minutelv ciliated, but are otherwise glabrous, 

 as well as'the branches. A. '2ft to 4ft 1790. (B. M. 2123.) 



