BOC 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



B O E 



177 



Pericarp: capsule very thin, (rather the crust of the seed,) 

 ovate, a little compressed, contained within the Calix, now 

 become a berry. Seed, single, globular, compressed the size 

 of the capsule. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : trifid. 

 Petals : none. Seed : one, with a berried calix. This genus 

 consists of annual plants, which will drop their seeds if per- 

 mitted, and the plants will come up in plenty the following 

 spring; or if the seeds of either of the sorts are sown in March 

 or April upon a bed of common earth, in an open situation, 

 the plants will come up in a month or sis weeks after ; and 

 if they are to remain in the place where they are to be sown, 

 will require no other care but to keep them clear from weeds, 

 and to thin them out, so as to leave them six or eight inches 

 apart ; and in July the plants will begin to shew their berries, 

 when they will make a pretty appearance. When the plants 

 are designed to be removed, they should be transplanted be- 

 fore they shoot up their flower-stems, for they will not bear 

 transplanting well afterwards ; and if they are planted in pots, 

 they will require to be duly watered in dry weather : as the 

 flower-stems advance, they should be supported by sticks, or 

 the branches will fall to the ground when the berries are 

 grown rather large and Weighty. The species are, 



1. Blitum Capitatum ; Berry-headed Strawberry Blite. 

 Heads spiked, terminal. This is about two feet high ; the 

 flowers on the upper part issuing in small heads at every joint: 

 when the flowers are past, these heads swell to the size of 

 Wood Strawberries, when ripe having the same appearance, 

 and full of purple juice, which stains the hands, and was 

 formerly much used for colouring in cookery. Commonly 

 called Strawberry Blite, Strawberry Spinach, or Bloody Spi- 

 nach, and by some Berry-bearing Orach. Native of Swit- 

 zerland, the Grisons, Austria, the Tyrol, Spain, and Por- 

 tugal. 



2. Blitum Virgatnm ; Slender-branched Strawberry Blite. 

 Heads scattered, lateral. It seldom exceeds a foot high. 

 Native of the south of France, Spain, Italy, and Tartary. 



3. Blitum Tataricxim. Leaves triangular, sharply-toothed; 

 heads simple, lateral. 



4. Blitum Chenopodioides. Heads in whorls, juiceless. 

 Native of Tartary, now in Sweden. 



Blood Flower. See Hamanthus. 



Bloodwort, or Bloody Dock. See Rumex. 



Bhte-Bottle. See Centavrea. 



Bocconia ; a genus of the class Dodecandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth two-leaved, 

 ovate, obtuse, concave, caducous. Corolla: none. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta twelve, very short; antherae linear, very 

 large, the length of the calix. Pistil: germen roundish, 

 contracted both ways, large, pedicelled ; style one, bifid ; 

 stigmas simple, reflex. Pericarp: capsule snb'ovate, attenu- 

 ated to each end, compressed, one-celled, two-valved ; valves 

 coriaceous, gaping from the base, the annular suture conti- 

 nuing, cro \vned with the style. Seed: one, globular, the base 

 involved in a pulp, fixed to the bottom of the capsule. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: two-leaved. Corolla: none. 



Style: bifid. Berry : dry, one-seeded. The species are, 



1 . Bocconia Frntescens ; Shrubby Bocconia, Tree Celan- 

 dine, or Parrot-weed. It is a shrub, rising to the height of 

 ten or twelve feet, wirti a straight trunk, as large as a man's 

 arm, covered with a white smooth bark, and branched 

 towards the top. The trunk is hollow, filled with a pith 

 Tike the Elder. It abounds in all its parts with a thick yel- 

 low juice, like Celandine. The singular beauty of this plant 

 renders it worthy of a place in every curious collection. The 

 juice is acrid, a-nd is employed hi the West Indies to take off 

 tetters and warts. Native of Mexico and the West India 



VOL. I. 15. 



islands. It is propagated by seeds, which should be sown in 

 a pot filled with light fresh earth, early in the spring, and 

 plunged into a hot-bed of tanner's bark, observing to water 

 it now and then gently, otherwise the seeds will not grow. 

 When the plants are come up, they should be each trans- 

 planted into separate small pots, filled with light sandy earth, 

 and plunged into the hot-bed again, observing to shade the 

 glasses in the heat of the day, until the plants have taken 

 root. They must be sparingly watered while young ; for the 

 stems being very tender and full of juice, will rot if they 

 receive too much moisture ; but after their stems are become 

 woody, they will require it often, especially in hot weather, 

 when also they should have a large share of air. In two 

 months, they will have filled these small pots with their roots ; 

 therefore they should be taken out, and planted into pots one 

 size larger, filled with light fresh earth, and plunged into the 

 bark-stove, where they should have a good share of fresh air 

 in warm weather. 



2. Bocconia Cordata. Leaves cordate, a little lobed; pani- 

 cle elongated, with single branches ; calix white ; stamina 

 about twenty-four ; style none ; stigma bilamellated, ses- 

 sile. Native of China. 



Boehmeria ; a genus of the class Moncecia, order Tetran- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male flowers, on the same 

 plant with the Female, either distinct or mixed. Calix : 

 perianth one-leafed, four-parted to the base : parts lanceolate, 

 acute, somewhat erect, coloured. Corolla . none. Nectary : 

 none. Stamina : filamenta four, longer than the calix, subu- 

 late, upright ; antherse roundish, ovate. Pistil : a rudiment, 

 or none, female flowers, Calix: none; but numerous, 

 crowded, ovate, acuminate scales. Corolla: none. Pistil: 

 germen ovate, between each scale, compressed : style fili- 

 form, erect, permanent ; stigma simple, pubescent. Pericarp: 

 none. Seed: roundish, compressed, margined. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Male. Calix : four-parted. Corolla : none. 

 Female. Calix : none, but crowded scales ; between each ger- 

 men, obovate. Style : single. Seed : single, compressed. 

 The species are, 



1. Boehmeria Caudata. Leaves opposite, ovate, acute, ser- 

 rate ; racemes very long, pendulous ; flowers dioecous ; stem 

 suffruticose. A shrub, 1 1 or 12 feet high. Native of Jamaica. 



2. Boehmeria Littoralis. Leaves opposite, obovate-lanceo- 

 late, serrate ; flowers conglomerate, axillary, monoecous, mix- 

 ed ; stem herbaceous, four-cornered. Native of Hispaniola. 



3. Boehmeria Cylindrica. Leaves opposite, ovate, acumi- 

 nate, serrate ; racemes spiked, axillary, erect, simple. Annual. 

 Native of North America, and Jamaica. 



4. Boehmeria Ramiflora. Leaves alternate, broad-lanceo- 

 late,acuminate, serrate, wrinkled ; flowers aggregate, axillary 

 and lateral, moncecous, distinct ; males three-stamined. A 

 shrub, eight feet high. Native of the West India islands. 



5. Boehmeria Hirta. Leaves alternate, ovate, acute, 

 serrate, hirsute; flowers moncecous, heaped, axillary, mixed. 

 Native of Jamaica. 



Boerhavia ; a genus of the class Monandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth oblong, 

 tubular and angular, placed beneath the corolla, with a con- 

 tracted entire mouth, permanent. Corolla : one-petalled, 

 bell-shaped, upright, bluntly five-cleft, plaited, seated on 

 the calix. Nectary : fleshy, subcylindric, with a toothletted 

 mouth, surrounding the base of the germen. Stamina : fila- 

 menta, one, two, or three, inserted into the edge of the nec- 

 tary, between the toothlets, capillary at bottom, within the 

 calix, more slender, upright, about the length of the corolla ; 

 antherae twin, globular. Pistil: germen roundish, pedi- 

 celled, the pedicel smtounde'd by the nectary ; style filiform. 



