BON 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



B O R 



170 



before it branches, and is eighteen feet in thickness. It 

 abounds in Malabar, and is also a native of America. 



4. Bombax Gossypium. Leaves ftve-lobed, acuminate, 

 tomentose underneath. A large tree, with green, nearly 

 smooth bark. Native of the coast of Coromandel ; and the 

 Spanish West Indies, where the inhabitants spin the down 

 enclosed in the pods, which is of a fine purple colour, and 

 work it into garments, which they wear without dyeing. 



Bonnetia ; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 five-parted ; parts concave, acute, two larger. Corolla : 

 petals five, ovate, somewhat obtuse, concave, longer than 

 the calix ; of which the three smaller are upright ; the two 

 larger declinate, gaping. Stamina : filamenta very many, 

 inserted into the receptacle, shorter than the corolla, dilated 

 at the tip ; antherae oblong, tetragonal. Pistil : germen 

 oblong, superior ; style length of the germen, incurved ; 

 stigma three-lobed. Pericarp: capsule oblong, three-celled, 

 three-valved ; valves sharp-pointed. Seeds: very many, 

 small, oblong, involved in a coloured membrane, affixed to 

 the three-sided receptacle. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : 

 five-parted, two parts larger. Corolla: five-petalled, three 

 smaller upright, two larger declinate. Capsule : oblong, 

 three-celled, three-valved, many-seeded. The only known 

 species is, 



1. Bonnetia Palustris, which grows in marshy places in 

 Cayenne nd Guiana. It is a tree of about 15 feet high, and 

 seven or eight inches in diameter ; branching chiefly towards 

 the top. The branches are upright in their growth ; the 

 leaves are alternate, smooth, ovate, and entire ; the flowers 

 are borne on terminal spikes, and of a purple colour. In its 

 native climate it flowers in August, and ripens its seeds in 

 October. 



Bontia ; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Angiosper- 

 inia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 five-parted ; leaflets blunt, upright, permanent. Corolla: 

 one-petalled, ringent ; tube long, cylindric ; border gaping ; 

 upper lip upright, emarginate ; lower revolute, semitrifid, the 

 size of the upper. Slaiitinii : filamenta four, subulate, bend- 

 ins,' to the upper lip, the length of the corolla, two higher; 

 ai. Ultra- simple. Pistil : germen ovate ; style simple, situ- 

 ation and length of the stamina ; stigma bifid, blunt. Peri- 

 carp : drupe ovate, with the top oblique. Seed: nut-oval, 

 one-celled, germinating. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : 

 five-parted. Corolla : two-lipped, lower lip three-parted, 

 revolute. Drupe : ovate, one-seeded, with the end oblique. 

 The only known species is, 



1. Bontia Daphnoides; Barindoes Wild Olive. Leaves 

 alternate ; peduncles one-flowered. A shrub, four or five 

 feet high ; leaves rather stiff, lanceolate, smooth ; flowers 

 yellowish, with a line of dusky purple across the lower lip, 

 axillary, single, or in pairs ; tube and lower lip hairy. Birds 

 grow fat upon the fruit, but unless the entrails are taken out 

 as soon as they are killed, the flesh becomes too bitter to be 

 eaten. This plant is greatly cultivated in Barbadoes, for 

 making hedges, than which there is not any thing more pro- 

 per for those hot countries, it being an evergreen and of quick 

 growth. From cuttings planted in the rainy season, when 

 they have immediately taken root, there has been a complete 

 hedge, four or five feet high, in eighteen months : and as this 

 will very well bear cutting, it is formed into a very close thick 

 hedge, which makes a beautiful appearance. In Europe, it 

 may be raised from seeds, which should be sown on a 

 hot-bed early in the spring, that the plants may acquire 

 sufficient strength before winter. When they are come up, 

 they must be transplanted out, each into a separate half- 



penny pot, filled with light fresh earth, and plunged into a 

 moderate hot- bed of tanner's bark, observing to water and 

 shade them until they have taken root ; after which they 

 must have a large share of air in warm weather, and be often 

 refreshed with water. In winter they must be placed in the 

 stove, where they should have a moderate degree of warmth, 

 and but little water during that season. In summer they 

 must have a great share of air, but will not do well if exposed 

 abroad, especially in cold summers ; so that they should 

 remain in the stove among plants which require a great 

 share of air, which may be admitted by opening the glasses 

 in very hot weather. They may also be propagated by cut- 

 tings, which should be planted in summer. 



Borago : a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-parted, 

 permanent. Corolla : monopetalous, rotate, length of the 

 calix ; border five-parted, flat; throat crowned with five 

 emarginate obtuse prominences. Stamina : filamenta five, 

 subulate, converging ; antherae oblong, fixed to the inside of 

 the filamenta in the middle, converging. Pistil : germen 

 four; style filiform, longer than the stamina; stigma simple. 

 Pericarp: none. Calix: larger, inflated. Seeds: four, 

 roundish, wrinkled, ki-eled outwards at the top, globular at 

 the base, inserted longitudinally into a hollow receptacle. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla : rotated ; throat closed 

 with rays. The species are, 



1. Borago Officinalis ; Common Borage. All the leaves 

 alternate ; calices spreading. Stem about a foot and a half 

 high, branched, hollow, succulent, cylindric ; leaves large, 

 wrinkled, deep green ; flowers terminating, blue, flesh- 

 coloured, or white. The whole plant of Common Borage is 

 rough, with white, stiff, prickly hairs ; flowering from May 

 till August. It came originally from Aleppo, but is now 

 naturalized in most parts of Europe ; where it is scarcely 

 biennial. In England we frequently find it on dunghills and 

 heaps of rubbish. It was formerly in great request, being 

 reckoned one of the four cordial flowers. Very light, surely, 

 (says an ingenious author,) were those sorrows which could 

 be so driven away. The whole herb is succulent, and very 

 mucilaginous, having a peculiarly faint smell when bruised : 

 the juice affords a true nitre : the plant is now seldom taken 

 inwardly, except as an ingredient in cool tankards : the young 

 tender leaves may be used in salads, or as a pot herb. A 

 water, distilled from the flowers of this plant, was formerly in 

 great esteem as a cordial and strengthener, but is very little 

 regarded at present. It is, however, of a remarkably cooling 

 nature, and consequently may be used with success, in inflam- 

 mationsof the eyes externally, and inwardly in burning fevers. 

 The juice is good in obstinate coughs, catarrhs, hoarseness, 

 and defluxions on the lungs : the flowers made into a con- 

 serve, are said to be good in putrid malignant fevers, and hy- 

 pochondriacal complaints; likewise to remove obstructions, 

 and cure the jaundice. This is an hardy annual plant, which, 

 if permitted to scatter its seeds, the plants will come up in 

 plenty without care ; the seeds may also be sown either in 

 spring or autumn, but the latter season is preferable, on a 

 spot of open ground where the plants are designed to remain : 

 when the plants have obtained a little strength, the ground 

 should be hoed to destroy the weeds, and the plants must be 

 cut up where they are too near each other, leaving them eight 

 or ten inches asunder : after this they require no farther care, 

 unless the weeds should come up again ; then the ground 

 should be a second time hoed over to destroy them, which, 

 if well performed, and in dry weather, will clear the ground 

 from weeds, so that it will require no more clearing till the 

 Borage is decayed. The plants which are raised in the 



