BRI 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



BRO 



195 



leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, acute, permanent. Corolla : petals 

 five, lanceolate, twice as long as the calix. Stamina .- fila- 

 nienta many, more than twenty, capillary, the length of the 

 calix ; antherse twin. Pistil: germen superior, ovate ; styles 

 five, patulous, filiform ; stigmas capitate. Pericarp : cap- 

 sule ovate, with five little swellings, one-celled. Seeds : very 

 many, roundish. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix . five- 

 ieaved. Petals: five. Nectary: none. Capsule : one-celled, 

 many-seeded. The only known species is, 



1. Brathys Juniperina. This shrub is of a habit between 

 Heath and Juniper, very branching and upright, the branches 

 covered with leaves ; which are opposite, much crowded, 

 acerose, an inch long, acute, unarmed, evergreen ; flowers 

 terminating the branches, several together, sessile. Found 

 liy Mutis in New Granada. 



Bread-fruit Tree, See Artocarpui,. 



Bread-nut Tree. See Brosimum, 



Breynia ; a genus of the class Polygamia, order Dieecia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Hermaphrodite flowers. Calix: 

 perianth one-leafed, turbinate, minute, six-parted ; parts con- 

 cave, blunt, closely converging, depressed flat at the end, 

 so that it is pervious only by a small hole. Corolla, : none. 

 Pistil : filamenta none ; antherae five, linear, upright, 

 fastened longitudinally to the style, approximating. Pistil: 

 germen very small ; style cylindric, the length of the calix; 

 stigma blunt. Pericarp : berry dry, globular, three-celled, 

 propped on the perianth, now become three times its former 

 size, and spreading very much ; the segments orbiculate, and 

 nearly equal. Seeds: two, convex at the back, flat on the 

 sides. Male Flowers. Calix .- perianth one-leafed, five-part- 

 ed ; leaflets roundish, concave, almost equal. Corolla -. none. 

 Nectary five glands, subpedicelled, alternate with the sta- 

 mens. Stamina ; filamenta five, very short; antherae round- 

 ish, the length of the calix. Female Flowers. Calix and 

 Corolla : as in the male. Pistil : germen globose ; style 

 none ; stigmas five, obcordate, resembling petals. Pericarp : 

 capsule five-celled. Seeds: solitary, subtriquetrous. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : one-leafed. Corolla : none. 

 Hermaphrodite. Calix : six-parted ; antherae five, linear, 

 fastened to the style ; berry three-celled ; seeds two. Male. 

 Calix : five-parted ; filamenta five ; antherae roundish. Fe- 

 male. Stigmas five, obcordate, petaloid, without any style. 

 Capsule five-celled ; seed solitary. The only known spe- 

 cies is, 



1 . Breynia Disticha. Native of New Caledonia, and the 

 isle of Tanna in the South Seas. 



Briony. See Bryonia. 



Britannica. See Rumex. 



Briza ; a genus of the class Triandria, order Dygynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : glume many-flowered, bi- 

 valve, spreading, collecting the flowers into a heart-shaped 

 distich spike ; valves heart-shaped, concave, equal, obtuse. 

 Corolla : bivalve ; lower valve the size and figure of the ca- 

 lix, upper very small, flat, roundish, inclosing the body of 

 the other ; nectary two-leaved ; leaflets linear, crenulate. 

 Stamina : filamenta three, capillary ; antheras oblong. Pis- 

 til : germen roundish ; styles two, capillary, recurved ; stig- 

 mas plumose. Pericarp : none. Corolla : unchanged, con- 

 tains the seed, gapes, and drops it. Seed : one, roundish, 

 compressed, very small. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : 

 bivalve, many-flowered ; spikelet distich, with heart-shaped 

 obtuse valves, the lower of which is minute. If the seeds of 

 this genus be sown in the autumn, or be suffered to scatter 

 themselves, the plants will come up much stronger, and 

 flower much earlier, than when they are sown in the spring, 

 i The species are, 



1. Briza Minor ; Small Quaking-grass. Spikelets trian- 

 gular ; calix longer than the seven floscules. This is an- 

 nual. Native of Germany, Switzerland, the south of France, 

 Italy, and Britain ; flowers from June till August. 



2. Briza Virens ; Green Quaking-grass. Spikelets ovate ; 

 calix equal to the seven floscules. It is an annual ; native of 

 the Levant, Spain, and the county of Nice ; flowering in July. 



3. Briza Media ; Middle or Common Quaking-grass, Cow- 

 quakes, Shakers, Ladies' Hair, Bird's Eyes. Spikelets ovate ; 

 calix shorter than the seven floscules. This beautiful grass 

 is very common in pastures, especially dry ones, in most parts 

 of Europe, and is easily distinguished by the continual shak- 

 ing of the spikelets, from which it derives most of its com- 

 mon English names. It flowers from May to July. Cattle 

 eat it, both green and made into hay with other grasses, but 

 it has no peculiar excellence that we are acquainted with, 

 nor has it ever been cultivated separately ; indeed it furnishes 

 very little food, and generally occasions a poverty of soil. 



4. Briza Maxima ; Greatest Quaking-grass. Spikelets 

 heart-shaped; floscules seventeen. Annual. Native of the 

 south of Europe. 



5. Briza Eragrostis ; Branched Quaking-grass, or Love 

 Grass. Spikelets lanceolate ; floscules twenty, more or less ; 

 root annual. This grass varies much, being commonly small 

 and decumbent, but sometimes rising to the height of seven 

 feet ; at others of a middling size, with longer and more con- 

 tracted spikelets. Native of the south of Europe ; it flowers 

 in July and August. 



6. Briza Monspessulana. Spike nodding, simple ; spikelets 

 alternate, peduncled, subsolitary, ovate; calix five-flowered. 



Broccoli. See Brassica. 



flrome Grass. See Bromus. 



Bromelia : a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth three-cor- 

 nered, small, superior, permanent ; divisions three, ovate. 

 Corolla : petals three, narrow, lanceolate, erect, longer than 

 the calix ; nectary fastened to each petal above the base, 

 converging. Stamina : filamenta six, subulate, shorter than 

 the corolla, inserted into the receptacle ; antherse erect, sa- 

 gittate. Pistil : germen inferior ; style simple, filiform, the 

 length of the stamina ; stigma obtuse, trifid. Pericarp : 

 berry roundish, umbilicate, one or three celled. Seeds: nu- 

 merous, incumbent, somewhat oblong, obtuse. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix : trifid, superior. Petals : three, and 

 a nectareous scale at the base of each. Berry ; three-celled. 

 The species are, 



1. Bromelia Ananas ; Ananas, or Pine Apple. Leaves 

 ciliate-spinous, sharp-pointed ; spike comose ; root peren- 

 nial, fibrous. The fruit now so well known in Europe by the 

 name of Ananas, or Pine Apple, and so much esteemed for 

 the richness of its flavour, is produced from an herbaceous 

 plant, which has leaves somewhat resembling those of the 

 Aloe, and for the most part serrate on their edges, but much 

 thinner, and not so succulent as those of the aloe. The 

 fruit resembling in shape the cone of some species of the 

 Pine-tree, derives its vulgar name of Pine-apple from that 

 circumstance. It is difficult to determine of what country 

 this plant is a native ; but it is probably indigenous in Africa, 

 where it grows plentifully in uncultivated places. There are 

 many varieties of this fruit, and if the seeds were sown fre- 

 quently in their native country, they might be as numerous 

 as those of Apples or Pears in Europe. The Queen Pine is 

 the most common variety in Europe, but the Sugar-loaf is 

 much preferable to it, being larger and much better flavoured ; 

 the juice also is not so astringent as that of the former, so 

 that it may be eaten in greater quantities with less danger 



