BUN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



B tJ P 



207 



reflected sinuses ; root annual ; stem straight, two feet high, 

 even, irregularly branched ; racemes terminal, long, straight; 

 flowers subsessile; calixoblong.closed; petals quite entire.pale 

 purple , antherse yellow ; style ensiform. --Native of Siberia. 



8. Bunias .<gyptiaca; Egyptian liunius. Silicles four- 

 cornered, wart-muricate on every side ; leaves runcinate ; 

 root annual ; stem a foot high, hispid at bottom, smooth at 

 the top ; flowers pedicelled ; calix yellowish. Native of 

 Egypt. Flowering in August. 



9. Bunias Balearica : Minorca Bunias, Silicles hispid ; 

 leaves pinnate ; leaflets slightly toothed ; root annual ; stem 

 a foot high, very much branched, spreading, angular, even; 

 corolla yellow; petals oblong, obtuse, the length of the 

 calix. Native of Majorca and Minorca, 



liunium i a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHAHACTKB. Culi* t umbel universal, manifold, 

 with rays fewer than twenty ; partial, very short, crowded ; 

 involucre universal, many-leaved, linear, short ; partial se- 

 taceous, the length of the umbellule ) perianth proper 

 scarcely apparent. Corolla: universal uniform; floscules 

 all fertile; proper of five, inflex cordate, equal petals. Sta- 

 mina : filamenta five, shorter than the corolla, simple ; authercE 

 simple. Pistil: germen oblong, inferior; styles two, reflex; 

 stigmas obtuse. Pericarp: none; fruit ovate, bipartite. 

 Seeds.- two, ovate, convex on one side, flat on the other. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla : uniform; umbel crowded; 

 fruits ovate. The only known species is, 



1. Bunium Bulbocastanum ; Earth Nut, or Pig Nut. 

 Root perennial, tuberous, on the outside of a Chestnut colour, 

 within white, solid, putting forth slender fibres from the sides 

 and bottom, of an agreeable sweetish taste, lying deep in 

 the ground ; stem from one to two feet high, upright, round, 

 Stiffish, the thickness of a crow-quill, slightly striated, 

 smooth throughout of a green colour and branched ; radical 

 leaves on long petioles ; stem leaves sessile, all very finely 

 divided, deep green, the folioles edged with prickly hairs, 

 visible only by a glasi ; sheath short, grooved, smooth, the 

 edge membranous and whitish ; umbels several ; universal 

 rays from seven to twelve) partial about twelve; universal 

 and partial involucre, often wanting; filamenta longer than 

 the corolla, deciduous ; styles white, nearly upright ; seeds 

 oblong-ovate, smooth, and somewhat aromatic. The root 

 commonly grows four or five inches deep in the earth, This 

 plant has several names in English besides the two given 

 above : as, Kipper-nut, Hawk-nut, Jur-nut or Yer-nut, Earth 

 chestnut, and Ground-nut. In German, it is called erdnuss; 

 in Dutch, aardnoot ; in Swedish, jordnot; in Danish, jordol- 

 den ; in French , suron, terre-noix ; in Italian, castagna di 

 terra; in Spanish, castano di tierra; in Portuguese, caatanha 

 de terra. In England it grows on heaths, in pastures, woods, 

 and among bushes, in a gravelly or sandy soil. Foreign 

 authors, as Haller, Pollich,&c. say, that it grows among corn. 

 It flowers in May and June. The roots are frequently dug 

 up, and are eaten raw by the poorer sort of people. Swine 

 are very fond of them, and will soon become fat by feeding 

 upon them. When boiled, they are very pleasant and deli- 

 cious, and are supposed to afford great nourishment. They 

 are said to be thus prepared and eaten in Holland, in the 

 Alps, and in some parts of England, in soup or broth. 

 Roasted, they are little inferior to Chestnuts, and might be no 

 disagreeable addition to our winter deserts. The knobbed 

 root.and finely divided leaves, so distinguish this plant from all 

 the poisonous species of the umbellate tribe, that it can hardly 

 be mistaken, especially if the place of growth be attended to. 

 Oenanthefistulosa, indeed, when thrown out on ditch-banks, 

 or cultivated in a garden, has roots so much resembling those 



of Bunium, that it may deceive even good judges : but this is 

 a water plant, and it ought to be remembered, that all aqua- 

 tics of this tribe are of a suspicious character. 



Buphthalmum ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order 

 Polygamia Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : com- 

 mon, various in the different species, imbricate. Corolla: 

 compound radiated ; cofollules hermaphrodite, numerous, 

 forming a flat disk 5 females more than ten in the ray: proper 

 of the hermaphrodite funnel form, with a five-cleft patulous 

 border : of the female, ligulate, longer, spreading, three- 

 toothed. Stamina-, of the hermaphrodite, filamenta five, 

 capillary, very short ; anthera? tubular, cylindric. Pistil : 

 of the hermaphrodite ; germen ovate, compressed ; style fili- 

 form, the length of the stamina stigma thickish, either sim- 

 ple or bifid : of the female, germen, ancipital ; style filiform, 

 of the same length as in the hermaphrodite ; stigmas two, 

 oblong. Pericarp: none; calix unchanged. Seeds: of the 

 hermaphrodite solitary, oblong, crowned with a gashed 

 manifold edge : of the females, solitary, compressed, with 

 each edge cutting, crowned like the others. Receptacle : 

 chaffy, convex. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Stigma of the 

 hermaphrodite, floscules undivided. Seeds : the sides, espe- 

 cially in the ray, edged. Down : an obscure edge. Recep- 

 tacle : chaffy.-^ The species are, 



t Asterisci of Tournefort. 



1. Buphthalmum Frutescens ; Shrubby Ox-eye. Leaves 

 opposite, lanceolate ; petioles two-toothed, stem shrubby. 

 It rises with several woody stems from the root, and grows 

 to the height of eight or ten feet, furnished with leaves very 

 unequal in size, some of which are narrow and long, others 

 are broad and obtuse; these are intermixed, sometimes 

 coming out at the same joint, and often at the intermediate 

 one ; they are soft, hoary, and placed opposite. The foot- 

 stalks of the larger leaves have, on their upper side, neartheir 

 base, two sharp teeth standing upwards, and a little higher 

 there are generally two or three more, growing on the edge 

 of the leaves. The flowers are produced at the end of the 

 branches, single ; these are of a pale yellow colour, and have 

 scaly calices. It grows naturally in America ; and is also a 

 native of Jamaica, where it grows only near the sea-side, in a 

 bushy tufted form, seldom rising above two or three feet in 

 height. Neither this, nor the second species, will perfect 

 their seeds in this country; they are therefore propagated by 

 cuttings. They should be planted in July, when the plants 

 have been for some time exposed to the open air, whereby 

 their shoots will be hardened, and better prepared to keep 

 root than when they first come abroad. The cuttings should 

 he planted in small pots filled with light loamy earth, and 

 plunged into a very gentle warmth, observing to shade them 

 from the sun in the heat of the day, and gently refresh them 

 with water; but it must be given to them sparingly, for much 

 wet will rot them. In about six weeks these will have takeii 

 root, when they must be gradually inured to bear the open 

 air ; and soon after they should be each planted in a separate 

 small pot, filled with light loamy earth, and placed in the 

 shade until they have taken fresh root; after which they may 

 be removed to a sheltered situation, where they may remain 

 until the middle of October, when they must be removed into 

 the green-house. The first species being harder than the 

 other, may be placed in a common green-house, but the other 

 will thrive better in a warm glass-case, where it will receive 

 more sun, and have a dryer air. During the winter, they 

 should have but little moisture, and in very mild weather 

 should have fresh air admitted to them. In the summer they 

 must be placed abroad in a sheltered situation, and treated 

 in -the same manner as other exotic plants. 



