29G 



BALM OF GILEAD BAMBUSA. 



coitdla upper lip vaulted, margined, and two-cleft, 

 lower Jip three-lobed, middle lobe largest, margined, 

 and inversely heart-shaped ; stamens, anthers kidney 

 shaped, two-celled ; style divided at top. 



This plant is in every garden ; a decoction of the 

 leaves is recommended in cases of severe colds, &c. 



HALM OF GILEAD. An under shrub of 

 highly aromatic scent and qualities ; the J)racocepha- 

 liim cananense of botanists. This plant is in every 

 green-house ; and with little protection bears the 

 severity of our winters. 



BALSAM. One of our favourite green-house 

 annuals. The beauty and variety of its flowers are 

 very attractive ; and though scentless, a specific mode 

 of culture has been laid down for bringing them to 

 perfection. The seed is sown, and the young plants 

 are reared in hot-beds during the spring months, viz. 

 in March, April, and May. About the middle of the 

 last-named month, they should be, by frequent shiftings 

 from small to larger pots, and from one hot-bed to 

 another, advanced to the height of eighteen inches 

 or more ; and then are fit to replenish the green-house 

 stage now empty ; or for the decoration of halls of 

 mansions, and the plots in flower-gardens. The bal- 

 sam is one of those plants which by nature is destined 

 to exist only one summer ; but by art may be perpe- 

 tuated from year to year, by the expedient of raising 

 new plants by cuttings of the old. This, however, 

 though practicable, is seldom practised ; as they can 

 be much more conveniently raised from seed. The 

 seed-vessels of this genus have a remarkable property, 

 they burst instantaneously on being touched when 

 mature, scattering the seeds to a considerable dis- 

 tance : botanical name, Balsamina hortcnsis. 



BALSAM APPLE. A climbing annual, native 

 of India; the Momordica balsamina of botanists. 



BALSAM1NA (Rivinus). A genus of ten spe- 

 cies of green-house annuals, chiefly natives of India. 

 Linnacan class and order, Pentandna Monngynia. ; 

 natural order, Balsammcce. Generic character : calyx 

 two-sepaled, deciduous ; corolla four-petaled, un- 

 equal, the fifth abortive, two nearly united, the lower 

 with a spur ; anthers cohering, filaments short; stigma 

 sitting,. of five sides ; capsule five-celled, five-valved, 

 partitions thin ; valves bursting by an clastic power, 

 curling up ; placenta like a central thread ; tuberculis 

 alternately seed-bearing. The common balsam, of 

 which some account is given above, is the type of 

 tin's genus, and was called Impatient by Linnaeus 

 and others, but has been separated from the Inya- 

 ticns family by Rivinus, a German botanist. 



BALSAMINEJE, Balsam family. A natural 

 family of dicotyledonous plants, containing two 

 genera and upwards of thirty species. The charac- 

 ters of the order are : sepals or phylla of the calyx 

 five, irregular, deciduous, the two upper ones united 

 together by their bases, the lower provided with a 

 spur ; petals four, hypogynous, united in pairs ; five 

 hypogynous stamens, with awl-shaped filaments and 

 two-celled anthers ; ovary single ; stigmas divided 

 into five parts ; fruit capsular, with five elastic valves 

 and five cells ; seeds numerous, suspended. 



This order has a great affinity to the geranium 

 tribe, and is only distinguished from it by the. spurred 

 calyx, many-seeded fruit, and unsymmetrical flowers. 

 In its flower it resembles the fumitory tribe, and in 

 its seed-vessel, the wood-sorrel. The plants included 

 in this order are chiefly succulent annuals, growing in 

 moist situation?, generally within the tropics. They -are . 



remarkable for the singularity and varied colouring of 

 their flowers, as well as for the elastic force with 

 which the valves of the capsules open and. expel the 

 seeds when ripe. They are propagated by seeds, and 

 sometimes by cuttings. 



Their properties are scarcely known, but they are 

 looked upon as diuretic ; some of them are said te 

 be acrid. 



The Jiahamma hortenxis, formerly Imjmtk-ns 

 balsamina, or common garden balsam, was origi'ially 

 a native of the East Indies, out is now generally cul- 

 tivated in Great Britain, on account of the beauty 

 and showy appearance of its flowers. The numerous 

 red and white varieties of this species which are met 

 with in green-houses and drawing-rooms, must be fami- 

 liar to every one. By care and proper cultivation, 

 some balsams have been reared, four feet high, fifteen 

 feet in circumference, and covered with large double 

 flowers. The juice of the balsam, mixed with alurn, 

 is used by the Japanese to dy their nails red. 



The Impatisr.s noli-me-tangcre, yellow balsam, ot 

 Touch-me-not, i:> the only species of the order which 

 is found native in Europe ; it grows wild in several 

 parts of England. It receives its name from the 

 elasticity of its seed-vessel, which bursts-, on the 

 slightest touch, w hen the scods are ripe. Its leaves 

 are said to cxpanl during the day, and to droop at 

 night. Goats eat the plant, and a particular insect, 

 the spJiinx elpenor* lives on it. The Impatient Inflora, 

 the American Touch-me-not, resembles the European 

 species, but is handsomer. Impatient fntticosa is 

 remarkable, as being the only species which is not 

 annual. 



BALSAM OF CAPEVI (Linngeus). A genus 

 of two species of South American trees ; one of 

 which is the Copaifcra officinalis of botanists, pro- 

 ducing the drug so called. 



BALSAM PLANT. See POPLAR. 



B A M B-OO is tiieEambusa arundinacea of botanists. 

 It. is a tree-grass, and one of the most useful vegeta- 

 ble productions in the countries where it is indigen- 

 ous. Many sterns rise, and continue to rise, closely 

 together, from the same root. Their elegant jointed 

 and tapering growth, to the height of forty or fifty 

 feet ; their regular form, high polish of the bark, 

 toughness and durability of the wood, are circum- 

 stances which render the bamboo a most useful plant 

 for the construction of huts, fences, household furni- 

 ture, implements, and carriages ; many kinds of ves- 

 sels for liquids are made of the hollow stems. The 

 young shoots are so succulent when they have just 

 risen above ground, that they are cut like asparagu?, 

 and used as a pickle. 



One of the species, the black bamboo, is often 

 seen in Chinese scenery, and at a little distance has 

 all the elegant pensile character of our weeping 

 willow. 



BAMBUSA (Schknhr). A genus of eight species 

 of shrubs and trees, natives of India. Linnaean class 

 and order, Hexandria Afonogynia ; natural order, 

 Grammcee. Generic character : flowers in a spike or 

 panicle, distinct, many flowered ; inferior flowers her- 

 maphrodite, upper ones males ; calyx valves several 

 inner small, upper valves of the corollas are small 

 likewise ; corolla two valves, the lower one leathery, 

 the upper membranaceous, margins turned inwards; 

 squama?, two below ; style, bifid ; caryopsis involved 

 in the valves of the corolla. For some account of 

 these trees, see article BAMBOO. 



