552 



BORASSUS BOS. 



peroirens, or evergreen alkanet, is found in waste 

 ground and among ruins in many places, both in 

 England and Scotland, and is often cultivated in 

 gardens on account of its beautiful blue flowers. 



Lithospermum arvense, Corn growwc/l, or bastard 

 Alkanet, is also a native of Britain. The bark of its 

 root abounds in a red dye, which imparts a fine 

 colour to wax and oils. The country girls in Sweden 

 and the north of Europe, are said to stain their faces 

 with it on days of festivity. The seeds of the Litho- 

 spermum officinale, from their stony hardness, were 

 formerly supposed to be useful in calculous disorders. 

 The roots of Anchusa virginica, Lithospermum tinc- 

 torum, Onosma echicoidcs, and Echhim nitrum, are used 

 by dyers. 



Echium viilgare, common viper's bugloss, is one of 

 the most beautiful of our indigenous plants. Its 

 flowers, which grow in a spike, are at first of a red- 

 dish-purple, and afterwards of a brilliant blue colour. 

 Echium plantagincum is used in Brazil in the same 

 way as the borage is in Europe. 



The leaves of the Pulmonaria officinalis, common 

 lungwort, are used as a demulcent in coughs, spitting 

 of blood, or catarrhal affections. Lymphytum officinale, 

 common comfrey, grows frequently on the banks of 

 rivers, and in watery places in Britain. The plant 

 abounds in mucilage, and may be conveniently sub- 

 stituted for the althea or marsh mallow. It is used 

 in bowel complaints, haemoptysis, and pulmonary 

 catarrh. The leaves give an agreeable flavour to 

 cakes and panada. The young stems and leaves, 

 when boiled, are employed as articles of food. The 

 root is emollient, and has a somewhat astringent 

 taste. A decoction of it is used by dyers, to extract 

 the colouring matter of gum-lac. Myosotis palustris, 

 great water scorpion-grass, is a very common, but at 

 the same time a very beautiful weed, and is well 

 known to every one under the name of Forget-me-not. 

 The plant is considered as an emblem of friendship 

 in almost every part of Europe. 



Cynoglossum officinale, common hound's tongue, is 

 found native in Britain. The plant is soft to the 

 touch, has a dull green colour, and emits a disagree- 

 able odour. The root and leaves are said to possess 

 narcotic properties, but they are seldom used in 

 medicine. The leaves are sometimes boiled and 

 applied to painful swellings, in the form of emollient, 

 anodyne cataplasms. The extract of hounds-tongue 

 is made into pills with opium. , 



BORASSUS (Linnaeus). Is one of the most 

 remarkable of the palm tribe, called specifically 

 flabelliformis, from the edges of the leaves being 

 furnished with dangling threads, resembling those 

 instruments of torture called cat-d '-nine-tails. Class 

 and order, Dicecia Hexandria, and natural order, 

 Palmcc. Generic character : a branched spadix issu- 

 ing from a common spatha ; male flowers aggregated : 

 calyx three-cleft ; corolla of three petals on foot- 

 stalks. Female flowers solitary, calyx of three sepals ; 

 corolla of from six to nine petals ; stamens abortive, 

 and connected below ; stigmas three ; berry, tripyrate, 

 pyrenes inversely egg-shaped, involved in fibres. 

 This palm is a native of the East Indies, and is a 

 magnificent vegetable ; the stem, and regular figure 

 of its fronds are imposing, though not so useful to 

 mankind as some of its congeners, it nevertheless 

 yields both a sugar and a vinous spirit from the pith 

 <jf the trunk. 



BORBON I A (Linnaeus). A genus of evergreen 



ornamental shrubs introduced from the Cape of 

 Good Hope. Class and order, Mnnadelphia Decan- 

 dria. Natural order, Lcguminoscc. Generic character: 

 calyx near five-cleft, segments nearly equal and rigid ; 

 corolla, exterior hairy, standard niargiiwte, keel ob- 

 tuse. Pod, often one-seeded, and pointed. This 

 tribe are neat green-house plants, easily preserved 

 and propagated by cuttings. 



BOREUS (Latrcille). A genus of small but 

 remarkable insects, belonging to the order Neuroptcru, 

 and family Panorpidts. The prothorax is large ; 

 the females are wingless, and the abdomen in that sex 

 is terminated by an exserted conical ovipositor ; the 

 males have rudimental wings. The only species is 

 the Panorpa hyemalis of Linnaeus, figured by Panzer 

 under the name of Gn/llus prbboscidens. It is found 

 throughout the winter, under moss in the north of 

 Europe, as well as on the Alps, where it is observed 

 running about on the snow itself, as we learn from the 

 account given by Dalman in his Analecta Entomolo- 

 gica. This insect is about a quarter of an inch long. 



BORKH AUSI A (Bohmer). An extensive family 

 of annual and biennial herbs, mostly natives of Europe. 

 They belong to the natural order Composilce, and bear 

 small yellow flowers. 



BORONIA (Smith). An interesting genus of 

 New Holland shrubs, with handsome flowers and 



Boronia. 



lonage. Class and order, Octandria Monogynia, and 

 natural order Rutaceee. Generic character : calyx, 

 four-parted or cleft ; corolla four long petals, which 

 soon wither ; four short stamens standing opposite 

 the petals, those intermediate being abortive ; filaments 

 round the germen, incurved, thickened at top, anthers 

 heart-shaped, fixed by the back ; style simple, stigma 

 capitate or quadrate ; capsule four-lobed, four-berried, 

 each berry two-seeded. 



BORYA (Willdenow). A family of North Ame- 

 rican shrubs belonging to the natural order Euphor- 

 biaccce, of no beauty. The late Sir James Smith altered 

 the name to Bigelovia. 



BOS (the Ox). A genus of ruminant mammalia 

 which is generally distributed over the globe, in one 

 or other of its species, and altogether, perhaps, the 

 most useful to man in the whole range of animated 

 nature ; and for that reason, one the knowledge of 

 which is peculiarly valuable. 



Some notice has already been given, under the 



