BALSAM 



BALSAMOC1TRUS 



443 



452. Camellia-flowered balsam. (XI) 



pinching-in the strong shoots, tend to make the plants 

 dwarf and compact; two or three transplantings are 

 often made. It is well to remove the first flower-buds, 



especially if the 

 plants are not thor- 

 oughly established. 

 Better results are 

 secured when only 

 a few main branches 

 are allowed to grow, 

 all the secondary 

 and weak ones be- 

 ing pinched out. 

 Sometimes they are 

 pruned to a single 

 stem, and if much 

 room is given very 

 large blooms are 

 secured. The lower 

 leaves may be re- 

 moved if they ob- 

 scure the flowers. 

 Well-grown bushy plants should stand 2 feet apart 

 each way, and the tall kinds will reach a height of 

 2 to 2J^ feet. Good bloom is impossible if plants are 

 crowded. For this reason, balsams do well in rows on 

 the border of a garden where they may have room. 

 Seed of the finest double strains is expensive, but infe- 

 rior or common seed gives little satisfaction. Plants 

 started early in May should give flowers in July, and 

 should bloom until frost. A full-grown plant is shown 

 in Fig. 453. At present, balsams are grown chiefly as 

 flower-garden plants; but some years ago the flowers 

 were largely used as "groundwork" in florists' designs, 

 particularly the double white varieties. The flowers 

 were wired to toothpicks, and were then thrust into the 

 moss that formed the body of the design. L. H. B. 



BALSAMOCITRUS (Latin, balsamum, balsam, and 

 citrus). Ruldcex, tribe Citrex. Trees; usually spiny, 

 suggested as stocks for citrous fruits; as yet scarcely 

 known in this country. 



Fruits hard-shelled and persistent: Ivs. trifoliolate, or 

 rarely simple: fls. 4-5-parted; stamens 10-20; ovary 

 8-9-celled; ovules numerous in each cell; seeds large, 

 smooth; hypocotyl very short, the cotyledons remaining 

 near or just above the surface of the ground. The first 



453. The garden balsam. 



foliage Ivs. are opposite, lanceolate or ovate. Three 

 species are known, all occurring in Trop. Afr. B. 

 Dawei is the type species. 



The subgenus Afrsegle (Latin, Africa and gle) 

 differs from Balsamocitrus proper in having more than 

 twice as many (usually 4 times as many) stamens as 

 petals and in having a larger, more deeply lobed disk. 

 B. paniculata is the type of this subgenus. 



Dawei, Stapf. Fig. 454. A large tree, 50-60 ft. or 

 more in height: first few foliage Ivs. on young plants 

 simple but next succeeding ones 3-foliolate; lateral Ifts. 

 three-fifths to three-fourths as long as the terminal 1ft., 

 having a cylindrical petiolule ^-J^in. long; terminal 

 1ft. with a much shorter petiolule, Y~Y^- long, but 

 usually borne on a section of the rachis Yt-\Yi in- long, 

 jointed both at the insertion of the lateral Ifts. and also 

 where the petiolule of the terminal 1ft. is inserted (such 

 imperfectly pinnate Ivs. are not uncommon in some 

 pinnate-lvd. plants but are rare in trifoliolate species) : 

 fls. 5-merous with 10 free stamens (twice as many as 

 the petals): frs. globose or oval, 4-6 in. diam., with a 

 very thick, hard woody rind and 8 oval cells surrounded 

 by the more or less fibrous mesocarp tissue; cells con- 

 tain numerous seeds imbedded in amber-colored, fra- 

 grant gum. The ripe frs. drop off the pedicel, leaving a 

 hole through the shell where they were attached. The 

 seeds are large, Yz-% x &-/^i n -> smooth, and germi- 

 nate with a 

 very short hy- 

 pocotyl, often 

 bringing the 

 cotyledons to 

 the surface of 

 the ground or 

 just above it. 

 Oceurringinthe 

 Budongo forest 

 east of Lake 

 Albert Nyanza 

 in Uganda, E. 

 Cent. Afr., at 

 an altitude of 

 2,000-3,000 ft. 

 The seed- 

 lings grow very 

 rapidly. Exper- 

 iments indicate 



that this IS a 454 . Fruit of Balsamocitrus Dawei. ( X K) 

 very promising 



stock on which to graft the bael fruit (gle Marmelos), 

 which it is difficult to grow on its own roots. 111. 

 Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 37, pi. 22. 



paniculata, Swingle (Citrus paniculata, Schum. 

 Mgle Bdrteri, Hook. f. l/imbnia Warntckii, Engler). 

 Fig. 455. A handsome tree, 20-45 ft. high and much 

 branched: Ivs. on old trees trifoliolate, the lateral Ifts. 

 about two-thirds as long as the terminal one and nar- 

 rowed into a slender petiolule J^-^in. long; terminal 

 1ft. has a long slender petiolule /--%in. long but there 

 seems to be no articulation where it joins the lamina as 

 in case of B. Dawei; spines are said to be solitary, from 

 1^1 in. long but are wanting on fruiting branches: 

 fls. usually 4-merous, sometimes 5-merous; stamens 

 13-20, normally 4 times as many as the petals; ovary 

 8- or 9-celled; disk large, lobed: frs. spherical or obo- 

 void, 3-5 in. diam., with a thick woody rind, green 

 until maturity, then taking on a gray color; cells of 

 fr. contain numerous smooth seeds; germination un- 

 known. Commonly planted in the villages of Nigeria 

 and the Gold Coast in Trop. W. Afr. This species has 

 not yet been intro. into cult., but it is to be hoped that 

 seeds will be secured from Afr. to permit its being tested 

 as a stock for citrous frs. 111. Hooker, Ic. 37, pi. 2285. 

 Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. v. 58, Mem. 8d., pi. 1-2. 



gabonensis, Swingle. A little-known tree or shrub: 

 Ivs. narrowly lanceolate, simple, with short petioles: 

 vigorous young trees, when they have reached a height 

 of 8 or 10ft., begin to show trifoliolate Ivs. with relatively 

 small lateral Ifts. from one-third to one-half as long as 

 the terminal 1ft. and like it acute at both ends; terminal 

 1ft. sessile : fls. unknown : fr. nearly globular, slightly pear- 

 shaped, with a thick woody rind. The natives remove 

 the contents through an opening at the stem end and use 



