538 



BOWIEA 



BKACHYCOME 



volubilis, Harv. Fig. 620. Perianth 6-cleft to the 

 base, persistent, green or greenish white, the segms. 

 incurved at the tips, ultimately reflexed. S. Afr. B.M. 

 5619. Sold by dealers now and then, and cult. 

 in botanic gardens with cactus-like euphorbias and 

 other curiosities. B. volubilis is a remarkable bulbous- 

 rooted twining greenhouse climber. The bulbs grow to 

 be very large, sometimes becoming 19 in. circum. 

 and some 6 or 7 in. deep. The slender, twining 

 vine seems out of proportion to the size of bulb. It 

 does not produce Ivs., but the lower part of the vine 

 is furnished with pendulous, abortive panicles which 

 seem to perform the function of Ivs. The small insig- 

 nificant greenish white fls. are borne at the upper end of 

 the vine. This is a useful plant for twining on the 

 supports of a moderately warm greenhouse, and is of 

 the easiest possible cult. Prop, is effected by seeds, or 

 occasionally by the natural division of the bulbs. The 

 season of growth usually begins about the first of Oct., 

 when the bulbs should be repotted in any light, rich 

 soil, and kept well watered until the sts. begin to 

 mature, which usually occurs in May, when water 

 should be gradually withheld, and the plants stored 

 away in some shaded part of the greenhouse and kept 

 quite dry until the season of growth begins again. 



WILHELM MILLER. 



E. J. CANNING. 



BOWKERIA (Henry Bowker and sister, botanists in 

 S. Afr.). Scrophularidcese. South African shrubs of 5 

 species, one of which is rare in cult, in south of England, 

 and likely to be intro. into this country. Allied to Scroph- 

 ularia, differing in being ligneous and in technical floral 

 characters. B. Gerrardiana, Harv. (B. triphylla, Hort.). 

 Erect-branched shrub, 8-10 ft., with gray hairs: Ivs. 

 in 3's, sessile, elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 4-6 in. long: 

 fls. in small axillary cymes, 1 in. across, satiny white, 

 calceolaria-like, red-dotted inside, the upper lip flat, 

 lower lip shorter and ventricose and 3-lobed. B.M. 

 8021. G.C. III. 36, Suppl. Dec. 10 Hardy in the 

 Isle of Wight. 



BOX: Buxus. 



BOX ELDER (Acer Negundo, which see). A very 

 popular small native tree for planting on the prairies 

 and in trying climates. It propagates most readily from 

 seeds. It is an excellent nurse tree for other species. 

 The wood is of inferior quality. It grows with great 

 rapidity for a few years. 





621. Brachycorae iberidifolia. 



BOYKINIA (named after Doctor Boykin, of Georgia). 

 Therofon, Raf. Saxifrag&cese. Glandular-pubescent 

 perennial herbs, 7 species, of which one is Japanese 

 and the others in the S. Allegbany region and Calif., 

 two of which have been offered for wild gardens. Lvs. 

 alternate, but mostly radical, stalked, blade orbicular 



or very broad and lobed or cleft: fls. white, small, in 

 terminal clusters; petals 5, entire or nearly so; stamens 

 5; styles 2-3: fr. an urn-shaped or globose caps., erect 

 or pendulous. Mostly mountain plants. B. rotundi- 

 fdlia, Parry. Villous-pubescent, 2-3 ft., leafy : Ivs. 2-4 

 in. across, orbicular or broadly ovate, crenately cut 

 and toothed: fls. short-pedicelled, on one side of the 

 branches; petals little surpassing the acute calyx-lobes. 

 Water-courses, San Bernardino Mts. B. aconitifolia, 

 Nutt. Erect, 1-3 ft.: Ivs. 2-6 in. across, nearly orbicu- 

 lar or reniform, palmately 5-7-lobed: fls. in a glandular- 

 pubescent corymb; petals eroded; sepals triangular- 

 ovate. Mt. slopes, Va. to Ga. A pretty foliage plant 

 for wild gardens and borders. L_ jj g 



BRACHYCH-STA (Greek, short bristle). Com- 

 pdsilse. A monotypic genus, growing in open woods 

 from Ky. to N. C. and Ga. Closely allied to Solidago, 

 from which it differs in the very short pappus (the bris- 

 tles shorter than the achene), and the lower Ivs. cordate. 

 B. cordata, Torr. & Gray (B. sphacelata, Brit.), 

 which has been intro. by dealers in native plants, is 

 23 ft. high, soft-pubescent, with thin, serrate, ovate to 

 orbicular-ovate Ivs. : fls. golden yellow, in small heads, 

 which are borne on the thyrsoid, secund branchlels; 

 disk-fls. perfect. Recommended for the native border, 

 particularly in half shade. 



BRACHYCHILUS (short Up, the labellum being 

 suppressed). Spelled also Brachychilum, from the name 

 as a subgenus of Hedychium. Zingiberacex. Herbaceous 

 plants of two species, one or both of which have been 

 cultivated abroad, in warmhouses. Closely allied to 

 Hedychium. The species are B. Horsfieldii, Peters 

 (Hedychium Horsfieldii, Wall.), from Java; and B. 

 tenellum, Schum., from Moluccas. The former has 

 been cultivated as Alpinia calcarata. 



BRACHYCHI1ON (name referring to the short 

 imbricated hairs and scales). StercuHacese. Australian 

 trees (about eleven species), grown to some extent in 

 Florida and perhaps elsewhere South, often included 

 with Sterculia, from which they differ (when the genera 

 are distinguished) by bearing the radicle next the hilum 

 in the seed, havir^ the seeds and inside of carpels 

 villous, and other technical characters. 



Leaves entire cr rarely lobed: fls. unisexual or polyg- 

 amous, in panicles cr racemes; calyx with 5 or 4 

 spreading lobe. ; ; <(;!; wanting; stamens 10-15 in a 

 column united w. !i t!:e pistils; ovary with 5 nearly or 

 quite distinct cai . c! , the styles united under the pel- 

 tate or lobed : : :i. Two showy-fld. species are 

 reported in this i c; : try. B. acerifSUum, Muell. (Ster- 

 cidia acerifblia, C :.n.). Large timber tree in its native 

 country: Ivs. loi g-Ualked, 5- or 7-lobed, 8-10 in. 

 across, the lobe:- oblong-lanceolate or almost rhom- 

 boid: fls. rich ret', in loose racemes or small panicles; 

 calyx J^in. long, f labrous, broad-lobed; ovary borne on 

 a short stalk or column: fr. large follicles, long-stalked, 

 glabrous. B. diversifolium may be either B. diversi- 

 fblium, R. Br. = Sterculia caudata, Heward; or B. 

 populncum, R. Br.,=iS. diversifolia, Don, probably the 

 latter and here described: tree, 20-60 ft., glabrous 

 except the blossoms: Ivs. long-stalked, ovate to ovate- 

 lanceolate and entire, or more or less deeply 3- or 5- 

 lobed: fls. yellowish white, reddish within, in axillary 

 panicles that rarely exceed the Ivs.; calyx broadly 

 campanulate, about %in. diam., acutely lobed to mid- 

 dle: follicles nearly ovoid, sometimes 3 in. long, on 

 stalks 1-2 in. long. Both species are reported as grow- 

 ing vigorously in high pine-land garden in Fla. ; trunk 

 unusually thick near the ground; characteristic in the 

 open cone-like tops. L H. B. 



BRACHYCOME (short hair, from the Greek, allud- 

 ing to the pappus). Compdsitse. About 40 species of 

 Australian herbs, with membranaceous involucral 



