BRYANTHUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



453 



green leaves. The flowers are of a 

 delicate azure blue, or are white with 

 a yellow tube, and are unusually large for 

 the genus. They come in uninterrupted 

 succession from spring till autumn. 

 Rocky Mountains. 



Bnigmansia. See DATURA. 



BRYANTHUS (Hybrid B.}. B.erectus 

 is a dwarf evergreen Ericaceous bush, from 

 8 in. to i ft. high, bearing pretty pinkish 

 flowers. Said to be a hybrid. In very 

 fine sandy soil or in that usually prepared 

 for American plants, it grows well, and 

 is suitable for the rock-garden or in col- 

 lections of very dwarf alpine shrubs. 



BUDDLEIA (Orange Ball Tree\B. 

 globosa is afavourite shrub from Chili, often 

 seen in the southern coast gardens, where 

 it is hardier, and in Ireland ; the flowers, 

 balls of bright yellow, are showy in early 

 summer. It is of rapid growth, and if 

 badly cut down during a severe winter 

 generally grows again in the following 

 summer. B. Colvillei is a tender Hima- 

 layan kind, with bunches of pale rose- 

 coloured flowers. It is a shrub for mild 

 districts only. Other species less satis- 

 factory for open-air culture are B. crispa, 

 B. Lindleyana. 



BULBOCODIUM (Spring Meadow 

 Saffron}. B.vernum is a pretty Liliaceous 

 bulb from 4 to 6 in. high, and one of the 

 earliest of flowers, sending up large rosy 

 purple flower-buds, distinct in colour. 

 The tubular flowers are nearly 4 in. long, 

 and are usually prettiest in the bud state. 

 Associated with very early flowering 

 plants like the Snowflake, Snowdrop, and 

 Greek Anemone, it is welcome in the 

 rock-garden or in warm sunny borders. 

 Easily increased by dividing the bulbs 

 in July or August, and replanting them 

 from 4 in. to 6 in. apart. One other 

 species, B. trigynum, is sometimes met 

 with in cultivation. Alps of Europe. 



BUPHTHALMUM. B. speciosum is a 

 bold free and showy perennial, hardy, and 

 growing in any soil, with large heart- 

 shaped leaves in great tufts, and, in 

 summer and autumn, handsome heads of 

 showy yellow flowers with dark centres. 

 An excellent plant for shrubberies and 

 covering the ground here and there in 

 bold masses, as it grows so close that it 

 keeps the weeds down and in such ways 

 also gives a better effect than in small 

 tufts in the mixed border. Central 

 Europe. Division. Syn. Telekia speciosa. 



BUTOMITS (Flowering Rush\B. 

 umbellatus is a handsome native water- 

 plant, often very fine in a rich muddy soil 

 and hardy and free to flower. Common 

 by some river banks, and growing with 



water-side seeds in garden ponds and 

 lakes, flowering in summer rose-red in 

 bold umbels. Division. 



BUXUS (Box). This beautiful bush or 

 low tree grows wild on some of our 

 southern chalk hills, and is much culti- 

 vated in gardens as an edging and also in 

 shrubberies. The beauty of its habit is 

 seldom seen in gardens, owing to its 

 being grown under other trees or to its 

 being too much crowded, but seen wild 

 its habit is most graceful, and it 

 might be well to secure the same beauty 

 of habit by planting in groups upon ex- 

 posed knolls. Almost al) the species and 

 varieties have variegated forms, which, 



Buphthalmum speciosum. 



though pretty, are not so good as^ the 

 natural forms. B. sempervirens (the Com- 

 mon Box) from its close bushy habit 

 is one of the most useful Evergreens for 

 garden hedges. It may be pruned or 

 clipped into any shape ; and when topiary 

 gardening was in fashion, it shared with 

 the Yew in the formation of designs and 

 figures of men and animals. While there 

 are few soils in which it will not thrive, it 

 prefers such as are light, with a warm 

 gravelly subsoil. Among the typical 

 species is Japonica, a form of the com- 

 mon Box, but hardier. The Minorca 

 Box (B. balearicd) is a native of Balearic 

 and other islands in the Mediterranean, 



