BAN 



manv, like those of Goosefoot, but stiffer, ir- 

 regularly set on the branches. Flowers crowded, 

 naked, at the end of the twigs : they are not 

 very beautiful, but the leaves continue green 

 through the year. It is a native of Virginia, 

 and Mowers in October. 



Culture. — The lirst species is capable of being 

 increased, cither by cuttings or the seeds : the 

 first should be planted out in shady borders, or 

 in pots in the summer months, and care taken to 

 give water frequently in dry weather, till they be 

 well rooted : the seeds may be sown in borders 

 that are not too much exposed to the sun, or in 

 pots in the early spring season. 



As the second sort is not easily increased by 

 cuttings, and seldom sends out shoots from the 

 root to be laid down, the whole head of the 

 plant is sometimes laid down into the ground, 

 being confined there, and the small branches 

 slit as in the culture of carnations : they should 

 be frequently watered, and after they have had 

 a twelvemonth's growth, may be separated 

 and planted out in pots of light earth, being 

 placed in a shady situation till they become well 

 rooted, when they should be managed as other 

 green-house plants. 



The third species may be readily raised by 

 cuttings, which should be planted out in a shady 

 bed of in pots, in the spring season, being well 

 watered in dry weather. The young plants may 

 be removed in the autumn, into pots or other 

 places where they are to grow. 



The first and tliird spccTcs are somewhat hardy : 

 but the second requires the protection of a green- 

 house in the winter. Some of the other sorts 

 should likewise be cultivated in pots and pro- 

 tected in winter, as they arc apt to be destroyed 

 by frost in severe seasons. 



These two sorts are often planted in shrub- 

 bery and other quarters of pleasure grounds. 

 BALM. See Mklissa. 

 BANISTERIA, a genus comprising different 

 plants of the tender exotic kind. 



.It belongs to the class and order D. ecandr-ia 

 Tr'tgynia, and ranks in tire natural order of Tii- 

 ll'ilatce. 



Tl>.< characters are : that the calyx is a four- or 

 five-parted periantlvUiirJ., vefy small, stifl un- 

 derneath with tubercles, permanent. Tltereare 

 two melliferous glands u.ukr each division of 

 . ( ■•. . ■.•; t 'wi.e ; ti.cy arc therefore eight 

 in' number : th> cqrpllp, ,has five petals, orbicu- 

 iate, very large, spreading, erenate ; claws ob- 

 long and linear. : tbey.cousist often filaments, 

 very small, coaksGcnt at bottom: the anthers 

 are simple: the pistilium three-winged, coa- 

 1. • germs : the styles three, simple : the 



stigmas are obtuse : the periearpiurn coasts of 



BAN 



three capsules, running out into a long wing, 

 one-celled, marked at the sides with small ap- 

 pendicles, not gaping : the seeds are solitary, 

 covered, and toothed on the lateral edge. 



The species principally cultivated in the stove 

 are; l. B. angulo.m t Angled Banisteria ; '2. /'. 

 pwpurea, Purple Banisteria; 3. B. lain i folia, 

 Bay-leaved Banisteria; 4. B.lracfeata, Cross- 

 armed Banisteria; 5. B.fulgens, Flame-coloured 

 Banisteria. 



The first has a twining stem, with opposite 

 brandies, thickened at the base : the leaves are 

 cordate, angular, the breadth equal to the length, 

 ending at top in a short dagger point, green 

 above, whitish beneath, nearly equal to the pe- 

 tioles, on which and near the leaf are two op- 

 posite glands. There are no stipules: the 

 flowers are in opposite axillary umbels r com- 

 mon peduncle elongated; the rays five to seven, 

 an inch long, jointed, having two short op- 

 posite, bractes. At the insertion of the rays arc 

 two small subovbieulate leaves : the corolla is- 

 sulphur-coloured. It is a native of the island of 

 Dominique. 



The second species has the stems strong and 

 woody, dividing into many branches, which 

 are opposite and twining. It ramps with these 

 over the hedges : the leaves are ovate, sonic- 

 times round, an inch long, on short petioles, and 

 making the branch as it were pinnate. There 

 are five or six pairs of these, nearly of the same 

 size with those of the common Acacia, but 

 whitish on their under side : the flowers are axil- 

 lary, in a kind of spike ; with the partial pedun- 

 cles opposite, jointed, and having a pair of very 

 short bractes : the petals are purplish andishort. 

 It is a native of the Carihbee islands. 



The third sort has the stem shrubby, climb- 

 ing, with loose, reflex, diverging, roundish, 

 rugged branches : the leaves are pcttolcd, ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, entire, coriaceous-membrana- 

 ceous, nerved, smooth: the racemes panieled ; 

 terminating brandies and twigs decussate, fer- 

 luginous-tomcntose; peduncles commonly one- 

 flowered, ferruginous, short and yellow : the 

 leaflets at the base of the peduncles two, op- 

 posite, minute, and tomentose : the calyx is 

 live-leaved : leaflets ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 

 with two round, depressed, green glands fast- 

 ened' to the base : the petals are spatulate : ;m- 

 therselliptic : the germ three-coloured andtrifid 

 at the tip : the styles are subulate and short : 

 stigmas dilated, and as it were halved. One of 

 the three capsules is usually abortive. : wings 

 three or four times longer than the capsules. It 

 is a native of Jamaica. 



The fourth species has much the appearance of 

 the following, but the leaves arc more blunt: the 



