B U P 



BUT 



tial with scarcely ten- rays, erect-expanding: 

 involucre universal many-leaved ; partial five- 

 leaved, larger : leaflets expanding, ovate, acute : 

 the perianthium proper obscure : the corolla is 

 universal uniform : floscules all fertile : proper, 

 of five, involuted, entire, very short petals ; 

 the stamina consist of five simple filaments : 

 the anthers roundish: the pistillnm is an inferior 

 germ : the styles two, reflected, and small : the 

 stigmas very small : there is no pericarpium : 

 fruit roundish, compressed, striated, splitting in 

 two : the seeds two, ovate-oblong, convex and 

 striated on one side, flat on the other. 



The species for the purpose of ornamental 

 culture are: 1. B. fntt'icosum, Shrubby Hare's 

 Ear, or ./Ethiopian Hartwort; 2. B. aiffbrme, 

 Various-leaved Hare's Ear; 3. B. J) ittescens, 

 Grass-leaved Shrubby Hare's Ear. 



The first is an evergreen shrub rising to the 

 height of five or six feet, and dividing into 

 many branches so as to form a large regular bush. 

 The stem is covered with a purplish bark ; the 

 branches are well furnished with oblong, 

 smooth, shining, stiff leaves, of a sea-greun 

 colour, placed alternately, four inches long, 

 and one broad in the middle ; at the ends of 

 these the flowers are produced in umbels : they 

 are yellow at first, but fade away to a brown : they 

 come out in July and August, but seldom per- 

 fect seeds in this climate. It is a native of the 

 South of France. 



The second species rises with a shrubby 

 stalk to the height of five or six feet, sending 

 out some side branches, which in the spring 

 have on their lower parts leaves composed of 

 many small flat leaflets, finely cut like those of 

 coriander, and of a sea-green colour ; these 

 leaves soon fall off, and the upper part of the 

 branches is closely covered with long rush-like 

 leaves having; four angles, coming out in clus- 

 ters from e~ach joint. The flowers grow in 

 spreading umbels at the extremities of the 

 branches ; are small, of an herbaceous colour, 

 and succeeded by oblong channelled seeds. It 

 is a native of the Cape, and flowers from June 

 to August. 



The third has a shrubby branching stem of 

 moderate growth : the leaves are sharp and ra- 

 ther fleshy ; and the flowers in small umbels at 

 the end of the branches. It is a native of 

 Spain, and flowers in August and September. 



Culture. — These sorts of plants may be propa- 

 gated either by seeds or cuttings. In the first me- 

 thod the seeds should be sown in autumn, soon 

 after they are ripe, in pots of light mould, and 

 placed in aframe, to have shelter from frost during 

 winter, and in spring plunged in a hot-bed, 

 especially the two green-house kinds, which 



soon brings up the plants. These should be 

 inured to the full air, and, when of proper 

 growth, transplanted into separate small pots, 

 shade and occasional waterings being given in 

 the summer : in autumn the plants should be 

 placed in a green-house or frame, and in spring 

 following those of the first sort planted out in 

 the nurserv-ground. 



In the second method the cuttings should be 

 planted out in spring, in pots of light earth, 

 plunging them in a moderate hot-bed, where 

 they readily take root. 



The common shrubby kind may also be 

 raised by cuttings in the common ground, by 

 planting them in the later summer months, 

 and sheltering them occasionally from the frost 

 during the winter ; or bv planting them in pots 

 at the same time, and placing them in a garden- 

 frame for occasional shelter from frost. In either 

 method the cuttings emit roots in the spring; 

 water being freely given in summer, and shelter 

 again in winter. In the spring following they 

 should be planted out in a sheltered place in the. 

 nursery, to attain proper growth for the shrub- 

 bery quarters. 



The first affords an ornamental effect in the 

 fronts of clumps and other parts of shrubberies, 

 and the others in assemblage with other potted 

 plants of similar growth. 



BUTCHER'S BROOM. See Ruscus. 



BUTOMUS, a genus containing a plant of 

 the flowery perennial aquatic kind. The Flow- 

 ering Rush, or Water Gladiole. 



It belongs to the class and order Enneandria 

 Hexagynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Tripctaloidece. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a simple, 

 three-leaved, short involucre : the corolla con- 

 sists of six petals, roundish, concave, wi- 

 thering; three outer alternate, smaller, more 

 acute : the stamina consist of nine subulate fila- 

 ments : the anthers are bilamellate : the pistil- 

 lum has six germs, oblong, acuminate, ending 

 in styles : the stigmas are simple : the pericar- 

 pium consists of six capsules, oblong, gradually 

 attenuated, erect, one-valved, gaping on the in- 

 side: the seeds are very many, oblong-cylindric, 

 obtuse at both ends, fixed to the wall of the 

 capsules. 



There is only one species : B. iimlellatits, 

 Umbellated Butomus, or Flowering Rush. 



It has a thick, oblong, fibry, perennial root r 

 the leaves are ensiform, long, triangular, smooth, 

 quite entire, spongy, at bottom sheathing, at 

 top flat and twisted : the scape upright, round, 

 smooth, from one to three or five and six feet 

 high: the flowers to thirty, each on a single round 

 peduncle, from an inch to about a finger's 



