BLETIA 



BLUEBERRY 



515 



rounded at apex; middle lobe of lip not crisped, deeply 

 emarginate. Colombia. B.M. 5646. 



B. campanxdnta. La Lluve & Lex. Fls. bell-shaped, purple, with 

 white center. Mex. — B. ht/acinlhina, R. Br.:=Bk'tilla. — B. pdiula. 

 Hook. Fls. up to 2 iti. across, deep pink. Said to be a native of 

 Haiti. B. M. 3.51S.— B. Tdnkernllex, R. Br.=Phaius. 



George V. Nash. 



BLETILLA (diminutive of Blelia). Orchiddceai. Ter- 

 restrial orchids with pseudobulbs, and a leafy st. 

 with a terminal infl.: sepals and petals nearly alike, 

 somewhat spreading; li]) ;3-lobe<l, furnished with 

 lamelUv, the lateral lobes surroimding the slender 

 cohmin; poUinia 8. — Outdoor orchids. 



hyacinthina, Reichb. f. {Bletia hyacintMna, R. Br.). 

 Pseudobulbs tuberform: sts. up to 1 ft. tall, with .3-6 

 plaited Ivs.: fls. racemose, on short pedicels; sepals and 

 petals amethyst-purple; lip 3-lobed, amethyst-purple, 

 the middle lobe nearly quadrate, denticulate. China 

 and Japan. Gt. 1.5:52/. Gn. 16:416. B.R. 33:60 (as 

 Bletia Gebina). B.M. 1492 (as Cymbidium).— Grows 

 beautifully in half-shady, moist places, soon forming 

 large clumps. Prop, by division of the clumps. 



George V. Nash. 



BLIGHIA (W. Bligh, British mariner, who wrote on 

 a jotirney in the South Seas, 1792). Snpindacea^. Trees 

 and shrubs with pinnately compound Ivs. and axillary, 

 racemose fls.; differs from Cupania in having a deeply 

 cut calyx (rather than separate sepals) with the parts 

 only slightly imbricate, and also in thefr. — One species 

 in Guinea, now naturalized in the W. Indies, and yield- 

 ing the akee, a 3-parted fr. with edible red aril that is 

 much improved by cooking. The fls. are so fragrant as 

 to deserve distilling. The tree reaches a height of 30 

 ft., and is cult, in Jamaica to an altitude of only 3,000 

 ft., but can endure slight frost. It is also cult, in S. Fla. 



sapida, Kon. {Cupania sdpida, Voigt.). Akee Tree. 

 Fig. 584. I.fts. 3 or 4 pairs, obovate-oblong, entire, 

 veined: fls. pubescent, the oblong petals white and 

 rather showy, bearing scales and stamens. 



N. TAYLOR.t 



BLIGHT. An indefinite term, popularly used to desig- 

 nate any sudden and inexplicable death of plants. The 



term is now restricted 

 by botanists to para- 

 sitic diseases. The.se 

 diseases are of two 

 classes, — those due to 

 bacteria or microbes, 

 and those due to para- 

 sitic fungi. For an 

 account of these 

 troubles, see Diseases. 



BLITE; Chenopodium. 



BLOODROOT: San- 

 guinaria. 



BLOOMERIA 



(named for Dr. H. G. 

 Bloomer). Liliacese. 

 Small summer-bloom- 

 ing bulbous plants of 

 the alliiun kind. 



A genus of 2 species, 

 natives of S. Calif. In 

 every way they are 

 closely allied to Bro- 

 d'a>a, but differ in 

 having the perianth 

 parted nearly to the 

 base. Bloomerias have 

 a flattish corm, much 

 like Crocus, covered 

 584. Blighia sapida. ( X H) with fiber, and not 



often producing off'sets. The Ivs. are radical, slender, 

 and grass-like: scape slender but stiff, 6-lS in. high, 

 naked, except for short bracts beneath th(! many-rayed 

 umbel; pedicels slender, jointed; fls. nearly rotate, less 

 than an inch across, orange. 



Bloomerias prefer a sandy, 

 warm and well-drained soil. 

 In northern California, with a 

 minimum temperature of 15" 

 above zero, they are perfectly 

 ' hardy. In a colder climate, a 

 covering of straw or leaves or 

 a position in the coldframe 

 would be a judicious precau- 

 tion. Plant early, and see that 

 the soil is light and sweet. 

 They like the sun, and are good 

 for forcing. The light soil and 

 warmth of a pot more nearly 

 approximates natural condi- 

 tions than the open ground 

 does in cooler climates. After 

 ripening, it is best to dig and 

 replant in fall. The seeds grow 

 readily, and the plants flower 

 in three to four years. 



aflrea, Kellogg. 

 Fig. 585. Scape 

 roughish, 6-18 in.: If. 

 J-i-3'2in. broad: 

 fls. numerous, 

 bright orange, 

 in a dense um- 

 bel; stamens 

 nearly as long 

 as the perianth, 

 the filaments dilated at the base. B.M. 5896 (as 

 N oihoscordum aureum). G.C. III. 20:687. 



Clevelandii, Wats. More slender: Ivs. 3-7: fls. 

 smaller, keeled with brown, the stamens shorter. G.C. 

 III. 20:687.— Less valuable than the other. 



Carl Pdrdy. 



BLUEBELL: Campanula. 



BLUEBERRY-CULTURE. Fig. 586. Blueberries are 

 fruit-bearing shrubs of the genus Vaccinium, long gath- 

 ered wild in North America in great quantities and now 

 about to be cultivated with success. 



Success in blueberry-culture rests especially on the 

 recognition of two peculiarities in the nutrition of these 

 plants: first, their requirement of an acid soil; second, 

 their possession of a root-fungus that appears to have 

 the beneficial function of supplying them with nitrogen. 



If blueberries are planted in a soil with an alkaline or 

 neutral reaction, such as the ordinary rich garden or 

 fertile field, it is useless to expect their successful 

 growth. In such a situation they become feeble and 

 finally die. Blueberries require an acid soil, and they 

 thrive best in that particular type of acid soil which 

 consists of a mixture of pure sand and peat. The peat 

 may be of either the bog or the upland sort. 



Good aeration of the soil is another essential. It is 

 commonly but erroneously supposed that the swamp 

 blueberry (l'(JCf!>iiu»! corymhosum), i\\c species chiefly 

 desirable for cultivation, grows best in a permanently 

 wet soil. It is to be observed, however, that the wild 

 plants of the swamps occupy situations which though 

 perhaps submerged in winter and spring are exposed 

 (luring the root-forming period of summer and autumn, 

 or, when growing in j)ermanently submerged places, 

 they build up a hummock or a cushion of moss which 

 rises above the summer water-level and within which 

 the feeding-roots of the bush are closely interlaced. 

 In actual culture, moreover, it has been found that the 

 swamp blueberry does not thrive in a permanently wet 

 or soggy soil. 



