IN EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 45 



to be capable of resisting the occasional night-frost of the lowlands 

 of Victoria. It is the best for building bamboo-houses. Immer- 

 sion in water for some time renders the cane still firmer. To the 

 series of large thornless bamboos belong also Bambusa Tulda and 

 Bambusa Balcooa of India, and Bambusa Thouarsii from Madagas- 

 car and Bourbon. These Bamboos are much used for various kinds 

 of furniture, mats, implements, and other articles. Besides this, 

 Mr. Kurz enumerates as among the best Asiatic bamboos for build- 

 ing purposes : Gigantochloa aspera, G. maxima, G. atter ; while Mr. 

 Teysmami for the same purpose notes G. apus. Kurz recommends 

 further, Bambusa arundinacea, B. Balcooa, B. Brandisii, B. poly- 

 morpha, Dendrocalamus Hamiltoni, Schizostachyum Blumei. In. 

 the Moluccas, according to Costa, Gigantochloa maxima, or an allied 

 species, produces stems thick enough to serve when slit into halves 

 for canoes. Bamboos serve for masts and spars of small vessels. 

 Bambusa Balcooa was found by Wallich to grow 12 feet in 23 days. 

 Bambusa Tulda, according to Roxburgh, has grown at first at the 

 rate of from 20 to 70 feet in a month. Fortune noticed the growth 

 of several Chinese Bamboos to be two to two and a half feet a day. 

 There are many other kinds of Bamboo eligible among the species 

 from China, Japan, India, tropical America, and perhaps tropical 

 Africa. One occurs in Arnhem's Land, and one at least in North 

 Queensland. 



Baptisia tinctoria, E. Brown. 



The wild Indigo of Canada and the United States. A perennial 

 herb. It furnishes a fair pigment in the manner of treating the 

 best Indigoferas. 



Barbaraea vulgaris, R. Brown. 



In the cooler regions of all parts of the globe, ascending to Alpine 

 zones. This herb furnishes a wholesome salad. As with other raw 

 vegetables, particularly watercress (Nasturtium aquatic-urn, Trag.), 

 circumspect care is necessary to free such salads from possibly ad- 

 herent Echinococcus-ova or other germs of entozoa, particularly in 

 localities where hydatids prevail. An excellent honey-plant. 

 (Muenter). 



Barosma serratifolia, Willdenow. 



South Africa. This shrub supplies the medicinal Bucco-leaves. 

 B. crenulata, Hook. (Diosma crenulata, L.,) is only a variety of 

 this species. Active principles : a peculiar valatile oil, a peculiar 

 resin, and a crystalline substance called diosmin. 



Bassella lucida, Linne. 



India. Perrenial. This spinage-plant has somewhat the odour of 

 Ocimum Basilicum ; other species serve also culinary purposes. 



