80 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Butomus umbellatus, Limn' 



The " Flowering Rush." Europe, Northern and Middle Asia. 

 This elegant perennial water-plant is mentioned here more for its 

 value in embellishing our lakes and water-courses than for the sake 

 of its roots. The latter, when roasted, are edible. The plant 

 would live in sub-alpine rivulets. In Norway it is hardy to lat. 

 59 55' [Schuebeler]. 



Buxus BXacowani, Oliver. 



South-African Box-tree. In the valleys of the Keiskama and 

 Buffalo-River. The stems attain a maximum height of 25 feet and 

 a diameter of about one foot. Yields a good box-wood for engravers' 

 purposes [B. D. Jackson], so the Socotra-species, B. Hildebrandti 

 [J. B. Balfour]. 



Buxus microphylla, Siebold and Zuccarini. 



Japan. There used for the best of wood-engravings and turnery ; 

 considered as good as ordinary box- wood. Native name, Tsougne 

 [E. Dupont]. 



Buxus sempervirens, Linne.* 



The Turkish Box-tree. England, Southern Europe, Northern 

 Africa, South-Western Asia, extending to Upper India and Japan. 

 This slow-growing tree should be planted to provide the indispen- 

 sable box-wood for wood-engravers and instrument makers, no 

 perfect substitute for it having been discovered as yet. It is also 

 employed for shuttles, rollers and various other select implements, 

 clarionets, flutes, flageolets. Box-wood, on account of its extreme 

 density, can best be used as an unit in comparative scales of the 

 closeness of various kinds of wood. The box-tree needs calcareous 

 soil for its best development. In Norway it is hardy to lat. 63 26 , 

 according to Prof. Schuebeler, who saw a plant 11 feet high and 

 6 inches in stem-diameter at lat. 58 58 '. Among allied species B. 

 Balearica attains a height of 80 feet. Other congeners are B. sub- 

 columnaris, B. Cubana, B. Purdieana, B. citrifolia, B. acuminata, 

 B. leevigata, B. Vahlii, B. gonoclada, B. retusa, B. glomerata, B. 

 Wrightii, all from the West-Indies, B. Madagascarica, >also B. 

 longifolia from Turkey, and B. Wallichiana from the Himalayas. 

 It does not however appear to be known how the wood of any of 

 these, nor of the various species of the Indian genus Sarcococca or 

 the genus Styloceras of the Andes compares with true box-wood ; 

 nor is it known, whether or not they are of much more rapid 

 growth. 



Caesalpinia Bonduc, Boxburgh. (Guilandina Bonduc, Linne.) 



Widely dispersed through the inter-tropical regions of both hemi- 

 spheres with Gr. Bonducella, L. These two species would be well 

 . adapted for hedges in the warmer parts of the temperate zone. 



