82 - Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Brachychiton populneus, R. Brown. (Sterculia diversifotia, G. Don. ) 



From Gippsland to Southern Queensland. A splendid avenue- 

 tree. Mr. Rudder records stems over 11 feet in circumference at 4 

 feet from the ground. Bast very tough ; hence one of the curri- 

 yongs of the Aborigines. Leaves eaten by pasture-animals. Stood 

 a temperature as low as 21 F. at Genoa [Professor Penzig]. 



Brahea dulcis, Martius. 



Mexico, as far as its northern parts, and ascending to 4,500 feet. 

 A Brahea-Palm has also been discovered as far north as Arizona, 

 32 [Drude]. 



Brassica alba, Visiani. (Sinapis alba, Linn.) 



White Mustard. Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, Northern 

 and Middle Asia. An annual. The seeds are less pungent than 

 those of the Black Mustard, but used in a similar manner. The 

 young leaves of both are useful as a culinary and also antiscorbutic 

 salad. Can be employed with great advantage as green manure 

 and suppresses weed simultaneously [W. Emerson Mclvor]. The 

 cold-pressed oil of mustard-seed serves for table-use. Dr. M. T. 

 Masters enumerates Brassica dichotoma, B. Pekinensis, B. ramosa, 

 and B. glauca among the mustards, which undergo cultivation in 

 various parts of Asia, either for the fixed oil of their seeds or for 

 their herbage. From 15 Ibs. to 20 Ibs. of seed of the White Mustard 

 are required for an acre. In the climate of California 1,400 Ibs. of 

 seed have been gathered from an acre. Can be grown in shallow 

 soil, even on land recently reclaimed from swamps. It prefers 

 argillaceous ground. The return is obtained in a few months. 

 The stalks and foliage after the seed-harvest serve as sheep-fodder. 

 In Norway the plant comes still to perfection as far north as lat. 

 70 [Schuebeler]. Matures seeds well even in the desert-tracts of 

 Central Australia [Rev. H. Kempe]. 



Brassica Chinensis, Linne. 



China and Japan. Serves like B. oleracea for cabbage and raw 

 as a salad, and produced in cultivation new varieties, particularly for 

 use very late in the season. The seeds in Japan extensively pressed 

 for oil. B. Cretica (Lamarck) is a woody Mediterranean species. 



Brassica juncea, Coason. (B. WilldenowH, Boissier ; Sinapis juncect, 

 Linne.) 



From Middle Africa to China. According to Colonel Drury culti- 

 vated all over India for Sarepta-Mustard seed ; also extensively 

 raised in China for pickle [Consul Bourne] ; also a good salad- 

 plant. 



