HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



301 



BUT 



Butomacece, (Butomads; the Flowering Bush 

 family.) A natural order of Hypogynous I 

 Monocotyledons belonging to Lindley's 

 Alismal Alliance. They are aquatic plants, 

 often milky, with very cellular leaves and 

 umbellate, showy flowers. The perianth 

 consists of six pieces, the three inner, or 

 corolla, being colored like petals. The 

 stamens are either below or above twenty 

 in number, and hypogynous. The ovaries 

 are three to six or more, either separate 

 or united; the ovules are numerous. The 

 fruit consists of achenes or follicles, sepa- 

 rate or united. The seeds are numer- 

 ous, attached to a net-like placenta, 

 which is spread over the whole inner 

 surface of the fruit, and are without albu- 

 men. The plants are natives of the 

 marshes of Europe, the northwestern 

 provinces of India, and equinoctial Amer- 

 ica. Butomus uinbellatus, the Flowering 

 Bush, is an ornamental aquatic common 

 in England. Its underground stem is 

 roasted and eaten in Asia. There are 

 four genera and seven species. Butomus 

 and Limnocharis are examples of this 

 order. 



Butomads. The English term for Butoma- 

 cece. 



Byssaceous. Composed of fine entangled 

 threads. 



Byssi. A name which formerly included 



CAB 



a heterogeneous mass of perfect and im- 

 perfect plants of various affinities, but is 

 not now used, the term byssoid alone be- 

 ing retained to express a peculiar fringed 

 structure, in which the threads or fascicles 

 of threads are of unequal lengths. 



Byssoid. See By*#i. 



Bysms. The stipa of certain Fungi. 



Byttnenece, (Buettneriece.) A tribe of the 

 natural order Sterculiacece, regarded by 

 some botanists as a distinct order, and 

 referred by Lindley to his Malval Alli- 

 ance of Thalamifloral Exogens. The 

 Chocolate and Cocoa of commerce be- 

 long to this tribe, being prepared from 

 the seeds (called Cocoa Baans) of Theo- 

 broma Cacao, a small tree found in the 

 forests of Demerara. The seeds contain 

 a tonic substance called theobromine, al- 

 lied to theine, while a fatty oil is ex- 

 pressed from them called the butter of 

 Cacao. From the pulp of the fruit a 

 kind of spirit is distilled. The following 

 genera are examples of this tribe: Glos- 

 sostemon,-with palminerved leaves; Abroma, 

 with palmilobed or entire leaves; Theo- 

 broma, with simple penninerved leaves; 

 Herrania, with palmated or digitate 

 leaves; Guazuma, with simple leaves; 

 Buettneria, with simple, more or less 

 heart-shaped leaves; and Rulingia, with 

 simple or lobed leaves. 



c. 



/~Yabbage Worm. A worm very destruc- 

 tive to the Cabbage. See Insects. 



Cabombacece, (Cabombece, Hydropeltidece, 

 Water Shields. ) A natural order of Tha- 

 lamifloral Dicotyledons, belonging to 

 Lindley's Nymphal Alliance. They are 



aquatic plants with shield-like leaves; 

 sepals and petals three or four, alternat- 

 ing; stamens six to thirty-six. Carpels 

 distinct, two to eighteen; seeds not nu- 

 merous; embryo in a membranous bag, 

 outside abundant fleshy albumen. The 



