BACTRIS 



BALSAM 



125 



BB. Lf.- segments acute at tip. 



Gasipaes, HBK. (Guilielma specibsa, Mart.). St. 

 about GO ft. high, single or csespitose, with rings of subu- 



178. Balaka Seemanni. 



late-compressed black spines, 1 in. long, the rings about 

 as far apart as the diam. of the st. : Ivs. 6 ft. long, curv- 

 ing ; segments dark green above, pale green below, very 

 numerous, approximate, l%ft. long, 1% in. wide, linear- 

 lanceolate, long-acuminate, bristly or minutely prickly 

 along the margins. Lower Amazon. 



hdrrida, Oerst. Ceespitose stems 6-8 ft. high, 8-9 in. 

 diam., very spiny, sheathed for most of its length with 

 bases of dead Ivs. ; spines 3-4 in. long, 4-sided, whitish 

 tomentose, at length glabrous : Ivs. 2%-3 ft. long; sheath 

 8 in., brown-tomentose ; petiole 1/^ft., densely spiny, 

 subtetragonal, densely brown-tomentose beneath ; seg- 

 ments 7 in. long, %in. wide, lanceolate, rigid, glaucous. 

 Nicaragua. J ARED G . SMITH. 



BACULARIA ( Latin, baculum, a small walking-stick ) . 

 Palmdcece, tribe Arecece. Low spineless palms, with an- 

 nular reed-like single or fasciculate sts: Ivs. terminal, 

 unequally pinnatisect; segments membranous, broad or 

 narrow, split or toothed at the apex, the broader ones 

 many-nerved, the narrow ones 1-nerved, the terminal 

 confluent ; midrib and nerves without scales below; 

 margins not thickened, recurved at the base; petiole and 

 rachis sparsely scurfy, convex on the back, flat above or 

 concave toward the base : sheath short, open : spadices 

 numerous, longer than the Ivs., spreading, recurved : 

 peduncle very slender, scurfy, compressed at the base : 

 spathes 2, remote, the lower one at the base of the pe- 

 duncle tubular, the upper membranaceous, linear, ensi- 

 form : fls. green : fr. small, elongate-ovoid, subacute, 

 green, %-Kin. long. Species 2. Temperate and tropical 

 Australia. See Palms. 



monostachya, F. Muell. (Areca monostdchya, Mart. 

 Ktntia monostdchya, F. Muell.). Trunk 6-12 ft. high: 

 Ivs. l%-4 ft. long ; the sheath broad, coriaceous, about 

 6 in. long, produced into 2 stipular lobes; segments very 

 irregular, acuminate, very variable in breadth and dis- 

 tance, adnate to the rachis, or tapering at the base, the 

 longest about 1 ft. long. Queensland, N. S.W. B.M. 6644. 



JARED G. SMITH. 



BAERIA (after the Russian zoologist, Karl Ernst von 

 Baer). Compdsitce. Calif ornian annuals (or one peren- 

 nial species), with numerous showy, inch-wide yellow 

 fls. in early summer. 



gracilis, Gray (Burrieiia grdcilis, DC.). Easily dis- 

 tinguished from Actinolepsis coronaria by its hairy sts. 

 and foliage and undivided Ivs.: plant much branched: 

 height 4-12 in. : Ivs. opposite, connate, linear-lanceolate: 

 fls. solitary, on slender terminal peduncles : involucre 

 leafier than in Actinolepsis coronaria, the scales longer, 

 downy, in 2 series: rays 8-12. B.M. 3758. This is likely 

 to be cult, as Lasthenia Californica, which, however, is 

 not hairy and has much longer Ivs. 



JB. chrysostoma, Fisch. & May. Lvs. narrowly linear, 1 line 

 or less wide : fls. larger than in B. gracilis : habit more erect. 

 B. corondria=Actinolepsis coronaria. 



BALAKA (the Fijian vernacular name). Palmdcece, 

 tribe Arecece. Differs from Ptychosperma in having 

 the seed not sulcate, and in the half-rhomboid seg- 

 ments of the Ivs.; and from Drymophloeus in the form 

 of the leaf and the caducous spathes. Species 2. Fiji 

 Islands. 



SeSmanni, Becc. (Ptychosperma Seemanni, H. 

 Wendl.). Fig. 178. Caudex slender, 8-12 ft. high, 

 straight, ringed, about 1 in. in diam.: Ivs. pinnatisect, 

 4 ft. long ; segments erose-dentate at the apex, alter- 

 nate, 9 on each side, semi-rhomboid, obliquely truncate, 

 the upper margin longer, cuspidate at the apex, the 

 terminal one deeply bifid. Growing as underwood in 

 dense forests. Fiji. Stems used for spears by natives, 

 because of their strength and straightness. Fig. 178 is 

 adapted from Seeman's Flora Vitiensis. 



JARED G. SMITH. 



BALLOON VINE. See Cardiospermum. 



BALM (Melissa officindlis, Linn.). Labidtce. Sweet 

 herb, the Ivs. being used for seasoning, particularly in 

 liquors. It has a lemon-like flavor. It is a hardy peren- 

 nial from southern Eu. The plant grows 1-2 ft. high, 

 somewhat hairy, loosely branched, with ovate-crenate 

 Ivs. and yellowish or whitish fls. in 

 loose axillary clusters. Thrives in 

 any warm position, and is easy to 

 gr.)w. Prop, by seeds ; also by di- 

 vision. 



179. Pod of 

 garden Balsam. 



180. Explosion of 

 Balsam pod. 



BALSAM, Impdtiens Balsdmina, Linn. (Balsdmina 

 hort6nsis,DC. Balsdmina Impdtiens, Hort. Impdtiens 

 coccinea, Sims, B.M. 1256). Geranidcece. An erect, 

 much-branched, half succulent annual, long ago intro- 

 duced from India, and now widely cult, for its showy 



