BALSAM 



125 



BB. Jjf.- segments acute at tip. 



Gasipies, HBK. (GuiliHma speciosa, Mart.). St. 



about GO ft. liish. single oroaespitose, with rings of subu- 



-^:- 



178 Balaka Seen 



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

 as far apart as the dlam. of the St. : Ivs. 6 ft. long, curv- 

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

 numerous, approximate, IKft. long, 1^ in. wide, linear- 

 lanceolate, long-acuminate, bristly or minutely prickly 

 along the margins. Lower Amazon. 



h6rrida, Oerst. Ospitose stems 6-8 ft. high, 8-9 in. 

 dlam., 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. 2V3-3 ft. long; sheath 

 8 in., brown-tomentose ; petiole IKft., densely spiny, 

 subtetragonal, densely brown-tomentose beneath : seg- 

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

 Nicaragua. Jared G. Smith. 



BACULAEIA (Latin, ?.,/,»?»,«. a snuill walking-stick). 

 Palmilc.r.ivih,- A ,;-■. ./ . L.iw s|,i,„.I,.s^ i.alms. with an- 

 nular rt-cd-likt- -iiii:!.' Ml- la^fii-ulaT.- ^r^ : Ivs. terminal, 

 unequally ]iiiinati>iMt ; „ ;;iu.aits m.iubraiious, broad or 

 narrow, .split or tuuthcd at thu apex, the broader ones 

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

 conflilent ; 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 slendei:, 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, K-Kin. long. Species 2. Temperate and tropical 

 Australia. See Palms. 



mono8t4chya, F. Muell. (Areca monostdchya, Mart. 

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

 Ivs. IK— 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 1ft. long. Queensland, N. S.W. B.M. 6644. 

 Jared G. Smith. 



BA£BIA (after the Russian zoologist, Karl Ernst von 

 Baer). Composite. Californian annuals (or one peren- 

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

 fls. in early summer. 



grioilis, Gray {Burrielia gracilis, DC). Easily dis- 

 tinguished from Actinolepsis coroiiaria 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 inAcfinolepsis 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. 



B.chritsostoma, Fisch. & May. Lvs. narrowly linear, 1 line 

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

 —B. corortdria= Actinolepsis c 



BALAEA (the Fijian vernacular name). Palm&cea, 

 tribe Arecea. Differs from Ptychosperma in having 

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

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

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

 Islands. 



SeSmanni, Becc. (Ptychospirma Seemanni, H. 

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

 straight, ringed, about 1 in. in diam.: lvs. 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 Cardwspenmtm. 



BALJi (Melissa ofncinAlis,'LiDJi.). Zabidtce. Sweet 

 herb, the lvs. 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 

 lvs. and yellowish or whitish fls. in 

 loose axillary clusters. Thrives in 

 any warm position, and is easy to 

 grow. Prop, by seeds ; also by di- 

 vision. 



# 



'■t 





garden Balsam. Balsam pod. 



BKLSAHtlmpAtiens Balsdmina, Linn. (Balsdmina 

 hortinsis, DC. Balsdmina InipAtieiis. Uort. Impdtiens 

 coccinea, Sims, B.M. 1256). GeraiiiAcea;. An erect, 

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

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



