BLI 



C 123 ] 



BOB 



cabbage and others of- the Brassica tribe* 

 They are plants which have failed to pro- 

 duce central buds ; and. as these are 

 produced from the central vessels, if the 

 top of their stems be cut away they 

 usually emit lateral or side-buds from the 

 edge of the wound. See BARREN PLANTS. 



BLISTERED LEAVES. See PEACH. 



BLIGHT. Sue BLAST. 



BLI'TUM. The Strawberry Elite, or 

 Spinach, is scarcely worth growing. B. 

 capita' turn, B. virga'tum, and B.t mart' turn 

 axe sometimes cultivated. 



BLOOD. See ANIMAL MATTERS. 



BLOOD-FLOWER. Hcema'nthus. 



BLOODWORT. Sanguinu'ria. 



BLOOM, or BLOSSOM, is the popular 

 name for the flowers of fruit- bearing 

 plants. 



The organs of fruitfulness are abso- 

 lutely necessary for the production of 

 seeds, and are always producible by gar 



The corolla, or petals, with all their 

 varied tints and perfumes, have more 

 important offices to perform than thus to 

 delight the senses of mankind. Those 

 bright colours and their perfumed honey 

 serve to attract insects, which are the 

 chief and often essential assistants of 

 impregnation ; and those petals, as ob- 

 served by Linnaeus, serve as wings, giving 

 a motion assisting to effect the same im- 

 portant process. But they have occa- 

 sionally a still more essential office ; for, 

 although they are sometimes absent, yet, 

 if removed from some of those possess- 

 ing them, the subsequent processes are 

 not duly performed. 



The corolla is not always short-lived, 

 as in the cistus ; for some continue until 

 the fruit is perfected. The duration of 

 the petals, however, is in some way con- 

 nected with the impregnation of the seed, 

 for in most flowers they fade soon after 



den-plants properly cultivated. They j this is completed ; and doable flowers, in 



may be deficient in leaves, or stems, or 

 roots, because other organs may supply 

 their places ; but plants are never inca- 

 pable of bearing flowers and seeds, for, 

 without these, they can never fully attain 

 the object of their creation the increase 

 of their species. Of course, we exclude 

 the mushroom, and others of which the 

 seed-producing parts are obscure. 



Most flowers are composed of the fol- 

 lowing parts, viz. : The calyx, which is 

 usually green, and enveloping the flower 

 whifst in the bud ; the corolla, or petals, 

 leaves so beautifully coloured, and so 



which it occurs not at all, are always 

 longer enduring than single flowers of 

 the same species. Then, again, in some 

 flowers they become green, and perform 

 the function of leaves, after impregnation 

 has been effected. A familiar example 

 occurs in the Christmas rose (Hellebo'rus 

 ni'ger), the petals of which are white, but 

 which become green so soon as the seeds 

 have somewhat increased in size, and the- 

 stamens and other organs connected with 

 fertility have fallen oif. 



BLOOM. This term is also applied to- 

 the fine exudation on the surface of some 



delicate in most flowers ; the stamens, or I fruit purple on the Black Hamburgh 



male portion of the flower, secreting the 

 pollen, or impregnating powder ; the pis- 

 tils, or female portion, impregnatable by 

 the pollen, and rendering fertile the 

 seeds ; and, lastly, the pericarp, or seed- 

 vessel. 



The stamens can be removed without 

 preventing the formation of fertile seed ; 

 but their loss must be supplied by the 

 application to the pistils of pollen from 

 some kindred flower. 



The calyx is not useless so soon as it 

 ceases to envelope and protect the flower ; 

 for the flower-stalk continues increasing 

 in size until the seed is perfected, but 

 ceases to do so in those plants whose 

 calyces remain long green, if these be 

 removed. On the other hand, in the 

 poppy and other flowers, from which the 

 calyx falls early, the flower-stalk does 

 not subsequently enlarge. 



Grape, and on some plums, and green on 

 the cucumber. It so improves their ap- 

 pearance that an apparatus has been 

 suggested for adding it artificially. It 

 seems of a resinous nature. 



BLUE-BELLS. Campanula rotandifo'lia. 



BLUE -BOTTLE. Centau'rea cya'nus. 



BLUETS. VaccVnium angustifo 1 Hum. 



BLUMENBA'CHIA. (Named after J. F. 

 Blumenbach, of Grottingen. Nat. ord., 

 Loasads [Loasaceae]. Linn., 18-Polya- 

 delphla 2-Polyandria.) 



Hardy annuals. Seeds in April ; rich mould. 

 B. insi'gnis (remarkable). J. White. July. 



Monte Video. 1826. Trailer. 

 multi'fida (ma.ny-cleft-leaved). l. Greenish- 

 red. July. Buenos Ayres. 1826. 



BOATLIP. Scaphyglo' ttis. 



BOBA'RTIA. (Named in honour of 

 Jacob Bobart, professor of botany at Ox- 

 ford in the seventeenth century. Nat, 



