BEL 



tootlied. S/am. of the hermaphrodite filaments five, capil- 

 lary, very fhort ; anthers cylindric, tubular. Pi/?, germ 

 ovate; of the hermaphrodite, ftyle fimple, lligma emarginate; 

 of the female, (lyle filiform ; lligmas two, patulous. Per. 

 none. Cii!yx unchanged. Seeds folitary, obovate, comprelTed; 

 down none. Rer, naked, conical. 



Eff. Char. Cti/. hemifpheric, with equal fcales. Seeds 

 ovate, with no down. Rec. naked, conical. 



Species, i. B.perennis, perennial or common daify. Lin. 

 Spec. 1248. Hudf. Angl. 370. Wither. Arr. 733. Hull. 

 1S4. Relh. ^20. Slbth. 256. Abbot. 184. Curt. Lond. 

 fafc. I. 62. "Fl. Dan.t.503. Mor. Hirt. f. 6. t. 8. f. 29. 

 Petiv. Brit. t. 19. f. 2. Ger. 510. 4. Park. Theat. 530. 

 II. Raii Hift. 349. 2. Smith. 372. B. fylveftris minor. 

 RaiiSyn. 184. Ger. en'. 636. Fuchf. Hift. 1 4-. B. mi- 

 nor. Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 263. Primula veris. Trag. Hift. 

 161. /9. B. hortenfis, double or garden daify. Mill. Diift. 

 p. 3. Curtis Magaz. t. 22S. Raii Hift, 350. n. 4. y. B. 

 fiftulofa, cjv.illed daify. c. B. proiifcra, proliferous or hen 

 and chicken daify. " Scape naked." The common daify 

 is futSciently diftinguilhed by its creeping, ramofe, and long 

 fibred root ; by its radical, depreffed, obovate, crenate, and 

 pilofe leaves ; by its erect, fimple, fingle-flowcred, round, 

 and naked fcapes ; by its beautiful flower, with a conic, 

 golden dilk, and white, or more frequently reddilh ray ; by 

 its hnear-obovate, plane, emarginate, very numerous, patent 

 flofcule rays ; by its comprefTcd, hairy feeds ; and by its co- 

 nic, acute, punftated, concave receptacle. Smith. Flor. 

 Brit. V. 2. 898. A native of moft parts of Europe in mea- 

 dows and paftures ; flowering almoft all the year, and ftiut- 

 ting up clofe every night and in wet weather. The tafte of 

 the leaves is fomewhat acrid, but in fome countries ufed as 

 a pot-herb. The roots have a penetrating pungency. It 

 is ungrateful to cattle, and even to geefc. It occupies a 

 large fhare of pafture lands, to the exclulion of grafs and 

 profitable herbs. It has been much recommended forfrefh 

 wounds externally, and againft inflammatory diforders in- 

 ternally ; but it is now totally out of ufe. The varieties 

 of the garden daify are double-white, red, white, and red- 

 ftriped, variegated, fcarlet and pied ; double quilled, or 

 with fiftular florets ; double coc!».'s-cotnb fhaped, white 

 red and fpeckled ; proliferous, childing or hen and chicken 

 iJaify. 2. ^. annua, annual daify. Lin. Spec. 1 249. Syft. 

 770. " Stem fomewhat leafy." A low annual plant, fel- 

 dom rifing more than three inches high, with an upright 

 ftalk having leaves on the lower part, and its upper part 

 naked, fupporting a fingle flo.ver like that of the common 

 daify, but imaller. A native of Sicily, Spain, about Mont- 

 pellier, Verona, and Nice. Cultivated in i 759 by Miller. 



Propagation and Culture, lire garden daifies flower in 

 April and May, and make a pretty variety when intermixed 

 with plants of the fame growth ; they fliould be planted in 

 a ftiady border ard a loamy foil without dung, on which 

 they may be preferved without varying, provided the roots 

 are trai-fplanted, and parted every autumn. They fhould be 

 kept clean from weeds. They were formerly planted for edg- 

 ings to borders; but for this purpofe they are unfit, becaufe, 

 when fully expofed to the fun, they frequently die in large 

 patches. Mr. Curtis, however, thinks they appear to moft ad- 

 vantage as edgings to borders, as they ferve to enliven them, 

 and to add gi'eatly to the gaiety of thegarden. Herecommends 

 the roots to be taken up in the laft week of September, or the 

 firll in Oiilober, to be divided into fingle plants, and to be 

 planted three inches apart in a trench, Ipreading out the fi- 

 bres, and prefiing the earth clofely round them, as they will 

 •thus not be fubjeft to be drawn out of the ground by worms. 

 Such edgings lliould be replanted every autumn j olherwife 



BEL 



they will fpread too wide. Martyn's Miller's Dlft. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Curtis, the plants that remain undilturbed in 

 the fame fpot, will recur to their natural ftate, and become 

 fingle ; but Mr. Miller fays that he never obferved them to 

 do fo. 



Bellis. See Anthemis, Aster, Athan-asia, Bel- 

 LiuM, Calendula, Chrysanthemum, Cotula, Do- 



RON'ICUM, EclIPTA, OsMlTES, and SAPONARl.i. 



Bellis major. See Chp.ysanthemum. 



Bellis aeruka. See Globularia. 



Bellis, in Natural Hiflory, a fpecies of Hydra, re- 

 fembling the calyx of a flower, warted ; tentacula retraftile, 

 and variegated. This is aP.lnia bellis of Solander and EUis ; 

 and is found on the coaft of Cornwall. 



Bellis, a fpecies of Vorticella, of a fimple hemifphe- 

 rical form, with a contractile margin. Miill. Hift. Verm. 

 Found in ftagnant ditch water; fumewhatrefembles the flower 

 of a daify, but fmall, yellowifti ; peduncle long, pellucid, 

 very thin, bitid at the end ; moves with a rotatory motion. 



BELLI SLE, in Geography. See Belle IJle. 



BELLIUM, in Botany. Lin. gen. Reich, n. 1043. 

 Sclireb. 1301. Jufl". 182. CXiih znd. livAer, fyngene/ia poly- 

 gam'ia fupcrjlua. Nat. Ord. Compojits DiJcoide£. Corymhiferx. 

 Jufl". Gen. Char. Cnl. common fimple, with very many, 

 equal, boat-fhaped leaflets. Cor. compound radiated ; in 

 the ray female ten or twelve ; in the difl< hermaphrodite very 

 many ; — proper of the hermaphrodite funnel-fhaped, quadri- 

 fid, ereft ; of the females elliptic, emarginate, ligulate. 

 Statu, in the hermaphrodite filaments four, (hort; anther cy- 

 lindric. P'ljl. in the hermaphrodite germ turbinate ; ftyle 

 filiform; ftigma bifid, oblong; in the females germ tur- 

 binate ; ftyle very (hort ; ftigma bifid, minute. Per. none. 

 Calyx unchanged. Seeds turbinate ; crown chaff"y, eight- 

 leaved, rounded ; down with eight fimple awns. Rcc. naked, 

 conic. Olf. Different from Bellis and Pedis, on account of 

 the down and five-cleft coroUules. * 



Efl". Char. Cal. with equal leaflets. Seeds conic, with a 

 chafl^y eight-leaved crown, and awned down. Recept. naked. 



Species, i. B. htUidioides . Lin. Syft. 770. B. droferrefo- 

 lia. Gouan. illuft. 69. 2. B. annua minima. Triumf. Obf. 

 t. 82. B. maritima min. &c. Bocc. Muf. 149. t. 167. 

 " Sca]>es naked, filiform." This has the habit of a daify, 

 but ditf^ers elTentially from it in having a down to the feed. 

 A native of Italy, about Rome, and in the ifland of Ma- 

 jorca. 2. B. rihv.i.'um. Linn. Syft. 770. Pedis minuta. 

 Linn. Spec. 1250. Schreb. Ac;^. Upf. "Nov. i. 84. t. 5. f. 2. 

 Bellis cretica fontana omnium minima. Tournef. cor. 37. 

 Vaill. Aa. 547. " Stem leafy." One of the minuteft of 

 plants ; ftem capillary, an inch long ; the whole plant finooth 

 and afcending ; examined with a glafs it appears to have 

 hairs fcattercd over it. A native of the Levant. Intro- 

 duced in 1722 by M. Richard. 



BELLO, in Geography, a town of Italy, in the kingdom 

 of Naples, and pi-ovince of Bafilicata ; 2 miles S.S.E. of 

 Muro. 



BELLOI, Peter Laurence Bi-yrette du, in Bio- 

 graphy, a French dramatic writer, was born at St. Flour, in 

 Auvergne, in 1727, and educated for the bar at Paris. 

 But quitting the profelfion fur which he was defigncd, he 

 left his Country, and went to Ruflia in the capacity of an 

 aftor. After having exercifed his literary talents in the 

 coinpofition of various fugitive pieces, he returned to Paris 

 in 175S, and brought on the ftage, firft his "Titus," and 

 next his " Zelniiire." But his tragedy of the " Siege of 

 Calais," exhibited in 1765, was the moft popular, and coii- 

 trib'.:ted in the greatell degree to eftablifh liis reputation. 

 For this performance ^he king prefentcd him with a gold 



medal 



