bada] 



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116 



attached long after they have withered, 

 hanging down and concealing the trunk ; 

 they are nearly always pinnate, and from 

 two to eight feet long ; in a few species, 

 however, the leaves are nearly entire, or 

 merely divided into two broad sharp- 

 pointed lobes. 



B. Maraja, the Marajah Palm of Brazil, 

 grows upon the banks of the Amazon and 

 other rivers. It is the largest species of the 

 genus, its trunk attaining a height of fifty 

 feet. It is thickly armed with spines, and 

 has a succulent rather acid but agreeably 

 tasted fruit, from which a vinous beverage 

 is prepared. B. minor has a stem about 

 twelve or fifteen feet high, and seldom more 

 than an inch in diameter. It is common in 

 Jamaica and some parts of tropical South 

 America, growing in open places in the 

 vicinity of woods. Its stems are used for 

 walking-sticks, and are said to be some- 

 times imported into this country under 

 the name of Tobago canes. [A. SJ 



BADAMIE. An Indian name lor oil of 

 almonds. 

 BADDERLOCKS. Alaria esculenta. 



BA'DEK. A fermented liquor prepared 

 in Java from rice. 



BADGER'S-BAJSTE. Aconitwm melocto- 

 num. 



BADHAMIA. A genus of gelatinous 

 puffballs (Myxogastres), named after the 

 late Dr. Badham, remarkable for its spores 

 being contained in little groups in distinct 

 hyaline sacs or asci ; whereas in most of 

 the immediately allied fungi they are 

 naked. The species were formerly ref erred 

 to Physarum. Other instances of asei 

 occur in the same division, as in the genus 

 Encrthenema, separated from Stemoiiitis. 

 The most common species, perhaps, is B. 

 hyalina, which is known by its delicate 

 peridia as well as by its long confluent 

 yellowish stems. [M. J. B.] 



BADIANE. (Pr.) Illicium. 



BADIERA. A genus of the milkwort 

 family (Polygalacece), which includes three 

 species, all of them natives of the West In- 

 dian Islands. They are woody plants with 

 evergreen leaves, and axillary corymbs of 

 white or greenish-yellow flowers, differing 

 chiefly from the common milkworts (Poly- 

 gala ), in having a large oily aril to the seed 

 which fills the upper part of the cell, and 

 in the anthers opening inwards by an oval 

 partitioned slit. The bark of B. diver sifolia 

 is acrid and bitter, like that of the Lignum 

 Vita?, and is called Bastard Lignum Vitas, 

 in Jamaica, on this account. [A. A. B.] 



BADIOUS. Chesnut-brown. 



BADTTLA. A genus of the Myrsine family, 

 of which seventeen species are enumerated. 

 They are evergreen shrubs or small trees, 

 with smooth entire dotted leaves, having 

 short and broad foot-stalks. Their flowers 

 are numerous, disposed in axillary or ter- 

 minal panicles, and either white, dotted or 

 streaked with pink, or entirely of a pink 



colour. The fruits are small scarlet or black 

 berries, containing few seeds. They are 

 nearly related to Ardisia, and differ chiefly 

 from that genus in their short round- 

 headed stigma, and few seeds. Their 

 distribution is unusual, one being found in 

 the Philippine Isles, a considerable number 

 in Mauritius, Bourbon, and Madagascar, 

 but the greatest number in the West 

 Indies, Peru, and Brazil. [A. A. B.] 



BiEA. A small genus of Gesneracece 

 consisting of herbaceous plants, with short 

 stems or entirely stemless, and crowded 

 leaves. The calyx is five-partite and per- 

 sistent ; the corolla is eampanulate, the 

 tube scarcely as long as the calyx, while 

 the subbilabiate limb is five-partite with 

 roundish lobes. There are two fertile 

 stamens with very short filaments, and 

 large cordate-ovate anthers. The lanceo- 

 late ovary is one-celled, with two parietal 

 placentas. The capsule is elongated and 

 pod-shaped, and the two valves, after de- 

 hiscence, are spirally twisted to the right. 

 The oblong seeds are numerous and very 

 small. This genus differs from Strepto- 

 carpus chiefly in the length of the corolla 

 tube. [W. C] 



B^ECKEA. The name of a genus of 

 plants belonging to the Myrtaeece. The 

 flowers are sessile or stalked ; the limb of 

 the calyx five-cleft, persistent, its tube 

 top-shaped ; petals five, longer than the 

 stamens, which are from five to ten in 

 number, and distinct ; stigma capitate, 

 capsule many-seeded. The plants are small 

 shrubs, with opposite leaves and white 

 flowers. They are natives of New Holland 

 and China. Some of them are in cultivation 

 as pretty greenhouse plants. [M. T. M.] 



B^EOMETRA. Certain bulbous plants, 

 belonging to the order Melanthacece, are so 

 called. From the bulbs or corms arise 

 narrow sheathing leaves and spikes of 

 flowers, each of which latter has a six- 

 parted petal-like spreading deciduous 

 perianth, into the base of the segments of 

 which the six stamens are inserted. The 

 ovary is somewhat triangular, and ter- 

 minated by three recurved spreading stig- 

 mas; it ripens yito a cylindrical capsule, 

 its three compartments separating one 

 from the other at the top, so as to liberate 

 the numerous seeds, which are of a com- 

 pressed four-cornered shape, arranged in 

 two lines along the inner edge of each 

 compartment. They are all natives of 

 South Africa. [M. T. M.] 



B./EOMYCES. A small genus of Lichens, 

 distinguished amongst Lecidi?ieiby their 

 subglobose terminal fruit, which is sup- 

 ported by a short unbranched stem. The 

 disc is generally bright-coloured, as rose, 

 chestnut, &c. B. roseus and B. ericetornm, 

 which abound in heaths, are often taken at 

 first-sight for fungi. [M. J. BJ 



BAERIA A genus of composites, al- 

 lied to Callichroa, of which but a single 

 species is known, the B. chrysostoma, from 

 California. It is a pretty dwarf annual, of 



