121 



Qftz Erra£urg af 3t3otanD. 



[bank 



Java. Sumatra, and other eastern countries. I 

 Although the Bamboo grows spontane- ! 

 ously, and more profusely in nearly all 

 the "immense districts included in the 

 southern portion of the Chinese empire, 

 the people do not rely on the beneficence 

 of nature, but cultivate the gigantic reed j 

 -with much care. They have treatises and 

 whole volumes solely on this subject, lay- 

 ing down rules derived from experience, 

 and showing the proper soils, the best 

 kinds of water, and the seasons for planting 

 and transplanting the useful production. 

 (Ibid.) A view of the Bamboo vegetation of 

 Java, is given in Plate 4. [D. M.] 



BANANA, or WISE-MEN'S BANANA. 

 Musa sapientum. 

 BANANIER. (Ft.) Musa. 

 B ANNETTE. (Fr.) Dolichos melanoph- 



thalmus. 



BANARA (including Ascra, Bosca, Kuhlia, 

 and Pineda). A genus of Samydacece, 

 confined to the tropical parts of America, 

 and consisting of about fifteen species, all 

 of which are either small trees or shrubs, 

 with ovate leaves, and paniculate, racemose 

 or fasciculate flowers. The calyx is four to 

 five cleft ; the petals from four to five in 

 number; the stamens disposed in several 

 rows, inserted in a perigynous disk, and 

 indefinite. Uses unknown. [B. SJ 



BANDAKAI. The fruits of Abelmosclms 

 esculentus. 



BANDED. ~ Marked with cross-bars of 

 colour. 



BAND-SHAPED. Narrow and very long. 



BANDALA. The strong outer fibre of 

 Musa textilis, from which Manilla white 

 rope is made. 



BANDOLIER fruit. The berries of 

 Zanonia indica. 



BANEBERRY. The common name of 

 Actcea spicata. 



BANG. A narcotic preparation from the 

 leaves of the Hemp, Cannabis sativa. 



BANGIA. A genus of Alga;, which de- 

 serves notice as connecting the filamen- 

 tous with the membranous series, the | 

 perfect plant of B. airopurpurea, closely \ 

 resembling very young examples of the 

 common Porphyra, which produces the 

 laver of our oil shops. Like Porphyra its 

 place is doubtful, as it has almost equal 

 claims to be ranked amongst the green and 

 rose-spored genera. Both, however, are j 

 usually placed amongst Clilorosperms. B. | 

 atrapurpurea is a common species on old ! 

 jetty piles, &c, and is a pretty microscopic 

 object. We do not consider such species 

 as B. velvtina belonging to the same sec- 

 tion. See Elva and Prasiola. [M. J. B.] I 



BANISTERIA. A name applied to a 

 genus of the natural family Malpighiacece, 



consisting of trees or shrubs, frequently 

 climbing, with simple stalked leaves, often 

 provided with glands on the stalks. The [ 



flowers have a five-parted calyx, also pro- 

 vided with glands at its base externally ; 

 the petals are furnished with long stalks or 

 claws ; there are ten' stamens, frequently 

 somewhat coherent at the base ; three 

 styles, often leaf-like at their extremi- 

 ties ; and three carpels, each containing 

 one seed, and terminating in a simple 

 membranous wing. The seed-leaves or 

 cotyledons are thick and unequal. The 

 plants are natives of Brazil and the West 

 Indies ; several are in cultivation for the 

 sake of their pretty yellow flowers, and, 

 in some instances, fine foliage. [M. T. M.] 



BANKSIA. A genus of Proteacece, estab- 

 lished by the younger Linna;us, and named 

 in honour of Sir Joseph Banks. It is dis- 

 tinguished by having four-parted apetalous 

 flowers, the anthers of which, four in num- 

 ber, are subsessile and attached one to the 

 concave apex of each sepal ; the style is 

 filiform or subulate, with a clavate or cy- 

 lindrical stigma. The seed-vessel, which 

 is termed a follicle, is large and woody, 

 and contains large winged seeds which are 

 generally black. The genus is peculiar to 

 Australia and Tasmania. In the former 

 colony it is very generally distributed 

 throughout the extratropical portion, while 

 only two intertropical species have been 

 discovered, viz :— B. compar at Keppel Bay, 

 on the east coast, and B. dentata at Arn- 

 heim's Land, on the north coast, and at 

 Endeavour River, on the north-east coast. 

 There are upwards of fifty species known, 

 of which only a few become trees. Mr. C. 

 Frazer mentions having seen a specimen 

 of B. grandis which he considered to be 

 fifty feet in height, and with a stem two 

 and a half feet in diameter. The other ar- 

 borescent species are B. littoralis, B. cylin- 

 drostachya, B. australis, B. prionotes, B. 

 Menziesii and B. ilicifolia. The remainder 

 are more generally shrubs of from fifteen 

 to twenty feet in height, though in some 

 instances, as B. nutans, B. pidchella and 

 B. sphcerocarpa, of much humbler growth. 

 The foliage is remarkable for its harsh 

 rigid coriaceous character, and the leaves 

 are generally dark green on the upper sur- 

 face, and clothed with a white or rufous 

 down beneath, their margins being either 

 deeply serrated or only spinous, rarely 

 entire. Their form is singularly variable, 

 thus in B. Meisneri they are small, reflexed 

 and sharp pointed ; in B. spinulosa and B. 

 erici folia they are linear, three to four 

 inches in length, and about an eighth of an 

 inch in breadth. B. latifolia is distinguished 

 by having lanceolate leaves, nearly a foot 

 long and three inches broad, covered with 

 a rich rufous down on the underside. B. 

 Solandri has broad ovate leaves, deeply 

 sinuated. B. speciosa and B. Victoria have 

 long linear leaves (fourteen inches) covered 

 with whitish down beneath. B. dryan- 

 droides and B.Brovmii have very elegant 

 foliage, the latter bearing very much the 

 appearance of a species of Mimosa. B. 

 coccinea is remarkable for its large head of 

 deep red flowers. One species, B. integri- 

 folia, is named the Honeysuckle by the 



