129 



Wfyz QLxtziUT-Q of 230taitB. 



BATE 



white roots and others red. The roots 

 grow to a very great size ; according to 

 Crawford they sometimes attain the enor- 

 mous weight of fifty pounds in Java ; but 

 in the United States the general weight is 

 from three to twelve pounds each tuber, 

 and the yield per acre is estimated at from 

 200 to 300 bushels. They have an agree- 

 able sweetish taste, and contain rather 

 more flesh-forming matters than the com- 

 mon potato, considerably more sugar, and 

 a slight excess of starch. 



B. Jalapa has large tuberous roots and 



creeping stems like the last. The leaves of 



this species are heart-shaped, of a deep green 



j upon the upper surface, and covered with a 



white woolly down beneath; and the flowers 



! are either white or rose-coloured, and very 



■ showy. It is a native of Mexico, growing 



j commonly in the vicinity of the town of 



I Xalapa, whence the specific name Jalapa 



is derived. It was formerly supposed to 



I produce the jalap of the Pharmacopoeia, 



: but that drug is now known to be derived 



from another plant of the same natural 



! order; the roots of B. Jalapa, however, 



: possess purgative properties, and are pro- 



j bably sometimes substituted for true jalap. 



B. paniculata has thick smooth twining 



j stems and large hand-shaped leaves ; and 



its flowers are very handsome and of a 



fine purple colour. It is a native of 



I India, Java, New Holland, Mauritius, "West 



| Africa, Guiana, Brazil, &c. ; and is the 



! species commonly cultivated for food in 



"Western tropical Africa. From the seeds 



of a species of this genus is obtained what 



is called Natal Cotton, a textile material 



resembling true Cotton. [A. S.] 



BATEMANNIA Colleyi is an inconspicu- 

 ous orchid with dull brownish-purple 

 flowers, from Demerara. It differs in 

 little from Maxillaria, excepting having 

 an anther-bed with a membranous border. 

 Some other plants bearing this name 

 belong to the genus Galeottia. 



BATHMLTM. A name given by Link 

 to a group of large-growing ferns now 

 included in Aspidium and Sagenia. [T.M.] 



BATIDECE. The Batis maritima, a low 

 shrubby succulent plant, with opposite 

 leaves, abundant in the salt-marshes on 

 the sea-coasts of the West Indies, has 

 much puzzled botanists as to its real 

 affinities. They have therefore, in com- 

 pliance with a custom now very prevalent 

 in similar cases, endeavoured to solve the 

 problem by supposing it to constitute a 

 family by itself, giving it the plural name 

 of Batidece. The habit of the plant, and 

 the small green .flowers half buried in a 

 succulent spike, give it a great general 

 resemblance to Salicornia ; but the ovary 

 having ("according to Torrey) four cells 

 with one erect ovule in each, differs ma- 

 terially from that of Chenopodiacece. The 

 flowers are in unisexual cylindrical spikes. 

 The males, solitary, under imbricated 

 bracts, have a two-lobed calyx and four 

 stamens, alternating with as many minute 

 scale-like petals, or rather staminodia. 



The females have a two-lobed sessile 

 stigma, without either perianth or stamens. 

 The seed has no albumen, and the embryo 

 is but little curved;' yet Grisebach is 

 probably right in proposing once more to 

 include it among the Chenopodiacece, with 

 which it accords so well in outward appear- 

 ance. 



BATIS. This genus of Exogens has a 

 structure so anomalous that it has been 

 separated as a distinct order, Batidece. The 

 leading features have been just explained ; 

 in addition to which it maybe remembered 

 that the naked ovaries adhere to each other 

 : in the form of a short green four-rowed 

 j cone. Each ovary consists of two carpels, 

 the stigmas being only two ; but it is four- 

 celled, with one ovule in each cell, in con- 

 sequence of the dorsal rib of each carpel 

 being inflexed so as to form a partition, 

 the partition passing between the two 

 : ovules, making the two-celled ovary four- 

 \ celled, with one ovule in each cell. The 

 : ovule is erect from the base of the cell. 

 | The seed contains no albumen, and the 

 i embryo has an inferior radicle. The po- 

 I sition of the Batidece in the natural system 

 j is a question of much interest with bota- 

 nists, who have assigned it widely different 

 stations. There is no doubt, however, 

 that it has some relation with the Callitri- 

 chacece, and in common with that order 

 shows some resemblance to the Caryophyl- 

 lacece. The writer has also suggested a 

 very near affinity with the Yerbenacece, 

 which have the same kind of four-celled 

 ovary. (Trans. Linn. Soc. xxii. 411). The 

 plant is sometimes used in making "West 

 Indian pickles, and its ashes yield large 

 quantities of barilla. [B. C] 



BATODENDRON. A name applied to a 

 genus of Yacciniacece, more commonly 

 considered as a section of the genus Yac- 

 ciniv.m. It is known by its flowers being 

 borne on long thread-like stalks, in leafy or 

 leafless clusters ; the corolla five-lobed, 

 spreading, bell-shaped ; filaments hairy ; 

 anthers provided with two long awns bent 

 backwards ; fruit berry-like, almost taste- 

 less, its cells few-seeded by abortion. The 

 species are all natives of America and 

 Mexico. [M. T. M.] 



BATON BLANC or ROYAL. (Ft.) 

 Asphodelus ramosus. — , DE JACOP. As- 

 phodelus luteus. — , DE SAINT JEAN. 

 Polygonum orientate. 



BATRACHOSPERMEiE, BATRACHOS- 

 PERMTJM. A division and genus of green- 

 spored Algce. The division contains two 

 distinct groups, in one of which the frond is 

 i cartilaginous, solid or hollow, with the 

 [ outer coat cellular ; in the other it is made 

 ! up of a central articulated axis coated with 

 i close-packed descending threads, covered 

 | with whorls of neckiace-like branchlets at 

 regular intervals. In both, the fruit con- 

 : sists of chains of spores, which are ex- 

 ternal in the latter, internal in one genus, 

 at least, of the former. Batrachospermum 

 1 belongs to the second group. Its species 



