distinct, overlapping each other, and not 

 being united into a tube. [W. C] 



BEGGAR-TICKS. An American name 

 for Bidcns frondosa and B. connata. 



BEGONIACE-E. (Begoniads.) A natural 

 order of dicotyledonous plants, belonging 

 to the nionochlamydeous sub-class of De 

 Candolle. Lindley places the order in his 

 Cucurbital (Cucumber) Alliance. The order 

 contains herbaceous plants or succulent 

 under-shrubs. The leaves have an oblique 

 form, and are placed alternately on the 

 stem, having stipules at their base. The 

 flowers have no petals, but consist of a 

 single perianth, usually pink-coloured, 

 ■which is placed above the ovary or seed- 

 vessel. Some flowers have stamens only, 

 others pistils only : in the former, the 

 perianth has from two to four divisions ; 

 in the latter from two to eight. The 

 stamens are numerous and are collected 

 in a head. The stigmas are three, and the 

 fruit is winged with three divisions. Some 

 of the plants produce buds which are 

 easily detached so as to constitute living 

 plants. The plants are common in the 

 East and West Indies, and South America ; 

 a few occur in Madagascar and South 

 Africa. They are said to possess bitter and 

 astringent qualities, and some have been 



: used in the cure of fluxes of various kinds. 

 The succulent acid stalks of several species 



- are employed as potherbs like rhubarb. 

 There are two divisions of this order : 

 1. Stephanoearpea, having a persistent 

 style ; 2. G-ymnocarpece, having a deci- 

 duous style. In the order there are, ac- 

 cording to Klotzsch, forty-two genera and 

 about one hundred and ninety species: 

 Illustrative genera:— Bary a, Begonia, Biplo- 

 cV'-iiium, EicoMia, Mezieria, Gireoudia, and 

 Pritzelia. [J. H. B.] 



I BEGONIA. The genus whence the 

 natural order Beg 'oniacece derives its name. 

 It consists of herbaceous plants found in 

 the East and "West Indies, Brazil and other 

 parts of South America, and in Mexico. 

 The staminate flowers have four and the 

 pistillate five sepals. Anthers oblong, with 

 an obtuse connective elongated at the 

 apex ; filaments short and not united. 

 Style persistent, its branches surrounded by 

 a continuous papillose band, which makes 

 two spiral turns. Placentas stalked and 

 bilamellar, split lengthwise. There are 

 forty-seven known species. The genus is 

 named after Michel Begon, a Frenchman, 

 who promoted the study of botany. The 

 plants receive the name of Elephant's-ear 

 from the form of their leaves. The stalks 

 of some of the species are used in the 

 same way as rhubarb. [J. H. BJ 



BEHEN. Silene Behen, Cucubalis Behen, 

 now SUene inflata, and Serratula Behen. 



BEHEN BLANC. (Ft.) Silene inflata. 

 — ROUGE. Centranthus ruber. 



BEJARIA A synonyme of Be/aria, a 

 genus of ericaceous plants related to Rho- 

 dodendron. 



BELANGERA. A genus of Brazilian 

 trees belonging to Cunoniacece, with oppo- 

 site stalked leaves having from three or 

 five serrated leaflets ; stipules caducous ; 

 acemes simple, axillary ; calyx six-parted ; 

 petals none; stamens numerous, on a 

 perigynous disk ; ovary free. [J. T. S.] 



BELIS. A synonyme of the coniferous 



genus Cunninghamia. 



BELLADONNA. A name sometimes 

 given to a grotip consisting of certain 

 species of Amaryllis, of which A. Bella- 

 donna is the type. The genus is not 

 generally adopted, and indeed, according 

 to Herbert, its type is also the type of the 

 Linncean Amaryllis. [T. M.] 



BELLADONNA. Atropa Belladonna, the 

 Deadly Nightshade. 



BELLADONE. (Fr.) Atropa Belladonna. 



— DAUTOMNE. Amaryllis Belladonna. 



— DE ROUEN, or D' E'TE'. Hippeastrum 

 vittatum. 



BELLE DAME. (Fr.) Atriplex hortensis. 



BELLE-DE-JOUR. (Fr.) Convolvulus 



tricolor. DE-NUIT. Hirabilis Jalapa. 



— D'ONZE HEURES. Ornithogalum um- 

 bellatum. 



BELLENDENA. A genus of protea- 

 ceous plants. The only species, B. montana, 

 is a native of Tasmania, where it has been 

 found on Mount Wellington. It bears a 

 short spike of apetalous flowers of four 

 sepals, with four free stamens rather 

 shorter than the sepals, and a filiform 

 style ; its fruit is a nut. The plant is of 

 humble growth, eight to ten inches in 

 height, having crowded short^stalked 

 wedge-shaped leaves, obsoletely three 

 nerved with a three-toothed apex. [R. H.] 



BELLERIC. The astringent fruit of 

 Terminalia Bellerica. 



BELL-FLOWER. The common name for 

 Campanula; also applied to Canarina Cam- 

 panula. 



BELLEVALIA. A genus of Liliacew, 

 containing a few bulbous plants found in 

 the Mediterranean region and in temperate 

 Asia. They have the habit of some of the 

 larger species of grape hyacinth (Muscari), 

 but are distinct by having their perianth 

 divided half way down into six folded 

 lobes, expanding to form a prismatic bell. 

 From the true hyacinths they differ by the 

 perianth having an angular and not a cir- 

 cular section. The few leaves are radical, 

 broadly linear ; the flowers small, whitish 

 or violet tinged with green. [J. T. SJ 



BELLIDIASTRUM. A genus of the 



composite family, containing but one spe- 

 cies, B. Michelii, which is found in the Alps 

 of Central and Southern Europe. The plant 

 without close examination might be readily 

 taken for a common daisy (Bellis), but can 

 be easily distinguished from that genus 

 by the presence of a copious pappus of 

 rough hairs, the daisy having no pappus 

 at all. [A. A. BJ 



