135 



CTI)e {featfurg of iSatang. 



are alternate, stalked, elliptical in form, small. The genus bears the name of Ben- 

 and acute, 'the upper surface nearly comi, the last king of Teneriffe. [A. A. B.] 

 smooth, and the lower covered with BENGAL ROOT. An old name for the 

 white starry pubescence, me flowers : are ts of tlie Yellow zedoary, Zingiber Casu- 



white, almost the size of those of the lime munar 

 tree and arranged in racemes in the upper 



axils of the leaves. The genus bears the BENINCASA. This name is applied to a 

 name of Dr. Charles Belot, a distinguished genus of cucurbitaceous plants, in honor of 

 [A. A. B.] I Count Benincasa, an Italian nobleman. 

 The plants are herbs with hairy musk- 

 scented leaves, climbing stems, and simple 



surgeon of Havannah. 



BELYE'DE'RE. (Fr.) Kocliia scoparia, 

 BELVISIACE.E. A group 



of three or tendrils. The flowers are solitary, yellow, 



four tropical species, whose affinities had 

 j been long misunderstood, owing to the 

 | imperfect specimens which had been ob- 



polygamous, and monoecious. They have 



calyx with short wide lobes, wavy and 



dentate at the margin ; a corolla, with five 



Thev are now, however, better roundish spreading lobes, wavy at the 



io m three bundles, di- 



the females, the 



lf filaments short and wide, and the anthers 



which'they SitS&SSi^StM ! very irregujar in shape ; stigma thick_and 



ovary, the numerous stamens turned in- 



known, and have been shown to constitute ™*rgm_; staensm t 

 a small family closely allied to Myrtacea, If. ,~ » - * £ » e J «ai> in 



irregular ; fruit ovate, cylindrical, downy : 

 the seeds thickened at the margin. The un- 

 ripe fruits of B. cerifera, the White Gourd 

 of India, are universally employed by the 

 natives in their curries. [M. T. M.] 



BENJAMIN TREE. Styrax Benzoin. 

 The name is also sometimes applied to 

 Ficus Benjamina, and to Benzoin odori- 

 ferum, the Laurus Benzoin of Linnaeus. 



BENJAMIN-BUSH. An American name 

 for Benzoin odoriferum. 



BENNET, HERB. Geumurbanum. 



BENOITE COMMUNE. (Fr.) Geum 

 urbanum. 



BENTHAMIA. A genus of epigynous 



exogenous plants, belonging to the natural 



order Cornacece, distinguished by having 



, Ceratopteris, Hymenolepis, and I the calyx segments small, four-toothed ; 



Schizcea. The characters relied on were I petals four, fleshy and cup-shaped; stamens 



{»» +1^ rt - n .V.*-.1<-t _c . _.. 1 - _c ;j-_ . n ,t ^ 



wards in the bud, the fruit and the seeds. 



I They differ in their plaited petals, united 



: into' a rotate lobed corolla, and in their 



I stamens, united in concentric rings, of 



which the outer ones are converted into 



I barren staminodia. They are all. shrubby 



I or arborescent, with alternate leaves and 



! axillary almost sessile flowers. They form 



■ two genera: Napoleona (unwarrantably 



I altered by Desvaux, for political reasons, 



to Belvisia), from tropical Africa ; and 



Asteranthos, from North Brazil. 



BELVISIA. A group of ferns, separated 

 by Mirbel from Acrostichum, as formerly 

 understood. The species referred to it 

 have little or no affinity, according to 

 modern systems of classification, but are 

 included severally in Actiniopteris, Asple- 



the fructification, occupying the whole 

 space between the edge of the frond and 

 the costa, so as to form a line on each 

 side, and covered by a recurved mem- 

 brane, attached to the edge of the frond ; 

 but the proposed species have only an ex- 

 ternal resemblance, even in these par- 

 ticulars. The name Belvisia is also a 

 synonyme of Napoleona. [T. M.] 



BENCAO DE DECS. The Brazilian name 

 for the 'esculent flowers of Abutilon escu- 

 lentum. 



BENCOMIA. The species of this genus, 

 which belongs to that section of the rose 

 family called Sanguisorbece, are both found 

 in Teneriffe. They are low perennial 

 shrubs, with unequally pinnated leaves 

 and pectinately toothed stipules. Their 

 flowers are male and female, on different 

 plants, and arranged in long catkin-like 

 bracted spikes. The tube of the calyx, 

 when mature, has the appearance of a 

 berry, and encloses two to four achenes. 

 The genus is nearly allied to that of the 

 garden burnet (Poteriumi, but differs from 

 it in having dioecious flowers, as well as in 

 the long spikes. B. caudata was intro- 

 duced to English gardens in 1779, but is 

 seldom to be met with. The flowers are 

 greenish, tinged with purple, and very 



four ; style one ; fruits small drupes grow- 

 ing together and forming a large berry 

 resembling the fruit of Arbutus, and 

 red when ripe. The leaves are opposite, 

 and bear no inconsiderable resemblance to 

 those of the Cornelian cherry. B. frag //era 

 was introduced to English gardens about 

 the year 1833, and is now to be found 

 in some good collections; but being a 

 native of northern India, it is rather 

 tender, and frequently hurt during severe 

 winters, unless protected, especially in the 

 midland and southern counties. [D. M.] 



BENTS. A common country name for 

 the dried stalks or culms of various grasses 

 occurring in pastures, especially those of 

 Agrostis and Cynosurus. 



BENZOIN. A genus of Lauracece, in- 

 habiting the damp shady woods of North 

 America, and found also in Nepal. It has 

 dioecious involucrated flowers; the males 

 with a calyx of six equal permanent seg- 

 ments, and nine stamens in three rows, 

 and females smaller than the males, with 

 fifteen to eighteen sterile stamens, amongst 

 which smaller spathulate bodies are dis- 

 persed. The ovary is one-celled with a 

 single ovule, and the style short with a 

 two-lobed stigma. There are in the male 

 flowers two or three rows of glands, six to 



