yellow bark of the berberry indicated it as 

 a remedy for this diseased condition. 



Another popular notion with respect to 

 this shrub is, that, it is the cause of blight 

 or rust in corn. This has arisen from the 

 circumstance that the Berberry is itself 

 frequently attacked by a species of epi- 

 rhyte— the JEcidium Berberidis, in which 

 the leaves appear to be covered with spots 

 of a brightish red colour, whilst wheat is 

 subject to another epiphyte, the Uredo 

 rubigo or rust. There has, however, been 

 no connection traced between these tM-o, 

 I and there can be no doubt that the peculi- 

 arity of colour is at the bottom of both the 

 popular errors now described ; at all events, 

 with regard to the last, we can point to 

 fields and districts where rust is common 

 on wheat, and yet there is no berberry 

 near, while in other spots close under a 

 berberry hedge, this disease of wheat 

 has scarcely been heard of. [J. B .] 



BERBERRY. Berberis vulgaris, some- 

 times called Barberry. — , OPTHALMIC. 

 Berberis Lycium. 



BERCE (Fr.) Heracleum Sphondylium. 



BERCHEMIA. Twining, orerect, decid- 

 uous shrubs, belonging to the order Bham- 

 nacece. B. volvbilis is a native of Carolina 

 and Virginia, in deep swamps near the 

 coast. According to Pursh it ascends the 

 highest trees of Taxodium distichum, in 

 the Dismal Swamp, near Suffolk, in Vir- 

 ginia : and it is known there by the name 

 of Supple Jack. The stems twine round 

 one another, or any object which they may 

 be near. The flowers are small and of a 

 greenish-yellow colour; and in America 

 they are succeeded by oblong violet- 

 coloured berries. It will grow in any 

 common soil, and is well adapted for 

 bowers or trellis-work. It rarely, however, 

 exceeds the height of eight or ten feet in 

 this country, owing probably to the neglect 

 of planting it in wet peaty soil. It was 

 introduced" in 1714. The other species are 

 not much cultivated. [C. A. J.] 



BERGAMOT. Mentha, citrata or odorata. 

 — "WILD. An American name for Monarda 

 fistulosa. 



BERGAMOTTE. (Er.) The Lime, Citrus 

 Limetta. 



BERGERA, one of the genera of Auran- 

 tiacece, is so named in honour of a Danish 

 botanist. The genus consists of a few 

 species of small trees with pinnate leaves, 

 small white flowers in terminal panicles, 

 with a five-cleft calyx, five spreading 

 petals, ten stamens with ovate anthers, 

 and filaments flattened at the base. The 

 fruit is one-celled and one-seeded. B. 

 Kiinigi is known in India as the Curry- 

 leaf tree, as the natives flavour their cur- 

 ries with its aromatic fragrant leaves. The 

 leaves, root, and bark are likewise used 

 medicinally. The wood is hard and durable, 

 ar. 1 from the seeds a clear transparent oil, 

 called Simbolee oil, is extracted. [M. T.M.] 



BER.GIA. An unimportant family of 



herbaceous plants belonging to the order 

 Elatinacece. All the species are natives of 

 the East Indies, Java, or the Cape of Good 

 Hope, where they grow in moist places, 

 such as rice fields, which are irrigated 

 the greater part of the year. Dr. 

 "Wight says, that in India the little B. 

 ammanioides bears a Tamul name equi- 

 valent to Water-fire, which, as Lindley 

 observes, seems a curious coincidence with 

 the word "Water-pepper, given in English 

 to Elatine, and seems to indicate a popular 

 belief in these plants possessing some 

 acridity. [C. A. J.] 



BERGSMIA. A genus of the Flacourtia 

 family, containing but one species, B. 

 jaratiica, which is a native of Java, and 

 is described as being a large tree with 

 alternate or opposite stalked leaves, which 

 are entire, from three to five inches long, 

 and lanceolate in form, their upper surface 

 smooth, and of a whitish colour beneath. 

 The flowers are arranged in axillary ra- 

 cemes and have a three-parted calyx, five 

 petals, and four or five stamens, the stalks 

 of which are united. The fruit is not known. 

 The genus bears the name of C. A. Bergsma, 

 a professor of botany in Holland. [A. A. BJ 



BERLAKDIERA. A genus of the com- 

 posite family, nearly related to Silphium, 

 but differing in the wingless achenes of 

 the ray florets, which are arranged in a 

 single series, and are adherent to the large 

 interior involucral scales. The five known 

 species, distributed over the S. W. States, 

 Texas, and llexico, are pretty perennial 

 herbs one to two feet high, the stems 

 slightly branching above and terminating 

 in solitary stalked 3-eilow-rayed flower- 

 heads an inch or more across, while the 

 alternate heart-shaped ovate-oblong, or 

 in one case pinnatind, leaves have notched 

 margins, and are clothed underneath with 

 a white velvety down. The involucral 

 scales are foliaceous (like those of the 

 Dahlia) and in three series; the strap- 

 shaped ray-florets have a pistil only ; the 

 tubular disc ones are sterile and enveloped 

 by the dilated chaffy scales of the recep- 

 tacle; and the flattened obovate achenes 

 have a pappus of two short awns. The 

 genus bears the name of M. Berlandier, an 

 American botanist, who collected largely 

 in Texas. [A. A. B.] 



BERLE. (Fr.) Shim. 



BERMUDIENNE A v PETITES FLEURS- 

 (Fr.) Sisyrinchium Bermudiana. 



BERNHARDIA. A synonyme of Psilo- 

 tum and Tmesipteris. 

 BERRIED. The same as Baccate. 

 BERRY. See Bacca. 



BERRY A. A genus of the lime tree 

 family (Tiliaceai). But one species, B. 

 Ammonilla, is known ; it is a tree with 

 alternate stalked heart-shaped leaves, 

 which are smooth and have from five to 

 seven nerves radiating from the base. The 

 flowers are white and very numerous, 



