arranged in terminal or axillary panicles ; 

 their calyx one-leaved, splitting irregularly 

 into three or five divisions, and about half 

 as long as the petals, which are five in num- 

 ber and narrow oblong in shape. The fruit is 

 athree-celled capsule ornamented with six 

 membranaceous wings covered with silky 

 hairs. The seeds, one to four in each cell, 

 are covered with short rigid hairs which 

 readily enter the skin and produce as much 

 painful itching as those of the Cowitch 

 plant (Mucuna). The tree is a native of 

 the Philippine Islands and Ceylon. In the 

 latter place it becomes one of the largest 

 and most useful timber trees for building 

 purposes, and is considered the best wood 

 in the island for making oil casks. Being 

 light and strong, it is employed in the con- 

 struction of the Massoola boats of Madras. 

 It is exported in large quantities under 

 the name of Trincomalee wood. The native 

 name is said to be Amonilla. The genus is 

 named in honour of the late Dr. Andrew 

 Berry, a Madras botanist. [A. A. B.] 



BERTEROA. A genus of European and 

 temperate Asian cruciferous plants, allied 

 to Farsetia, of which it ought to be con- 

 sidered as a section, as it merely differs 

 from it by having the sepals bulging at 

 the base, the petals bifid, and the valves of 

 the pouch convex, without a nerve ; in 

 habit the two genera agree. From Alyssuw, 

 with which it is frequently associated, it 

 differs by the bifid petals and swollen 

 pouch, which is usually more elongated. 

 B. incana, a common European plant, has 

 small white flowers, and its stems and 

 leaves are covered with close white stellate 

 hairs. [J. T. SJ 



BERTHELOTIA. A genus of the com- 

 posite family, named in honour of Sabin 

 Bert helot, joint editor with Mr. P. B. Webb 

 in their great work on the flora and 

 fauna of the Canaries. But one species 

 is known, which is a small shrub with 

 alternate lanceolate rigid entire leaves, 

 terminated by a little point. The flower 

 heads are arranged in dense corymbs at 

 the apices of the branches, and the florets 

 are purple in colour, those of the ray 

 female and those of the disc having both 

 stamens and pistil. The pappus is white, 

 pilose, and the hairs arranged in one 

 series. All the parts of the plant are 

 covered with short pubescence,which gives 

 it a whitened appearance. The plant is 

 common in the Banda district of India, 

 the Punjab and Scinde, as well as in Sene- 

 gambia. [A. A. B.] 



BERTHOLLETIA. A genus of Lecytlii- 

 dacecp, of which only one species, B. 

 excelsa, which yields the Brazil nuts 

 of our fruit shops, is known. This tree 

 is a native of Guiana, Venezuela, and 

 Brazil ; it forms large forests on the banks 

 of the Amazon and Rio TSegro, and like- 

 wise about Esmeraldas on the Orinoco, 

 where the natives call it 'juvia.' The tree 

 is one of the most majestic in the South 

 American forests, attaining a height of 

 100 or 150 feet, with a smooth cylindrical 



trunk about three or four feet in diameter, 

 and seldom having any branches till near 

 the top. It has bright green leaves about 

 two feet long and six inches wide, entire or 

 undivided, and placed alternately upon the 

 branches. The flowers have a two-parted 

 deciduous calyx, six unequal cream-coloured 

 petals, and numerous stamens united into 

 a broad hood-shaped mass, those at the 

 base being fertile and the upper ones 

 sterile. The fruit is nearly round, and 

 about six inches in diameter, having an 

 extremely hard shell about half an inch 

 thick, and containing from eighteen to 

 twenty-four triangular wrinkled seeds, 

 which are so beautifully packed within the 

 shell that when once disturbed it is im- 

 possible to replace them. When these 

 fruits are ripe they fall from the tree and 

 are collected into heaps by troops of Indians 

 called castanhieros, who visit the forests at 

 the proper season expressly for this pur- 

 pose ; they are then split open with an axe, 

 and the seeds (which are what we call 

 Brazil nuts) taken out and packed in 

 baskets for transportation to Para in the 

 native canoes. Brazil nuts form a con- 

 siderable article of export from the port of 

 Para (whence they are sometimes called 



Bertholletia excelsa. 



Para nuts), about 50,000 bushels being 

 annually sent to this country alone. Be- 

 sides their use as an article of dessert, a 

 bland oil, used by watchmakers and artists, 

 is obtained from them by pressure. And 

 at Para the fibrous bark of the tree is used 

 for caulking ships, as a substitute for 

 oakum. [A. S.] 



BERTOLOjS t IA. A genus of Melasto- 

 viacece, "containing dwarf or procumbent 

 herbs, natives of the dense forests of 

 Brazil. Leaves opposite, stalked, heart- 

 shaped, ciliated, with five or more ribs ; 

 flowers nearly sessile in cymes ; petals 

 Ave, white rose-coloured or purplish : sta- 

 mens ten; ovary free, three-celled; capsule 

 three-winged. B. metadata is a pretty 



