the inner side of the ovaries near their base, 

 and uniting at the top into a single cup- 

 shaped flve-lobed stigma ; fruits membra- 

 nous, one-seeded. The species are natives 

 of Persia, and the Altai and Himalayan 

 mountains. [M. T. M.] 



BEEXERIA A genus of terrestrial 

 orchids, proposed by the younger Reiehen- 

 bach, but hardly distinct from Clilorma. 



BIEXXIAL. Requiring two years to 

 form its flowers and fruit, and then dying : 

 growing one year, and flowering, fruiting 

 and dying the next. 



BIFARIOUS, BIFARIAM. Arranged in 

 two rows. This term is frequently applied 

 to flowers and to ovules. 



BIFARIOFSLY IMBRICATED. Over- 

 lapping in two rows. 



BIFERFS. Double bearing ; producing 

 flowers or fruit twice in the same season. 



BIFIDTJS, Split half way down into two 

 parts: 



BIFOLIOLATE. Having two leaflets 

 only to a leaf. 



BIFOLLICULFS. A double follicle. 



BIFLORFS. Bearing two flowers on the 

 same footstalk. Also flowering twice in 

 the same year. 



BIFORATE, Having two pores or aper- 

 tures. 



BIFORINES. Oblong cells, with an 

 aperture at each end, through which 

 raphides are expelled. 



BIFREXARIA A name given to those 

 Maxillaria-like plants which have two 

 froena or caudicles to their pollen masses 

 instead of four. The species are all from the 

 tropics of America. 



BIFROXS. Growing on both surfaces of 

 a leaf. Also appearing equally like two 

 different things. A term seldom used. 



BIFURCATE. Twice-forked ; having two 

 pairs of diverging horn-like arms. 



BIG. The common Bere or four-rowed 

 Barley, Hordeum vulgare. 



BIGAMEA A Ceylon plant generally 

 considered a3 belonging to Combretacece, 

 j but referred by Planchbn to a separate order, 

 AncistrocladeeeifromAncistrocladus, which 

 is equivalent to Bigamea. It is a shrubby- 

 stemmed climber, whose main stem is 

 short and terminated by a tuft of wedge- 

 shaped leaves : from this fascicle springs 

 a branch, which towards its apex bears 

 short alternate patent branches with ter- 

 minal tufts of lanceolate leaves. The 

 flowers have five petals, five stamens, an in- 

 ferior ovary, a pyramidal style with three 

 stigmas ; fruit a pear-shaped drupe covered 

 by the five-parted calyx limb. [J. T. S.] 



BIGAXDELLE. rFr.) Cerasus vulgaris. 



BIGARADE. The bitter or Seville 

 Orange, Citrus vulgaris. 



BIGARADIER. (Fr.) Citrus vulgaris. 



BIGARREAUTIER. (Fr.) Cerasus avium. 



BIGEMINATE. Same as Biconjugate. 



BIGEMIXOUS. In. two pairs; as the 

 placenta? of many plants. 



BIGENERS. Mule plants obtained by 

 crossing species of different genera. This 

 kind of hybridism has been said to be 

 i impossible : Kolreuter in particular adduced 

 ! examples of failure in the attempt ; but 

 modern experiments seem to show the 

 possibility of such a union. 



j BIGLFMIS. Consisting of two of the 

 scales called, among grasses, glumes. 



BIGXONTACE.E. (Bignoniads ; the Trum- 

 pet-flower family.) A natural order of 

 dicotyledonous or exogenous plants be- 

 longing to the sub-class Corollifloras of De 

 Canclolle, and to the Bignonial Alliance of 

 Lindley, which includes also figworts, acan- 

 thads, and gesnerworts. The order contains 

 trees or twining or climbing shrubby 

 plants, with usually opposite compound 

 leaves, and showy often trumpet-shaped 

 flowers. Calyx divided or entire, sometimes 

 in the form of a spathe ; corolla usually 

 irregular, four to five lobed, and with a 

 swollen portion below its mouth; stamens 

 five, unequal, one generally, two occasion- 

 ally, abortive. Ovary having two cavities, 

 surrounded by an expansion at its base ; 

 ovules attached to the central part of the 

 ovary. Fruit a two-valved often pod-like 

 capsule, divided by a spurious expansion of 

 the placenta; seeds generally numerous 

 and winged ; embryo without albumen, 

 and having broad leafy cotyledons. The 

 plants are found in the tropical regions of 

 both hemispheres, but predominate in the 

 eastern. They extend in America from 

 Pennsylvania in the north, to Chili in the 

 south. They do not occur wild in Europe. 

 The plants produce abundance of showy 

 finely-coloured flowers. Some yield dyes ; 

 others supply timber. Among them are 

 medicinal agents used in chest affections, 

 and for worms. There are 46 genera 

 and 452 species described. Illustrative 

 genera : Bignonia, Calosanthes, Catalpa, 

 Eccreniocarpus, Jacaranda, Spathodea, Te- 

 coma. [J. H. B.] 



BIGXOXIA. The order Bignoniacece 

 takes its name from this genus, which was 

 itself so called in honour of the Abbe 

 Bignon, librarian to Louis XIV. The 

 species of Bignonia are remarkable for the 

 beauty of their flowers, and hence many 

 are cultivated in this country. B. capreo- 

 lata, one of the handsomest species, is a 

 native of North America, but capable of 

 being grown in warm places in this country 

 as an ornamental climbing plant. The 

 other species are for the most part natives 

 of the warmer regions of the western 

 hemisphere. The botanical characteristics 

 of the genus are a bell-shaped calyx, 

 slightly wavy at the margin ; an irregular 

 bell-shaped corolla; five stamens, two long 

 and two short of which are fertile, and one 

 sterile ; stigma divided into two lamella? ; 



