147 



€Tje Crragtirg af>26atang. 



[blas 



BLACK-WOOD. An Indian furniture 

 wood obtained from Balbergia latifolia; 

 also a name for that of Melhania melanoxy- 

 lon. — , of Xew South Wales. Acacia 

 Melanoxylon. 



BLACKWELLIA. A genus of Homar 

 liacew, named in honour of Elizabeth 

 Blackwell, tta e author of a forgotten herbal ; 

 technically it is characterised by having 

 an adherent top-shaped calyx, whose limb 

 is divided into from five to fifteen divi- 

 sions, glandular at the base or in the 

 centre; stamens opposite the petals; ovary 

 conical above, with three to five styles ; 

 fruit a one-celled many-seeded capsule. 

 The species are small trees, natives of 

 I India, Mauritius, and China. B.padiflora, 

 ; a greenhouse shrub, much resembles the 

 common Prun us Padus in appearance; and 

 there are also other species of the genus in 

 cultivation. [M. T. MJ I 



; BLADDER-GREEN. A colour obtained I 

 , from the berries of Rhamnus catharticus. \ 

 ! BLADDER KETMIA. Hibiscus Trio-] 

 '. num. 



BLADDER-POD. The common name for 

 Physolobium. 



BLADDER-SEED. The common name j 

 for Physospermum. 



BLADDERWORT. The common name 

 for Utricularia. 



1 BLADDERY. Inflated lite an animal ' 

 bladder ; as the fruit of the Bladder Senna, 



Colutea arborescens. 



BLADE. The lamina or expanded part 

 of a leaf. 



BLJSRLA.. A genus of Ericacece, con- 

 taining many heath-like shrubs, from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, with opposite and 

 ternate leaves, and terminal clusters of 

 flowers. The calyx is four-parted, the per- 

 sistent corolla is campanulate, sometimes 

 a little expanded below. The four stamens 

 are inserted below the hypogynous disc. 

 The ovary is four-celled, with many ovules 

 in each ceU. The capsiile is ^lobular with 

 four rounded angles. The habit and struc- 

 ture of the members of this ?enus are the 

 same as in Erica, from which they differ 

 only in having four instead of eieht 

 stamens. [W. C] | 



BLAKEA. A genus of trees or shrubs 

 belonging to Melagtomaceae, natives of tro- 

 pical America, with opposite petiolate three 

 or five-nerved leathery leaves, glabrous 

 and shining above, often covered with 

 short rust-coloured wool beneath as well 

 as the peduncles, which are axillary and j 

 one-flowered ; flowers lar?e, handsome, : 

 rose-coloured, the bell-shaped calyx with 

 four or six broad scales at the base; 

 petals six; stamens twelve to sixteen, 

 anther? cohering, opening by a pair of 

 pores at the apex, shortly spurred at the 

 base; ovary half -inferior, six-celled ; style} 

 thread-like ; fruit a six-celled berry with nu- 

 merous seeds. B. quinquenervia of Guiana 

 has an edible yellow fruit. [J. T. S.] 1 



BLANC D'E AU. (Fr.) Nymphma alba. — , 

 DE HOLLANDE. Populus alba. 



BLANCHETTE. (Fr.) Valeriana Locusta. 



BLANCHING. A whitening of the usu- 

 ally green parts of plants, to which the 

 term Albefactio is applied. 



BLANCOA. A genus of haamodoraceous 

 plants, consisting of dwarf stemless herbs, 

 with the aspect of a Barbacenia, having 

 equitant hoary falcate acuminate leaves 

 as long as the furfuraceous scape, which 

 latter supports two or three large nod- 

 ding flowers, both flowers and peduncles 

 being clothed on the outside with plumose 

 hairs. The perianth is elongately bell- 

 shaped or sub-ciavate, with an erect six- 

 toothed equal limb, and is furnished with 

 six sub-sessile anthers. The species B. 

 canescens is found in the Swan River 

 Colony. [T. M.] 



BLANDFORDIA. A genus of Liliacea, 

 consisting of very handsome perennial 

 herbs, having linear elongate striate radical 

 leaves, dilated and somewhat sheathing at 

 the base ; others shorter and more distant, 

 appearing on the flower stem, which is 

 simple with a many-flowered raceme at the 

 top. The flowers are solitary on recurved 

 pedicels, and have a tube-funnel-shaped 

 six-cleft regular perianth, with ovate 

 acutish segments, six equal stamens, 

 scarcely exserted, and a free long-stalked 

 narrow three-celled ovary, terminated by 

 a filiform style and obtuse stigma. Several 

 species, natives of New Holland and Tas- 

 mania, are known. B. marginata has rigid 

 sub-erect leaves, scabrous along the margin, 

 and lengthened racemes of pendulous, con- 

 ically funnel-shaped flowers, which are of 

 a deep rich coppery red outside, yellow 

 within and at the edges of the rounded 

 petaline divisions, which at the back ter- 

 minate in a sharp orange-coloured point. 

 In B. nobilis the leaves are very narrow 

 and entire, and the flowers are ventricosely 

 funnel-shaped, snbumbellate, red with the 

 upper half yellow. B. grandiflora has 

 rigid erect leaves serrated at the point and 

 short racemes of pendulous ventricosely 

 funnel-shaped flowers, which are red with 

 the upper half yellow, and have retuse 

 petals. In B. Cunninghamii the leaves are 

 weakish, spreading, quite entire and 

 smooth the flowers pendulous, conical, 

 inflated at the apex, subumbellate, reddish 

 throughout, the segments all acute, and 

 the stamens somewhat exserted. They 

 are all handsome plants, and some one or 

 other of them may not unfrequently be 

 met with in our greenhouses. [T. MJ 



BLASTEMA. The axis of an embryo, 

 comprehending the radicle and plumule, 

 with the iutervening portion. Also the 

 thallus of a lichen. 



BLASTIDIA. Secondary cells generated 

 in the interior of another cell. 



BLASTUS. The plumule. 



BLASTHEMANTHTJS. A tree found near 

 the Amazon river, has been considered by 



