BLAz] 



QEfyz Ereatfurj) ai SSfltang. 



148 



Planchon to belong to a new genus of Och- 

 nacece, to which he gives the above name. 

 Its botanical characters are interesting; the 

 chief are : a double calyx, each of five over- 

 lapping pieces ; five petals ; twenty glands 

 in one row, exterior to the ten stamens ; 

 anthers prolonged into a leaf-like process, 

 opening by two pores, the stamens after 

 flowering turned to one side of the 

 flower ; ovary placed on a very short 

 stalk, three to five-celled, and many-seeded. 

 The alternate oblong leaves have cartila- 

 ginous stipules inserted on to the branch 

 above the insertion of the leaf. [M. T. M.] 



BLAZE', or BLANZE. (Pr.) A species 

 of Triticum. 



BLAZING STAR. A North American 

 name for Liatris squarrcsa, and Chamce- 

 lirium luteum. 



BLE'. (Pr.) Triticum vulgare. — 

 BARBU. Triticum turgidum. — D' 

 ABONDANCE. Triticum compositum. — 

 DE BARBARIE. Polygonum Fagopyrum. 



— DE MIRACLE. Triticum composition. 



— DE TURQUIE. Zea Mays. — DE 

 VACHE. Melampyrum arvense. — NOIR. 

 Polygonum Fagopyrum. — , TURC. Triti- 

 cum compositum. 



BLEABERRT. The Bilberry, Vaccinium 

 Myrtillus; sometimes also applied to the 

 Bog Whortleberry, Vaccinium uliginosum. 



BLECHNIDITJM. A genus of polypodi- 

 aceous ferns, closely related to Blechnum, 

 from which it differs only in the veins 

 being reticulated instead of free. The 

 only species, B. melanopus, is a native of 

 India, and is a moderate-sized pinnatifid 

 fern, with falcate segments, having a 

 general resemblance to the common garden 

 Blechnum occidentale. As its trivial name 

 indicates, the stipes or stalk of the frond 

 is black. [T M.] 



BLECHNOPSIS. A nime proposed by 

 Presl for certain species separated from 

 Blechnum, namely, B. orientale, cartilagi- 

 neum, brasiliensc, &c. It is not adopted by 

 other pteridologists. [T. M.] 



BLECHNUM. A considerable genus of 

 polypodiaceous ferns belonging to the 

 group Lomariea?. They are plants with 

 simple pinnatifid or pinnate fronds,of which 

 the fertile ones are sometimes more or 

 less contracted. They are distinguished by 

 having the sori linear, lying parallel with 

 and more or less approximate to the mid- 

 rib, and therefore theoretically distant 

 from the margin, but sometimes becoming 

 at the same time sub-marginal by the con- 

 traction of the fronds. These sori are 

 covered by linear indusia, which are at- 

 tached along that side of the receptacle 

 which is nearest the margin of the frond, 

 and open along the inward side, or that 

 which is nearest to the midrib. The veins, 

 as seen in the sterile fronds, where they 

 are uninterrupted by the developement of 

 the fructification, are free, that is, they 

 branch out from the costa, and become 

 forked as they extend towards the margin, 



without coming in contact with each 

 other ; but in the fertile fronds they are 

 combined within the margin, and generally 

 near the base by the receptacle which runs 

 transversely to them. Leaving . out of 

 view Blechnidium, which is distinguished 

 from Blechnum only by the reticulation 

 of its veins, its nearest ally is Lomaria, 

 which indeed presents sometimes so little 

 difference that the same plants are in some 

 cases indifferently referred to either genus 

 by different authors, or even by the same 

 author in different publications. The 

 proper distinction between the two con- 

 sists in the fructification of Lomaria being 

 marginal, and that of Blechnum within the 

 margin, and this irrespective of the con- 

 traction of the fronds, which latter feature 

 has sometimes been taken as the mark of 

 Lomaria. 



The species of Blechnum range under two 

 divisions, in one of which, represented by 

 the Indian B. orientale, the sori is placed 

 very near the costa, and in the other, repre- 

 sented by our native B. Spicant, it becomes 

 sub-marginal from the contraction of the 

 fronds. The former group is the more 

 typical. B. orientale is a tall growing and 

 very handsome fern found throughout 

 India and the East. It has a short caudex, 

 which is clothed with long narrow glossy 

 scales. The fronds, which are often three 

 feet long or more, are pinnated, the pinna? 

 sometimes a foot long, elongately linear, 

 tapering to a narrow point. B. 'Spicant is a 

 humbler plant, producing horizontal pecti- 

 nately pinnatifid sterile fronds, and erect 

 fertile ones, with narrower or contracted 

 segments. The genus contains a consider- 

 able number of species, which are abundant 

 in tropical countries, a large proportion of 

 them being found in the northern parts of 

 South America, in the West Indian Islands, 

 in India, and in the various islands of the 

 Eastern sea. A few species occur in Austra- 

 lasia, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in 

 Chili ; and our native, B. Spicant, is found 

 throughout Europe, in Madeira and the 

 adjacent islands, in the Caucasian regions, 

 and in Kamtschatka. [T. M.] 



BLECHPM. A genus of herbaceous 

 plants of the order Acanthacea?, abundant in 

 tropical America, and occurring also in 

 India and Madagascar. The flowers are in 

 large axillary or terminal spikes; they 

 spring from the axils of broad herbaceous 

 imbricated bracts. The calyx is deeply 

 five-cleft; the corolla isfunnel-shaped,with a 

 long tube and a small regular five-fid limb ; 

 the four included didynamous stamens are 

 inserted in the middle of the tube ; the 

 anthers consist of two oval parallel cells ; 

 the ovary is two-celled, with four ir more 

 ovules in each cell; the style is simple, 

 and the stigma bifid. The ovate capsule 

 is two-celled, with eight or more roundish 

 seeds. [W. C] 



BLEEKERIA. This name has been ap- 

 plied to a tree, native of New Holland, and 

 the island of Ceram, in honour of Dr. 

 Bleeker, a distinguished student of the 



