blyt] 



QZfyz toagurg of 38otaug. 



152 



pound compressed spikes; spikelets with 

 two to eight flowers, which are all her- 

 maphrodite ; stamens three ; styles cleft. 

 Four species are described, two of which 

 are natives of Britain, namely, B. rufus 

 and B. compressus. The former occurs fre- 

 quently in salt-marshes, near the sea-coasts 

 of England and Ireland ; but the latter is 

 rather rare, particularly in Ireland. B. brevi- 

 folius is a native of India. [D. M.] 



BLYTTIA. A genus of grasses belonging 

 to the tribe Agrostidece. Only one species 

 is described, B. suaveolens, which is the 

 Cinna pendula of SteudeVs Synopsis, and a 

 native of Norway. [D. MJ 



BLTXA. A small genus of stemless 

 aquatic plants found in India and Mada- 

 gascar, belonging to Sydrocharidacece and 

 allied to Vallisneria. They have linear 

 leaves, which as well as the flowers are sub- 

 merged. The flowers are dioecious, produced 

 from a tubular spathe split at the end, 

 which has several stalked flowers in the 

 male plant, but only a single sessile one in 

 the female; the perianth has three calyx-like 

 outer segments, and three linear oblong pe- 

 taloid inner ones, but in the female flower 

 these are at the top of a long tube, ad- 

 hering to the inferior ovary at the base, 

 stamens three to eight; berry one-celled, 

 as in Vallisneria. [J. T. S.] 



BOATLIP. The common name for 

 Scaphy glottis. 



BOAT-SHAPED. Having the figure of a 

 boat in miniature, with its keel. 



BOBUA. A genus which was for a long 

 time known only from a short and imper- 

 fect description, and was generally placed 

 in the Combretum family, but is now gene- 

 rally allowed to be a species of Symplocos 

 OS. spicata). It is a small tree, all its parts 

 of a yellowish-green colour, and retaining 

 that colour in a dried state. The leaves 

 are alternate, stalked and oblong ; the 

 flowers small, white or yellowish-coloured, 

 and borne on short axillary spikes. The 

 fruits are hard, small, and in form like a 

 miniature pitcher, and are sometimes seen 

 strung like beads, and used as necklaces by 

 native children. The plant is common 

 in India and Ceylon. [A. A. B.] 



BOCAGEA. One of the genera of Ano- 

 nacece, characterised by the calyx, which is 

 either divided, of three segments, or entire 

 and cup-shaped; the petals are six in 

 number, distinct ; the stamens definite in 

 number, opposite to the petals. Ovaries 

 three, one-celled, and containing five to 

 eight ovules ; styles free or none. Fruit 

 berry-like, of from one to three carpels, 

 which are on short stalks and contain only 

 three seeds, the remainder being arrested 

 in their growth ; the seeds are horizontal 

 and provided with an arillus. The species 

 are trees inhabiting Brazil. [M. T. MJ 



BOCCONIA. An interesting genus of 

 Papaveracece, so named in honour of a 

 Sicilian botanist. The calyx consists of 

 two cream-coloured or pinkish sepasls 



corolla none; stamens eight to twenty- 

 four ; style bifid ; capsule not jointed, but 

 two-valved, and containing from one to 

 four seeds. The species have their flowers 

 in graceful clusters, and the foliage is also 

 elegant. B. frutescens and B. integrifolia, 

 natives of the West Indies and Mexico, 

 are in cultivation. B. cordata, a hardy 

 species, is a native of China. [M.T. MJ 



BCECKHIA. A genus containing a few 

 sedge-like plants from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, belonging to the natural order 

 Restiacem. The rhizome is creeping, throw- 

 ing up slender simple rigid stems with small 

 membranous sheaths. The flowers are uni- 

 sexual with six small glumes, and are 

 arranged in pairs or in terminal spikes. 

 The male flowers have three stamens; 

 the female a two-celled ovary with one 

 ovule in each cell, ' and two plumose 

 stismas ; fruit a hard nut containing one 

 seed. [J. T. SJ 



BCENNTNGHAUSENIA. A genus of 

 Rutocew, nearly allied to Ruta itself, but 

 distinguished by its flat entire oblong 

 petals ; the ovaries also are placed on a 

 thread-like column or stalk, which projects 

 from a short cup-shaped disc. The species 

 are natives of the East Indies. [M. T. MJ 



BOERHAAVIA. This genus of Nycta- 

 ginacece commemorates a famous Dutch 

 physician and naturalist, a cotemporary 

 and patron of Linnseus. The plants are 

 herbs, widely distributed over the tropical 

 and warmer regions of the globe. The 

 flowers have no involucre ; their perianth 

 is in two divisions, the lower portion 

 cylindrical, black, persistent, the upper 

 funnel or bell-shaped, coloured, decidu- 

 ous, flvc-lobed at the top ; stamens one to 

 three, more rarely four, arising from a 

 ring placed beneath the ovary. Ovary very 

 small at the base of the perianth. Fruit 

 within the enlarged hardened base of the 

 perianth, frequently five-ribbed. The root 

 of B. procumbens, a troublesome weed in 

 India, is given as a laxative and vermifuge. 

 Others are used as emetics, and for other 

 medicinal purposes. Several species are 

 in cultivation, but have no particular 

 beauty to recommend them. [M. T. MJ 



BOHMERIA. This genus of the order of 

 nettle worts (Urticacece) contains numerous 

 species distributed throughout the tropics 

 and subtropics of both hemispheres. They 

 are herbaceous plants or shrubs, closely 

 allied to true nettles (Urfica),but differing 

 from them in not having stinginghairs. The 

 male and female flowers are produced in 

 separate spikes on the same plant : the 

 males having a four-parted calyx and four 

 stamens, the females a tubular calyx 

 divided into four teeth at the top, and a 

 slender style with hairs along one side. 

 Several of the species yield valuable fibres. 

 The most interesting of them is B. nivea, 

 the Tchou-ma of the Chinese, the Rheea 

 of Assam, and the Chinese Grass-cloth 

 plant of English writers. It is a small 

 shrubby plant about three or four feet 



