163 



Cfjc Crca£ttrj) ai 33ntanp. 



[BE AC 



section of the order, and comprising seve- 

 ral neat annuals, of dwarf habit. Of these 

 the most interesting is the B.iberidt folia, or 

 Swan River Daisy, an elegant little plant, 

 of branched diffuse habit, with deeply- 

 cut foliage, having the segments linear, 

 and loose terminal corymbs of cineraria- 

 like blossoms, each nearly an inch across. 

 The colour of the ray florets varies from 

 violet blue to white, the disk or centre 

 being in all cases of a purplish brown. 

 B. glabra, of more recent introduction, 

 has solitary flower-heads or long foot- 

 stalks, about as large as those of iberidi- 

 folia, with a white ray of numerous linear 

 florets, tinged with violet beneath, and a 

 yellow disk : % its foliage is pinnatifld, with 

 linear segments variously cut, the upper- 

 most ones being nearly entire, and all 

 rather fleshy, and ciliated. The only other 

 species in cultivation is B. diversifolia, 

 with yellow flower-heads, rather smaller 

 than in either of the preceding species, 

 and foliage variously cut and lobed, as the 

 specific name implies. The genus is cha- 

 racterised by a slightly conical, pitted, 

 and naked receptacle ; a cup-shaped invo- 

 lucre, the scales of which are membranous 

 at the margins ; and laterally compressed 

 fruit, crowned with a pappus of very short 

 bristle-like hairs. [W. TJ 



BRACHYGLOTTIS. The plants which 

 composed this genus have been shown 

 to differ in no way from the Groundsels 

 (Soiecio), and are now generally referred to 

 that genus ; yet, although the characters 

 j of the flower indicate this structural af- 

 finity, they have little resemblance to any 

 of the species of Senecio found in Europe, for 

 they are trees or small shrubs, with woody 

 stems, which are covered, as well as the 

 under surface of the thin leathery leaves, 

 with long or short dense woolly hairs. B. 

 Forsteri has large broad deeply-toothed 

 leaves, and terminal panicles of numerous 

 small yellow flower-heads. It is a native of 

 New Zealand, as are all the species, and is 

 there known as Puka-Puka by the natives, 

 who use the leaves as paper, whence the 

 same native name came to be applied by 

 them to English paper. [A. A. B.] 



BRACHYL.EXA. A genus of South 

 African evergreen shrubs, numbering six 

 species, and belonging to the composite 

 family. Their leaves are stalked, alternate, 

 entire or toothed, generally smooth above, 

 and covered with short white pubescence 

 underneath. The flower heads are arranged 

 in terminal panicles or racemes — those on 

 one plant containing female florets only, 

 the males being on another. The florets are 

 yellow in colour. The genus is nearly allied 

 to the American genus Baccharis, but is 

 readily distinguished from that by having 

 tails to the anthers. [A. A. B.] 



BRACHYLEPI8. A genus of Asclepia- 

 dacew, containing a sinsrle species, a native 

 of India. It is a climbing hairy shrub, with 

 opposite acuminate leaves, and many 

 small purple flowers in tomentose cymes, 

 with numerous imbricated scales, on inter- , 



l petiolar peduncles. The calyx and corolla 

 are five-parted. The exserted stamens, with 

 short broad filaments, are inserted along 

 with the Ave scales of the staminal corona 

 in the throat of the corolla. The anthers 

 adhere to the lower margin of the stigma ; 

 their oval pollen masses united through- 

 out the whole length of their inner surface 

 by a flat membrane. The stigma is five- 

 sided. The hairy follicles are widely sepa- 

 rated, oblong and obtuse. [W. C] 



: BRACHYPODITJM. A genus of grasses, 

 belonging to the tribe Hordeacece, or barley 

 grasses. The genus is chiefly distinguished 

 from Triticum by the glumes being unequal, 



: a circumstance which some authors do 

 not consider of sufficient importance as 

 a generic distinction; hence the species 

 are referred either to Triticum or Festuca. 



j Two are natives of Britain — the False 

 Brome Grass, B. sylvaticum, and the Heath 

 False Brome Grass, B. pinnatum. The 

 former is a very common kind, which 

 generally grows in shady woods, or on dry 

 hedge banks ; but the latter is rare, and 

 only found wild in England. They are not 

 grasses of agricultural importance, though 

 useful species in their natural localities. 

 [D. M.] 



BRACHYPTERYS. A name indicative 

 of the short wing borne by the fruits of 

 this genus of Malpighiads. The species 

 are natives of Brazil and Guinea, of climb- 

 ing habit, with yellow flowers disposed in 

 umbels. The calyx is five-parted, glandular; 

 the petals unequal, longer than the calyx ; 

 the stamens ten, with a more or less en- 

 larged glandular connective; the styles 

 three, dilated at the apex into a rather large 

 foliaceous recurved or hook-like and com- 

 pressed mass. Fruit of three distended 

 carpels ("fewer by abortion), having at the 

 apex a short compressed wing. [M. T. M.] 



BRACHYSEMA. A genus belonging to 

 the pea-flowered section of the legumi- 

 nous family, and chiefly natives of West 

 Australia. Seven species are enumerated, 

 the greater portion of them scandent 

 shrubs, but some erect. The upper petal 

 or standard being short compared with 

 the others, gives rise to the generic name. 

 The pods are stalked, ventricose, and many- 

 seeded. B. aphyllum is, as its name implies, 

 without leaves, the branches being singu- 

 larly compressed and winged, so as to per- 

 form the functions of leaves. Here and 

 there on the branches small brown stipules 

 are found, and from the axils of these the 

 flowers grow; they are single, large, of a 

 bright blood-red colour, and curiously re- 

 versed, the keel, or boat-shaped petal, 

 usually lowest, being uppermost. Another 

 leafless species, B. pungens, seldom grows 

 more than a foot high, has innumerable 

 spiny branches, and a dense mass of scarlet 

 flowers, produced just above the ground, at 

 the base of the stems. B. lanceolatum is a 

 very handsome species, and a great orna- 

 ment to greenhouses, flowering as it does 

 in the winter or spring months. Its leaves 

 are generally opposite, ovate or lanceolate 



