169 



Oje CrcaSuro of 33 a tang. 



[broc 



', style which is divided nearly half its 

 i length, and has a capitate stigma on each 

 division. The capsule is two-celled and con- 

 tains four seeds. [W. C] 



BREXIA. A genus of small trees belong- 

 ing to Brexiacece, an order whose affinities 

 are doubtful. They are natives of Ma- 

 dagascar, and have alternate petiolate 

 leathery leaves, entire or furnished with 

 spiny teeth. The flowers are in axillary 

 umbels, of leathery texture and greenish 

 hue : calyx with Ave short segments ; 

 petals also five ; stamens five, arising 

 from a toothed disk surrounding the base 

 of the ovary, and adnate with it; ovary 

 five-celled. Fruit drupaceous, five-ribbed, 

 slightly papillose, about the size of an 

 orange; seeds numerous. In cultivation 

 thev are handsome hothouse plants, usually 

 called Tlieojjhrastas. [J. T. S.] 



BREXIACE.E. The genera Brexia, Tx- 

 erba, Argophyllum, and Rousscea, each con- 

 sisting of only one or two species, have 

 been proposed as a small family allied to 

 Saxifragacece. They are, however, not all 

 very closely connected with each other, 

 and neither form a natural group nor are 

 they united by any well-marked common 

 character. It is probable that when the 

 very varied forms now provisionally 

 grouped round the Saxifragacece shall have 

 been thoroughly revised, the Brexiacece 

 will be broken up, and the genera distri- 

 buted into new combinations better de- 

 fined than the present group. 



BRIDGE3IA. A genus of the soapwort 

 family (Sapindacece) indigenous in the pro- 

 [ vince of Coquimbo in Chili. The cut- 

 I leaved B. Incisifolia is the only known 

 species, and is a shrub three to five feet 

 high with alternate stalked simple lobed 

 j leaves, and with the flower-stalks axil- 

 ■ lary and single, some of the flowers, which 

 i are small, bearing stamens only, others 

 i with both stamens and pistil. The fruit 

 i is a three-celled bladdery capsule, each of 

 | the cells prolonged into a wing on the 

 j back, and containing a single seed. The 

 I genus may be distinguished from any in 

 j the family by its leaves alone. It bears the 

 • name of Mr. Bridges, a most extensive 

 : collector of Chilian plants. The same name 

 ; has been also given to a group of Phyto 

 i laccadS; now included in Ercilla ; and to a 

 i group of composites, now included in 

 ; Polyachyrus. [A. A. B,] 



BRIER, or BRIER ROSE. The com- 

 i mon larger-growing British species of 

 : Rose, especially the Dog Rose, Rosa ca- 

 ning : sometimes written Briar. — , 

 SWEET. The Eglantine, Rosa rubiginosa. 

 BRIGALOW. Acacia excelsa, 



BRIGNOLES. The dried fruits known 

 | as Provence prunes or French plums. 



| BRILLAXTAISIA. A genus of Acan- 

 thorerp, containing one or two species, 

 I natives of Guinea. They are erect branch- 

 ! ing herbs with ovate-cordate leaves on 

 i long petioles, and large purple flowers in 



r terminal panicles, with small linear bracts. 

 : The calyx is five-parted, with unequal 

 j linear segments, the upper being the 

 longer. The ringent corolla has the 

 I upper lip falcate and overarching with a 

 I trifid apex, and the inferior large, spread- 

 i ing, and shortly trifid. There are two 

 I fertile stamens inserted at the top of the 

 tube, and having long linear bilocular 

 anthers ; the two barren stamens are re- 

 presented by short filaments. The ovary 

 is oblong, hairy, and surrounded by a disc, 

 and bears a style of the same length as the 

 corolla, terminated by an unequally bifid 

 stigma. The capsular fruit is straight, 

 narrow, tetragonous, and two-celled, with 

 six to eight seeds in each cell. [W. C.j 



BRIMSTONE, VEGETABLE. The in- 

 flammable spores of Lycopodium clavatum 

 and Selago, employed on the continent in 

 the manufacture of fireworks. 



BRINJAL. The fruit of the egg-plant, 

 Solanum Mehmgena. Mr. Bentham writes 

 it Bringall. 



BRINVILLIERS. (Fr.) Spigelia An- 

 thelmia. 



BRISTLE WORTS. A name applied by 

 Lindley to the Besvauxiacece. 



BRISTLY. Covered with stiff sharp 

 hairs, or bristles. 



BRITTLEWORTS. A name given by 

 Lindley to the Biatomacece. 



BRIZA. A genus of grasses belong- 

 ing to the tribe Festucece, distinguished 

 chiefly by the inflorescence being in 

 panicles, the spikelets of which contain 

 from five to twelve imbricated flowers ; and 

 in the two glumes being nearly equal, and 

 like the pales membranous, with scarious 

 margins. The Quaking Grasses are all 

 handsome plants, so much so, that B. 

 maxima and B. minor are frequently culti- 

 vated in gardens as ornamental annuals. 

 Steudel describes thirty species, which are 

 mostly natives of South America : Brazil, 

 Chili, and Peru, being the principal coun- 

 tries which produce them. Two are British 

 plants, B. media and B. minor: the former a 

 very common species, on light limestone 

 soils, &c, the latter confined to a few 

 localities in England. They are not of 

 agricultural importance, though B. media 

 is a prevailing grass on some good perma- 

 nent pastures. [D. M.] 



BRIZOPYRPM. A genus of grasses 

 belonging to the tribe Festucece. Eleven 



j species are described, which are mostly 

 natives of the Southern Hemisphere. One 

 is, however, from Nootka Sound, B. boreale, 

 and another curious species found by 



> Drummond in Australia, B. scirpoides, has 

 leafless culms rising to the height of 



I four feet. [D. M.] 



[ BROAD SEED. The common name for 

 ' Ulospermum. 



I BROCCOLI. A cultivated variety of 

 the Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, in which the 



