175 



K\)t Crcadurn af Botany. 



[brya 



bracts at tlie base ; the corolla is five-parted, 

 the two upper segments separate from the 



| others; the five stamens are hypogynous, 

 with the anthers slightly cohering ; the 

 ovary is free, one-celled and one-ovuled, 

 with a simple style : and the fruit is a mem- 

 branous utricle enclosed in the hardened 



i tube of the calyx. [J. T. SJ 



BRUXSYIGIA. A genus of Amarylli- 



: dacece, distinguished by broad recumbent 



hiemal leaves, an autumnal precocious 



• flower-scape, a very short-tubed recurved 



i perianth, recurved style and filaments, 



j the filaments not adhering beyond the 



< tube, and a triangularly turbinate capsule. 



! The Brunsvigias are rather remarkable 



| bulbous plants of South Africa, closely 



J related to Amaryllis itself. The typi- 



! cal species, B. mult 'flora, has a globose 



j bulb as large as an infant's head, and 



produces distichous obtuse striated lingui- 



form leaves seven or eight inches long, 



and a fleshy compressed scape, a span or 



more in height, supporting an umbel of 



from twenty to sixty purple flowers, which 



have lance-shaped segments spreading or 



revolute at the tips. There are but few other 



species ref erred to the genus. [T. M.] 



BRUSE. (Fr.) TJlex europams. 



BRUSH- APPLE. The native Australian 

 wood of Achras australis. 



BRUSH-CHERRY. The native Austra- 

 lian wood of Trochocarpa laurina. 



BRUSH-SHAPED. See Aspergilliform. 



BRUSSELS SPROUTS. A cultivated 

 variety of the Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, 

 having the leaves blistered, and the stems 

 covered by little close heads or hearts. 



BRUYETRE. (Fr.) Calluna vulgaris. 

 — DU CAP. Phylica ericoides. 



BRYACEJ2. A large group of acrocar- 

 pous mosses distinguished by the capsules 

 having a double row of teeth, the inner of 

 which are united at the base by a common 

 plicate membrane. Very rarely there is a 

 single row only, or the teeth are obsolete. 

 The capsule is almost always pendulous 

 The stem is at first simple, but at length 

 branched by means of new shoots, called 

 : innovations, given off near the tip, or the 

 i base, sometimes from subterranean creep- 

 ! ing shoots. The leaves have a central 

 nerve, and consist of large reticulations, 

 and are mostly serrated at the margin and 

 thickened. Very rarely the fruit is lateral 

 as in ITielickoferia. Many of the species of 

 Mnium, as M. punctatum, rostratum, undu- 

 lation, &c, are a great ornament to woods 

 and rocks from their large leaves and 

 handsome capsules, while various species 

 of Bryum attract notice on walls, gravel- 

 walks, and marshes, by their tufted' habit 

 and abundant pendulous capsules. Amongst 

 these Bryum argenteum is peculiarly con- 

 spicuousfrom the silverywhite of its leaves. 

 ■nia and one or two closely allied ' 

 genera are remarkable for their nearly 

 spherical capsules, which are almost all j 



ways more or less streaked or furrowed, 

 especially when dry. • Our more common 

 species, as Bartramia pomiformis, are sub- 

 alpine, or occurs in bogs. Sometimes the 

 term Bryacece is applied to the whole of 

 the true mosses, as in Linclley's Vegetable 

 Kingdom, [M. J. B.] 



BRYA. A genus of leguminous plants 

 (Fabacece-.Papilionacece) consisting of three 

 species, small trees or large shrubs, na- 

 tives of tropical America. They have a 

 five-toothed, somewhat two-lipped calyx: a 

 papilionaceous corolla; and stamens united 

 into a tube, which is split down one side. 

 Their fruit is a flattened two-jointed pod, 

 the upper half of which is generally im- 

 perfect, the lower containing a solitary 

 seed. The leaves are solitary, or in 

 clusters, or pinnate. 



B. JEbenus, the Jamaica or West In- 

 dian Ebony-tree, is a large shrub or small 

 tree, growing twenty or thirty or even 

 forty-feet high, with a trunk seldom ex- 

 ceeding four inches in diameter; it has 

 long slender tough and flexible branches, 

 which are armed with short sharp spines, 

 and bear numerous small evergreen leaves, 

 resembling those of the common Box, 

 but rather broader at the top end. The 

 flowers are of a bright orange-yellow 

 colour, produced in great abundance upon 

 the young branches, and have a very 

 sweet odour. Although the wood of this 

 tree is known in Jamaica by the name of 

 Ebony, it is not the true ebony-wood, that 

 being produced by a totally different tree. 

 The Jamaica Ebony is of a greenish- 

 brown colour, very hard, and so heavy 

 that it sinks in water ; it takes a good 

 polish, and is used in Jamaica for making 



Ebc-nus. 



various small wares. Part of the wood 

 known in commerce as Green Ebony, and 

 which is much used by turners and dyers, 

 is probably obtained from this tree. The 



