181 



CIjc CrcaSurj) nf 33otanj?, 



[bttrm 



the Poison Bulb, and is said to be fatal to 

 cattle. The bulbs of B. disticha are met 

 with as large as a man's head. The 

 I former of these produces crowded umbels 

 i of flesh-coloured flowers, the segments of 

 i which are linear-lanceolate, and its leaves 

 i are elongately lorate. [T. MJ 



BUPHTHALMUM. A family of com- 

 pound flowers deriving their name (equiv- 

 alent to Ox-eye) from the broad open disk 

 of their flowers. Among the plants of 

 ! this family most frequently cultivated in 

 I English gardens are B. grandiflorum, a 

 I herbaceous perennial growing about a foot 

 j and a-half high, with narrow smooth 

 ; leaves and large yellow flowers ; and B. 

 | cordifolium, also a herbaceous perennial, 

 1 forming a large tuft; the root-leaves are 

 heart-shaped, the upper ones smaller, egg- 

 shaped and sessile ; the flowers large, bright 

 yellow with long rays. Both are natives 

 j of central Europe. [C. A. J.] 



BUPLEURUM. Hare's-ear, Thorow-wax, 

 : or Thorow-leaf. The only common English 

 ! species of this strongly-marked family of - 

 j umbelliferous plants is B. rotundifolium, 

 i which occurs in corn-flelds on a chalky 

 ; soil, especially about Swaffham and in 

 ! Cambridgeshire. It may be known by its 

 j roundish-oval leaves, which are alternate, 

 I and so extended at the base that 'every 

 branch doth grow thorowe everie leafe, 

 making them like hollowe cups or sawcers' 

 (Gerarde). The flowers are small and of a 

 greenish-yellow hue, and far less conspicu- 

 ous than the large bracts at the base of 

 the partial umbels. B. fruticosum is a 

 shrubby species, a native of the South of 

 Europe, with purplish branches and sea- 

 green leaves. Several other species are 

 cultivated, all of which are more or less 

 j ' remarkable for the unusual development 

 1 of the floral bracts (involucre), and are of 

 easy cultivation. French, Buplevre, Oreille 

 de iievre ; German, Hafenohrchen. [C. A. J.] 



BUPLEYER. An English name adapted 

 from the French, proposed by Bentham 

 for Bupleurum. 



BUR-BARK. The fibrous bark of Triuin- 

 fetta semitriloba. 



BURCHARDIA. An Australian genus of 

 the colchicum family (Melanthacece). The 

 perianth is coloured, of six slightly- 

 stalked segments, each having a nectari- 

 I ferous pore near the base ; stamens six, 

 I inserted on the very base of the segments 

 I of the perianth ; anthers peltate, opening 

 outwardly ; ovary triangular, containing 

 I three compartments, each with several 

 i ovules in two rows ; styles three. Fruit a 

 i capsule, opening by the separation of its 

 | constituent carpels. B. umbellata is in 

 j cultivation ; it is a herbaceous plant with 

 : thick rootlets, linear sheathing leaves ; 

 flowers white in umbels. [M. T. M.] 



BURCHELLTA. A name given in honour 

 of Mr. Burchell, an African traveller, and 

 used to denote a genus of Cinchonacece 



The characteristics of this genus are - the 

 flowers closely packed in a head, sur- 

 rounded by a few bracts ; corolla funnel- 

 shaped, swollen above the middle ; limb 

 five-cleft, small, naked at the throat; 

 stamens inserted above the middle of the 

 tube of the corolla ; anthers on very short 

 filaments ; stigma club-shaped. The fruit 

 is succulent, two-celled, many-seeded, 

 crowned by the deeply five-cleft calyx. 

 The species are shrubs with handsome 

 flowers, and are natives of S. Africa, 

 B. capensis and B. parmflora are grown in 

 greenhouses for the sake of their clus- 

 tered handsome scarlet flowers. [M. T.M.] 



BURDEE. An Arabic name for Papyrus 

 antiquorum. 



BURDOCK. The common name for 

 Arctium Lappa ; also applied to Centotheca 

 lappacea, — , PRAIRIE. An American 

 name for Silphiuvi terebiiitinaceum. 



BURKEA. A genus of the pea -family, 

 and belonging to the section with regular 

 flowers. B. africana is the only species of 

 the genus, and is a shrub or sometimes a 

 small tree, thirty feet high, with twice 

 pinnate leaves, and very numerous oval 

 leaflets from one to three inches long, and 

 when young covered with silvery hairs. 

 The flowers are small, white, and fragrant, 

 disposed in panicles made up of long 

 slender branching spikes. The pods are 

 stalked, thin, and about one and a-half 

 inches long, with one or two seeds. This 

 is one of the many plants which are com- 

 mon to the eastern and western sides of 

 tropical Africa. The genus is named in 

 compliment to Mr. J. Burke, a plant col- 

 lector, who made extensive collections of 

 S. African and K. American plants. [A.A.B.] 



BURLINGTONIA. A genus of epiphytal 

 orchids inhabiting the tropics of Brazil. 

 The species have large and often fragrant 

 white yellow or pink flowers attached 

 to a weak drooping or pendulous spike. 

 All that are known are in cultivation in 

 this country. 



BURMANNIACEiE. A family of mono- 

 cotyledons, allied to orchids in their in- 

 ferior ovary, either three-celled or with 

 three parietal placentas, in their trimerous 

 flowers, and especially in their minute 

 seeds, with aloosely netted testa enclosing 

 an apparently homogeneous nucleus or em- 

 bryo ; but differing in their perfectly 

 regular flowers, with three to six distinct 

 stamens and a central simple or three- 

 cleft style. They are all herbaceous, 

 with blue or white flowers, inhabiting 

 marshy or shady places. In some genera 

 the annual slender stems have no leaA-es 

 except small colourless scales, which led 

 former botanists to suppose them to be 

 root parasites ; but it has now been ascer- 

 tained that they grow on rotten leaves and 

 other decayed vegetable substances, and 

 not on living plants. There are scarcely 

 more than thirty species of Burmamrioccre 

 known, all tropical, except one North 

 American Burmannia. They are distri- 



