bubm] 



&f)e Creatfurg of 2S0taity. 



182 



buted into ten or eleven genera, including 

 Tacca, which some botanists treat as a 

 distinct family 4 under the name of Tac- 

 cacece. 



BURMANNIA. A genus of Burmannia- 

 cece, the principal one of the family, 

 although consisting of only six or seven 

 species. It is distinguished by the three- 

 winged or three-angled ovary and capsule, 

 completely divided into three cells, with 

 numerous seeds attached to the inner 

 angle of each cell. They are mostly marsh 

 plants, with short flat sedge-like leaves, 

 forming radical tufts or crowded at the 

 base of the stem, and terminal blue flowers 

 in short simple or two or three-branched 

 spikes. One species, however, B. capitata, 

 is a slender almost colourless plant, with- 

 out other leaves than minute scales, and 

 with very small capitate flowers. They are 

 natives of the tropical regions of Asia, 

 Africa, and America, one species extending 

 northward as far as Virginia. 



BURNET, GARDEN. Poterium Sangui- 

 sorba. —.GREAT. Sanguisorba officinalis. 

 — , LESSER. The common name for Pote- 

 rium. — , SALAD. Poterium Sanguisorba. 



BURNING BUSH. An American name 

 1 or Euonymus atropurpureus, and E. ameri- 

 canus ; also sometimes applied in gardens 

 to the Artillery plant, Pilea serpyllifolia. 



BURR. The Burdock, Arctium Lappa. 



BURSA RI A. A genus of South Austra- 

 lian and Tasmanian shrubs belonging to 

 Pittosporacere. Branches not unfrequently 

 spiny ; leaves alternate, subsessile, ob- 

 ovate wedge-shaped retuse and entire, or 

 oblong-linear and toothed ; peduncles ter- 

 minal, ternate, or panicled, the flowers 

 small, white, sometimes tinged with pink 

 outside ; sepals, petals, and stamens, five 

 each. Ovary free ; style thread-like. Cap- 

 sule obcordate, compound, extremely like 

 that of the shepherd's purse (Capsella Bur- 

 sa-Pastoris), incompletely two-celled, two- 

 valved at apex; seeds one or two in each 

 cell. [J. T. S.] 



BURSERA. One of the genera of Amy- 

 ridacece, consisting of trees with alternate 

 compound leaves, flowers in axillary clus- 

 ters, a small three to five-parted calyx, a 

 corolla of three to five petals, larger than 

 the segments of the calyx, inserted with 

 the six to ten stamens beneath an entire 

 circular disc. Ovary sessile, with three 

 compartments, each containing two sus- 

 pended inverted ovules, placed side by 

 side. Fruit globose or somewhat angular, 

 with a leathery outer rind bursting into 

 three pieces, and an inner hard shell, 

 containing three bony seeds, surrounded 

 by a small quantity of pulp, or a single 

 seed, by the abortion of the rest. B. pani- 

 culata, called Bois de Colophane in the 

 isle of Bourbon, contains an abundance of 

 oil, like turpentine, which exudes when 

 the bark is pierced, and speedily congeals, 

 till it acquires a buttery consistence; 



others of the species furnish a resinous 

 substance. The shrubs are natives of the 

 West Indies. [M. T. MJ 



BURSICULA (adj. BURSICULATE). 

 A small purse. A pouch-like expansion of 

 the stigma, into which the caudicle of 

 some orchids is inserted. 



BURSINOPETALUM. A genus of Ola- 

 cacece, containing an Indian tree (B. arbo- 

 reitm),which has ovate acuminate leathery 

 leaves and small panicled white flowers, 

 remarkable for the form of the petals, 

 which have an inflexed lobe at the 

 point, and terminate in two small sharp 

 teeth. Calyx superior, with a five-cleft 

 limb; stamens five, connivent. Fruit a 

 one-celled drupe, with a groove down one 

 side of the hard endocarp. [J. T. S.] 



BURTONIA. A genus of dwarf heath- 

 like shrubs belonging to the pea-flowered 

 section of the leguminous family, all of 

 them natives of West Australia. They have 

 simple or trifoliate sessile leaves, which 

 are usually awl-shaped. The flowers are 

 axillary and often thickly-gathered on the 

 ends of the branches ; the corollas rich 

 purple, the keel generally ot a deeper 

 colour, and the standard having sometimes 

 a yellow blotch at its base. The pod is 

 small, ovate, and sessile, with two seeds. 

 The species are very pretty objects when 

 in flower, and are often to be met with in 

 greenhouse collections. B. scabra was 

 introduced in 1803, but there are now five 

 species in cultivation and nine species 

 known. The genus bears the name of Mr. 

 D. Burton, who collected plants in W. 

 Australia for the Kew Gardens. [A. A. B.] 



BURWEED. The common name for 

 Xanthium. 



BUSBECKIA. The name of a genus of 

 Capparidacece characterised by a calyx of 

 two sepals, valvate in the bud, deciduous ; 

 petals seven, inserted at the base of the 

 hemispherical receptacle, unequal, imbri- 

 cate in the bud ; stamens several, inserted 

 on the torus ; ovary on a long stalk, one- I 

 celled, with two or more parietal placentae, | 

 bearing several curved ovules ; stigma 

 sessile, round ; berry globose, leathery, 

 rough on the outer surface ; seeds kidney- 

 shaped, imbedded in pulp, and with a 

 leathery coat. A Norfolk Island shrub of 

 climbing habit, with alternate leaves fur- 

 nished with spiny stipules, and solitary 

 axillary stalked flowers. The fruit is of 

 the size of a large orange. The BusbecMa, 

 of Martius is now included in the genus 

 Salpichroma. [M. T. M.] 



BUSH SYRUP. A saccharine fluid 

 obtained from the flowers of Protea melli- 

 fera, in the Cape Colony. 



BUSSEROLE. (Fr.) Arctostaphylos Uva- 

 ursi. 



BUSSU. A S. American name for Mani- 

 caria saccifera. 



BUTCHER'S BROOM. Buscus aculea- 

 tus ; also a common name for Buscus. 



