BLADDER OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 53 



sylvestris. It is still in great repute with rustic, as well as 

 regular practitioners. 



Blackberry. (See Bramble.) 



Black-boy Trees. {See Grass Gum Tree.) 



Black Drink of the Indians {Ilex mmitoria), a small tree 

 of tlie Holly family (Aquifoliacese), native of the coast of the 

 Southern States of North America. It is in great repute, 

 and is reckoned a holy plant by the North American Indians. 

 Of the leaves slightly scorched they make the black drink used 

 during their religious rites and solemn councils to clear the 

 head and stomach. Yearly excursions of the Indians were 

 made at one time to the Atlantic coast to collect the plant ; but 

 civilisation has now changed all this, and the White Man has 

 taken the place of the Indian. 



Black Maire, a name in New Zealand for OUa Gunning- 

 Tiamii, a tree of the Olive family (Oleaceae), 40 to 50 feet high ; 

 wood dark-coloured, extremely hard, close-grained, and durable. 



Blackthorn. {See Sloe.) 



Blackwood, also called Indian Eosewood {Balbergia lati- 

 folicb), a magnificent wing -leaved tree of the Bean family 

 (Leguminosae), native of the East Indies. It is highly valued 

 for its timber, the finest and most expensive furniture being 

 made of it. Its variety Sissoides, together with D. Sissoo, natives 

 of India, are also called Blackwood and Eosewood. They are 

 hard-wooded trees, and the timber is employed for railway- 

 sleepers and gun-carriages. Acacia melanoxylon is also called 

 Blackwood in Australia. 



Blacking Plant {Eibiscus-Bosa-sinensis), a shrub or small 

 tree of the Mallow family (Malvaceae), native of China, a showy 

 plant in hothouses, having single and double red and yellow 

 flowers. The red when bruised become black, and are then 

 used for colouring the eyebrows and blacking shoes. 



Bladder-green. {See Blackthorn.) 



Bladder Nut {Staphylea), a genus typical of the small family 

 Staphyleacese, represented in the gardens of this country by S, 

 jpinnata, a native of Central and Eastern Europe, and >S1 trifo- 



