BA MB USA 
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Balanops Baill. Balanopsidaceae. 7 sp. New Caled. 
Balanopseae (Bentham-Hooker) = Balanopsidaceae. 
Balanopsidaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Balanopsidales). An 
anomalous order placed in Monochlamydeae Unisexuales by Bentham- 
Hooker. For details see cohort (p. 126). 
Balanopsidales (Engler). The 5th cohort of Archichlamydeae (p. 126). 
Balbisia Cav. Geraniaceae. 3 sp. Chili, Peru. 
Baldwinia Nutt. ( Balduina ). Compositae (v). 4 sp. N. Am. 
Ballota Linn. Labiatae (v. 2). 25 sp. Eur., Medit. B. nigra L., the 
foetid horehound, is a common weed in Brit. 
Baloghia Endl. Euphorbiaceae (A. II. 5). 14 sp. E. Ind. to New 
Caled. 
Balsamea Gled. = Commiphora Jacq. 
Balsamina Tourn. ex Scop. = Impatiens Linn. 
Balsaminaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Sapindales). 2 gen. with 230 
sp., As., Afr., Eur., N. Am. Herbs with watery translucent stems 
and alt. leaves, usually exstip. Fir. g , zygomorphic. K 5 (the 2 
anterior small or aborted, the posterior one spurred), petaloid ; C 5 
(the lateral petals united in pairs) ; A 5, the anthers adhering 
to one another and forming a cap over the ovary, whose growth 
ultimately breaks the sta. at their bases ; G (5), 5-loc., with 00 
ovules, anatropous, pendulous with dorsal raphe. Fruit an ex- 
plosive capsule. Seed exalb. Chief genus : Impatiens. Benth.- 
Hooker unite B. with Geraniaceae (q. v.), but the arrangement 
of the ovule does not agree with that of G., being that of coh. 
Sapindales. Eichler and Warming place B. as an independent 
order in Gruinales. 
Balsamodendrum Kunth = Commiphora Jacq. 
Balsamorhiza Hook. Compositae (v). 8 sp. W. N. Am. 
Bambusa Schreb. Gramineae (xm). 70 sp. trop. and subtrop. As., 
Afr., Am. The typical genus of bamboos, which are gigantic grasses, 
with much branched rhizomes below ground, and erect perennial woody 
stems above, reaching in some sp. of Denarocalamus and Giganto- 
chloa a height of 120 feet and a thickness of 10 inches. The bamboos 
grow in clumps, and during the rainy season a number of the young 
shoots spring up round the margin, and grow rapidly, even as much 
as 41 cm. a day, up to their full height, when they spread out their 
leaves, and drop the large papery scales which represent the leaves 
on the lower part of the shoots. 
Some sp. flower annually, others at longer intervals, and some 
are like Agave and Corypha, flowering only once, all together, and 
then dying down. The seedling plants grow for several years with- 
out forming tall shoots, expending their energies on the production 
of large well stored rhizomes. They then begin to send up shoots, 
at first but short, but increasing in length from year to year, till at 
last they reach the full height. Spikelets 2—00 -flowered in racemes 
or panicles. Sta. usually 6. 
W. 
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