258 
BA MB USA 
The economic uses of bamboos are very numerous, especially in 
Asia. The stems are hollow, with cross partitions at the nodes, and 
the wood is elastic and very hard, owing to the deposition of silica in 
the cell walls. The stems are consequently very light and strong, 
and are also easily split. They are largely used in building, entire 
as posts, and split as roofing tiles, while the houses in Assam, Burma, 
and Malaya are often made of bamboo split finely, and woven into a 
kind of mat, which are fastened upon bamboo posts. Bridges are 
often made of them, and they furnish water-pipes, water-vessels, gutters, 
floats, beehives, walking sticks, pipes, flutes, masts, furniture, house- 
hold utensils, agricultural tools, &c. The distichous bamboo shoot, 
with the side branches cut down to about 6 inches, is used as a ladder. 
Split bamboos, with the edges trimmed sharp, are used as grass cutters, 
and will keep lawns in good order. Finely split bamboos are made 
into mats, blinds, rigging, baskets, fans, hats, coarse clothing, 
umbrellas, ropes, brushes, &c. Paper is made from bamboos in 
China and elsewhere. The stout stems of the male bamboo 
(. Dendrocalamus strictus Nees) are used for the handles of lances. 
The stems cut into lengths form very useful flower pots, largely 
employed in tropical gardens. The young shoots are eaten like 
asparagus, and the poorer natives also use the seeds as food. In 
the stems of B . arundinacea Willd. curious concretions of silica are 
found, known as tabashir, used in the East as a medicine in many 
diseases. (See Kurz, Bamboo and its uses, Ind. Forester , 1876, and 
art. in Nat. PJl. by Sir D. Brandis; Lock, on growth, in Ann. Perad . 
II. 21 1 ; Freeman-Mitford, The Bamboo Garden .) 
Banisteria Linn. Malpighiaceae. 70 sp. trop. S. Am. The fruit is 
remarkably like that of Acer. 
Banksia Linn. f. Proteaceae (11). 50 sp. Austr. Shrubs and trees with 
the usual xerophytic habit of the order. Firs, in dense spikes. Fruit 
a hard woody follicle enclosed in a number of woody twigs derived 
from the bract and bracteoles. Seeds winged. 
Baphia Afzel. Leguminosae (in. 1). 12 sp. trop. Afr., Madag. 
B. nitida Afzel gives cam-wood, used for its red dye ; the wood 
when first cut is white, but turns red in the air. 
Baptisia Vent. Leguminosae (in. 2). 15 sp. N. Am. In B. perfoliata 
R. Br. there are perfoliate leaves which are really in two vertical 
ranks, but become one-ranked by twisting of the internodes alter- 
nately right and left. 
Barbacenia Vand. Velloziaceae ( A7naryllidaceae , Bentham- Hooker). 
30 sp. Brazil, Afr. 
Barbarea R.Br. Cruciferae (11. n). 15 sp. Eur., Medit., As., N. Am., 
2 in Brit, (yellow rocket or winter-cress). 
Barclaya Wall. Nymphaeaceae (ill). 3 sp. Indo-mal. K 5 hypogy- 
nous ; C up to (21), epigynous, tubular; A 00 ; G (10 — 12) with 
projections forming a tube above the stigmatic disc. 
Barkhausia Moench = Crepis Linn. 
