268 
BO CAGE A 
Bocagea St. Hil. Anonaceae (i). 8 sp. trop. Am., As. 
Bccconia Plum, ex Linn. (incl. Macleya Reichb.). Papaveraceae (u). 
3 sp., 2 in trop. Am., the other, B. (M.) cordcila Willd., in China and 
Japan. Shrubby plants with apetalous flowers. 
Boea Comm, ex Lam. Gesneraceae (i). 15 sp. Chi., Indo-mal., Austr. 
Boehmeria Jacq. Urticaceae (3). 45 sp. trop. and N. temp. B. nivea 
Gaudich. has good “drip-tips” on its leaves (cf. Ficus). It is largely 
cultivated in China for the excellent fibre (rhea, ramie, Chinese grass- 
cloth) obtained from the inner bark (cf. Linum). This fibre is perhaps 
the longest and strongest of all fibres, and articles made from it will 
hardly wear out ; but it is very difficult to get rid of a gummy substance 
that accompanies it in the bark, and hitherto no attempt at cultivating 
it in British colonies has been successful, though at any time success 
may be attained. 
Boerhaavia Vaill. ex Linn. Nyctaginaceae (1). 30 sp. Afr., trop. As., 
Am. Anthocarp often glandular, aiding in seed dispersal. 
Bolandra A. Gray. Saxifragaceae (1). 2 sp. W. N. Am. 
Bolax Comm, ex Juss. = Azorella Lam. 
Bolbophyllum Spreng. = Bulbophyllum Thou. 
Boldoa Endl. = Peumus Molina. 
Boltonia L’Herit. Compositae (ill). 3 sp. U. S. 
Bomarea Mirb. Amaryllidaceae (in). 60 sp. S. Am. Like Alstroe- 
meria in leaf and flr., but often climbing. Umbels cymose. 
Bombacaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Malvales). 20 gen. with no 
sp. trop. (chiefly Am.). Trees, often very large, with thick stems, 
sometimes egg-shaped, owing to a great development of water- 
storage tissue (see figs, in Kerner, Nat. Hist . of Pits . 1). Firs. $ , 
usually regular. K (5), valvate, often with epicalyx; C 5, convolute, 
the pets, asymmetric ; A 5 — 00 , free or united into a tube, the pollen 
smooth; G (2 — 5), in the latter case the cpls. opposite the pets., multi- 
loc.; style simple, lobed or capitate; ovules 2 — go in each loc., erect, 
anatropous. Seeds smooth, but often embedded in hairs springing 
from the capsule wall, with little or no endosperm. 
The Adansonieae are practically all myrmecophilous (p. 114, 
Acacia , Cecropia) to some extent, extrafloral nectaries being formed 
on the leaf, the calyx, or the flower stalk. 
United to Malvaceae by Eichler (Warming) and by Bentham and 
Plooker. 
Chief genera : Adansonia, Bombax, Eriodendron, Durio. 
Bombax Linn. (excl. Pachira Aubl.). Bombacaceae. 60 sp. trop. 
B. malabaricum DC. is the cotton tree of Ceylon and India; it drops 
its leaves in December, and remains naked for some months, but 
flowers during that time, thus forming a very noticeable object in 
a land of mostly evergreen trees. Pillows, &c. are sometimes made 
of the cotton ( cf. Eriodendron), but it is very little used. 
Bonatea Willd. = Habenaria Willd. 
