BAMBUSA 
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rhizomes below ground and erect perennial woody stems above, 
which in some sp. reach a height of 120 ft. and a thickness of 
12 inches. During the rainy season the rhizome gives off several of 
these shoots, which rapidly grow (sometimes 3 ft. in a day) to their 
full size. Spikelets 2- to many-flowered, in racemes or panicles. 
Some sp. flower annually, others at longer intervals, eg. B. arun- 
dinacea Retz. every 32 years in Further India (the last time was in 
1868). This phenomenon may be compared with that seen in Fagus, 
but seems to be largely bound up with the age of the plants, for 
cuttings flower simultaneously with the parent stock. The production 
of so many seeds at once has twice caused a plague of rats and mice 
in Brazil. The seedling plants grow for several years without forming 
tall shoots, expending their energies upon the production of the 
rhizomes. 
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 used in building, entire as posts, and 
split as roofing tiles. They also furnish waterpipes and vessels, 
gutters, floats, beehives, walking sticks, pipes, flutes, &c. Split 
bamboo is woven into mats, &c., and used also in making umbrellas, 
hats, and many other articles. Paper is made from the leaf sheaths. 
The young shoots are eaten like asparagus, and the seeds are also used 
as food by the poorer natives. In the stems of B. arundinacea and 
others, curious concretions of silica are formed, known as Tabaschir 
and used in the East as a medicine in many diseases. For further 
details see the account in Nat. Pfl. by Sir D. Brandis, from which the 
above is abridged. 
Banisteria Linn. Malpighiaceae. 70 sp. trop. S. Am. The fruit is 
remarkably like that of Acer. 
Banksia Linn. Proteaceae (11). 46 sp. Austr. Shrubs and trees with 
the usual xerophytic habit of the order. Firs, in dense spikes. Frt. 
a hard woody follicle enclosed in a number of woody twigs derived 
from the bract and bracteoles. Seeds winged. 
Baptisia Vent. Leguminosae (in. 2). 14 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 alternately 
right and left. 
Barbarea R. Br. Cruciferae (11. n). 14 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. 
Barleria Linn. Acanthaceae (iv. a), ioo sp. trop., mostly on steppes. 
The bracteoles are frequently represented by thorns. The seeds have 
