BAUHINIA 
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surface hairs which swell when wetted and help to anchor them to 
suitable places for germination (p. 106). 
Barnadesia Mutis. Compositae (xn). 12 sp. S. Am. Shrubs. 
Barosma Willd. Rutaceae (iv). 15 sp. S. Afr. 
Barringtonia Forst. Lecythidaceae. 30 sp. E. Afr. to Samoa. The 
wood of some sp. is useful and the seeds yield oil, used for lamps. 
Bartonia Muhl. Gentianaceae (1. 2). 3 sp. N. Am. Saprophytes 
with a little chlorophyll and leaves reduced to scales. 
do . Sims, (in Loasaceae) = Mentzelia Linn. 
Bartramia Linn. = Triumfetta Linn. 
BartsiaLinn. (incl. Odontites Hall.). Scrophulariaceae (in. 12). 60 sp. 
N. temp., trop. Mts., and S. Am. B. Odontites Huds. and 2 others, 
in Brit. Mostly herbs, semi-parasitic (on grass-roots, see order). Fir. 
with loose-pollen mechanism (see order). 
Basella (Rheede) Linn. Basellaceae. 1 sp. trop. As. A climbing herb 
whose firs, remain closed; their mechanism requires investigation. 
The fruit is enclosed in the perianth. 
Basellaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Centrospermae). A small family 
united with Chenopodiaceae by Benth.-Hooker and Warming, but 
differing in their internal anatomy as well as in morphology. They 
possess an underground rhizome or tuber, giving off annually a 
climbing shoot, often with fleshy leaves, and racemes or panicles 
of firs. These are stalked and often conspicuously coloured. Each 
has 2 bracteoles, 2 sepals, and 5 petals. Opposite these are 5 sta. 
Ovary superior, of 3 cpls., with terminal style and 3 stigmas, uni- 
locular. Ovule 1, basal, campylotropous. Fruit usually a berry. 
Chief genera : Basella, Ullucus, Boussingaultia. 
Bassia Koenig. (Wipe F. Muell.). Sapotaceae (1). 30 sp. Indo-mal. &c. 
B. pallida Burck. yields a gutta-percha. The seeds of B. butyracea 
Roxb. yield a butter-like substance, used for soap-making &c. The 
firs, of B. latifolia Roxb., the Moa or Mahwah, are edible, and the 
wood valuable. 
Batatas Choisy. = Ipomaea Linn. {B. edulis Ch . = /. Batatas Poir.). 
Batidaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Centrospermae). Only genus 
Batis (q.v.). See Nat. Pfl . Placed in Curvembryae by Benth.- 
Hooker and Warming. 
Batis Linn. Batidaceae. 1 (or more?) sp., coasts N. Am. 
Batrachium S. F. Gray = Ranunculus Toum. (the aquatic sp.). 
BatscMa Vahl. = Humboldtia Vahl. (Leguminosae). 
Bauera Banks. Saxifragaceae (vn). 3 sp. temp. E. Austr. Shrubs. 
Firs, solitary, axillary, 4 — io-merous. Sta. = pet. or 00. 
Bauhinia Linn. Leguminosae (11. 4). 150 sp. trop. Many are lianes 
(p. 173). Their stems are curiously shaped, flattened or corrugated 
and twisted in various ways (figs, in Kerner’s Nat. Hist, of Pll). 
“One is the most extraordinary among the climbers of the forest, 
its broad flattened woody stems being twisted in and out in a most 
17—2 
