262 
BERBERIS 
Gramineae. The fungus ( Puccinia graminis or Aecidium berbeHdis) 
passes through two alternating stages in its life history, one on the 
grass, the other on the barberry, so that if there are no barberry plants 
in a district, it is practically insured against rust. See text-books, or 
Ward’s Diseases of Plants. 
Bergenia Moench. = Saxifraga Tourn. (7 sp. As.) 
Berkheya Ehrh. Compositae (x). 70 sp. Afr. 
Bernoullia Oliv. Sterculiaceae. 1 sp. Guatemala. 
Berrya Roxb. Tiliaceae. 2 sp. Ceylon, E. Ind., Tahiti. 
Berteroa DC. = Alyssum Tourn. (5 sp. Eur. , As., Medit.) 
Bertholletia Humb. et Bonpl. Lecythidaceae. 2 sp. trop. S. Am. 
The frt. is a large woody capsule, containing seeds with hard woody 
testa and oily endosperm — the Brazil nuts of commerce. “This 
tree takes more than a year to produce and ripen its fruits. In... 
January I observed the trees loaded at the same time with flowers 
and ripe fruits. ...The fruits, nearly as hard and heavy as cannon-balls, 
fall with tremendous force from the height of 100 feet.... Persons are 
sometimes killed by them” (Wallace). The fruit is indehiscent and 
the seeds are procured by opening it with an axe. 
Bertolonia Raddi. Melastomaceae (1). 9 sp. S. Brazil. Young plants 
form readily at cuts across the midrib of a leaf placed on damp soil 
(P- ri 3 )- 
Beschorneria Kunth. Amaryllidaceae (11). 13 sp. Mex. Like Agave. 
Besleria Plum. Gesneraceae (1). 50 sp. trop. and sub-trop. Am. 
Bessera Schult. f. (excl. Androstephium Torr.). Liliaceae (iv). 1 sp. 
Mex. 
Beta (Tourn.) Linn. Chenopodiaceae (2). 6 sp. Eur., Medit.; 1 in 
Brit., B. vulgaris L. or B. maritima L. the sea-beet, from which are 
derived the garden beetroot, the sugar-beet, and the mangold-wurzel. 
The plant is a biennial (p. 151) and stores reserves in the root, the 
non-nitrogenous materials taking the form of sugar. The sugar-beet 
is largely cultivated in Western Europe for the sake of this sugar. 
The garden beet is a favourite vegetable ; the mangold is valuable for 
feeding cattle, &c. The leaves are sometimes eaten like spinach. 
Betonica (Tourn.) Linn. = Stachys Tourn. 
Betula (Tourn.) Linn. Betulaceae. 35 sp. N. temp. B. alba L., the 
birch, is common in Brit, and reaches to the N. limit of trees (p. 180). 
Trees with catkins of firs. The $ catkins are laid down in autumn 
as large buds at the end of the year’s growth, the ? further back, on 
leafy branches. In the axil of each leaf of the catkin there are 3 firs, 
(cf. other genera of the order). The bracts of the lateral firs, occur 
(a, j 8) but no bracteoles. In the $ the bracteoles a (3 are joined to 
the bract itself. Each flr. has two sta. and a perianth, often 
reduced from the typical 4 leaves to the 2 median leaves, or even to 
the single anterior leaf. The sta. are divided into halves nearly to 
the base ; the lateral ones are absent. In the ? the bracteoles a [3 
