BAN 
they are fubverticillate at the ends of the twigs. The 
flowers and fruits are collected into a cylindric ament; 
and, before they are ripe, are pubefcent with a nap of 
fnovvy whitenefs. 
3. Bankfia ericasfolia, or heath-leaved bankfia : leaves 
approximating, acerofe, truncate-emarginate, fmoptli. 
The leaves of this arc very fmall, but more abundant than 
in the foregoing fort. 
4. Bankfia dentata, or tooth-leaved bankfia: leaves ob¬ 
long, attenuated into the petiole, curved, flexuofe-tooth- 
ed ; teeth ending in a fpinule, white underneath. The 
flowers in this fpecies are fmaller than in the others. 
5. Bankfia pyriformis, or pear-fruited bankfia : flow¬ 
ers folitary ; capfules ovate, pubefcent; leaves lanceolate, 
very entire, fmooth. The capfules are larger than in any 
other known fpecies, being three inches long: they are 
in the fbape of a pear inverted, woody, very thick, co¬ 
vered with a fhort afii-coloured nap, refembling that of a 
peach : they are one-celled, and open longitudinally on 
the lower fide. There is no receptacle, except a filiform 
umbilical chord extending from the bottom of the capfule 
to the outer fide of the feed. There are two feeds, of a 
rufous cinnamon colour, convex on one fide, flat on the 
other, with a very large, membranaceous, veinlefs, wing. 
6. Bankfia gibbofa, or gibbous-fruited bankfia.: flow¬ 
ers folitary ; capfules ovate-gibbous, wrinkled ; leaves 
columnar. The leaves are perfectly cylindrical, about 
two inches long, and one line in diameter, pale-green and 
fmooth. 
7. Bankfia mufeuliformis, or mufcle-fruited bankfia: 
flowers folitary-; capfules ovate-conical, mufcle-fhaped, 
pointed, with tubercles on the outfide; leaves obovate, 
emarginate. Leaves alternate, from fix to eight inches 
long, and three broad. Flowers in a fhort fimpie raceme, 
in which only one or two fruits ripen. Seeds two, dark bay. 
S. Bankfia fpinulofa, or prickly-leaved bankfia : leaves 
linear, revolute, with a little fharp point, and with fpi- 
nous denticulations towards the top. Stem woody, branch¬ 
ed ; the branches commonly three or more together, curv¬ 
ed upwards. Leaves irregularly fcattered, clofely cover¬ 
ing the branches, on very fhort footflalks, but little fpread- 
ing, from an inch and a half to two inches in length, very 
narrow, revolute in the margin, green and fmooth above, 
w v hite and dow : ny beneath, ending very abruptly, tipped 
with three little’ fpines, and having feveral of the fame 
kind hooked upwards, in the margin, particularly towards 
the top : the young leaves are very downy. Flowers thick 
fet in a cylindrical erect fpike, arifing from the divarica¬ 
tions of the branches. The inhabitants of New South 
Wales call it wattangre. All thefe plants are natives of 
that country, except the feventh, which Rumphius ob- 
ferved in Amboyna in 1693. 
Propagation and Culture.. Some of the fpecies have flow, 
ered and feeded here. They have not yet been increafed 
any other way but by feeds. Thefe, and the plants in 
general from the South Seas, are hardy confidering their 
climate, and may be treated pretty much in the fame man¬ 
ner with the Cape plants. They covet abundance of air, 
and flourifh belt near the front of the dry itove. 
Banksia Forst. See Pimelea. 
BANN, a river of Ireland, which rifes in the county 
of Dromore, about eight miles eaft of Newry, paffes 
through Lough Neagh, and rims into the North Sea, 
about four miles north-weft of Coleraine. 
BANNALEC', a town of France, in the department of 
Finifterre, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 
Qmmperle : two leagues and a quarter north-weft of 
Quimperle, and one and three quarters fouth-eall of Rof- 
porden. 
BAN'NER,yi [bannier?} Fr. banair, Wetfh,] A flag; 
a ftandard ; a military enfign. A ftreanter born at the end 
of a lance, or elfewhere : 
All in a moment through the gloom were feen 
Ten thoufand banners rife into the air, 
With orient colours waving. Milton. 
BAN 69 j 
Wc find a multiplicity of opinions concerning the ety¬ 
mology of the word banner ; lome deriving it from the 
Latin bandum, ‘a band or flag;’ others from the word 
bann, ‘ to fummon the vaflals to appear in arms others 
again from the German ban, ‘afield or tenement,’ be- 
caufe landed men alone were allowed a banner: and, fi¬ 
nally, there are fome who think it is a corruption of pan- 
niere from pannus , ‘ cloth,’ becaufe banners were origin¬ 
ally made of cloth. 
The Banner of France was the largeft and richeft 
of all the flags borne by the ancient kings in their great 
military expeditions. St. Martin’s cap was in ufe 600 
years as the banner of France ; it was made of taffety, 
painted with the image of that faint, and laid one or two 
days on his tomb to prepare it for ufe. About the year 
1100 came in a more pompous apparatus. The banner 
royal was faftened to the top of a malt, or fome tall tree, 
planted on a fcaffold, borne on a carriage drawn by oxen, 
covered with velvet houlings, decorated with devices or 
cyphers of the prince reigning. At the foot of the tree 
was a prieft, who laid mafs early every morning. Ten 
knights mounted guard on the fcaffold night and day, and 
as many trumpets at the foot of the tree never ceafed flou- 
rifhing, to animate the troops. This cumberfome ma¬ 
chine, the mode of which was brought from Italy, con¬ 
tinued in ufe about 130 yers. Its poll was in the centre of 
the army. And here it was that the chief feats were per¬ 
formed, to carry off and defend the royal banner; for there 
was no victory without it, nor was any army reputed van- 
quifhed till they had loll their banner. 
Banner, of mother church, was a crofs given to a fe¬ 
lon or murderer, who having reached a church or church¬ 
yard, before he was apprehended, could not be taken out 
thence to take his trial at law, but having confelfed his 
crime before the juftice or coroner, and abjured the king¬ 
dom, was to carry this crofs in his hand through the high¬ 
ways, till he was got out of the king’s dominion ; but this 
privilege,’ and the ufe of faiiftuaries, was taken away in 
the 21 If of James I. 
BAN'NERETS, f. [The word feems formed from 
banner, ‘a fquare flag ;’ or from band, which anciently 
denoted a flag.] An ancient order of knights, or feudal 
lords ; who, polfelfing feveral large fees, led their vaflals 
to battle under their own flag or banner, when fummoned 
thereto by the king. Bannerets are alfo called in ancient 
writers milites vexilliferi, and vexillarii, banerarii, banarii, 
bauderifii, &c. 
Anciently there were two kinds of knights, great and 
little-, the flrft whereof were called bannerets, the fecond 
bachelors ; the fir ft compofed t he upper, the fecond the 
middle, nobility. The banneret was a dignity allowed to 
march under his own flag, whereas the bachclarius eques 
followed that of another. To be qualified for a banneret, 
the party was required to be a 'gentleman of family, and 
muli have a power to raife a certain number of armed men, 
with eftate enough to lubfift at leaft twenty-eight or thirty 
men. This muff have been very confiderable in thofe 
days ; becaufe each man, befides his fervant, had two 
horfemen to w'ait on him armed, the one with a crofs - 
bow, the other with a bow and hatchet. As he was not 
allowed to be a baron who had not above thirteen knights 
fees, fo he was not admitted to be a banneret if he had 
lefs titan ten. 
Banneret, according to Spelman,- was a middle order 
between a baron and a fimpie knight; called fometimes 
alfo vexi/larius minor ; to diftinguifh him from the greater, 
that is, from the baron, to whom alone properly belonged 
theyas vcxilli, or privilege of the fquare flag. Hence the 
banneret was alfo called bannerettus, quaji baro minor ; a 
word frequently ufed by Englifh writers in the fame fenfe 
as banneret was by the French, though neither of them 
occur before the time of Edward II. 
Some will have bannerets to have originally been per- 
fons who had fome portion of a barony afligned them ; 
and enjoyed it under the title or baio proxirnus, and that 
with 
