BANYAN-TREE. 
abound chiefly in the least torrid parts of that 
country, and occur in the most fertile tracts of 
the Swan river colony ; and, except in the last of 
these districts, they are usually regarded as indi- 
cations of the barrenness of the soil. Their usual 
name among the Australian colonists is honey- 
suckle trees; but they possess little to justify it, 
and have scarcely a property in common with 
either the woodbine or the azalea. The broad- 
leaved species has a height of about 30 feet, the 
saw-leaved, the oblong-leaved, and the taller spe- 
cies have a height of from 15 to 20 feet, and the 
entire-leaved and the verticillate species have a 
height of about 12 feet; but nearly all the other 
species vary in height from 14 to 6 feet. The 
leaves of all the species are hard and dry, and, in 
general, are cut in the edges while the plants are 
young, and undivided when the plants are old; 
and they have a dull green colour on their upper 
| side, but are usually white or very pale green on 
the lower. The flowers are small, narrow, tubu- 
‘lar calyxes, closely compacted, sometimes to the 
number of six hundred or upwards, into oblong, 
vertically-situated heads; they do not fall when 
the season of bloom is over, but wither, become 
brown, and remain attached to the axis of the 
head; and in the coccinea species they are scar- 
let, in the sea-shore species orange, in the south- 
ern and the rival species green, and in most of 
the other species yellow. Most of the species are 
propagated from cuttings, and thrive best in 
sandy peat or in peat and loam. . 
BANYAN-TREE,—botanically Ficus Indica. 
A remarkable, evergreen, ornamental Indian tree, 
of the fig-tree genus. It was introduced to the 
hot-houses of Great Britain from India in 1759, 
and usually grows to the height of about 30 feet. 
In its native woods, fibres descend from the un- 
derside of its horizontal branches, grow down- 
ward to the earth, take root, increase in bulk, 
and ultimately become so many stems and props 
of the tree; and, in this country, in at least one 
instance, similar shoots, to the number of thir- 
teen, have been coaxed down to rooting condition 
in the soil by means of -rocket-cases, filled with 
equal parts of white sand and sifted loam. 
BAOBAB. See ApANsontia. 
BARB. A noble breed of horses, taking its 
name from Barbary, and reared by the Moors of 
that country and Morocco. The common horse 
of Barbary is a very inferior animal, either of dif- 
ferent origin from the true barb or exceedingly 
deteriorated. The barb was introduced by the 
Moors to Spain ; but there also it has greatly de- 
generated. The true barb of the present day is 
to be found chiefly among the wild nomadic 
tribes of the Barbary and Morocco deserts. His 
chest is long and slender, and rises beautifully 
from the withers; his mane is small; his head is 
well-shaped, small, and lean; his shoulders are 
flat and slender; his withers are narrow and 
plump ; his back is straight and short; his flanks 
and sides are round and do not belly out; his 
BARBADOES CHERRY. 
325 
haunches are well-shaped and firm; his croup is 
generally somewhat long ; his tail is placed pretty 
high; his thigh is well-shaped and seldom flat ; 
his legs are well-shaped, handsome, and without 
long hair at the pastern joint; and his feet are 
well made, but his pastern is often long. Yet a 
member of the Jockey Club would pronounce his 
head large and clumsy, his neck short and thick, 
and his body and legs so long and slender as to 
resemble those of the greyhound, and be quite 
out of symmetry with the normal proportions of 
the horse. The barb, in fact, is not eminent for 
either beauty or symmetry ; but is altogether un- 
rivalled for speed, lightness, abstinence, endur- 
ance, temper, and the impartation of good pro- 
perties in the improving of a breed. A barb, in 
its native country, is saddled and mounted at two 
years of age, and cropped in tail and mane till 
six years of age; it is never either combed or 
castrated; and after its sixth year, it is never 
cropped. The male alone is used for the saddle; 
and the female is kept merely for the purpose of 
breeding. The barb has afforded the chief con- 
tribution to the excellence of the Spanish horse; 
and he was early introduced for the improvement 
of our English breeds. The Godolphine Arabian, 
from whom some of the best English racing- 
horses have descended, was a barb; and eight or 
nine of the most celebrated turf brood-mares of 
the last century in England were barbs. See 
article Horss. 
BARBACENIA. A beautiful and recently dis- 
covered genus of tender evergreen herbaceous 
plants, of the hoemodorum tribe. Twelve species 
are already known to botanists; and the purple 
species has recently been introduced to our hot- 
houses from Brazil, grows 14 foot high, and has 
carex-like leaves, and lively, purple flowers,—the 
latter appearing in July. 
BARBADOES CEDAR. See Juniper. 
BARBADOES CHERRY,—botanically JA/al- 
pighia. A genus of tropical, evergreen, orna- 
mental and fruit shrubs, forming the type of the 
natural order malpighiaceze. This order com- 
prises 13 genera, and has contributed to our hot- 
houses upwards of 70 species. Most have firm, 
neat foliage, and showy pink or yellow flowers; 
and many are remarkable for stinging bristles or 
prurient hairs, resembling cowitch. Their tim- 
ber has a dark red colour; and their bark has 
been used in medicine as a febrifuge. About a 
dozen species of the Barbadoes cherry genus are 
cultivated in our hot-houses; and seven or eight 
more are known to botanists. The fruit of one 
of the species is extensively eaten in the West 
Indies as a succedaneum for cherries; yet though 
possessing a pleasant subacid flavour, is but of 
indifferent nature. All the introduced species 
have long been valued for the fine appearance 
which their flowers make during most of the 
dullest portion of the year, from December till 
the end of March. They are propagated from 
seeds or cuttings in peat and loam. 
