BROOM-RAPE. 
species, called the loose, R. a. laxus, was intro- 
duced to Britain from Portugal, and has the 
same height and general appearance as the nor- 
mal plant, but flowers from January till June. 
Another variety, called the round-leaved, &. a. 
rotundifolius, flowers in March and April. 
The broad-leaved, or leaf-under-leaf species, 
Ruscus hypophyllum, was introduced from Italy 
about the middle of the 17th century. Its roots 
are large and white, and have long thick fibres ; 
its stems are numerous, tough, very elastic, of a 
fine green colour, and about the same height as 
those of the prickly species ; its leaves are oval, 
longer and broader than those of the prickly 
species, of a thick consistence, of a very fine 
shining green colour, ending in acute points, and 
growing alternately on the stems; its flowers 
are small and greenish white, grow near the 
middle of the under surface of the leaves, and 
appear in May and June; and its berries are 
small and red, and ripen in winter.—A variety 
of this species called the trifoliate, R. h. trifolia- 
tum, was brought to Britain from Zante, and has 
been considered by some botanists a separate 
species. | 
The under-tongued species or hypoglossum, 
Ruscus hypoglossum, is considerably smaller than 
the two preceding species, and can claim a place 
only in the very fore-ground of a shrubbery. It 
was brought from Italy near the close of the.16th 
century.—The racemose species or Alexandrian 
laurel, Ruscus racemosus, is a native of Portugal, 
and usually attains a height of four or five feet. 
The knotted, the twining, and the hermaphrodite 
species are evergreen climbers from the Cape of 
Good Hope and the Canary Islands, and require 
greenhouse culture. 
BROOM - RAPE,—botanically Ovrobanche. <A 
genus of evergreen parasitical plants, forming, 
with the small genus Lathreea, the natural order 
Orobanchez. All the species of the order con- 
sist of leafless parasites, with brown or colourless 
scaly stems or flowers, and growing on the roots 
of the‘plants to which they are attached. The 
name orobanche is derived from two words which 
signify ‘to strangle a vetch;’ and it sufficiently 
indicates the general habit of the genus. Up- 
wards of thirty species have been scientifically 
described ; and three of these infest the farm- 
fields of Britain, occasioning trouble and loss to 
the farmer, while four others grow wild in other 
situations in our country, and constitute objects 
of curiosity to our botanists. ; 
The taller species, Orobanche elatior, grows in 
clover fields, has a height of about 20 inches, 
and carries a yellow flower in July and August. 
The smaller species, 0. minor, grows also in clo- 
ver fields, has a height of only six or seven 
inches, and carries a yellowish white flower in 
July and August. 
mosa, grows in hemp fields, has a height of about 
a foot, and carries a brownish purple flower in 
August and September. The blue species, 0. 
The branchy species, 0. ra-: 
/ 
BROUSSONETIA. 
cerulea, grows on the sea-coast, has a height of 
about six inches, and carries a violet-coloured 
flower in July. The red species, 0. rubra, grows 
on rocky places in Ireland, has a height of six 
or seven inches, and carries a purple flower in 
August. The greater species, 0. major, grows 
in waste places, has a height of about twenty 
inches, and carries a brown flower in June and 
July. Theclove-scented species, 0. caryophyllacea, 
has a height of about a foot, and carries a dingy 
purple flower. 
The greater species, though usually growing 
on wastes, may be viewed as a fair type of all 
the British species. It loves to cling to the com- 
mon broom, and seems to have obtained from that 
circumstance the popular name of broom-rape; 
and it not unfrequently, incommon with the taller 
and the minor species, attaches itself to plants of 
cultivated clover. It resembles, in its early 
growth, the sprouting of asparagus; its stems 
are furnished with a kind of bractes instead of 
leaves; its flowers have a spiked arrangement 
somewhat similar to those of the hyacinth; and 
its seeds grow in oblong capsules, but are so mi- 
nute as to be scarcely discernible by the naked 
eye,—and they attach themselves to the seeds of 
clover by a sort of glutinous exudation, and are, 
in consequence, sown with these seeds, so as to 
send up shoots in parasitical attachment to the 
roots of clover. Broom-rape is said to possess 
some medicinal properties, particularly as a 
strong astringent. 
BROOM (Spanisn). See Broom—Spartium. 
BROSIMUM. See Breap-Nor. 
BROUSSONETIA. A genus of small, orna- 
mental, deciduous trees, of the order Urticeee. 
The paper-bearing species, Broussonetia papy- 
rifera, was formerly ranked as a mulberry, and 
called scientifically Morus papyrifera, and popu- 
larly the paper mulberry. It is a native of Ja- 
pan, and was introduced thence to Great Britain 
about the middle of last century. It usually 
grows to the height of from 12 to 30 feet. Its 
leaves are very large; some are entire, and others — 
are divided into several lobes; and all have a 
fine strong green colour on their upper surface, 
and a paler green on their under surface. Its 
flowers are dicecious and apetalous, and appear 
from February till September; and the female 
flowers are succeeded by small black fruit. It is 
cultivated in large plantations, in. Japan and 
China, for the manufacture of paper frdm the 
bark of its young shoots; the plants are headed 
to within about a foot of the ground; and every 
year the bark of the summer’s shoots is peeled 
off from the whole of the plantations.—The spa- 
tulate-leaved species, Broussonetia spatulata, was 
introduced about twenty years ago, and grows to 
about the same height as the other species. 
Both are finely ornamental—Two species of ten- 
der evergreen trees of the Maclura or Osage- 
Orange genus, have been included by some botan- 
ists in the genus Broussonetia. : 
STAY | 
ool 
