o78 BUNIAS. 
BURDOCK. 
BUNCH. See Tumour, Fascta, Frurr, and | low, with two light brown cross stripes; her un- 
FLOWER. 
BUNIAS. A small genus of herbaceous plants, 
of the cruciferous family. ‘The oriental species, 
Bunias orientalis, is a native of the Levant, and 
was introduced thence to Britain in the former 
part of last century. It is a hardy perennial, 
and has challenged attention as a forage agricul- 
tural plant. It usually grows to the height of 
about twenty inches; its branches, leaves, and 
general habit of herbage are somewhat similar 
to those of the wild chiccory ; and its flowers are 
yellow, and appear from May till July. It was 
tested as an agricultural plant, and compared 
with other herbage plants, in the Woburn exper- 
iments; and was found to be well adapted for 
mowing, to be less productive than chiccory, and 
to contain, bulk for bulk, the same proportion of 
nutritive matter as red clover.—The erucage 
species, Bunias erucago, was introduced from 
Austria in 1640. It is an annual, grows to the 
same height as the oriental species, and flowers 
in June and July. Its branches are numerous 
and spreading, and incline toward the ground; 
its leaves are glaucous, deeply divided, and al- 
most like those of swine’s cress; and its flowers 
are small, pale-yellow, and produced singly from 
the wings of the leaves toward the extremity of 
the branches.—The only other species at present 
ranked as a bunias, is the rough species, an an- 
nual from Portugal; and other plants formerly 
classed under this genus are now assigned to the 
genera muricaria, octhodium, and euclidium. 
BUNIUM. See Harru-Nor. 
BUNS. Cylindrical stems of any kind; but 
particularly the stems of hemp freed from their 
bark. 
BUNT. See PepprrBRaND and AlcipIuM. 
BUPALUS. A genus of insects, of the moth 
tribe. One of the species, Bupalus piniarius, in- 
fests our pine woods, and often commits great de- 
predations upon the Scotch pine and the spruce 
firs. Towards the close of last century, it made 
enormous havoc in the pine forests of Bavaria, 
Saxony, and Pomerania; and in 1832-3, it ut- 
terly destroyed about one hundred acres of fir- 
trees in the forest of Hagenau near Strasburg. 
Its eggs are laid on the foliage and spray of the 
trees; and its larve are hatched in from four to 
six weeks, and grow and eat till their transmuta- 
tion into chrysalides late in autumn. The insect 
usually appears in June. The male is smaller 
than the female; his body is very slender, and 
about six lines in length; his wings expand 
about an inch anda half; his upper wings are 
dark brown, with a dull yellowish triangular 
spot on each; his under wings are yellowish- 
white, dotted with dark brown, and crossed pos- 
teriorly by two bands; and his antenne are 
brownish-black, and deeply pectinated. The fe- 
male is so dissimilar to the male as to be very 
liable to be mistaken for a different species; her 
upper wings have a ground colour of rusty yel- 
der wings are similar to those of the male, but 
have the markings imperfect and indistinct ; and 
her antennee are simple and filiform. The larva, 
in its earlier stages, is green; but afterwards 
acquires five longitudinal stripes, the dorsal one 
white, and the others white with a greater or 
less degree of yellow tinging. When young, 
it merely breaks the epidermis of the pine and 
fir leaf; but when full grown, it eats the entire 
leaf. The larvee are fondest of young trees; but 
they do not travel in search of food; for when 
they have eaten up all the foliage of a grove or 
district, any of their number which are not ready | 
for transmutation into chrysalides perish. 
BUPLEURUM. See Haru’s Har. 
BUR. The rough, prickly, adhesive seed-ves- 
sel of the burdock. See Burpocx. 
BURDEN. A load, an impost, or a reserva- 
tion of property. In its literal sense of a load, 
a burden is any heavy mass of matter borne 
by man or one of the lower animals; and hence 
all brutes which are accustomed to carry loads 
are called beasts of burden. In the sense of an 
impost, a burden is a tax upon industry, or a 
legal exaction from the profits of labour; and in 
the sense of a reservation of property, it is a 
stipulated or enforced deduction from the in- 
come of an estate. 
BURDOCK,—botanically Arctiwm. A genus 
of herbaceous plants, of the thistle division of 
the composite tribe. The smooth -leaved or 
greater species, Arctiwin lappa or Arctium majus, 
is a biennial weed of Great Britain. It abounds 
in many waste places, and is not unfrequent by 
the sides of roads and in similar situations. Its 
root is simple, spindle-shaped, externally brown, 
and internally white; its stem is succulent, ra- 
mose, and about 3 or 34 feet high; its leaves are 
cordate, undulated, very large, dark green above, 
whitish below, and standing on long footstalks ; 
its flowers consist of purple uniform florets, are 
produced in terminal panicles, and appear in 
July and August; and its fructification comprises 
a punctured receptacle, rough and prickly seed- | 
downs, and quadrangular seeds, and is externally 
armed all over with adhesive prickles which make 
it stick to the clothes of passers-by, and render it 
an implement of frolic and mischief in the plays 
of children. The roots contain inuline; and the 
stems and leaves contain nitrate of potash. The 
roots and seeds possess diuretic properties, and 
are said also to determine to the surface without 
exciting nausea or increasing irritation. ‘They 
have a place, though an obscure one, in the phar- 
macopoeia; and the roots are used in decoction 
by the peasantry of the south of England as an 
antiscorbutic. The leaves are employed in mak- 
ing the green elder ointment, which has long 
been much used by farriers.—The woolly-headed 
species, Arctium bardana or Arctium tomentosum, 
is also a biennial weed of Great Britain; and 
grows in similar situations, and has similar 
