600 
BY-LAW. 
BY-LAW. A particular law made by a corpo- 
ration, or by any other distinct portion of the 
community, for the regulation of the affairs of its 
members in such of their relations as are not 
reached by the general law of the land. Such 
private laws may legally be made by all incorpo- 
rated bodies, as civic corporations, trading com- 
panies, &c.,and even by the body of the inhabitants 
of a town or parish, provided they involve the 
infraction of no public laws, but are merely cal- 
culated to supply their want of application in the 
particular instance. These private laws are bind- 
ing only on the members of the body for which 
they are framed, and will not be recognised as 
valid unless they appear to be intended for the 
general good of that body, and not for the mere 
furtherance of private or personal interests. 
BYRSONIMA. A genus of ornamental, ever- 
green, ligneous, tropical plants, of the Barbadoes- 
cherry tribe. The name Byrsonima is formed 
from a word which signifies “a hide;” and it al- 
| ludes to the richness of the bark of the plants in 
tannin. Upwards of thirty species have been 
described by botanists; and thirteen of these 
have been introduced to the hothouses of Britain. 
| Nine of the introduced species were formerly 
classed with the malpighias; and both they and 
all the other species have a very close relation- 
ship to that genus. The loftiest species, Byrso- 
nima altissima, usually attains a height of about 
60 feet; and both this species and some others 
are of use in warm countries for their timber. 
Most of the introduced species are merely tall 
shrubs; one, Byrsonima volubilis, is a twiner ; all 
are handsome; and most are natives of the north- 
ern part of South America, and the adjacent 
islands of the West Indies. 
BYTTNERIA. A genus of plants, partly 
shrubby and partly herbaceous, forming the type 
of the natural order Byttneriaceze. This order 
comprises twenty-eight genera; and has, within 
the gardens of Great Britain, upwards of 150 
species. One section or tribe of the order con- 
sists of the single genus erioleena, and five other 
sections, into which it is divided, are severally 
represented by the genera byttneria, sterculia, 
lasiopetalum, dombeya and hermannia. The six 
tribes are distinguishable from one another only 
by very minute botanical characteristics; and 
even the whole order is distinguishable from the 
mallow and the silk-cotton-tree orders, chiefly by 
the mere bilocular character of its anthers. Some 
of the species are superlatively beautiful; and 
not a few are, in various respects, economically va- 
luable. Many of thesterculias are fine umbrageous 
trees; severalspecies produce seeds whicharemuch | 
esteemed for the dessert; the theobroma genus 
yields the well known chocolate and cocoa of the 
tea-shops ; a species of pentapetes yields a cooling 
mucilaginous juice which is medicinally employ- 
ed in gonorrhcea ; and a species of guazama yields 
productions which are severally used for the des- 
sert, for promoting perspiration, and for clarify- 
ing sugar.—About twenty species of the genus 
byttneria have been described by botanists; and | 
eight of these have been introduced to the gar- 
dens of Britain. Two of the introduced species, 
the thick-leaved and the hermannia-leaved, are 
greenhouse, ornamental, evergreen shrubs, of | 
three or four feet in height; and the others are | 
hothouse plants of little interest. 
BYZANTINE NUT,—botanically Oorylus Co- | 
It is a small, hardy, | 
deciduous, nut-bearing tree; and was introduced | 
lurna. A species of hazel. 
to Great Britain from Constantinople in 1665. 
It usually attains a height of about ten feet ; its 
stipucles, instead of being oval and obtuse like 
those of the filbert, are narrow and acute; its 
nuts are roundish, and twice the size of those of 
the common hazel; and its calyx is very large, 
so as almost to cover the nut, and is deeply cut 
at the brim. Its other characteristics, and its 
mode of propagation, are the same as those of | 
the common hazel. A hybrid between it and the 
zt 
CAAPEBA. | 
filbert, called Corylus colurna intermedia, has re- 
cently become known in the nurseries. 
v 
C 
CAAPEBA,—botanically Cissampelos Caapeba. 
A tender, evergreen, ornamental, twining, dic- 
ceous plant, of the moonseed tribe. It grows 
wild in the tropical parts of South America, 
and was introduced thence to British hot- 
houses during the former half of last century. 
It naturally twists about every shrub in its 
vicinity, and attains a height of five or six 
feet. 
their under surface, and standing on pretty long 
slender footstalks, which are set within the leaves’ 
base; and its flowers are greenish, and come out 
from the wings of the leaves, toward the upper 
part of the stems,——those of the male plants grow- | 
ing in short spikes or clusters,—and those of the | 
female plants produced in long loose racemes, and 
Its leaves are round heart-shaped, hairy on | 
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