HYBRID ALSTRŒMERIAS

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BACKHOUSIA (commemorative of the late James Backhouse, a botanical traveller in Australia and South Africa). ORD. Myrtaceæ. A greenhouse evergreen shrub, requiring a compost of fibry peat, loam, and a little white sand. Propagated, in April, by half-ripened cuttings, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, in a cool house.

B. myrtifolia (Myrtle-leaved).* fl. white, disposed in corymbs, and often produced on cuttings soon after having struck root. May. l. ovate, acuminate, smooth. Branches slender. h. 16ft. New South Wales, 1844. (B. M. 4133.)

BACONIA. A synonym of Pavetta (which see).

BACTRIS (from baktron, a cane; the young stems being used for walking sticks). ORD. Palmaceæ. Very ornamental, slender growing, and prickly stove palms. Peduncle of the spadix bursting through about the middle of the leaf sheath. Drupes small, ovate, or nearly round, and generally of a dark blue colour. Leaves pinnatisect; segments generally linear and entire. Instead of being confined to the apex of the trunk, the leaves are scattered over nearly the whole surface, and the lower ones retain their verdure long after the upper ones have fully developed. Stems slender, varying from 2ft. to 10ft. in height. Some of the species are of easy culture in a compost of loam, peat, loaf mould, and sand, in equal parts; but most of them are very difficult to manage. Propagation may be effected by suckers, which are very freely produced. Many species are ornamental only when in a young state.

B. baculifera (cane-bearing). l. pinnate, bifid at the apex, 2ft. to 6ft. long; pinnæ arranged in clusters about 1ft. long and 2in. broad, dark green above, paler below; petioles sheathing and densely clothed with sharp brown and black spines, 1½in long. South America.

B. caryotæfolia (Caryota-leaved).* fl., spathe ovate, prickly; branches of spadix simple, flexuous. l., pinnæ wedge-shaped, three-lobed, and erose; rachis, petioles, and caudex, prickly. h. 30ft. Brazil, 1825.

B. flavispina (yellow-spined). Synonymous with B. pallidispina.

B. major (greater). fl. greenish-yellow, with a broadly ovate spathe. h. 25ft. Carthagena, 1800.

B. Maraja (Maraja). Maraja Palm. fl. yellow, with a prickly spathe. h. 30ft. to 50ft. Bahia, 1868.

B. pallidispina (pale-spined).* l. pinnate, bifid at the apex; pinnæ clustered, 6in. to 12in. long, 1in. wide, dark; petioles sheathing at the base and furnished with a profusion of long, yellow spines, which are tipped with black. Brazil. SYN. B. flavispina.

BACULARIA (from baculum, a walking-stick). ORD. Palmaceæ. A small genus containing a couple of stove species, which are amongst the smallest palms of the Old World. Both are confined to the east coast of tropical Australia. B. monostachya—in allusion to its slender stem, which rarely exceeds in thickness that of the thumb—is known as the Walking-stick Palm.