BARREN FLOWERS. The male or staminate flowers of many plants, such as the Cucumber, Melon, &c., are popularly known as Barren Flowers, i.e., they produce no fruit. This condition is, in some respects, similar to "blind" Strawberries or "blind" Cabbages, so far as fruition is concerned, but structurally and functionally it is widely different. The Barren Flowers of the Cucumber, Melon, &c., are produced by what are known as monœcious plants, i.e., having male and female organs in different flowers, but on the same plant. In the Strawberry, &c., Barren Flowers are generally the result of unfavourable surroundings, or unskilful cultivation. A good example of Barren Flowers is seen in the ray-florets of many Composite plants, which are frequently really neuter, having neither male nor female organs.
BARREN SOILS. A term signifying such soils as are normally unprofitable. The term can only be correctly applied in very few cases; as almost any soil may be rendered capable of affording a basis for some kind of vegetable life, arboreal or other. The question of planting up the enormous quantity of what is now waste land, might well engage the most practical consideration. Of course, the natural state of any land will, to a great extent, determine what would be its ultimate condition, after all that could be effected by mechanical agency has been accomplished. Drainage, irrigation, enrichment, pulverisation, are all matters which can only be considered upon a particular basis; but we doubt not that the thousands of acres of land now practically almost useless, might, by the adoption of proper means, be rendered fairly remunerative.
BARREN-WORT. See Epimedium.
BARRINGTONIA (named after the Hon. Daines Barrington, F.R.S.). ORD. Myrtaceæ. A genus of stove evergreen trees and shrubs, very difficult to cultivate. Flowers large, racemose. Leaves opposite or whorled, generally obovate; margins toothed or entire. Fruit one-seeded, fleshy. They require a compost of two parts loam, one peat, and one sand. Water should be given in abundance, and a moist atmosphere at all times maintained, the temperature ranging from 65deg. to 95deg. Propagated by cuttings obtained from the lateral shoots; these, taken off at a joint when the wood is ripe, planted in sand, with a hand glass over them, root readily. The cuttings should not be stripped of any of their leaves.
B. racemosa (raceme-flowered). fl. red; racemes pendulous, very long. l. cuneate-oblong, acuminated, serrulated. h. 30ft. Malabar, 1822. (B. M. 3831.)
B. speciosa (showy).* fl. purple and white, large and handsome, disposed in an erect thyrse. l. shining, cuneate-oblong, obtuse, quite entire. h. 20in. to 30in. in England. This beautiful species seldom attains a height of more than 6ft. or 8ft. (G. C. 1845, p. 56.)
BARROW. Garden Barrows are very numerous, both with and without wheels. The Flower-pot Barrow has a wheel and a flat surface, on which plants, pots, or leaves are placed, either directly, or, when small, in shallow baskets. The Haum Barrow is an open box or case, of wicker or other work, placed on, or suspended from, a pair of handles, with or without a wheel, and is useful for carrying litter, leaves, &c. The Water Barrow, instead of a box, contains a barrel, tub, or cistern, in which fluid manure, or ordinary water, is conveyed to different parts of the garden. The Hand-barrow is a frame of wood, carried by two levers, which form four handles; for removing large pots or tubs of trees or shrubs it is very useful.
FIG. 207. FLOWER OF BARTONIA AUREA.
BARTLINGIA. A synonym of Plocama (which see).
BARTONIA (in honour of Benjamin S. Barton, M.D., formerly Professor of Botany at Philadelphia). ORD. Loasaceæ. Hardy annuals or biennials, downy, with stiff and bearded hairs. This genus is now placed under Mentzelia in most standard botanical works. Flowers white or yellow, large, terminal, expanding in the evening, when they are very fragrant, and becoming reddish as they fade. Leaves alternate, interruptedly pinnatifid. The species are very showy, and well worth growing. Any ordinary garden soil suits them. Seeds should be raised in a gentle heat in spring; and, when the seedlings are sufficiently large, they should be potted singly into small, well-drained pots. In winter, they should be placed on a dry shelf in a greenhouse or frame. B. aurea is one of the brightest of hardy annuals, and may be sown either in a frame, or in the open border in April.