FIG. 240. HEN AND CHICKENS DAISY (BELLIS PERENNIS PROLIFERA).
B. perennis (perennial).* Common Daisy. fl.-heads white. June. l. numerous, lying flat on the ground, obovate, crenate, slightly hairy, tapering at the base. h. 3in. England. The varieties are very numerous, the double ones being particularly fine. See Fig. 239. The handsome variegated form, aucubæfolia, has its leaves richly stained and veined with yellow. There are both red and white-flowered forms of this variety. The Hen and Chickens Daisy is a proliferous form, rather more quaint than pretty. See Fig. 240. Good garden kinds are B. p. conspicua, red; CROWN, pink; ELIZA, purple; RUBENS, red; SNOWFLAKE, white.
FIG. 241. BELLIS ROTUNDIFOLIA CŒRULESCENS.
B. rotundifolia cœrulescens (round-leaved, bluish).* fl.-heads from ¾in. to 1¼in. in diameter, resembling those of the common Daisy, but with fewer, often broader, ray-flowers, which vary from white to pale blue. l. more or less hairy, with slender stalks, 1in. to 3in. long; blade ovate or sub-cordate, sinuate toothed, three-nerved. Morocco, 1872. A very beautiful perennial, requiring the shelter of a cold frame during severe winters. See Fig. 241. (B. M. 6015.)
BELLIUM (from bellis, a Daisy; the flowers resembling those of that plant). ORD. Compositæ. A genus of pretty little, free-flowering plants, differing from the common Daisy only in having a pappus of six to eight broad scales, torn at the apex, alternating with a like number of long scabrous bristles. They thrive best in a mixture of sandy loam and peat. Propagation is readily effected by means of seeds or divisions; the latter should be made in spring.
FIG. 242. BELLIUM BELLIDIOIDES.
B. bellidioides (Daisy-like).* fl.-heads white, solitary. June to September. l. spathulate, radical. Stolons creeping. h. 4in. Italy, 1796. Annual. See Fig. 242.
B. crassifolium (thick-leaved). fl.-heads whitish-yellow; scapes much exceeding the leaves, downy. June. l. sub-radical, thick, obovate, entire, attenuate at base, rather downy. Stems many, ascending. h. 6in. Sardinia, 1831. Hardy perennial. (S. B. F. G. 2, 278.)
B. minutum (very small).* fl.-heads white and yellow, ½in. across, on slender stalks, longer than the foliage. June to September. l. narrow spathulate, attenuated at the base, slightly hairy. h. 3in. Levant, 1772. A rare little species, requiring a warm, well-drained position on the rockery.
BELLOWS. These were formerly employed for fumigating, but are now entirely superseded by the ordinary fumigators. The Sulphur Bellows is a very useful instrument for the uniform distribution of flowers of sulphur on vines and other subjects infested with mildew. In form it is very like those in common domestic use, but has a rose of small holes at the end of its nozzle, through which the sulphur is ejected.