BLUE-BELLS. See [Campanula rotundifolia] and Scilla nutans.
BLUE-BOTTLE. See Centaurea Cyanus.
BLUE GUM TREE. See Eucalyptus globulus.
BLUETS. The French name for Centaurea Cyanus. See also Houstonia cœrulea and Vaccinium angustifolium.
BLUMENBACHIA (in honour of John Frederick Blumenbach, M.D., Professor of Medicine at Göttingen, and distinguished as a comparative anatomist). ORD. Loasaceæ. Elegant branched, climbing or trailing, annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, generally covered with stinging hairs, which are very objectionable. Flowers axillary, solitary, bracteate, very pretty and interesting. Leaves opposite, lobed. They are of easy culture in ordinary garden soil. Propagated by seeds, which should be sown in pots, in spring, and placed in a gentle heat, where they will germinate in about a fortnight. When the seedlings are large enough, and after having been previously hardened off, they may be planted out in their blooming quarters, or potted on and trained to a trellis.
FIG. 257. BLUMENBACHIA CHUQUITENSIS.
B. chuquitensis (Chuquitan).* fl. solitary, axillary, with five to ten boat-shaped red petals, which are yellow within. September. l. oblong-lanceolate, pinnate; segments pinnatifidly lobed. Peru, 1863. Half-hardy climbing perennial. See Fig. 257. (B. M. 6143.)
B. contorta (twisted).* fl. orange-red, with cup-shaped green scales within. July. l. oblong-ovate, pinnatifid; lobes incisely toothed. Peru. Greenhouse climber, but may be grown against a wall, out of doors, during the summer. (B. M. 6134.)
FIG. 258. FLOWER OF BLUMENBACHIA CORONATA.