BOSSIÆA (named after M. Bossier Lamartinière, a French botanist, who accompanied the unfortunate La Peyrouse round the world). ORD. Leguminosæ. A genus of elegant Australian greenhouse shrubs. Flowers yellow, axillary and solitary, the base of the vexillum or the keel generally blotched or veined with purple. Leaves simple, of various forms. A mixture of turfy loam, leaf mould, peat, and sand, with very free drainage, suits these plants best. Half-ripened cuttings will root freely if placed in a pot of sand with a bell glass over them, in a cool house. Seeds should be sown, in March, on a slight hotbed.
B. cinerea (ashy-grey). fl. yellow, the vexillum furnished with a purple circle at the base, and the keel dark purple. May. l. nearly sessile, cordate acute, ending in a spiny mucrone, scabrous above, but pilose on the nerves beneath, with recurved margins. Branches terete, crowded with leaves, vinous. h. 1ft. to 3ft. 1824. SYNS. B. cordifolia, B. tenuicaulis. (B. M. 3895.)
B. cordifolia (heart-leaved). A synonym of B. cinerea.
B. disticha (two-ranked).* fl. yellowish-red; peduncles solitary, axillary, one-flowered, longer than the leaves. March to May. l. distichous, ovate, obtuse. Young branches terete. h. 1½ft. Swan River, 1840. (B. R. 1841, 55.)
B. ensata (sword-shaped). fl. yellowish, with the back and base of the vexillum of a brownish orange-purple colour; keel brownish-purple. April. Branches flat, linear, leafless, toothed, the teeth bearing the flowers; upper bracts distant from the lower ones, shorter than the pedicel. h. 1ft. to 2ft. 1825. (S. F. A. 51.)
B. foliosa (leafy). fl. yellow and orange. May to June. l. alternate, small, orbicular, retuse, scabrous, with revolute margins, silky beneath; stipules permanent, hooked, longer than the petioles. Branches straight, terete, villous. h. 1ft. to 3ft. 1824.
B. lenticularis (lentil-leaved). A synonym of B. rhombifolia.
B. linnæoides (Linnæa-like).* fl. yellow; keel dark brown; corolla about twice the length of the calyx; pedicels solitary one-flowered, elongated. May. l. elliptic, mucronate. Branches terete, prostrate, puberulous. 1824. A procumbent shrub.
B. linophylla (Flax-leaved).* fl. orange and purple. July to August. l. linear, with recurved margins. Branches compressed, leafy. h. 1ft. to 4ft. 1803. (B. M. 2491.)
B. microphylla (small-leaved). l. cuneiformly obcordate, glabrous. Branches terete, leafy, spinescent; young branches rather compressed and pubescent. h. 1ft. to 2ft. 1803. (L. B. C. 656.)
B. rhombifolia (diamond-leaved).* fl. yellow, the vexillum having a dark red zonate mark at the base; wings red at the base; keel brownish-purple. April. l. rhomboidal-orbicular, somewhat emarginate and mucronate. Branches terete; branchlets compressed, leafy. h. 1ft. to 3ft. 1820. SYN. B. lenticularis. (L. B. C. 1238.)
B. rotundifolia (round-leaved). l. roundish, or broadly obovate, somewhat mucronate, flat, four to five lines long and five to six broad. Branches and branchlets leafy, compressed. h. 1ft. to 2ft. 1824.
B. scolopendrium (plank-plant). fl. yellow, with the back of the vexillum and keel brownish-red. May. l. (when present) ovate and smooth. Branches flat, linear, leafless, toothed, with the teeth bearing the flowers; keel naked; superior bracts permanent, imbricate, equal in length to the peduncles. h. 3ft. to 10ft. 1792. (B. M. 1235.)
B. tenuicaulis (slender-stemmed). Synonymous with B. cinerea.
BOSWELLIA (named after Dr. Boswell, formerly of Edinburgh). Olibanum Tree. ORD. [Burseraceæ.] Ornamental and economic evergreen stove trees. Flowers hermaphrodite; calyx five-toothed, permanent; petals five, obovate-oblong, spreading, with the margins incumbent in æstivation; disk cup-shaped, crenate; stamens ten; capsule trigonal. They are of easy culture, thriving well in loam and peat soil. Cuttings root readily if placed in sand under a glass.
B. glabra (glabrous). fl. white, small, with a red nectary and yellow anthers; racemes aggregate, simple, terminal, shorter than the leaves. l. impari-pinnate; leaflets broad, lanceolate, blunt, serrated, smooth. h. 30ft. Coromandel, 1823. (B. F. S. 124.)
B. serrata (saw-edged-leaved).* fl. whitish-yellow; racemes axillary, simple. l. impari-pinnate; leaflets ovate-oblong, taper-pointed, serrated, pubescent. h. 20ft. India, 1820. (T. L. S. xv., 4.)
BOTANY BAY GUM. See Xanthorrhæa arborea.
BOTANY BAY TEA (and TREE). See Smilax glycyphylla.
BOTHY. A residence for under-gardeners, usually built behind the hothouses, or some high wall, in what is called a back shed. The place is too frequently a cramped, ill-ventilated hovel. A Bothy proper should be an independent structure, and fitted with modern conveniences; for, of all people, gardeners are the most susceptible to colds, &c. A library of standard horticultural and botanical works, as well as a few on other scientific subjects, and a moderate number of high-class books of fiction, one or more weekly gardening and other papers, should be supplied by the employer. During the winter months, for mutual improvement, lectures should be delivered, or papers read, by each gardener, on various subjects, after which a free discussion should take place upon the paper or lecture, by which means a great amount of good would be accomplished.
BOTRYCHIUM (from botrys, a bunch; in reference to the bunch-like disposition of the indusia). Moonwort. ORD. Filices. A genus of very interesting and pretty little hardy ferns. Capsules sessile, arranged in two rows on the face of spikes which form a compound panicle. They require a compost of sandy loam; perfect drainage is most essential. For general culture, see Ferns.
B. australe (southern). A variety of B. ternatum.
B. daucifolium (Daucus-leaved). sti. stout, 6in. to 12in. long; petiole of sterile segments 1in. to 6in. long, the latter 6in. to 12in. each way, deltoid, tripinnatifid or tripinnate, the lower pinnæ largest; segments lanceolate-oblong, ¼in. to ⅜in. broad, finely toothed. fertile peduncle equalling the sterile segments when mature; panicle 2in. to 4in. long; tripinnate, not very close. Himalayas, &c. Greenhouse species. SYN. B. subcarnosum.
B. Lunaria. Common Moonwort.* sti. 1in. to 4in. long. sterile segments sessile, or nearly so, 1in. to 3in. long, ½in. to 1in. broad, base much broader than the middle, cut down to a flattened rachis into several distinct, close, entire, or notched cuneate-flabellate pinnæ on both sides. fertile peduncle equalling or exceeding the sterile portion; panicle close, 1in. to 2in. long. England, &c. Hardy. See Fig. 267.
