BRACHYCHITON (from brachys, short, and chiton, a coat of mail; plants covered with imbricated hairs and scales). ORD. Sterculiaceæ. A genus of tropical or sub-tropical Australian trees or shrubs, allied to Sterculia, from which it differs in very minor points. They are of easy culture in a loamy soil. Propagated by young cuttings, planted in sandy soil, in gentle heat.
B. acerifolium (Acer-leaved). fl. bright red. l. long-stalked, deeply five to seven-lobed. h. from 60ft. to 120ft.
B. Bidwillii (Bidwill's).* fl. bright red, arranged in axillary bunches. l. stalked, heart-shaped, entire, or three-lobed, and covered with a soft pubescence. 1851. (B. M. 5133.)
B. diversifolium (various-leaved). l. coriaceous, obtuse, lanceolate, entire, or three-lobed, glabrous; lobes acuminate. h. 20ft. to 60ft. 1824.
BRACHYCOME (from brachys, short, and kome, hair). Swan River Daisy. ORD. Compositæ. A genus of beautiful little half-hardy perennials or annuals, closely resembling Bellis in structure. Involucral bracts membranous at the margin; receptacle pitted, naked. Fruit compressed, surmounted by a very short bristly pappus. B. iberidifolia is one of the prettiest of summer annuals, and in the open border it flowers profusely, if in a dry, sunny spot. Towards the autumn, it may be removed to the greenhouse, where it will still continue flowering for several weeks. Seeds may be sown in a gentle hotbed, early in the spring, and, when large enough, planted out in borders or beds, 6in. apart; or they may be sown thinly out of doors, late in April, and thinned out, when they will flower a month later than those sown in the hotbed.
B. iberidifolia (Iberis-leaved).* fl.-heads blue or white, with a dark centre, about 1in. in diameter. Summer and autumn. l. pinnate; segments linear. Plant erect, glabrous. h. 1ft. Swan River, 1843. See Fig. 274.
FIG. 274. BRACHYCOME IBERIDIFOLIA, showing Habit and Flowering Branch.
BRACHYLÆNA (from brachys, short, and læna, a cloak or covering; referring to the shortness of the involucre). ORD. Compositæ. A genus of South African evergreen greenhouse shrubs, nearly allied to Baccharis. They thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Propagated by cuttings, made of half-ripened shoots, placed in a well-drained pot of sandy soil, under a bell glass.
B. dentata (toothed). fl.-heads yellow. l. lanceolate, acute, entire, rusty beneath when young, when adult quite glabrous.
B. nerifolia (Nerium-leaved).* fl.-heads yellow, in branching racemes or panicles. August to November. l. lanceolate, serrated with one or two teeth forward. h. 2ft. Cape of Good Hope, 1752.
BRACHYOTUM (from brachys, short, and otos, the ear; in reference to the short appendages at the base of the anthers). ORD. Melastomaceæ. A handsome greenhouse evergreen shrub, with a bushy habit. Allied, and requiring similar culture, to Pleroma (which see).
B. confertum (crowded).* fl. purple, terminal, nodding, with cream-coloured bracts. November. l. oblong or ovate, small, three-nerved, with adpressed hairs. Andes, Peru, 1873. (B. M. 6018.)