Defn: An ancient species of divination by means of plants, esp. sage and fig leaves.
BOTANY Bot"a*ny, n.; pl. Botanies. Etym: [F. botanique, a. & n., fr. Gr. botanic, fr. herb, plant, fr. to feed, graze.]
1. The science which treats of the structure of plants, the functions of their parts, their places of growth, their classification, and the terms which are employed in their description and denomination. See Plant.
2. A book which treats of the science of botany.
Note: Botany is divided into various departments; as, Structural Botany, which investigates the structure and organic composition of plants; Physiological Botany, the study of their functions and life; and Systematic Botany, which has to do with their classification, description, nomenclature, etc.
BOTANY BAY
Bot"a*ny Bay".
Defn: A harbor on the east coast of Australia, and an English convict settlement there; — so called from the number of new plants found on its shore at its discovery by Cook in 1770.
Note: Hence, any place to which desperadoes resort. Botany Bay kino (Med.), an astringent, reddish substance consisting of the inspissated juice of several Australian species of Eucalyptus. — Botany Bay resin (Med.), a resin of reddish yellow color, resembling gamboge, the product of different Australian species of Xanthorrhæa, esp. the grass three (X. hastilis.)
BOTARGO Bo*tar"go, n. Etym: [It. bottarga, bottarica; or Sp. botarga; a kind of large sausages, a sort of wide breeches: cf. F. boutargue.]
Defn: A sort of cake or sausage, made of the salted roes of the mullet, much used on the coast of the Mediterranean as an incentive to drink.