BIE Several coats round some extrane- ous body. It is found in Sicily, in sand and clay-pits. Bidens. See Marygold. BIENNIAL PLANTS are those of only two years duration. Several vegetables are of this tribe : being raised from seed, they generally at- tain perfection the first year ; and in the following spring, or summer, they produce their flowers and seeds, and soon afterwards decay. Biennials consist of esculents, and flower-plants. The former in- clude the cabbage, savoy, carrot, parsnip, beet, onion, leek, &C.5 and the latter, the Canterbury bell, Trench honey-suckle, wall-flower, stock July-flower, Sweet- William, China-pink, common-pink, carna- tion, scabious, holly-hock, tree- mallow, vervain-mallow, tree-prim- rose, honesty, or moonwort, &c. ; 2II of which, if sown in March, April, or May, rise the same year, and in the following, shoot up into stalks, flower, and produce per- fect seeds in autumn. Though most of the biennials dwindle in the third year, a few of them, par- ticularly holly-hocks, wall-flowers, carnations, and pinks, produce flowers which, however, are gene- rally small, and of faint colours. Hence it is necessary to raise an annual supply from seed ; though the three last mentioned plants may be propagated by slips and layers. BILBERRY, or the Vacdniwm, L. is a plant of which, according to Bechsteix, there are twenty-six species, while others enumerate only fifteen : of these, the following are indigenous : 1. The myrtillus, or Bilbeny, which grows in abundance, in woods and heaths. See Withe- ring, 3"0, and Engl. Bot. 45(5. The berries, when ripe, are of a 81 L 1,455 dark-blue colour ; and, on account of their astringent quality, are oc- casionally given in diarrhoeas, with good effe£t. In Scotland, they are eaten by the Highlanders, in milk ; and likewise used in tarts and jel- lies : they produce a violet-coloured which requires to be fixed with alum. The juice, mixed with a fourth part of lime, verdigrise, and sal ammoniac, affords a purple pigment used by artists. The young tender leaves of this plant, properly dried, are an excellent substitute for tea. 2. The uliginosum, or Great Bilberry, is found on marshy heaths. See Withering, 370, and Engl. Bot. 581. — The fruit of this species is not so much esteem- ed as that of the preceding, be- cause, if eaten in any quantity, it is apt to occasion head-ach. 3. The Vitis Idcea, or Red Whortle Berry, which grows on heaths, and in woods. SeeWiTHER- ing, 371, and Engl. Bot. 5Q3. Its fruit is acid, and cooling. In Sweden, it is eaten in the form of a jelly. The young leaves of this spe- cies might also be advantageously used instead of tea ; from which they can scarcely be distinguished. 4. The Oxy coccus, or Cranberry, is common in bogs covered with mosses. It grows abundantly in the north of England, likewise on JJersingham moor, in Norfolk, and in Scotland and Ireland. SeeWiTH. 372, and Engl. Bot. 3ip. Great quantities of these berries are used in confectionary, as deli- cious ingredients in tarts; to which they impart a rich flavour. A con- siderable traffic is carried on with cranberries, in the northern 'coun- ties; insomuch, that at Longtown, in Cumberland, alone, the amount of a market-day's sale, is said to be from
