Befaria
(named in honour of Bejar, a Spanish botanist). ORD. Ericaceae. SYN. Bejaria. An elegant genus of greenhouse evergreen shrubs, closely allied to Rhododendron. Flowers bracteate; corolla very deeply seven-cleft, spreading. Leaves racemose or corymbose, crowded, quite entire, coriaceous. They thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Propagated by cuttings, made of the young wood, and placed in sandy soil, in gentle heat.
B. aestuans (glowing).* fl. purple; corymbs terminal, simple; peduncles, pedicels, rachi, calyces, and branchlets clothed with clammy glandular hairs. l. elliptic, rather glabrous above, but downy and glaucous beneath, while young clothed with rusty tomentum. Plant much branched; branchlets sub-verticillate. h. 10ft. to 15ft. Peru, 1846. SYN. Acunna oblonga. (G. C. 1848, 119.)
B. cinnamomea (cinnamon-coloured). fl. purple; panicles close, terminal; peduncles wolly, hispid. l. slightly downy above, rusty tomentose benath. Branches downy, hispid. h. 4ft. Peru, 1847.
B. coarctata (close-headed). fl. purple; corymbs terminal, simple; peduncles, pedicels, rachi, and calyces clothed with rusty tomentum. l. oblong, glabrous, glaucous benath. Shrub much branched. h. 4ft. to 5ft. Peru, 1847. (G. C. 1848, 175.)
B. glauca (glaucous).* fl. flesh-coloured; racemes terminal and axillary; pedicels somewhat fastigaiate. June. l. oblong, obtuse, glaucous beneath. Shrub much branched; branchlets angular. h. 3ft. to 6ft. South America, 1826.
B. ledifolia (Ledum-leaved).* fl. purple; racemes terminal; peduncles, pedicels, rachi, branchlets, and calyces clothed with clammy glandular hairs. l. oblong, somewhat mucronate, with revolute edges, glaucous beneath, glandular. Shrub much branched; branches purplish. h. 3ft. to 4ft. South America, 1847. (F. d. S. 3, 195.) B. racemosa (racemed). fl. purple, disposed in racemose terminal panicles. July. l. ovate-lanceolate, glabrous; branchlets smooth or hispid. h. 3ft. to 5ft. Georgia, 1810.