Recipes starting with B

Common or Sweet Basil which is used in medicine and also for culinary purposes, especially in France, is a hairy, labiate plant, growing about 3 feet high. The stem is obtusely quadrangular, the labiate flowers are white, in whorls in the axils of the leaves, the calyx with the upper lobe rounded and spreading. The leaves, greyish-green beneath and dotted with dark oil cells, are opposite, 1 inch long and 1/3 inch broad, stalked and peculiarly smooth, soft and cool to the touch, and if slightly bruised exale a delightful scent of cloves.

There are several varieties, differing in the size, shape, odour and colour of the leaves. The Common Basil has very dark green leaves, the curled-leaved has short spikes of flowers, the narrow-leaved smells like Fennel, another has a scent of citron and another a tarragon scent, one species has leaves of three colours, and another 'studded' leaves.

It is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to 50 m (160 ft) tall and 3 m (9.8 ft) trunk diameter, though more typically 25–35 m (82–115 ft) tall and up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) trunk diameter. A 10-year-old sapling will stand about 4 m (13 ft) tall. It has a typical lifespan of 150 to 200 years, though sometimes up to 300 years. 30 years are needed to attain full maturity (as compared to 40 for American beech).

Like most trees, its form depends on the location: in forest areas, F. sylvatica grows to over 30 m (100 ft), with branches being high up on the trunk. In open locations, it will become much shorter (typically 15–24 m (50–80 ft)) and more massive.

The leaves are alternate, simple, and entire or with a slightly crenate margin, 5–10 cm long and 3–7 cm broad, with 6-7 veins on each side of the leaf (7-10 veins in Fagus orientalis). When crenate, there is one point at each vein tip, never any points between the veins. The buds are long and slender, 15–30 mm (0.59–1.18 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) thick, but thicker (to 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in)) where the buds include flower buds.

The leaves of beech are often not abscissed in the autumn and instead remain on the tree until the spring. This process is called marcescence. This particularly occurs when trees are saplings or when plants are clipped as a hedge (making beech hedges attractive screens, even in winter), but it also often continues to occur on the lower branches when the tree is mature.

Small quantities of seeds may be produced around 10 years of age, but not a heavy crop until the tree is at least 30 years old. F. sylvatica male flowers are borne in the small catkins which are a hallmark of the Fagales order (beeches, chestnuts, oaks, walnuts, hickories, birches, and hornbeams). The female flowers produce beechnuts, small triangular nuts 15–20 millimetres (0.59–0.79 in) long and 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) wide at the base; there are two nuts in each cupule, maturing in the autumn 5–6 months after pollination. Flower and seed production is particularly abundant in years following a hot, sunny and dry summer, though rarely for two years in a row.

A polymorphic biennial (flowering in the second year of growth), up to 2 m tall when in flower.

Basal leaves forming a rosette.

Flowers are small, green, borne in clusters subtended by bracts, forming dense, usually branched inflorescences. Each flower contains two stigmas (female parts).

‘Seeds’ are actually fruits that are attached to each other and enveloped in a woody covering (calyces). 

The root is thick, fleshy and whitish, about 6 inches long, or more, and branching. It is perennial. The purplishcoloured stem is annual and herbaceous. It is stout, 2 to 4 feet high, undivided at the base, but dividing a little above the ground into three - more rarely two or four branches, each of which again branches freely.

The leaves are dull, darkish green in colour and of unequal size, 3 to 10 inches long, the lower leaves solitary, the upper ones in pairs alternately from opposite sides of the stem, one leaf of each pair much larger than the other, oval in shape, acute at the apex, entire and attenuated into short petioles. 

First-year plants grow only about 1 1/2 feet in height. Their leaves are often larger than in full-grown plants and grow on the stem immediately above the ground. Older plants attain a height of 3 to 5 feet, occasionally even 6 feet, the leaves growing about 1 to 2 feet from the ground. 

The whole plant is glabrous, or nearly so, though soft, downy hairs may occur on the young stems and the leaves when quite young. The veins of the leaves are prominent on the under surface, especially the midrib, which is depressed on the upper surface of the leaf. 

The fresh plant, when crushed, exhales a disagreeable odour, almost disappearing on drying, and the leaves have a bitter taste, when both fresh and dry. 

The flowers, which appear in June and July, singly, in the axils of the leaves, and continue blooming until early September, are of a dark and dingy purplish colour, tinged with green, large (about an inch long), pendent, bell-shaped, furrowed, the corolla with five large teeth or lobes, slightly reflexed. The five-cleft calyx spreads round the base of the smooth berry, which ripens in September, when it acquires a shining black colour and is in size like a small cherry. It contains several seeds. The berries are full of a dark, inky juice, and are intensely sweet, and their attraction to children on that account, has from their poisonous properties, been attended with fatal results.

Erect, unarmed, much branched tree up to 12 m tall, with trunk up to 25 cm in diameter; in cultivation trees are pruned up to 4-5 m in height with crown diameter of about 5 m. Leaves alternate, simple, glandular, aromatic when bruised; petiole about 13 mm long, moderately winged, articulated near the blade; blade lanceolate, up to 12 cm x 6 cm, in upper third part weakly indented. Inflorescence terminal, racemose, many-flowered; pedicel up to 8 mm long; flowers bisexual, 4-5(-10)-merous,

fragrant; calyx cup-shaped with short lobes, yellow-green; corolla 3.8 cm in diameter, most often with 5, narrow-elongate, pure-white petals without any purple tinge; stamens (13-)21(-28), in (2-)4(-6) groups, sometimes petaloid; disk nectariferous; pistil with subglobose ovary, short and thick style, distinct to indistinct stigma. Fruit a slightly flattened subglobose to pyriform berry (hesperidium), 6.5-7 cm x 6-7.5 cm, often with a small navel and a persistent style; peel 6-7 mm thick, with numerous glands, tough, smooth to rough, sometimes ridged, adherent, shiny green turning yellow when ripe; flesh yellowish, firm, very acid and bitter, divided into 8-14 segments. Seed (0-)3(-13) per fruit, flattened, 11 mm x 6 mm x 4.4 mm, pale yellow, usually monoembryonic. C. bergamia is most probably of hybrid origin. It has been suggested that it is a hybrid between sour orange (C. aurantium L.) and lemon (C. limon (L.) Burm.f.), or a mutation of the latter. Others hold it as a hybrid between sour orange and lime (C. aurantifolia (Christm. & Panzer) Swingle). Bergamot is only known from cultivation and consists of a limited and well defined number of cultivars. Four cultivar groups are recognized in bergamot: Common Bergamot, Melarosa (fruit rather flattened), Torulosa (fruit ridged) and Piccola (dwarf cultivars). Only Common Bergamot is commercially cultivated for the essential oil and 3 cultivars are grown: 'Castagnaro', 'Femminello' and 'Inserto'. Formerly, 'Femminello' and 'Castagnaro' constituted virtually all commercial plantings in the world, but they have largely been replaced by 'Inserto' ('Fantastico'), a hybrid of 'Femminello' and 'Castagnaro'. 'Femminello' is somewhat less vigorous and smaller than 'Castagnaro', but is earlier and more regular in bearing. Its fruit is spherical or nearly so, the rind smooth and more aromatic and hence it is preferred. 'Castagnaro' is more upright and vigorous, attaining a larger size than 'Femminello', but is less fruitful. Its fruit is roundish but frequently exhibits a short neck and obovate outline and is sometimes slightly ribbed; the rind is usually rougher and the oil usually less aromatic than in 'Femminello'. 'Inserto' is a fairly vigorous tree, that yields well and has only a slight tendency to alternate-bearing; its fruit is medium in size, averaging about 130 g with a rough rind texture.

Areca catechu is a medium-sized and palm tree, growing straight to 20 m tall, with a trunk 10–15 cm in diameter. The leaves are 1.5–2 m long, pinnate, with numerous, crowded leaflets.

It is a  A medium sized tree with a single straight trunk reaching up to 60 feet tall.

Leaf: Alternate, simple, pinnately-veined, ovate, with an acute tip and cordate base, singly or irregularly doubly, sharply serrate margins, 2 to 4 inches long, petiole is stout and pubescent, dark shiny green above, paler below.

Flower: Species is monoecious; preformed, green male catkins near the end of the twig, 3/4 to 1 inch long; females are upright, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, green tinged in red, appear or elongate (males) in mid-spring.
Fruit: Cone-like aggregate, brown, 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, scales hairless or nearly so, containing very small 2-winged nutlets, ripen and break apart in late summer and fall.
Twig: Twigs are slender, reddish brown and lenticellate with a wintergreen smell when cut. On older trees, spur shoots are apparent. Terminal buds are absent, lateral buds two toned, green and brown.
Bark: Reddish brown to black on young trees, later gray to nearly black; eventually breaking up into large, thin, irregular, scaly plates.

It is an annual plant resembling the common watermelon.The roots are large, fleshy and perennial leading to a high survival rate thanks to the long tap root. The vine-like stems spread in all directions for a few meters looking for something to climb over. If present, shrubs and herbs are preferred and climbed by means of axiliary branching tendrils. The leaves are very similar to watermelon leaves: they are palmate, angular with 3-7 divided lobes.

The flowers are yellow and solitary in the axes of leaves and are borne by yellow-greenish peduncles. Each has a subcampanulated five-lobed corolla and a five-parted calyx. They are monoecious therefore the male (stamens) and the female reproductive parts (pistils and ovary) are borne in different flowers on the same plant. The male flowers’ calyx is shorter than the corolla. They have 5 stamens, 4 of which are coupled and 1 is single with monadelphous anther. The female flowers have 3 staminoids and a 3-carpels ovary. The two sexes are distinguishable by observing the globular and hairy inferior ovary of the female flowers. A Citrullus colocynthis female flower. Iranian Citrullus colocynthis. Ripe fruit of Citrullus colocynthis.

The fruit is smooth, spheric with a 5–10 cm diameter and extremely bitter at taste. The calyx englobe the yellow-green fruit which becomes marble (yellow stripes) at maturity. The mesocarp is filled with a soft, dry and spongy white pulp, in which the seeds are embedded. Each of the 3 carpels bears 6 seeds. Each plant produces 15 to 30 fruits.

The seeds are grey and 5 mm long and 3 mm wide. They are edible but similarly bitter, nutty-flavored and rich in fat and protein. 

Plant is of small to moderate size of about 15m hight. Bark is dark grey or grayish-brown.

Leaves are bipinnately compound, with 9-30 pairs of pinnae and a glandular rachis; leaflets 16-50 pairs, oblong-linear, 2-6 mm long, glabrous or pubescent. Flowers are 5-10 cm long (auxiliary spikes, pentamerous), white to pale yellow and with a campanulate calyx of 1-1.5 mm length, and a corolla of 2.5-3 mm length. Stamens are numerous and far exerted from the corolla, with white to yellowish white filaments.

Pinus nigra is a large coniferous evergreen tree, growing to 20–55 metres (66–180 ft) tall at maturity. The bark is grey to yellow-brown, and is widely split by flaking fissures into scaly plates, becoming increasingly fissured with age. The leaves ("needles") are thinner and more flexible in western populations.

The ovulate and pollen cones appear from May to June. The mature seed cones are 5–10 cm (rarely to 11 cm) long, with rounded scales; they ripen from green to pale grey-buff or yellow-buff in September to November, about 18 months after pollination. The seeds are dark grey, 6–8 mm long, with a yellow-buff wing 20–25 mm long; they are wind-dispersed when the cones open from December to April. Sexual maturity is reached at 15–40 years; large seed crops are produced at 2–5 year intervals. P. nigra is moderately fast growing, at about 30–70 centimetres (12–28 in) per year. It usually has a rounded conic form, that becomes irregular with age. The tree can be long-lived, with some trees over 500 years old. It needs full sun to grow well, is intolerant of shade, and is resistant to snow and ice damage.

It is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree, reaching 20–30 m (rarely 40 m) tall, with a trunk up to 1.5 m diameter, though some old individuals have grown much bigger (more than 3 meters DBH for several trees in France). The leaves are diamond-shaped to triangular, 5–8 cm long and 6–8 cm broad, green on both surfaces.[2] The species is dioecious (male and female flowers on different plants), with flowers in catkins and pollination by wind. The black poplar grows in low-lying areas of moist ground.

It is an annual plant growing to 60 cm tall, with leathery, hairy leaves up to 30 cm long and 8 cm broad, with small spines on the margins. The flowers are yellow, produced in a dense flowerhead (capitulum) 3-4 cm diameter, surrounded by numerous spiny basal bracts.

Boldo is an evergreen tree or shrub growing up to six metres in height. It belongs to the monimiaceae family, which are closely related to the laurel family. It is dioecious.

Boldo's light grey-green leathery leaves are elliptical-oval, entire, and have light-coloured tubercles on the surface. They have a characteristic odour and a burning-spicy, slightly bitter taste. The intensely fragrant radial flowers are white or yellowish and arranged in an inflorescence. The oval, aromatic pitted fruits are edible.

Boldo flowers throughout the year.

It is a green, glabrous plant, with creeping rootstock and procumbent stem, varying in length according to situation, covered by the sheaths of the leaves, which are on long, fleshy, striated petioles and three-partite, the leaflets being entire and about 2 inches long and 1 broad. It blossoms from May to July, the flowers being borne on long stalks, 6 to 18 inches high, longer than the leaves and clustered together in a thick short spike, rendering them very conspicuous. The corollas, 3/4 inch across, are outwardly rose-coloured and inwardly white and hairy, with reddish stamens. The Buckbean is one of the prettiest of our wild flowers deserving of cultivation in the garden, where it grows and thrives well, if planted in peat with water constantly round the roots.

Rhamnus cathartica is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing up to 10 m tall, with grey-brown bark and spiny branches. The leaves are elliptic to oval, 2.5–9 cm long and 1.2–3.5 cm broad; they are green, turning yellow in autumn, and are arranged somewhat variably in opposite to subopposite pairs or alternately. The flowers are yellowish-green, with four petals; they are dioecious and insect pollinated. The fruit is a globose black drupe 6–10 mm diameter containing two to four seeds; it is mildly poisonous for people, but readily eaten by birds, which disperse the seeds in their droppings.