Abstract: A burner for burning a mixture of a combustible gas and air including a curved wall member provided with a multiplicity of ports distributed throughout a substantial area of the wall. The ports are arranged in an ordered pattern such that every port, with the exception of a few along the edges of the burner, is surrounded by a plurality of closely adjacent ports. The size of each port and the distance between adjacent port edges are such that the jets of the gas-air mixture which issue from the ports merge into a common body of such mixture and form a closed lower pressure pocket around each port below such common body. The outer edges of such pocket are located above the minimum ignition level of each port and below the normal outer flame reach distance of the burner for the gas-air mixture supplied to the burner. As a result the flame produced by the burner may be stabilized in either of two regimes or in a combination of both depending upon the rate at which the mixture is supplied to the burner.