45 
every intelligent reader will admit that such names as Urn- 
mosses, T'accads, False Hemps, Pepper-worts, Bristle-worts, 
Chenopods, Hydrocharads, Scale-mosses, Birth-worts, and 
Fringe-myrtles. are preferable to Bry-a-ce-æ, ‘Fac-ca-ce-æ, 
Da-tis-ca-ce-e, E-la-ti-na-ce-z, Che-no-po-di-a-ce x, Des- 
vaux-i-a-ce-æ, Hy-dro-cha-ri-da-ce-æ, Jun-ger-man-ni-a-ce-æ, 
A-ris-to-lo-chi-a-ce-&, Cha-mæ-lau-ci-a-ce-æ, and other ses- 
on words.—Lindley’s Vegetable. Kingdom, unpub- 
ished. 
58. DWARFED PLANTS. 
There is the following interesting account (somewhat 
abridged) of these singular productions by Professor Morren, 
in the 3rd number of the Ghent Annals, p. 109. 
‘ Nowhere has the mania for dwarfing plants been carried 
further than in Japan. Thunberg, in his flora of: that coun- 
try, had spoken of an apricot-tree, which he called Amygdalus 
nana, although the tree, which he thought to be very like 
our common apricot, was from fifteen to twenty feet high. 
Messrs. Siebold and Zuccarini have determined Thunberg’s 
plant to be the Mume Plum, (Prunus Mume) which the 
Chinese call Bai. This tree is really a marvel in the history 
of dwarfed plants, and is thus spoken of by Dr. Siebold. 
The Mume is common in Japan, and thrives in the most 
northern part of the country, where it grows fifteen or twenty 
feet high, and is very like an apricot-tree Itis, however, in 
its wild state, or when made into hedges, only a thick bush, 
very much branched, and eight or twelve feet high. It is 
commonly cultivated for its beautiful flowers, as well as for 
its fruit. 
The Mume is much spoken of in the Chinese and Japanese 
legends of their saints, and in the history of great men and 
celebrated poets ; it is even looked upon as something holy. 
Pilgrims are shewn ancient trunks of this tree, under 
which deified princes have rested, and celebrated priests 
or inspired poets composed their psalms and sublime canti- 
cles. For this reason young plants struck from: cuttings of 
such holy trees have a great value throughout the empire of 
Japan. 
"The fruit ripens in June. When ripe it is insipid, and 
therefore it is salted in a green state like cucumbers, and 
then is eaten, as a vegetable, with rice and fish. Europeans, 
