* 
Malvaviscus - continued. 
M. mollis (soft). fl. scarlet; leaves of involucel rather spreading. 
Autumn. J. cordate, somewhat three-lobed, soft, tomentose. 
h. 12ft. Mexico, 1780. Shrub. 
Achania mollis.) 
MAMESTRA. A genus of thick-bodied moths, 
belonging to the Noctuew, or Night Moths, and including 
six species, which vary in breadth of wing from lin. 
to 13in. All the moths are dark-coloured, with dis- 
tinct lines or spots; and the larve are dull-coloured, 
usually some shade of green or brown. The larvæ 
feed on low plants, and in gardens are very hurtful to 
salad plants and potherbs. When full fed, they barrow 
in the ground, and form earthen cocoons, in which they 
become pup in autumn, to emerge as moths in the 
following spring. Though several species are injurious, 
the most hurtful in gardens is the Cabbage Moth (M. 
Brassice), which eats its way into the hearts of Cab- 
bages, and can hardly be removed in any way short 
of cutting up the Cabbages. The same larva eats the 
leaves of Dahlias, Pelargoniums, and other garden flowers. 
See also Cabbage Caterpillars. 
MAMILLARIA. See Mammillaria. 
MAMMZFORM. Formed like a nipple. 
MAMMEA (from Mammey, its vernacular name in 
South America). ORD. Guttiferæ. A genus com- 
prising five species of stove fruiting trees, of which 
one is tropical American, another tropical African, 
and the rest natives of tropical Asia and Madagascar. 
Flowers polygamous; calyx globular, opening in two 
valvate sepals; petals four to six; peduncles axillary, 
one-flowered, solitary or fasciculate. Drupe indehiscent, 
one to four-seeded. Leaves rigid, coriaceous, often 
having pellucid dots. The species require strong heat 
to thrive well; and a compost of fibry, sandy loam, 
with a little dried leaf mould, is most suitable. Pro- 
pagated by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, taken with 
the leaves intact, and placed under a bell glass, in 
bottom heat. 
MN. africana. See africanus. 
M. 0. ee-tree. white, 
8 in diameter ; peduncles one-flowered, ges Scat over 
* stouter branches, Ji Jt ý obsoletely three 
or about the size of a cannon-ball, covered with 
a double rind; outer leathery, one line in thi tough, 
brownish-yellow; the inner thin, W, y to 
flesh, which is firm, bright w, has a sii r, pleasant 
and a sw aromatic smell; but the skin and sare 
bitter 8 l. obovate, very blunt, qui i 
. Gin to An. long. A. Cat. Tropical Aimeriza, 1730, A hondoa 
tree, with a thick, elegant, N head. Eau de Créole—an 
aromatic liqueus—is distilled from the flowers of this species. 
MAMMEE-TREE. See Mammea americana. 
TAM (from mamilla, a little teat, 
diminutive of mamma, the nipple; lant 
covered with mammeform tubercles, spirally disposed 
the mamme bearing radiating spines at the apex, and 
deciduous tomentum). Haworth, who founded the genus, 
wrote it Mamillaria. Including Anhalonium. ORD. 
Cactew. A genus comprising about 300 species of 
greenhouse succulent perennials, natives of Mexico, the 
warmer parts of North America, Brazil, and rarely 
occurring in the West Indies and Bolivia. Flowers 
tramsverse zone, solitary, and growing from the axil 
one of the tubercles, or teats. Stem cylindrical or 
ar, seldom exceeding 10in. or 12in. in height, and 
Bin. to Gin. high, and from lin. to 3in. in 
» tubercles, or mamillæ, range in size 
ms scarcely Win. high to lin. high 
‘arranged around the stem, 
g this genus, Mr. Lewis 
ms Plants“: It would be 
the whole vegetable king- 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
(B. M. 2374, under name of, 
the plants are | 
me 
towards the summit of the plants, usually in 
er, varying in form from cylin- 
Mammillaria—continwed. 
dom which present such beautiful examples of symmetry 
as the Mammillarias, and in their own family they are 
unique in this respect; for, though many of the grotesque 
Opuntias, Cereuses, and Echinocactuses, possess larger 
and more brilliant flowers, and they are surpassed in 
horticultural value by the Phyllocactuses and Epiphyllums, 
yet for delicacy of design they are unrivalled. A large 
number of them resemble exquisite pieces of mechanism, 
finished with the greatest minuteness and accuracy; 
others, again, might be imagined to have undergone a 
kind of crystallisation, their whole surface being frosted 
over with star-like spicule, arranged with geometrical 
precision; and still others appear as if covered with 
the finest gossamer. . .. . Strangely beautiful . 
indeed are most of the Mammillarias, and in contrast 
with their neat rosettes or stars of spines, are the rosy, 
yellow, and white flowers, which are generally followed 
by small, berry-like, coral-coloured fruits, that, dotted 
amongst the spines, add another phase to the attrac- 
tions of these plants. With so much to recommend 
them, it is not surprising that they have become great 
Fig. 507. MAMMILLARIA (GRAFT ON CEREUS STOCK). 
favourites with cultivators of Cacti, and with that por- 
= of the public who have obtained any knowledge of 
em.” 
Cultivation. Mammillarias thrive in a mixture of 
sandy loam and finely-broken bricks and lime rubbish. 
Many of them affect limestone districts in a wild state, 
and to those which do not do so, the lime rubbish in 
the soil proves beneficial under artificial conditions. 
Plenty of light—indeed, full exposure to direct sun-light 
is desirable at all times—and careful watering are all that 
is needed to insure success. During the period of 
_ growth—spring and early summer—more heat is neces- 
sary than during the rest of the year. Some of the 
delicate species thrive admirably when grafted on some 
Cereus stock. See Fig. 507. ' 
_A representative list of the more select species is here 
given; the names quoted in Continental catalogues 
number four times more than those enumerated below. 
M, angularis (angular-stemmed). A. rosy-purple. Stem branched, 
5 to 8in. high, 2in. in i eso sg ee conical, thick, iin. 
ong, With a tuft of white down at the top, and four or five white 
spines of length. Mexico, 1830. A very distinct and 
robust-growing species. 
M. applanata a (flattened white, tin with red. Stem 
simple, flattened ; — a eee pyrami white, 
Woolly in axils when young. Spines straight; outer ones seven- 
_ teen to twenty, very thin, oh „ pale yellow, or ashy-grey; 
one upright, i 
M. 0 } short. Mexico. 
atrata (blackened). ji. reddish-pink, copiously produced near 
the of the stem. Stem e thick ; 
tal dark green, thick, conical, somewhat obtuse; the lower 
