AN ENCYCLOPADIA OF HORTICULTURE. 
345 
Melaspherula—continued. 
light green. South Africa, 1880. (B. M. 615; L. B. C. 1444, under 
name of M. parvijlora; A. B. R. 62, under name of Gladiolus 
gramineus.) 
M. parviflora (small-flowered), A synonym of M. graminea. 
MELASTOMA (from melas, black, and stoma, the 
mouth; the black berries of certain species, when eaten, 
stain the mouth). ORD. Melastomacee. A genus com- 
prising about forty species of stove evergreen, often 
erect, and strigose-pilose shrubs; one species creeping. 
They are natives of tropical Asia, Africa, North Aus- 
tralia, Oceania, and (one species) the Seychelles. Flowers 
purple, violet, or rose, rarely white, showy, bibracteate, 
at the apices of the branchlets, solitary, sub-fasciculate 
or paniculate; calyx strigose, setose, or paleaceous ; lobes 
five, rarely six or seven; petals often five, obovate or 
unequilateral, sometimes ciliated at base. Leaves petio- 
late, oblong or lanceolate, coriaceous, entire, three to 
seven-nerved. Few of the species are now in cultiva- 
tion. They thrive best in a compost of equal parts 
loam and peat. Propagated, during spring, by cuttings, 
placed in sandy peat, under a. bell glass, in heat. In 
winter, a rather dry atmosphere is desirable. 
M. co bosum (corymbose). fi. bright purple, in terminal 
; orte — e glabrous, seven 
to nine-nerved, rich satiny-green above, paler beneath; margins 
sharply dentate-serrate. Tropical Africa. (B. M. 904.) By an 
oversight, this species was not described under Amphiblemma ; its 
correct name is A. cymoswm (B. M. 5473). 
M. denticulatum (toothed). fl. white, few, cymose ; calyx lobes 
lanceolate. July. J. petiolate, oval-oblong, acuminate, five- 
nerved, bristly aave pale beneath. h. 3ft. to 4ft. New Caledonia, 
1855. (B. M. 4957.) 
. M. macrocarpum (long-fruited). A synonym of M. malabathrica. 
. 
M, malabathrica (Malabar). fl. purple, large; corymbs one to 
five-flowered. July. 
l. elliptic-oblong, obtuse at the base, acute 
at the apex, quite entire. Branches tetragonal, rough from 
strige. h. 6ft. to 8ft. East Indies, 1795. (B. M. 529; B. R. 672, 
under name of M. macrocarpum.) 
e, few, terminal ; 
sanguineum -vej T3 le, 
K. six, large. — — l. ovate-lanceolate, 
acuminate, five-nerved, green above and shining, but red at the 
nerves beneath and on the short petioles, A. 4ft. to 6ft. Straits 
of Sunda, 1818. (B. M. 2241.) 
MELASTOMACEZ:. An order of erect herbs, 
shrubs, or trees, principally found in tropical America. 
Flowers variable in colour, showy, very rarely sweet- 
scented; inflorescence spicate, paniculate or corymbose, 
in a few cases solitary or fasciculate; calyx limb five, six, 
or three-partite, sometimes entire, imbricate, or contorted 
in the bud; petals free, or sometimes slightly united at the 
base, inserted on the calyx throat, on a fleshy annular 
layer, alternate with the calyx segments, shortly clawed, 
twisted in the bud. Leaves opposite or whorled, simple, 
equal or unequal, entire, rarely toothed, usually narrow: 
into a sometimes swollen petiole; stipules none. I 
order comprises about 134 genera, and 1800 species. 
Illustrative genera are: Bertolonia, Melastoma, Miconia, 
Pleroma, and Rhevia. ; 
MELHANIA (from Mount Melhan, in Arabia Felix, 
where the original species of this genus was discovered). 
Syns. Brotera and Sprengelia. ORD. Sterculiaceæ. A 
genus comprising about sixteen species of softly tomentose, 
stove or greenhouse shrubs or sub-shrubs, natives of 
Africa, the warmer parts of Asia, and tropical Australia. 
Flowers yellow, white, or reddish; petals five, rarely 
Spreading; bracteoles often longer than the sepals; 
peduncles axillary, one or few-flowered. Leaves ovate 
or cordate, crenate-serrate. M. erythrowylon is a hånd- 
some greenhouse shrub or small tree, of which a 
very few individuals now exist in its native habitat. 
M. melanowylon (also from St. Helena) has, within com- 
paratively recent years, become quite extinct in a wild 
state, and, probably, no longer exists even in cultivation. 
M. 
The 
wood of this tree is hard and of a dull brown colour. (B. M. 1000.) 
Vol, IL 
MELIA (from Melia, the Greek name for the Ash; 
in allusion to the resemblance in the leaves). Bead-tree. 
ORD. Meliacem. A genus comprising about five species 
of stove, greenhouse, or half-hardy trees, natives of 
tropical Asia and Australia, one species being widely 
dispersed by introduction, Flowers white or purple, in 
large, axillary, much-branched panicles; calyx five or 
six-parted, imbricated; petals five or six, free, linear- 
spathulate, spreading. Fruit drupaceous, small. Leaves 
alternate, pinnate, or bi- or tripinnate; young ones, 
together with the inflorescence, often stellato-tomentose ; 
leaflets petiolulate, dentate or serrate. Branches covered 
with scars. The species are of easy culture in a sandy- 
loam soil. Propagated by cuttings, placed in sand, 
under a bell glass, in gentle bottom heat. The name 
Bead-tree has been given to the species of this genus, 
on account of the use made of the seeds in Catholic 
countries, “where the nuts are threaded for beads, to 
assist the devotion of good Catholics, for which purpose 
they are peculiarly suited, having a natural perforation 
through the centre; hence the tree has been called Arbor 
| Sancta” ( Botanical Magazine). 
M. Azadirachta (Azadirachta). fl. bluish. Summer. J. $ 
leaflets ovate-lanceolate, unequal at the base, acumi den- 
tately-serrated ; 33 terete. A. 20ft. East Indies, 1759. 
Stove. (B. F. S. 14.) 
| 
Fig. 534. PORTION OF INFLORESCENCE OF MELIA AZEDARACH. 
FLOWERING BRANCH, AND DETACHED FLOWER AND 
2255 ae ie — MELIA AZEDARACH FLORIBUNDA. 
3 
Azedarach Azedarach . lilac, fragrant. Summer. l bi- 
M. 8 deeply * 2 somewhat quinate. h. 40ft. 
pinnate; der 656. Hardy in the South of England. See 
Ne an aoe B. M. 1066.) M. A. floribunda is more flori- 
ferous than the type, and flowers in a smaller state. See Fig. 585. 
eee e A nym of M. dubia 
M. composita (compound). A synonym . : 
2 * 
