346 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Melia continued. 
M. dubia (doubtful). fl. whitish or pinkish ; peduncles, calyces, 
and petals rather velvety. Summer. J. somewhat bipinnate, but 
at the apices of the petioles they are simply pinnate; leaflets 
almost entire, lower ones ternate. h. 30ft. Tropical Asia, 
Australia, and Africa, 1810. Stove. SYN. M. composita. 
V 
ovate, crenate. h. 20 ft. to 40 ft. Japan, 1865. A very ornamental 
half-hardy tree. 
3 leaflets 5 e bene 5 Ee 
when young. h. 25ft. Jamaica, 1656. Stove. (B. R. 648. : 
MELTACEE. A rather large order of trees and 
shrubs, very rarely sub-herbaceous. They are found 
principally in the tropical parts of Asia and America. 
Flowers diccious, or rarely polygamo-dicecious, regular, 
terminal or axillary, panicled; calyx generally small, 
four or five-fid; mstivation usually imbricate; petals 
hypogynous, four or five, rarely three to seven, some- 
times free and contorted or imbricate, sometimes con- 
nate, or adnate to the staminal tube, and valvate. 
Leaves alternate, exstipulate, very rarely dotted, pin- 
nate, or rarely simple, entire. The wood of many 
species of Meliacew is often called Cedar, and is 
esteemed, not only on account of its aromatic fragrance, 
but for its density and fine colour. To this order 
belongs Swietenia Mahagoni, which yields the Mahogany 
of commerce. There are about thirty-seven genera and 
270 species. Examples are: Aglaia, Melia, and Swietenia. 
MELIANTHES. A tribe of Sapindacee. 
MELIANTHUS (from meli, honey, and anthos, a 
flower; calyces full of honey), Honey Flower. ORD. 
Fi. 636. FLOWERS AND LEAF OF MELIANTHUS COMOSUS, 
ie i Sapindacem. A small genus (four species) of half-hardy 
dd greenhouse, glaucous or canescent, often strongly 
seented shrubs; they are natives of the Cape of Good 
Hope, but one is found on the Himalayas, where it has 
shortly pedicellate, bracteate ; 
lower ones son tin talous; racemes terminal and 
axillary; calyx five- ; petals five, narrow, long- 
clawed. stipulate, impari-pinnate ; 
Melianthus - continued. 
leaflets unequally toothed, decurrent. The species most 
frequently seen in cultivation is M. major; this is a 
very ornamental plant, and is largely employed in sub- 
tropical gardening. It is not, strictly speaking, hardy, 
but thrives very well in the open air, throughout the 
year, if the roots are protected, in the winter, by a 
covering of leaves. It makes an admirable conservatory 
plant. Propagated by seeds, or by cuttings, which latter 
strike freely under a hand glass. 
M. comosus (tufted). fl. green at base; sepals and petals orange- 
yellow within, the larger marked externally with a red spot. 
Autumn. I. Ain. to 6in. long; leafiets lanceolate, serrate. _h. 3ft. 
to 5ft. Greenhouse. See Fig. 536. (B. M. 301, under name of 
M. minor.) 
aoe shy ads an, , 
Fig. 537 MELIANTHUS MAJOR. 
M. major (great).* brownish, in rather long spikes springing 
from the axils of the upper leaves. buaa. 5 stem.clasping, 
41 33 8 a — or Poe regan ee oe i 
n ms hollow, woody at base. h. 
1688@ Greenhouse. See Fig. 537. (B. R. 45.) 
bee nro ape ide * dark brown, in whorls ; racemes axillary, 
elonga drooping. . sm above and hoary 
iee E 3006. Grosathousn: 
pectinatus (pectinate). „. in whorls of four to six; 
petals four, scarlet, clawed; disk fleshy, horseshoe-shaped ; 
racemes terminal, erect, ain. to 8in. long. Winter. Fr. zin. in 
diameter, eruciately four-winged. 1. 3in. to Sin. long, shortly 
petioled, glabrous ihare; -white-tomentose beneath, pinnate; 
nnules six to ten „opposite, Iinear-strap-sha . 6ft. to 
A singular and utiful conservato: t. (B. M. 
6557, under name of M. 8 3 ‘ 
M. Trimenianus (Dr. Trimen’s). A synonym of M. pectinatus, 
MELICHRUS (from melichros, honey-coloured; in 
reference to the colour of the glands of the flowers). 
ORD. Epacridee. A small genus (two species) of very 
ornamental greenhouse shrubs or sub-shrubs, with a pro- 
cumbent or somewhat erect habit, restricted to Eastern 
temperate Australia, Flowers erect; corolla rotate or 
urceolate, furnished near the base with five glands, alter- 
nating with the stamens; segments bearded. Leaves 
sessile, lanceolate. The species thrive best in sandy 
peat. Propagated by cuttings of the shoots, about 2in. 
long, inserted in sandy soil. 
