376 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Mole Cricket— ccntinued. 
change of skin, after which they dig burrows for them- 
selves. The development from the egg to the perfect 
state is said to require from two to three years. The 
metamorphosis is incomplete. Mole Crickets eat the 
underground parts (whether roots or stems) of many 
plants, e.g., Potatoes, roots of potherbs, and flowers. 
But their favourite food seems to be insects and worms; 
and this may be regarded as, to some extent, compen- 
sating for the damage done by them. They are so 
voracious that, when starved, they have been known to 
eat their own limbs. They may be caught by laying 
down pieces of raw meat as traps, on which the insects 
may be found feeding; or benzole or petroleum may be 
poured into their burrows to kill them, or to drive them 
away. Digging them out is often impracticable when 
they get into a flower-bed or border. 
MOLINIA (named in honour of J. Molina, a writer 
upon Chilian plants). Syn. Enodium. ORD. Gramineae. 
A monotypic genus. The species is a rather tall, tufted, 
hardy, perennial grass. It will thrive on wet, bleak 
moors, where the better sorts of grasses do not succeed. 
M. ceerulea (bluish). f., 2 reddish, violet- purple, or green, 
few, narrow; flowering glumes deciduous, ovate-lanceolate, sub- 
acute ; empty glumes shorter ; anthers violet-brown ; panicle lin. 
to 12in. long, stout, much contracted; rachis flexuous, com- 
ressed; branches erect. July and August. J. smooth, rigid, 
airy at base, the tips very slender; sheaths smooth. Stems lft. 
to 3ft. high, terete, striate, with but one node, and that towards 
the base, naked above. Europe (Britain). (Sy. En. B. 1747.) 
The Pes en form, M. o. variegata, is an excellent bedding 
MOLLOYA. Included under Grevillea (which see). 
MOLLUGINEZ. A tribe of Ficoidew. 
s, a stripe, and 
and the vittæ 
chestnut - coloured, giving the fruit the appearance of 
being striped). ORD. Umbellifere. A monotypic genus. 
The species is a large and handsome hardy fern-like 
perennial, It is an admirable subject for naturalising 
in the wild garden, and has been used with success when 
isolated on grass. It thrives best in a moderately good 
and deep soil. Propagated by divisions; or by seeds, 
sown when ripe. 
M. cicutarium (Cicuta-like). fl. yellowish-white, umbellate ; 
terminal umbels large, fertile ; lateral ones smaller, male. May. 
J. ternately-d pound ; leaflets lanceolate, elongated, shining 
or decurrently - pinnate; segments sharply pinnatifid. Stems 
large, hollow. k. 3ft. to öft. Mountains of Southern and Central 
Europe, 1596. 
MOLTKEIA (named after Count Gadske Moltke, who 
died in 1818; founder of a Museum of Natural History 
at Copenhagen). ORD. Boragineew. A genus comprising 
six or seven species of elegant, hardy or half- G 
strigose-canescent, herbaceous perennials, natives of South 
Europe and Eastern and Western Asia. Flowers blue or 
yellow, in terminal, secund bracteate spikes; corolla 
tubular, funnel-shaped, with a naked throat. Leaves alter- 
nate, narrow, The two species here described are probably 
the only ones yet introduced. For culture, see Onosma. 
M. cærulea (blue). fl. binish-parple ; spikes ain. to 6in. long; 
bracts lanceolate. April. J. oblong-lanceolate, acute, rather 
— 28 shrubby at the base, ascending. A, lft. Asia Minor, 
M. petra (rock).* fl. at first pinkish-purple, deep violet-blue 
when open, in simple, forked or branched, short, revolute, ter- 
minal, se cymes; corolla glabrous; calyx hoary. June. 
= L lin. to Izin. long, one to two lines broad, narrow-linear or 
_ Kinear-oblor Stem woody below. h. bin. to 8in. Dalmatia, 
8 ; Spesies thrives bestin a cool greenhouse; 055 M. 
Ova, under nder name hospermum petreum ; B. 1843, 26, as 
Echium petreum.) 
= MOLUCCA. A synonym of Moluccella (which see). 
NL (a diminutive from Molucca, of which 
was supposed to be a native). Syn. 
Labiatœ. This genus comprises a couple 
ecies of hardy or half-hardy annuals, inhabiting the 
Mediterranean region. Whorls axillary, many-flowered. 
Moluccella—continued. 
Leaves petiolate, deeply crenated or cut. The species here 
described is remarkable on account of the singular form 
of the calyces, which are shallowly bell-shaped, and densely 
arranged on erect stems. It forms an excellent subject 
for skeletonising. Seeds should be sown in a hotbed, 
during spring, and the seedlings transferred to the open 
border during May. A sandy loam is the most suitable soil. 
Fic, 583. MOLUCCELLA LÆVIS, showing (a) Upper Portion of Plant, 
ma single Whorl of Flowers, (e) Corolla, and (d) the large 
yx. 
M. leevis (smooth). f., corolla white, shorter than the limb of 
the calyx, which is large, membranaceous, sub-pen onal, and 
with five very short teeth; whorls usually six-flowered, distant. 
August. Z. on long petioles, roundish, coarsely crenated. h. 1ft. 
to Litt, Syri Hardy. See Fig. 583, (B. M. 1852). 
MOLY. See Allium Moly. 
MOMORDICA (from momordi, perfect of mordeo, to 
bite; the seeds have the appearance of being bitten). 
Including Neurosperma. ORD. Cucurbitacee. A genus 
comprising about twenty-six species of annual or peren- 
nial, glabrous or pilose, climbing stove herbs; they are 
mostly natives of Africa, but a few are thinly spread 
over the tropical regions of the globe. Flowers white, 
yellow, or straw-colour, small or large, of separate sexes, 
both of which are borne on the same or on different 
plants, and have a campanulate five-lobed calyx, and 
five distinct petals. Fruit oblong, fusiform, or cylindrical, 
baceate, indehiscent or three-valved, fleshy, prickly or 
warted externally, bursting when ripe, generally with 
elastic force, into irregular valves. Leaves entire, lobed 
or pedate, or three to seven-foliolate. The species in 
cultivation are raised annually from seed, which should 
be sown in heat early in spring. The plants may be 
grown in large pots of rich soil, or be planted out in 
heated structure and trained up the rafter, or on a 
trellis. The fruits are very ornamental after they get 
ripe and burst open. The species here described are 
probably the only ones yet introduced. 
M. Balsamina (balsam-bearing). Balsam Apple. f. yellow, with 
‘own 
ated at both ends, angular, tubercuiated, splitting irre ularly 
and laterally. J. palmately five-lobed, toothed, glabrous, shining. 
Australia, Tropical Asia, and Africa, 1 An exceedingly pretty 
annual, well adapted for trellises, arbours, &c., in warm situations 
outside, and in a rich light soil. Plenty of water should be given 
nated, angular, tuberculated, copper-coloured or red, bursting 
open, when ripe, at the apex. l somewhat palmately five-lobed, 
dentate, rather hairy. India, 
1710. Allied to 3 but very distinct, and larger in all 
its parts. (B. M. 2455.) N 
L. cochinchinensis (Cochin China). fl., males very large, fully 
4in. in diameter ; moods deeply cut into five ovate-lanceolate lobes, 
striated with black; corolla patenti late, of five 
P 
