256 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



Milk- Vetch. See Astragalus. 



Milkwort. See Polygala. 



Mimosa. [Leguminosse.] This large family contains the 

 sensitive plants, M. sensitiva and M.pitdica, two stove shrubs, 

 the foliage of which is endowed with a very remarkable and 

 interesting sensibility, for the sake of which they are cultivat- 

 ed. The flowers of both are purplish, — little globular balls 

 of colored threads, — not at all showy ; but the leaves are 

 very elegant. The peculiarity which obtains for them both 

 their name and popularity is the shrinking of the branches, and 

 folding-up of the leaves, at the slightest touch or disturbance. 

 If a leaf be touched, it falls down, and the leaflets close ; 

 and if the whole plant be shaken, or jerked, all the lec-.ves 

 immediately close, and hang down. The seeds are sov;n \\\ a 

 hot-bed in April, and potted off, as soon as they are large 

 enough to handle, into small-sized three-inch pots, in a light 

 soil of sandy peat and loam. They are best kept in a hot- 

 frame till June, when they may be planted out in a warm ex- 

 posure. They seed freely enough ; but, when tkey are grown 

 for seed, they are sown in February, and potted off in March, 

 They are also increased by cuttings in sand under bell-glasses, 

 in heat. 3f. sensitiva is not so irritable as M. picdica. They 

 are only grown as curiosities. There are many other Mimo- 

 sas, chiefly shrubs of little interest. 



M. pudica (chaste or humble plant) ; stove shrub ; 2 feet ; 

 flowers purplish-lilac, in June ; Brazil ; 1638. M. sensitiva (sea- 

 sitive) ; stove shrub ; 2 feet ; flowers pinkish-lilac, in June ; 

 Brazil; 1648. 



MiMULUS. Monkey-flower. [Scrophulariaceae.] Showy 

 herbaceous plants, mostly perennial ; some small musk 

 plants are annuals. The ornamental garden Mimuluses are 

 mostly seedling varieties raised by florists, the oftspring of 

 M. luteus, guttatus, and variegatics on the one hand, and 



