MYRTDS. 



208 



MTRTUS. 



name from its flowers smelling like 

 starch. 



Musk Plaxt. — There are two 

 plants known by this name, viz. 

 Mimulus ir.oscJiatus, a dwarf plant 

 with yellow flowers ; and A'ster 

 argophyllus, a tall plant with blue 

 flowers. 



MuTi'siA. — CompositcB. — Curious 

 plants, with tendrils at the extre- 

 mity of the leaves. They are natives 

 of Bi-azil, and require a stove in 

 England. They should be grown 

 ] in peat and loam, and they are pro- 

 I pagated by cuttings. 

 I Mtax'thus. — Orchidacece.-^Vlj- 

 ' wort. — An Orchideous epiphyte from 

 ; Demerara, which should be grown 

 in a moist stove on half-rotten wood. 

 — See ORcniDEors Epiphytes. 

 MyGi'xDA.— i2/ia/nrtdcecE,— Hand- 

 I some shrubs, nearly allied to the 

 Holly ; natives of the West Indies. 

 They are generally stove plants in 

 England, and they should be grown 

 in sandy loam. 



Mtoso'tis. — Boraglnece. — M. 

 paMstris, the Forget-me-not, de- 

 lights in moist places on the border 

 of running streams. M. sylvdtica, 

 j which is found in woods, resembles 

 ; it, but the flowers are very inferior. 

 Myri'ca. — Myricacece. — The 

 Candleberry Myrtle and the Sweet 

 Gale belong to this genus, and they 

 are both interesting to the botanist. 

 They should be grown in loam and 

 I peat, and they are propagated by 

 j cuttings. 



I My'rtus. — Myrtdcece. — A genus 

 I of beautiful evergreen shrubs, na- 

 ■ lives of Europe, Asia, South Ame- 

 rica, and some of them of New 

 Holland. The common Myrtle, 

 M. communis, of which there are 

 eight or ten very distinct varieties, 

 is too well known to require any 

 description. Myrtles are not sur- 

 passed in beauty of foliage by any 

 other exotic shrub ; the flowers are 



of a pure white, and, like the leaves, 

 fragrant. The fragrance arises from 

 an oil which is secreted in little 

 cells, which appear as dots when 

 the leaves are held up to the light. 

 The handsomest varieties of the 

 common Myrtle are the Roman, or 

 broad-leaved, the broad-leaved 

 Dutch, and the narrow-leaved and 

 double-flowered. They will grow 

 in any common soil, somewhat 

 loamy, and are propagated with 

 most facility by cuttings of the 

 current year's wood, when it is just 

 beginning to ripen, cut across at a 

 joint and then planted in sand, and 

 covered with a bell-glass. Cuttings 

 will root, however, taken ofi" at any 

 season, and treated with common 

 care. When cuttings are made of 

 the old wood they should be planted 

 to the depth of half the space 

 between the buds, as shown in fig. 

 36. Myrtles may also be raised 

 from seeds, which are produced 



i FIG. 36. — A CUTTING OF A MYKTLE PRE- 

 PARED FOR PLANTING ; THE DOTTED 

 LINE SHOWING THE GROUND. 



' freely by the broad -leaved kinds. 

 M. bullcUa is a native of New Zea- 

 land, and has blistered leaves. Its 

 I native name is Rama-Eama. M. to- 

 j mentosa is a native of China, with 

 ! woolly leaves and purple flowers, 



