MEL 



M E L 



taken root they may be planted out in pots and 

 sheltered in the winter under a frame for a year 

 or two till they are beeome strong, .liter which 

 they may be set out in a warm border, and be 

 managed in the same manner as the first sort. 



They succeed best in a dry soil and warm 

 situation ; but some plants should always be 

 kept in pots and treated as green-house plants, 

 lest those in the open ground be destroyed by 

 severe frosts. 



They afford ornament and variety in the 

 borders and clumps, as well as among other 

 plants in the green-house. 



MELISSA, a genus containing plants of 

 the hardy herbaceous, fibrous-rooted perennial 

 kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Didynamia 

 Gymnosptrmia, and ranks in the natural order 

 of VerticiUala. 



The charaters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leaved perianthium, subcampanulate, dry-sca- 

 riose, spreading a little, angular, striated, per- 

 manent, with a two-lipped mouth : upper lip 

 three-toothed, reflex-spreading, flat; lower lip 

 shorter, sharpish, two-parted : the corolla one- 

 petalled, ringent : tube cylindrical : throat 

 gaping: upper lip shorter, erect, arched, round- 

 ish, bifid: lower lip trifid : middle segment 

 larger, cordate : the stamina have four awl- 

 shaped filaments; two the length of the corolla, 

 two shorter by half: anthers small, converg- 

 ing in pairs : the pistillum is a four-cleft germ: 

 style filiform, the length of the corolla, inclin- 

 ing along with the stamens beneath the upper 

 lip of the corolla : stigma slender, bifid, reflex: 

 there is no pericarpium : calyx larger, unchang- 

 ed, fostering the seeds in its bosom : the seeds 

 four, ovate. 



The species cultivated are : 1. M. officinalis, 

 Officinal or common garden Baum or Balm ; 

 2. M. grandiflora, Great-flowered Baum ; 3. 

 M. Cretica, Cretan Baum ; 4. M. jruticosa, 

 Shrubby Baum. 



The first has a perennial root, and an an- 

 nual stalk, which is square, branching, from 

 two to three feet high : the leaves by pairs at 

 each joint, two inches and a half long, and al- 

 most two inches broad at the base, growing 

 narrower towards the top, indented about the 

 edges ; the lower ones upon pretty long foot- 

 stalks ; flowers grow in loose small bunches 

 from the axils in whorls, upon single peduncles: 

 they are white, or yellowish, and appear in 

 July. It is a native of the southern parts of 

 Europe. 



It varies, with variegated leaves, and with 

 the stalks slender, the leaves much shorur, the 

 whole plant hairy, and of a Strong disagreeable 



odour : the flowers in whorls, sitting pretty 

 close to the branches, and smaller than those 

 of the common sort. This is the Roman 

 Baum. 



The second species has a perennial root 

 and an annual stalk, rising about a foot high : 

 the leaves in pairs at each joint, an inch and a 

 half long, and three quarters of an inch broad, 

 serrate, of a lucid green on the upper side, 

 and whitish on the under : single peduncles 

 come out from the axils, half an inch long, 

 and dividing into two smaller ones, each sustain- 

 ing two flowers upon short separate pedicels: the 

 flowers are large, of a purple colour. It flowers 

 in June, ripening seeds in August, and is a 

 native of Tuscany, &.c. 



There are varieties with white flowers; with 

 red flowers ; and with variegated leaves. They 

 are all inferior to the purple. 



The third has slender steins, low, straight, a 

 little woody, and dark purple : the leaves are 

 small, roundish, hoary : the flowers small and 

 white, appearing in June; the seeds ripen in 

 autumn. It seldom continues more than 

 two or three years, and is a native of the South 

 of Europe. 



The fourth has also slender shrubby stems, 

 about nine inches long, putting out small, op- 

 posite side-branches : the leaves small, hoary, 

 ovate-acuminate : the flowers are in whorled 

 spikes at the end of the stalks : they are small 

 and white or pale purple, appearing in July, 

 and ripening seeds in autumn. The whole 

 plant has a strong scent of pennyroyal, and is 

 of short continuance. 



Culture. — The first and second sorts may be 

 readily increased by parting the roots and 

 planting them out in the early autumn, as Octo- 

 ber, time enough for the offsets to be establish- 

 ed before the winter frosts come on. They 

 should be divided into small pieces with three 

 or four buds to each, and the first sort planted 

 two feet a-part in beds of common garden earth, 

 and the second sort in the borders or other 

 parts singly, in larger offset slips. The only 

 culture they afterwards require is to keep them 

 clean from weeds, and to cut off the decayed 

 stalks annually in autumn, digging or stirring 

 the ground between the plants in the common 

 sort. 



The third sort may be raised by sowing 

 the seeds in the autumn or spring, or where the 

 seeds are permitted to scatter there will be a 

 sufficient supply of young plants. 



The fourth species may also be increased by 

 seeds sown in the spring on beds or in pots, or by 

 cuttings planted in the same manner, in any of 

 the summer months, and shaded from the sun. 



