MOL 



M O M 



rrquirc it, repeating the waterings lo the whole, 

 till they have struct fresh root and begun to 

 Crow, when they will not require any Further 

 culture, except the occasional support of sticks, 

 which is mo I necessary in the last sort. 



As the seed ripens well, it will frequently pre- 

 vent the trouble of preserving the roots. 



But when these arc taken out of the ground 

 in autumn, and laid in dry sand during the 

 winter, secure from frost, and planted again in 

 the spring, they grow much larger and flower 

 earlier than the seedling plants : or when the 

 roots are covered in winter with tanner's hark 

 to keep out the frost, they often amain secure 

 in the borders, where the soil is dry. When the 

 roots thus taken out of the ground are planted 

 the following spring in large pots, and plunged 

 into a hot-bed, under a deep frame, they may be 

 brought forward, and raised to the height 

 of four or live feet, and flower much earlier in the 

 season. 



In collecting the seeds, care should be taken 

 not to save any from the plants which have plain 

 flowers : and in order to have variegated flowers, 

 the plain flowers should be pulled off from those 

 plants which are intended to stand for seed. 



As the second sort is less hardy than the first 

 and third, unless the plants are brought forward 

 in the sprinsr they seldom flower till very late, 

 and their seeds do not ripen perfectly. 



All the sorts are proper for the principal bor- 

 ders of pleasure-grounds, being very ornamental 

 in their large branchy growth, as well as in their 

 extensive flowering. 



The root of all the sorts is a strong purgative. 



MOLUCCA BAUM. See Molcccella. 



MOLUCCELLA, a genus containing plants 

 of the herbaceous annual exotic kind; 



It belongs to the class and order Didynamia 

 Gymnospermia, and ranks in the natural order 

 of VerticillaUB. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leah-d perianthium, very large, turbinate, gradu- 

 ally finishing in a very wide, bell-shaped, ' >ofh- 

 spiny, incurved, permanent border: the corolla 

 is one retailed, ringent, less than the calyx: 

 tube and throat short : upper lip upright, con- 

 cave, entire; lower lip trilid : the middle seg- 

 ment more produced, emarginate; the stamina 

 have four filaments, under the upper lip, of 

 which two are shorter : anthers simple : the pis- 

 tillum is a four-parted germ : style the size and 

 situation of the stamens: stigma bifid: there is 

 no pericarpium : fruit turbinate, truncate, in the 

 bottom of tlie open calyx: tin .-, con- 



\exononc side, angular on the other, at lop 

 wide and truncate. 



The species cultivated arc: 1. M. he lis, 



Smooth Mi lucca Banm ; 2. M. sf 'nosa; Prickly 

 Molucca Baum. 



The first has an annual root: the stem three 

 feet high, spreading out into many branch -. 

 which are smooth, and come out by pairs: 

 the leaves are roundish, deeply notched on their 

 . . on long petioles, smooth, light 

 green on both sides: at the base of the petioles 

 the (low crs come out in whorls: immediately uir- 

 der-the calvx also come out two bunches of pretty 

 long spines, one on each side, each bunch con- 

 sisting of five or six spines arisine from the satire 

 point : the corolla is small, and being placed at 

 the bottom of the larj x is not visible at a 



distance ; it is white with a cast of purple. 

 It is a native of Syria, flowering in July and 

 August. 



In the second the root is also annual : the 

 stems smooth, purplish, four feet high, branch- 

 ing out in the same manner with the first : the 

 leaves are smaller, on shorter foot-stalks, deeper 

 and more acutely indented on their edges : the 

 calyx not so lirgc, and cut into eight segments, 

 each terminated by an acute spine : the flowers 

 like those of the lirst sort. It is a native of the 

 Levant, flowering in July and August. 



Culture. — These plants may be increased bv 

 sowing the seeds in the early autumn on a mild 

 hot-bed, or in pots plunged into it, and when 

 the plants have attained a little growth be 

 planted in small pots, and placed under a hot-bed 

 frame in winter, where they may have free air 

 in mild weather bv taking off the glasses, being 

 carefully covered in frosty weather, keeping them 

 pretty dry, otherwise they arc apt to rot. (n the 

 sprint: the plants may be turned out of the pot-, 

 with their earth about their-foots, and planted 

 iii a warm border, defended from strong winds, 

 giving them a little water to settle the earth to 

 their roots ; after which they require no other 

 care but to be kept clean from weeds, and be 

 irted w iih stakes. 



They afford ornament and variety in the bor- 

 imohg other tend r annuals. 



MOLY. See Allium. 



MOMOP.DiCA, a genus furnishing plants oi 

 the annual trailing and perennial kin 



It belongs to the class and order 

 Syngenesia, and ranks in the natural on 

 'bitacecE. 



Thechai e: tl it in the male flowers the 



calyx is a one-kafed perianthium, concave, five- 

 ck St : i lanceolate, | ng: the corolla 



five-parted, fastened to the calyx, 

 ing, large, veined, wrinkled: mina have 



three awl-shaped filaments, short: anthei . 

 filaments bifid, eared at the sules ; on the third 

 simple, one 



