256 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



MILK-VETCH. See ASTRAGALUS. 



MILKWORT. See POLYGALA. 



MIMOSA. This large family contains the sensitive plants, 

 M. sensitiva and M. pudica, two stove shrubs, the foliage of 

 which is endowed with a very remarkable and interesting 

 sensibility, for the sake of which they are cultivated. The 

 flowers of both are purplish, little globular balls of col- 

 ored 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 leaves 

 immediately close, and hang down. The seeds are sown in 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 they 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. M. sensitiva is not so irritable as M. pudica. 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 (sen- 

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

 Brazil ; 1648. 



MIMULUS. Monkey-flower. [Scrophularinae.] Showy 

 herbaceous plants, mostly perennial ; some small musk 

 plants are annuals. The ornamental garden Mimuluses are 

 mostly seedling varieties raised by florists, the offspring of 

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



