AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



311 



Lysionotus continued. 



L. serrata (serrate-leaved), fl. pale lavender, with veins of a 

 deeper colour, irregularly funnel-shaped, about 2in. long; corymbs 

 pedunculate, five to ten-flowered. Winter. I. oblong-lanceolate, 

 acuminated, coriaceous, serrated, reticulately veined, h 1ft. 

 Sub-tropical Himalayas, 1882. Plant erect. SYN. L. ternifolia. 

 (B. M. 6538.) 

 L. ternifolia (ternate-leaved). A synonym of L. serrata. 



LYTHRARIEJE. A natural order of herbs, shrubs, 

 or trees, with variable habit, natives chiefly of tropical 

 America. Flowers hermaphrodite, very rarely unisexual, 

 regular or rarely irregular, solitary in the axils of the 

 leaves, or fascicled or cymose, sometimes spiked or 

 racemed, and accompanied by floral bracteiform leaves, 

 rarely panicled ; calyx very often free, persistent, tubular 

 or campanulate, rarely urceolate. Leaves opposite or 

 whorled, rarely opposite and alternate on the same plant, 

 simple, penninerved, entire, petioled or sessile, sometimes 

 glandular dotted, always exstipulate. There are about 

 thirty genera and 250 species. Illustrative genera are : 

 Cuphea, Grislea, Lythrum. 



LYTHRUM (from lythron, black blood ; alluding to 

 the colour of the flowers in some species). Loosestrife. 

 OED. Lythrariece. A genus comprising about twelve 

 species of hardy or nearly hardy herbaceous plants or 

 small shrubs. Flowers pink, purple, or rarely white, in 

 the axils of the leaves, solitary, or in few-flowered, aggre- 

 gate cymes. Leaves opposite, rarely verticillate or alter- 

 nate, linear-oblong or lanceolate, entire. The species are 

 of easy culture in ordinary garden soil, and may be freely 

 increased by divisions. L. Graefferi is a very ornamental 

 trailing plant, well adapted for cultivating in hanging 

 pans or baskets for greenhouse decoration in summer. 

 It may readily be increased by cuttings. 

 L. alatum (winged), fl. of a beautiful purple, almost sessile, 

 erect, six-petaled, furnished with two minute bracts. Summer 

 and autumn. 2. opposite, ovate-oblong, acute, rather cordate at 

 the base, sessile, or nearly so. Branches twiggy, tetragonally 

 winged, h. 1ft. to 4ft North America, 1812. An elegant half- 

 shrubby plant, thriving best in sandy soil. (B. M. 1812.) 

 L. Graefferi (Grseffer's).* fl. solitary in the axils of all the upper 

 leaves, shortly pedicelled ; calyx Jin. long ; tube slender ; lobes 

 twelve ; petals longer than the calyx, bright pink. Summer 

 and autumn. 1. Jin. to lin. long, all alternate, or the lower ones 

 opposite, more or less oblong, or linear-oblong. A. 1ft. to 3ft. 

 South Europe. (B. M. 6499.) 



L. roseum (rose-coloured). A variety of L. Salicaria. 

 It. Salicaria (Willow-like).* Common Purple Loosestrife, fl. 

 reddish-purple, in whorled leafy spikes, almost sessile ; petals 

 six or seven. July. I. opposite, lanceolate, cordate at the base. 

 A. 2ft. to 5ft. England. A handsome native perennial, growing 

 freely on the margins of streams and lakes. Its varieties are 

 frequently very desirable, especially roseum and superbum. 

 It. snperbum (superb). A variety of L. Salicaria. 

 It. virgatum (twiggy), fl. purple, in threes, axillary, distinctly 

 pedicellate ; panicle twiggy. Summer. I. lanceolate, attenuated 

 at the base. A. 2ft. to 3ft. Tauria, &c., 1776. Perennial. 

 (B. M. 1003.) 



MAACKIA AMURENSIS. See Cladrastis 

 amnrensis. 



MABA (its native name in the Tonga Islands). In- 

 cluding Ferreola. OED. Ebenacece. A genus comprising 

 fifty-nine species of (mostly) hard-wooded, stove, ever- 

 green trees or shrubs, dispersed over the warmer 

 regions of the globe. Flowers dioecious, rarely monoe- 

 cious or polygamous, axillary, or at the nodes of the 

 year-old or older branches, solitary or shortly cymose ; 

 calyx campanulate ; corolla campanulate or tubular ; 

 lobes three, rarely four to six, contorted. Leaves alter- 

 nate, often smaller than in Diospyros, rarely large. 

 Mabas thrive in a peat and loam compost. Propagated, 

 during May, by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, placed 

 in sand, under a glass, and in a very gentle bottom 

 heat. Probably the undermentioned are the only species 

 introduced. 

 M. buxifolia (Box-leaved), fl. yellowish, solitary or aggregate. 



I. obovate, glabrous in the adult state, h. lift. Tropical Asia 



and Africa, 1810. 



Maba continued. 



M. lamina (Laurel-like), fl. yellow, solitary. July. I. oval- 

 oblong, veiny, bluntish at the base, shining, h. 3ft. Queensland. 



MACADAMIA (named after John Macadam, M.D., 

 Secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria). 

 OBD. Proteaceae. A small genus (two species) of green- 

 house evergreen trees or tall shrubs, confined to Eastern 

 Australia. Flowers pedicellate, in pairs, in simple, ter- 

 minal or axillary racemes ; perianth regular or slightly 

 irregular. Leaves verticillate, entire or serrated. For 

 culture, see Hakea. 



M. ternifolia (ternate-leaved). fl. not showy, in a long-stalked 

 raceme, fr. a kind of drupe, with a fleshy exterior, encircling a 

 hard shell, like a Walnut ; it contains, at maturity, a kernel of a 

 remarkably rich and agreeable flavour, resembling, although much 

 superior to, the Filbert. I. in whorls of three or four, short- 

 stalked, leathery, shining, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, entire or 

 dentate at the margin, from 4in. to 12in. long. h. 30ft. 1869 

 Tree. (G. C. 1870, 1181.) 



MACHJERANTHERA. This genus is now included 

 under Aster. 



(from machaira, & sabre ; in allusion 

 to the pods ending in a sabre-shaped wing, which is longer 

 than the fruit). OED. Leguminosoe. A genus comprising 

 nearly sixty species of stove erect trees or tall climbing 

 shrubs, natives of tropical America. Flowers purple, 

 violet, or white, small or mediocre, disposed in short, 

 side-flowering racemes, fasciculate in the axils, or in ter- 

 minal crowded panicles; calyx truncate, obtuse at base, 

 shortly toothed; standard broadly ovate or orbiculate, 

 exappendiculate, often silky outside; wings oblong, fre- 

 quently falcate ; keel incurved, the petals connate at back ; 

 pedicels short, sometimes very short. Pod compressed, 

 samara-like, indehiscent. Leaves impari-pinnate ; leaflets 

 mostly alternate, exstipellate ; stipules sometimes hard- 

 bristly; bracts small; bracteoles persistent. Some of the 

 species are supposed to yield a part of the rosewood 

 of commerce. Machaeriums grow well in a compost of 

 loam and peat. Propagation may be effected by cuttings, 

 made of the ripened wood, and inserted in sand, under a 

 glass, in heat. The undermentioned are probably the 

 only species introduced ; they are usually, but erroneously, 

 classed as Nissolias. Both are climbing shrubs. 



. awivrcaviuu (prickly), fl. white ; panicles short, darkly pu- 

 bescent ; standard silky ; keel much shorter than the wings. 

 August. 1., leaflets thirty -one to forty-five, narrow-oblong, about 

 Jin. long, obtuse or retuse, shining, slightly pilose beneath, 

 coriaceous; stipules at length hard-spinescent. A. 10ft. Bio 

 Janeiro, 1824. 



M. robiniaefolinm (Robinia-leaved). fl. white, disposed in 

 axillary, many-flowered racemes, which are shorter than the 

 leaves ; keel slightly rostrate ; calyx somewhat glabrous. July. 

 1., leaflets about twenty or thirty, oblong, obtuse, niucronulate, 

 very glabrous ; stipules spinescent A. 6ft. St Vincent, 1824. 



MACZAYA (named after Dr. J. F. Mackay, author of 

 the "Flora Hibernica"). OED. Acanthacece. A mono- 

 typic genus, now included, by Bentham and Hooker, 

 under Asystasia. M. bella is a beautiful greenhouse 

 plant, which grows very freely, but requires special 

 treatment to induce it to flower profusely. A know- 

 ledge of its habit and mode of flowering is of material 

 assistance, if not indispensable, for attaining success in 

 its cultivation. Essential points are the encouragement of 

 a free growth throughout the summer, in an airy, light 

 structure, and the allowance of a season of rest in winter, 

 during which time no water should be applied to the roots, 

 or overhead. The plant is nearly, or quite, deciduous, 

 and the racemes of flowers are produced from the 

 points of nearly all well-ripened shoots. Cuttings root 

 readily, during summer, in any close frame ; and 

 young plants, thus obtained, should be grown on as 

 rapidly as possible until the approach of winter. An 

 occasional pinching will encourage a bushy habit, and 

 cause new shoots to proceed from the base of the plant. 

 Plenty of water, and frequent syringings, should be 

 applied in the growing season, and a position afforded, 



