330 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Marsdenia continued. 



I. cordate-ovate, acute. Stem erect h. 3ft. to 6ft South-east 

 Europe and Asia Minor, 1597. Half-hardy suh-erect shrub. 



M. flavescens (yellowish). /L yellowish ; cymes many-flowered ; 

 corolla sub-rotate. June and July. I. oblong-lanceolate, acu- 

 minated, somewhat undulated, glabrous above, clothed with 

 hoary tomentum beneath. New South Wales, 1823. Stove twining 

 shrub. (B. M. 3289.) 



M. lonlceroides (Lonicera-like). fl. red ; corolla fleshy, urceo- 

 late; umbels pedunculate, terminal. Autumn. L opposite, de- 

 cussate, 2in. to Sin. long, elliptic-cordate, obtuse, h. 6ft. Brazil, 

 1825. Erect stove shrub. (B. M. 2699, under name of Harrisonia 

 loniceroides.) 



M. maculata (spotted), fl. variegated, pale green and purplish- 

 brown ; cymes umbelliform, sub-sessile ; sepals roundish, ciliate ; 

 corolla rotate-infundibular. June to August I. broad-elliptic, 

 spotted, cordate, h. 20ft Trinidad, 1834. Plant glabrous. 

 Stove climber. (B. M. 4299.) 



M. 



. suayeolens (sweet-scented), fl. white, fra 

 a ventricose tube and a bearded throat ; pani 

 eight -flowered. July. L oval -lanceolate, 



hite, fragrant ; corolla with 

 icles axillary, six to 



eight -flowered. July. L oval -lanceolate, glabrous, veinless. 

 Stem erect or twining, h. 2ft to 3ft. New South Wales, 1816. 

 Greenhouse shrub. (B. K. 489.) 



M. tenacissima (very tough), fl. greenish -yellow ; corolla salver- 

 shaped, segments broad, obtuse ; cymes large. June. I. cordate, 

 acuminated, tomentose on both surfaces. Stem twining. India, 

 1806. Greenhouse shrub. 



IALLIA (named after Humphrey Marshall, 



an American botanical author, who published, in 1785, 

 a list of the trees of the United States). STNS. Per- 

 soonia (of Michaux), Therolepta, Trattenikia. OBD. Com- 

 posites. A genus comprising 1 four species of hardy 

 perennial herbs, natives of North America. Flower- 

 heads purplish or rose, resembling those of a Scabious, 

 solitary; involucral scales linear-lanceolate, leafy, in one 

 or two rows ; receptacle convex or conical, chaffy ; 

 florets all tubular. The undermentioned species (the 

 only one cultivated) is interesting rather than hand- 

 some, and is very suitable for borders in any light 

 soil. Propagated by seeds, sown in a warm border, 

 during late spring. 



M. caespitosa (tufted).* fl.-heads bluish-white, about l*in. across. 

 June. I. alternate, entire, glabrous, tufted. Stems several from 

 the same tuft. h. 1ft. Texas, 1837. (B. M. 3704.) 



MARSH CINQUEPOIL. See Comarum. 

 MARSH MALLOW. See Althaea. 

 MARSH MARIGOLD. See Caltlia. 



MARSH TREFOIL. See Menyanthes tri- 

 foliata. 



MARSILEA (named after Count A. P. Marsigli, of 

 Bologna, 1658-1730, a patron of botany). OBD. Marsilece. 

 This genus comprises about four species of aquatic 

 plants, widely distributed. The two species described 

 below are abundant in Australia. Two others are found 

 in Europe, &c. Rhizome creeping, rooting at the nodes. 

 Stipes often, but not always, confined at the base with 

 those of the barren fronds, as in Ophioglossece. Barren 

 fronds with a long petiole or stipes, the lamina divided 

 into four digitate leaflets, with numerous forked veins 

 radiating from their base. Son linear, on transverse 

 veins proceeding from the upper side or midrib of the 

 involucre into two series of transverse cells; each sorus 

 consists of a few macrosporangia, each one surrounded 

 by several microsporangia ; involucres sessile or stipitate. 

 The species thrive in turfy loam or peat, and the pots 

 in which the plants are growing should be partially 

 plunged in water. 



M. Drnmmondii (Drummond's). Stipes of the barren fronds 

 usually long and slender ; leaflets broadly obovate-cuneate, or 

 fan-shaped, more or less crenate or shortly lobed, or rarely 

 quite entire, involucre* larger than in M. hirswta, the stipes or 

 peduncles clustered, free from the base. Ends of the rhizome, 

 under side of the leaflets, and involucres, more or less silky- 

 hairy. SYN. M. macropus (H. G. F. 63). 



M. hirsute (hairy). Young ends of the rhizome densely rusty- 

 villous. Leaflets obovate or broadly cuneate, sparingly or 

 densely hirsute underneath, the stipes usually long and slender. 

 involucres small, usually clustered, sessile at the base of the 

 barren fronds, or on a stipes shorter than the involucre. 



M. macropus (long-stalked). A synonym of M. Dntmmondii. 



MARSILEJB. A small order of aquatic plants, 

 of variable habit. There are no true leaves. Fronds, 

 as in Filices, proceeding from the rhizome, and rolled 

 inwards (circinate) at the top when young ; barren ones 

 either reduced to a linear stipes or bearing a leaflike 

 lamina divided into four digitate leaflets ; fertile ones 

 on a shorter stipes or nearly sessile, the lamina recurved 

 with the margins united, forming an ovoid or globular 

 utricle, usually called an involucre. Spore cases of two 

 kinds, as in some Lycopodiacete, but arranged, as in Filices, 

 in sori inside the involucre (i.e., on the under surface of 

 the recurved frond) ; each sorus inclosed in a membranous 

 indusium, apparently dividing the involucre into as many 

 cells. The order is limited to the two Australian genera, 

 Marsilea and Pilularia, both of which have a wide range 

 in the New, as well as in the Old, World. According to 

 Bentham, they might well be regarded as forming a tribe 

 of Filices, to which they are much more closely allied 

 than to Lycopodiacece, with some genera of which they 

 have been frequently associated. The sporangia of Mar- 

 silea, after the pools in which the plants grow are dried 

 up, are found in great abundance on the surface of the 

 soil, and form a miserable article of food, which has, 

 however, saved the lives of some of the exploring 

 parties who have traversed Australia. 



MARTAGON LILT. See Lilium Martagon. 



MARTINEZIA (named in honour of Balthassar 

 Martinez, a Spanish naturalist). SYN. Aiphanes. ORD. 

 Palmece. A small genus (about seven species have been 

 described) of very ornamental stove palms, rarely ex- 

 ceeding 20ft. in height, natives of tropical America. 

 Flower-spikes simply branched, inclosed in a double 

 spathe, the outer of which is incomplete. Fruit yellow, 

 scarlet, or pink. Leaves pinnate ; segments wedge-shaped 

 or three-sided, the broad upper end very much jagged. 

 Trunks cylindrical. The few species in cultivation thrive 

 in a compost of sandy loam and peat, in about equal 

 parts. A strong heat, and an abundance of water, are 

 most essential to success. Propagated by seeds. 

 ML. caryotsefolia (Caryota-leaved).* L full dark green on both 



surfaces, pinnate, 3ft. to 6ft. long ; pinna; cuneate, prnemorse, 6in. 



to 12in. long, 4in. to 6in. broad at the apex. Several pairs of 



pinnae are produced in close proximity, at intervals of about 6in. 



to lOin. apart. Stem slender, and, as well as the petioles and 



back of the leaves, densely clothed with long black spines. New 



Grenada, 1845. (G. C. 1872, 171.) 



FIG. 516. MARTl.Mi/lA EROSA. 



M. erosa (bitten). 1. pinnate, consisting of a few pairs of nar- 

 rowish leaflets at the base, and a pair of broader ones at the 

 apex, all obliquely erose ; botli stalks and blades, the latter both 

 above and beneath, thickly furnished with long, brown, needle- 

 like spines, which, in the case of the blades, are developed from 

 the rather prominent veins ; leafstalks mealy. South America, 

 1871. See Fig. 516. (G. C. 1872, Fig. 296.) 



