AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



339 



cia continued. 



M. nigrescens (dark). ./I., sepals and petals port -wine 

 colour, spreading ; lip of the same colour, stained with dull 

 purple ; peduncles erect. Winter and spring. Pseudo-bulbs 

 light green, bearing a solitary, dark green, coriaceous leaf. 

 New Grenada. 



M. Parkeri (Parker's), fl. buff, white; sepals oblong, obtuse ; 

 petals linear-lanceolate ; lip trilobed, hooded. April. I. lanceo- 

 late, coriaceous, obscurely striate. Pseudo-bulbs oval, compressed, 

 one-leaved, h. 9in. Demerara, 1826. (B. M. 2729.) 



M. picta (painted), fl. of a soft cream-colour, more or less 

 streaked and dotted with dull purple and chocolate, both within 

 and without, yielding a most powerful aromatic perfume ; petals 

 remarkably incurved ; scapes from 5in. to 6in. high. Winter. 

 1. thick, strap-shaped, nearly 1ft. long. Brazil. Not a 

 very showy species, but a profuse blossomer, and admirably 

 suited for growing in a Wardian case. See Fig. 528. (B. M. 



M. porphyrqstele (purple-columned), fl. whitish-yellow ; petals 

 with a purplish streak at the ba.se ; lip with purplish veins on the 

 side lobes. Spring. 1. linear-ligulate, from small ovoid pseudo- 

 bulbs, h. din. Brazil, 1873. This species somewhat resembles 

 M. picta. (B. M. 6477.) 



M. mfescens (reddish). /. orange and yellow, spotted with dark 

 purple-red, sweet-scented. Trinidad, 1836. (B. R. 1848.) 



M. splendens (splendid).* fl., sepals and petals white ; lip orange, 

 margined with rose. Columbia, 1870. A very handsome species, 

 similar in growth to M. venutta, but more robust. 



M. tenuifolia (slender-leaved). /. yellow, with bright crimson 

 barrings, proceeding from the base of the matured growths. 

 March. I. long-linear, acuminate. Pseudo-bulbs ovate, like so 

 many bulbils strung together on short perpendicular footstalks. 

 (B. R. xxv. 8.) 



M. tetragona (tetragonal). A synonym of Lycaste tetragona. 



M. Turner! (Turner's), fl. of a rich" cinnamon-brown and crim- 

 son, with a delicious fragrance. May. 1. long, broad, 1ft. high. 

 Pseudo-bulbs short. A distinct and desirable plant. 



M. variabilis (variable).* fl. purplish; sepals and petals 

 erect, oblong-acute ; lip oblong, erect, obscurely three-lobed ; 

 peduncles longer than the pseudo-bulbs. /. solitary, linear- 

 ligulate. Mexico. (B. M. 3614, under name of M. Bench- 



M. venusta (handsome).* fl.. of a very beautiful waxy- white, thick 

 and fleshy in texture ; lip faintly stained with yellow and blotched 

 with crimson ; scapes long. November to February. I. light 

 shining green, linear-oblong. Pseudo-bulbs two-leaved. New 

 Grenada, 1862. A beautiful species, very easy to grow, 

 and remaining in flower a long time. See Fig. 529. (B. M. 

 52%.) 



[1LIANA (named after Maximilian I., King of 



Bavaria). ORD. Palmce. A small genus (three species) 

 of elegant stove Palms, inhabiting the Amazons and 

 Maranon, and the island of St. Kitts and Trinidad. 

 Flower-spikes each inclosed in a thick woody spathe, 

 which tapers to a long point, deeply furrowed, splitting 

 open at last down one side. Leaves very large, pinnate, 

 borne at the sunimit of the trunks; leaflets narrow, 

 arranged in clusters along the stalks. Trunks slender, 

 smooth. This genus is closely allied to Cocos (which 

 see for culture). 



M. caribea (Caribbean). I. large ; segments pale green, redupli- 

 cate, obliquely inserted at the double base, densely veiny with 

 transverse veins. This species is similar in habit to 31. Martiana, 

 but the leaf segments are broader, and a little tapering towards 

 the eroded point. St. Kitts. 



M. Martiana (Martius'). 1. pinnate ; leaflets linear, aciiminate, 

 pendent, dark green, about 2ft. long. Caudex erect, cylindrical, 

 unarmed. South America, 1825. A handsome decorative plant 

 when in a young state. SVN. M. regia. 

 M. regia (royal). A synonym of M. Martiana. 



MAXIMOWICZIA. Included under Sckizandra 

 (which see). 



MAY. A name applied to the blossoms of Cratcegus 

 Oxyacantha. 



MAYACE2E. A natural order, comprising a soli- 

 tary genus, Mayaca, of Moss-like, slender, creeping, 

 pellucid plants, all natives of America, allied to Comme- 

 linacea} and Xyridacece, but readily distinguished by their 

 one-celled anthers. Flowers white, pink, or violet, axil- 

 lary, solitary, peduncled. Leaves all alternate, crowded, 

 linear, emarginate, flaccid. There are about seven species. 



MAY APPLE. See Podophyllum peltattun 

 and Fassifiora incarnata. 



MAY BUGS. A name sometimes given to certain 

 beetles which are destructive, in the larval form, to the 

 roots of numerous plants, including many that are culti- 

 vated in fields and in gardens. The perfect insects also 

 are very destructive, often stripping the leaves almost 

 entirely from trees, especially from Oaks, low fruit-trees, 

 and Eose bushes. 



The most successful methods for limiting the number 

 of these insects are, hand-picking, or shaking them 

 off the shrubs or bushes into vessels in the very 

 early morning, or collecting the grubs, when these are 

 exposed by digging or ploughing the soil. In either 

 case, the insects found should be at once destroyed. 

 Birds also render good assistance in this direction by 

 the number that they eat, either as beetles or as larvae. 

 Among the birds most useful in this way, starlings and 

 rooks deserve special mention. Other remedies will be 

 found under Cockchafer and Insecticides (which see). 

 There are several kinds of beetles indigenous to England 

 included under the name of May Bugs ; of these, the more 



FIG. 530. MELOLOMHA VULGARIS (Cockchafer), Female and Male- 



important are the Cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris, see 

 Fig. 530) and the Lesser May Bug (Phyllopertha horticola). 



The Cockchafer has been already noticed in this 

 work. It is very abundant in the South of England, 

 but becomes local and scarce in Scotland. It may be 

 added here, that, in the Cockchafer, the wing-cases and 

 legs are yellowish-brown, with a dash of red, but are 

 covered with short, fine, grey hairs, which are very readily 

 rubbed off. The rest of the upper surface is mostly 

 pitch-black, with paler pubescence. The antennae, or 

 feelers, are rusty-red. The lower surface of the body 

 is black, with paler pubescence, and five conspicuous 

 white triangular spots on the sides of the segments of 

 the abdomen. 



The Lesser May Bug is nearly as abundant as its 

 larger ally in the South of Britain, and in the North ia 

 far more common than that insect. It is much smaller, 

 being only ^in. to ?in. long, and the club of the antennas 

 is composed of only three, instead of six or seven, 

 flattened joints. In colour of wing-cases, and in form, 

 it is much like the Cockchafer, but the tip of the body 

 is not prolonged as in that species. Occasionally, the 

 wing-cases are brown or green-black. The rest of the 

 body is shining green or blue-black, with long, erect, 

 paler hairs on certain parts. The beetles at times do 

 considerable damage to Roses and to fruit-trees, by 

 feeding on the stamens and petals of the flowers. 

 They may, however, in dull weather, be successfully 

 shaken off the bushes into an inverted umbrella, and 

 should be collected and destroyed when so numerous 

 as to become troublesome. The larvae resemble those 

 of the Cockchafer, except in size. They feed on the 

 roots of many garden plants, and also on those of the 

 Fir ; and they are often present in flower-pots, the plants 

 in which they frequently destroy, causing them to fade 

 early. At times, they are very troublesome. The methods 

 recommended for the destruction of the larvae of the 

 Cockchafer will be found useful against this species also. 

 If a pot plant becomes sickly without visible cause, it 

 should be turned out, with the earth attached to the 

 roots, and there will then often be found one or more of 

 the larvas of the Lesser May Bug feeding on it. 



