344 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Melaleuca continued. 



M. styphelioides (Styphelia-like). /. white, in pubescent 

 spikes, surrounding the lower part of the branches. May to 

 July. /. alternate, ovate, acuminated, ending in a pungent 

 mucrone, sessile, glabrous, h. 4ft. to 10ft. 1793. Shrub. 



FIG. 533. FLOWERING BRANCHES OF MELALEUCA SQUAMEA, 

 reduced and natural size. 



M. thymifolia (Thyme-leaved). fl. purple ; spikes f ew-flowered. 

 June to September. I. opposite, lanceolate, h. 2ft 1792. 

 Shrub. (B. M. 1868 ; L. B. C. 439.) SYN. M. coronata (A. B. B. 278). 



M. Wilsonii (Wilson's). A. red, solitary or two or three together 

 in the axils of the stem leaves, often numerous along the prin- 

 cipal branches. I. opposite, almost imbricate on the smaller 

 branches, linear or linear-lanceolate, erect or scarcely spreading. 

 1874. Shrub. (B. M. 6131.) 



MEIiAMFYRTJM (from Melampuron, an old Greek 

 name used by Theophrastus, from melas, black, and pyros, 

 wheat ; alluding to the colour of the seeds of European 

 field species, as they appear mixed with grain). Cow 

 Wheat. ORD. Scrophularinece. A genus comprising 

 about six species of hardy, erect, annual herbs, found in 

 Europe and Western Asia, one being broadly dispersed 

 over Asia and North America. Flowers sub-sessile in 

 the axils, or in dense terminal spikes ; corolla yellow, 

 violet, or variegated. Leaves opposite, narrow. The 

 two species described below are the handsomest, but, in 

 addition to these, M. pratense, the common Cow Wheat, 

 and M. sylvatica, are found in Britain. Melampyrums, 

 being more or less parasitic, are not easily grown under 

 artificial conditions. Seeds should be sown annually, in 

 spring, in the open border ; if amongst short grass, &c., 

 success is more likely to be attained. 



M. arvense (field), fl. spiked; corolla erect; tube rosy, 

 curved, puberulous ; throat yellow ; lips dark pink ; bracts rose- 

 purple, leafy. July and August. /. lanceolate, quite entire, or 

 the upper toothed at the base. Stem 1ft. to 2ft high, obtusely 

 quadrigonous, stout, erect, branched, scaberulous. Europe 

 (Britain), Western Asia. (Sy. En. B. 1001.) 



M. cristatnm (crested). /. densely spiked ; corolla tube yellow, 

 tipped -with purple, bent. September and October. I. spread- 

 ing, narrow linear-lanceolate. Stem 6in. to 18in. high, rigid, 

 erect, obtusely four-angled. Europe (Britain), Siberia. (Sy. 

 En. B. 1000.) 



MELANDRIUM. Included under Lychnis (which 

 see). 



MELANOPTERIS. Included under Aspidium. 



MELANORRH(EA (from melas, black, and rheo, to 

 flow; the tree, when wounded, yields a black juice). 

 Black Varnish Tree. ORD. Anacardiacece. A genus com- 

 prising a couple of species of very large-growing stove 

 evergreen trees, natives of Birma and the Malayan 

 Peninsula. Flowers in axillary panicles; sepals five, 

 cohering valvately into a five-nerved, caducous calyptra ; 

 petals five or six, linear-oblong, imbricated. Leaves 

 alternate exstipulate, simple, entire, leathery. The under- 

 mentioned species thrives in a peat and loam compost. 



Melanorrhcea continued. 



Propagated by cuttings of ripe shoots, with the leaves 



intact, placed in sand, under a glass, and in bottom 



heat. 



M. usltatissima (most useful), fl. red. I. obovate, very blunt, 

 villous. h. 100ft. Hindostan, 1828. This species yields a very 

 valuable black varnish. "This is obtained by the process of 

 tapping ; short joints of bamboo, closed at the bottom end, being 

 thrust into holes made in the trunk, and left for about two days, 

 when they become full of a whitish thick juice, which turns 

 black when exposed to the air, and requires to be kept under 

 water in order to preserve it " (" Treasury of Botany "). 



MEL-ANTHACEJE. Included, by Bentham and 

 Hooker, under Liliacece. 



MELANTHERA (from melas, black, and anthera, 



an anther; alluding to the colour of the anthers). ORD. 



Composite. A genus comprising about eight species of 



scabrous-pubescent or slightly villous, stove, greenhouse, 



or half-hardy, herbs or sub-shrubs, natives of tropical 



America and Africa. Flower-heads white or yellow, 



mediocre; young ones depressed, at length sub-globose, 



borne at the apices of the branches or in the axils of 



the upper leaves; involucre hemispherical, short, the 



bracts two or three-seriate ; receptacle convex or at 



length conical; achenes glabrous or slightly pilose. 



Leaves opposite, petiolate, toothed, or rarely hastately 



trilobed. The species thrive in any ordinary soil, and 



may be increased either by seeds or by divisions. 



M. deltoidea (deltoid), fl.-heads yellow ; involucral scales oval- 



oblong ; chaff of the receptacle obtuse, mucronate. July and 



August. I. opposite, undivided, ovate-deltoid or sub-cordate, 



scabrous-canescent h. 3ft West Indies, &c., 1799. Stove 



herb. SYN. Calea aspera. 



M. hastate (spear-shaped). JL-heads white ; involucral scales 

 lanceolate ; chaff of the receptacle spine-pointed. June and July. 

 1. opposite, hastately trilobed, scabrous, h. 3ft to 6ft North 

 America, 1732. Half-hardy herb. The variety pandurata has 

 tiddle-shaped leaves. 



MELANTHIUM (from melas, black, and anthos, a 

 flower; in allusion to the darker colour which the per- 

 sistent perianth assumes after blossoming). SYN. Leiman- 

 thium. ORD. Liliacece. A genus comprising only three 

 species of hardy bulbous plants, confined to North 

 America. Flowers yellowish-white, small, copiously race- 

 mose-paniculate ; perianth of six widely -spreading seg- 

 ments. Leaves linear or lanceolate, membranous, gla- 

 brous. Stems loose, leafy. The species are not much 

 grown in our gardens. For culture, &c., see Veratrum. 

 M. virginicnm (Virginian). Bunch Flower, ft., perianth cream- 

 colour, turning brown, and persistent ; segments heart-shaped or 

 oblong and halbert-shaped. July. I. lanceolate or linear, grass- 

 like, those from the root broader. Stem simple, 3ft. to 5ft high. 

 (B. M. 985, under name of Helonias virginica.) 



MELASMA (from melasma, blackness ; the plant 

 turns black when dried). SYNS. Gastromeria, Lyncea, 

 Nigrina. ORD. Scrophularinece. A genus comprising 

 three or four species of stove or greenhouse, scabrous- 

 pubescent or hispid herbs, of which two (perhaps varie- 

 ties of one) are natives of South Africa, the third is 

 Brazilian, and the fourth Mexican. Flowers in ter- 

 minal leafy racemes, which are sometimes long-inter- 

 rupted at base; calyx broadly ovate-campanulate, folia- 

 ceous, five-fid at apex, the lobes valvate ; corolla white 

 or pale yellowish, five - lobed, imbricated ; tube broad, 

 snb-campannlate, shorter than the calyx or shortly ex- 

 serted. Leaves opposite, sessile, entire, toothed, or 

 slightly incised at base. Probably none of the species 

 are in cultivation. 



MELASPHJEHiUIiA (from melas, black, and splice- 

 rula, a diminutive of sphaira, a ball; referring to the 

 small blackish bulbs). SYNS. Aglcsa, Diasia. ORD. 

 Iridece. A monotypic genus, the species being a very 

 pretty, greenhouse, bulbous plant, with an elegant and 

 graceful habit, and producing a profusion of flowers, 

 which remain in perfection for a considerable period. 

 For culture, see Izia. 

 M. graminea (grass-like), fl. whitish, with a purplish stripe, 



disposed in large tlexuous-branched panicles. April, t. grass-like, 



