AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



345 



MelaspliserTila continued. 



light green. South Africa, 1880. (B. M. 615 ; L. B. C. 1444, under 

 name of 31. parviflora; A. B. R. 62, under name of Gladiolus 

 gramineus.) 

 M. parviflora (small-flowered). A synonym of M. graminea. 



MELASTOMA (from melas, black, and stoma, the 

 mouth ; the black berries of certain species, when eaten, 

 stain the mouth). OBD. Melastomacece. A genus com- 

 prising about forty species of stove evergreen, often 

 erect, and strigose-pilose shrubs; one species creeping. 

 They are natives of tropical Asia, Africa, North Aus- 

 tralia, Oceania, and (one species) the Seychelles. Flowers 

 purple, violet, or rose, rarely white, showy, bibractoate, 

 at the apices of the branchlets, solitary, sub -fasciculate 

 or paniculate ; calyx strigose, se'tose, or paleaceous ; lobes 

 five, rarely six or seven; petals often five, obovate or 

 unequilateral, sometimes ciliated at base. Leaves petio- 

 late, oblong or lanceolate, coriaceous, entire, three to 

 seven-nerved. Few of the species are now in cultiva- 

 tion. They thrive best in a compost of equal parts 

 loam and peat. Propagated, during spring, by cuttings, 

 placed in sandy peat, under a bell glass, in heat. In 

 winter, a rather dry atmosphere is desirable. 

 M. corymbosum (corymbose), fl. bright purple, in terminal 

 corymbs. Summer. I. stalked, cordate-ovate, glabrous, seven 

 to nine-nerved, rich satiny-green above, paler beneath ; margins 

 sharply dentate-serrate. Tropical Africa. (B. M. 904.) By an 

 oversight, this species was not described under Amphiblemrna ; its 

 correct name is A. eymosum (B. M. 5473). 



M. dentlculatuni (toothed), fl. white, few, cymose ; calyx lobes 

 lanceolate. July. I. petiolate, oval-oblong, acuminate, five- 

 nerved, bristly above, pale beneath, h. 3ft. to 4ft. New Caledonia, 

 1855. (B. M. 4957.) 



M. macrooarpum (long-fruited). A synonym of M. malabathrica. 

 M. malabathrioa (Malabar), fl. purple, large ; corymbs one to 

 five-flowered. July. I. elliptic-oblong, obtuse at the base, acute 

 at the apex, quite entire. Branches tetragonal, rough from 

 strigje. h. 6ft. to 8ft. East Indies, 1793. (B. M. 529 ; B. R. 672, 

 under name of if. macroearpum.') 



M. sangnineum (bloody-veined), fl. purple, large, few, terminal ; 

 petals six, large. September and October. I. ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, five-nerved, green above and shining, but red at the 

 nerves beneath and on the short petioles, h. 4ft. to 6ft. Straits 

 of Sunda, 1818. (B. M. 2241.) 



MELASTOMACE.2E. An order of erect herbs, 

 shrubs, or trees, principally found in tropical America. 

 Flowers variable in colour, showy, very rarely sweet- 

 scented ; inflorescence spicate, paniculate or corymbose, 

 in a few cases solitary or fasciculate ; calyx limb five, six, 

 or three-partite, sometimes entire, imbricate, or contorted 

 in the bud ; petals free, or sometimes slightly united at the 

 base, inserted on the calyx throat, on a fleshy annular 

 layer, alternate with the calyx segments, shortly clawed, 

 twisted in the bud. Leaves opposite or whorled, simple, 

 equal or unequal, entire, rarely toothed, usually narrowed 

 into a sometimes swollen petiole; stipules none. The 

 order comprises about 134 genera, and 1800 species. 

 Illustrative genera are : Bertolonia, Melastoma, Miconia, 

 Pleroma, and Khexia. 



MEIiHANIA (from Mount Melhan, in Arabia Felix, 

 where the original species of this genus was discovered). 

 STNS. Brotera and Sprengelia. OBD. SterculiacecB. A 

 genus comprising about sixteen species of softly tomentose, 

 stove or greenhouse shrubs or sub-shrubs, natives of 

 Africa, the -warmer parts of Asia, and tropical Australia. 

 Flowers yellow, white, or reddish; petals five, rarely 

 spreading ; bracteoles often longer than the sepals ; 

 peduncles axillary, one or few-flowered. Leaves ovate 

 or cordate, crenate-serrate. M. erythroxylon is a hand- 

 some greenhouse shrub or small tree, of which only a 

 very few individuals now exist in its native habitat. 

 M. melanoxylon (also from St. Helena) has, within com- 

 paratively recent years, become quite extinct in a wild 

 state, and, probably, no longer exists even in cultivation. 

 M. erythroxylon (red- wooded), fl. at first pure white, changing 

 after a day to pink, and finally to a brownish-red as they begin to 

 fade. June. I. ovate-cordate, somewhat peltate, acuminated, 

 crenulated, tomentose beneath, h. 15ft. St. Helena, 1772. The 

 wood of this tree is hard and of a dull brown colour. (B. M. 1000.) 



Vol. IL 



MELIA (from Melia, the Greek name for the Ash ; 

 in allusion to the resemblance in the leaves). Bead-tree. 

 OBD. MeliacecB. A genus comprising about five species 

 of stove, greenhouse, or half-hardy trees, natives of 

 tropical Asia and Australia, one species being widely 

 dispersed by introduction. Flowers white or purple, in 

 large, axillary, much-branched panicles ; calyx five or 

 six-parted, imbricated; petals five or sir, free, linear- 

 spathnlate, spreading. Fruit drupaceous, small. Leaves 

 alternate, pinnate, or bi- or tripinnate; young ones, 

 together with the inflorescence, often stellato-tomentose ; 

 leaflets petiolulate, dentate or serrate. Branches covered 

 with scars. The species are of easy culture in a sandy- 

 loam soil. Propagated by cuttings, placed in sand, 

 under a bell glass, in gentle bottom heat. The name 

 Bead-tree has been given to the species of this genus, 

 on account of the use made of the seeds in Catholio 

 countries, "where the nuts are threaded for beads, to 

 assist the devotion of good Catholics, for which purpose 

 they are peculiarly suited, having a natural perforation 

 through the centre ; hence the tree has been called Arbor 

 Sancta " (" Botanical Magazine ") 



M. Azadiraohta (Azadirachta). /. bluish. Summer. I. pinnate ; 

 leaflets ovate-lanceolate, unequal at the base, acuminated, den- 

 tately-serrated ; petioles terete. A. 20ft. East Indies, 1759. 

 Stove. (B. F. S. 14.) 



FIG. 534. PORTION OP INFLORESCENCE OF MELIA AZEDARACIJ. 



FIG. 535. FLOWERING BRANCH, AND DETACHED FLOWER AND 

 FRUIT, OF MELIA AZEDARACH FLORIBUNDA. 



M. Azedarach (Azedarach). fl. lilac, fragrant. Summer. I. bi- 

 pinnate ; leaflets deeply serrated, somewhat quinate. h. 40ft. 

 Tropical Asia &c., 1656. Hardy iu the South of England. See 

 Fig. 534. (B. F. S. 13; B. M. 1066.) M. A. floribunda is more flori- 

 ferous than the type, and flowers in a smaller state. See Fig. 535. 

 (R. H. 1872, 470.) 



M. composita (compound). A synonym of M. dubia. 



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