374 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



MITRACARFUM (from mitra, a mitre, and Tcarpos, 

 a fruit ; in allusion to the fruit being cut round about 

 in the middle). ORD. Rubiaceai. A genus comprising 

 about thirty species of erect or prostrate herbs, very 

 often with a perennial root, for the most part in- 

 habiting tropical America, with a few from tropical and 

 Southern Africa. Flowers white, minute, in dense- 

 flowered heads ; calyx tube turbinate, obovoid, or sub- 

 globose ; limb four or five-toothed ; corolla salver-shaped 

 or funnel-formed ; tube often with a band of hairs 



Mitraria continued. 



close, rather fibry peat, with plenty of sand. Perfect 

 drainage is very essential. If grown in pots, it requires 

 a cool shady situation ; an arid atmosphere is fatal 

 to success. Propagated freely by divisions of the root 

 in spring ; or by cuttings, taken any time during 

 spring or summer, and inserted in a light soil, under 

 a bell glass. 



M. coccinea (scarlet).* fl. bright scarlet, about l*in. long, soli- 

 tary in the axils, on pendent slender pedicels ; calyx free ; corolla 



FIG. 581. FLOWERING BRANCH AND DETACHED SINGLE FLOWER OF MITRIOSTIGMA AXILLARE. 



within , throat naked or villous. Leaves opposite, 

 linear-lanceolate or ovate. M. stylosum, the species 

 introduced to cultivation, is a stove annual. None of the 

 species are of any horticultural merit. 



MITRARIA (from mitra, a mitre; in reference to 

 the shape of the seed-pod). STN. Diplocalyx. ORD. 

 GesneracecB. A monotypic genus. The species is a 

 very ornamental, hardy or half-hardy, diffuse or climbing, 

 pubescent or glabrous, evergreen shrub, of compara- 

 tively easy culture, and thriving best in moderately 



tube elongated, inflated. May to July. I. ovate, acute, small, 

 serrated, sub-coriaceous. Stems scandent Chiloe, 1848. (B. M. 

 4462; F. d. S. 385.) 



MITRIFORM. Formed liked a mitre. 



MITRIOSTIGMA (from mitra, a mitre, and stigma ; 

 in reference to the shape of the pistil). ORD. Rubiacece. A 

 small genus (two species) of glabrous, unarmed, stove shrubs, 

 related to Gardenia, with which they are usually classed. 

 One comes from the Cape of Good Hope, and the other 

 is a native of Fernando Po. Flowers disposed in short, 



