376 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Mole Cricket continued. 



change of skin, after which they dig burrows for them- 

 selves. The development from the egg to the perfect 

 state is said to require from two to three years. The 

 metamorphosis is incomplete. Mole Crickets eat the 

 underground parts (whether roots or stems) of many 

 plants, e.g., Potatoes, roots of potherbs, and flowers. 

 But their favourite food seems to be insects and worms ; 

 and this may be regarded as, to some extent, compen- 

 sating for the damage done by them. They are so 

 voracious that, when starved, they have been known to 

 eat their own limbs. They may be caught by laying 

 down pieces of raw meat as traps, on which the insects 

 may be found feeding ; or benzole or petroleum may be 

 poured into their burrows to kill them, or to drive them 

 away. Digging them out is often impracticable when 

 they get into a flower-bed or border. 



MOLINIA (named in honour of J. Molina, a writer 

 upon Chilian plants). STN. Enodium. OBD. Graminece. 

 A monotypic genus. The species is a rather tall, tufted, 

 hardy, perennial grass. It will thrive on wet, bleak 

 moors, where the better sorts of grasses do not succeed. 

 M. caerolea (bluish), fl. , spikelets reddish, violet-purple, or green, 

 few, narrow ; flowering glumes deciduous, ovate-lanceolate, sub- 

 acute ; empty glumes shorter ; anthers violet-brown ; panicle lin. 

 to 12in. long, stout, much contracted ; rachis Hexuous, com- 

 pressed ; branches erect July and August I. smooth, rigid, 

 hairy at base, the tips very slender ; sheaths smooth. Stems 1ft. 

 to 3ft. high, terete, striate, with but one node, and that towards 

 the base, naked above. Europe (Britain). (Sy. En. B. 1747.) 

 The variegated form, M. c. variegata, is an excellent bedding 

 plant 



MOLLOYA. Included under Grevillea (which see). 

 MOLLUGINEJE. A tribe of Ficoidece. 

 MOLOPOSPERMUM (from molops, a stripe, and 

 sperma, a seed ; the fruit is yellowish, and the vittae 

 chestnut - coloured, giving the fruit the appearance of 

 being striped). OBD. Unibelliferce. A monotypio genus. 

 The species is a large and handsome hardy fern-like 

 perennial. It is an admirable subject for naturalising 

 in the wild garden, and has been used with success when 

 isolated on grass. It thrives best in a moderately good 

 and deep soil. Propagated by divisions ; or by seeds, 

 sown when ripe. 



M. cicntarium (Cicuta-like). fl. yellowish - white, umbellate; 

 terminal umbels large, fertile ; lateral ones smaller, male. May. 

 I. ternately-decompound ; leaflets lanceolate, elongated, shining 

 or decurrently - pinnate ; segments sharply pinnatifld. Stems 

 large, hollow, h. 3ft to 5ft Mountains of Southern and Central 

 Europe, 1596. 



MOLTKIA (named after Count Gadske Moltke, who 

 died in 1818; founder of a Museum of Natural History 

 at Copenhagen). OBD. Boraginece. A genus comprising 

 six or seven species of elegant, hardy or half-hardy, 

 strigose-canescent, herbaceous perennials, natives of South 

 Europe and Eastern and Western Asia. Flowers blue or 

 yellow, in terminal, secund bracteate spikes; corolla 

 tubular, funnel-shaped, with a naked throat. Leaves alter- 

 nate, narrow. The two species here described are probably 

 the only ones yet introduced. For culture, see Onosma. 

 M. cserulea (blue). /. bluish-purple ; spikes 4in. to 6in. long ; 

 bracts lanceolate. April. 1. oblong-lanceolate, acute, rather 

 silky. Stem shrubby at the base, ascending, h. 1ft. Asia Minor, 

 (fee., 1829. 



M. petrsea (rock).* fl. at first pinkish-purple, deep violet-blue 

 when open, in simple, forked or branched, short, revolute, ter- 

 minal, dense cymes ; corolla glabrous ; calyx hoary. June. 

 1. lin. to IJin. long, one to two lines broad, narrow-linear or 

 linear-oblong. Stem woody below, h. 6in. to Sin. Dalmatia, 

 Ac., 1845. This species thrives best in a cool greenhouse. (B. M. 

 5942, under name of Lithospermum petrceum ; B. B. 1843, 26, as 

 Eehium fetrceum.) 



MOLUCCA. A synonym of Moluccella (which see). 



MOLUCCELIiA (a diminutive from Molucca, of which 

 one of the species was supposed to be a native). SYN. 

 Molucca. ORD. Labiatce. This genus comprises a couple 

 of species of hardy or half-hardy annuals, inhabiting the 

 Mediterranean region. Whorls axillary, many-flowered. 



Molnccella continued. 



Leaves petiolate, deeply crenated or cut. The species here 

 described is remarkable on account of the singular form 

 of the calyces, which are shallowly bell-shaped, and densely 

 arranged on erect stems. It forms an excellent subject 

 for skeletonising. Seeds should be sown in a hotbed, 

 during spring, and the seedlings transferred to the open 

 border during May. A sandy loam is the most suitable soil. 



FIG. 583. MOLUCCELLA LEVIS, showing (a) Upper Portion of Plant, 

 (6) a single Whorl of Flowers, (c) Corolla, and (d) the large 

 Calyx. 



M. Isevis (smooth). fL, corolla white, shorter than the limb of 

 the calyx, which is "large, membranaceons, sub-pentagonal, and 

 with five very short teeth ; whorls usually six-flowered, distant. 

 August. I. on long petioles, roundish, coarsely crenated. h. 1ft. 

 to lift Syria, 1570. Hardy. See Fig. 583. (B. M. 1852). 



MOLY. See Allinm Moly. 



MOMORDICA (from momordi, perfect of mordeo, to 

 bite ; the seeds have the appearance of being bitten). 

 Including Neurosperma. OBD. Cucurbit acece. A genus 

 comprising about twenty-six species of annual or peren- 

 nial, glabrous or pilose, climbing stove herbs ; they are 

 mostly natives of Africa, but a few are thinly spread 

 over the tropical regions of the globe. Flowers white, 

 yellow, or straw-colour, small or large, of separate sexes, 

 both of which are borne on the same or on different 

 plants, and have a campanulate five-lobed calyx, and 

 five distinct petals. Fruit oblong, fusiform, or cylindrical, 

 baccate, indehiscent or three-valved, fleshy, prickly or 

 warted externally, bursting when ripe, generally with 

 elastic force, into irregular valves. Leaves entire, lobed 

 or pedate, or three to seven-foliolate. The species in 

 cultivation are raised annually from seed, which should 

 be sown in heat early in spring. The plants may be 

 grown in large pots of rich soil, or be planted out in a 

 heated structure and trained up the rafter, or on a 

 trellis. The fruits are very ornamental after they get 

 ripe and burst open. The species here described are 

 probably the only ones yet introduced. 

 M. Balsamlna (balsam-bearing). Balsam Apple. /. yellow, with 

 brown spots. June. fr. orange-coloured, roundish-ovate, attenu- 

 ated at both ends, angular, tuberculatecl, splitting irregularly 

 and laterally. 1. palmately five-lobed, toothed, glabrous, shining. 

 Australia, Tropical Asia, and Africa, 1568. An exceedingly pretty 

 annual, well adapted for trellises, arbours, &c., in warm situations 

 outside, and in a rich light soil. Plenty of water should be given 

 during the growing period. 



M. Charantla (Charantia).* fl. yellow. June. fr. oblong, acuiui- 

 nated, angular, tuberculated, copper-coloured or red, bursting 

 open, when ripe, at the apex. I. somewhat palmately five-lobed, 

 dentate, rather hairy. India, Malaya, China, and tropical Africa, 

 1710. Allied to M. Balsamina, but very distinct, and larger in all 

 its parts. (B. M. 2455.) 



M. cochlnchinensis (Cochin China), fl., males very large, fully 

 4in. in diameter ; calyx deeply cut into five ovate-lanceolate lobes, 

 striated with black ; corolla patenti-campanulate, of five petals, 



