390 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Muehlonbeckia continued. 



acute, or apiculate, glabrous, in young plants trilobed. Australia, 

 &c., 1822. A large, rambling, and climbing, leafy, greenhouse 

 bush. SYN. Polyi/onum adpressum (under which name it is 

 figured in B. M. 3145). 



FIG. 604. MUEHLENBECKIA COMPLEX*. 



M. complexa (embracing), jl. green, inconspicuous. August. 

 fr. of a transparent wax-like substance, the tooth-like divisions 

 glistening like miniature icicles, hanging in small clusters on 

 lateral snoots from the more ripened stems. I. alternate, some- 

 what fiddle-shaped, distant. New Zealand, 1870. Hardy. See 

 Fig. 604. 



M. platyclada (flat-branched), ft. white, in lateral, few or many- 

 flowered fascicles, sub-sessile. Blossoms almost throughout the 

 year. Berries bright red, finally dark purple. I. membranous, 

 hastate, oblong-lanceolate, or hastate-lanceolate. Branches leaf- 

 less or sparsely foliate. Solomon Islands, 1863. A remarkable, 

 glabrous, erect, greenhouse shrub. SYN. Coccoloba platyclada 

 (under which name it is figured in B. M. 5382). 



MUELLERA (named after Otto Frederick Miiller, 

 1730-1784, a Danish botanist, and one of the editors of 

 the "Flora Danica"). SYN. Coublandia. OBD. Legumi- 

 nosce. A genus comprising a couple of species of trees, 

 the one inhabiting tropical South America, and the other 

 (not much known) the hotter parts of Mexico. Flowers 

 violet or whitish, in axillary or lateral racemes; calyx 

 truncate, very shortly or obsoletely toothed; standard 

 broad, ovate or snb-orbiculate, exauriculate. Leaves 

 alternate, impari-pinnate ; leaflets opposite, exstipellate. 

 M. moniliformis, the species introduced to cultivation, is 

 a tall, evergreen, woody, stove climber, differing from 

 Lonchocarpus in the pod, which is thick, and of a dry, 

 fleshy consistence. For culture, see Loncliocarpus. 

 M. moniliformis (necklace-podded), fl. whitish, disposed in 



simple, axillary racemes. I. impari-pinnate, with two pairs of 



ovate, acute, glabrous, petiolulate leaflets. Tropical America, 1782. 



MUGWORT. A common name for Artemisia 

 vulgaris (which see). 



MUXIA (said to be the Indian name). OBD. Cucur- 

 bitacece. A small genus (one or two species) of stove, 

 climbing, herbaceous plants, inhabiting Asia, Africa, and 

 tropical Australia. Mukia is allied to Bryonia, but differs 

 in the solitary or fasciculate female flowers, the campanu- 

 late calyx, the connective being produced at the apex, 

 the spherical sessile berry, and the scrobiculato seeds. 

 For culture, see Momordica. 

 M. soabrella (slightly scabrous). /. yellow, small, fr. scarlet 



when npe, iin. in diameter. I. entire or lobed, with simple 



tendrils. India, &c. An elegant little annual. 



MULBERRY (Horus nigra). The Mulberry-tree has 

 been an object of cultivation in Asia, and in some parts 

 of Europe, from a very remote and, possibly, unknown 

 period, not so much on account of its fruit as for the 

 use of the leaves, which are celebrated for providing silk- 

 worms with food ; silk, however, of superior quality is 

 produced when the White Mulberry (M. alba) is the 

 food-plant. The fruits are, however, very juicy when 

 well ripened, and have a sub-acid flavour. They are 

 occasionally used for dessert, and are also sometimes 

 preserved, or made into a sort of syrup or wine. Many 

 trees of large dimensions, and of a very great age, are to 

 be found, as the Mulberry is extremely long-lived when 

 planted in a deep, somewhat moist soil, and in a favoured 

 situation. The first trees grown in England are stated 

 to have been introduced in 1548, and planted in the 

 gardens of Syon House. A great stimulus seems to have 

 been given to Mulberry cultivation at the latter part of 

 the sixteenth, and the beginning of the seventeenth, cen- 

 turies, when, it is recorded, " Mulberry gardens were 

 common in the neighbourhood of London ; but, either 

 from the climate, or the prejudices of the people, the 

 growth of silk never prospered." In the same neigh- 

 bourhood, at the present time, the tree succeeds and 

 ripens its fruit well as a standard. Mulberries also thrive 

 in all the more favourable parts of the country, but 

 require a warm aspect and wall protection in the North 

 of England, and in Scotland. It is questionable if the 

 fruits are of sufficient merit, generally, to warrant such 

 valuable space being devoted extensively to their culti- 

 vation. Where there is an orchard-house, a good-sized 

 bush or standard tree may be grown in a tub or large 

 pot, and excellent crops obtained, which will well repay 

 for the protection afforded by their superior quality. The 

 fruit does not keep long ; consequently, the sooner it is 

 used after becoming ripe, the better. 



Propagation, $c. There are various methods by which 

 the Mulberry may be propagated, namely, by seeds, by 

 cuttings, and by layers; also by budding and grafting. 

 Seeds should be washed from ripe fruits, thoroughly 

 dried, and stored in bags, in a cool place, until spring; 

 they may be sown under glass in March, or in the open 

 ground in May. Except for obtaining stocks, this method 

 is not much practised, as the plants are so long in roach- 

 ing a size large enough for fruiting. Cuttings, 1ft. long, 

 some two-year-old wood attached, should be taken from 

 with well-ripened parts of the upper branches, either in 

 early spring or in autumn, and be planted deeply, in a 

 shady border, so that only about two eyes are left above 

 ground. Even large branches themselves will root if 

 inserted as deep as possible, and protected during winter. 

 These latter should be kept steady and upright, by each 

 being tied to a stake. Layering young branches is a 

 common mode of propagation, also performed in autumn 

 and spring, by any of the usual methods of layering that 

 are available. Shield-budding is successfully practised on 

 the Continent, in July and August, on stocks obtained 

 either from seeds or cuttings. Grafting is also practicable, 

 but is not much adopted, as the tree bleeds so much 

 when cut. The Mulberry-tree succeeds in almost any 

 good garden ground, but prefers a deep, rather light, 

 and somewhat moist soil. In cold or wet situations, and 

 in those which suffer much from drought, the fruits are 

 liable to drop before getting fully ripened. When the 

 trees are planted on lawns, or in orchards, and the ground 

 beneath covered with turf, the fruits may be collected 

 in a clean state, after being allowed to ripen so as to 

 fall off; the latter are much sought after, and quickly 

 devoured by birds. The Mulberry is amongst the latest 

 of trees to burst into leaf in spring. The foliage is of 

 a remarkable dark or bright green colour, in contrast 

 with other trees in summer ; and it ia wholly destroyed 

 by the first appearance of frost in autumn. 



MULBERRY, INDIAN. See Morinda. 



