SIALVA 



MAMMILLARIA 



971 



M. minidta is a much confused name. In the Thorbum cata- 

 logue the plant in the American trade is said to be the same as 

 Slilueralcea Munroana. probably on the authority of E. S. Car- 

 m:in in A.G. 11:539. M. miniata is also advertised by German 

 dealers and is referred by Vilmorin's Blumengiirtnerei to Sphie- 

 ralcea miniata. Index Kewensis, however, refers M. miuiatii to 

 Sphieralcea cisplatina. This riddle will, perhaps, be solved 

 under Sphaeralcea, which see. — Jlf . multifida alba. Hort., is 

 probably a wliite-tid. form of one of the species above men- 

 tioned, with foliage many times divided.— JM. zebrlna, Hort., is 

 referred by Index Kewensis to M. sylvestris; by Vilmorin's 

 Blumengjirtnerei to M. Mauritiana. In Bridgeman's catalogue 

 M.zelirina is dt'Sfribed as a hardy annual, called "Striped Mal- 

 low," growing '2 ft. high, with white and purple tls. s^ jj^ 



MALVASTRUM (name made from Malva). Muhu^n^w. 

 Sixty or more herbs and subshrubs in America and S. 

 Africa, of which 2 or 3 are plants of minor importance in 

 gardens. From Malva and its allies it differs in having 

 short or capitate stigmas on the style-branches rather 

 than longitudinal stigmas, also in having a solitary ovule 

 in each carpel. From Malvaviscus it differs in having 

 a dry rather than a baccate fruit, and in other charac- 

 ters. The garden species are perennials of easy culture, 

 blooming in the hot weather of summer. 



coccineum, Gray. A tufted canescent plant, 5-10 in. or 

 less high, with running rootstocks: Ivs. not more than 

 1 in. across, pedately 3-5-parted or divided, the narrow 

 divisions again cut or cleft : fls. brick-red or coppery, in 

 a short terminal raceme: carpels round-kidney-shaped, 

 inclosed in tlie incurving calyx lobes. Western Amer. 

 B. ]\l. 1(173 (as Cristaria coccinea). — There is a var. 

 ^andifldrum in the trade, with "large deep scarlet fls." 



campanulatum, Nichols. Two ft. or less high, hairy: 

 Ivs. pedately 3-o-lobed, the lobes deeply cut and toothed, 

 clasping: lis. rose-purple, an inch across. Chile. P.M. 

 9:173, and R.H. 1843;3"i5 (as Malva campanulata). 



spUndidum, Kell. Shrub, becoming 12 ft. or more, 

 gray-tonientose: Ivs. cordate-ovate, 5-lobed: fls. rosy 

 pink, fragrant. Calif. L H. B. 



MALVAViSCUS (Greek, stick>i waUmv). Malviiceo'. 

 About 25 species of tender shrubs from the warmer 

 parts of America, one of which, M. arborens, is known 

 to the trade as Achania 3Ialvaviscns. It is a fine old 

 greenhouse shrub with erect scarlet fls., which resemble 

 an Abutilon and never open widely. Abutilon, however, 

 has no involucre, while Malvaviscus has an involucre of 

 10-12 bractlets. Lvs. entire, 

 dentate, angled or lobed: 

 fls. red, usually peduncled; 

 petals erect and connivent 

 or spreading in the upper 

 half ; column of stamens 

 truncate below the apex or 

 .'j-toothed : carpels fleshy 

 outside, connate into a berry, 

 later separating. 



arboreua, Cav. (Achd-tiia 

 Molmii'iscus, Sw.). Fig. 

 1353. Tall shrub: lvs. alter- 

 nate, mostly 3-lobed, acumi- 

 nate, heart-shaped at the 

 base, toothed : fls, convolute in the bud ; bractlets erect. 

 S.Amer. B.M. 2305. -Cult, outdoors in S.Fla.and S.Calif. 

 3[alvaviscus arboreus is one of the most satisfactory 

 house plants that can be grown. It is not subject to in- 

 sects of any kind, will stand a low teinpeiature in win- 

 ter, and blooms both winter and summer. When pot 

 grown, the plant is usually about 2 ft. high, but out- 

 doors it makes a strong, branching growth, attaining 3-5 

 ft. The bright scarlet fls. remain a long time in perfect 

 condition. The fls. open slightly at the top or not at all. 

 This circumstance gave rise to the old name Achania, 

 which means not opeuluq. The plant needs a good light 

 soil and thrives in a compost of fibrous peat and loam. 

 Prop, by cuttings. The cultivators need not fear the 

 appearance of white grains on the surface of the lvs., as 

 they are a normal, waxy secretion of the plant. 



James Vick. 

 MAMILLARIA. See ManimiUaria. 



MAMM£A (from a South American name). Guttif- 

 eriv. Six species of tropical trees, one of which. M. 

 A.mericana, produces the fruits known as the Mammee 



1353. Malv; 



arboreus. 



Apple or St. Domingo Apricot. These are 3-G in. in 

 diameter, round, russet-colored or brown, with a yellow 

 juicy pulp, and 1-4 large, rough seeds. The skin and 

 seeds are bitter and resinous. The fruits are eaten raw 

 without flavoring, or with wine and sugar, or sugar and 

 cream. They are also preserved. The taste for tlu-m 

 does not have to be acquired. The tree is cult, in S. 

 Fla. and S. Calif., and a few fruits are brought from the 

 West Indies to the U. S. The nearest ally of horticul- 

 tural value is the Mangosteen, belonging to the genus 

 Garcinia, characterized by having 4 sepals, while 

 Mammea has a calyx which is closed before anthesis, 

 and afterwards is valvately 2-parted. Manimeas have 

 rigid, leathery lvs., often dotted with pellucid glands: 

 peduncles axillary, 1-fld., solitary or clustered : fls. 

 polygamous; petals 4—6; stamens numerous; stigma 

 peltate or broadly lobed: ovary 2-4-celled. 



Americana, Linn. Mammee Apple. St. Domingo 

 Apricot. Fig. 1354. Tree, 40-60 ft. high: lvs. obovate- 

 oblong, rounded at tip, 4-8 in. long: peduncles few or 

 solitary: petals white, fragrant; anthers oblong, later- 

 all)' dehiscent. B.M. 7562. W. M. 



M'fuiniea Americana is native from the West Indies 

 to Brazil. The wood ~i: durable and well adapted for 

 building purposes, posts and piles. It stands damp. It 

 is beautifully grained ai-i is used for fancy work. The 

 gum is applied to extract chigoes; dissolved in lime- 

 juice it destroys maggots in sores at a single dressing. 

 An infusion of the bark is astringent and is useful to 

 strengthen the recent cicatrices of sores. A liqueur has 

 been obtained by distillation from the flowers infused 

 in spirits of wine, known in the Island of Martinique by 

 the name of '^Oreme des Creoles." The fruit is the size 

 of a very large orange. It has a sweetish, somewhat 

 aromatic taste and a peculiar odor. Not much use is 

 made of it. Seeds germinate freely, and young plants 

 are easily raised. -^-^ Harris. 



MAMMEE APPLE. See Mammea. 



MAMMILLARIA (Latin, mammila ; referring to the 

 nipple-like tubercles on these plants). Often but not 

 originally spelled Mtnnilhnid . Stems simple, branch- 

 ing or in clusters fnnn tin- root, commonly hemispheri- 

 cal or short-cylindricalj but often depressed or some- 

 times much elongated; the surface entirely broken up 

 into tubercles (mamillEe): fls. visually short-funnelform, 

 with naked or nearly naked tube and ovary, borne in 

 the more or less woolly axils between the tubercles, or 

 at the inner extremity of a narrow groove on their up- 

 per surface: fr. globose to linear-clavate, nearly always 

 smooth and berry-like. The first subgenus is rather in- 

 definitely separated from the tuberculate Echinocacti by 

 the smooth fruit, and by the character of the groove, 

 which in Mammillaria is hardly more than an impressed 

 line, while in Echinocactus it is shorter and so broad as 

 to be obviously a continuation of the spiniferous areola. 



The cultivation of Mammillaria differs in no respect 

 from Echinocactus, which see. 



Review of St'BGEyERA. 



Subgenus I. Coryphantha (flowering in vertex). 

 Tubercles, at least the flowering ones, narrowly 

 grooved on the upper side, from apex nearly to 

 base, except in M. rnacromeris. Fls. showy, 

 large for the genus. Fruit green or greenish, 

 except in M. tuberculosa and M. Missouriensis. 

 Seeds brown, lightly reticulated and thin- 

 shelled, with ventral or snbventral hilum, ex- 

 cept in da syacantha and Missouriensis. Species 1-24 



Subgenus II. Dolicothele. Tubercles cylindric- 

 conical, long, loose and of soft texture. Fls. 

 large, yellow, from the axils of the upper 

 tubercles Species 25 



Subgenus III, Cochemiea. Stems elongated, form- 

 ing large clumps : fls. in a crown near the 

 apex, IK-2 in. long, narrowly tnbular-funnel- 

 form, somewhat curved and bilabiate, with 

 widely spreading sepaloid scales, the whole 

 flower uniformly waxy red; stamens and style 

 exceeding the petals: fr. red: one or more cen- 

 trals hooked, except sometimes in M. Halei. 

 All from Lower California and adiacent islands. 

 Species 2G-29 



