M A H 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



M A L 



71 



a: mile, if the wind be favourable ; and while they are in 

 flower, it is exceedingly pleasant to travel in the woods, 

 especially in the evening : they retain their flowers three 

 weeks, and even longer. The berries also look very handsome 

 when they are ripe, being of a rich red colour, and hanging 

 in bunches on slender threads. Coughs, and other diseases 

 of the breast, are said to be cured by putting these berries 

 into brandy, and giving a draught of the liquor every morn- 

 ing; which is also reputed to be salutary in comsumptions. 

 A decoction of the bark also, or an infusion of it in brandy, 

 is not only supposed to cure pectoral diseases, but to assuage 

 internal pains and heat, and cure dysenteries. For colds, 

 they commonly boil the branches in water. The wood, which 

 is white and spongy, is used for joiners' planes. This tree, 

 in our climate, requires a moist loamy soil. 



4. Magnolia Obovata ; Purple Magnolia. Leaves obovate, 

 parallel, nerved, and netted undernath. -Native of Japan. 



5. Magnolia Tomentosa. Slender Woolly Magnolia. Leaves 

 elliptic, tomentose underneath. This and the preceding 

 specie's are cultivated by the Japanese for the elegance of 

 their flowers. Native of Japan. 



6. Magnolia Acuminata; Blue Magnolia. Leaves ovate- 

 oblong, acuminate. The flowers appear early in spring, they 

 are composed of twelve large bluish-coloured petals; the fruit 

 is about three inches long, somewhat resembling a small 

 cucumber ; whence the North Americans call it Cucumber 

 Tree. The wood is of a fine grain, and an orange colour. 

 Native of North America. 



7. Magnolia Tripetala; Umbrella Magnolia, or Umbrella 

 Tree. Leaves lanceolate ; petals nine, the outer ones hang- 

 ing down. Trunk slender, from sixteen to twenty feet high; 

 the leaves are often from twelve to fifteen inches long, and 

 five or six inches wide, narrowing to a point at each extre- 

 mity, placed at the ends of the branches in a circular man- 

 ner, somewhat like an umbrella ; and hence the name : the 

 flowers are upright, large, and white : the wood is soft and 

 spongy ; and the leaves drop off at the beginning of winter. 

 Native of North America. 



8. Magnolia Macrophylla ; Long-leaved Magnolia. Branches 

 pithy, fragile; leaves very large, glaucous underneath; petals 

 six, ovate, obtuse. This small stately tree has white flowers, 

 tinged with red at the bottom, and larger than those of the 

 first species. It grows in the deep forests of Tenassee, 

 and is one of the most ornamental trees America produces, 

 flowering in June and July. 



9. Magnolia Cordata. Leaves cordate, subtomentose ; 

 petals lanceolate-oblong, acute ; flowers yellow. Found on 

 dry ridges of mountains, in Upper Carolina and Georgia. 



10. Magnolia Auriculata; Ear-leaved Magnolia. Leaves 

 large, obovate-lanceolate, acute, glaucous underneath, 

 cordated at the base, auriculate; lobes approximate; petals 

 ovate, acute, subunguiculate ; flowers yellowish-white, large. 

 Found in the Allegheny mountains, from the head-waters 

 of the Susquehanna to Carolina. The bark of this species is 

 esteemed a valuable medicine, particularly in intermitting 

 fevers : from which circumstance it is, in some places, known 

 by the name of Indian Physic. 



1 1 . Magnolia Pyramidata. Leaves rhomboidal-oboval, ab- 

 ruptly acute, subcordate, auriculate ; lobes divaricate ; petals 

 lanceolate, somewhat acute. Pursh observes, that this tree 

 has been generally confounded with the preceding; from which 

 it not only differs as above, but in habit, being of a more 

 upright pyramidal growth, and the leaves not one-fourth the 

 size of that species. Native of the western parts of Carolina 

 and Georgia. 



Mahernia ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Penta- 

 VOL. ii. 72. 



gynia. GENERIC CHAR'ACTEH. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 five-cleft, bell-shaped, with awl-shaped longer teeth ; perma- 

 nent. Corolla : petals five, heart-shaped, oblong, spreading, 

 twice as long as the calix ; nectaries five, obcordate, pedi- 

 celled, surrounding the germen, shorter than the calix. Sta- 

 mina : filamenta five, capillary, placed on the nectary, united 

 at the base, -shorter than the calix; antherse oblong, acumi- 

 nate, erect. Pistil : germen subpedicelled, obovate, five- 

 angled ; styles five, bristle-shaped, erect, the length of the 

 petals; stigmas simple. Pericarp: capsule ovate, five-celled, 

 five-valved. Seeds: few, kidney-form. Observe. It has a 

 very great affinity to Hermannia, but their nectaries cannot 

 be combined in the same character. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Cafe: five-toothed. Petals .-five. Nectaries: five, obcordate, 

 placed under the filamenta. Capsule: five-celled. These 

 may be increased by planting cuttings of the young branches 

 in the summer season, singly, in pots of light mould, water- 

 ing and plunging them in a hot-bed; to be removed after 

 rooting; into the green-house. The species are, 



1. Mahernia Verticillata; Whorl-leaved Mahernia. Leaves 

 in whorls, linear. Stem shrubby, diffused, with filiform 

 branches ; corolla yellow. Native of the Cape. 



2. Mahernia Pinnata; Wing-leaved Mahernia. Leaves 

 three-parted, pinnatifid. Stem shrubby, near three feet high, 

 sending out many delicate branches, covered with a reddish 

 bark ; the flowers come out from the side of the branches 

 in small clusters, they are of a lively red when they first open, 

 and hang down like little bells, commonly two together, 

 appearing from June to August and September. Native of 

 the Cape. 



3. Mahernia Incisa; Cut-leaved Mahernia. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, gashed. In point of size and mode of growth, this 

 beautiful species comes near to the preceding ; but differs 

 essentially in the singular hispidity of its stalks, the form of 

 its leaves, and the colour of its flowers. The flowers, when 

 in bud, are of the richest crimson ; as they open, they incline 

 to a deep orange, and finally become yellowish. Native of 

 the Cape. 



4. Mahernia Glabrata ; Smooth-leaved Mahernia. Leaves 

 lanceolate, pinnatifid and toothed ; stalks very long, bearing 

 two flowers, which are yellow, fragrant like the Jonquil. 

 Grows at the Cape. 



Mahogany Tree. See Swietenia. 



Maidenhair. See Adiantium and Asplenium, 



Maithes. See Anthemis and Adonis. 



Malabar Nightshade. See Basella. 



Malabar Nut. See Justicia. 



Malachodendrum. See Stuartia. 



Malachra; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order Poly- 

 andria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth com- 

 mon mostly five-flowered, three or five leaved, large; leaflets 

 cordate, acute, permanent ; chaffs bristle-shaped, set round 

 the proper perianths ; perianth proper one-leafed, bell-shaped, 

 small, five-cleft, permanent. Corolla: proper, petals five, 

 obovate, entire, fastened at bottom to the tube of the sta- 

 mina. Stamina: filamenta many, conjoined below into a 

 tube, above loose, gaping along the whole surface of the 

 cylinder; antherae kidney-form. Pistil; germen orbicular; 

 style cylindric, ten-cleft ; stigmas globular. Pericarp: cap- 

 sule roundish, divisible into five cells, compressed on one 

 side, gibbous on the other. Seeds : solitary, roundish, angu- 

 lar. Observe. The divisions of the style, and the stigmas, are 

 twice as many as the capsules. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: common three-leaved, many-flowered, larger. Arils: 

 five, one-seeded. The species are, 



1. Malachra Capitata; Heart-leaved Malachra. Heads 

 T 



