MAR 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MAR 



89 



near too feet high, having at each joint a leaf. The ends of 

 the stalks are terminated by a bunch of small white flowers. 

 It is called Arrow-root, from its curing wounds inflicted by 

 poisoned arrows. The roots being washed, and pounded in 

 wooden mortars, and macerated in water, yield a flour of a 

 snowy whiteness, which no worms will touch : made into a 

 jelly with boiling water, it is a most cordial and nourishing 

 food, that will remain on the stomach when nothing else 

 will ; and a pudding made of it is most excellent for con- 

 valescents. It is also used for starch, which is far superior 

 in quality to that made of wheat flour, one pound being 

 equal to two pounds and a half of that prepared from wheat. 

 Its medical virtues are astringent, cordial, diaphoretic, and 

 said by Dr. Barham to be in some degree an emmenagogue : 

 a decoction of the fresh roots makes an excellent ptisan or 

 cooling drink in acute diseases. When prepared with milk 

 for children, if it ferment on the stomach, the addition of a 

 little animal jelly will prevent it. The fresh expressed juice 

 of the root with water, is a powerful antidote to vegetable 

 poisons, such as the Savanna flower, taken inwardly; the 

 bruised root, outwardly applied, is a cure for the wounds of 

 poisoned arrows, scorpions, or black spiders ; and arrests 

 the progress of gangrene. It is made for sale in consider- 

 able quantities in the West Indies, for about a dollar per 

 pound. It has thriven in America, in the states of South 

 Carolina and Georgia, and produced 1840 pounds per acre; 

 and perhaps would be well worth attention in the East Indies. 

 Native of South America. This, with the other plants of 

 this genus, are very tender; and therefore will not live in this 

 climate, unless they are preserved in stoves. They may be 

 propagated by their creeping roots, which should be parted 

 in the middle of March, just before they begin to push out 

 new leaves. These roots should be planted in pots filled with 

 light rich earth, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed of tan- 

 ner's bark, observing now and then to refresh them with 

 water; which must not be administered to them in large 

 quantities, as it would rot the roots in an inactive state. 

 Where they are constantly kept in the tanner's bark, and have 

 proper air and moisture, they will thrive. 



2. Maranta Galanga. Culm simple ; raceme terminating, 

 loose, with alternate flowers ; lip of the nectary emarginate ; 

 leaves lanceolate. Native of South America. 



3. Maranta Tonchat. Stem branched, shrubby, perennial ; 

 leaves elliptic-ovate, smooth ; flowers panicled. Native of 

 the East Indies, Cochin-china, the Island of Cayenne, and 

 Guiana, where it is used for making baskets. 



4. Maranta Malaccensis. Culm simple ; leaves oblong, 

 petioled, silky, pubescent underneath. This is a doubtful 

 plant. Mr. Roscoe refers it to Alpinia. 



5. Maranta Comosa. Stemless : scape spiked, comose ; 

 leaflets of the coma reflex. Native of Surinam. 



Marattia; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order Filices. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Capsules oval, gaping longitu- 

 dinally at top, with seven cells on each side. The spe- 

 cies are, 



1. Marattia Alata. Rachises scaly, the partial ones winged; 

 leaflets sharply serrate; frond bipinnate, with the pinnas gene- 

 lally opposite. Native of Jamaica. 



2. Marattia Lcevis. Rachises even, the partial ones winged; 

 leaflets bluntly serrate at top, the uppermost confluent; frond 

 subtri pinnate, with the lower pinnas alternate. Native of 

 St. Domingo. 



3. Marattia Fraxinea. Rachises even, simple ; leaflets lan- 

 ceolate, serrate, all distinct. This is a very hard fern, with a 

 handsome leaf, like that of the ash ; frond unequally bipin- 

 nate, with the pinnas alternate. Native of the Mauritius. 



4. Marattia Salicina. Frond simply pinnate ; stalk smooth, 

 simple, two feet long ; leaflets alternate, stalked, linear, very 

 slightly crenate, with several points. Capsules excessively 

 numerous, forming a close row on each side of the leaflet. 

 Native of New South Wales. 



Marcyravia; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth six-leaved, 

 imbricate, permanent; leaflets roundish, concave, the two 

 outmost larger. Corolla: one-petalled, conic-ovate, entire, 

 closed like a calyptre, parting at the base, caducous. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta very many, awl-shaped, short, spreading, 

 deciduous; antheree upright, large, ovate-oblong. Pistil 

 germen ovate; style none; stigma headed, permanent. Pen- 

 carp : berry coriaceous, globular, many-celled, many-valved. 

 Seeds : numerous, small, oblong, nestling in soft pulp. ESSEN 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: one-petalled, calyptre-shaped 

 Calix: six-leaved, imbricate. Berry: many-celled, many 

 seeded. The only known species is, 



1. Marcgravia Umbellata. This is a shrubby creeping 

 plant, but not properly parasitical. Native of the West 

 Indies, in the cool woody mountains. Browne says, it is 

 frequent in the woods of Jamaica; and appears in such various 

 forms, that it has been mistaken for different plants, in the 

 different stages of its growth. 



Marchantia; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order 

 Hepaticse. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. Calix : salver- 

 shaped ; antherse numerous, annulated, imbedded in its disk. 

 Female. Calix : peltate, flowering on the under side. Cap- 

 sules: deflexed, opening at top. Seeds: fixed to elastic 

 fibres. Seven species of this genus are enumerated in the 

 Systema Vegctabilium. Five of them are natives of Britain. 

 Maranta Polymorpha is very common in wet places ; as on 

 shady walls, and by the sides of wells and springs. In 

 figure it somewhat resembles an oak-leaf. The peduncles 

 are in the angles of the lobes, from one to three inches high ; 

 capsules greenish, dividing into eight or ten segments ; on 

 the upper surface are here and there glass-shaped conical 

 cups, on short pedicels, with a wide scalloped margin, and 

 inclosing about four little bodies, very finely serrated at the 

 edges. Mr. John Lindsay, surgeon, in Jamaica, sowed that 

 part of the fructification of this Alga composed of fine 

 elastic filamenta and small globules, heretofore considered 

 as the male parts, where none of the plants had ever been 

 seen before ; and in a short time raised several young 

 Marchantite, which grew freely. 



Margaritaria: a genus of the class Dioecia, order Octan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, four-toothed, minute, permanent. Corolla: petals 

 four, roundish, inserted into the calix. Stamina: filamenta 

 eight, bristle-shaped, patulous, longer, inserted into the recep- 

 tacle ; antherse roundish, small. Pistil: germen superior, 

 roundish ; style bristle-shaped, the length of the stamina ; 

 stigma blunt. Female: on a distinct individual. Calix: as 

 in the male, permanent. Corolla: as in the male. Pistil: 

 germen superior, globular; styles four or five, filiform ; stig- 

 mas simple, permanent. Pericarp: berry globular, crowned 

 with short patulous styles. Seed: aril four or five grained, 

 four or five celled, cartilaginous, very shining ; with two- 

 valved lobes; seeds ovate, compressed inwards. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Male. Calix: four-toothed. Corolla: four- 

 petalled. Female. Calix and Corolla: as in the male. 

 Styles: four or five. Berry:' cartilaginous, four or five 

 grained. The only known species is, 



1. Margaritaria Nobilis. In the male, the branches are 

 round, brachiate, flexuose ; leaves opposite : in the female, 

 branches alternate; leaves alternate. Grows in Surinam. 



