MAT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MAT 



93 



by tying the end threads or strings of the bass close and firm; 

 otherwise they will soon ravel out loose in that part, and are 

 spoiled. Where they are used for covering and shading, when 

 wetted by rain or snow, they 'should be spread across some 

 rail-hedge or fence to dry, before folded together ; without 

 which, they will soon rot, and cannot last long. 



Mat Grass. See Nardus. 



Matricaria ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Poly- 

 gamia Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common 

 hemispherical ; scales linear, imbricate, almost equal, not sca- 

 riose. Corolla: compound radiate ; corollets hermaphrodite, 

 tubular, numerous, in a hemispherical disk; females in the 

 ray, several ; proper of the hermaphrodite funnel-form, five- 

 cleft, spreading; female oblong, three-toothed. Stamina: to 

 the hermaphrodites^ filamenta five, capillary, very short; 

 antheree cylindrical, tubular. Pistil: to the hermaphrodites, 

 germen oblong, naked ; style filiform, the length of the sta- 

 mina; stigma bifid, spreading; to the females, germen naked ; 

 style filiform, almost the length of the hermaphrodite; stigmas 

 two, revolute. Pericarp: none; calix unchanged. Seeds: 

 solitary, oblong, without any pappus or down, to both sorts 

 of florets. Receptacle: naked, convex. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: hemispherical, imbricate ; the marginal 

 scales solid, sharpish. Down : none. Receptacle : naked. 

 The species are, 



1. Matricaria Parthenium ; Common Feverfew. Leaves 

 compound, flat; leaflets ovate, gashed; peduncles branched. 

 Root biennial or perennial, composed of a great number of 

 fibres, and spreading wide on every side ; stem from two to 

 three feet high, erect, firm, round, striated, slightly hairy, 

 branched on every side ; flowering-heads solitary, sometimes 

 on simple, but oftener on branched peduncles. The whole 

 plant has a strong, and, to most persons, an unpleasant smell, 

 and a bitter taste. It yields an essential oil by distillation; and 

 has always been esteemed a good emmenagogue. It is also 

 serviceable in hysteric complaints. The best way of taking 

 it is, a slight infusion. The expressed juice is said to kill 

 worms in the bowels : and it has been recommended as a 

 febrifuge; whence the English name Feverfew. It is an 

 agreeable carminative and bitter, strengthening the stomach, 

 and dispersing flatulencies. Mr. Miller enumerates the fol- 

 lowing varieties of this plant:!. With very double flowers. 

 2. With double flowers, having the florets of the ray plane ; 

 of the disk, fistular. 3. With very small rays. 4. With very 

 short fistular florets. 5. With naked heads, having no rays. 

 f>. With naked sulphur-coloured heads. 7. With elegant 

 curled leaves. They flower in June, and ripen seeds in 

 autumn. Native of many parts of Europe, in waste places, 

 under hedges and walls, in church-yards, sometimes in corn- 

 fields, in gardens, where it is also cultivated in a double 

 state. The Germans call it Mutterkrm.it, Multcrkamille, 

 Fiebcrkraut, &c. the Dutch, Moederkruid; the Danes, -Mode- 

 rurt; the Swedes, Matram; the French, Matricaire, Espar- 

 goutlc; the Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese, Matricaria; 

 and the Russians, Matoschnaja Trawa. This plant is fre- 

 quently cultivated in the physic gardens near London, to 

 supply the market. Some of the varieties are pretty con- 

 stant, if care be taken in saving the seeds ; but where these 

 are suffered to scatter, it is almost impossible to preserve the 

 varieties without mixture. The seeds should be sown in 

 March, upon a bed of light earth, and, when they are come 

 up, fchey should be transplanted out into nursery-beds, at 

 about eight inches asunder ; where they may remain till the 

 middle of May, when they may be taken up, with a ball of 

 earth to their roots, and planted in the middle of large bor- 

 ders, where they will flower in July and August, and, if the 



autumn be favourable, will produce ripe seeds the same year. 

 But it is not advisable to permit them to seed ; which often 

 weakens and decays the roots : therefore, when their flowers 

 are past, you should cut down the.ir sterns, which will cause 

 them to push ^out fresh heads, whereby the roots may be 

 maintained. When the different varieties of these plants 

 are intermixed with other plants of the same growth, they 

 make a handsome appearance during the season of flowering; 

 which commonly continues a full month, or more. But as 

 their roots seldom abide more than two, or at most three years, 

 fresh plants should be raised from seeds to supply their places; 

 but as the second variety seldom produces good seeds, 

 it must be propagated by planting cuttings, or parting their 

 roots, in the spring or summer months. 



2. Matricaria Maritima; Sea Feverfew. Receptacles hemi- 

 spherical ; leaves bipinnate, somewhat fleshy, convex above, 

 keeled underneath. The stulks of this plant branch out pretty 

 much, and spread near the ground ; root woody, running 

 deep, apparently perennial ; flowers white, several on a stem. 

 In smell it approaches to the true Chamomile, but is much 

 weaker, and grows so luxuriantly in gardens, as to seem a 

 different species.. -Native of tlie sea-coast of Britain ; flower- 

 ing in July. It is seldom cultivated, except in botanic gar- 

 dens. Sow (he seeds of this, and the next, in autumn, soon 

 after they are ripe, or in the spring, upon a bed of common 

 earth, in almost any situation : when the plants come up, thin 

 them where they are too close, and clear them from weeds. 



3. Matricaria Suaveolens ; Sweet Feverfew. Receptacles 

 conical ; rays bent down ; calicine scales equal at the edge. 

 Some think this a mere variety of the next species. The 

 scent is sweet and pleasant; and it resembles the Anthemis 

 Nobilis, in its qualities. The Philanders use an infusion of it 

 in consumptive cases. Cows, goats, and sheep, eat it; horses 

 are not partial to it, and swine wholly refuse it. It flowers 

 from May to August. Native of Siberia, Germany, Sweden, 

 and Great Britain. 



4. Matricaria Chamomilla; Corn Feverfew^ Receptacles 

 conical; rays spreading; calicine scales equal at the edge. 

 Root annual ; stem green, striated, smooth, branched ; flow- 

 ering heads solitary. Mr. Curtis remarks, that the florets 

 begin to hang down in the evening, and continue to do so 

 till morning, both in this and Anthemis Cotula, which it 

 resembles most of all the many plants with which it is con- 

 founded, under the common name of Mayweed, Maithes, or 

 Dog-Fennel. It differs, however, from the Stinking Mayweed, 

 by its scent, for the heads of its flowers, bruised, smell like 

 the real Chamomile, only not so pleasant ; but those of the 

 Stinking Mayweed are very disagreeable, and the plant will 

 blister the skin on being much handled. It is a common 

 weed among slovenly cultivators of arable land. 



5. Matricaria Argentea;' Silvery-leaved Feverfew. Leaves 

 bipinnate; peduncles solitary. Stem a foot high; leaves of 

 a silver colour; flower white. Native of the Levant. 



6. Matricaria Asteroides; Star wort-flowered Feverfew. 

 Leaves lanceolate, entire, smooth, oblique. It is the same 

 with Boltonia Asteroides; which see. Sow the seeds in 

 autumn soon after they are ripe, in the full ground ; and when 

 the plants are fit to remove, if they are planted in the borders 

 of the flower-garden, they will continue some years without 

 protection, and annually produce flowers and seeds. 



7. Matricaria Prostrata. Leaves simple, ovate, toothed ; 

 peduncles lateral, one-flowered; branches decumbent. 

 Native of Curasao. 



8. Matricaria Cantoniensis. Lower leaves serrate, upper- 

 most quite entire ; peduncles one-flowered ; florets of the ray 

 entire ; receptacle convex. Native of China, near Canton. 



