M EL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



M EL 



105 



imbricate. The whole plant is nearly smooth, extremely 

 branched; branches opposite; leaves opposite, sessile, linear, 

 but tapering to a point; Howers in closely imbricated spikes, 

 forming heads, terminating the stem and branches; they are 

 reddish, others say yellow and white. In the autumn they 

 grow eighteen inhces or two feet high ; and where there are 

 numbers together, the numerous diverging branches are so en- 

 tangled that it is very difficult to extricate them. It flowers 

 in June and July, and is common in the woods of Bedford- 

 shire; and in Madingly and Kingston Woods, Cambridge- 

 shire. Found also among corn in VY r alton-field, near Wake- 

 field, Yorkshire; and in Braybrook Wood, and at Newton 

 and Yarwell, in Northamptonshire. Ray observed it in 

 mountainous woods near Geneva; and it is found on many 

 other parts of the Continent. 



2. Melampyrum Arvense ; Purple Cow-wheat. Spikes 

 conical, loose; bractes tooth-bristled, coloured ; stem upright, 

 slightly hairy, branched; corolla yellow, and dusky purple. 

 The seeds, when ground with corn, give a bitterish and a 

 grayish cast to the bread, but do not render it unwholesome. 

 It is a corn-weed in many parts of Europe; among wheat 



Jin the more southern parts, and among rye in the northern. 

 Found also in Denmark and Japan. It is a delicious food 

 for cattle, and might be cultivated for fattening oxen. 



3. Melampyrum Nemorosum; Wood Cow-wheat. Flowers 

 directed the same way, lateral; bractes toothed, the upper- 

 most coloured, barren; calices woolly. Root small, annual; 

 stem a foot and half high, upright, brachiate, four-cornered ; 

 bractes blue violet, laciniated at the base, or toothed, woolly 

 underneath ; corolla herbaceous, yellow, with the origin of the 

 throat and gape deeper yellow; the tube purple, and curved 

 inwards ; lower lip trifid, more lengthened out than in the 

 other species, orange-coloured. Native of woods in the north 

 of Europe. Linneus, who appears to have been struck with 

 the beauty of the plant and the splendour of the flowers, re- 

 marks that it is not a native of England, nor of several pro- 

 vinces of Sweden. It makes a pretty appearance with its 

 purple tops, in the months of July and August, and deserves 

 a place in the flower-garden among other annuals. 



4. Melampyrum Pratense; Meadow Cow-vJicat. Flowers 

 directed the same way, lateral; leaves in distant pairs; corol- 

 las closed. Stem feeble, cylindrical towards the bottom, four- 

 cornered upwards; flowers yellow, solitary, leaning one wav. 

 Linneus observes, that where this plant abounds, the butter 

 is yellow and uncommonly good; that cows are very fond of 

 it, though they refuse the Arvense. Sheep and goats eat it; 

 horses and swine refuse it, though the latter are very fond of 

 the seeds. It is frequent in the woods of Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 and other parts of the kingdom, in a clayey soil, and was long 

 confounded with the following species. 



5. Melampyrum Sylvaticum; Yellow Cote-wheat. Flowers 

 directed the same way, lateral ; leaves in distant pairs ; 

 corollas gaping wide, yellow. Native of many parts of Eu- 

 rope in woods. It is much rarer in England than the preced- 

 ing species, if it be really distinct from it, and if the trueSyZ- 

 vaticum of foreign authors be found with us. Observed at 

 Wick Clifts, Whitewood, and Hartley-wood, in Cambridge- 

 shire; also in the way from Tay-mouth to Lord Breadalbane's 

 cascade, and about Finlarig at the head of Loch-Tay. 



6. Melampyrum Lineare. Lower leaves linear, entire; 

 flowers axillary, distinct, yellow; stem about six inches high, 

 round, erect. It grows in shady woods, particularly on the 

 mountains from Canada to Carolina. 



.Melanthium; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Tri- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : none, unless the 

 corolla be so called. Corolla: petals six, ovate-oblong, 



spreading, with linear longer claws, permanent. Stamina: 

 filamenta six, filiform, erect, the length of the corolla, into 

 which they are inserted above the claws ; anlherse globular. 

 Pistil: germen conical, striated ; styles three, distinct, curved ; 

 stigmas blunt. Pericarp: capsule ovate, three-cornered, 

 three-grooved, three-celled, composed of three capsules united 

 within. Seeds: very many, compressed, half ovate. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: six-petalled. Filamenta: 

 from the elongated claws of the corolla. The species are, 



1. Melanthium Virginicum; Virginian Melanthium. Flow- 

 ers panicled ; petals with claws, hirsute on the outside ; 

 corolla of a dusky colour. Native of Virginia, and other 

 parts of North America. 



2. Melanthium Leetum ; Spear-leaved Melanthium. Ra- 

 cemeoblong; petals sessile; leaves smooth, lanceolate>-linear; 

 stem-leaves remote. It flowers in June. Native of North 

 America. 



3. Melanthium Sibiricum; Siberian Melanthium. Panicle 

 very long; petals sessile; leaves linear, acuminate. Rootbul- 

 bous, oblong; stem naked, a foot high, round, surrounded by 

 a single linear short leaf. Native of Siberia. 



4. Melanthium Capense ; Spotted-flowered Melanthium. 

 Petals dotted; leaves lanceolate, cowled; stems quite simple. 

 Native of the Cape. 



5. Melanthium Indicum ; Indian Melanthium. Petals 

 linear-lanceolate; leaves linear. Root bulbous; stem simple, 

 upright, smooth and even ; flowers shorter than the leaves, 

 dark purple.- -Native of Tranquebar in the East Indies. 



6. Melanthium Cochin-chinense ; Cochin-chinese Melan- 

 thium. Petals sessile; leaves three-sided; flowers solitary, 

 axillary. Root consisting of a bundle of oblong, fleshy, red- 

 dish brown tubers ; stem six feet high, shrubby, round, slen- 

 der, branched, procumbent, with short scattered prickles. 

 Common in the dry hedges of China and Cochin-china. 



7. Melanthium Viride ; Green -flowered Melanthium. 

 Leaves ovate,' lanceolate ; corolla reflex ; petals white, lan- 

 ceolate. Native of the Cape. 



8. Melanthium Ciliatum ; Fringe-leaved Melanthium. 

 Leaves ensifosm, cowled ; flowers in spikes ; petals with 

 claws, white. Native of the Cape. 



9. Melanthium Triquetrum ; Rush-leaved Melanthium. 

 Leaves three-cornered, smooth; flowers in spikes. Native 

 of the Cape. 



10. Melanthium Monopetalum; One-petalled Melanthium. 

 Corolla one-petalled ; leaves cowled, lanceolate. Root glo- 

 bular, smooth; stem none, or a finger's length, round, simple, 

 sheathed, striated. Native of the Cape. 



11. Melanthium Monoicum. Panicles with male flowers 

 below; female panicles above, branchy; petals oblong, plain, 

 short-unguiculate, bimaculate; style one, half the length of 

 the germen. It flowers in July. Found on the mountains 

 of Virginia and Carolina. 



12. Melanthium Hybridum. Petals subrotund, unguicu- 

 late, plicate-undulate, scarcely maculate, rough on the outer 

 side; flowers small, pale white, appearing in June and July. 

 It grows on the sides of hills in Virginia and Carolina, in a 

 moist fertile soil. 



Melastoma ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, bell-shaped, ventricose at the base, four or five cleft, 

 permanent. Corolla: petals four or five, roundish, inserted 

 into the throat of the calix. Stamina: filamenta eight or 

 ten, inserted into the calix, short,; antherce long, somewhat 

 curved, upright, one-celled, gaping at top with an oblique 

 hole: scalelets two, very small, diverging, annexed to each 

 filamentum below the antherae, the rudiment of another 



