108 



MEL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



MEL 



very large, and most of them of different colours on the two 

 surfaces, their under side being white, gold colour, or russet, 

 and their upper of different shades of green. The flowers have 

 no great beauty ; but for the singularity of the leaves, these 

 trees and shrubs deserve a place in all curious collections. 



Metia; -a genus of the class Decandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Culix: perianth one-leafed, 

 very small, five-toothed, upright, blunt. Corolla: petals 

 five, linear-lanceolate, spreading, long; nectary cylindric, 

 one-leafed, the length of the corolla, with a ten-toothed 

 mouth. Stamina: filamenta ten, very small, inserted within 

 the apex of the nectary ; antherce not exceeding the nectary, 

 oblong. Pistil: germen conical ; style cylindric, the length 

 of the nectary ; stigma capitate, with five converging valves. 

 Pericarp: drupe globular, soft. Seed: nut roundish, five- 

 grooved, five-celled. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 five-toothed. Petals i five. Nectary : cylindric, bearing the 

 antherse at its mouth. Drupe: with a five-celled nucleus. 

 . The species are, 



1. Melia Azedarach; Common Bead-tree. Leaves bipin- 

 nate ; leaflets flat, shining, with ferruginous dots underneath. 

 In warm countries this grows to a large tree, spreading out 

 into many branches. The flowers come out from the side of 

 the branches, in long loose bunches ; petals blue. Fruit 

 oblong, the size of a small cherry ; nut four or five celled, 

 with an oblong seed in each cell. The pulp surrounding the 

 nut is poisonous, and, when mixed with grease, it is said 

 to kill dogs. The Roman Catholics bore and string the 

 nuts for beads. Native of Syria; and now common in Spain 

 and Portugal. It is propagated by seeds, which may be 

 obtained from Italy or Spain, where these trees annually 

 produce ripe fruits in the gardens where they are planted. 

 The seeds or berries should be sown in pots filled with good 

 light rich earth in the spring, and plunged into a moderate 

 hot-bed of tanner's bark, where, if the seeds be fresh, they 

 will come up in about a month or five weeks' time. When 

 the plants are come up, they should be frequently watered, 

 and should have a large share of free air by raising the 

 glasses every day. In June they should be exposed to the 

 open air, in a well-sheltered situation. In October the pots 

 should be removed under a hot-bed frame, where they may 

 enjoy free open air when the weather is mild, and be covered 

 in hard frost. During the winter season they must be 

 refreshed gently with water, but not too often, nor in large 

 quantities. In March following you may shake out the 

 plants from the seed-pots and divide them, planting each 

 into a separate small pot, filled with light fresh earth, plung- 

 ing them into a moderate hot-bed, which will greatly pro- 

 mote their rooting and increase their growth, but they must 

 not be drawn too much ; and in June you should remove 

 them out into the open air as before, and during the three 

 or four winters, while the plants are young, you must shelter 

 them, to secure them from the cold ; but when they are 

 grown pretty large and woody, they will endure to be 

 planted in the open air against a south wall. The best season 

 for this is in April, at which time you should shake them out 

 of the pots, being careful not to break the earth from their 

 roots, but only pare off with a knife the outside of the ball 

 of earth ; then open your holes and put in the plants, closing 

 the earth to their roots, observing, if the weather be dry, to 

 give them some water, which should be repeated twice a week 

 until the plants have taken root ; but you must observe to 

 plant them on a dry soil, otherwise they will be liable to 

 miscarry in severe frosty weather. 



2. Melia Sempervirens ; Evergreen Bead-tree. Leaves 

 bipinnate ; leaflets somewhat wrinkled, commonly seven. This 



is suspected to be a variety of the preceding species. Native 

 of the East Indies. 



3. Melia Azedirachta; Ash-leaved Indian Bead-tree. 

 Leaves pinnate. This becomes a large tree in India ; the 

 stem is thick ; the wood of a pale yellow ; and the bark of a 

 dark purple colour, and very bitter. Native of the East 

 Indies. This sort is now very rare in England ; and also 

 in the Dutch gardens, where some years past it was more 

 common : it is propagated by seeds in the same way as the 

 other sort, but being much tenderer, the plants should be 

 kept constantly in the tan-bed while young. In the summer 

 they may be placed under a frame, but in winter they must 

 be removed into the bark-stove, and treated in the same way 

 with other plants from the same countries. When they 

 have acquired strength, they may be treated more hardily, 

 by placing them in winter in a dry-stove, and in the middle of 

 summer they may be placed abroad for two or three months in 

 a warm sheltered situation; and during the winter season they 

 should be sparingly watered: with this management the plants 

 will produce flowers annually, and, as they retain their leaves 

 all the year, they are ornamental in winter in the stove. 



Melianthus; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Angio- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth large, 

 five-parted, coloured, unequal ; the two upper segments 

 oblong, erect; the lowest very short, like a bag, gibbous 

 downwards ; the middle segments opposite, inferior, lanceo- 

 late ; the uppermost simple, erect. Corolla : petals four, 

 lanceolate-linear, with the tops reflex, from parallel spreading, 

 turned outwards, forming the lower lip, as the calix itself 

 does the upper, connected at the sides in the middle ; nectary 

 one-leafed, placed within the lowest segment of the calix, 

 and fastened to it with the receptacle, very short, compressed 

 at the sides, gashed at the edge, turned downwards by the 

 back. Stamina: filamenta four, awl-shaped, upright, the 

 length of the calix ; the two lower shorter, united at the base ; 

 antheree cordate-oblong, four-celled in front. Pistil: ger- 

 men four-cornered, gibbous, four-toothed; style upright, awl- 

 shaped, of the same length and in the same situation with the 

 stamina; stigma four-cleft, with the upper segment larger. 

 Pericarp: capsule quadrangular, half four-cleft; angles 

 sharp, distant; cells inflated; partitions open in the centre 

 for a receptacle of the seeds, gaping between the angles. 

 Seeds: in fours, subglobular, annexed to the centre of the 

 capsule. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-leaved, 

 the lower leaf gibbous. Petals: four, with the nectary 

 within the lowest. The species are, 



1. Melianthus Major; Great Honey-flower. Stipules soli- 

 tary, fastened to the petiole. Root woody, perennial, spread- 

 ing ; stems many, woody, four or five feet high, herbaceous 

 towards the top ; leaves large, embracing the stem at the base ; 

 spikes long; corolla brown. Native of the Cape. This 

 plant, which if in flower distils a shower of nectar when 

 shaken, was formerly preserved in the green-house as a te-n- 

 der exotic, but if planted in a dry soil and warm situation, it 

 will endure the cold of our ordinary winters very well ; and if 

 in a severe frost the tops should be destroyed, yet the roots 

 will abide, and put forth again in the succeeding spring. It 

 may be propagated by taking off its suckers or side shoots, 

 any time from March to September, observing to chuse such 

 as are furnished with fibres ; and, after they are planted and 

 have taken root, they will require no further care but to keep 

 them clear from weeds : they may be also propagated by 

 planting cuttings, during any of the summer months, which, 

 if watered and shaded, will root very well, and may afterward* 

 be transplanted where they are designed to remain. 



2. Melianthus Minor; Small Honey-flower. Stipules in 



