MES 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MIS 



123 



Mespilus; a genus of the class Icosandria, order Pentagy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 concave-spreading, five-cleft, permanent. Corolla: petals 

 five, roundish, concave, inserted into the calix. Stamina: 

 filamenta twenty, awl-shaped, inserted into the calix; antherse 

 simple. Pistil: germen inferior; styles five, simple, erect ; 

 stigmas headed. Pericarp: berry globular, umbilicated, 

 closed by the converging calix, but almost perforated by the 

 navel. Seeds: five, bony, gibbous. Observe. The genera 

 of Cratax/us, Sorbus, and Mespilus, are so very nearly allied 

 as scarcely to be distinguished, except by the number of styles. 

 The leaves in Sorbus are pinnate, in Cratccgus angular, and 

 in Mespilus commonly entire. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calif: five-cleft. Petals -.five. Berry: inferior, five-seeded. 

 All the plants of this genus are hardy enough to thrive in 

 the open ir in England, and some of .them are very orna- 

 mental plants for gardens, where, during the season of their 

 flowering, they will make a fine appearance ; and again in 

 autumn, when their fruit is ripe, they will afford an agree- 

 able variety, and their .fruit will be a food for deer and birds: 

 and clumps of each sort planted in different parts of the garden 

 are exceedingly ornamental. The American kinds are usually 

 propagated in the nurseries, by grafting or budding them upon 

 the Common White Thorn, but the plants so propagated will 

 never reach half the size of those which are propagated by seeds; 

 so that those plants should always be chosen which have not 

 been grafted or budded, but are upon their own roots. But 

 there are many who object to raising the plants from seeds, 

 on account of their seeds not growing the first year, as well 

 as on account of the tediousness of their growth afterwards: 

 but where a person can furnish himself with the fruit in autumn, 

 and take out the seeds soon after they are ripe, putting them 

 into the ground immediately, the plants will come up the 

 following spring. If they are kept clean from weeds, and in 

 very dry weather supplied with water, they will make good 

 progress; but if they are planted in the places where they are 

 to remain, after two years' growth from seeds, they will suc- 

 ceed much better than when the plants are of greater age ; 

 the ground should be well trenched, and cleansed from the 

 roots of all bad weeds. The best time to transplant them is 

 in autumn, when their leaves fall off; they should be con- 

 stantly kept clean from weeds, and if the ground between the 

 plants is dug every winter, it will greatly encourage the growth 

 of the plants, so that if they are cleaned three or four times 

 in the summer, it will be sufficient. All the sorts of Mespi- 

 lus and Cratffigus will take, by budding or grafting upon each 

 ether; they will also take upon the Quince or Pear stocks, 

 and both these will take upon the Medlars; so that these have 

 great affinity with each other. -The species are, 



1. Mespilus Pyracantha; Evergreen Thorn or Mespilus. 

 Thorny: leaves lanceolate-ovate, crenate; calices of the fruit 

 blunt. This is a bushy irregular shrub ; flowers white., scarcely 

 larger than those of Elder; fruit globular, fulvous, the size 

 of a pea, pulpy, five-seeded. It flowers with us in May. 

 Native of the south of Europe. 



2. Mespilus Germanica ; Dutch Medlar. Unarmed : leaves 

 lanceolate, tomentose underneath ; flowers sessile, solitary. 

 This is a small or middle-sized branching tree. There are 

 several varieties: that called the Great-leaved Dutch Medlar, 

 bearing the largest fruit, is now generally cultivated ; but the 

 Nottingham Medlar is of a much quicker and more poignant 

 taste. The other varieties are now little noticed. 



3. Mespilus Arbutifolia; Arbutus-leaved Mespilus. Un- 

 armed: leaves lanceolate, crenate, tomentose underneath. 

 Fruit small, roundish, a little compressed, purple when ripe. 

 It varies with red, black, and white fruit, and seldom rises 



VOL. ii. 76. 



more than five or six feet high in Virginia, where it is found 

 in moist woods. 



4. Mespilus Amelanchier; Alpine Mespilus. Unarmed: 

 leaves oval, serrate, hirsute underneath. This rises with 

 many slender stems, three or four feet high. The wood of 

 this shrub is very hard, and the bark black. The flowerg 

 are white, and larger than in those of the other species. 

 The fruit is good to eat; sweet, and reputed wholesome. 

 Native of the south of Europe. 



5. Mespilus Chamse-Mespilus ; Bastard Quince or Mes- 

 pilus. Unarmed: leaves oval, acutely serrate, smooth; flow- 

 ers corymb-capitate. Stalk smooth, four or five feet high ; 

 fruit small, red. Native of the Pyrenees, the mountains of 

 Austria, and found by Ray on the higher parts of Mount 

 Jura, near Geneva. 



6. Mespilus Canadensis; Snowy Mespilus. Unarmed: 

 leaves ovate-oblong, smooth, serrate, sharpish. A low shrub. 

 Native of Canada and Virginia. 



7. Mespilus Japonica; Japan Mespilus. Unarmed : leaves 

 oblong, blunt, serrate at the tip, tomentose underneath. 

 This is a large lofty tree. The fruit seems rather to be a 

 pome, with from one to five cells ; and the taste of it ap- 

 proaches to that of the apple; it is ripe in May and June. 

 Native of Japan. 



8. Mespilus Cotoneaster ; Dwarf Mespilus. Unarmed : 

 leaves ovate, quite entire, sharpish, tomentose underneath ; 

 germina smooth ; berries two-seeded, or three-seeded. This 

 is a low spreading shrub, not more than two or three feet 

 high. Native of many parts of Europe and Siberia. 



9. Mespilus Tomentosa ; Quince-leaved Mespilus. Un- 

 armed : leaves ovate, quite entire, blunt, tomentose under- 

 neath ; germina woolly ; berries five-seeded. Stalk smooth, 

 about eight feet high. The fruit is large and roundish, and 

 of a fine red colour when ripe. It flowers in April and May. 



Messerschmidia ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order 

 Monogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, five-parted; segments sublinear, erect, permanent. 

 Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form; tube cylindric, rude, 

 longer than the calix, globular at the base; border five-cleft, 

 plaited, membranaceous at the sides; throat naked. Stamina: 

 filamenta five, minute, in the lower part of the tube; anther 

 awl-shaped, upright, within the middle of the tube. Pistil: 

 germen subovate ; style cylindric. very short, permanent ; 

 stigma capitate, ovate. Pericarp: berry dry, suberous, cylin- 

 dric-rounded, with a retuse umbilicus, surrounded with four 

 blunt teeth, bipartile. Seeds: two, within each part of the 

 pericarp, oblong, bony, incurved, outwardly rounded, in- 

 wardly angular. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: fun- 

 nel-form, with a naked throat. Berry : suberous, bipartile, 

 each two-seeded. The species are, 



1. Messarschmidia Fruticosa. Stem shrubby ; leaves peti- 

 oled ; corollas salver-shaped. This is a tall, rugged, rough- 

 haired, branching shrub, with the branches panicled at the 

 top Native of the Canary Islands. 



2. Messersch-midia Arguzia. Stem herbaceous; leaves 

 sessile ; corollas funnel-shaped. Root creeping ; stem up- 

 right, a span high ; corolla white. Native of Siberia. 



Mesua; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order Polyan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHAKACTER. Calix: perianth four- 

 leaved ; leaflets ovate, concave, blunt, permanent, the two 

 outer smaller ones opposite. Corolla: petals four, retuse, 

 waved. Stamina: filamenta numerous, capillary, the length 

 of the corolla, united at the base into a pitcher; antherae 

 ovate. Pistil: germen roundish; style cylindric; stigma 

 thickish, concave. Pericarp: nut roundish, acuminate, with 

 four longitudinal raised sutures. Seed: single, roundish. 

 2 I 



