124 



MET 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



M 1C 



ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : simple, four-leaved. 

 Corolla: fonr-petalled. Nut: four-cornered, one-seeded. 

 The only known species is, 



1. Mesua Ferrea; Indian Rose-chestnut. Rheede says, it 

 i much cultivated in Malabar, for the beauty of the flowers, 

 which come out there in July and August ; and that it bears 

 fruit in six years from the nut, continuing frequently to bear 

 during three centuries. He describes it as a very large tree, 

 spreading like the Lime, with flowers the size and shape of 

 the Sweet-briar or Eglantine, but with only four white petals; 

 fruit when it begins to ripen smooth and greenish, but rufous 

 and wrinkled when ripe, with a rind like that of the Chest- 

 nut, and three or four kernels within, the shape and size, sub- 

 stance and taste, of Chestnuts. It may be increased by seeds, 

 layers, and cuttings. 



Metrosideros ; a genus of the class Icosandria, order Mo- 

 nogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, five-cleft, half superior. Corolla: petals five, con- 

 cave, nearly sessile, deciduous. Stamina : very long, stand- 

 ing out, free or separate ; antherae incumbent. Pistil: ger- 

 men turbinate, fastened to the bottom of the calix ; style 

 filiform, erect; stigma simple, small, scarcely dilated. Peri- 

 carp : capsule three-celled, (sometimes four-celled,) three- 

 valved, (sometimes four-valved,) partly covered with the 

 belly of the calix. Seeds : very numerous, when unripe 

 linear, chaffy ; when ripe very few, rounded or angular. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-cleft, half-superior. 

 Petals: five. Stamina: very long, standing out. Stigma: 

 simple. Capsule : three-celled. The species are, 



1. Metrosideros Hispida. Leaves opposite, cordate at the 

 base, embracing ; branchlets, peduncles, and calices hispid. 

 Stem usually four or five feet high; flowers large, and white. 

 This is a magnificent species. Native of New South Wales. 



2. Mestrosideros Floribunda. Leaves opposite, petioled, 

 ovate-lanceolate ; panicle brachiate ; pedicels umbelled. 

 Flowers copious, white. Native of New South Wales. 



3. Metrosideros Costata. Leaves opposite, petioled, linear- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, oblique ; panicle brachiate, decom- 

 pound ; pedicels subumbelled. Flowers yellowish-white, 

 larger than those of the preceding. Native of New South 

 Wales. 



4. Metrosideros DifFusa. Leaves opposite, ovate, veined, 

 smooth on both sides; panicles axillary or terminating; pedi- 

 cels opposite. Native of New Zealand. 



5. Metrosideros Villosa. Leaves opposite, ovate, veined, 

 pubescent underneath ; thyrse axillary or terminating, oppo- 

 site, villose ; flowers sessile, clustered. This strongly resem- 

 bles the preceding species. Native of Otaheite. 



6. Metrosideros Florida. Leaves opposite, obovate-oblong, 

 reined, smooth ; thyrse terminating; calices turbinate, naked. 

 Flowers large, crimson. Native of New Zealand. 



7. Metrosideros Glomulifera. Leaves opposite, ovate, net- 

 ted-veined, pubescent underneath ; heads lateral, peduncled, 

 both they and the bractes tomentose. Flowers whitish. This 

 species is slightly aromatic. Native of New South Wales. 



8. Metrosideros Angustifolia. Leaves opposite, linear- 

 lanceolate, naked; peduncles axillary, umbelled; bractes 

 lanceolate, smooth, deciduous. Native of the Cape. 



9. Metrosideros Ciliata. Leaves scattered, almost opposite, 

 elliptic, blunt, coriaceous, subciliate at the base ; corymbs 

 terminating, hairy. A bushy shrub; flowers large, hand- 

 some, of a deep red colour. Native of New South Wales. 



10. Metrosideros Linearis. Leaves scattered, linear, chan- 

 nelled, acute, becoming rigid; flowers lateral, clustered, ses- 

 sile. Native of New South Wales. 



1 1 . Metrosideros Lanceolata. Leaves alternate, lanceolate, 



mucronate ; flowers lateral, clustered, sessile, pubescent. 

 This is a beautiful shrub. Native of New South Wales. 



12. Metrosideros Saligna. Leaves alternate, lanceolate, 

 attenuated to both ends, mucronate ; flowers lateral, clustered, 

 sessile, smooth. Native of New South Wales. 



13. Metrosideros Capitata. Leaves scattered, obovate, 

 mucronulate ; heads terminating ; calices and branchlets 

 hairy. Native of New South Wales. 



Meutang. The name of a flower much esteemed by the 

 Chinese, and which they call King of Flowers. It is larger 

 than our rose, resembles it in figure, and is more expanded ; 

 yet falls short of it in fragrance, but exceeds it in beauty. 

 It has no prickles, and its colour is a mixture of white with 

 purple, but so as to incline most to white, though sometimes 

 they are found of a reddish and of a yellow colour. The tree 

 it grows upon is not unlike our Alder tree, and is cultivated 

 with great care all over China, being covered in the summer 

 time with a shade, to defend it from the scorching beams of 

 the sun. We are not aware that botanical writers have as- 

 signed it a place in the systematical arrangement. 



Mazereon. See Daphne. 



Mice, are highly destructive to several sorts of garden crops, 

 such as pease, beans, &c. in the early spring ; and Lettuces, 

 Melons, and Cucumbers, in frames in the winter season. It 

 is supposed also that the destruction of grain after it is sown, 

 is in some seasons very great, owing to the field mice. Hence 

 the tussocks of wheat, seen to arise in many fields, are pro- 

 duced from the granaries of these diminutive animals; which, 

 when they are accidentally destroyed, grows into a tuft, 

 and have been found to contain nearly a handful of corn. 

 Their habitations are detected by small mounds of earth 

 being thrown up, on or near the apertures of their dwellings, 

 or of the passages which lead to their nests and granaries ; 

 by following the course of which, they and their progeny 

 may be found and destroyed. It is found that acorns when 

 sown, as well as garden beans and peas, are liable to be dug 

 up or devoured by these voracious little animals. They may 

 be destroyed by traps baited with cheese, and also by the 

 poisonous substance usually called nux vomica, which should 

 be finely rasped down, and mixed with some sort of meal, 

 or other similar material of which they are fond ; but the 

 easiest, cheapest, and most effectual mode of extirpating 

 these little plunderers, is to encourage the breed of owls, 

 so active in the pursuit of nocturnal vermin, and on that 

 account so useful to the gardener and farmer, who neverthe- 

 less still inconsiderately permit their servants and children 

 to destroy their eggs, and torture and kill their callow young. 

 See Vermin. 



Michauxia; a genus of the class Octandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER.. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, sixteen-parted ; segments lanceolate, unequal, the 

 alternate ones reversed. Corolla : one-petalled, wheel-shaped, 

 eight-parted, larger than the calix ; segments linear-lanceo- 

 late, spreading very much, revolute at the tip; nectary eight- 

 valved, staminiferous. Stamina: filamenta eight, awl-shaped, 

 permanent; antheree linear, very long, pressed close to the 

 style. Pistil: germen inferior, turbinate; style columnar, 

 permanent; stigma eight-parted ; segments awl-shaped, revo- 

 lute. Pericarp: capsule turbinate, truncated, eight-celled, 

 valveless; cells rhombed. Seeds: very numerous, small, 

 oblong, inserted into the receptacles. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: sixteen-parted. Corollm: wheel-shaped, 

 eight-parted. Nectary: eight-valved, staminiferous. Cap- 

 sules : eight-celled, many seeded. The only species is, 



1. Michauxia Campanuloides ; Rough-leaved Michauxia^ 

 Stem simple, panicled when in flower, upright, herbaceous, 



