MIC 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



M I L 



125 





rough-haired, green, two feet high, the thickness of the little 

 finger. It is a handsome plant, with the habit of a Campa- 

 nula. Native of the Levant. The seeds have not ripened 

 in this country ; so that being a biennial, we cannot keep it 

 at present. It requires the protection of the green-house. 



Michelia; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Polygy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth three-leaved, 

 leaflets petal-form, oblong, concave, deciduous. Corolla: 

 petals fifteen, lanceolate ; the outer ones larger. Stamina : 

 filamenta very many, awl-shaped, very short; antherse erect, 

 acute. Pistil: germina numerous, imbricate, in along spike; 

 styles none ; stamina reflex, blunt. Pericarp : berries (ber- 

 ried capsules) as many as the germina, globular, one-celled, 

 half-bivalved ; according to Gsertner, dispersed in a raceme. 

 Seeds: four, (from two to eight, according to Gsertner,) con- 

 vex on one side, angular on the other. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix : three-leaved. Petals : sixteen. Berries : 

 many, four-seeded. The species are, 



1. Michelia Champaca. Leaves lanceolate; calices exter- 

 nally silky. This is a lofty tree, with a trunk as large as a 

 man can compass, covered with a thick ash-coloured bark ; 

 flowers deep yellow, on the extreme twigs, axillary, on thick 

 upright peduncles an inch and half in length, and having a 

 very fragrant smell; fruit resembling a large bunch of grapes, 

 pale yellowish-white, of an acrid taste. Native of Malabar. 



2. Michelia Tsjampaca. Leaves lanceolate, ovate; calices 

 nearly smooth. Native of the East Indies. 



Micropus ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polyga- 

 mia Necessaria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common, 

 inferior five-leaved; leaflets thin, small, obsolete; interior 

 very large, five-leaved ; leaflets loose, distinct, helmet-shaped, 

 compressed, converging longitudinally by the margin. Co- 

 rolla : compound of ten hermaphrodites in the disk, and five 

 females in the circuit: proper of the hermaphrodite one- 

 petalled, funnel-form, five-toothed, erect; of the female none. 

 Stamina : in the hermaphrodites ; filamenta five, bristle- 

 shaped, very short; antherse cylindric, tubular, the length 

 of the corollet. Pistil: in the hermaphrodites; germen 

 obsolete ; style filiform, longer than the stamina ; stigma 

 obsolete. In the females ; germen obovate, compressed, 

 within each scale of the common inner calix ; style from the 

 inner side of the germen, bristle-shaped, bent in towards the 

 hermaphrodites, the length of the calix ; stigma two-parted, 

 slender, acuminate. Pericarp: none; calix unchanged, but 

 the inner one larger, indurated. Seeds: of the hermaphro- 

 dites, none; of the females, solitary, obovate, included in the 

 proper leaflet of the inner calix; down none. Receptacle: 

 with sharp very small chaffs, separating the seeds of the 

 females, but not the florets of the disk. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: calicled. Kay: of the corolla, none. 

 Female fiorets : wrapped up in the calicine scales. Down : 

 none. Receptacle: chaffy. The species are, 



1. Micropus Supinus; Trailing Micropus. Stem procum- 

 "bent; leaves in pairs. It is an annual plant. The roots send 

 out several trailing stalks, six or eight inches long, divari- 

 cating, often branched, covered with a white nap, as is the 

 whole plant. Flowers in small clusters, very small, white. 

 Native of Portugal, Spain, Italy, and the Levant. This is 

 sometimes preserved in gardens for the beauty of its silvery 

 leaves. If the seeds be sown in autumn, or permitted to scat- 

 ter, the plants will come up in the spring, and require only to 

 be kept clean from weeds, and thinned where too close. 



2. Micropus Erectes. Stem upright; calices toothless; 

 flowers solitary. This also is an annual. Native of Spain, 

 France, and the Levant. 



Microtea ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth five-leaved ; 

 leaflets oblong, permanent. Corolla: none. Stamina: fila- 

 menta five, filiform, the length of the calix, inserted into the 

 receptacle; antherse subglobular, twin. Pistil: germen 

 superior, subglobular, echinated ; styles two, very short, 

 divaricating ; stigmas simple, acute. Pericarp : drupe dry, 

 coriaceous, thin, echinated. Seed: nut roundish, smooth, 

 with a single kernel. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 five-leaved, spreading. Corolla: none. Drupe: dry, echi- 

 nated. The only known species is, 



]. Microtea Debilis. Stem herbaceous, branched, diffused, 

 almost upright, striated, smooth. Annual. Native of most 

 of the West India Islands. 



Miegia; a genus of the class Triandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : glume one-flowered, 

 two-valved; valves ovate, concave, nerved; upper valve 

 shorter, blunt; lower a little longer, sharpish. Corolla: two- 

 valved ; valves ventricose, nerved ; outer ovate, blunt within, 

 and longer than the calicine valve; inner oblong, compressed 

 at the tip, sharpish, the edges convoluted, longer than the 

 outer, within the upper calicine valve ; nectary one-leafed, 

 ovate, gibbous at the back, somewhat compressed, acute, 

 even, thick, suberous, thinner at the tip and edges, shorter 

 than the corolla, opposite to the larger corolline glume, 

 involving the germen. Stamina: filamenta three, capillary, 

 longer than the corolla; antherse oblong, acute. Pistil: 

 germen oblong, subtriquetrous, within the nectary ; style 

 simple, capillary, longer than the corolla; stigmas two, capil- 

 lary. Pericarp : none. Seeds : single, oblong, triquetrous- 

 rounded, rolled up in the nectary, inclosed within the per- 

 manent calix and corolla. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 one-flowered ; and Corolla : two-valved. Nectary : one- 

 valved, involving the germen. Seed: triquetrous-rounded, 



included within the calix, corolla, and nectary. The only 



known species is, 



1. Miegia Maritima. Root creeping; culms half a foot 

 high, covered with leaves, branched at the top ; leaves lan- 

 ceolate, striated, acute, rigid ; panicle terminating, contracted 

 into an ovate spike. Native Cayenne and Guiana. 



Mignonette. See Reseda. 



Mildew, is a disease in plants, caused by a dewy moisture 

 which falls on them, and continuing, for want of the sun's 

 heat to draw it up, by its acrimony corrodes, gnaws, and 

 spoils the plant ; or, mildew is rather a concrete substance 

 which exsudes through the pores of the leaves. What gar- 

 deners call Mildew, is an insect, found in great plenty, prey- 

 ing upon this exsudation. All plants, whether cultivated or 

 spontaneous, appear to be equally liable to it. It has been 

 attributed to fogs and dews, to the vicinity of rivers and of 

 stagnant waters, to the putrid effluvia of animal or vegetable 

 substances, and to late frosts; but upon no better foundation 

 than mere conjecture. It attacks the blades and stems of 

 corn, which it covers with a powder of the colour of the rust 

 of iron, when at the height of their vegetation. High and 

 ventilated situations are perhaps most likely to admit of a 

 remedy, but are equally liable with low grounds. Plentiful 

 rains sometimes wash it almost entirely away, so that the 

 grain suffers but little in the end. Late crops have gene- 

 rally suffered most, says Mr. Lambert, but there have been 

 instances of the reverse. Others say, that low lands and 

 sheltered situations have suffered most ; but this has been 

 perhaps attributable to the wheat growing more luxuriantly, 

 from its situation, than the stamina of the land could support 

 when it was arriving at maturity ; to which may be added, a 

 want of ventillation. A huge crop may be considered a cause 

 of mildew ; for an unfavourable season, or a want of stamina 



