MI L 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



M I L 



127 



1. Milium Capense; Cape Millet Grass. Panicle capil- 

 lary ; calices acuminate ; awn of the corolla terminating, 

 curved. Native of the Cape. 



2. Milium Punctatum ; Dotted Millet Grass. Branches 

 of the panicle quite simple; flowers alternate, in pairs, di- 

 rected oneway. Culm from one to two feet high, even, very 

 tender. Native of the moist meadows of Jamaica. 



3. Milium Lendigerum ; Yellow-spiked Millet Grass. 

 Panicle subspiked; flowers awned. It is a very small annual 

 plant, extremely hard to ascertain, from the difficulty of 

 seeing its characters. Native of Portugal, the south of 

 France, and England ; it is found in the Isle of Sheppey ; at 

 Gillingham, in Norfolk ; and near Weymouth. 



4. Milium Compressum; Compressed Millet Grass. Spikes 

 generally in threes ; florets alternate, awnless, pressed close 

 to the rachis ; culm jointed, compressed in the middle ; pe- 

 duncled, very long. Perennial. Native of the West Indies. 



5. Milium Digitatum ; Fingered Millet Grass. Spikes 

 digitated, generally in fours, subsessile; florets awnless, 

 pressed close, directed one way; leaves cartilaginous-serrate 

 at the edge. Annual. Native of Jamaica. 



6. Milium Paniceum ; Panic Millet Grass. Spikes sub- 

 digitate, alternate, approximating, filiform ; florets directed 

 one way, awnless, pressed close, three-cornered. Native of 

 Jamaica. 



7. Milium Effusum ; Common Millet Grass. Flowers pa- 

 nicled, dispersed, awnless. Root perennial and creeping; 

 culms slender, three or four feet high, with about four joints. 

 It appears to be much scattered, from the various length of 

 the pedicels, which grow in whorls, and give this grass an 

 airy, light, and elegant appearance. The height it usually 

 attains, the situation in which it grows, and the delicacy of 

 its panicle, distinguish this from all other grasses. Native 

 of woods, in most parts of Europe ; flowering in May. 



8. Milium Confertum ; Clustered Millet Grass. Flowers 

 panicled, clustered. Haller regards this to be a mere variety 

 of the preceding, which it greatly resembles. Native of Ger- 

 many and Switzerland, where it is found in woods. 



9. Milium Globosum ; Globular Millet Grass. Panicle 

 patulous ; glumes awnless ; pedicels with a yellow belt. 

 Culm simple, a foot high. Native of Japan. 



10. Milium Paradoxum ; Black-seeded Millet Grass. 

 Flowers panicled, awned. This species resembles the reed. 

 Root annual ; culm a foot and half to four feet high. It 

 flowers in July. Native of Carniola, and the south of France. 



11. Milium Villosum; Woolly Millet Grass. Panicle lax; 

 florets awnless; calices woolly. Annual. Native of Jamaica. 

 Browne says that the roots and leaves pounded, and externally 

 applied, cure sores and ulcers of all sorts with more certainty 

 than most other things used for that purpose. It is a strong 

 detersive and agglutinant ; and, doubtless, would make an 

 excellent ingredient in vulnerary apozems and infusions. 



12. Milium Ramosum ; Branched Millet Grass. Culm 

 branched ; flowers pauicled, usually in pairs, hirsute. Native 

 of the East Indies. 



13. Milium A mphicarpon. Culms many, cylindrical, vagi- 

 nated ; leaves lato-linear, striated ; male flowers alternate, 

 pedunculate; female flowers in one-flowered scapes, radical, 

 vaginate. It grows in the light sandy fields of New Jersey, 

 near Egg harbour ; and flowers in July and August. 



14. Milium Angulosum ; Little Angular-husked Millet Grass. 

 Flowers closely panicled, awnless ; glumes ovate-acute, 

 strongly ribbed and furrowed ; sheaths of the leaves hairy. 

 Found in the Sandwich Islands. 



Milk Vetch. See Astragalus, and Phaca. 

 Milkwort. See Polygala, and Euphorbia. 

 VOL. ii. 76. 



Milleria; so called, in honour of Philip Miller, F. R. S. 

 author of the Gardener's Dictionary and Kalendar. Linneus 

 observes, that " this American plant, the closely shut calix of 

 which entirely surrounds and protects its one or two seeds, is 

 well bestowed on a man who spared no pains in procuring 

 rare American seeds, and in contrivances for preserving and 

 communicating them." This genus belongs to the class Synge- 

 nesia, order Polygamia Necessaria. GENERIC CHARACTER. 

 Calix : common one-leafed, three-parted, very large, con- 

 verging into a plane three-sided form, permanent; the two 

 inner leaflets equal, subovate, acute, flat ; the outer twice as 

 large, roundish, acuminate, flat, cordate, more deeply di- 

 vided from the rest. Corolla: compound half radiate; corol- 

 lets hermaphrodite, two, within the smaller calicine leaflets : 

 female one, within the large calicine leaflets : proper of the 

 hermaphrodites one-petalled, tubular, erect, five-toothed; 

 of the female ligulate, erect, blunt, concave, emarginate. 

 Stamina: in the hermaphrodites, filamenta five, capillary; 

 antherse as many, erect, linear, connected by the middle of 

 their sides, the length of the corolla, acute. Pistil: in the 

 hermaphrodites, germen oblong, very slender ; style filiform, 

 the length of the corollet; stigmas two, linear, weak, blunt, 

 spreading : in the females, germen large, three-cornered ; 

 style filiform, the length of the corollet; stigmas two, bristle- 

 shaped, reflex, long. Pericarp: none; calix converging into 

 a three-cornered figure. Seeds: in the hermaphrodites none; 

 in the females solitary, narrower towards the base, blunt, 

 oblong, three-sided ; down none. Receptacle : common very 

 small, naked. Observe. In the first species the female corol- 

 let is trifid, and there are four hermaphrodite tubular corol- 

 lets ; calix two-valved ; style of the male simple ; of the 

 female bifid ; the calices have always from seven to nine 

 flowers. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : three-valved. 

 Ray of the corolla : halved. Down : none. Receptacle : 

 naked. The species are, 



1. Milleria Quinqueflora ; Five-flowered Milleria. Leaves 

 cordate; peduncles dichotomous ; calices double. Stem two 

 feet high, stiff, smooth, grooved, brachiate ; spikes of flowers 

 yellow. Root annual. There is a variety with stalks six or 

 seven feet high. Native of Campeachy. To propagate this 

 and the rest of the plants of this genus, sow the seeds early in 

 the spring on a moderate hot-bed. When the plants are about 

 two inches high, transplant each into a separate pot filled with 

 light rich earth; plunge them into a moderate hot-bed of tan- 

 ner's bark; shade them until they have taken root; and water 

 them frequently : then raise the glasses every day, to give them 

 a large share of free air when the weather is warm; and con- 

 tinue to water them duly, for they are very thirsty plants. In 

 a month, they will rise to a considerable height ; and should 

 then be shifted into larger pots, and plunged into the bark- 

 bed, where they may have room to grow, especially the first 

 species. In the middle of July, they will begin to flower; and 

 the seeds will be ripe in a month or six weeks after. Gather 

 them when they begin to change of a dark brown colour; for 

 they soon fall off. They will continue flowering till Michael- 

 mas, or later, if the season prove favourable ; but when the 

 cold of autumn comes on, they soon decay. 



2. Milleria Biflora; Two-flowered Milleria. Leaves ovate; 

 peduncles quite simple; calices simple. Annual: rising with 

 an herbaceous stalk upwards of two feet high, branching out 

 at a small distance from the root into three or four slender 

 stalks. The flowers come out at the footstalks of the leaves 

 in small clusters. There is a three-flowered variety, with 

 smaller calices. Native of Campeachy. 



3. Milleria Contrayerba. Stem grooved ; branches oppo- 

 site, decussated; leaves lanceolate, serrate; flowers glomerate. 



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