146 



M U S 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



MUS 



be exposed in summer for two or three months, and in win- 

 ter will live in a dry-stove, if kept moderately warm. 



Murraya; a genus of the class Decandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, five-parted, very small; segments linear, erect, round- 

 ish, remote, permanent. Corolla : five petalled, bell-shaped, 

 petals lanceolate, spreading at the top. Nectary bell-shaped, 

 short, encircling the germen. Stamina : filamenta ten, awl- 

 shaped, the length of the flower ; antherae somewhat oblong. 

 Pistil: germen roundish, superior; style filiform, suban- 

 gular, longer than the stamina; stigma flattish, warted, angu- 

 lar. Pericarp: berry somewhat pulpy, one-celled. Seed: 

 one, large, obovate, acute, grooved on one side. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Calix : five-parted. Corolla: bell- 

 shaped, with a nectary encircling the germen. Berry: one- 

 seeded. The only known species is, 



1. Murraya Exotica ; Ash-leaved Murraya. This very small 

 tree, about six feet high, has a white bark, and the appear- 

 ance of Schinus. It flowers in August and September. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



Musa; a genus of the class Polygamia, order Moncecia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Hermaphrodite flowers, more 

 towards the base of the simple spadix, separate in alternate 

 spathes. Calix : spathe partial, ovate-oblong, plano-con- 

 cave, large, many-flowered. Corolla: unequal, ringent ; 

 the petal constituting the upper lip, but the nectary the under 

 lip ; petal erect, ligulate, truncate, five-toothed, converging 

 in front at the base; nectary one-leafed, cordate, boat-shaped, 

 compressed, acuminate, spreading outwards, shorter than the 

 petal, inserted within the sinus of the petal. Stamina: fila- 

 menta six, awl-shaped, five of which within the petal are 

 erect, the sixth within the nectary is reclining ; antherse 

 linear, from the middle to the top fastened to the filament; 

 but most frequently there is only one antheras on the sixth 

 filament, and very small cues cr none on the rest. Pistil: 

 germen very large, obtusely three-sided, very long, inferior ; 

 style cylindric, erect, the length of the petals;" stigma headed, 

 roundish, obscurely six-cleft. Pericarp: berry fleshy, co- 

 vered with an husk, obscurely three-sided, or six-sided, gib- 

 bous on one side, one-celled, hollow in the middle. Seeds : 

 very many, nestling, subglobular, wrinkled, tubercled, exca- 

 vated at the base, or only rudiments. Males on the same 

 spadix, above the hermaphrodite flowers, separated by 

 spathes. Calix, Corolla, and Nectary, as in the hermaphro- 

 dites. Stamina: filamenta as in the hermaphrodites, equal, 

 erect; antheroe as in the hermaphrodites, on the filament 

 placed within the nectary, most frequently very small, or 

 none. Pistil: germen as in the hermaphrodites, but less ; 

 style and stigma as in them, but less and more obscure. 

 Pericarp : abortive. Observe. Most of the stamens abortive 

 in some flowers, the pistils in others. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calix: spathe partial, many-flowered. Corolla: two- 

 petalled; one petal erect, five-toothed, the other nectari- 

 ferous, concave, shorter. Stamina: six. Style: one. All 

 the' flowers hermaphrodites. Male Hermaphrodite : above ; 

 five filamenta perfect; germen inferior, abortive. Female 

 Hermaphrodite: one filamenta only perfect. Berry: oblong, 

 three-sided, inferior, many-seeded. The species are, 



1. Musa Paradisiaca ; Plantain Tree. Spadix nodding ; 

 male flowers permanent; fruit oblong. It rises with a soft 

 herbaceous stalk fifteen or twenty feet high, and upwards : 

 the lower part of the stalk is often as large as a man's thigh, 

 diminishing gradually to the top, where the leaves come out 

 on every side ; they are often more than six feet long and 

 two feet broad, with a strong fleshy midrib, and a great num- 

 ber of transverse veins running from the midrib to the bor- 



ders. The leaves are thin and tender, and are often torn by 

 the wind. The flowers come out in bunches from the centre 

 of the leaves; the spike is often four feet in length, and nods 

 on one side. Each of the bunches is covered with a spatha 

 or sheath of fine purple colour within, which drops off when 

 the flowers open. The upper part of the spike is made 

 up of male or barren flowers, which are not succeeded by 

 fruit. The fruit is eight or nine inches long, and above an 

 inch in diameter, a little incurved, and has three angles ; it 

 is at first green, but, when ripe, of a pale yellow colour. The 

 skin is tough, and within is a soft pulp of a luscious sweet 

 flavour. The spikes of fruit are often so large as to weigh 

 upwards of forty pounds. Native of the East Indies; but cul- 

 tivated generally between the tropics. In the West Indies 

 the fruit is generally used when full grown, but before it 

 ripens; it is commonly roasted, and is thus distributed among 

 the negroes, by whom it is mostly used, though many of 

 the whites prefer it to any of the bread kind, especially 

 whilst young and tender. The negroes generally boil it with 

 other messes, as salt-fish, beef, pork, pickle, or crabs, and 

 find it a hearty wholesome food. As the fruit ripens, it 

 becomes soft and sweetish, and is then generally made into 

 tarts, or sliced and fried with butter. The Spaniards dry 

 and preserve it as a sweetmeat. The ripe fruit with maize 

 forms the best food for hogs put up to fat, and gives them 

 a most exquisite flavour and firmness. The fruit of some of 

 the numerous varieties is eaten raw in the South Sea Islands, 

 and others are roasted or baked, according to their qualities. 

 The trees which bear the former are the chief ornaments of 

 the gardens in Otaheite ; the latter are in the mountainous 

 tracts of the islands that are covered with woods. This fruit 

 is easy of digestion, very wholesome and agreeable to seamen 

 after a long voyage : to many persons. however its clammy 

 sweetness is unpleasant; and it is reputed not to agree with 

 weak stomachs, but to bring on a constipation and flatulency 

 in the bowels. Rumphius is of opinion, that whether crude or 

 mature, this fruit, running readily into putrescence, increases 

 the malignity of the humours in the epidemic dysentery. 

 On thrusting a knife into the body of the plant, the astrin- 

 gent limpid water that issues out, is given with great success 

 to persons subject to a spitting of blood, and in fluxes. The 

 leaves are used to dress blisters ; and when dried, are made 

 into mats, or employed to stuff matrasses. Propagation and 

 Culture. In Europe, some of these plants have been preserv- 

 ed, and have borne fruit incapacious hot-houses; but as they 

 are very tall and large, few persons can spare sufficient room 

 in their stoves. They are propagated by suckers, which come 

 from the roots of those plants which have fruited; and many 

 times the younger plants, when they are stinted in growth, 

 will put out suckers; these should be carefully taken off, pre- 

 serving some fibres to their roots, and planted in pots filled 

 with light rich earth, and plunged into the tan-bed in the 

 stove ; these may be taken off any time in summer, and it 

 is best to take them off when young, because if their roots 

 are grown large, they do not put out new fibres so soon, 

 and when the thick part of the root is cut in taking off, the 

 plants often rot. During the summer season, these plants 

 nnust be plentifully watered, for the surface of their leaves 

 3eing large, there is a great consumption of moisture by 

 jerspiration in hot weather, but in the winter they must be 

 watered more sparingly, though they should then be often 

 efreshed in small quantities. The pots ought to be large 

 n proportion to the size of the plants, for their roots gene- 

 rally extend pretty far, and the earth should be rich and 

 ight. The degree; of heat with which these plants thrive 

 jest is much the same with the Anana, Of Pine Apple. The 



