MUS 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MUS 



most sure method to obtain fruit in England is, after they 

 have grown for some time in pots, so as to have made good 

 roots, to shake them out of the pots with the ball of earth 

 to their roots, and plant them into the tan-bed in the stove, 

 observing to lay a little old tan near their roots for their 

 fibres to strike into, and in a few months the roots of these 

 plants will extend themselves many feet each way in the bark; 

 and these plants will thrive a great deal faster than those 

 which are confined in pots or tubs. When the bark-bed 

 wants to be renewed with fresh tan, there should be great 

 care taken of the roots of these plants, not to cut or break 

 them, as also to leave a large quantity of the old tan about 

 them ; because if the new tan is laid too near them, it will 

 scorch their roots, and injure them. These plants must be 

 plentifully supplied with water, otherwise they will not thrive ; 

 in winter they should be watered twice a week, giving at 

 least two quarts to each plant, but in summer they must be 

 watered every other day, and double the quantity given to 

 them each time. If the plants push out their flower-stems 

 in the spring, there will be hopes of their perfecting their 

 fruit ; but when they come out late in the year, they will 

 sometimes decay before the fruit ripens. The stoves in which 

 these plants are placed should be at least twenty feet in 

 height, otherwise there will not be room for their leaves to 

 expand ; for when the plants are in vigour, the leaves are 

 often eight feet in length, and two feet broad : so that if the 

 stems grow to be fourteen feet to the division of the leaves, 

 and the house is not twenty feet high, the leaves will be 

 cramped, and retard the growth of the plants; besides, when 

 the leaves are bent against the glass, there will be danger 

 of their breaking them, when they are growing vigorously. 

 This tree is cultivated with great care in all our sugar colo- 

 nies. It thrives best in a cool, rich, moist soil, and is com- 

 monly planted in regular walks or fields: it is propagated by 

 the shoots, and planted at convenient distances ; but as the 

 root throws up a number of young shoots every year, the 

 spaces between the first plants are left pretty considerable. 

 When the fruit is ripe, the stem decays gradually, and the root 

 begins to throw up young shoots. The stem is then usually 

 cut down near the root, to give a stronger and quicker 

 growth to the new plants. In the South Sea Islands, they 

 put some wood ashes and burnt plants with a little shell-lime 

 into the hole, when they plant the Musa ; by which they so 

 accelerate the growth, as to have fruit in six and even four 

 months, whereas in the common course it is eighteen months 

 before fruit is expected. 



2. Musa Sapientum ; Banana Tree. Spadix nodding; male 

 flowers deciduous ; fruit ovate. This tree differs from the pre- 

 ceding in having its stalks marked with dark purple stripes 

 and spots. The fruit is shorter and rounder, with a softer 

 pulp of a more luscious taste. A very excellent drink is made 

 from the juice of the ripe fruit fermented, most resembling the 

 best Southam cider. A marmalade is likewise made of it, 

 esteemed an excellent pectoral, cooling and refreshing. This 

 fruit has been noted for its efficacy in correcting those sharp 

 humours which generate or accompany the fluxes to which 

 Europeans are often subject on their first coming into the 

 West Indies. The roasted fruit would be an useful sea-store, 

 would keep a long time packed in dry leaves, and stowed 

 in tight casks ; and would only require to be roasted or 

 heated afresh when wanted for use. This and the Plantain 

 are among the greatest blessings bestowed by Providence 

 upon the inhabitants of hot climates. Three dozen Plantains 

 are sufficient to serve one man for a week instead of bread, 

 and will support him much better. For the propagation and 

 culture of the Banana, see the preceding species. 

 VOL. it 78. 



3. Musa Troglodytarum. Spadix erect; spathes decidu- 

 ous; stem four feet high, an inch in thickness; leaves linear, 

 three feet long, and five inches wide ; berry scarlet, ovate, 

 compressed, two inches long, not eatable. Native of the 



Moluccas. There are may varieties of -the Plantain and 



Banana. Rumphius has noted sixteen, growing in the Mo- 

 lucca islands. 



Musctts, or Moss, was formerly supposed to be only excres- 

 cences produced from the earth, trees, &c. but now known 

 to be plants no less perfect than those of greater magnitude. 

 They are ranged by Linneus in the second order of his 

 twenty-fourth class, entitled Cryptogamia Musci : but so 

 much having been done to his hands on the subject of this 

 order by Dillenius, he did but little more than arrange the 

 species, and give them specific characters. Linneus has 

 three divisions of the Mosses. 1. Without any Calyptre or 

 Veil, containing the following genera ; Lycopodium, Porella, 

 Sphagnum. 2. Calyptred, diclinous, or having the males 

 and females separate; Splachnum, Polytrichum, Mnium. 

 3. Calyptred, monoclinous, or having the males and females 

 on the same plant; Phascum, Bryum, Hypnum, Fontinalis, 

 Buxbaumia. Since the time of Dillenius and Lirmeus, great 

 light has been thrown upon this obscure order by Jaequin, 

 Hoffman, Wiegel, Batsch, Pollich, Weis, Ehrhart, Schmidel, 

 Schreber, Dickson, Withering, Stackhousc, but especially by 

 Hedwig; according to this last author, Mosses are vegetables 

 in which the female parts of fructification are furnished with 

 a veil-like petal, bearing a style. He divides them into two 

 orders: 1. Frondosi. Capsule entire, lidded, and opening 

 transversely. 2. Hepatici. Capsule with four valves, open- 

 ing lengthwise. The latter are not ranged with the Musci, 

 but with the Alga;, by Linneus. These definitions of Hedwig 

 exclude the Lycopodia from the Mosses. GENERIC CHA- 

 RACTER of Mosses. Male flowers. Calix: common, of 

 many leaves ; leaflets in structure resembling' those of thff 

 plant, but generally broader, sometimes coloured, open and 

 expanding like the rays of a star, or the petalg of a full-blown 

 rose, or else closing and approaching like a bud. A few 

 have no appearance of a calix. Corolla: none. Stamina: 

 numerous, within the common calix, mostly separated by 

 succulent threads or chaff-like substances: sometimes uniting 

 so as to form a little knob, or placed in the axils of the upper 

 branches ; filamentum short, filiform ; antherse sometimes 

 cordate or ovate, but mostly cylindrical, one-celled, opening 

 at the top, and discharging granulated pollen. Female Flow- 

 ers : on the same or a different plant, sometimes intermixed 

 with the males. Calix: Pericheetium many-leaved; leaflets 

 various, generally inclosing several pistils intermixed with 

 succulent threads. Corolla: veil cylindrical, or conical, 

 investing the germen and fixed to its top, united at the base 

 to the sheath of the peduncle, but not elsewhere attached. 

 Pistil: germen cylindrical or conical; style slender, standing 

 on the veil; stigma truncate. Pericarp: capsule on a pedun- 

 cle sheathed at the base; when unripe crowned by the veil 

 which separates at its base, adhering to the point of the cap- 

 sule, but falling off when that becomes ripe. The capsule 

 then opens horizontally, the lid separating. Lid: with or 

 without a ring, single or double; outer cartilaginous, some- 

 times swollen, or else contracted at the base, forming a kind 

 of excrescence called Apophysis. Mouth of the capsule 

 either naked, or closed with an outer fringe, with from four 

 to thirty-two teeth, which are upright or reflected, straight 

 or twisted, triangular, spear-shaped, or bristle-shaped, sharp 

 or blunt; inner fringe finer, either closely adhering to the 

 outer, or joined to it by threads from its inner side, or loose 

 and unconnected, or fixed to the pedicle on its little bulb ; 

 2 P 



