1.52 



M YO 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



M YR 



ing at the top, from which it derives the name of Scorpion- 

 grass, from its resemblance to the tail of a scorpion ; cahx 

 villose, deeply five-cleft, closing at top as the seeds ripen; co- 

 rolla red before it opens, but when open of a fine blue, with a 

 yellow eye, not more than a tenth or twelfth of an inch in dia- 

 meter. There are many varieties of this plant, occasioned by 

 the different situations in which it grows : on walls, heaths, 

 and barren pastures, it grows only to a very small size. 



2. Myosotis Fruticosa; Shrubby Scorpion Grass. Seeds 

 smooth and even ; stem shrubby, smooth and even, a foot 

 high,' woody, perennial; branches many, flowering at the 

 top ; leaves alternate, linear, almost even, with a few hairs 

 pressed close ; spikes terminating, with the flowers pointing 

 one way, not peduncled; flowers and fruits minute. Native 

 of the Cape. 



3. Myosotis Virginiana; Virginian Scorpion Grass. Seeds 

 with hooked prickles ; leaves ovate-oblong; branches diva- 

 ricating. Annual. Native of Virginia. 



4. Myosotis Lappula; Prickly-seeded Scorpion Grass. 

 Seeds with hooked prickles ; leaves lanceolate, hairy. Stem 

 from nine or ten inches to eighteen inches in height, erect, 

 round, somewhat rugged; branches alternate; flowers very 

 small ; corolla bright blue. Annual. Native of Sweden, 

 Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy. 



5. Myosotis Spinocarpos ; Thorny-seeded Scorpion Grass. 

 Seeds muricate-spiny ; racemes leafy, with the flowers remote ; 

 leaves linear, hairy. Stems woody at the base, diffused, dicho- 

 tomously branched at top, closely hairy, ash-coloured, as is 

 the whole plant; flowers small and white'. Native of most 

 of the countries in Europe. 



6. Myosotis Apula; Small Scorpion Grass. Seeds naked; 

 leaves hispid; racemes leafy. Roots reddish, annual ; stems 

 simple, or branched, a span high ; flowers in terminating 

 racemes, recurved at the end ; corolla deep sulphur-coloured. 

 Native of the south of Europe, as in France, Spain, and 

 Italy; also in Japan. It flowers in April. 



7. Myosotis Spatulata ; Spatula-leaved Scorpion Grass. 

 Seeds smooth and even; leaves spathulate-hispid; peduncles 

 axillary, solitary, one-flowered. Native of New Zealand. 



8. Myosotis Australis ; New Holland Scorpion Grass. 

 Hispid : leaves oblong-lanceolate ; calix as long as the tube, 

 clothed with spreading" hooked bristles. Plant eighteen 

 inches high; flowers numerous, small, blue. Found at 

 Port Jackson and Van Diemen's Land. 



Myosurus ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Poly- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five- 

 leaved; leaflets half-lanceolate, obtuse, reflex, annexed above 

 the base, coloured, deciduous. Corolla: petals five, shorter 

 than the calix, very minute, tubular at the base, opening 

 obliquely inwards; (according to Gsertner, with a nectarifer- 

 ous pore at the claws.) Stamina: filamenta five, or more, 

 (Gsertner says, five to twelve,) the length of the calix; antheree 

 oblong, erect. Pistil: germina numerous, placed on the 

 receptacle in a conic-oblong form ; styles none ; stigmas 

 simple. Pericarp : none ; receptacle very long, style- 

 shaped, covered with the seeds disposed imbricately. Seeds : 

 very numerous, oblong, acuminate. Observe. The number 

 of stamina varies very much. The genus bears a near affi- 

 nity to Ranunculus. What are here called petals, Linneus 

 terms awl-shaped petal-like nectaries. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: five-leaved, growing together at the base. 

 Petals: five; or Nectary five, awl-shaped, resembling petals, 

 having a melliferous pore at the claw. Seeds: numerous, five 

 to twelve. The only known species is, 



1. Myosurus Minimus; Mouse-tail. Root annual, fibrous, 

 small; leaves all radical, about twenty in a plant, of a mid- 



dling size, upright, of unequal lengths, linear, broadest at top, 

 flattened, faintly channelled on each side, smooth, somewhat 

 fleshy, blunt, of a yellowish green colour, and reddish at the 

 base. Scapes or flowering stems four, five, or more, each 

 supporting one flower ; petals of a yellowish colour. This 

 plant affords a rare instance of a very great disproportion of 

 males to females in the same flower, yet the latter are all 

 generally prolific. Mr. Curtis observes, that the structure 

 of the whole fructification in this delicate little annual plant, 

 is singular, and deserving the attention of the young botanist, 

 who should be careful to distinguish the corolla from the 

 stamina. It grows wild in most parts of Europe, and is often 

 found by the side of corn-fields and on moist grounds. 



Myrica; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Tetrandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: ament ovate-oblong 

 imbricate on all sides, loose, composed of one-flowered, cres- 

 cent-shaped, bluntly acuminate, concave scales ; perianth 

 proper, none. Corolla: none. Stamina: filamenta four, 

 (seldom but sometimes six,) filiform, short, erect; antheree. 

 large, twin, with bifid lobes. Female. Calix: as in the 

 male. Corolla: none. Pistil: germen subovate ; styles two, 

 filiform, longer than the calix; stigmas simple. Pericarp: 

 berry, one-celled. Seed: single. Observe. There is a great 

 affinity between this genus and Pistacia. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Ament with a crescent-shaped scale ; corolla 

 none. Female. Styles two ; berry one-seeded. The spe- 

 cies are, 



1. Myrica Gale; Sweet Gale, Sweet Willow, or Candle- 

 berry Myrtle. Leaves lanceolate, subserrate ; stem suffru- 

 ticose. It rises with many shrubby stalks, from two to nearly 

 four feet high, dividing into several slender branches, and 

 covered with a dusky or rust-coloured bark, sprinkled with 

 white dots; leaves convoluted and petioled, alternate, stiff, 

 an inch and half long. The flowers appear before the leaves, 

 and the flower-buds are above the leaf-buds at the end of the 

 branches. The fruit is a coriaceous berry. The leaves have 

 a bitter taste, and an agreeable odour, like those of Myrtle. 

 Their essential oil rises in distillation. The northern nations 

 formerly used this plant instead of Hops, and it is still in use 

 for that purpose in some of the Western Isles, and a few places 

 of the Highlands of Scotland. Unless it be boiled a long 

 time, it is reported to occasion the head-ach. The catkins 

 or cones boiled in water throw up a scum resembling bees- 

 wax, which, gathered in a sufficient quantity, would make 

 candles. It is used to balk calf-skins. Gathered in autumn, 

 it dies wool yellow, and is used for that purpose both in 

 Sweden and Wales. The Swedes sometimes employ a strong 

 decoction of it to kill bugs and lice, and to destroy the itch. 

 They lay branches of it upon and under their beds, to keep 

 off fleas and moths ; and give it as a vermifuge in powder 

 and infusion, applying it also externally to the abdomen. In 

 most of the Hebrides, as well as the Highlands of Scotland, 

 an infusion of the leaves is frequently given to children to 

 destroy worms. In Isla and Jura the inhabitants garnish 

 their dishes with it, and lay it between their linen and other 

 garments, to give them a fine scent, and to defend them from the 

 moth. When it grows near a sea-port, sailors make besoms 

 of it for sweeping their ships. In the Isle of Ely, they make 

 faggots with it to heat their ovens. From the smell of this 

 shrub, Linneus was induced to suspect that camphor might 

 be obtained from it. Horses and goats eat it; sheep and 

 cows refuse it. So little was the Tea-shrub known formerly, 

 that it was once asserted to be the same plant with our 

 Gale. Native of the northern parts of Europe, and of North 

 America in bogs : in England it flowers in May, and is com- 

 mon in the northern and western counties ; also in Windsor 



