158 



MYR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL 



M v R 



entering the ground ; but in Cornwall and Devonshire, where 

 the winters are more favourable than in most other parts of 

 England, there are large hedges of Myrtle which have been 

 planted several years, and are very thriving and vigorous, 

 and in some instances upwards of six feet high. If the double 

 flowering kind were planted abroad, it would probably endure 

 cold as well as any of the other sorts, it being a native of 

 the southern parts of France. This and the Orange-leaved 

 are the most difficult to take root from cuttings : but if they 

 are planted towards the latter end of June, making choice 

 of only such shoots as are tender, and the pots are plunged 

 into an old bed of tanner's bark, which has lost most of its 

 heat, and the glasses shaded every day, they will take root 

 extremely well. The Orange-leaved, and those with varie- 

 gated leaves, are somewhat more tender than the ordinary sorts, 

 and should be housed a little sooner in autumn, and placed 

 further from the windows of the green-house. 



2. Myrtus, Tomentosa; Woolly-leaved Myrtle. Peduncles 

 one-flowered ; leaves triple-nerved, tomentose underneath ; 

 brunches round, tomentose ; flowers axillary, rose-coloured, 

 an inch and half broad, with deep crimson stamens, and yel- 

 low anthers. The calix and scalks are delicately hoary ; and 

 the leaves soft and downy, of a hoary green. It flowers in 

 June and July. Native of China and Cochin-china. For 

 the cultivation of this, and most of the species from warm 

 climates, see the twenty-ninth species. 



3. Myrtus Alpina; Alpine Myrtle. Peduncles solitary, 

 terminating, one-flowered; leaves ovate; branchlets in fours, 

 fastigiate ; stem arboreous. Native of Jamaica. 



4. Myrtus Rocera; Tall Myrtle. Peduncles clustered, 

 axillary, one-flowered ; leaves ovate, acuminate, flat, smooth ; 

 branches rod-like; stem arboreous. Native of Hispanolia. 



5. Myrtus Ligustrina; Privet Myrtle. Peduncles solitary 

 and branched, terminating, one-flowered ; leaves lanceolate, 

 blunt, convex, lucid. Native of Hispaniola. 



6. Myrtus Crenulata; Notch-leaved Myrtle. Peduncles 

 solitary, axillary, commonly three-flowered; leaves roundish, 

 crenulate, smooth. Native of Hispaniola. 



7. Myrtus Ceracina; Cherry Myrtle. Peduncles lateral, 

 and terminating, one-flowered ; leaves oblong, shining, dotted 

 underneath. The whole of this shrub is smooth. The fruit 

 has a very thin black skin, with a very small, purple, sweet- 

 ish pulp, including two white stones, flat on one side, con- 

 vex on the other, together making a sphere. It is so like a 

 black cherry, that it is so called in Jamaica. Native of the 

 Caribbee Islands. 



8. Myrtus Tenuifolia; Fine leaved- Myrtle. Peduncles 

 axillary, solitary, one-flowered; leaves linear, mucronnlate 

 This is an elegant little shrub; flower-stalks silky, shorter 

 than the leaves, each bearing a small white flower, often 

 tinged externally with red, and not unlike the Common 

 Myrtle blossom, though hardly half so large. Native o 

 New South Wales. 



9. Myrtus Brasiliana; Brazilian Myrtle. Flowers soli- 

 tary; peduncles naked; petals subciliate; leaves ovate, ob- 

 tuse, petioled, smooth. Native of Brazil. 



10. Myrtus Biflora; Two-flowered Myrtle. Peduncles 

 two-flowered; leaves lanceolate. It rises with a dividec 

 trunk to the height of eight or ten feet, sending out many 

 opposite branches, covered with a gray bark. As it retains 

 its splendent green leaves all the year, it makes a good ap- 

 pearance ; but the flowers being small, and growing thinh 

 upon the branches, do not make any great figure. Native o; 

 Jamaica. 



11.. .Myrtus Trinervia; Three-leaded Myrtle. Pedunclei 

 axillary, thrcerflowered; leaves ovate, acuminate, three- 



nerved, tomentose underneath, large and handsome; flowers 

 small. Native of New South Wales. 



12. Myrtus Angustifolia; Narrow-leaved Myrtle. Pedun- 

 cles umbelled ; leaves linear-lanceolate, subsessile. It is a 

 small tree, with round branches, and square smooth twigs. 

 Native of the Cape. 



13. Myrtus Lsevis; Smooth Myrtle. Peduncles umbelled; 

 eaves ovate, acuminate; stem shrubby, entirely smooth; 

 >ranches and branchlets alternate, erect; flowers on the 

 sranchlets terminating in a single umbel. Native of Japan. 



14. Myrtus Lucida; Shining Myrtle. Peduncles subtri- 

 lorous ; leaves subsessile, lanceolate, attenuated. The leaves 

 are of a singular structure, being from ovate remarkably 

 attenuated into a lanceolate top; flowers five-petalled.- 

 Native of Surinam. 



15. Myrtus Cumini. Peduncles many-flowered ; leaves 

 lanceolate, ovate ; branches round, ash-coloured. Native of 

 the East Indies. 



16. Myrtus Lineata. Flowers axillary, subsessile; leave* 

 ovate, acuminate, rigid, marked with lines, hoary underneath. 

 Native of Hispaniola. 



17. Myrtus Cordata; Heart-leaved Myrtle. Flowers axil- 

 lary and lateral, subsessile ; leaves sessile, cordate, ovate, 

 shining; branches ash-coloured, smooth, as is the whole 

 plant, compressed at top ; flowers axillary, three or four, 

 sessile on each side of the leafless branches. Native of the 

 West Indies. 



18. Myrtus Fallens; Ash-coloured Myrtle. Racemes ter- 

 minating, pubescent; pedicels one-flowered; leaves broad- 

 lanceolate, attenuated, dotted above; branches round, ash- 

 coloured, compressed a little at top. Native of South 

 America. 



19. Myrtus Dumosa. Racemes axillary, very short ; leaves 

 petioled, broad-lanceolate, acuminate, acute ; branches with 

 a coated chinky bark. Native of South America. 



20. Myrtus Buxifolia; Box-leaved Myrtle. Racemelets 

 very short, clustered, axillary; leaves wedge-shaped, oblong, 

 blunt, somewhat convex. Native of the AVest Indies. 



21. Myrtus Glabrata; Polished Myrtle, Racemeletg 

 very short, axillary, many-flowered; leaves elliptic, acumi- 

 nate, convex, coriaceous, very smooth. Native of Hispa- 

 niola. 



22. Myrttis Disticha; Globe-berried Myrtle. Peduncles 

 axillary, many-flowered, shorter than the leaves; leaves dis- 

 tich, bent down, ovate-lanceolate ; branches spreading. This 

 is a shrub often six feet high. The negroes call it Wild 

 Coffee, from a similar flavour in the seeds to the real coffee. 

 The berry is the size of a black currant, of three or four cells, 

 and as many seeds. It is a hardy stove plant, but of no 

 great beauty. Native of the West Indies. Found on the 

 north part of Jamaica by Swartz. 



23. Myrtus. Monticola. Peduncles many-flowered, very 

 short, axillary, solitary; leaves ovate, blunted, flat, very 

 smooth. Native of the West Indies. 



24. Myrtus Axillaris. Peduncles many-flowered, very 

 short, axillary, clustered ; leaves ovate, acuminate, shining, 

 flat. Native of the West Indies. 



25. Myrtus Gregii ; Hound-leaved Myrtle. Peduncles 

 many-flowered, axillary; leaves ovate, elliptic, acute, quite 

 entire, pubescent underneath. Native of Antigna, Barba- 

 does, and Dominica. 



26. Myrtus Dioica. Peduncles trichotomous-panicled ; 

 leaves oblong; flowers dioecous. Native of America. 



27. Myrtus Virgultosa. Peduncles axillary and terminat- 

 ing, paniclcd or racemed ; leaves broad-lanceolate, attenu- 

 ated. Native of the West Indie*. Ixus ,i 



