2026 



MELICOCCA 



MELIOSMA 



glabrous: fls. whitish, in terminal racemes. Cult, and 

 naturalized in W. Indies and perhaps native there. The 

 foliage is distinct, the compound Ivs. with winged 

 petioles resembling those of Sapindus saponaria, the 

 W. Indian soap-berry. The Spanish lime is cult, in 

 S. Fla. and S. Calif. Its frs. are about the size and 

 shape of plums, green or yellow, and have a pleasant 

 grape-like flavor. The large seeds are sometimes roasted 

 like chestnuts. The tree grows slowly, attaining 20-60 

 ft., and bears freely. It can be fruited in the N. under 

 glass. It withstands several degrees of frost. This 

 fruit is the mamoncillo of Cuba, where it is much 

 prized. It is little known in the U. S. The fr. is 

 usually about an inch long, with thin leathery and green 

 skin and a rather scant acid refreshing pulp that adheres 

 closely to the seeds; it is eaten out of hand, being torn 

 open at one end to allow the translucent white and 

 juicy contents to pass into the mouth. L. jj. Jj. 



MELILOTUS (Greek for honey lotus). Leguminbsse. 

 SWEET CLOVER. MELILOT. Perhaps twenty species of 

 annual or biennial tall-growing sweet-smelling herbs, 

 widely distributed in temperate and subtropical 

 regions as weeds, some of them of value for forage and 

 green manure. 



Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, the Ifts. toothed and 

 mostly narrow: fls. small, white or yellow, in slender, 

 long-stalked, axillary racemes; calyx-teeth short and 

 nearly equal; corolla papilionaceous, the standard 

 oblong or oblong-obovate, keel obtuse: fr. a small, 

 few-seeded, not twisted but more or less reticulated 

 flattish indehiscent or tardily dehiscent pod. The 

 species are native in temperate and subtropical regions 

 in the northern hemisphere. Two species, M . officinalis, 

 Lam. (yellow-fld.), and M . alba, Desr. (white-fld.), have 

 become weeds along roadsides and in waste places. M . 

 indica, All., a common weed in Calif., has very small 

 yellow fls. A recent species. 



The prevailing sweet clover, the country over, is M . 

 alba. It is an erect biennial herb, often higher than a 

 man, flowering abundantly in spring and early summer. 

 It is said to prefer soils rich in lime, and it thrives on 

 poor and dry soils. Under the name of Bokhara clover 

 and sweet clover, it is grown somewhat as a forage plant. 

 Cattle come to like it for grazing, particularly if turned 

 on it early in the season, before other herbage is attrac- 

 tive. It may also be cut for hay, particularly the second 

 year. About twenty pounds of seed is required to the 

 acre. It is an excellent bee-plant. L. jj. B. 



MELINIS (Greek, meline, millet). Graminese. A 

 glutinous grass with branched decumbent stems, flat 

 blades and terminal panicles of very small spikelets, of 

 value as a forage plant in the tropics. 



Spikelets 1 line long, with a perfect terminal floret and 

 a sterile floret below; first glume very small; second 

 glume and sterile lemma about as long as the spikelet, 

 notched, the latter awned; perfect floret awnless. 

 Species one. 



minutiflora, Beauv. (Pdnicum Mellnis. Trin.). 

 MOLASSES GRASS. Two to 4 ft., the base branched, 

 decumbent, tangled and rooting: sheaths and blades 

 viscid-pubescent: panicles purplish, 3-6 in. Brazil and 

 S. Afr. Mart. Fl. Bras. 22:33. A good forage grass. 

 Has been tested in the W. Indies and in S. Fla. 



A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



MELIOSMA (Greek meli, honey, and osma, odor; 

 alluding to the fragrant flowers). Sabiacex. Trees 

 or shrubs grown for their handsome foliage and the 

 large panicles of white or whitish flowers. 



Deciduous or evergreen trees or shrubs: Ivs. alternate, 

 without stipules, simple or odd-pinnate, with opposite 

 Ifts. serrate or entire: fls. in terminal or axillary panicles, 

 perfect, rarely polygamous; sepals 5, rarely 4; petals 5, 

 unequal, the outer 3 roundish, imbricate; the inner 2 



much smaller, usually lanceolate, often bifid; stamens 5, 

 usually connate with the petals, the outer 3 sterile; 

 reduced to irregularly cup-shaped staminodes, the 

 inner 2 fertile, the anthers surrounded at the base by 

 the cup-shaped apex of the filaments; ovary superior, 

 often surrounded by a disk, 2-celled, rarely 3-celled, 

 each cell with 2 ovules; style simple: fr. a subglobose or 

 oblong small drupe, usually 1 -seeded. About 50 species 

 in E. and S. Asia and in Cent, and S. Amer. 



The meliosmas in cultivation are handsome decidu- 

 ous trees or shrubs with large pinnate or simple gen- 

 erally oblong leaves with numerous closely set lateral 

 veins, with large often drooping panicles of small 

 white or yellowish usually fragrant flowers followed 

 by pea-sized black or red fruits. Except M. myriantha, 

 they are of recent introduction and little is known of 

 their hardiness and their cultural requirements, but 

 they certainly possess promising ornamental qualities, 

 the handsomest being apparently M. Beaniana and 

 M. Veitchiorum. The latter and M. cuneifolia have 

 proved hardy in southern England, and in this country 

 they will probably be hardy as far north as New York 

 or even New England, while the other species are 

 tenderer. Propagation is by seeds sown as soon as they 

 are ripe; also by layers and probably by cuttings of 

 half-ripened wood under glass. 



A. Lvs. simple. 



myriantha, Sieb. & Zucc. Tree, to 30 ft. : Ivs. obqvate- 

 elliptic to oblong or oblong-obovate, short-acuminate, 

 broadly cuneate or sometimes rounded at the base, 

 toothed, glabrous above, sparingly pubescent beneath, 

 more densely so on the veins, without tufts of hairs in 

 the axils of the veins, 4-8 in. long, with 24-30 pairs of 

 veins: fls. greenish yellow, K m - across, in upright 

 panicles 6-8 in. long, with ascending branches: fr. red, 

 J^in. across. July. Japan. S.I.F. 2:46. G.C. III. 

 31:30. 



cuneifdlia, Franch. Shrub or tree, to 20 ft.: Ivs. 

 obovate, acute or abruptly acuminate, narrowly cuneate 

 at the base, sinuately toothed, glabrous above, pubes- 

 cent on the veins beneath and with tufts of hairs in 

 their axils, 3-7 in. long, with 20-25 pairs of veins: fls. 

 yellowish white, J^in. across, in upright panicles with 

 spreading branches, about 8 in. across: fr. black, %in. 

 across. July. W. China. B.M. 8357. 



AA. Lvs. odd-pinnate. 



Veitchidrum, Hemsl. Tree, to 50 ft.: young branch- 

 lets with brown shaggy hairs, soon glabrous, marked 

 with conspicuous lenticels and the older ones with 

 large If .-scars: Ivs. 1-3 ft. long; Ifts. 9-11, ovate to 

 ovate-oblong or oblong, obtusish or short-acuminate, 

 rounded or broadly cuneate at the base, entire, rarely 

 remotely crenate-serrate, glabrous or nearly so, 3-7 

 in. long: panicles terminal and axillary, drooping, 8-15 

 in. long, with or after the Ivs.; fls. yellow, Kin. across: 

 fr. black, subglobose or pyriform, M~H m - across, 

 sparingly produced. May: fr. in Sept. Cent. China. 

 A handsome tree with its large pinnate foliage and 

 the long drooping panicles of very fragrant yellowish 

 fls. A recent species. 



Beaniana, Rehd. & Wilson. Tree, to 50 ft.: young 

 branchlets brownish tomentose: Ivs. 6-12 in. long; 

 Ifts. 5-13, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, 

 cuneate or sometimes rounded at the base, remotely 

 serrulate or nearly entire, glabrous above and nearly 

 glabrous beneath except tufts of hairs in the axils of 

 the veins, 2-6 in. long: panicles very numerous, before 

 the Ivs., 4-8 in. long; fls. creamy white, Kin. across: 

 fr. globose, black, J^in. across. May; fr. in Sept. 

 Cent. China. A striking plant when covered in spring 

 with a mass of creamy white fls. 



M. Oldhamii, Miq. Tree, to 60 ft.: Ivs. odd-pinnate; Ifts. 9-13. 

 ovate to oblong, serrate, nearly glabrous, 2-4 in. long: fls. white, in 

 broad panicles, 8-12 in. across. Cent. China to Korea. M. 

 pendens, Rehd. & Wilson. Allied to M. myriantha. Shrub, 8-15 



