2034 



MELOTHRIA 



MENTHA 



will do well in any part of a living-room where it has 

 light. It will grow as much as 16 ft. high in one summer 

 by having a liberal supply of water every day and liquid 

 manure once a week. After growing outdoors it can 

 be cut down to 6 in., potted and taken into the house 

 for the winter. In the spring it can be cut back, again 

 planted out and it will do well. The roots may almost 

 be called tuberous, and can be kept dormant in winter, 

 the same as dahlias, buried in sand in a cool, dry place, 

 free from frost. Increased by cuttings. (James Vick.) 

 maderaspatana, Cogn. (Cucumis maderaspatanus, 

 Linn. Brybnia scabrella, Linn. f. Mukia scabrella, 

 Arn.). Annual: Ivs. ovate or somewhat deltoid, entire, 

 angled or 3-5-lobed, very scabrous above and scabrous 

 or short-hairy beneath: male fls. fascicled, the female 

 solitary or only partially fascicled: fr. small, globose, 

 smooth or sparsely echinulate, at first green and longi- 

 tudinally variegated with brown-yellow, becoming red; 

 seeds pitted. Trop. Asia and Afr. 



M. flumin&nsis, Gardn., produces a fr. said to be pickled when 

 green, in Porto Rico, and eaten, and also good when fully ripe: a 

 climber 5 or 6 ft. long: Ivs. cordate-ovate, usually acute or short- 

 acuminate, 5-angled or lightly 3-5-lobed, scabrous above: fr. small, 

 not variegated or otherwise marked and in this differing from M. 

 scabra. Trop. Amer: variable. WlLHELM MlLLER. 



L. H. B.f 



MENISCIUM (Greek, a crescent; referring to the 

 shape of the sori). Polypodiacese. A genus of about 

 10 tropical species allied to Dryopteris, usually with 

 pinnate Ivs. and with the main veins united by succes- 

 sive transverse arches, on which the naked sori are 

 borne. They are warmhouse and greenhouse species. 

 See p. 1215. 



reticulatum, Swartz. Stalks 1-3 ft. long, stout: Ivs. 

 2-4 ft. long, 1 ft. or more wide, pinnate; pinnae 1-4 in. 

 wide, with an acuminate apex, naked or slightly pubes- 

 cent; main veins 1-1^4 lines apart, with 8-12 transverse 

 arches. Mex. and W. Indies to Brazil. 



L. M. UNDERWOOD. 



MENISPERMUM (Greek, moonseed). Menisperma- 

 ceae. MOONSEED. Hardy and attractive semi-woody 

 climbers. 



Twining glabrous or slightly pubescent vines, with 

 alternate long-petioled Ivs., which are peltate near the 

 margin, and axillary or super-axillary panicles or cymes 

 of small dioacious not showy fls. : fr. a berry-like drupe, 

 containing a flattened crescent-shaped or curved stone 

 (whence the name moonseed): stamens 9-24, with 4- 

 loculed anthers in the staminate fls., 6 and sterile in 

 the pistillate fls.; pistils 2-4, with broad stigmas; sepals 

 4-8, in 2 series; petals 6-8, shorter than the sepals. 

 As conceived by the early 

 botanists, Menispermum con- 

 tained many species which 

 are now referred to Cocculus, 

 Abuta, Cissampelos, Tinos- 

 pora, Anamirta and other 

 genera. The genus is now 

 considered to be bitypic, one 

 species in N. Amer. and the 

 other in Siberia, China and 

 Japan. (Diels, in Engler's 

 Pflanzenreich, hft. 46, 1910.) 

 Both the moonseeds are neat 

 and interesting vines, and 

 are hardy in the northern 

 states and Ont. Prop, readily 

 by seeds; or plants of M. canadense may be dug from 

 the wild. Cuttings of ripened wood may also be used. 



canadense, Linn. COMMON MOONSEED. Fig. 2357. 

 Sts. slender and terete, woody below, flocculent-pubes- 

 cent when young, but becoming glabrous, twining 10 ft. 

 or more high: Ivs. variable in shape, round-ovate to 

 ovate-cordate, sometimes entire, but usually angulate- 

 lobed, the long petiole attached just inside the margin: 



fls. greenish white, in loose straggling panicles, the 

 sepals and petals usually 6, the stamens in the male fls. 

 10-20: fr. bluish black, J^in. diam., resembling small 

 grapes. Rich soils in thickets and lowlands, Que. to 



2357. Leaf of Menispermum 

 canadense. (XJi) 



2358. Menispermum dauricum. ( X 1 A) 



Manitoba and south to Ga. and Ark. B.M. 1910. 

 G.M. 57:153. G.W. 1, p. 63, F.E. 22:493; 28:261. 



dauricum, DC. Fig. 2358. In habit much like the 

 above but more vigorous : glabrous : Ivs. smaller, dis- 

 tinctly peltate, deeper green, cordate and angular: fls. 

 in cymes, yellowish, the terminal ones with 6 sepals, 

 9 or 10 petals and about 20 stamens, the lateral ones 

 with 4 sepals, 6 petals and about 12 stamens. S. E. 

 Siberia, Korea, China, Japan. G.F. 5:233 (adapted in 

 Fig. 2358). Variable. Rarely planted in this country. 



L. H. B. 



MENTHA (from the Greek name of the nymph 

 Minthe). Labiate. MINT. Strong-scented perennial 

 herbs; grown mostly for their essential oils but some- 

 times for ornament. 



The term mint, often applied to various species of 

 Labiatse, is most frequently used to designate plants of 

 the genus Mentha. This genus is characterized by its 

 square sts. and opposite simple Ivs. in common with 

 others of the family, and especially by its aromatic 

 fragrance, its small purple, pink or white fls., with mostly 

 regular 10-nerved calyx, slightly irregular 4-cleft 

 corolla and 4 anther-bearing stamens, crowded in 

 axillary whorls and the whorls often in terminal spikes; 

 ovary 4-parted, style 2-cleft : nutlets ovoid and smooth. 

 Many forms have been described, and the synonymy 

 is extensive. About 30 species are now recognized, all 

 native in the North Temperate Zone, about half of 

 them being native or naturalized in N. Amer. Six 

 species are cult, more or less for the production of 

 aromatic essential oil, which is found in all parts of the 

 herb, and especially in minute globules on the surface 

 of the Ivs. and calyx. Some of the species hybridize 

 freely, producing innumerable intergrading forms which 

 make the limitation of certain species difficult. 



The mints are scarcely horticultural subjects, 

 although M. rotundifolia and M. Pulegium, as well as the 

 little M. Requienii, may be used as border plants or 

 ground-covers and for the ornamental foliage of some 



