MED 



MEL 



bent, somewliat angular, hoary, from a hand to 

 a foot in length, ternate : k-aflcts roundish, re- 

 tuse, subserrate, glaucous-green, petioled : the 

 upper ones smaller, soft, tomentosc: the stipules 

 entire or toothed, sessile, in pairs at the base of 

 the petioles : the peduncles axillary, much longer 

 than the leaves, round, pubescent, forming a 

 spike : flowers very small, commonly yellow : 

 the calyx smaller than the corolla, hirsute, 

 green-hoary : the legumes shell-snailed, small, 

 one-cclIcd, of different shades of brown or 

 blackish when ripe, ciliate, aculeate or naked : 

 the seeds ovate, smooth, convex on one side, 

 flat on the otlier, lemon-coloured. It is a na- 

 tive of the South of Europe. 



There are numerous varieties and subvarieties, 

 but the principal are: theCommonSnailMedica- 

 !;q, with large smooth pods, shaped and twisted 

 Tike a snail ; the Hedge-hog Medicago, with 

 large prickly snail- shaped pods, armed with spines 

 pomting everyway like a hedge-hog; with turbi- 

 nated pods; with globular pods ; with orbicular 

 pods ; with long crooked pods ; with double 

 pods; with clustered pods ; with twisted pods; 

 and with jagged leaves. 



Culture. — The first sort may be raised from 

 seeds or cuttings. 



The seeds should be sown in the early spring, 

 on a warm border, or in pots of light mould, 

 and plunged in a moderate hot-bed, till the 

 plants have attained a little growth ; when they 

 should be gradually hardened to the full air. In 

 both methods the plants should be kept clean, 

 and have protection in the following winter 

 from frost, and in the spring they should be 

 planted out, some into pots to have the manage- 

 ment of green-house plants, and others into 

 the borders and nursery-rows, in dry warm si- 

 tuations, the former to remain, and the latter to 

 be occasionally transplanted. 



When they are increased by cuttings, they 

 should be planted on a bed of light rich 

 earth, or in pots of the same sort of mould, 

 and plunged in a moderate hot-bed, due shade 

 and water being given ; and when they have 

 formed good roots, in the autumn they may be 

 removed into other pots or the situations in 

 which they are to remain, shading and watering 

 them till they are well rooted, when they 

 should be trained up to sticks, to have straight 

 stems and regular heads, their irregular shoots 

 being annually pruned to keep them in order. 

 These plantsare found togrow strongerand flower 

 belter v^hen kept in warm situations in the 

 open air, than when managed as green-house 

 plants. They should, however, be sheltered in 

 very severe winters. 



The second sort and varieties maybe raised from 

 Vol. II. 



seed, which should be sown in the early spring 

 months in the places where the plants are to 

 remain, in patches of several seeds, afterwards 

 thinning the plants to two or three of the best, 

 when they require no further culture. It is the 

 double sorts that are chiefly cultivated in (he 

 garden. 



They both afford variety in the borders and 

 other parts, and the former in the green- 

 house. 



MEDLAR. See Mespilus. 



MEDUSA'S HEAD. See Euphorbia. 



MELASTOMA, a genus containing plants 

 of the evergreen tree and shrub exotic kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Decandria 

 Monogi/nia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Cahjcanthemcp. 



The characters are . that the calyx is a onc- 

 leafed, bell-shaped perianthium, ventricose at 

 the base, four or five-cleft, permanent : the co- 

 rolla has four or five roundish petals, inserted into 

 the throat of the calyx : the stamina have eight 

 or ten filaments, inserted into the calyx, short : 

 anthers long, somewhat curved, upright, one- 

 celled, gaping at top with an oblique hole : 

 scalelets two, very small, diverging, annexed to 

 each filament below the anther, the rudiment of 

 another cell : the pistillum is a roundish germ, 

 in the belly of the calyx : style filiform, straight : 

 stigma blunt or headed : the pericarpium is a 

 two-, three-, four-, or five-celled berry, wrapped 

 up in the calyx, roundish, crowned with a 

 cylindric rim : the seeds very many and nest- 

 ling. 



The species cultivated are : 1 . M. grossu- 

 lar'mdes, American Gooseberry of Surinam ; 

 2. M. holosericea, Satiny-leaved Melastoma of 

 Brazil. 



Other species may be cultivated for variety. 



The first seldom grows more than seven or 

 eight feet high, spreading out into many slender 

 branches, covered with a smooth purple bark : 

 the leaves are lanceolate, five inches long, and 

 two broad in the middle, smooth on both sides, 

 entire, acute-pointed:, the flowers are produced 

 in pretty long hanging bunches, of an herba- 

 ceous colour, with styles stretched out a good 

 length beyond the petals, and permanent \ the 

 fruit small and black when ripe. It is a native of 

 Surinam. 



The second species has a shrubby stem, 

 rough-haired, with membranaceous corners : 

 the leaves cordate at the base, acuminate, whit- 

 ish underneath, nine-nerved, with three nerves 

 thicker : the racemes o])posite, subdivided, with 

 a sessile flower in the forkings: the last pedicels 

 three-flowered : the corollas rather large : the 

 calyx oblonc, five-cleft ; segments lanceolate, 

 O 



