M Y R 



M Y R 



particles : thefruit is acoriaccous berry: theinale 

 and female ameiits are sometimes on distinct 

 plants, and sometimes on the same individual. 

 It is a native ol' thenorlhcrn parts of Europe. 



It is said, that " the northern nations for- 

 merly used this plant instead of Hops," and 

 that '" it is still in use for that purpose iu some 

 of the Western Isles, and a few places of the 

 Highlands of Scotland." 



It is here known by the names of Sweet Gale, 

 Goule, Guiile, Sweet IVUlow, JFild Myrtle, 

 and IDiitc'i Islyrtle. 



The second species is a shrub, or a tree ac- 

 quiring a height of thirty feet in its native state : 

 the bark is warted : the branches unequal and 

 straight : the leaves evergreen, somewhat clus- 

 tered, blunt at the end, membranaceous- rigid, 

 wrinkled, smooth, covered underneath with very 

 minute, shining, orange- coloured, glandular 

 pores: the flowers are in aments, on different 

 individuals : the male aments, according to 

 Miller, are about an inch long, and stand erect : 

 and Martyn says, the female aments are sessile, 

 axillary, linear, shorter than the leaves : scales 

 very minute, and between each of them an ob- 

 long minute germ, longer than the scales : two 

 filiform styles, the length of the germ ; and 

 reflex stigmas : the berry minute, roundish, 

 yellow. It is a native of America. 



The third has the stalks slender, shrubby, 

 about four feet high, dividing into smaller 

 branches : the leaves are about an inch and half 

 long, and almost an inch broad, some of them 

 having two, others three deep opposite inden- 

 tures on their sides; they sit close to the branches, 

 and end in obtuse indented points : between the 

 leaves come out some oval catkins, which drop 

 off : it retains its leaves all the year, and is a 

 native of the Cape, flowering in June and 

 July. 



The fourth species has a weak shrubby stalk, 

 five or six feet_ high, sending out many long 

 slender branches, closely garnished their whole 

 length with small heart-shaped leaves, sitting- 

 close to the branches, slightly indented and 

 waved on their edges : the flowers come out be- 

 tween the leaves in roundish bunches: they have 

 an uncertain number of stamens, and are all in- 

 cluded in one common scaly involucre or cover. 

 The leaves continue all the year green. It is 

 also a native of the Cape. 



Culture. — The first two sorts may be raised 

 from seed, and the two last by layers. The first 

 kind requires a boggy moist situation, or to 

 be cultivated on bog earth in such circum- 

 stances. 



The seeds should be procured from their native 

 situaiionj and sown in pots of rich earth, in the 



spring, to the depth of half an inch, waterino; and 

 shading them during the following summer"^ and 

 on the approach of winter placed in a warm shel- 

 tered situation, or under a common frame. When 

 the plants have attained some growth, they 

 should be planted out in the spring in nursery 

 rows, to remain till of proper size to be planted 

 out in the pleasure-ground, where they succeed 

 best in a soil that is not too dry. 



The two last sorts arc mostly raised by layino- 

 down the young shoots in the latter end of sum- 

 mer or in the autumn, twining them at a joint, 

 and watering them well during the following 

 summer, when the season is dry ; and when 

 they have formed good roots, which is seldom 

 the case till the second year, thev should be 

 taken o(f and planted in small pots fil'led with soft 

 loamy earth, being placed under glasses in a 

 common frame, aiid shaded from the mid-day 

 sun till fully rooted; when they may be re- 

 moved into a warm sheltered place d'urino- the 

 summer, and in the autumn removed into the 

 green-house, being afterwards managed as other 

 plants of that kind. 



The first sorts are likewise sometimes raised 

 by planting the suckers of the roots in nursery- 

 rows as above in the autumn ; and all the sorts 

 occasionally by cuttings, though they strike 

 root with great dilSculty. In this last way the 

 young shoots are the most proper, which slioulJ 

 be planted in pots, and plunged in a hot-bed, 

 covering them close with glasses. 



They are introduced, the two first in sheltered 

 clumps and borders, and the latter sorts in col- 

 lections of the grecn-housc kind, wl'icre they 

 aflfbrd a fine fragrance in their leaves. 



MYRSINE, a genus comprising a plant of 

 the evergreen exotic shrubby kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Petilandria 

 Monogtjnia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Blcornes. 



The characters arc : that the calyx is a five- 

 parted perianthium, small : leaflets subovate,. 

 permanent: the corolla one-petalled, half-fivc- 

 cleft : segments half-ovate, converging, blunt : 

 the stamma have five filaments, scarcely visible, 

 inserted into the middle of the corolla: anthers 

 awl-shaped, erect, shorter than the corolla : the 

 pistillum is a subglobular germ, almost filling 

 the corolla : style eylindric, longer than the co- 

 rolla, permanent : stigma large, woolly, hanging 

 on the outside of the flower: the pericarp^iuiu 

 is a roundish berry, depressed, one-celled : the 

 seed one, subglobular, fixed obliquely to the 

 bottom of the berry. 



The species cultivated is il/. JJ'rkana, African. 

 Myrsine. 



It has the flowers axillarv, in threes, on short. 



