MALVA 



Jf //) iniata is a much confused name. In the Thorburn cata- 

 >eue The plant in the American trade is said to be the same as 



Aseralcea Munroaiia, probably on the authority of E. S. Car- 

 rin in A G 11:539. M. miniata is also advertised by German 

 e-tlers and is referred by Vilmorin's Blumengartnerei to bphae- 

 d'ce-i miniata Index Kewensis, however, refers M. miniata to 

 Chseralcea cisplatina. This riddle will, perhaps, be solved 

 - der .Sphjeralcea, which see.-M. rnultifida alba, Hort., is 



MAMMILLARIA 



971 



I zebrina is described as a hardy annual, called " Striped Mal- 

 j\v." growing 2 ft. high, with white and purple fls. w. M. 



MALVASTRUM (name made from Malva). Malvacece. 

 ijixty or more herbs and subshrubs in America and S. 

 kfrica, of which 2 or 3 are plants of minor importance in 

 kardens. From Malva and its allies it differs in having 

 jihort or capitate stigmas on the style-branches rather 

 han longitudinal stigmas, also in having a solitary ovule 



II each carpel. From Malvaviscus it differs in having 

 v dry rather than a baccate fruit, and in other charac- 

 ers. The garden species are perennials of easy culture, 

 ilooming in the hot weather of summer. 



coccineum, Gray. A tufted canescent plant, 5-10 in. or 

 ess high, with running rootstocks: Ivs. not more than 

 L in. across, pedately 3-5-parted or divided, the narrow 

 livisions again cut or cleft: tts. brick-red or coppery, in 

 a, short terminal raceme: carpels round-kidney-shaped, 

 inclosed in the incurving calyx lobes. Western Amer. 

 B. M. 1673 (as Crist aria coccinea). There is a var. 

 :grandifldrum in the trade, with "large deep scarlet fls." 



campanulatum, Nichols. Two ft. or less high, hairy: 

 Hvs. pedately 3-5-lobed, the lobes deeply cut and toothed, 

 jclasping: fls. rose-purple, an inch across. Chile. P.M. 

 9:173, and R.H. 1843:325 (as Malva campanulata). 



splendidum, Kell. Shrub, becoming 12 ft. or more, 

 igray-tomentose: Ivs. cordate-ovate, 5-lobed: fls. rosy 

 :pink, fragrant. Calif. L. H. B. 



MALVA^VlSCUS (Greek, sticky mallow). Malvacece. 

 About 25 species of tender shrubs from the warmer 

 ;parts of America, one of which, M. arboreus, is known 

 to the trade as Achania Malvaviscus. It is a fine old 

 greenhouse shrub with erect scarlet fls., which resemble 

 an Abutilon and never open widely. Abutilon, however, 

 has no involucre, while Malvaviscus has an involucre of 

 10-12 bractlets. Lvs. entire, 

 dentate, angled or lobed: 

 fls. red, usually peduncled; 

 petals erect and connivent 

 or spreading in the upper 

 half ; column of stamens 

 truncate below the apex or 

 5-toothed : carpels fleshy 

 outside, connate into a berry, 

 later separating. 



arbdreus, Cav. (Achania 

 Malvaviscus, Sw.). Fig. 

 1353. Tall shrub: Ivs. alter- 

 nate, mostly 3-lobed, acumi- 

 nate, heart-shaped at the 



base, toothed: tts. convolute in the bud; bractlets erect. 

 S.Amer. B.M. 2305. Cult, outdoors in S.Fla.and S.Calif. 

 Malvaviscus arboreus is one of the most satisfactory 

 house plants that can be grown. It is not subject to in- 

 sects of any kind, will stand a low tempeiature in win- 

 ter and blooms both winter and summer. W T hen pot 

 grown, the plant is usually about 2 ft. high, but out- 

 doors it makes a strong, branching growth, attaining 3-o 

 ft. The bright scarlet fls. remain a long time in perfect 

 condition. The tts. open slightly at the top or not at all. 

 This circumstance gave rise to the old name Achania, 

 which means not opening. The plant needs a good light 

 soil and thrives in a compost of fibrous peat and loam. 

 Prop, by cuttings. The cultivators need not fear the 

 appearance of white grains on the surface of the Ivs., as 

 they are a normal, waxy secretion of the plant. 



JAMES VICE. 

 MAMILLARIA. See Mammillaria. 



MAMMEA (from a South American name). Guttif- 

 enp. Six species of tropical trees, one of which, M. 

 Americana, produces the fruits known as the Mammee 



1353. Malvaviscus arboreus. 



Apple or St. Domingo Apricot. These are 3-6 in. in 

 diameter, round, russet-colored or brown, with a yellow 

 juicy pulp, and 1-4 large, rough seeds. The skin and 

 seeds are bitter and resinous. The fruits are eaten raw 

 without flavoring, or with wine and sugar, or sugar and 

 cream. They are also preserved. The taste for them 

 does not have to be acquired. The tree is cult, in S. 

 Fla. and S. Calif., and a few fruits are brought from the 

 West Indies to the U. S. The nearest ally of horticul- 

 tural value is the Mangosteen, belonging to the genus 

 Garcinia, characterized by having 4 sepals, while 

 Marnmea has a calyx which is closed before anthesis, 

 and afterwards is valvately 2-parted. Mtimmeas have 

 rigid, leathery Ivs., often dotted with pellucid glands: 

 peduncles axillary, 1-fld., solitary or clustered : fls. 

 polygamous ; petals 4-6 ; stamens numerous ; stigma 

 peltate or broadly lobed: ovary 2-4-celled. 



Americana, Linn. MAMMEE APPLE. ST. DOMINGO 

 APRICOT. Fig. 1354. Tree, 40-60 ft. high: Ivs. obovate- 

 oblong, rounded at tip, 4-8 in. long: peduncles few or 

 solitary: petals white, fragrant; anthers oblong, later- 

 ally dehiscent. B.M. 7562. w. M. 



Mammea Americana is native from the West Indies 

 to Brazil. The wood ^ durable and well adapted for 

 building purposes, posts and piles. It stands damp. It 

 is beautifully grained az.1 is used for fancy work. The 

 gum is applied to extract chigoes; dissolved in lime- 

 juice it destroys maggots in sores at a single dressing. 

 An infusion of the bark is astringent and is useful to 

 strengthen the recent cicatrices of sores. A liqueur has 

 been obtained by distillation from the flowers infused 

 in spirits of wine, known in the Island of Martinique by 

 the name of "Creme des Creoles." -The fruit is the size 

 of a very large orange. It has a sweetish, somewhat 

 aromatic taste and a peculiar odor. Not much use is 

 made of it. Seeds germinate freely, and young plants 

 are easily raised. W. HARRIS. 



MAMMEE APPLE. See Mammea. 



MAMMILLARIA (Latin, mammila ; referring to the 

 nipple-like tubercles on these plants). Often but not 

 originally spelled Mamillaria. Stems simple, branch- 

 ing or in clusters from the root, commonly hemispheri- 

 cal or short-cylindrical, but often depressed or some- 

 times much elongated; the surface entirely broken up 

 into tubercles (mamillce) : fls. usually short-funnelform, 

 with naked or nearly naked tube and ovary, borne in 

 the more or less woolly axils between the tubercles, or 

 at the inner extremity of a narrow groove on their up- 

 per surface: fr. globose to linear-clavate, nearly always 

 smooth and berry-like. The first subgenus is rather in- 

 definitely separated from the tuberculate Echinocacti by 

 the smooth fruit, and by the character of the groove, 

 which in Mammillaria is hardly more than an impressed 

 line, while in Eclnnocactus it is shorter and so broad as 

 to be obviously a continuation of the spiniferous areola. 

 The cultivation of Mammillaria differs in no respect 

 from Echinocactus, which see. 



REVIEW OF SUBGEXERA. 



Subgenus I. CORYPHANTHA (flowering in vertex). 

 Tubercles, at least the flowering ones, narrowly 

 grooved on the upper side, from apex nearly to 

 base, except in M. macromeris. Fls. showy, 

 large for the genus. Fruit green or greenish, 

 except in M. tuberculosa and M. Missouriensis. 

 Seeds brown, lightly reticulated and thin- 

 shelled, with ventral or subventral hilum, ex- 

 cept in dasyacantha and Missouriensis. Species 1-^4 

 Subgenus II. DOLICOTHELE. . Tubercles cylindnc- 

 conical, long, loose and of soft texture. 11s. 

 large, yellow, from the axils of the upper 



tubercles Species <J5 



Subgenus III. COCHEMIEA. Stems elongated, torm- 

 ing large clumps : fls. in a crown near the 

 apex, 1^-2 in. long, narrowly tubular-funnel- 

 form, somewhat curved and bilabiate, with 

 widely spreading sepaloid scales, the whole 

 flower uniformly waxy red; stamens and style 

 exceeding the petals: fr. red: one or more cen- 

 trals hooked, except sometimes in M. Halei. 

 All from Lower California and adjacent islands. 



