1036 



MUCUNA 



1434. A true moss 



MUCUNA (Brazilian name). Leguminbsa*. Between 

 20 and 30 mostly twining plants, widely distributed in 

 the tropics, one of which is somewhat cultivated as a 

 forage plant. The genus is allied to Glycine, which in- 

 cludes the Soy Bean. The Ivs. are 

 large and 3-foliolate: fls. long or 

 oblong, large, usually dark purple 

 (sometimes yellowish) but turning 

 black when dried, the corolla much 

 longer than the narrow-lobed calyx ; 

 the keel long, boat-shaped and usu- 

 ally twice or thrice longer than the 

 obtuse standard and also longer 

 than the wings: stamens diadel- 

 phous (9 and 1) the anthers not uni- 

 form in kind: pod usually hairy, 

 bristly or pubescent, containing 

 globular pea-like seeds. The Mu- 

 cunas are either annuals or peren- 

 nials. The fls. are borne in axillary 

 clusters, and the pods are usually 

 long and beset with stinging hairs, 

 pruriens, DG.(DblicTios pruriens, 

 Linn. D. multiflbrus, Hort.). COW- 

 ITCH. COWAGE. Fig. 1435. Annual 

 twiner, the branchlets somewhat 

 appressed-hairy and the Ivs. more 

 or less silky-hairy beneath : petioles 

 usually longer than the Ivs. : Ifts. 

 ovate or the lateral ones rhombic- 

 ovate, obtuse but apiculate : fls. 

 several to many, dull purple, 13^-2 

 in. long, in more or less drooping 

 racemes: pods f-shaped (the ends 

 curved in opposite directions), 2-4 

 in. long, ribbed, densely brown-or 

 Polytnchum commune. gray -bristly. - Tall - twining vine, 

 Nat. size. (See p. 1035.) common in the tropics of both hem- 

 ispheres. The hairs or bristles on 

 the pods are dislodged by the touch and they are very 

 irritating to the skin, often raising blisters. These 

 hairs also constitute a remedy for intestinal worms, it 

 being supposed that they kill the worms by irritating or 

 stinging them. It is a variable species. 



Var.utilis (M.utilis,Wall.). VELVET BEAN. BANANA 

 BEAN. A cultivated form, differing in the mostly 

 shorter pods, which are only velvety (not bristly-hispid). 

 Widely grown in the tropics. Of late it has attracted 

 attention in the Gulf states as a forage and green-ma- 

 nure crop, but its use is still in the experimental stage in 

 most places. Cattle have been fed successfully on the 

 meal made of the beans ground in the pod, but people have 

 been made sick by eating the green cooked beans, and 

 chickens have been killed by both raw and cooked 

 beans. Because of its vigorous growth, the Velvet 

 Bean promises well as a soil renovator, as the cow-pea 

 does, although it can not be be grown so far north as 

 that plant. It is a good ornamental plant, growing 

 10-20 ft. high when supplied with support. The hand- 

 some globular beans (%-% in. diam.) have markings 

 which suggest the castor bean. 



capitata, Sweet. Cult, in India and Japan (A. G. 

 13:728) as a household vegetable (as a shell bean), but 

 doubtfully distinct from the above : fls. usually fewer on 

 erect or ascending peduncles: pod mostly larger and 

 flatter, less hairy and becoming nearly or quite glabrous 

 at maturity; bean larger, somewhat flattened. Not yet 

 reported in this country. 



nivea, DC. Also cult, in India, and perhaps a cul- 

 tural race of M. pruriens: fls. white: pod large, black, 

 becoming glabrous. L H B 



MUEHLENBECKIA (after Dr. Muehlenbeck, a Swiss 

 physician). Polygonacece. A rather small genus of 

 climbing or erect, usually slightly shrubby plants, all 

 inhabitants of the south temperate zone: Ivs. alternate, 

 with sheathing stipules at the base : fls. unisexual, 

 small, fascicled in the leaf -axils; perianth with 5 nearly 

 equal lobes ; stamens 8 : ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled: styles 

 3: akene obtuse or acute, 3-angled, crustaceous, about 

 equaling the succulent perianth. All greenhouse plants, 

 very various in appearance. 



MULCHING 



complexa, Meissn. A twining or drooping, somewhat 

 shrubby plant: stem slender and much-branched, gla- 

 brous except when very young : Ivs. very small, 3-5 

 lines long, light green, about equaling the petiole, 

 mostly fiddle-shaped, rarely hastate; sheaths small, tu- 

 bular, deciduous: fls. 1-6, in somewhat racemose, pubes- 

 cent clusters, green and inconspicuous: fr. with a suc- 

 culent, transparent, whitish, persistent perianth. New 

 Zealand. A graceful greenhouse basket plant, but may 

 also be made to twine. Fruit clusters glistening, showy. 

 Is sometimes called Polygonum by florists. 



platycld,dos, Meissn. (Cocctlobaplatycldda, F.Muell.). 

 A very interesting erect, shrubby plant, with broad, 

 flat, ribbon-like, glossy, delicately striate branches, re- 

 placing the Ivs., which are scanty or entirely wanting: 

 Ivs. membranous, oblong-lanceolate, sometimes hastate: 

 bracts and stipules very short: fls. white, in few-fld. 

 clusters: akenes included in the fleshy perianth, which 

 at maturity is bright red or at length deep purple and 

 quite showy. Solomon Isls. B.M. 5382. Frequently 

 grown in greenhouses because of the odd flat stems and 

 showy fruit. 



M. adpressa, Meissn. Large, diffuse, bushy plant, with small 

 pink fls. in paniculate spikes: Ivs. up to 2 in. long, broadly ob- 

 long, often cordate, glabrous. Australia. B.M. 3145 (as Poly- 

 gonum). Cult, in Europe. K M 



MUEHLENBERGIA (Dr. H. Miihlenberg, who wrote a 

 work upon American grasses in 1817). Graminece. 

 About 60 species, mostly American. Spikelets 1-fld. 

 The following is offered by one dealer in native plants. 



glomerata, Trin. An erect perennial, with rather 

 short appressed Ivs.: panicle contracted and spike-like: 

 empty glumes nearly equal, 1 -nerved, extending into 

 short awns: fl. -glume longer than empty glumes, ex- 

 cept the awns. Wet ground, nearly throughout north- 

 ern U. S. A . g. HITCHCOCK. 



MUGWOBT. Artemisia vulgaris. 



MUtLLA (an inversion of Allium). Liliacece. A" ge- 

 nus of one species, an unimportant plant advertised by 

 one specialist in Pacific coast bulbs. It has a slender 

 scape 3-12 in. high, bearing early in the year an umbel 

 of 5-15 greenish white fls., each about % in. across. 

 The genus is close to Allium, but instead of a true bulb 

 it has a fibrous-coated corm, and also lacks the onion- 

 like odor. Generic characters are : perianth subrotate, 

 persistent, of 6 nearly equal, slightly united segments: 

 filaments slightly thicker at the base : ovules 8-10 in a 

 cell: style club-shaped, persistent and at length split- 

 ting. 



maritima, Wats. Lvs. several, not sheathing at base, 

 scabrous, as long as the scape. Calif., Nev. 



MUKIA. See Melofhria. 



MULBERRY. Discussed under Morus. French M. 

 Callicarpa Americana. Indian M. Morinda. Paper M. 

 Broussonetia. The wild Rubus odoratus is improperly 

 called Mulberry in some parts'of the country. 



MULCHING has four general objects: (1) to con- 

 serve moisture in the soil by preventing or hindering 

 evaporation; (2) to protect plants from winter injury; 



(3) to keep the surface of the soil loose and friable; 



(4) to add plant-food to the soil. 



The moisture which is available to agricultural plants 

 is held in the soil by means of capillary attraction. 

 The soil may be conceived to be full of irregular capil- 

 lary tubes which have a general vertical direction. The 

 upper ends of these tubes or spaces are in contact with 

 the atmosphere, and they are constantly giving off 

 moisture into the air. If the upper ends of these tubes 

 are covered, as with a board or a mulch, the evapora- 

 tion into the atmosphere is relatively slight. If they 

 are covered with a mulch of ashes or sawdust, a similar 

 result may be attained. This dry earth-mulch may be 

 made on the spot by tilling the upper two or three inches 

 of soil. The philosophy of summer tillage is to prepare 

 and to maintain this mulch of soil, thereby interposing 

 a relatively non-capillary stratum between the moist 



