MON 



MOO 



MON I LI FORM Resembling a 

 string of beads. 



MONKSHOOD. Acointum napcl- 

 lus. Wolfsbane, aconite. Handsome 

 perennial-rooted plants, witb large 

 blue flowers, much cultivated. They 

 are very poisonous and narcotic. An 

 extract of the leaves of monkshood is 

 used in m(:dicine. 



MONO (from fiovoc, otic, single). An 

 affix to many compound words. 



MONOCHROMATIC (from iwvoq, 

 and xP'^P'-'^i colour). Having but one 

 colour, incapable of decomposition by 

 the prism. 



MONOCHLAMYDE.E, MONO- 

 CHLAMYDEOUS (from //ovoc, and 

 X?iafj.vc, a coat). Flowers with only 

 one envelope, or perianth, as the tu- 

 lip, lily. Those furnished with a ca- 

 lyx also, are called diclamydeous. 



MONOCOTYLEDONS, MONO- 

 COTYLEDONIA (from /jovoc, and 

 KOTvleduv, lohe). Endbgens. Those 

 plants and trees the seeds of which 

 have but one lobe, as grasses and 

 palms. 



MONCECIA (from //ovof, and olkoc, 

 a house). The twenty-first class of 

 Linnaeus ; plants which bear pistillate 

 and staminate flowers, perfectly dis- 

 tinct, but on the same stem, as In- 

 dian corn. 



MONOGYNTA (from fiovog, and 

 yvvTi, a female). Flowers with one 

 pistil. 



MONOMERANS (from novae, and 

 firipog, a limb). A section of the co- 

 leopterous insects, in which the tarsus 

 is supposed to be formed of a single 

 joint. 



MONOPETALOUS. A corolla, 

 the petals of which cohere into a tube : 

 synpetalous, gamopetalous. 



MONOPHYLLUS. A calyx with 

 the sepals united. Monoscpalous is 

 used to indicate the same form. 



MONOSEPALOUS. With the se- 

 pals of the calyx united into one 

 tube. 



MONSOONS. The periodical 

 trade winds of the Indian Ocean. 



MONSTROUS PLANTS, MON- 

 STROSITY. Plants which by cul- 

 tivation or otherwise have become 

 changed from their original forms. 

 502 



MONTANT. In building, any up- 

 rigtit piece in framing. 



MOON. The common notions 

 of the operation of the moon on 

 changes of weather, &c., have been 

 often and fully proved to be errone- 

 ous : they are altogether destitute of 

 truth. 



MOONSTONE. Adularia. Sem- 

 itransparent feldspar. 



MOON TREFOIL. Medicago ar- 

 borca. A species of medic. 



MOON WORT. Botrychium fuma- 

 roidcs. An indigenous, unimportant 

 fern. 



MOOR. " A name given to exten- 

 sive wastes which are covered with 

 heath, and the soil of which consists 

 of poor light earth, mixed generally 

 with a considerable portion of peat. 

 The want of fertility in moors arises 

 chiefly from a deficiency or supera- 

 bundance of moisture, the subsoil be- 

 ing either too porous to retain it, or 

 too impervious to allow it to escape. 

 Both extremes occur in some moors, 

 which are parched up in dry weather, 

 and converted into a dark mud by any 

 continuance of rain. A considerable 

 portion of iron is also generally found 

 in the soil of moors, which is very 

 hurtful to the vegetation of plants, 

 except heath, furze, and other coarse 

 plants, which almost entirely cover 

 the moors. This iron is carried down 

 through the light surface-soil, and, if 

 it meets with a less porous earth be- 

 low, is frequently deposited in a thin 

 layer, cementing the particles of si- 

 licious sand, which are carried down 

 with it, and forming what is called 

 the heath-pan or moor-band. This sub- 

 stance is perfectly impervious to wa- 

 ter, and wherever it exists in a con- 

 tinous state, all attempts at improve- 

 ment are vain, till it is broken through 

 or removed. The roots of trees oc- 

 casionally find a passage through in- 

 terstices or fractures of the pan, and 

 then often grow luxuriantly. But 

 wherever young trees are planted, 

 without the precaution of breaking 

 through the moor-band, they invaria- 

 bly fail, and disapi)oint the expecta 

 tions of the planter, who, seeing fine, 

 large trees growing around, naturally 



