from its flowers ; and the acrid resinous 

 gum distilled from its bark is used to de- 

 stroy the chiggers, little insects that attack 

 the naked feet of the negroes. The tree is 

 a native of the West Indies and of con- 

 tinental tropical America, but is cultivated 

 for its fruit and almost naturalised in some 

 parts of tropical Africa and Asia. The 

 genus is now sometimes made to include 

 two or three tropical Asiatic species, with 

 smaller flowers and fruits, but similar in 

 structure, which had previously been pub- 

 lished under the name of Calysacciox : 

 which see. 



MAMMEE. Lucuma mammosum. 

 MAMMEE-TREE. Mammea americana. 

 .MAMMOTH-TREE. Wellmgtonia gigan- 



MAXA. An Indian name for Paspalum 

 scrobiculatum. 



MANACA. A Brazilian name for Fran 

 ciscea uniflora. 



MAXAWA. A New Zealand name for 

 an aromatic resin reputed to be obtained 

 from Avicennia tomentosa. 



MAXCHI -STEEL. The virulently poison- 

 ous Rippomane Mancinella. — , BASTARD. 

 Gameraria latifolia. 



MAXCIEXXE. (Fr.) Viburnum Lantana. 



MAXCTJS. Deficient in something ; want- 

 ing. 



MAXDATALLI. An Indian name for 

 the purgative Convolvulus reptans. 



MAXDEVILLA. A genus belonging to 

 the order of dogbanes, distinguished by its 

 calyx having internally a pectinate ring; 

 by the five stamens enclosed in the corolla, 

 their anthers lanceolate, membranaceous 

 at the top, and forming a cone round the 

 stigma ; and by the single style, its stigma 

 conical, five-lobed below. The only species 

 is a climbing shrub, a native of Buenos 

 Ayres, whence it was first introduced, 

 under the name of Chili Jasmine ; its large 

 pure white and sweetly scented flowers 

 j render it an acquisition to collections. 

 Xamed after H. J. Mandeville, H.B.M. mi- 

 nister at Buenos Ayres. [G. D.] 



MAXDIOC. Manihot utilissima, from 

 which cassava is prepared. 



MAXDIROLA. A Brazilian gesnerad, 

 related to Achinienes, the typical species j 

 being the plant known as Achimenes multi- I 

 flora. It is characterised by its scaly sto- I 

 lones, by its subcampanulate corolla with ] 

 a spreading fringed limb and narrow base, 

 by its crenated membranaceous perigynous 

 ring, and by its two-lobed stigma. M. la- \ 

 nata is now called Eucodonia. [T. M.] j 



MAXDOBI, MUXDFBI. Portuguese 

 names for Arachis hypoacea. 



MAXDRAGORA. This name, derived 

 from two Greek words implying hurtful to 

 cattle, is applied to a genus of Solanaceee 

 or Atropacece. The species are natives of 



Southern Europe and the East, and have 

 very short stems, with a thick fleshy often 

 forked root, from the summit of which the 

 entire ovate lance-shaped leaves appear to 

 proceed in compact tufts. The flower-stalks 

 spring from among the leaves, and bear a 

 solitary flower with a top-shaped calyx, a 

 bell-shaped corolla, to the base of which 

 are attached five stamens, whose filaments 

 are dilated above their base. The fruit is 

 fleshy, one-celled, from the breaking up of 

 the partition between the two original cells 

 of the ovary, and supported by the slightly 

 enlarged and persistent calyx. 



The Mandrakes, like their near ally Bel- 

 ladonna, have poisonous properties. They 

 act as emetics, purgatives, and narcotics, 

 and would seem to have been much used 

 as sedatives in olden times, though now 

 disused. Shakspeare is supposed to allude 

 to this plant when he makes Banquo, in 

 Macbeth, say : ' Or have we eaten of the in- 

 sane root that takes the reason prisoner 1 ' 

 And also in Antony and Cleopatra : 'Give 

 me to drink Mandragora.' Dr. Silvester 

 has shown that Mandrake was employed in 

 olden times as an anaesthetic, in the same 

 way that chloroform now is. 



In the days when the doctrine of signa- 

 tures was an article of faith among the 

 ignorant at least, the Mandrake root, from 

 its occasional similarity to the lower part 

 of the human figure, was considered to 

 possess great virtues, and was in constant 

 use for amorous incantations and love phil- 

 tres. Its use in this manner is alluded to 

 in Genesis, chap. xxx. (the Dudaim being 

 identified with the Mandrake) ; and the 

 ! superstition, kept alive by the craft and 

 i ingenuity of the charlatan, has not entirely 

 died out even at present, although the root 

 of Bryonia dioica is now employed under 

 the erroneous name of mandrake. Xor 

 I was this the only superstitious notion con- 

 | nected with this plant, for Josephus men- 

 tions that its chief use is to dispel demons, 

 i who cannot bear either its smell or its 

 I presence. Shakspeare also alludes to the 

 fanciful belief entertained as to this plant, 

 in the following passage from Romeo and 

 Juliet : — 



And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth, 

 That living mortals, hearing them, run mad. 



Josephus even relates that it was certain 

 death to touch this plant, except under cer- 

 tain circumstances, which he details (Wars 

 of the Jews, book "vii. cap. vi.). The same 

 writer mentions that it was taken without 

 danger, in the following manner: 'They 

 dig a trench quite round about it, till the 

 hidden part of the root be very small ; they 

 then tie a dog to it, and when the dog tries 

 hard to follow him that tied him, this root 

 is easily plucked up, but the dog dies im- 

 mediately, as if it were instead of the man 

 that would take the plant away ; nor after 

 this need any one be afraid of taking it into 

 their hands.' Dioscorides mentions a male 

 and female kind of Mandrake, which appa- 

 rently correspond with the spring and au- 

 tumnal species of modern botanists. In 

 Professor Daubeny's interesting lectures 

 on Roman husbandry, is a plate copied from 



