micr] 



€f)e Ereagurg of IScrtang. 



742 



the world, some few extending to China 

 and Japan. [T. M.] 



MICROMCIA. A considerable genus of 

 Brazilian melastomaceous plants, consist- 

 ing of stiff erect branching undershrubs 

 usually not more than a foot or two high, 

 with twiggy branches, very small leaves, 

 usually dotted with resinous glands, and 

 solitary deep rose pui-ple or white (rarely 

 yellow) flowers in the leaf-axils towards 

 the tips of the branches. The latter have 

 a calyx of five acute teeth ; five obovate 

 petals ; ten stamens, five alternate with 

 the petals larger than the rest, their an- 

 thers terminated by an oblique one-pored 

 beak, and having a more or less arcuate 

 prolongation of the connective below the 

 cells, which, in the larger stamens, is con- 

 tinued beyond the junction with the fila- 

 ment. The ovary is three-celled. [A. S.] 



MICROLOMA. A genus of Asclepiadacece 

 peculiar to South Africa, and consisting of 

 twining or erect shrubs, with opposite 

 smooth sagittate or oval leaves, small 

 flowers in umbels, a five-cleft calyx, an 

 urn-shaped flve-lobed corolla, and a smooth 

 fruit. Uses unknown. [B. S.] 



MICROLONCHUS. A small genus of 



Compositce, distributed over the Mediterra- 

 nean region and North-west India. Theyare 

 erect or prostrate branching herbs one to 

 two feet high, with toothed or pinuatifid 

 leaves, the upper ones linear entire, and 

 solitary terminal flower-heads, containing 

 many tubular rose-coloured florets, en- 

 closed in a cone-shaped involucre, consist- 

 ing of many series of overlapping scales, 

 which in some species terminate in a slen- 

 der spine. The penus is near to Centaurea, 

 but differs in the nature of the pappus, 

 which is double, the inner row of pales 

 broader than the others and sometimes 

 represented by a single scale, the outer of 

 rough hairs. [A. A. B.] 



MICROMELTTM. A genus of small trees 

 of the Aitrantiace.ee. The species are na- 

 tives of India and of the Indian Archipe- 

 lago ; they have pinnate leaves, terminal 

 corymbose inflorescence ; a five-toothed or 

 entire calyx ; a five-petaled valvate corolla ; 

 ten stamens, with disunited filaments ; 

 and an ovai-y with several cells, which are 

 separated one from the other by curiously 

 twisted dissepiments or partitions. The 

 cotyledons of the embryo are also described 

 by Professor Oliver, the most recent in- 

 vestigator of this family, as remarkably 

 twisted. [M. T. M.] 



MICROMERIA. A genus of the Labia- 

 tee, numbering about sixty species, which 

 are spread over nearly all the temperate 

 and warmer parts of the globe, but occur 

 in greatest abundance in the Mediterranean 

 region. They are erector prostrate branch- 

 ing perennial herbs, with opposite leaves, 

 and axillary whorls of small purple or 

 white two-lipped flowers, or the flowers are 

 gathered in spikes at the ends of the twigs. 

 Some of the species have an odour like 

 common thyme ; others smell like mint. 



They are chiefly recognised by the tubular 

 thirteen to fifteen-ribbed and five-toothed 

 calyx, which is not distinctly two-lipped as 

 in Thymus. [A. A. B.] 



MICROPERA pallida. The East Indian 

 orchid to which this generic name was 

 first applied, having turned out to be a spe- 

 cies of Camarotis, Dr. Lindley has suggest- 

 ed that the name Micropera should be re- 

 tained for another East Indian plant of the 

 same family, not referable to any before 

 known genus, described by Dalzell under 

 the name of Micropera maculata. This is a 

 little stemless epiphyte, with flat oblong 

 leaves notched at their one-sided top, and 

 a simple raceme of small flowers, having 

 nearly equal free obovate sepals and petals 

 of a yellow colour with a purple spot in 

 their centre. The lip is white marked with 

 rose, saccate or pouched, and looks, as Dr. 

 Lindley says, ' like a side-saddle with two 

 horns instead of one— the pouch, into 

 which there is an opening only between 

 the horns, being almost concealed by the 

 lamina, which hangs down in the manner 

 of saddle-flaps.' [A. S.] 



MICROPTERIS. Xiphopteris. 



MICROPTERYX. A genus proposed by 

 Walpers for the Erythrina cristo-galli and 

 some other species, which have the keel 

 petals united. It has not, however, been 

 adopted otherwise than as a section of 

 Erythrina. 



MICROPYLE. The aperture in the skin 

 of a seed which was once the foramen of 

 the ovule ; it indicates the position of the 

 radicle. 



MICROPYXIS. A genus of primworts, 

 distinguished by having the calyx five- 

 parted ; the corolla funnel-shaped, shorter 

 than the calyx, and remaining adherent 

 till the fruit is ripe, its tube short, the 

 border five-parted, the acute lobes ap- 

 proaching after flowering; stamens five, 

 filaments broad at the base and slightly 

 hairy ; the seed-vessel globose, membra- 

 nous, and opening across. The species are 

 small annuals, natives of Bolivia, New 

 Holland, and Madagascar; their upper 

 leaves are alternate, and the flowers axil- 

 lary and solitary. [G. D.] 



MICROS. In Greek compounds = small ; 

 thus microphylla means small-leaved. 



MICROSERIS. A genus of cichoraceous 

 Composites. The two species, M. Forsteri 

 and pygmcea— the former found in Austra- 

 lia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, the latter 

 j in Chili— are smooth stemless perennial 

 j herbs, with entire or deeply pinuatifid 

 S leaves, and simple flower-scapes bearing a 

 | solitary head of yellow florets like that of 

 Teiraxacum. The genus is most readily 

 ! recognised by the many-striate terete 

 j beakless achenes crowned with a pappus 

 of numerous tawny bristles which are 

 rough above and dilated at the base. The 

 fleshy fibres of the roots of M. Forsteri are 

 eaten by the natives about Port Philip, 

 according to Mr. Gunn. Monermos and 

 , Phyllopappus are synonyms. [A. A. BJ 



