MICROSORIITM. Pleopeltis. 



MICROSPERMA. A genus of Loasacece, 

 closely allied to Mentzelia, but differing 

 in the tube of the calyx being short and 

 top-shaped ; in the numerous stamens col- 

 lected into five bundles, each of which is at- 

 tached to one of the five large spreading 

 petals : and in the one-celled fruit open- 

 i : iug by five slits at the top, and containing 

 innumerable minute seeds arranged in five 

 rows. Only two species are known, both 

 natives of Mexico. M. bartonioides, occa- 

 1 sionally seen in gardens, is an herbaceous 

 annual with rough hairy stems, jagged 

 leaves, and showy flowers with large sul- 

 phur-yellow petals and very long slender 

 stamens of the same colour. [A. SJ 



MICROSTEGIA. Callipteris. 



MIDA. A genus of sandalworts, having 

 the stamens and pistils on different plants : 

 the males having the border of the calyx 

 four-cleft, eight glands at its throat, the 

 four outer small, the four inner larger, 

 ciliate and opposite the divisions of the ca- 

 lyx; the females with a four-cleft wheel- 

 shaped deciduous calyx, and a short cylin- 

 drical style ending in three spreading and 

 blunt lobes. The species are New Zealand 

 trees, with alternate entire leaves, of dry 

 texture. [G. DJ 



MIDNAPORE CREEPER. Bivea bona 

 nox. 



MIDSU. An oily pulp for cooking, used 

 in Japan, and made from beans. 



MIDSUMMER MEN. Elwdiola rosea. 



MIEL DE PALMA. A syrup extracted 

 from the trunk of Juboza spectabilis. 



MIELE. A Cingalese name for Bassia 

 longifolia. 



MIERSIA. A genus of Gittiesiaceai from 

 Chili, consisting of herbs with coated bulbs, 

 grass-like leaves, and umbellate flowers 

 from a kind of spathe. Each flower is sur- 

 rounded by a double involucre, of which 

 the exterior has six herbaceous bracts, 

 three pointing upwards and three down- 

 wards, and the interior as many small pe- 

 taloid bracts; perianth an urceolate six- 

 toothed cup, within which are six fertile 

 stamens. [J. T. SJ 



MIGXARDI8E. (Fr.) Bianthus pluma- 

 rius. 



MIGNONETTE. Reseda odorata. -^JA- 

 MAICA. Lawsonia alba. 



MIGNONETTE. (Fr.) Bianthus chinensis. 



MIGNONNETTE. (Fr.) Saxifraga um- 

 brosa. 



MIKANIA. A genus of Composite, only 

 i differing from Eupatoriurn in the flower- 

 ' heads containing constantly only four 

 florets, and the involucre having as many 

 nearly equal bracts, with the occasional 

 addition of one or two small ones outside. 

 The genus would indeed have been united 

 with Eupatoriurn, were it not that the eon- 

 stancy in the number of florets gives it a 



| peculiar habit easily recognised through a 

 large number of species. Nearly a hundred 

 and fifty have been published, but these 

 ought probably to be reduced by nearly one- 

 j third. With the exception of three or four 

 African or tropical Asiatic species, they are 

 I all natives of America, chiefly within the 

 | tropics. All of them have opposite leaves. A 

 | few are erect undershrubs ; the remainder 

 are herbaceous or half -woody twiners, with 

 oblong ovate cordate or lobed leaves, and 

 numerous small cylindrical flower-heads in 

 racemes, corymbs or panicles. The most 

 common species, M. scandens, a twiner 

 with cordate leaves, extends over the 

 greater part of North America, and is pro- 

 bably identical with some of the South 

 American species described as distinct, as 

 well as with the East Indian M.vohibilis, 

 and the African M. capensis. Some South 

 American species, especially the M. Guaco, 

 are supposed to supply a powerful antidote 

 for the bite of venomous serpents, but 

 this valuable property is perhaps not yet 

 sufficiently tested by reliable experiments. 

 The Guaco has, however, been supposed to 

 be a species of Aristolochia : which see. 



MIL. (Fr.) Panicum miliaceum. 



MILDEW. A word properly applied to 

 the white moulds which affect the leaves 

 of plants, as the German derivation (Mehl 

 Thau, flour dew) implies ; but at the pre- 

 sent day extended to such productions as 

 the dark mildew of wheat, or even to cases 

 in which no parasitic fungus is present. 

 The hop mildew, the rose mildew, the 

 mildew of peaches and of grapes, are ex- 

 amples of the first, all of which yield to 

 one or more dustings of sublimed sulphur. 

 The wheat mildew, which arises from the 

 attack of a species of Puccinia, is at pre- 

 sent without any known remedy. It is to 

 be observed that in the former case the 

 white mealy appearance represents merely 

 the young state of the fungus, the per- 

 fect form being evidently some Erysiphe 

 or closely allied genus. In the peach mil- 

 dew the perfect form is seldom produced, 

 and at present that of the vine is unknown, 

 though the ravages of the young plant 

 have been so disastrous. 



The word mildew is also applied to the 

 dark spots which are so common on linen 

 when kept in damp places. We believe 

 that this is due to one of the multitudinous 

 forms of the common Cladosporium herba- 

 rum. On closely examining such mildewed 

 spots, we have generally found minute frag- 

 ments of the cuticle of the wheat from 

 which the starch was made, used in the 

 dressing of the goods. If there be any jus- 

 tice in this observation, care must be taken 

 in the first place not to use any flour with the 

 starch, and thus to have the starch as free 

 as possible from impurities. There was a 

 notion formerly that silk becamemildewed 

 from the use of potato starch, the grains 

 being infested with the peculiar parasite 

 of the potato murrain. The assertion, how- 

 ever, is totally without foundation, as the 

 specimens on which the notion was origi- 

 nally built, most clearly proved. [M.J. BJ 



