747 



(EIjc ErcaSurn at 230tanp, 



[mnio 



the Papilionacem with free stamens, in 

 having' the pod divided longitudinally into 

 two cells, as in Astragalus. It consists of 

 eisht or nine species, Australian shrubs 

 with opposite whorled or rarely alternate 

 leaves, either entire or broadly lobed at 

 the top, and often prickly. The flowers 

 are usually purple or bluish, and often 

 handsome." Three or four species have 

 been introduced into our greenhouses. 



MIRLIROT. (Fr.) Medicago lupulina. 



MIROIR DE YENUS. (Fr.) Specularia 

 Speculum. 



MIRZA An Indian Ainaranthus. 



MI8HMISH. An Arabic name for the 

 Apricot. 



3IISO. A fatty substance obtained 

 from Soja hispida. 



MISSEBRCED. A kind of bread made 

 from the rhizomes of Calla palustrls. 



MIST-FLOWER. Conoclinium. 



MISTLETO, or MISSELTO. Yiscum al- 

 bum. — , WEST INDIAN. Loranthus, Pho- 

 radendran, and Arceuthobium. 



MITCHA3IITCHO. The Abyssinian Oxa- 

 lis anthelmintics, used for the same pur- 

 poses as Brayera. 



MITCHELL A. A genus of North Ame- 

 rican creeping herbs of the Cinchoiiacece. 

 The flowers are sessile, sometimes in pairs, 

 and, when this is the case, united by their 

 calyces, as happens in some species of Loni- 

 cera. The corolla is funnel-shaped, the limb 

 four-lobed, the throat and lobes hairy ; sta- 

 mens four ; ovary four-celled. The fruit is 

 succulent, surmounted by the limb cf the 

 calyx, with four stones, or, when two fruits 

 are united, as is usually the case, with eight 

 one-seeded stones. M. repens is widely dis- 

 tributed in North America. [31. T. MJ 



MITELLA. A genus of Saxifragacem, 

 consisting of perennial herbs, with stalked 

 roundish cordate lobed and crenate radical 

 leaves, and small flowers in a simple spi- 

 cate raceme, with the bracts mostly sup- 

 pressed. The calyx is short, bell-shaped, 

 five-cleft ; the petals five, pinnatifld ; the 

 stamens ten (or five), and the capsule one- 

 celled. A single species, M. nuda, occurs 

 in Siberia, and this and the other species 

 occur in North America. [J. T. S.] 



MITELLOPSIS. A genus of Saxifraga- 

 cece, differing from Mitella in having only 

 five stamens, and in the ovules being pro- 

 duced from the sides of the ovary, not 

 merely from the basal portion ; so that 

 there seems little doubt that Torrey and 

 Gray are right in merging it in Mitella. 

 The character given by some authors, 

 taken from the styles, is incorrect, as they 

 are not united in Mitella. [J. T. S.] 



MITR^FOR3I, or MITRIFORM. Hav- 

 ing the form of a mitre, that is to say, coni- 

 cal and not slit on one side ; applied to the 

 calyptra of urn-mosses, in opposition to 

 dimidiate. 



MITRARIA coccinea is the sole represen- 

 tative of a genus of Gesneracem confined 

 to the island of Chiloe. It is a trailing sub- 

 shrubby plant, with small opposite or some- 

 times trifoliate leaves, and solitary flowers 

 of a bright scarlet colour. The calyx seems 

 to be double in consequence of two bracts, 

 by which it is supported. The corolla is 

 ventricosely tubular, and the ovary sur- 

 rounded by a glandular disk. [B. S.] 



MITRASAC3IE. A genus of Loganiacew, 

 consisting of small slender herbs, mostly 

 annuals, some of them not half an inch 

 high. They have opposite leaves, and small 

 flowers, usually terminal, in loose panicles 

 or on long peduncles. As a genus, Jiey 

 are remarkable in the styles, which sepa- 

 rate at the base, at least after flowering, 

 whilst they remain united at the top, even 

 till the ripening of the capsule. In this 

 they resemble Mitreola, from which they 

 differ chiefly in the parts cf the flower 

 i being in fours, not in fives. There are 

 | about twenty species known from Austra- 

 lia, and three more from tropical Asia. 



I MITRE3ITCES. A genus of puffballs, 



distinguished by their cartilaginous peri- 



dium, which opens by a sinuous thickened 



mostly bright red orifice, and is capped 



with a hard deciduous outer coat. There 



is, moreover, a thin inner sac, which fills 



only a portion of the peridium, containing 



i the spores mixed with a few threads. The 



peridium is supported beneath by cartila- 



| ginous intricate bodies, which together 



I form a sort of stem, or by fragmentary 



! flakes somewhat like those of shell lac. 



j When fresh, thespeciessometimesexhibit 



brilliant tints of vermilion, but sometimes 



: they are yellowish, greenish, or dark brown. 



The genus was formerly supposed to be 



peculiar to North America, but it has 



since occurred in the Sikkim Himalayas, 



Australia, and Java. The habit is much 



like that of Husseia. [31. J. B.] 



3IITREOLA. A genus of Loganiacew, 

 consisting of annual or perennial herbs, 

 with opposite leaves, and small flowers in | 

 axillary cymes, the upper ones forming 

 a terminal panicle like Hitrasacme; the 

 styles, especially after flowering, are wide- 

 ly spread at the base, and meet at the stig- 

 mas ; but the parts of the flowers are in 

 fives, not in fours. There arefour species, 

 of which two are American, and two East 

 Indian, all weedy-looking plants of no 

 special interest. 



MITREWORT. Mitella. -, FALSE. 

 Tiarella. 



MNIARUM. A genus of Scleranthacece, 

 consisting of small herbs, with opposite 

 exstipulate leaves, resembling Scleranthus, 

 from which they are distinguished by hav- 

 ing only a single stamen, and by the calyx 

 being always only four-cleft. They are 

 found in Australia, New Zealand, and at 

 the Straits of Magelhaens. [J. T. S.J 



MNIOPSIS. A name applied to a genus 

 of Podostemacea-, the species of which are 

 very small, with a stem, or sometimes a 



