hone] 



Ojf Creagurj? 0f botany. 



750 



name to the order Monimiacece, and is 

 distinguished in the order, hy the carpels j 

 containing each one pendulous ovule, and j 

 being enclosed as they ripen in the enlarg- 

 ed succulent berry-like tube of the perianth. | 

 The genus consists of three species natives 

 of the Mauritius, trees or shrubs, with 

 opposite entire leaves, more or less hairy i 

 or downy, and inconspicuous yellowish i 

 fragrant flowers, in axillary racemes or 

 panicles. 



MONIZIA. The generic name of a cu- ' 

 rious somewhat arborescent plant of the i 

 order Umbelliferce, found in the island j 

 called Deserta Grande, one of three unin- i 

 habited islands lying south-east of Madeira, j 

 M. edulis, the Carrot-tree, has a crooked i 

 woody stem one to four feet high, gouty ( 

 at the base, and terminating in a tuft of 

 decompound, broadly triangular, fern-like 

 leaves, which, including their stalks, are 

 from one to three feet in length ; the 

 flowers are small, white, and disposed in 

 compound many-rayed umbels furnished 

 with partial and universal involucres of 

 entire leaflets. Mr. Lowe, who described 

 the plant— dedicating it to M. Moniz, a bo- 

 tanist of Madeira— saw it growing far 

 down in Assures of perpendicular cliffs 

 1,200 to 1,500 feet high, and remarks that 

 it can only be gathered by expert crags- 

 men let down by ropes for the purpose. 

 The orchil-gatherers and fishermen who re- 

 sort to the island, eat the roots when pre- 

 vented by weather from getting better 

 food from Madeira : therefore the plant is 

 becoming scarce. The roots have long 

 curved horn-like divisions, black outward- 

 ly, farinaceous and white within, and much 

 more fibrous than those of a carrot. They 

 are eaten raw or boiled— when raw tasting 

 like earth-nuts, and stringy and insipid 

 when boiled. The Portuguese call it Rock 

 Carrot, Cenoula da Rocha. 



The nearest relationship of the genus is 

 with Melanoselinum, from which it differs 

 at first sight in the finely divided foliage, 

 but more especially in the fruits, which are 

 dorsally compressed, with fourteen ribs— 

 the ribs of a corky consistence and entire, 

 whereas in Melanoselinum they are thin 

 and toothed. Under the four dorsal se- 

 condary ribs of each carpel (not under all) 

 are vitta?, and two broader than the others 

 on the inner face of the carpel. The plant 

 is cultivated at Kew. [A. A. B.] 



MONJOLI. Cordia. 



MONKEY BREAD. The fruit cf Adan- 

 sonia digitata. 



MONKEY-FLOWER. Mimulus. 



MONKEY- POT. The woody pericarp of 

 Lecythis Ottawa. 



MONKEY-PUZZLE. Araucaria imbri- 

 cata. 



MONK-FLOWER. Monachanthus. 



MONKSHOOD. Aconitum Napellus ; also 

 Bielytra Cacullaria. 



grateful refreshing odour resembling that 

 of mint or sage. — , SMALL. Pycnanthe- 

 muiii Monardella. [C. A. J.] 



MONESES. The Pyrola uni flora of au- 

 thors, a subalpine woodland plant belong- 

 ing to the Ericaceae., and separated from 

 Pyrola on account of the different struc- 

 ture of the stamens and stigma : the cells 

 of the former being furnished each with a 

 tubular horn opening at the end, the stig- 

 ma radiated, and the capsule opening from 

 the summit. M. grandiflora has creeping 

 roots, short reclining leafy stems, roundish 

 much-veined evergreen leaves, and an 

 erect stalk three inches long usually bear- 

 ing one concave bract and a solitary droop- 

 ing large elegant white or slightly red- 

 dish flower, nearly an inch broad, with the 

 sweet and powerful scent of the lily of the 

 valley. It is rare in Britain, but has a 

 wide geographical range both in the east- 

 ern and western hemispheres. [C. A. J.] 



MONETIA. A Cape of Good Hope shrub, 

 named in compliment to Monet de laMarck, 

 an eminent French naturalist. It consti- 

 tutes a genus of Aquifoliacece, with the 

 branches four-cornered, the leaves oppo- 

 site, undivided and leathery like those of 

 the holly, but with two spines proceeding 

 from the axils; and the small flowers 

 greenish, with a bell-shaped three or four- 

 cleft calyx, a corolla of four linear reflexed 

 petals, four stamens inserted on to the re- 

 ceptacle, and a fleshy one or two-seeded 

 fruit of the size of a pear. [M. T. M.] 



MONEY-FLOWER. Lunaria biennis. 

 MONEYWORT. Lysimachia Nummula- 

 ria; also Anagallis tenella, Thymus Num- 

 mularius, Taverniera Nummularia, and 

 Dioscorea Nummularia. — , CORNISH. 

 Sibthorpia europwa. 



MONGETTE. (Fr.) Dolichos melanopli- 

 thalmus. 



MONILIFORM. Necklace-shaped ; cylin- 

 drical or terete, and contracted at regular 

 intervals. 



MONIMIACEiE. (Monimiads.) A natural 

 order of monochlamydeous dicotyledons 

 belonging to Lindley's menispermal alli- 

 ance of diclinous Exogens. Trees or shrubs, 

 with opposite exstipulate leaves, and uni- 

 sexual flowers. Perianth somewhat glo- 

 bose, in one or more rows, divided at the 

 border. Male flowers with indefinite sta- 

 mens, covering the whole interior of the 

 perianth, the filaments often with two 

 scales at the base; females with several 

 superior ovaries, enclosed within the pe- 

 rianth tube, each with one style and one 

 stigma, and a solitary pendulous anatro- 

 pal ovule. Fruit consisting of several 

 achenes enclosed within the enlarged pe- 

 rianth. They are natives chiefly of South 

 America and Australia. The bark and 

 leaves are aromatic and fragrant ; and the 

 i succulent fruit of some is eaten. There 

 l are eight genera, and about forty species. 



Examples : Moninria, Boldoa. [J. H. B.] 

 1 MONIMIA. A genus which gives its 



