,0, 



€l)C CnMB'ttrn of SSatnmi. 



[mojru 



MORXA. A genus of Composite, allied 

 to Helickrysum, and characterised chielly 

 by the long beak of its achenes, crowned 

 by a pappus of simple scabrous bristles. It 

 lias since been included, with Leptorhyn- 

 ehus, in the older genus Waiteia. Some of 

 these beautiful everlastings have been in- 

 troduced into our gardens from Swan 

 River, e. g. If. nit Ida with golden involucral 

 scales, and M. nivea with white ones. 



MORXIXG GLORY. A name applied to 



certain species of Ipomcea and Pharbitis, 



e. s. P. hispidus, the Convolvulus major of 



gardens. 



MOROCARPUS. A name given by Sie- 



i bold and Zuccarini to a genus of UrticacecE 



I consisting of a few Japanese and East 



Asiatic shrubs or undershrubs which have 



been since referred to the older genus Ville- 



brunea. 



MOROXOBEA. A small genus of Clusia- 

 ceo?, confined to the West Indies, Guiana, 

 and Brazil. Three or four species have been 

 described, but they are probably not all dis- 

 tinct. They are large slender-stemmed 

 trees, with branching heads of dense foli- 

 age, the leaves being of a lance-shaped or 

 elliptical form and feather-veined, and the 

 scarlet flowers borne in umbel-like heads. 

 Each flower has two outer bracts, a calyx 

 of five sepals, a corolla of five petals twisted 

 partly round each other, fifteen or twenty 

 stamens united into a three or five-cleft 

 tube, and a five-celled ovary with two or 

 several ovules in each cell. 



M. coccinea, the Hog Gum tree, is a lofty 

 straight-stemmed tree attaining ninety or 

 a hundred feet in height, with horizontally 

 I spreading smooth branches, and thick en- 

 tire glossy leaves. A fluid pellucid juice 

 exudes from incisions in the trunk, and 

 after a short exposure hardens into a yel- 

 low resin resembling Burgundy pitch in 

 appearance. It is said that in Jamaica hogs, 

 when wounded, rub the injured part against 

 the tree, so as to smear themselves with 

 the resin, which possesses vulnerary pro- 

 perties,and hence it is called Hog Gum. The 

 resin has been employed medicinally as a 

 substitute for balsam of copaiba, and in 

 Jamaica pitch plaisters are made of it. In 

 Guiana and Brazil, where it is called Mani 

 or Oanani, the natives make torches with 

 it, and use it to pitch their boats. [A. S.] 



MORPHOLOGY. That part of botanv 

 which treats of the transformations of 

 organs. 



MORPH03IS. The manner of develop- 

 ment ; the order or mode in which organs 

 form themselves, from their earliest con- 

 dition till their final state. 



MORPHUS. In Greek compounds=shape 

 or appearance ; whence rhizomorphous, hav- 

 ing the appearance of a root. 



MORREXE. Hydrocharis. 



MORREXIA odorata is a hoary twining 

 asclepiadaceous plant with hastate leaves, 

 from Buenos Ay res and Paraguay. It has 

 greenish sweet-smelling flowers, with five 



erect sepals : a five-parted corolla with the 

 segments spreading and eventually reflex- 

 ed ; a tubular five-angled crown with five 

 obtuse lobes conniving over the gynoste- 

 gium ; and a convex stigma with a central 

 obscurely two-lobed apiculus. [A. S.] 



MORS DU DTABLE. (Fr.) Scabiosa 

 succisa. — DE GREXOUILLE. (Fr.) Hy- 

 drocharis Morsus-rance. 



MORSGELIXE. (Fr.) Stellaria media. 



MORSUS DIABOLI. Scabiosa. - GAL- 

 LIX.E. Lamium amplexicaulc. — RAXiE. 

 Hydrocharis. 



MORT-ATJ-CHIEX. (Fr.) Colchicum au- 

 tumnale. — -AUX-RATS. Hamelia patens. 

 AU-CHAX VRE. Orobanche ramosa. 



MORUXG-SATTL. The ship-building tim- 

 ber of Shorea robusta. 



MORTIS. The Mulberry genus, belong- 

 ing to the order Moracea?, has representa- 

 tives in the tropics and temperate regions 

 of Asia and America, but none in Europe 

 or Africa. It consists of milky juiced trees 

 or shrubs, with large often rough entire 

 or lobed deciduous leaves, and unisexual 

 greenish-white inconspicuous flowers, the 

 two kinds being usually in separate axil- 

 lary catkin-like spikes, and the whole of the 

 female spike ultimately ripening into an 

 oblong juicy aggregate fruit, composed of 

 numerous egg-shaped compressed achenes 

 (or true fruits) covered by the enlarged 

 succulent calyces. Black Mulberries are 

 eaten as a dessert fruit ; besides which pre- 

 serves and a kind of. wine are made from 

 them, and their juice is used in pharmacy 

 for colouring and flavouring. [A. S.] 



M. nigra, the Black Mulberry, is the spe- 

 cies chiefly cultivated for its fruit. The 

 tree grows to the height of twenty to thirty 

 feet, and forms a large round head, with 

 dense foliage affording a complete shade. 

 The leaves are bluntly heart-shaped, or 

 slightly lobed, thick, with a rough surface. 

 The fruit is roundish-oval, dark red or 

 black, the surface uneven. The tree is late 

 in leafing, which takes place in May, when 

 usually all danger of frost is over. 



The name Morus, according to some au- 

 thors, is derived from the Celtic mor, black ; 

 but M. de la Bretonnerie says that the tree 

 does not push forth its leaves till the frosts 

 are over, and hence it has been designated 

 'the wisest of trees,' and that from this 

 peculiarity it derives its Latin name of 

 Morus from the word mora, a delay. Dr. 

 Butler (Sketch of Modern and Ancient Geo- 

 graphy, p. 188) says : ' The modern name of 

 Peloponnese is Morea, from the Mulberry 

 trees which grow there, having been in- 

 troduced for supplying silkworms.' Bo- 

 tanists are not decided as to its native 

 country. It has certainly been found wild 

 in the chains of the Caucasus and adjoin- 

 ing mountains, but it is probably also in- 

 digenous to Persia and Asia Minor. It 

 appears to have been w r ell known to the 

 ancients. We read in the Bible that 'He , . 

 destroyed their vines with hailstones, and 1 1 

 their mulberry-trees with frost.' Also that ]! 



