MUCU] 



Cfje Crragurg of 33fltang. 



762 



species, mostly found in tropical Asia and 

 America, only two or three occurring in 

 Africa, and one in the Feejee Islands. All 

 are twiners or tall climbers, with trifoliate 

 leaves, and long-stalked often pendulous 

 racemes of large purple white or yellow 

 flowers, rising singly or in clusters from 

 gland-like swellings ; they have a bell- 

 shaped four-toothed calyx, papilionaceous 

 corolla with the upper petal shorter than 

 the rest and the keel curved upwards, and 

 the stamens all united except the upper 

 one. The pods are thick and leathery. M. 

 pruriens, the pods of which afford the 

 Cowage, or Cow-itch of the Materia Me- 

 dica, a celebrated remedy for intestinal 

 worms, is a native of the West Indian 

 Islands. These pods are four or five 

 inches long, shaped like the letter /, and 

 clothed with a thick coating of short stiff 

 brittle hairs of a bright brown colour, the 

 points of which are notched or finely 

 serrated, and cause intolerable itching, or 

 even an eruption on the skin, which is 

 allayed by the application of oil. Their 

 beneficial effects when taken internally 

 are due, it is said, to their mechanical or 

 stinging action upon the worms ; they 

 are administered in treacle, syrup, or 

 honey. [A. S.] 



MUCUS. Gummy matter soluble in 

 water. 



MUDAR. Calotropis gigantea, and G. pro- 

 cera. 



MUDWEED. Helosciadium inundatum. 



MUDWORT. Limosella. 



MUFLE DE VEAU. (Fr.) Antirrhinum 

 majus. 



MUFLIER. (Fr.) Antirrhinum. — DE 

 VEAU, or DES JARDINS. Antirrhinum 

 majus. 



MUGGET. Convallaria majalis. —, 

 PETTY. Galium verum. 



MUGHO. (Fr.) Pinus Pumilio. 



MUGUET, or M. DE MAI. (Fr.) Conval- 

 laria majalis. — DES BOIS, or PETITE. 

 Asperula odorata. 



MUGWEED, GOLDEN. Galium crucia- 

 tum. 



MUGWORT. Artemisia vulgaris. — , 

 INDIAN. Artemisia hirsuta. — , WEST 

 INDIAN. Parthenium Eysterophorus. 



MUHLENBECKIA. A genus of Poly- 

 gonaceai from South America and Aus- 

 tralia, consisting of twining shrubs or 

 small trees, with the leaves often cordate 

 or hastate at the base ; and bearing axillary 

 or terminal often paniculately branched 

 spikes of polygamous flowers. The five 

 lobes of the perianth are often unequal ; 

 stamens eight ; styles three ; nut three- 

 edged. There are two subgenera— Enviuh- 

 lenbeckia, from South America, with sim- 

 ple stigmas ; and Sarcogonum, from Austra- 

 lia, with plumose stigmas. [J. T. S.] 



MUHLENBERGIA. A genus of grasses 



belonging to the tribe Agrostidecp, the 

 inflorescence of which is generally in the 

 form of light elegant panicles, which give 

 the plants a handsome appearance. Steudel 

 describes fifty species, a large portion of 

 which are natives of South America and 

 the Southern States. -M.Spica-venti, better 

 known as Agrostis Spica-venti, and some- 

 times referred to Apera, is a native of Bri- 

 tain, and a very beautiful grass. [D. M.] 



MUHOOA, or MUOHWA. An Indian 

 name for Bassia latifolia. 



MUKKA, or MUKUEE. Hindustani 

 names for Indian Corn or Maize. 



MUKKI. An Indian namefor Gamboge. 



MULBERRY. Moras. — , AUSTRA- 

 LIAN. Hedycarya Pseudo-Morus. — , 

 COMMON. Mortis nigra. — , DANDOLO'S. 

 Moms alba Morettiana. — , INDIAN. 

 Morinda citrifolia. — , NEW ZEALAND. 

 Enteleoj arborescens. — , PAPER. Brous- 

 sonetia papyri/era. — , WHITE. Morus 

 alba. 



MULDERA. A genus of Javanese 

 shrubs belonging to the Piperacea?, and 

 named in honour of the celebrated Dutch 

 chemist Mulder. They are either erect or 

 climbing in habit, with stalked leathery 

 ribbed leaves, and dioecious flowers on a 

 slender spike, which ultimately becomes 

 thickened. Each flower emerges from a 

 fleshy cup, which is at first closed, but 

 afterwards cleft transversely, and formed 

 from a number of confluent bracts. The 

 berries are large scattered reddish and very 

 aromatic. [M. T. M.] 



MULES. Plants obtained from the seeds 

 of one plant fertilised by the pollen of 

 some other species. 



MULGEDIUM. A genus proposed by 

 Cassini, and adopted by several modern 

 botanists, for the blue-flowered species 

 of Sonchus, which differ slightly from the 

 yellow-flowered ones in the achenes taper- 

 ing into a very short beak, and sometimes 

 in the pappus not being so white. These 

 differences, however, slight as they are, 

 are not quite constant, and one of the pale 

 blue American species has occasionallypale 

 yellow flowers. Besides the S. alpinus and 

 S. Plumieri, both very handsome species, 

 common in several mountainous districts 

 of continental Europe, six or seven species 

 from North Amei - ica or Northern Asia are 

 referred to Mulgedium. The S. alpinus has 

 been found in some of the Scotch High- 

 lands, but is now become very rare there, 

 or almost extinct. 



MULINUM. A genus of umbellifers, 

 distinguished by each half of the fruit 

 being five-ribbed, the two intermediate 

 ribs broad and wing-like. The species are 

 natives of the Chilian Andes, and have 

 entire or three to five-cleft leaves, and sim- 

 ple umbels of yellow flowers. [G. D.] 



MULLEIN. Verbascum. -, GREAT 

 TORCH. Verbascum Thapsus. — , MOTH. 

 Verbascum Blattaria. — PETTY. Pri- 



