m 



^Ttje Crca^ttrtj of 3Bntan». 



[myei 



anions sandhills near the sea, and flowers 

 early in the season, before most other kinds 

 of srasses. It is scarcely of any agricul- 

 tural value, though rather interesting bo- 

 tanically. [D- M.] 



MYGINDA. A genus of Celastracece, dif- 

 fering from Maytenus chiefly in its leaves 

 being usually opposite, and in its inflores- 

 cence : and from Elceodendron and its allies 

 in the'ovules beins always solitary in each 

 ' cell of the ovary. It consists of about eight 

 species, from various parts of South Ame- 

 1 rica : shrubs with usually small leaves, and 

 I minute flowers either solitary or in cymes 

 on axillary peduncles, which are of teu very 

 ; short. 



MYLITTA. A curious genus of under- 

 I ground Fungi supposed to be allied to the 

 > real truffles, but whose affinities are un- 

 certain, as the fruit has not yet been found 

 ' in a perfect state. M. ausbralis, the Native 

 Bread of Australia, is a large subglobose 

 | fungus, sometimes many inches in diame- 

 ter, with a black skin which chips off in 

 little fragments, enclosing a veined white 

 I mass, which at first is soft, and has a pe- 

 j culiar acid smell, but when dry becomes 

 \ extremely hard and horny. It is eaten by 

 \ the natives, and is probably very nutri- 

 i tious. The other species are either spurious 

 ; or belong to different genera. [M. J. B.] 



i MYOGALUM. A genus of Liliacece, of 

 which Ornithogalum nutans is the type. 

 It differs from Ornithogalum by having the 

 leaves of the perianth connivent in the 

 shape of a bell ; in the stamens having 

 broader filaments, almost resembling pe- 



) tals, and having two lobes at the apex, be- 

 tween which is the anther; and in the 

 capsule being more fleshy than in Ornitho- 

 galum proper. M. nutans is a European 

 plant which occurs but rarely in England ; 

 it has a loose raceme of large green and 

 white flowers. [J. T. SJ 



MYOPORACE.E. (Myoporince. Avicen- 

 niere, Myoporads.) A natural order of co- 

 rollifloral dicotyledons, belonging to Lind- 

 I ley's echial alliance of perigynous Exogens. 

 \ Smoothish shrubs, with simple exstipu- 

 late leaves often covered with transparent 

 glands, and bractless flowers. Calyx five- 

 parted, persistent ; corolla gamopetalous, 

 . hypogynous, more or less two-lipped ; sta- 

 | mens four, didynamous ; ovary two to four- 

 ■ celled, the cells one to two-seeded ; ovules 

 ; pendulous ; style one. Fruit a drupe, or 

 dry and two to four-celled. Natives chiefly 

 of Australia, some occurring in the warm 

 parts of South America. Some botanists 

 consider the order as a division of Verbe- 

 nacece. Myoporum and Avicennia are ex- 

 amples of the few genera, which contain 

 about fifty species. [J. H. B.] 



MYOPORUM. The typical genus of Myo- 

 V&racecB, containing upwards of thirty spe- 

 cies of shrubs, chiefly from Australia. They 

 have alternate rarely opposite entire or 

 serrated leaves, and white or rarely purple 

 flowers on axillary peduncles, which are 

 either solitary, in pairs, or in fascicles. The 



branches and young leaves are viscid. The 

 calyx is five-parted, sometimes a little en- 

 larged around the fruit , the corolla cam- 

 panulate, with a short tube and unequally 

 five-lobed limb; the four stamens are scarce- 

 ly didynamous ; and the ovary is two-celled, 

 or frequently, by the reduplication of the 

 margins of the carpels, four-celled, with a 

 single ovule in each cell. The fruit is a 

 baccate drupe. [W. C] 



MYOSOTIDIUM. A genus of Boraginw- 

 cece, from the Chatham Islands off New 

 Zealand, with the habit of Myosotis, but the 

 | ovary is like that of Cynoglossum, and the 

 I mature nuts are winged like those of Om- 

 plialocles ; the wing, however, is not intro- 

 I flexed, and the nuts adhere to the recep- 

 ; tacle and are not attached to the style. The 

 i root-leaves are ovate, stalked, about as 

 j large as those of a small cabbage, the upper 

 J ones much smaller and sessile, and all gla- 

 brous and shining. The flowers are large, 

 I purplish-blue, in scorpioid racemes, ar- 

 : ranged in a corymb, and having a five- 

 I parted calyx, and a salver-shaped corolla 

 j with a very short tube, the throat of which 

 is closed by five scales. Nuts smooth, with 

 uudulated wings. [J. T. S.] 



MYOSOTIS. The Forget-me-not or Scor- 

 pion-grass genus, belonging to the Boragi- 

 naceo?, and comprising numerous European 

 and Northern Asiatic, a few North Ameri- 

 can, and three or four Australian species. 

 It is distinguished by its five-parted or 

 five-cleft calyx ; by its straight-tubed co- 



i rolla with five spreading flat or concave 

 contorted lobes, and the throat closed by 

 five short conniving scales ; and by its 

 smooth and shining compressed nucules, 

 which are not perforated at their narrow 



1 base. They are more or less erect herbs, 

 of small size, with rather rigid spreading 

 or adpressed hairs ; stalked root-leaves, 



, shorter and broader than those of the stem; 

 and scorpioid racemes of smallish blue 



! rose or white flowers, sometimes with yel- 

 low eyes. The name of the genus is derived 

 from two Greek words signifying mouse- 

 ear, in allusion to the shape and hairiness 



J of the leaves of some species, five of which 



1 are natives of this country Of these M. 



i palustris is the true and well-known For- 

 get-me-not. [A. S.] 



| MYOSURTJS. A minute plant belonging 

 to the Ranunculacece, and well marked by 

 having its seeds arranged on a long colum- 

 nar receptacle, so as to produce no very 

 fanciful resemblance to a mouse's tail, 



[ whence its name. M. minimus, or Mouse- 

 tail, the only species, rarely attains more 

 than three or four inches in height, and 

 bears a few linear spathulate leaves and 

 leafless stalks terminating in a small green- 



I ish flower. It grows most frequently 

 among corn, in a chalky or gravelly soil, 

 but is often overlooked in consequence of 



', its small size. French, Queue de Souris ; 

 German, Mduseschivanzchen. . [C. A. J.] 

 MYPE. Brassica Rapa. 



MYRIACTIS. A genus of erect branch- 

 i ing herbs of little beauty, belonging to the 



3D 



