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770 



composite family. They have ovate or 

 lance-shaped coarsely-toothed leaves, and 

 daisy-like flower-heads, disposed in a pani- 

 cled manner at the end of the stem. The 

 achenes are compressed and naked, or tip- 

 ped with a coroniform pappus. There are 

 five species, all found in India, and one 

 common also to Persia. [A. A. B.] 



MYRIANGIUM. A genus of gelatinous 

 lichens, which was found about the same 

 time in Australia and Algeria, and has 

 since been met with in the Channel Is- 

 lands and the United States. The asci are 

 broad and packed irregularly, and not pa- 

 rallel to each other as in most lichens, on 

 which account principally Nylander con- 

 siders it as belonging to a distinct tribe. 

 They appear to grow constantly on the 

 living bark of trees, especially ash. In 

 the two original species the fructification 

 is capsular, or closed with a veil ; but in 

 M. Cwrtisii the disk is exposed. [M. J. B.] 



MYRIANTHUS. The name of a tree of 

 tropical Africa, constituting a genus of 

 Artocarpacece. The leaves are digitate; 

 the male flowers borne on thick branching 

 receptacles, somewhat like those of Hove- 

 nla ; and the perianth four-parted, con- 

 taining four stamens united at their base. 

 The fruit is fleshy, and consists of several 

 ovaries fused together. [M. T. M.] 



MYRICA. By some botanists Myrica, 

 Cmnptonia, and Clarisia, or in fact the 

 whole of the plants of the order Myricacece, 

 are combined into a single genus. The 

 first of these, the Linnasan genus Myrica, 

 is technically distinguished from the two 

 latter by its stamens being four to eight 

 in number, as well as by the hypogynous 

 scales of its female flowers, regarded by 

 some as a perianth, being sessile and hav- 

 ing no glands inside. Representatives of 

 the genus are found widely scattered over 

 the temperate regions.of both hemispheres, 

 in North America, at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, in Northern India, China, and Japan ; 

 and in Europe we have M. Gale, the Sweet 

 Gale or Bog Myrtle, and the badge of the 

 Campbells. They also occur within the 

 tropics in South America, but are there 

 confined to the cool mountainous regions. 

 Most of the species are shrubs, but some 

 grow into small trees ; and they are mostly 

 abundantly furnished with glands and dots 

 filled with aromatic secretions, whence 

 arises the fragrance for which they are 

 , noted. Their leaves are simple, and their 

 ! flowers, of separate sexes, in catkins, borne 

 j generally on distinct plants. The fruits 

 are nuts or drupes, often of small size, co- 

 I vered all over with a thickish coating of 

 a waxy resinous secretion. Hence arises 

 the chief economic value of the genus ; for 

 in the countries where the plants abound 

 the fruits are largely collected, and when 

 properly treated yield an abundance of ex- 

 cellent wax, from which very tolerable 

 caudles are manufactured. [A. S.] 



MYRICACE.E. (Galeworts.) A natural 



order of monochlamydeous dicotyledons, 



j belonging to Lindley's amental alliance of 



diclinous Exogens. Shrubs or small trees 

 with resinous glands, alternate leaves, and 

 unisexual flowers. They have no perianth ; 

 stamens two to eight, the anthers two to 

 four-celled ; ovary one-celled, with hypo- 

 gynous scales, the ovules solitary, and 

 orthotropal. Fruit drupaceous, often co- 

 vered with wax, and with adherent fleshy 

 scales. They inhabit temperate and tropi- 

 cal countries, and have aromatic, tonic, and 

 astringent properties. [J. H. B.] 



MYRICARIA. A genus separated from 

 Tamarix, and containing those plants of 

 the order Tamaricacece which have ten 

 stamens, and feathery seeds inserted in 

 the middle of the valves of the capsule. 

 31. germamica is a shrub from six to eight 

 feet high, with very narrow fiat leaves, 

 and spikes of pink flowers, indigenous 

 throughout most parts of Europe and the 

 Caucasus. There are several other species, 

 some shrubby, some herbaceous, but none 

 possess any particular interest. [C. A. J.] 



MYRIOCARPA. A genus of Urticacece, 

 consisting of half a dozen trees or shrabs, 

 from the hotter regions of the Andes of 

 America, remarkable for their exceedingly 

 long and slender pendulous racemes or , 

 spikes, along which are arranged hundreds 

 of minute green flowers. 



MYRIOMELES. A name given by Lind- 

 ley to an East Indian evergreen shrub, 

 more generally considered as forming a 

 section of Photinia. 



MYRIOPHYLLUM. A genus of sub- 

 mersed aquatics belonging to the Halora- 

 gacece, anions which they are distinguished 

 by having flowers with four or eight sta- 

 mens, and four stigmas and seeds. There 

 are two British species, M. verticillatum 

 and M. spicatum, slender plants, with 

 long stems, pinnatifld capillary leaves, and 

 small inconspicuous flowers, which rise 

 above the water to expand. Both species 

 are common throughout Britain in stag- 

 nant water, and allied species are to be 

 found in most parts of the world. They 

 are called Water Milfoil. French, Volant 

 d'eau; German, Fedcrball. [C. A. J.] 



MYRIOPTERIS. Cheilanthes. 

 MYRIOTHECA. Marattia. 



MYRISTICACE.5I. {Myrlsticece., Nutmegs.) 

 A natural order of monochlamydeous dico- 

 tyledons, belonging to Lindley's menisper- 

 nial alliance of diclinous Exogens. They 

 are trees with alternate exstipulate entire 

 not dotted leaves. Flowers unisexual ; pe- 

 rianth trifld, rarely quadrifid, in the females 

 deciduous ; stamens three to twelve, the 

 filaments combined into a cylinder; ovary- 

 free, composed of one or more carpels,one- 

 celled, the ovule solitary erect, the stigma 

 somewhat lobed. Fruit succulent, one- 

 celled, two-valved ; seed solitary, usually 

 covered by a laciniated arillus ; embryo 

 small, at the base of ruminated albumen ; 

 cotyledons foliaceous. Natives of the tro- 

 pical regions of Asiaand America. Acridity 



