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772 



MYROBALANE.E. A natural group of 

 dicotyledonous plants, now included in the 

 Combretacece. 



MYROBALAN. Terminalia. — , BAS- 

 TARD, or BELLERIC. The fruit of Ter- 

 minalia Seller ica. — , CHEBUL1C. Termi- 

 nalia Cliebula. — , CITRINE. Terminalia 

 citrina. —, EMBLIC. The fruit of Emblica 

 officinalis. —.INDIAN. The small unripe 

 fruit of Terminalia citrina. 



MYRODIA. A genus of Sterculiacece of 

 the tribe Ilelicterece, consisting of South 

 American trees or shrubs often aromatic, 

 with alternate entire or scarcely toothed 

 leaves, and white flowers, not large for the 

 order, usually solitary on short peduncles 

 opposite the leaves. They have an obconi- 

 cal three to five-toothed calyx, five petals, 

 ten to fifteen two-celled anthers sessile at 

 the top of the column on the outside, and 

 a two or three-celled ovary sessile within 

 the base of the column. The fruit is dry 

 and indehiscent, containing one or two 

 seeds. There are about seven species, of 

 which no particular properties are recorded, 

 except that, in common with others of the 

 family, the mucilaginous roots may be used 

 medicinally. Some botanists have united 

 the genus with Quararibea,\vhich, however, 

 has very different anthers and belongs to 

 the tribe Bombacece. 



MYROSPERMUM. This name, given in 

 consequence of the myrrh-like odour of the 

 seeds, is applied to a genus of tropical 

 American trees or shrubs, of the family 

 Leguminoso?. The leaves are unequally pin- 

 nate, and marked with pellucid dots. The 

 flowers are white or rose-coloured in axil- 



Myrospermum peruiferum. 



lary or terminal clusters ; they have a bell- 

 shaped five-toothed calyx, a papilionaceous 

 corolla, ten distinct stamens, a stalked 

 ovary, and a thread-like lateral style. The 

 fruit is indehiscent, with one or two seeds, 

 and is borne on a stalk, the upper part of 

 which is winged. 



M. peruiferum, a native of Peruandother 

 parts of Central and Southern America, 

 yields the drug known as Balsam of Peru. 

 This is procured by making incisions into 

 the bark, thrusting cotton rags into the 



wound, and lighting a fire round the tree 

 to liquefy the balsam. When the rags are 

 saturated, they are boiled in water, and as 

 the water cools, the balsam collects below. 

 (Pereira.) 



Balsam of Peru is a thick treacly-looking 

 liquid, with a fragrant aromatic smell and 

 taste. It has been used in chronic coughs, 

 and as an application to ulcers, but is now 

 rarely employed. Balsam of Tolu is a pro- 

 duct of a similar character, derived from 

 M. toluiferum. It is at first soft, but be- 

 comes hard and brittle by exposure. It is 

 used for like purposes as the Balsam of 

 Peru, and in the manufacture of pastilles, 

 &c. [M. T. M.] 



MYRRH. An aromatic medicinal gum- 

 l-esin yielded by Balsamodendron Myrrha ; 

 also the common name of Myrrhis. —, 

 FALSE. Amyris commiphora, also called 

 Balsamodendron Roxburghii. 



MYRRHIS. A genus of umbellifers, 

 having each half of the fruit with five 

 equal sharp ribs, and no oil-vessels. The 

 species are hairy odoriferous herbs. One 

 of them, M. odorata, is a well-known plant, 

 often cultivated and used in various ways. 

 The name is from the Greek word for per- 

 fume. [G.D.] 



MYRRH-SEED. Myrospermum pubescens. 



MYRSINACEiE. (Myrsinew, Ardisiacece, 

 Ardisiads.) A natural order of corollifloral 

 dicotyledons belonging toLindley's cortu- 

 sal alliance of perigynous Exogens. Trees, 

 shrubs, or undershrubs, with alternate or 

 opposite coriaceous exstipulate leaves, 

 and hermaphrodite or occasionally unisex- 

 ual flowers ; calyx four to five-cleft, per- 

 sistent ; corolla monopetalous, equal; sta- 

 mens four to five, inserted into the corolla, 

 opposite its segments, the filaments dis- 

 tinct, the anthers sagittate, erect ; ovary 

 one-celled, the ovules definite or indefinite, 

 campylotropal, immersed in a free central 

 placenta. Fruit fleshy, one or many-seeded. 

 They are found in Africa, Asia, and Ame- 

 rica, and are said to abound chiefly in is- 

 lands with an equable temperature. Little 

 is known of their properties. There are 

 thirty-three genera, and above three hun- 

 dred species. 2Iyrsine,Ardisia, Theophrasta, 

 and Clavija are some of them. [J. H. B.] 



MYRSINE. A genus of Myrsinaceo?, con- 

 sisting of shrubs or small trees, mostly 

 evergreen, and glabrous or nearly so, with 

 alternate coriaceous entire or rarely tooth- 

 ed leaves, and small flowers on very short 

 pedicels in dense axillary clusters. This 

 inflorescence distinguishes them from all 

 other genera of the order except Samara, 

 which has the petals quite free, and Bepto- 

 nia, which has scales alternating with the 

 corolla lobes, whilst in Myrsine the corolla 

 is lobed only, without scales. There are a 

 considerable numberof species, all tropical, 

 or nearly so, but dispersed over both the 

 New and the Old World. Their properties 

 are little known. The berriesof If. «/ric«wa, 

 a species widely dispersed over Africa from 

 Abyssinia and the Azores to the Cape, and 



