3MALL0W OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 259 



native ferns, and common tlirougliont the temperate regions of 

 tlie northern hemisphere, its fronds, 3 to 4 feet long, rising from 

 a short erect caudex in the form of a corona. Of all the ferns 

 celebrated by the ancients for their medicinal virtues, the Male 

 Fern ranks the highest, its reputation as a vermifuge having 

 descended from the time of Dioscorides to the present, the part 

 used bemg the hard woody portion of the caudex, which is either 

 taken in the form of a powder decoction or ethereal extract. 

 But notwithstanding its ancient celebrity and fame, acquired 

 during the latter part of the last century, when it was discovered 

 to form the basis of the Swiss remedy for taenia, the secret of 

 which Louis XVI. purchased of Madame Mouffer for the sum of 

 18,000 francs, its use is gradually becoming obsolete. 



Mallows.— In the English version of the Bible the Hebrew 

 word Malluach has been translated Mallows ; " Who cut up 

 mallows by the bushes and juniper roots for their meat" (Job 

 XXX. 4. 1520 B.C.) It, however, cannot be determined what 

 plant or plants were the mallows there spoken of. In this 

 country the word Mallows has been long a familiar name of 

 the genus Maha, the type of the family Malvaceae, of which 

 there are many species widely distributed in the torrid and 

 temperate zones. They consist chiefly of annuals and soft 

 woody shrubs; they are mucilaginous and not unwholesome, 

 and are in repute by old herbalists as emollients. M. rotundifoha, 

 an annual, native of Britain, is very common in many countries 

 in the northern hemisphere. In Egypt it is extensively culti- 

 vated and used as a pot-herb. 



MaUow, Marsh (AUhcea officinalis), a strong - growing 

 perennial, native of this country. It attains a height of 

 about three feet, and is of a hoary aspect. It is cultivated in 

 certain districts, and is held in repute as a medicinal plant, 

 being used chiefly in fomentations and gargles. The juice of 

 the root is used in the preparation of cough lozenges. 



MaUow Tree {Lavatera arborea), a single hard -stemmed 

 shrub, assuming the character of a tree, 4 to 8 or 10 feet high, 

 terminated by a crown of broad-lobed leaves ; native of Europe, 



