MACL X URA. 



173 



MAGNOLIA. 



brilliant colour. There are several 

 kinds, varying in the size and the col- 

 our of the fruit. Nearly all the kinds 

 are annuals, which should be raised 

 on a hotbed, and planted out in May 

 against a wall or espalier railing, to 

 which they should be trained ; they 

 all require a rich soil, and abundance 

 of sun and air to bring them to per- 

 fection. 



Lycop x odium. — Cryptogamia Ly- 

 copodinece.— Club-moss. A curious 

 kind of moss, common in Europe and 

 America, some of the kinds of which 

 are very ornamental. L. helve 'ticum, 

 which is very handsome, is generally 

 grown in pots in green-houses. It 

 should be grown in peat and loam, 

 and allowed abundance of water. 



Lysimachia — Primulacece. — 

 Loose- strife. Herbaceous plants with 

 yellow flowers, chiefly perennials, and 

 of which one species, L. nummula- 

 ria, Money-wort, is a well-known 

 ever-green trailer, which, when kept 



in a pot of moist soil will produce 

 shoots of two or three feet in length, 

 which hang down on every side. L. 

 verticillatum is an upright growing 

 plant, with abundance of showy yel- 

 low flowers, which looks very well as 

 a border flower in a large garden. 

 They will grow in any common garden 

 soil. 



Lythrum. — Lythracece. A genus 

 of very ornamental hardy perennials, 

 which grow in any common soil kept 

 moist, and are propagated by division. 

 L. salicaria is a native of Britain on 

 the banks of rivers, and grows to the 

 height of four feet ; L. diffusum 

 grows to the height of one foot; and 

 both these species produce their pur- 

 ple flowers in July and August, when 

 flowers are comparatively rarer than 

 they are in June and September. L. 

 virgatum grows three feet high, and 

 produces its purple flowers from June 

 to September. 



Lytt\ea. — See Litt^ea. 



M. 



Macl v ura. — Urticacece. The 

 Osage orange. Handsome ever-green 

 trees, with small shining yellowish 

 green leaves, and many thorns. The 

 flowers are white and rather small, 

 but the fruit, which is as large as an 

 orange, and of a brilliant golden yel- 

 low, is very ornamental. These trees 

 are as yet rare in British gardens, 

 but they have borne fruit in the 

 Jardin des Piantes in Paris. The 

 male and female flowers are on differ- 

 ent trees. It is supposed that the 

 leaves of this plant will be equally 

 good as those of the white mulberry 

 for feeding silkworms, as they abound 

 in a milky juice which is very tena- 

 cious. The Madura succeeds better 

 in rather a poor soil ; as where the 

 soil is too rich, the plant makes shoots 

 more luxuriant than it can ripen ; and 

 thus the tops of the young wood are 

 often killed by frost. 



Madder. — See Rubia. 



Madia. — Composites. — M. saliva 

 is a weedy-looking plant, grown in 

 Germany, for crushing its seeds to 

 make oil. M. elegans (Madaria 

 elegans, Dec.) is a coarse growing 

 annual, with woolly leaves, and very 

 pretty yellow flowers, which are 

 brown in the centre. The seeds should 

 be sown in the open air in February, 

 or as soon as the weather will admit, 

 in rich deep soil ; or in sheltered situa- 

 tions, the seeds may be sown in 

 autumn, and the young plants left to 

 stand the winter. "When the plants 

 begin to attain a considerable size, they 

 should be staked and tied up, or they 

 will have a very untidy and disagree- 

 able appearance. The kind called 

 M. splendens is only a variety of M. 

 elegans. 



Magnolia. — Magnoliacece.— This 

 is a genus of singrlarly ornamental 



