MELALEUCA. 



179 



MELIANTHUS, 



flower-stems, and are grown in pots 

 in brick rubbish, mixed with sand or 

 heath-mould, and a little loam. Most 

 of the kinds are handsome, and some 

 have splendid flowers. 



May Apple. See Podophyllum. 

 Maytknus. — Celastrinece. • — An. 

 evergreen shrub, a native of Chili, 

 with yellowish flowers, which are pro- 

 duced in great abundance in May. It 

 is nearly hardy, and only requires a 

 slight protection during severe frosts. 



Mecono'psis. — Papaveraceos. The 

 new name for the Welsh Poppy, Pa- 

 paver cambrica L. This plant, which 

 has yellow flowers, is a native of moun- 

 tainous places in Wales; audit is of 

 easy culture in any soil which is 

 poor rather than rich. 



Medica v go.~ LeguminoscB. Weedy- 

 looking plants, with yellow pea- 

 flowers, which are generally single or 

 in small clusters. The seed-pods of 

 many of the species are very curious, 

 some resembling snails, others hedge- 

 hogs, and others beehives. In old 

 seed catalogues these names are all 

 found enumerated ; but they are 

 emitted in those of the present date, 

 as the plants to which they belong are 

 found not worth growing. 



Melaleuca. — Myrtacece.-- Austra- 

 lian shrubs, with very singular tassel- 

 like flowers, which the first settlers in 

 New Holland called the tea trees, 

 and which are nearly allied to Metro- 

 sideros. One species, M.nefeifolia, 

 which has yellow flowers with petals, 

 has been removed to the genus Trista- 

 nia ; M. Cajuputi, from which the 

 Cajeput oil is made, and M. Leuca- 

 dendron, the black and white tree, 

 are natives of the East Indies, and 

 require a stove in England, but all 

 the Australian species are green-house 

 plants. One of the handsomest of 

 these, M.fulgens, has its flowers in a 

 long spike, which looks like a bottle- 

 brush. All the kinds should be 

 grown in a compost of sand, loam, 



and peat ; and they are all propa- 

 gated by cuttings. 



Mela'nthium. — Melanthacece. — 

 Pretty little plants with bulbous roots 

 and blackish flowers, mostly natives 

 of the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 requiring the usual treatment of Cape 

 bulbs. 



Melastoma. - - M elastomacece. Very 

 handsome stove shrubs, with large 

 showy flowers. The leaves are also 

 large and strongly ribbed. The fruit 

 is eatable, and filled with a black 

 pulp ; whence the name of Melas- 

 toma, or Black-mouth, is said to be 

 given to it, because it stains the 

 mouths of those who eat it. All the 

 species are natives of Ceylon and 

 other parts of the East Indies ; and 

 they all require to be grown in 

 peat, and kept rather dry during 

 winter. 



Melia. — MeliaceoB. — The Bead 

 Tree. M, Azedarach, the common 

 Bead Tree, is a half-hardy shrub, or 

 low tree, with lilac flowers and yellow 

 berries, the pulp of which is poison- 

 ous ; but the hard stone in the centre 

 is used to make rosaries. There is 

 another species, M. semper vir ens, 

 which is a native of the West Indies, 

 where it is called the Indian Lilac, or 

 Pride of India. Both kinds are 

 generally kept in the stove in En- 

 gland, where they will ripen their 

 seeds; but the first kind does very 

 well against a conservative wall, and 

 it has flowered in the open air at 

 Bayswater, and other places. It will 

 grow best in loam and peat, and it is 

 propagated by cuttings. 



Melianthus. — Rutacece. — The 

 Honey-flower. A half-shrubby green- 

 house plant, with bluish green, or 

 rather grey, leaves, sometimes called 

 Sicilian Ragwort. If planted in the 

 open air, and slightly protected from 

 frost, it will grow ten feet high, and 

 produce its large spikes of brownish 

 red flowers abundantly. It is a 



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