35 
M E L M E L 
membranous, coloured, naked. Sent from New South 
Wales by Dr. White, in 1795. It is faid to have been 
communicated to Kew garden by fir Jofeph Banks in 1789. 
The leaves are not a quarter of an inch long, numerous, 
imbricated, either obovate or exactly elliptical, blunt, flat, 
thickilh, without any rib, dotted, fmooth, on fliort pale 
fmooth llalks. Flowers terminal, folitary, fmall, white. 
8. Leptofpermum imbricatum, or imbricated South-fea 
myrtle: leaves obovate, imbricated, riblel’s; branches and 
calyx fmooth; teeth membranous, coloured, naked, keeled. 
Gathered at Port Jackfon, New South Wales, by Mr. Da¬ 
vid Burton, and communicated by fir Jofeph Banks, in 
1797. It greatly relembles the laft; but the copious little 
leaves are ftill more ftrikingly imbricated, efpecially on 
the long lateral branches, which moreover are fmooth, as 
■well as every other part. The flowers are extremely fmall. 
Handing two or three together about the end of each 
branch} their germen and calyx perfeblly naked} the 
teeth of the latter lharply keeled, which in L. parvifolium 
are only a little convex. 
9. Leptofpermum arachnoideum, or cobweb-flowered 
South-fea myrtle: leaves awl-lhaped, fliarp - pointed } 
branches hairy; germen and calyx entirely clothed with 
long fpreading hairs. Native of New South Wales. The 
Hem is flout, apparently of humble growth, with nume¬ 
rous fliort zigzag leafy hairy lateral compound branches. 
Leaves crowded, awl-lhaped, fliarp-pointed, fmooth, dark- 
green, aboxit half an inch long, channelled above, convex 
beneath, refembling fome flender kind of juniper. Flow¬ 
ers fmall, folitary, terminating the Ihort fubdiviiions of 
the branches ; and remarkable for the very long and fine 
white fpreading hairs, like a fpider’s web, which clothe 
the germen and whole calyx. 
ro. Leptofpermum juniperinum, or juniper-leaved 
South-fea myrtle: leaves linear-lanceolate, fliarp-pointed ; 
young branches filky; calyx fmooth; its teeth membra¬ 
nous, coloured, naked. Native of New South Wales. Mr. 
Fairbairn raifed it in Chelfea garden about the year 1790. 
This is an upright bufhy ftirub, whofe young branches 
are clothed with filky hairs. The leaves are larger, and 
ftill more like juniper than thofe of the preceding; filky 
when young. Flowers numerous, white, folitary at the 
ends of the very fliort, lateral, axillary, leafy, fiioots. 
11. Leptofpermum triloculare, or three-celled South-fea 
myrtle: leaves linear-lanceolate, fliarp-pointed; calyx 
filky; its teeth coloured, minutely fringed; ftamens fif¬ 
teen; capfule of three cells. Native of New Holland. We 
know it only by the plate and defcription in M. Ventenat’s 
fuperb Jardin de MalmaiJ'on. The habit and foliage are 
much like the laft. Branches downy and reddifti. Flow¬ 
ers white. 
la. Leptofpermum baccatum, or pulpy-fruited South- 
lea myrtle: leaves linear-lanceolate, fliarp-pointed; brabtes 
fmooth; germen and calyx-teeth downy; capfule with a 
pulpy coat. Native of New South Wales; fent to Kew- 
garden by fir Jofeph Banks, in 1790. A low deprefled 
rigid flirub, with the habit and foliage of our Englilh 
dwarf-variety of the juniper. Flowers much like tome 
of thofe laft deferibed ; but their germen and whole calyx, 
with its teeth, are clothed with white cottony, rather than 
filky, hairs. The germen is clofely enveloped in finooth 
lomewhat-fringed concave brables, which, being taken 
for the germen itfelf, caufed ail error in the orginal de¬ 
fcription of this fpecies; but indeed that part becomes 
fmooth as it ripens into fruit, as well as very thick and 
pulpy. 
13. Leptofpermum ambiguum, or hook-leaved South- 
ea myrtle: leaves linear-lanceolate, recurved at the point; 
calyx nearly fmooth; its teeth leafy, lanceolate, naked; 
ftamens longer than the corolla. Native of New South 
Wales; fent to Kew-garden by fir Jofeph Banks, in 1791. 
It forms a handfome bulky evergreen ftirub, blolfoming 
plentifully in the green-houfe in fummer. The branches 
are downy. Leaves numerous, crowded, dark-green, chan¬ 
nelled, dotted, bluntilh, recurved at the tip, often rough- 
ilh. Flowers white, with very numerous fpreading fta¬ 
mens, that are peculiar in this genus, as being longer than 
the corolla, yet not near lo long as in Metrofideros ; and 
the capitate ftigrna ftamps our plant a Leptofpermum, 
which the habit altogether confirms. 
14.. Leptofpermpm virgatum, or wand-like South-fea 
myrtle: leaves oppofite, linear-oblong, bluntilh. Stalks 
axillary, three-flowered. Gathered by Forfter in New 
Caledonia. 
15. Leptofpermum pubefeens, or downy twifted South- 
fea myrtle: leaves elliptie-ohovate, downy, twifted, with 
a fmall recurved point; germen and calyx-teeth downy. 
Native of New Holland ; common in gardens. This is a 
fpecies taken up by Wiildenow from the Linn. Tranf. but 
whofe limits are not yet fully determined. 
For the reafon given reipebling the above genus, we 
here alfo add 
Faericia, [fo named by Gsertner in honour of the ce¬ 
lebrated John Ckriftian Fabricius, late profefficr of rural 
economy in the Danilh univerfity of Keil, a pupil of Lin- 
nteus, from whofe manufeript notes profeflor Gileke de¬ 
rived much and important afliftance in his edition of Lin¬ 
naeus’s leblures on the natural orders of plants, publilhed 
in Latin at Hamburgh in 1792. This able man is, how¬ 
ever, far more known as the founder of a new fyftem in 
Entomology, in which he purfued the Linnasan idea, w'ith 
refpebl to quadrupeds and birds, of making the organs 
of feeding fubfervient to the purpofes of arrangement. 
But, however this principle may lead to a natural fyftem 
in thofe tribes, in infebts it often fails, becaule, in their 
perfebt ftate, eating is by no means their primary or ne- 
ceflary occupation.] Clafs and order, as above. Generic 
eflential charabler—Calyx half fuperior, with five teeth ; 
petals five, fefiile; ftigma capitate; capfule of many cells; 
feeds winged. 
This genus is next akin to Leptofpermum, from which 
it differs in having numerous cells to the capfule, and 
very eflentially in having winged feeds, which are only 
one or two, not many, in each cell. Both were confounded 
with Philadelphus by Dr. Solander, merely becaufe he 
never happened to have examined the latter, and referred 
them to it, during his voyage, trailing to future oppor¬ 
tunities of inveftigation, as in many other inftances. For 
fuch apparent inaccuracies therefore the memory of this 
excellent man is no way refponfible. The fpecies of Fa- 
bricia at prefent known are two. 
1. Fabricia myrtifolia: capfule of ten cells; calyx-teeth 
nearly orbicular. Native of New Holland. Stem Ihrubby; 
leaves fcattered, an inch and a half long, obovate-lanceo- 
late, entire; flowers folitary', on Ihort ltalks, apparently 
terminal. 
2. Fabricia laevigata: capfule of eight cells; calyx-teeth 
triangular. Native of New South Wales, near Port Jack¬ 
fon. It is now not uncommon in green-houfes about Lon¬ 
don, where it fometimes flowers. Leaves fcarcely an inch 
long, obovate, obtufe, rather glaucous. Flowers white. 
Propagation and Culture. All the fpecies of thefe three 
genera mull be kept in the dry Hove or glafs-cafe; and 
may be increafed by cuttings. 
MELALIE'H, a town of Egypt: ten miles north of 
Abugirge. . 
MELAM'BO. See Malaubo. 
MELAMPO'DIUMjji [from the Gr. ftsAa;, black, and 
Trove, a foot. According to the defcription in the Hortus 
Cliffortianus, it lliould feem that Linnaeus had. in view 
the limilitude of the feed of the female florets to the foot 
of a goat. In the Critica Botanica, however, it is faid to 
be named in honour of the Greek phylician Melampus.'] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs fyngenefia, order polyga- 
mia neceflaria, natural order of compofitas difcoideae/(co- 
rymbiferae, Jujf.) Generic charabters—Calyx: common 
five-leaved, flat; leaflets fubovate, the length of the flow¬ 
er, fpreading very much. Corolla : compound radiated; 
4 corollets 
