5G M E L 
in his lilts of Greek plants, the latter not being found in 
his Herbarium, nor this noticed by any other appellation. 
The plants however are very diftinft. The major has a 
branched panicle, more like the uniflora, but the calyx 
contains from two to four florets belides an abortive one, 
their corolla moftly briftly at the back. The leaves are 
flat when growing, but rolled in when dry, with a fliarp 
rigid point. We believe this has been called M. amethy- 
ftina by the abbs Pourret. 
17. Melica diandra, or broad-leaved diandrous melic- 
grafs : panicle corymbofe, of numerous (lender manv- 
flowered branches ; flowers ereft:, ovate : glumes all fharp- 
'pointed, keeled, fmooth ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, reticu¬ 
lated. This has the habit of Arundo Phragmites. The 
llem is clothed with feveral alternate broad lanceolate 
acute leaves, fomewhat ovate at their bale, with long, 
fringed, clofe, fheaths. They have rough edges, and many 
ribs, connefted by tranfverfe reticulations. The panicle 
is level-topped, compofed of numerous, {lender, clofe, 
racemofe, branches ; flowers purplifh, Alining, fmooth ; 
rather fmaller, as well as more comprefled, than in M. cx- 
rulea, all their glumes very fnarp-pointed. Native of 
Calcutta; defcribed by the late Dr. Roxburgh ; from the 
name he has given it, we prefume there are but two fta- 
mens. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe grafles are eafily pro¬ 
pagated by the feed, or by parting the roots in autumn. 
None of them are cultivated for feed-ing cattle ; though 
both ciiiata and nutans are laid by fome to be very agree¬ 
able to iheep. M. nutans and uniflora, being elegant 
grafles, deferve a place in curious gardens, together with 
fome of the Cape fpecies. 
MELICE'RIS, j. [Greek.] A tumour inclofed in a 
eyft, and confifting of matter like honey. —If the matter 
Tefembles milk-curds, the tumour is called atheroma ; if 
■like honey, meliceris ; and, if compoled of fat, or a fuety 
fubftance,yie«£om«. Sharp. 
MELICERTA, Melicer'tes, or Melicer'tus, in 
fabulous hiftory, a fon of Athamas and Ino. He was 
faved by 41 is mother from the fury of his father, who pre¬ 
pared to dafh him againft a wall as he had done his brother 
Learchus. The mother was fo terrified, that fhe threw her- 
felf into the fea with Melicerta in her arms. Neptune had 
compaflion on the misfortunes of Ino and her fon ; and 
changed them both into fea-deities. Ino was called Leu- 
eothoe, or Matutu ; and Melicerta was known among the 
Greeks by the name of Palcemon, and among the Latins 
by that of Porta mutts. Some luppoie that the Ifihmian 
games were inftituted in honour of Melicerta. 
. MELI'CHRUS, J. [from honey-coloured, al¬ 
luding, we prefume, to the colour of the flowers.] In bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order monogynia, 
natural order epacrideae, Brown. Generic characters— 
Calyx: perianthrum inferior, of many leaves, ereft:, per¬ 
manent ; the five innermoft longelt, equal, lanceolate, 
concave. Corolla : of one petal, wheel-ihaped or pitcher- 
fhaped, in five equal fegments, bearded half-way, and with 
five clufters of glands near its bale ; nectary a glandular 
nearly-entire -cup, furrounding the bale of the germen. 
Stamina: filaments five, thread-lhaped, equal, inferted into 
the bafe of the corolla; antherae incumbent, oblong, 
liurfting lengthwife, flightly projefting. Piflillum; ger¬ 
men luperior, roundifli; ityle columnar ; flignia capitate. 
Pericarpium : drupe nearly dry, with a hard lhelj; nut of 
five cells. Seeds : folitary.— Effential Character. Outer 
calyx of many leaves ; corolla five-cleft, wheel or pit¬ 
cher fliaped, bearded half-way, with five clufters of glands 
.near the bafe ; drupe dry, of five cells. This genus 
(eredied by Brown, Prodr. N. Hoi. 539.) confifts of two 
fpecies of l'mall fhrubs. 
1. Melichrus rotatus : corolla wheel-fhaped ; calyx 
hairy ; leaves nearly linear, hairy on both fides and at the 
edges. Native of New South Wales, as well as of the tro¬ 
pical part of New Holland. The Item is much branched, 
procumbent j branches clothed with feveral rows of im- 
M E L 
bricated, linear-lanceolate, acute, entire, leaves, about an 
inch long, lomewliat glaucous, clothed and fringed with 
loft hairs, and ftriated with numerous ribs. Flowers nu¬ 
merous, axillary, folitary, feilile; calyx loofeiy covered 
with long, fort, white hairs ; fegments of the corolla 
acute, broad at die bale. Cavanilles reprelen'ts them 
with long hairs from beyond the middle to the point. 
2. Melichrus urceolatus : corolla pitcher-fliaped ; calyx 
fmooth; leaves lanceolate,taper-pointed, minutely toothed. 
Gathered near Port Jackfon by Mr. Ferdinand Bauer. 
MELICOC LA, J. [fi e?.(, honey, and y.oy.y.oc, a berry ; 
fo named by Dr. Patrick Browne from the fweetnefs or 
mellownefs of its fruit.] Genip-tree ; a genus of the 
clafs oftandria, order monogynia, natural order trihilatse, 
Linn, (lapindi, Juff.) Generic characters—Calyx : peri- 
anthium inferior, of four ovate concave obtule lpreading 
leaves. Corolla : petals four, oblong, equal, refiexed be¬ 
tween the calyx-leaves. Stamina : filaments eight, awl- 
fliaped, ereft:, Ihort; antherae oblong, eredt. Piftillum : 
germen fuperior, ovate, nearly the length of the corolla; 
Ityle very Ihort; ftigma large, rather peltate, extended at 
each fine, oblique. Pericarpium: drupe covered with a 
tough flan, roundifli, obtufely pointed. Seed: a leathery, 
rOundilh, fmooth, nut. In Gasrcner’s defcription, the 
pericarpium is laid to be an ovate, pointed, leathery, thick- 
iili, berry, of one ceil. The feeds folitary (rarely two or 
three), ovate, furrowed on one fide, coated with a gluti¬ 
nous pulp.— ■Ejjentiul Char aider. Calyx deeply four-cleft; 
petals four, refiexed between the calyx-leaves; ftigma 
lhield-like ; drupe with a tough coat. 
Melicocca bijuga, genip-tree, or honey-berry ; a Angle 
fpecies. It is a tree with a middle-fized unarmed trunk, 
and lpreading branches. Leaves pinnate, with two pairs 
of leaflets, which are lublefliie, or on very Ihort petioies, 
ovate, acuminate at both ends, entire, nerved, fmooth 
on both fides, bright green. Racemes compound, termi¬ 
nating ; branchlets alternate, Ample, upright, many-flow¬ 
ered. jacquin was informed at Curagoa that there were 
male and female trees; but Swartz has alcertained that 
one tree bears hermaphrodite flowers, another male flow¬ 
ers, and that the latter are molt common. They flower 
in April, and the fruit is ripe about midlummer. Native 
of South America, and cultivated in the Eaft Indies. 
Browne fays it was brought to Jamaica from Surinam; 
that it thrives well in the lowlands about Kingfton, riling 
fometimes to the height of lixteen or eighteen feet or 
more; that the fruit, is very mellow, and grows to the 
fize of a large plum, and that it feldom brings more than 
one ftone or leed to perfection. He calls it genip-tree 
from the Dutch hnippen. The Spaniards call it monos. 
According to jacquin, it is .wild about Car.thagena, and 
commonly cultivated at Curagoa. It was introduced here 
in 1778, by Thomas Clark, M. D. 
MELIC'OPE, J; [fo named by Forfter, from geXt, ho¬ 
ney, and y.ovi1, a feftion or incilion; the nectary being 
very much cut.] In botany, a genus ofthe clafs oftandria, 
order monogynia, natural order rutacese. Generic cha- 
rafters—Calyx: perianthium one-ieafed, four-parted, per¬ 
manent. Corolla: petals four, ovate-oblong,acute,longer 
than the calyx; neftary, glands four, large, twin, lur- 
roundiflg the germs. Stamina: filaments eight, awl- 
fhaped, ereft, fhorter than the coroila, inlerted into the 
receptacle on the outlide of the neftary; antherae fub- 
cordate, ereft. Piftillum: germs four, fuperior 5 ftyle 
filiform, longer than thelfamens, deciduous; ftigma four- 
cornered, flatted, concave at the centre. Pericarpium: 
capfules four, elliptic, comprefled, divaricated, one-celled, 
gaping at the upper margin. Seeds: folitary, elliptic, 
comp rell e d. —Ejjcntia l Charatler. Calyx inferior, tour¬ 
leaved ; petals four; neftary, glands four, twin ; caplule 
four, one-feeded. 
Melicope ternata, the only known fpecies. It is a ftirub, 
with fmooth round leafy branches ; the young ones lome- 
what quadrangular. Leaves oppofite, ftalked, ternate 5 
leaflets an inch or an inch and a half long, obovate, bluntly 
pointed, 
