MEL 
♦ 
lanceolate, fertile; leaves ovate, ferrated. This alfo has a 
perennial root, and an annual ftalk, riling about a foot 
high. Leaves in pairs at each joint, an inch and a half 
long, and three-quarters of an inch broad, ferrate, of a 
lucid green on their upper fide, and whitifh on the under. 
Single peduncles come out from the axils, half an inch 
long, and dividing into two fmallef ones, each fuftaining 
two flowers upon Ihort feparate pedicels. The flowers are 
large, of a purple colour. It flowers in June, and the 
feeds ripen in Auguft. Native of Tufcany, Auftria, Ger¬ 
many, and the louth of France. Cultivated in 164.0, ac¬ 
cording to Parkinfon. 
There is a variety of it with white, and another with 
red, flowers, both much inferior to the purple: it alfo has 
variegated leaves, as the common garden-baum. 
3. Melifla Pyrenaica, or Pyrenean balm : ftem leaflefs; 
flowers whorled, turned to one fide; leaves oblong, blunt¬ 
ly toothed. Native of the higheft mountains among the 
Pyrenees, in the Tyrol, and Carniola: Jacquin cultivated 
it at Vienna. The root is long, woody, black,, and peren¬ 
nial, flowering about the third year from the lowing of 
the feed, in June. Flower-flalks folitary, about a foot 
high, bearing feveral pairs of oppofite ovate entire brades, 
and in the upper part numerous bradeated whorls of 
fimply-ftalked flowers leaning to one fide; the coroila 
is dark blue, about an inch long, handfome, more bell- 
fliaped than the foregoing, with fhorter lips in rounded 
fegments. 
The remaining fpecies appear by their habit, as well as 
by the hairs which dole the mouth of the calyx, to be¬ 
long to Thymus, to which genus the two firft are referred 
in the Flora Britannica. ' 
4. Melifla calamintha, mountain-balm, or calamint: 
peduncles axillary, dichotomous, the length of the leaves; 
lower lip of the calyx longer than the upper fegments. 
Root perennial. Stem upright, four-cornered, woolly. 
Leaves in pairs, petioled, ovate-acuminate, hairy, dotted, 
very flightly ferrate, much larger than thole of M. nepeta. 
Flowers twice as large as thofe of M. nepeta. Calyx with 
thirteen ribs, fliort hair, and fhining globules; fegments 
fringed, and the mouth clofed with long hairs; teeth 
pointing upwards after the corolla falls off, the three up¬ 
per equal, the two lower longer and more pointed; tube 
of the corolla belet within with white club-lhaped hairs: 
upper lip lilac-coloured within; lower lip pale within, 
but marked with three round dots, and a few fhort ftreaks 
of a deeper hue. Anthene double, purple ; pollen whitifh. 
Germs on a glandular receptacle. One fegment of the 
fligma much longer than the other, and hooked. Native 
of many parts of Europe, Italy, Spain, France, Swifier- 
land, Auftria, England, by the fides of roads and corn¬ 
fields. It flowers in Augufi:. 
5. Melifla nepeta, field balm, or calamint: peduncles 
axillary, dichotomous, longer than the leaf; calycine feg¬ 
ments equal. Stems woody, divided juft above the bafe 
into branches, which are frorrwone to two feet in length, 
afcending, obfcurely quadrangular, reddifh towards the 
bafe, belet with foft horizontal hairs. Leaves in pairs, 
rather remote, fcarcely an inch long, on fhort petioles, 
fpreading, flightly keeled, reflex at the point, broad ovate, 
fubcordate, bluntifh, ferrate, the margin rolled back, and 
flightly waved, wrinkled, foft, villofe on both fides, pale 
green, with pellucid dots. Flowers in whorls, very fmall, 
pale blue, before they expand yellowifh. Calyx'with fif¬ 
teen ftreaks or ribs, befet on the outfide with fnort hairs 
and fhining glands, fmooth within, but clofed at the 
mouth with long hairs; the three upper teeth equal, the 
two lower longer, equal, and more pointed; the ftreaks 
and teeth of a brown purplifh colour. Corolla longer than 
the calyx, flightly hairy; upper lip deeply emarginate, 
plaited at the back; lower lip befet at the bafe with white 
club-fhaped briftles; lateral fegments ovate, the middle 
one kidney-fhaped, and marked on the infide with reddifh 
purple fpots. Anthene two-celled, violet-coloured ; pollen 
white; ftyle purplifh. Native of mady parts of Europe, 
M E L 59 
Italy, France, Swiflerlqnd, and England; with us it chiefly 
afleds dry chalky foils, by road-fides and in uncultivated 
places; flowering in Auguft, or from July to September. 
It is fometimes confounded with the preceding fpecies. 
Mr. Miller lays, the ftalks are longer, and bend towards 
the ground; the leaves larger, more indented on their 
edges; and the whorls of flowers let clofer together. He 
appears from this not to have diftinguifhed thefe plants 
rightly. The leaves and flowers are certainly fmaller in 
this; the former more hoary; the whole plant is hairy. 
Krocker remarks, that the piftil extends much more be¬ 
yond the corolla than in the preceding fpecies. Both thefe 
feem to have been uled indifferently in the old practice of 
medicine under the name of calamintha. They have a 
ftrong aromatic fmell, approaching to that of pennyroyal, 
and a moderately pungent tafte, fomewhat like fpearmint, 
but warmer. Infulions of the leaves were given as tea 
in weaknefles of the ftomach, flatulent cholics, and ute¬ 
rine obftrudions. 
6. Melifla Cretica, or Cretan balm: racemes terminat¬ 
ing; peduncles folitary, very fhort. Stems flender, a lit¬ 
tle woody; leaves fmall, roundifh, hoary; flowers fmall 
and white, appearing in June; the feeds ripen in autumn. 
This fpecies leldom continues more than two or three 
years. Native of the louth of Europe. Cultivated by 
Mr. Miller in 1731. 
7. Melifla fruticofa, or fhrubby balm: branches atte¬ 
nuated, rod-like; leaves tomentofe underneath; ftem 
fhrubby. Stems flender, about nine inches long, put¬ 
ting out fmall, oppofite, fide-branches. Flowers in 
whorled fpikes at the end of the ftalks: they are fmall 
and white; appear in July, and the feeds ripen in autumn. 
The whole plant has a ftrong fcent of pennyroyal; and 
is of a fhort duration. 
Propagation and Culture. The two firft forts are eafily 
propagated by parting the roots in October, time enough 
for the offsets to be eftabliflied before the frofts come on. 
The roots may be divided into fmall pieces with three or 
four buds to each, and planted two feet apart in beds of 
common garden-earth. The only culture they require is 
to keep them clean from weeds, and to cut off the decayed 
ftalks in autumn, then ftirring the ground between them. 
The other forts may be increafed and treated nearly in 
the fame manner. See BaLLOta, Cunila, Dracocepha- 
lum, Horminum, Melittis, Moluccella, Perilla, 
Prasium, Salvia, and Satureia. 
MELIS'SA, in geography, a town of Naples, in Cala¬ 
bria Citra: four miles north of Strongoli. 
.MELIS'SA, in fabulous hiftory, a daughter of Melifla 
king of Crete, who with her lifter Amaltha^a fed Jupiter 
with the milk of goats. She firft found out the means of 
colleding honey; whence it has been fabled that (lie was 
changed into a bee, as her name is the Greek word for 
that infed. 
MELISSOPHYL'LUM, f. in botany. See Melittis. 
MELIS'SUS of Samos, a Greek philofopher of the Elea- 
tic fed, who flourifhed about the eighty-fourth Olym¬ 
piad, or the year 444 B. C. He was a dilciple of Parme¬ 
nides, to whole dodrines he clofejy adhered. He was 
converfant in public affairs, and acquired great influence 
among his countrymen, who highly refpeded his talents 
and virtues. Being appointed by them to the command 
of a fleet, he obtained a vidory in a naval engagement 
with the Athenians. He held, that the principle of all 
things is one and immutable, or that whatever exifts is 
one being; that this one being includes all things, and 
is infinite, without beginning or end; that there is neither 
vacuum nor motion in the univerfe, nor any fuch thing 
as produdion or.decay; that the changes which it feems 
to fuffer, are no more than illufions of our fenfes, and 
mere appearances; and that we ought not to lay down 
any thing pofitively concerning the gods, fince our know¬ 
ledge of them is fo uncertain. His opinion that all things 
are one, and immutable, has been fo explained by feveral 
learned men, and particularly Dr. Cudworth, as if by 
