m y r 
M Y R 
Mr. Miller makes two fpecies of this, M. quercifolia 
and M. hirfuta. The firft having fmooth (hilling (talks 
and leaves; both of which are hairy in the fecond, and 
the leaves of a darker green. He received them from 
Holland as different fpecies; but he fufpefled them to be, 
what they certainly are, mere varieties. Native of the 
Cape of Good Hope. Cultivated in 175s by Mr. Miller. 
It flowers in June and July. 
8. Myrica cordifolia, or heart-leaved candleberry myr¬ 
tle : leaves cordate, ferrate, leffile. This has a weak 
(lirubby (talk, five or fix feet high, fending out many 
long (lender branches, clofely garnifhed their whole length 
with fmall heart-lhaped leaves, fitting clofe to the branches, 
(lightly indented and waved on their edges; they con¬ 
tinue all the year green. Native of the Cape of Good 
Hope. Cultivated by Mr. Miller in 1759. 
9. Myrica trifoliata, or three-leaved candleberry myr¬ 
tle : leaves ternate, toothed. Native of the Cape of Good 
Hope. 
10. Myrica afplenifolia. See Comptonia. 
Propagation and Culture. The firft fort, growing na¬ 
turally in bogs, cannot be cultivated in a garden without 
bog-earth in a moift fituation. American candleberry- 
myrtle is propagated by feeds fown in autumn ; for, if 
they are kept out of the ground till the fpring, they fel- 
dom grow till the year after. The plants require water 
in dry weather, and (hould be fcreened from froft whilft 
young. When they have obtained ftrength, they will 
refill the cold of this country very well. This (hrub de¬ 
lights in a moift foft foil, and would thrive well in Eng¬ 
land ; and, as candles made from this fpecies have been 
■ufed at Hull, where they are fold on moderate terms, we 
know not why the experiment (hould not be tried. We 
know that the wax of the firft fpecies, M. gale, has been 
■ufed in Scotland, where it grows in abundance, for the 
lame purpofe ; and it has been tried more recently in 
Devonfhire, and, as we are informed, with very good fuc- 
cefs, the light being brilliant, and the laving confiderable. 
There is alfo another wax-bearing tree, growing in the 
Brafils, of which a fpecimen has been fent to this country, 
and has been analyfed by Mr. Brande, and defcribed in 
the Phil. Tranf. for 1812. Though the tree does not be¬ 
long to the prefent genus, we take this opportunity of 
noticing it,- in the hope, that thofe who have the means 
will endeavour to cultivate it in this country, or at lead 
that the fubftance itlelf may not be over-looked as a new 
article of commerce between the Brafils and this country. 
The other fpecies of Myrica do not produce feeds here, 
but are propagated by layers ; they do not, however, take 
root very freely, fo that the plants are not common in 
England ; nor have the Dutch gardeners had better fuc- 
«efs, fo that the plants are as fcarce there as with us. See 
CLIFFORTIA, LlgUIDAMBAR, and Tamarix. 
MYRI'NA, in ancient geography, a town on the 
northern part of the ifland of Lemnos, weft-north-weft of 
Hephasftia.—A town of the Troade, probably the fame 
with that referred by fome geographers to the ./Bolide.— 
A town of the ifland of Crete.—A town of Thrace. 
MY'RINX, J. A word ufed by fome to exprefs the 
membrane of the tympanum in the ear. 
MYRIOPHYL'LUM, /. [from the Gr. p.v^o;, innu¬ 
merable, and (pvKhov, leaf. This Linnaean genus appears 
to be the very plant fo called by Pliny, and other ancient 
writers; and, from the defcription in Diofcorides, we. 
have no doubt of its being the identical plant of that au¬ 
thor.] Water Milfoil ; in botany, a genus of the clafs 
monoecia, order polyandria, natural order of inundatae, 
(naiades, Juff.) Generic Charafters—I. Male flowers. 
Calyx : perianthium four-leaved ; leaflets oblong, ereft ; 
outmoft larger, inmoft lefs. Corolla: none. Stamina: 
filaments eight, capillary, longer than the calyx, flaccid ; 
antherae oblong. II. Female flowers below the males. 
Calyx: perianthium as in the male. Corolla: none. 
Piftillum : germens four, oblong ; ftyles none ; ftigmas 
pubefcent. Pericarpium : none. Seeds: four, oblong, 
1 
443 
naked. M. verticillatum has often, M. fpicatum more 
feldom, hermaphrodite flowers.— Elfential Character. Ca¬ 
lyx four-leaved ; corolla none, (or two-petalled, Gartner.) 
Male. Stamina eight. Female. Piftillum four; ftyle 
none; feeds four, naked; (ftigmas two or four, feflile; 
nuts two or four, corticated, Gartner.) There are five 
fpecies. 
1. Myriophyllum fpicatum, or fpiked water-milfoil : 
fpike interrupted, leaflefs. Stem branched. Leaves in 
whorls under water, pinnate; pinnas capillary, deep 
green. Flowering fpike riling above the water, bearing 
fix or eight whorls of feflile flowers; the upper male, lome- 
what crowded, the lower female, more diftant. Calycine 
leaflets oval, concave, purplifhon the outlide, foon decidu¬ 
ous ; antherae yellowifh green ; calyx of the female flowers 
fmaller; ftigmas fpreading, cruciform. Gmelin obferves, 
that there are always four leaves in a whorl; Pollich that 
there are four, fix, and even more ; that four feflile flowers 
make a whorl ; that there are eight, nine, or ten, whorls 
in a fpike, the four uppermoft of which have male flowers. 
Withering remarks, that the Items are reddifh, divided 
within into about fixteen cells, and that fome of the males 
contain the rudiments of four germens. Profeflor John 
Martyn, in a manufcript note in the margin of Ray’s 
Hiftory, defcribes the flowers as having four petals, with 
a fmall four-parted calyx, both fitting on the germen ; 
the petals very fugacious, falling as foon as they open, 
and dilcovering the antherae on very (lender filaments in 
the male flowers; foon after the calyx alfo falls off, and 
difcovers the four-cleft ftyle in the female flowers. Gaert- 
ner names the feeds nuts; fometimes there are two of 
thefe, but more frequently four ; they are fmall, lubglo- 
bular, before they are ripe united by means of the rind, 
but afterwards feparable : rind thin, membranaceous : 
(hells hard, fomewhat bony, thick, whitifh, one-celled. 
Seeds folitary, fubcylindric, pale. Native of mod parts of 
Europe, in ftill water, as ditches, ponds, and lakes. It 
flowers from May to July. 
( 3 . More branched; fpikes fmall; broadifh entire leaves 
at the bafe of the whorls. Found by Bobart near Lodden 
Bridge, not far from Reading ; alfo in the river on Hounf- 
low-heath. 
2. Myriophyllum verticillatum, or whorled water-mil¬ 
foil : flowers in leafy whorls. In muddy ditches with 
little water, the Hems Ample, fix or eight inches high. 
Leaves not more than an inch long, with pinnas one and 
a half or two lines in length. In ponds, the Hems branch, 
and are two feet or more in length ; the leaves under 
water, one and a half or two inches long, with (lender 
capillary pinnas. Flowers in the axils of the leaves finii- 
lar to thole of the preceding: the flowers of the upper 
whorls are ufually male, thole of the lower female ; fome¬ 
times the upper are male, the middle hermaphrodite, and 
the lower female. Linnaeus fays that he has feen plants 
with male and female flowers diftinft, and that he has alfo 
feen it with hermaphrodite flowers, but not fo frequently. 
According toTurra, the flowers are hermaphrodite, and 
the leaves in fours. Viliars obferves, that the leaves of 
this are lefs fine and diftinct than thofe of the-firft fort; 
that the flowers come out among them, inftead of being 
feparate; and that the Hems do not (land fo high out of 
the water. This alfo is an inhabitant of ditches and ftag- 
nant waters, but not found fo extenfively as the other, 
and lefs common in Great Britain. With, us it has been 
obferved in two or three places near Cambridge ; by the 
bridge on the Botley-road, near the lane going to Medley, 
in Oxfordflrire ; near Bungay, in Suffolk ; near Yarmouth 
and at Hedenham, in Norfork ; and in the river near Pe¬ 
terborough. It flowers in June and July. 
3. Myriophyllum Indicum, or Indian water-milfoil: 
lower leaves pinnated, capillary; upper lanceolate, wedge- 
(liaped, fomewhat cut at the top; flowers axillary, whorled. 
Native of Ceylon and Coromandel. Stem two feet hhrii 
round, about as thick as a pigeon’s quill. In habit very 
limilar the. 1 alt Willdenow adopted the prelent fpecies 
on 
