mel i an thus

[Gr. mel i =honey, and anthos =a blo om, a flower.] Bot.: A genus of Zygophyllacese. The leaves are unequally pinnate, the flowers in clusters, the calyx generally purple, the petals shorter than the sepals, the stamens four. Small trees from the Cape. The flowers of Mel i an thus major , a Cape species, are so full of honey that the natives supply themselves with it by simply shaking the tree. měl-l-be-an, měl-i-be-an, a. [Named after Melibœus, one of the interlocutors in Virgil's first Eclogue.] Rhet. & Poetry : Alternating, alternate; alternately responsive.