V
A
BOTANICAL DICTIONARY:
OR,
ELEMENTS
OF
SYSTEMATIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL
- / »
BOTANY.
. * 0
BY COLIN MILNE, LL.D.
AUTHOR OF INSTITUTES OF BOTANY, AND HABITATIONS OF*
''0
ENGLISH PLANTS.
THE THIRD EDITION,
REVISED, CORRECTED, AND VERY CONSIDERABLY ENLARGES. •
I
Illustrated, by Twenty-Jiv'e New Plates.
<■ ■ ■ 11 LlXtTrot
~
J r l the flowers growing in catkins, — —
J with one petal, — — — — —
L with more petals than one.
. Scuivy-grafs, flock, alyfium.
. Amiranthus, poppy, paflion-flower, rue, faxifrage.
. Henlock, chervil, angelica.
- Pink, lychnis, thrift.
- Afppodel, hyacinth, iris, tulip, lily, crown-imperial.
- Vetjch, lupine, trefoil, pea.
- Balaam, violet, fumatory, dyer’s-weed, monk’s-hood, fra-x-
ifiella, orchis, columbine.
- Thiille, burdock, tanfy, cud-weed, fcabious, teazel, globe-
amaranth.
. Darjdelion, goat’s-beard, hawk-weed.
_T 7 _ Aftqr, golden-rod, groundfel, feverfew, marigold, fun-flower.
— 15 Apetali, ... Alajabacca, dock, amaranthus, hemp, nettle, aqd the grades.
— 1 6 Spermatophorae, - TheJ ferns.
— 17 Afpermae, - - Motes, muflirooms, fea-weed.
I
• — 18 Apetali, ... Afh box, fig.
19 Amentacei, - - Walnut, oak, beech, fir, cyprefs.
20 Monopetali, - - Buckthorn, privet, jeflamy, olive, lilac, elm, acacia, elder,
honey-fuckle.
difpofed circularly like thofe of the rofe, 21 Rofacei, . . - Sumich, lime, tamarifk, horfe-chefnut, nettle-tree, ivy, vine,
maple, tea, peach, cherry, palms, apple, rofe, myrtle,
medlar.
fhaped like a butterfly, — — 22 Papilionacei, - Broom, St. John’s-bread, coral-tree, falfe acacia, coronilla.
Obfervation, — The 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th, and 1 7th claffes of
this method are true natural families.
ANALYSIS of the celebrated SEXUAL SYSTEM of LINN ALUS,
According to this ingenious Method all Vegetables are furnijhed with FLOWERS
, which arc either
Vifiblcj
Stamina and pointal in the fame flower,
“Male and female organs diftinft,
'Stamina not united either above or below.
Generally of equal length,
IN NUMBER.
One, — —
Two, — —
Three, — —
Four, — —
Five, — —
Six, — — —
Seven, — — —
Eight, — — —
Nine, — — —
Ten, — — —
Twelve, — — —
Many, frequently twenty, attached \
to the calyx, /
Many, generally upwards of twenty, \
t_ not attached to the calyx, /
_Of unequal length,
'Two long, and two (hort, —
Stamina united
Four long, and two Ihort, —
‘ by the filaments, into one body,
into two bodies,
into many bodies,
. by the anthers or tops, into a cylinder.
GLASSES.
1 Monandria, -
2 Diandria,
3 Tnandna,
4. Tetrandria , -
3 Petitandria, -
6 Hexandria, -
7 Heptandria , -
8 OSandria, -
9 Enneandria3 _
10 Decandria , -
1 1 Dodecaudria ,
12 Icofandria , .
1 3 Polyandria, -
14 Didymmia, -
15 Tetradynamia,
16 Monadelphiat
1 7 Diadelphia , -
1 8 Polyadelphia,
19 Syngenejia , -
20 Gynandria,
Male organs (ftamina) attached to, and!
(landing upon the female (piftillum). J
Stamina and pointal in different flowers,
{on the fame plant, — — 21 Monoecia,
on different plants, — — 22 Dioecia, - .
on the fame, ot different plants alone 1 „ ,
with hermaphrodite flowers, ) 2 3 -
LOr lie concealed from view, and cannot be diftindlly deferibed. — — 24 Cryptogamia ,
EXAMPLES,
dinger, Indian arrow-root, turmerick, blite.
\ effamine, privet, olive, lilac, fpeedwell.
Valerian, tamarind, iris, and the grades.
! cabious, teazel, madder, holly, woodroof.
] Sell- flower, bind- weed, mullein, thorn-apple, peri-
winkle, and the rough-leaved and umbelliferous
plants.
inow-drop, narciffus, tulip, aloe, hyacinth.
Horfe-chefnut.
Indian-crefs, heath, French. willow.
Bay, rhubarb.
Fraxinella, rue, rhododendron, lychnis.
Purflane, houfe-leek, afarabacca.
Peach, medlar, apple, rofe, cinquefoil.
Herb-chriftopher, poppy, lark-fpur, columbine.
Savory, hyffop, ground-ivy, balm, toad-flax, fox-
glove, agnus callus, bear’s-breech.
Scurvy-grafs, candy-tuft, water-crefs, (lock, woad.
Geranium and the mallow tribe.
Fumatory, milk-wort, and the pea-bloom flowers.
Orange, chocolate-nut, St. John’s-wort.
Violet, balfam, cardinal-flower, and the flowers
termed compound, as dandelion, fuccory, thiftle,
cudweed, tanfey, blue-bottle.
Orchis, ladies-flipper, arum, vanelloe, birth-wort,
paflion-flower.
Mulberry, nettle, oak, cyprefs, fir, cucumber.
Willow, hop, fpinach, poplar, mercury, juniper.
White hellebore, pellitory, orach, fig.
Ferns, modes, muthrooms, flags.
I I > ' ‘ » A
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!•. I'i‘ I'OV J -
A
BOTANICAL DICTIONARY.
in compofition fignifies without , as herbee acalycei.
herbs or plants that want the calyx : herb ee acaules ,
plants that want the cauhs or Hem.
ACALYCES Plants, (from a priv. and calyx), having
no calyx, or flower-cup. Vide Calyx.
This is the name of the 15th clafs in WachendorfEus’s
Natural Method, and confifts of fuch plants as have no
flower- cup.
ACANACE^E, the name of the 13th clafs in Ctefal-
pinus’s Syfiematic Method, confifting entirely of compound
flowers. It anfwers to part of Linnaeus’s clafs Syngenta,
and is exemplified in the dandelion, ( leontodon ). Vide Syn-
CENESIA.
ACAULES Her bee, (from a priv. and caulif )■; herbs
that want the catdis or Hem. The 30th clafs, or family,
in Magnolius’s Method. Vide Caulis.
ACINI, the fmall berries which compofc the fruit of a
mulberry, bramble, ftrawberry, &c.
ACOTYLEDONES, (from a priv. and cotyledon ) ;
plants fo called whofe feeds are not furnifhed with cotyledons ,
or lobes, and confequently, put forth no feminal leaves.
All the mofTes are of this kind. Vide Cotyledones.
ACULEUS, (from aens, a needle, of which Prifcian
confiders it, as well as acicula , to be a diminutive, all of
them, probably, derived from the Greek axn, or ixio, cufpis,
a point) ; a prickle, or fharp point. A fpecies of armature,
or oflcnfive weapon, with which the flcms and branches of
A C U '
B
feveral
A F O
feveral plants arc furnifhed.. Vide Arma. It is partictK
larly remarkable in rofe, rafpberry, currant, and berberry
bufhes.
The prickle differs from tile thorn (fpina ), another fpe-
ei^of armature, or defence againft animals, in being only
a prolongation oi the cortex or outer bark of the plant, and
in no fort conne&ed with, or protruded from the wood.
This is apparent from the facility with which fuch prickles
are detached from the ftem along with the bark : whilft the-
other, and more rigid fpecies of weapon, being an expan-
fion or procefs of the lignous body, cannot be detached
without rending and tearing the fubflance of the wood.
Vide Spina.
Duhamel compares prickles on the furface of plants, t<5
the nails and claws of animals.
Prickles are either,
Re dli, flraight ; as in Jolanum indicum ;
Incurvi, bent inwards ; as in mimofa cineraria ;
Recurvi, bent outwards.
Tomeniofi, downy, or covered with tomentum , a filver-
white woolly appearance, as in the Jolanum jandlum. Vide
Tomentum.
Acerofi, chaff)' ; Jolanum tomentofum.
Geminati, growing in pairs ; as in euphorbia canarienfts,
and euphorbia officinarum.
ADVERSIFOLIvE Planta, (from adverfus, oppofite ;
and folium, a leaf ) ; plants whofe leaves Hand oppofite to
each other, on the fame ftem or branch. The name of the
5th clafs in Sauvage’s Methodus Foliorum, exemplified ift
valerian, teafel, honey-fuckle, and the labiated, or lipped
flowers. Vide Lap iatus Flos.
/ESTIVALES Planta;, (from ceflas, fummer) ; plants
which flower in fummer. The fecond divifion or clafs of
Du Pas’s Method or arrangement from the four feafons of
the year, Opnflfting of herbs which flower in fummer.
AFORA, from a priv. and fores, a door) ; having no
doors or valves. The name of a clafs in Camellus s
Method, confilling of plants whofe pericarpium or feed-
5 reffel
A G G
veffel is not furnifhed with the inclofure or external cover-
ing called a valvule. Vide V ALVU la.
AGGREGATUS Flos, (from aggregate , to affembie,
or colleft) ; properly Agnifies a flower confifting of a num-
ber of fmaller flowers, or fru&iflcations, colle&ed into a
head by means of fome part common to them all. In this
view, aggregate flowers {land oppofed to Ample flowers,
which have a Angle fru&iflcation, compleat in its parts, none
of which are common to many flowers.
From the defeription of aggregate flowers, juft given, it
is evident that each of the fmaller flowers will not conflitute
a complete fruftifleation of itfelf ; as one or two of the
effential parts of fru&iflcation are only, common to the
whole bundle or heap. It happens, however, fometimes,
that the partial flotver will be furnifhed with a part analogous
to the common part in the aggregate. Thus in compound
flowers, (the Syttgenefia of Linnams), the florets or partial
flowers are generally furnifhed with a proper calyx or flower-
cup, though the calyx is one of the common parts in fuch
compound flowers. The fame thing occurs in feveral other
aggregate flowers, which are not compound. Thus thrift,
or fea-pink, Jlatice ; fcabious, fcabiofa ; teafel, dipjacus ;
blue-daify, globularia ; button-wood, cephalanthus ; hartwort
of Crete, tordylium ; hog’s-fennel, peucedatmm ; laferwort,
lajerpitium ; lovage, llgujlicum ; piflacia-nut, pijlacia ; &c.
are furnifhed with a common and proper calyx. On the
other hand, Leucadendron, Alver tree, protea ; carrot, daucus ;
cow'parfnep, beracleum ; carvy, carum ; dill, ancihum ;
parlley, apium \ 8c c. though furnifhed with a common calyx,
under different appellations, have fcarce any proper flower-
cups for the different florets, of which the aggregate is com-
po fed .
The common part in aggregate flowers, is either the re-
ceptacle, or the calyx. Vide Receptaculum, and Ca-
lyx.
From the different flru&ure, difpofltion, and other circum-
ffances of thefe common parts, arifes a feventold divifion of
aggregate flowers : the aggregate , properly fo called ; the
B x’ compound ,
A G G
compound, the umbellate , the cymofe, the amentaceous, the
glumoje, and the fpadiceous flowers. Vide COMPOS ITUS Flos,
Umbella, Amentaceus ties, &C.
■ Thefe all agree in being compofed of florets, called bv
Linnaeus,' -floJatU, which are connefted by means of fome
part or parts common to the whole ; but differ in the figure,
proportion, and difpofition of thefe parts.
The Aggregate Flower properly fo called, has its
florets erefted on peduncles or foot-ftalks : the receptacle,
which is common, being dilated, or extended in breadth for
that purpofe. The calyx is likewife common, and umver-
fally that fpecies called perianthium. In fome flowers, each
floret has a proper calyx, which is likewife a perianthium,
and generally monophyllous, or of one piece. In others,
there is either no proper calyx at all, as in leucadendron ; or it
is fo very fmall, as fcarcely to be difeerned : as in teafel.
Striking Structures.
Scabious, fcabioja ? has a double proper calyx.
The genus mitchella has two diftina flower-cups, and two
florets placed upon a Angle germen, or fruit-bud. _
The genus morina has likewife a double perianthium, each
perfeftly diftina, the one of the flower, and the other of
the fruit. . , ,
Valerian, button-wood, and American hog-weed, boer-
havict, have fcarce any common calyx. _
In the genus brunia, the proper calyx or perianthium is
pentaphyllous, or confifts of five diftina leaves.
Thefe are the mofl remarkable exceptions to the general
defeription of aggregate flowers, properly fo called.
Aggregate:, the feventh clafs in Royen’s Natural
Method ; and forty-eighth order in Linnaeus s Fragmenta
Method's Naturalis, confifting of plants whofe flowers anfwcr
to the defeription given above.
It may not be improper here, to obferve, that thefe Frag-
ments of a Natural Method, have undergone feveral altera-
tions fince their firft publication in the Phtlofopbia Batamca.
The number of orders, then fxxty-e'ight, is now reduced to
fifty-
ALB
fifty-eight ; and befides, that the names and places of
thefe orders have undergone a total revolution ; feveral
genera, that formerly were ranked -under one title, are now
difperfed among a number ol different titles or orders. To
avoid confufion, therefore, let the reader keep in mind,
that the Fragments I always refer to, are thole publifhed at
the end of the fixtli edition of the Genera Plantarum, printed
Holmiae, 1764, under the head Ordines Naturales.
To illuftrate the above obfervation, I would remark, that
thefe genera, lonicera, honey-fuckle ; mitchella , morinda, and
leranthus, are removed into the order aggregate, which we
are now confidering, Iroifi an order entitled cymofce, which
is not to be found in the improved editions of the Fragments.
In like manner, the genera felago, con&carpus, button-tree ;
and vifeum, milletoej which were formerly thrown into the
laft order, as vague, and of difficult arrangement, now
make a part of the fame order of aggregate flowers.
ALA, a wing ; fo the word literally fignifies. Among
former botanills, it was ufed to exprefs the angle formed by
the Item with die branch or leaf.
With Linnaeus, and others, ala is the name of a mem-
brane, affixed to fome fpecies of feeds, and which, by its
flying, helps to difperfe them. Vide Semen.
Examples of the winged feed will be found in the fir, birch,
and tulip-trees, liriodendrum ; in the aggregate flower button-
wood, conorarpus ; and the umbelliferous flowers, artedia,
and dill, anethnm .
Meadow-rue, thalydlrujn • trumpet-flower, hignonia ; red
jafmine, plumeria ; tickfeed, corifpermim ; and qneen’s-july-
flower, befperis ; are alfo furniffied with feed-membranes of
this kind,
ALeE, the two lateral, or fide petals of a papilionaceous,
or butterfly fhaped flower. Vide Corolla, and Dia-
DELPHIA.
ALBURNUM, (from albm, white) ; the foft white
fubflance, which, in trees, is found between the liber or inner
bark and the wood, and, in progrefs of time, acquiring fo-
fidity, becomes itfelf the wood. From its colour, and com-
b 3 parative
A M A
parativc jjpfuiefs, it has been (tiled by fome writers, the fat
o t t rees plffl'efi arborum .
The alburnum is found in larged quantities in trees that
are vigorous ; though in fuch as langurlh, or are fickly,
there is a greater number of beds. In an oak fix inches in
diameter, this fubllance is nearly equal in bulk to the wood.
In a trunk of one foot diameter, it is as one to three and a
half ; of two and a half feet diameter, as one to four and a
half, isc. but thefe proportions vary according to the health
and conllitution of the trees.
The alburnum is frequently gnawed in pieces by infefts,
which lodge in the fubllance, and are nourifhed from it.
A LG/E, flags ; one of the feven lamilies, or natural
tribes, into which the whole vegetable kingdom is divided
by Limueus, in his Philofophia Botanica. They are defined
to be plants, whole root, leaf and Item, are all in one. Un-
der this defeription are comprehended all the fea-weeds, and
fome other aquatic plants.
In the fexual fyllera, they conflitute the third order of the
twenty-fourth clafs Cryptcgamia ; in Tournefort’s, the fe-
cond genus of the fecond fcdlion, [Marina:, aut Jluviatiles ,)
of the feventeenth clafs, ajperma vulgo habita ; and the fi fty-
feventh order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method.
The difeoveries made in this part of the vegetable king-
dom, are uncertain, and impertedi ; and the attempts, in
particular, to arrange flags by the parts of the fruftification,
have not been attended with great fuccefs. Dillenius has
arranged this order of plants, from their general habit and
ftrudlure ; Micheli from the parts of irudlification.
Each has confiderable merit.
ALOPECUROIDEA, (from alopccurus, fot-tail grafs) ;
the name ot a clafs, in Ray’s, Montis, and Scheuchzerus’s
Divifion of the Gralfes.
ALTERN/E Plan/a, the name of the third and fourth
clafi’esof Sail v age’s Method us Foliorum, confining of plants
who fe leaves are alternate : oppofed to the clafs Advcrftfolia
of the fame author. Vide Adversi folia; Plant-fonala, the
fortieth order of Linnaeus’s Fragments, and makes part of
the twelfth clafs Ringentes, in Royen's Natural Method.
It is however to be obferved, that Linnaeus’s Natural
Order, PerJ'onatec , contains feveral genera that do not belong
to the fecond order of the clafs Didynamia, in his Sexual
Svftem : as fpeedwell, veronica ; inalabar-nut, juJUcia ;
hedge-hyfTop, gratiola-, vervain, verbena ; which belong to
the fecond clafs, Diandria.
The term angiofpermous, is equivalent to Rivinus’s
Semina tefta Pericarpio, feeds covered with a pericarpium.
ANGULI Foiii, the prominent parts of an horizontal leaf.
Vide Fo M u m .
ANOMAL.T, (from x priv. and vo//,1^, a law) ; irregular:
the name of the twenty-fixth and thirty-third claffes in
Ray’s Method; the former, refpefting herbs; the latter,
trees. The eleventh clafs in Tournefort’s Method, has alfo
obtained this name, and confifls of plants whtrfe corolla is
compofed of feveral irregular and diflimilar pieces. The
aconite, columbine, violet, fumatory, lark-fpur, orchis,
fraxinella, and feveral other plants, which have a neftarium,
are reduced to this clafs of Tournefort. Vide Nectarium.
Anomalcc is likewife the name of the fourth, thirteenth,
and twenty-fecond clafTes of Pontedera's Syftcm, and the
ninth of Linnreus’s Melhodus Calycina, or method derived
from the form, llrufturc, and fituation of the calyx.
ANTHKMIDES, the name of the eleventh clafs, in
Caefalpinus’s Syflem: containing a number of plants, which
are furnifhed with feveral naked feeds within a common
calyx, each petal or floret having a finglc feed. It anfwers
to part of the fyngenejtous, or compound flowers of Lin-
nteus ;
KJ
ANT
thus ; and is exemplified in the daify, bellls. Casfalpinus’s
twelfth clafs, Acanacece, or Cichoracce, contains the re-
maining part of the compounded flowers. Vide Aca-
NACE£, &C.
■ ANTHERA, (from avO©-, a flower); the Apex of Ray,
Tournefort, and Rivinus; the Capfula Staminis of Malpighi.
Vide Philofophia Botanic a, page 134. The anther, fummit,
or top of the flamen, connefted with the flower, and elevated
bv means of the filament, or thread. Vide Stamen, and
Filamentum.
From the great utility of the fine coloured dull contained-
within this part of the fru&ification, Linnaeus has diftin-
guifhed it by the name of anthera , or, the fiower by way of
eminence.
The dull, which he has denominated Pollen , is difcharged,
when ripe, for the impregnation of the plant, by the anther,
which fwells and burfls open for that purpofe. Vide
Pollen.
This is a leading principle in the celebrated Sexual Syflem
of Linnaeus.
Natural Structure.
The mod natural ftru&ure of the Anther, by which I
always mean the moll common, or that which is found to
obtain in the greatefl number of plants, is, in point of fitu-
ation, to be placed on the top of the filament; in point of
number a Angle anther to each filament.
Different Jlriking Structures.
We obferved above, that the generality of plants have a
Angle anther to each filament; the following are exceptions
to the general rule.
The herb mercury, mercurialis ; and ranunculus, have
two anthers to each filament ; this is flylcd by Linnteus,
anthera didyma ; and is frequently found in the clafs Mo-
hcecia.
. Fumatory, fumaria-, has three anthers to each filament.
Bryony, bryonia ; has five anthers to three filaments; a
fingle
A N T
Tingle anther upon one of the filaments, and the remaining
lour equally divided between the other two.
1 he chocolate-nut, theobroma ; has five anthers to each
filament.
The bean, pea, vetch, furze, trefoil, liquorice, and all
the other butterfly-fhaped flowers (the Diadclphia of Lin-
naeus) have generally ten anthers to two filaments, or, more
properly, to two fets of united flamina.
1 he gourd, cucurbita, has one anther, common to three
filamdnts.
Dandelion, feverfew, ground fel, and all the other com-
pound flowers, (the Syngencfta of Linnaeus) have one anther,
common to five filaments ; or, to fpeak more properly,
five anthers united in a cylinder, are placed upon five diftinft
and feparate filaments.
The genera chelone and jftartynia, which belong to the
clafs Didynamia of Linnaeus, and confequently have four
ffamina, two of which are long, and two fhort, are very lin-
gular in their ftrutture. Within the uppermoff, or tailed
pair of flamina, is placed the rudiment of a fifth filament,
fharp and pointed, without an anther.
Vervain, -verbena , though of the clafs Diandria , has four
filaments, two fhorter than the reft, and but two anthers.
Some fpecies -of vervain have four anthers.
Hedge-hyffop, gratiola , likewife of the clafs Diandria,
has four filaments ; two fhorter than the reft and barren ;
that is, without anthers. In fome fpecies, three anthers are
wanting.
In a fpecies of the trumpet-flower, bignonia, called by
Linnaius catalpa , there arc only two perfect flamina, or
ltamina with anthers. T he three remaining rudiments of
flamina, are fhorter than the other two, and want the
anthers.
T urmerick, curcuma ; of Linnaeus’s firft clafs, Monandria ;
has five flamina, four of which are imperfeft, or, according
to Linnaeus, caffrated ; that is, want the anthers.
Some fpecies of geranium, particularly that called by
Linnaeus Cicutarium, have the filaments furnifhed alter-
/
nately
ANT
nately only with anthers; that is five anthers to ten fila-
ments.
The anthers, we obferved, are generally feated on the
tops of the filaments.
The herb parts , and afarabacca, afarum, have the anthers
fixed to the middle or fides of the filaments.
Birthwort, ariflolochia, has no filaments ; the anthers,
which are fix in number, adhere to the ftigma.
In cuckow-pint, arum, there are likewife no filaments,
unlefs a number ot neftaria, thick at the bafe, and termi-
nated with thread-fhaped tendrils. The anthers are nu-
merous, four-cornered, placed between a double row oE
tendrils, and adhere to the receptacle, which, in this genus,
is a fpadix. Vide Spadix.
The anthers are generally furnifhed with one or more-
cells, [loculi,) for containing the fine duft, or vivifying
powder mentioned above.
Mercury has one cell.
Hellebore, has two cells.
Orchis, three; and
Fritillaria, four.
The powder, when ripe, is difeharged by the anther,,
which burfls, either on the fide, as in mod flowers; on
the top, or apex, as in fnow-drop; or through the whole'
length downwards, as in barren-wort, epimedium ; and lions-
leaf, leontice.
This burfling of the anthers, is fliled by Linnrcus, De-
hifeentia ; and where the opening is very minute, as in fome
fpecies of anthers, it is termed Apertura.
Terms exprejfmg the mode of connexion of the Anthers with
the Filament.
Antiier/E Erect .-f, ereff, or ftraight anthers; when
they are fattened by either extremity to the top of the fila-
ment ; by the bafe, as in moll plants; or by the top, as in1
meadow -fattron, colchicum.
Anthers. Incumbentes, anthers which lie upon the
filaments, or are fattened to them by the fides ; oppoled to
ere flee. , '
This
ANT
This term is- exemplified in the fea-pink, ftaiice ; the
currant-tree, ribes ; the pink, dianthus ; fea-daffodil, pan -
cratium, &c.
Anthers Versatiles, veering about like a vane,
or weather-cock ; when they are placed horizontally on the
top of the filament, and confequently fo poifed, as to turn (
on it like a vane, or the needle of a compafs. Exemplified
in cock’s-comb, celojia ;. geranium, clutia, amaranthus, and
eriocaulon.
Note, the verfatile anther, is a fpecies of the incumbent.
Indian flowering-reed, and the genus cofius, have their
anthers incumbent, or attached by the fides, not to a fila-
ment, but to a neftarium, the upper-lip of which ferves in
the lafl genus, inflead of a filament.
* i
Terms of Figure and Refemblance.
Anthera Linearis, final), and flender, like a line; as he-
liocarpus, Jiapelia, &c.
Anthera Subulata, awl-fhaped, or narrowing towards the
top ; as in the genus roella.
Anthera llajiata , like a fpear, or javelin, as in the genus
jacquinia .
Anthera Oblonga, of an oblong figure, or much longer
than broad; as in the capficums, blood-flower, hamanthus\
and evolvulus.
Anthera fiicornis, with divifions like two horns; as in
winter-green, pyrola ; whortle-berries, vaccinium.
Anthera Bifida, parted half-way down in two; as in
heath, erica.
Anthera Biloba, parted more than half-way down in two,
with wide and concave divifions, as in eye-bright.
Anthera Sagittata, arrow -fliaped ; as in crocus, flax,
linum ; and the pine-apple, bromclia.
Anthera Cordata, heart-fhaped ; as in fwcet-weed, ca-
praria ; tinus, bucida.
Anthera Reniformis , kidney-fhaped ; as in ginora, and
tradefcantia.
, The kidney-fhaped anther, as well as the kidney-fhaped
feeds, is very common in the clafs Monodelphia of Linnaeus.
Anthera
ANT
Anthera Ovata , egg-fhaped ; as in limeum.
Anthera Subovata, nearly approaching to the egg lhape, as
in fparrow-wort, pajferina.
Anthera Rotunda and Globofa, though diftinguilhed by Lin-
nasus, feem to be of equal import ; round, or without any
angles : cala?nus, a genus of the Hexandria of Linnaeus, fur-
nilhes an example of the former term ; the herb mercury,
mercurialis, of the latter.
Anthera Subrotunda , roundilh, or a little round: as in
loufe-wort; ceraltium; american viburnum, lantana ; orach,
atriplex ; american night-fhade, phytolacca\ baftard milk-
vetch, phaca.
Anthera Trigona, three-cornered ; as in the rofe.
Anthera Tetragon «, four-cornered ; as in hemp, cannabis ;
the poplar, populus ; and fraxinella, di&amnus.
Anthera Lunulata , and Lunularis , crefcent-fhaped; as
in the flrawberry, and marfh cinquefoil, comarum.
Thefe are the moll remarkable terms for expreffing the
fhape and figure of the anthers; to particularize them all,
with the minute exa&nefs of Linnteus, in his Genera Plan-
tarum, would be endlefs, and, indeed, is altogether unne-
celTary.
The following terms relating to the anther, cannot be dif-
pofed under any particular head.
Anthera Acuta , lharp, or terminating in an acute angle;
as in comfrey, Jymphytum ; and honey-wort, cerinlhe.
Anthera Acuminata, tapering to a point; as in fox-glove,
digitalis ; and thlafpi.
■ Anthera Obtufa, blunt, oppofed to the two former ; as in
herb bennet, geum ; bear’s breech, acanthus.
Anthera Diftindla, diltinft, or unconnefted with each other ;
as in moft plants.
Anthera dijlans , a term expreffing the remotenefs of the
anthers from each other; as in the genera ziosiphora and
morina.
Anthera Connivens, approaching, or inclining towards each
other, oppofed to the two former ; as in lung- wort, pul -
monaria ; borage, borago ; night-fhade, jolanum ; and feveral
c genera
ANT
genera of the clafs Dtdynamia, of Linnaeus; as fnap-dragon,
antirrhinum ; ground-ivy, glecoma ; favory, fatureia , &c.
Anthera Connata, Cohcerens, united together ; as in water
milfoil, utricularia .
Anthera Incurva and Incurvata, bowed, or crooked ; as in
•vervain, verbena ; and filk cotton-tree, bombax.
Anthera Villofa , covered with foft hairs, woolly ; as in
bear’s-breech, acanthus.
Anthera Hirfuta, rough with hair, as in the dead nettle,
Jamiutn ; and elephant’s-head, rhinanthus.
Anthera Menibranacea, hard like parchment; as in the
genus triplaris.
Anthera PeUucida, fhining, or tranfparent; as in moon-
feed, menifpermum. This tranfparency is obferved in the
barren anther of the female flower only ; for this genus of
plants belongs to the clafs Diaecia of LinntEUS, and con-
fequently, has its male and female flowers upon diflmft
roots. Vide MASCULUS and FEMINEUS Flos.
Principles of the Sexual Method.
\. Every vegetable is furnifhed with flower and fruit.
Vide Flos, and Fructus.
2. The flower and fruit together conftitute the fructifi-
cation. Vide Fructificatio.
3. The fru&ifi cation, therefore, is the effence of the ve-
getable.
4. The e hence of the flower confifls in the anther and
ftigma. Vide Stigma.
5 . The anther, and ftigma, therefore, conftitute a flower,
with or without the calyx and corolla. Vide, Calyx and
Corolla.
6. The anther produces, and, when ripe, difeharges a
powder called pollen t which, falling upon the ftigma, is
abforbed by a tough and vifeid humour, with which the
furface of that part is covered ; and paffing through the
ft vle which correfponds to the vagina in animals, difeharges
what Linnaeus calls the aura feminalis, for the impregnation
of the germen, or ovarium below. Vide, Stylus and
Germen.
7. To
A N'T
\
7. To fpeak, by analogy, therefore, the anthers may be
confidered as the tefles ; the pollen contained within them,
as the Jemen mafculinum , or male feed ; and the filament,
which elevates the anthers, as the fpermatic vefiels. Vide
Pollen and Filamentum.
8. The ftigma is to be confidered in general, as the female
organ of generation in plants.
Arguments in fupport of the opinion that the Anther is the male
organ tf generation in plants.
1. The flower univerfally precedes the fruit, as generation
and conception precede the birth. I fay univerfally, be-
caufe the few inftances which feem to contradift this after -
tion, are found, upon examination, to be exceptions in ap-
pearance only.
Meadow -faffron, colchicum ; and witch-hazel, hatnamelis ;
flower in autumn, and produce fruit the following fpring :
— a Angular faft in vegetation, and which, to an inattentive
obferver, might fuggeft the opinion, that, in thefe plants, the
flower is preceded by the fruit.
In the plantain-tree, mufa ; the germen, or feed-bud,
which is very large, has attained its full-growth, but not
maturity, before the male flowers appear. The fruit, there-
fore, does not precede the flower, even in this inftance,
where the germen is not impregnated by the male duff.
2. Another argument for the fexes of plants, is derived
from the fituation and proportion of the fuppofed organs of
generation, the anthers, and ftigma.
In an ere£I, or upright flower, the anthers and ftigma are
either of equal length, as in mod plants ; or the anthers are
confiderably taller, that the duft, when difcharged, may fall
upon the top of the ftigmai.
In an inverted flower, [flos nutans ,) the female organ is
longer than the male, for the fame reafon. Of this we have
familiar inftances in the fnow-drops, campanulas, and fri-
tillarias. It is obvious, that if the {lamina were longer than
the piftillum, or female organ, in fuch plants, no impregna-
tion could ever, on the hypothefis of Linnaeus, pollibly en-
c 2 lue :
s
ANT
fue : as the dull, when ripe and difcharged, would fall to the
ground, and never approach the lligma, which lies in the
oppofite direftion.
In flowers that (lope downwards, or droop, both organs in-
cline towards the under fide; and the anthers are generally
placed immediately above the ftigma. Wild fenna, cajfm ;
and all the butter-fly fhaped flowers, the Diadelphia of Lin-
naeus, furnifh examples.
In flowers that Hope upwards, (Jlos adfcendens) ; both or-
gans are placed clofe under the upper fide ; as in the Didy-
namia Gymncfpermia of Linnaeus.
Thus we have feen, that the piftillum, in every inflance,
follows the direftion of the anther ; that its length is likewife
regulated by the male organ ; and that the fine dull difcharg-
ed by the anthers does, in efleft, fall upon the itigma.
In the pink, dianihus, the ftyle is generally longei than
{he ftamina : and the ftigma is bent backwards, to receive
the pollen, which otherwife would efcape. In fome fpecies,
the ftyles are exceedingly long, but are fo rolled back, that
the impregnation by the male dull can eafily be accomplifh-
without the inflection of the flower.
The long ftyles in the fennel-flower, nigella, are likewife
rolled back for the fame purpofe.
Hitherto we have treated of the fituation of the antners
and ftigma, when they are placed within the fame covers,
and form together a fru&ifi cation, which is termed by
Linnaeus an hermaphrodite flower.
The fituation of thiefe effential parts of fruftifi cation, is
not lefs favourable to the hypothefis of the fexes, when
they are placed within diftindh covers, upon the fame root,
as in the clafs M oncecia of Linnaeus, where the flowers that
have the anther only, which he calls male-floweis, are gene-
rally placed immediately above the female-flowers, or fuch
as have the piftillum only ; and that, either upon the fame, or
different foot-ftalks. Thus in the genera zea, and coix,
Job’s-tears, the male-flowers, or thofe furnifhed with the
anthers, are placed above the female-flowers, upon different
fpikes in the former, and upon the fame fpike in the latter.
Vide SpiCA.
Exception .
ANT
Exception. — The genera olyra, zizania, and poterium, gar-
de l-burnet, have the male-flowers placed below the female;
the two former on the fame panicle ; the latter on the fame
fpike. Vide Panic u la.
In compound flowers, the Syngenejia of Linnaeus, there
are few barren plants, or that do not ripen feed ; a circum-
flance which Linnaeus accounts for from the fituation of the
anthers, which are, in a manner, perforated by the ftigma.
Vide Syngenesia.
In the order polygamia frujiranea, of the fame clafs, the
florets in the circumference ( radius J which are female, or
furnifhed with the piftillum only, are never impregnated,
though there are hermaphrodite flowers in the center, ( difcus ) ;
becaufe the ftigma is wanting. To this order belong the
fun-flowers, centaury, &c.
In faxifrage, Jaxifraga ; and feveral plants, where the
piftillum is very fhort; the anthers approach and form a cora-
paft body immediately above the ftigma.
This approaching of the anthers, fays Linnaeus, is very
remarkable in the genus celofia, at the time of their burfting
and difcharging the duft.
3. Among animals, the male and female organs of genera-
tion ripen, and are in a capacity of performing their functions
much about the fame time.
In plants, the ftigma, which is the fuppofed female organ,
is in its greateft vigour, when the male duft is dilcharged by
its organ the anther.
This coincidence in point of time is obferved, not only
in hermaphrodite flowers, or fuch as have the anthers and
ftigma contained within the fame covers ; but likewife in the
clafl’es Moncecia and Dioecia of Linnaeus, where thofe organs
are placed apart within different covers, on the fame root,
as in the former, or on diftinft roots, as in the latter. In
thele clafles, the male flowers ripen their anthers, at the
very time in which the female flowers ripen their ftigma. To
ftrengthen the conclufion in favour of the fexes from the
above-mentioned fails, let it be remarked, that in the plan-
tain-tree, mufa , where the male flowers are pofterior to the
c 3 female,
ANT
female, there is no impregnation, the pericarpium being
barren, or devoid of feeds.
4. In the generality of flowers, the fligma withers and
falls off, after the difcharge of the pollen and fall of the
anthers.
Such are the principal arguments for the fexes, arifing
from a general view of the drufture, proportion, and fit na-
tion of the fuppofed organs.
Experiments on thefe organs, give rife to a fecond fet of
arguments ; the management and culture of fig and palm-
trees, furnifh a third fort. Thefe, along with the oppofite
fet of arguments, employed by Dr. Alflon, and othei emi-
nent naturalids, {hall be fully enumerated under the article
SexUsPlantarUM, whither we refer our readers.
ANTHOPHILI, (from dvQos, a flower, and Qihiaj, to
love). Florifls.
The varieties arifing chiefly from the colours of the co-
rolla, in the fame fpecies of plants, are the principal objeft
of the florid . In many fpecies of flowers, the colour is
variable ; as in the tulip, hyacinth, ranunculus, pink, blue
bottle, violet, columbine, fumatory, tsV. Such flowers,
therefore, claim, in an eminent manner, the attention of
the florid. Vide V arietas.
Double flowers, which are a fpecies of monders in the
vegetable kingdom, and arife from a luxuriancy of nou-
rifhment, are likewife the delight of the fiorid. Vide Ple-
a vs Flos, Multiplicatus Flos, &c. Phil. Bo/, p. 81,
240.
ANTHUS, (from avfior, a dower) ; the dower. A term
u fed by Colutnna, fynonimous to the corolla of Linnaeus.
We have feen that the petals, or coloured leaves, are not
eflential to the exidence of a dower, which, according to
Linnaeus, is condituted by the prefence of the anthers and
digma. Vide Principles of the Sexual Method, under the
article Anthera.
The fuppofed utility of thefe organs in the bufinefs of
generation fuggelted the definition. When that utility was
not fo much as dreamt of, we need not wonder, that the petals,
, * the
APE
the mod con-fpicuous and beautiful part of the plant, fhould
have claimed a principal regard, and even have been charac-
terifed by the name of the flower, by way of eminence;
efpcciallv as feveral Syflems and Methods, particularly thole
of .Rivinus and Tourne fort, are founded upon their figure,
number, fituation, and regularity.
APERTURA, (from aperio, to open); an aperture or
opening ; the minute opening in certain fpecies of anthers
fo called. Vide A nth era.
. APETALUS Flos, (from a priv. and petahim, a petal);
having no petals, or corolla. The term was ufed by
Tournefort, and adopted by Linnaeus, and is equivalent to
the ImperfeStus of Rivinus, Knautius, and Pontedera ; the
Stamineus of Ray; the Incompletus of Vaillant, and the Ca-
pillaceus of other botanifls. Vide Corolla.
In almoft every former fyffem, the prefence or abfence
of fuch a confpicuous part as the petals, was a leading point:
in the fexual fyffem, however, the corolla is totally difre-
garded in the primary divifions, which are formed folely
on the number, proportion, fituation, union and abfence of
the flamina, or fuppofed male organ of generation in plants.
Hence we are not to expe£l in the Genera Plantarum, as in
other botanical writings, a lift, exhibiting at one view all
the plants which are not furnifhed with petals: thefe are to
be found difperfed among the different claffes in that accu-
rate and elaborate work.
In general, few of the amentaceous! flowers, and fewer of
the clafs Cryptogamia, containing the moffes, mufhrooms,
ferns, and fea-weed, are furnifhed with petals. Vide Amen -
taceus Flos, and Cryptogamia.
Many of the grafles likewife, want the corolla.
Chriftian Knaut, a Saxon, who was contemporary with
Tournefort, and publifhed a method founded upon the
number and regularity of the petals, among other curious
doftrines, denies the exiftence of apetalous flowers.
Apetalve, the name of a divifion or clafs in moft of
the fyftematic botanifls, confifting of fuch herbs and trees
as want the corolla. Apetalous herbs are generally fubdivided
c 4 into
A Q U
into apetalous properly fo called, which want petals, but
have the ftamina : apetalous without flowers, which appa-
rently want petals, flamina and calyx ; as the ferns, which
are dorfiferous, that is, bear their fruit on the back of the
leaf : and apetalous without flower and fruit, as the mofles
and mufhrooms.
Apetalous trees contain, amongft others, fuch whofe
flowers have the fpecies of calyx called amentum. Vide
Amentum.
Thefe are the amentacei and juliferi of Tournefort, Her-
jnannus, and others. Vide Amentaceous Flos , &c.
They form a confiderable part of the clafles Moncecia and
Dicecia, of Linnaeus. Vide Monoecia, &c.
APEX, the top, or fummit ; a term ufed by Tournefort,
Rivinus, and Ray, fynonimous to the anthera of Linnaeus.
Vide Anthera.
APEX Folii, the tip or upper extremity of the leaf. Vide
Folium.
APHYLL^E, (from a priv. and (pt-XXov, a leaf ) ; devoid
of leaves ; the name of the firfl. clafs in Sauvage’s ingenious
Methodus Foliorum , confifting of plants which are entirely
deftitute of leaves.
To this clafs belong mufhrooms, feveral of the fea-weed,
rufh, garlick, &c.
APYRINyE, ( apyrinus el apyrenus , without ftone or ker-
nel, or a fmall one, from the Greek a, privativ. and
nucleus , a kernel), the name of the fifty-third clafs in Lud.
Gerard’s Arrangement of the Plants that are natives of
Provence, in France. It confifls of two geneia, the myr-
tle and pomegranate.
AQUATICS Plan/a, (from aqua , water); plants that
grow in, or near water. Aquatics. I he name of a clafs
in Dodoneus’s, Porta’s, and .1. Bauhin’s Methods.
When artificial arrangement was yet in its infancy, fyf-
tems were conflrufted, not as in modern times, from the
lirutture and fituation of a particular part, but from a com-
plex view of the whole plant. Neither was this view con-
fined merely to the habit ; it included every circumflance,
however
ARB
however different ; the place of growth, the time of flower-
ing, the medicinal and (Economical ufes, the fenfible qua-
lities, and feveral other particulars, which by modern bota-
nifts, the only genuine fyftematical writers, are neceffarily
difregarded as primary charafters, but deferve every con-
fideration as fecondary marks of diftin&ion and ufeful auxi-
liaries for obtaining a complete knowledge of the plant.
ARBOR, a tree ; a perennial plant which rifes to a very
great height, with a Ample, woody, and durable ftem, or
trunk. By thefe charafters, are trees, with great accuracy,
diftinguifhed from herbs, whofe Hems are frequently com-
pound, herbaceous, or fucculent, and die down to the root
every year.
All trees too are perennial, as is evident from the charac-
ters jull enumerated : many herbs are either annual, that is,
of one year’s duration ; or biennial, of two; thofe only are
perennial, whofe roots, not perifhing with the Hems, con-
tinue a long time under the furface of the ground, and put
forth a new ftem every year. Vide Herb A.
Upon thefe obvious and ftriking differences was founded
the very ancient divifionof vegetables, into herbs and trees;
though, perhaps, that diftin&ion was principally fuggefted
by the difference of fize and duration of the plants in quef-
tion. Be that as it may, the divifion was efteemed fo natural
and fpontaneous, that, from the time of Ariftotle and
Theophraftus to the prefent age, it has obtained a princi-
pal place in almoft every fyftem, thofe of Rivinus and Lin-
naeus excepted, which mix herbs and trees promifcuoufly
together.
Among the celebrated names in botany, which have re-
tained the ancient diftinftion, are numbered Caefalpinus, the
father of fyftematic botany; Morifon, Hermannus, Chrif-
topher Knaut, Boerhaave, Ray, Pontedera, and Tourne-
fort. The latter, rather than omit a divifion, through cuf-
tom become neceffary, chofe to hurt the elegance and uni-
formity of his plan ; and, in faft, fpun out into twenty-two
claffes, what, without fuch a divifion, might have been
eafily comprifed in feventeen.
On
ARB
On the oppofite fide are ranged, befides Rivinus and Lin-
naeus, already mentioned, Chriftian Knaut, Ludwig, and
other names of lefs note.
The diftinftion into trees and fhrubs, though of equal an-
tiquity, is neither fo obvious, nor are its limits fo accurately
afcertained. In faft, of the numerous chara&eriftic diffe-
rences which have been fuggefled by botanical writers, not,
one is perfe£lly fatisfa£lory. To fay, with Tournefort, that
trees are univerfally taller than fhrubs, is, in effeft, faying
nothing, unlefs a certain fixed, immutable ftandard were
previoufly eftablifhed. Befides, every thing refpe&ing
dimenfion is fo variable in its nature, and depends fo much
upon difference of climate, foil and management, that were
a ftandard of this kind attempted to be eftablifhed, the greateft
confufion would enfue ; and the fame plant in different
countries, and even in oppofite foils in the fame country,
would receive different appellations, according as it exceed-
ed, or came fhort of the given ftandard.
Thus the ricinus, or palma-chrifti ; the dwarf rofebay,
rhododendron ; the ftrawberry-tree, arbutus ; and feveral
others, which grow to the fize of very large trees in warm
climates, are, in this country, equalled and even exceeded
in height by many of our fmalleft fhrubs,
.The difference of foil and culture in the fame climate,,
produces alike diverfity in dimenfion. Thus to take an ex-
ample from herbaceous vegetables, the marigold, which,
in a fat and moift earth rifes two feet high, fcarce exceeds
the fame number of inches in a dry and gravelly foil.
Nature, fays Linnaeus, has put no limits between trees
and fhrubs. Where then are we to fearch for the foundation
of this diftinfilion ? Not in the difference of fize and height,'
xor nothing can be more fallible. Either, he continues, there
are no limits at all, or they are to be found in the buds; and
the plants are filled trees, when their ftems come up with
buds ; fhrubs when they arife without buds : but this dif-
iinftion is fufficiently confuted by its author, who imme-
diately fubjorns, that there are feldom any buds upon the very
large trees in India; which muft, therefore, notwithftand.
ing
I
A R I
ing their great height, according to this definition, be
reckoned fhrubs.
The learned Dr. Alflon, in his Tyrocinium Bilanicum ,
feems to confider the diftinftion into trees and fhrubs as a
true natural diftinftion, and endeavours to trace its founda-
tion in the internal ftrufture of the plants themfelves. All
trees, fays he, whether they bear buds or not, are covered
with the two barks, the outer and inner, called by botanifts,
cortex and liber. Shrubs differ from herbaceous vegetables
in the duration of their Hems ; from trees in the nature of
their covering, which is not a bark, but a cuticle, or Simple
fkin.
This thought is ingenious ; but the faft on which it de-
pends is not fufficiently ascertained.
The farther diitin ft ion into fhrubs andunder-fhrubs, which
is exceedingly arbitrary and indeterminate, w'as firft Sug-
gefted by Clufius, in a work entitled, Rariores Exotica;
Planter, publilhed in 1576 ; and afterwards adopted bv Cae-
falpinus, and others. Vide Frutices.
ARBUSTIVA, (from arbujlum , a copfe of fhrubs* or
trees; an orchard, or vineyard;) the thirty-ninth order of
plants in the former editions of Linnaeus’s Fragments of
a natural Method, containing thefe genera, the myrtle,
mock-orange, philadelphus ; eugenia , guayava, or bay-plumb,
pfidium ; and the clove-tree, caryopbyllus. The firft four be-
long to the clafs Icofandria in the fexual method; the laft to
the clafs Polyandria.
In the lateft editions of thefe fragments, the above-
mentioned genera form the nineteenth order, under the title
of Hef per idea:. Vide HesperidEvE.
ARILLUS, (from arere, to be dry or parched,) a
term invented by Linnaeus, and defined to be the proper
exterior coat or covering of the feed, which, drying, falls
off fpontaneoufly.
All feeds are not furnifhed with an arillus ; in many, a
dry covering, or fcarf-fkin, Supplies its place. In jeffamine,
hound’s tongue, cynoglofl'um ; cucumber, fraxinella, didtam-
nus ; ftaff-tree, celajlrus ; fpindle-tree, euonymus ; African
Spiraea,
4
A R I
Ipiraea, diojma ; and the coffee-tree, cojfea ; it is very con-
fpicuous.
In the genus hound’s tongue, four of thefe arilli, or
pioper coats, each infolding a fingle feed, are affixed to the
ftyle, or pointal ; and in this circumftance, fays Linnaeus,
does the effence of the genus confift.
In fraxinella, the nrillus is common to two feeds.
The ilaff-tree has its feeds only half-involved with this
cover.
The Arillus is either
Baccatus, fucculent, and of the nature of a berry, as in
the fpindle tree, euonymus.
Cartilagineus , cartilaginous, or griftly, as in the African
fpirasa, diojma.
Coloratus , coloured, as in the ftaff-tree.
Elajlicus, endued with elafticity for difperfing the feeds ;
as is remarkable in the African fpiraea, diojma ; and fraxi-
nella.
Scaber , rough, and knotty, as in hound’s tongue.
Although covered with an arillus, or other dry coat, feeds
are faid to be naked, (Jemina nuda,) when they are not in-
clofed in any fpecies of pericarpium, or fruiuveffel ; as in
the graffes, and the labiati, or lipped flowers of Tournefort;
which correfpond to the Didynamia Gymmjpermia of Lin.
naeus.
Seeds are faid to be covered, (Jemina tedfa,) when they
are contained in a fruit- veffel, whether capfule, pod, or
pulpy pericarpium of the apple, berry, or cherry kind.
Vide Semen.
This exterior coat of the feed is, by feme former writers,
llyled Calyptra. Vide Calyptra. By Scopoli, the in-
genious author of the Flora Carnielica, it is termed Theca ,
(a ffieath or cafe).
The different fkins, or coverings of the feed, are adapted,
fay natural lfts, for receiving the nutritive juices, and tranf-
mitting them within.
ARISTA, (derived, as the preceding term, from area,
tu
A R I
to be dried), the awn, fharp beard, or point, iduing from
the hufk, or fcaly flower-cup, of the grades, called Gluma .
Vide Gluma.
The greateft part of the plants that belong to the natural
order of grades, are hermaphrodite , that is, bear flowers,
which have the flamina and pidillum within the fame covers.
^Hermaphroditus Flos.
Some, however, are androgynous , that is, have both male
and female flowers, produced on the fame root ; as the genera
zea, coix, olyra, tripjacum, zizania. Vide Mascullus
Flos, and Androgyna Planta.
Others are polygamous, that is, bear hermaphrodite flowers,
and flowers of either, or of both fexes, on the fame, or on
different roots : as the genera andropogon , holcus, Indian mil-
-let; apluda, eegilops. Vide PoLYGAMlA.
The hermaphrodite grades are all reduced, except three,
(vernal grafs, an/hoxanthum ; cinna, and rice, oryza ;) under
Linnaeus’s third clafs, triandria', the androgynous belong to
the clafs Moncecia ; and the polygamous to the clafs Polyga-
tnia. Vide Moncecia, PoLYGAMlA.
Of hermaphrodite grades, fome want the beard, as the
genus poa.
A like deficiency is obferved in the genera zea, coix, 8cc.
which range under the head of androgynous grades.
Both male and female flowers of the genus olyra , have
one of the valves only of the hufky calyx terminated with
a beard.
The male flower of the genus zizania, wants the beard ;
the hufky corolla of the female, [corolla gluma,) at the ter-
mination of its large outward valve, or petal, is furnifhed
with a very long one.
Of polygamous grades, andropogon and holcus want the
arijla in the calyx ; the hufk of the corolla of the herma-
phrodite flower, in the former, has a long, fharp, and
twided beard, proceeding from the bafe of the greater valve :
in the latter, the outward valve is furnidied with a very
rigid beard of the fame kind. The inner valve has none.
The valves of the hufky calyx of the hermaphrodite
6 flower.
A R I
/
flower, in the genus agihps , are furnifhed with various
beards.
The outer valve of thehufky corolla, in the fame genus,
is terminated with a double or triple beard. The inner
valve has none.
Arijie are either
Divaricate, fcattered, or placed at a confiderable diflance
from each other, oppofed to conferte , as in bromus fquarrojus.
Dorjales, fixed to the back, or outward part of the hulk,
as in oat, and fox-tail grafs, alopecurus.
ErcRe and refie, upright, perpendicular; as in bromus ,
and winged fpike-grafs, Jlipa.
Filiformes, thread-fhaped, as the drift* of a fpecies of
panic-grafs, called by Linnaeus, panicum. hirtellum.
Glutinoje, covered with a ftiflF glue ; as in panicum bir-
tellum.
Geniculate, jointed ; as in vernal grafs, anthoxanthum.
' Laves, fmooth, or polifhed, without any roughnefs; as
in avena fatua.
Lanate, woolly, covered with a foft fubflance like wool ;
as in Jlipa pennata, and arijlida plumoja. In the laft genus,
there are three arijie ; the intermediate one only is woollv.
Longijftme, very long ; as in the winged fpike-grafs, Jlipa.
Patule, fpreading ; as in arijlida, and bromus Jcoparius.
Piloje, hairy, covered with pili ; as in Jlipa tenacijjima,
where the arijle are hairy at the bafe.
Plumoja, feathery ; as in geum.
Recurve, bent back ; as in andropogon , and agrojlis canina.
Retortce and Rejlexo-torte, twilled backwards ; this is ex-
emplified in one of th z arijle of the genus lagurus.
Sanguine# , of a blood colour ; as in panicum hirtellum.
Setaccce , brillly, covered with Jet a, [Vide Pubes); as in
the agrojlis canina, and hordeum jub&tum.
Terminalts, fixed to the apex of the hulk, as in olyra, and
lagurus.
Tot tiles, wreathed or twilled like a rope; as in andropogon,
Jlipa, and aira montana. The beards of oats are twilled into
a fpiral form.
Villojce,
/
ART
Villofa , hairy, almoft fynonimous with pilofa; exempli-
fied in lagurus.
Unciuata , hooked; as in panicum hirtellujn, and geurn
urbanum.
Note, the feeds of herb-bennet, geufn, are furnifhed with
Jong jointed beards.
ARMA, arms; offenfive weapons. One of the feven
kinds of Fulcra , or props of plants, enumerated by Lin-
naeus in the Delineatio Plant a, at the beginning of his Syf-
tem of Nature; and by Efmgren, a fcholar of Linnaeus, in
his Termini Botanici , fir ft publifhed in the Amanitates Aca-
demic ce.
For the numerous variations thefe fulcra have undergone,
fee the article Fulcra.
In the lateft editions of the Philofophia Botanica that I
have feen, no mention is made of arma , in enumerating the
fulcra ; in its ftead are retained the antient fu lcra, aculeus,
and fpina , prickles and thorns; which, in the Delineatio
Plants abovementioned, are regarded only as fpecies : arma
being the genus.
The different fpecies of armour with which plants are
furnifhed, are aculei, prickles ; fpina, thorns ; furca , forks ;
and Jlimuli, ftings. Vide Acu leus, Spina, &c.
They are intended, fay Naturalifts, to keep off animals
from hurting the plants.
AROMATA, (Gr. ageawara:, all fweet fpices, herbs,
feeds, and roots) the name of a divifion in Ray’s, Monti's,
and Sceuchzerus’s arrangement of the graffes ; confifting
of fuch as have an odoriferous quality.
AROMATICAi. Planta, odoriferous, of a ftrong agree-
able fmell and tafte ; aromatics ; the name of a clafs in Diof-
corides, Clufius, Hernandes, J. Bauhin, Johnfton, Rura-
fius, and feveral other botanifls, who have arranged plants
according to their virtues and fenfible qualities.
The plants of the order Didynamia Gymnofpermia of Lin-
naeus, which correfpond to the labiati, or lipped flowers of
Tournefort, are all aromatics.
ARTICULUS, that part of the culmut , or ftalk in
graffes.
ASP
graffes, which is intercepted, or lies between two joints, or
knots. Vide Culmus.
ARUNDINACEAL Plantce , (from arundo, a reed) ; the
twenty- feventh clafs in Ray’s Method, confining of trees,
whofe feeds are Monocotyledonous ; that is, furnifhed with a
fingle cotyledon , or lobe. The Palms belong to this clafs.
Vide COTYLEDONES.
ASCYROIDEAi,, (Ascyrum, Plin. St. John’s or St.
Peter’s wort), the name of the thirteenth clafs in Scopoli’s
Flora Carniolica, confifting of AJcyrum, Hypericum , and fuch
genera as refemble them in habit and ftru&ure.
ASPERIFOLI/E Plantce , (from afper, rough; and
folium , a leaf) ; rough leaved plants. The name of a clafs
in Hermannus, Boerhaave, and Ray’s Methods, confifting
of plants which have four naked feeds, and whofe leaves
are rough to the touch.
In Tournefort’s fyftem thefe plants conftitute the third
feftion or order of the fecond clafs ; and in Linnaeus’s
Sexual Method, they make a part of the Pentandria Mono -
gynia. Vide Pentandria.
AsperifolijE, the forty-firft order of plants in Lin-
naeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method.
Lift of Genera contained in this Natural Order.
SECTION I.
Rough-Leaved Plants, with four naked Seeds . Vide SEMEN’.
Linnaean Genera.
Anchufa , — —
Afperugo, — _
Borago, — __
Cynoglojjum , — —
Echium, — —
Ileliotropium, — —
Lithofpcrmutn , —
Lycopfts.
My of otis, — - —
EngUJh Names.
Buglofs.
Small wild Buglofs, or Great
Goofe Grafs.
Hound’s - Tongue, Venus’s
Navel- Wort, or Lawn.
Viper’s Buglofs.
Turnfole.
Gromwell, or Graymill.
Moufe-ear Scorpion-Grafs.
Otiofmt
ASP
Linnsean Genera. Englijh Names.
Onofma.
Pulmtmdria, — — Lungwort, or Sage of Jerufa-
lem.
Symphytum, — — Comfrey.
SECTION II.
Rourh- Leaved Plants with two naked Seeds.
o
Cerinthe , — ■ — Honey-wort.
SECTION III.
Rough -Leaved Plants with Jive naked Seeds.
Nolana.
SECTION IV.
Rough -Leaved Plants with covered Seeds; Vide Seme.V.
x or a Seed-VeJJ'el, whether pulpy , or dry.
1. With a pulpy Seed-VeJJ'el, with , or without a Stone ; ( Drupa,
or Bacca.)
a With a Stone, ( Drupa .)
Cordia, — — Sebeften.
Varronia.
Without a Stone, [Bacca.)
Tournefortia.
Ehretia.
2. With a dry Seed-VeJJ'el, orCapJule.
Pa/agonula.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
Moft of the plants of this order are herbaceous and
perennial.
The Roots are branched and fibrous.
The Stems and branches rounded.
The Buds of a conic form, naked, or without fcaies.
The Leaves fnnple, alternate, commonly very rough
to the touch, and in moft of the herbaceous plants, feftile,
that is, attached to the ftem and branches without any foot-
ftalk. In the few trees, however, of this order, the leaves
have
D
ASP
have a foot-fialk, the lower part of which, after the fail of
the leaves, remains on the branches like a fpine or thorn.
Note, in the genus Tournefortia, which is ot the tree
kind, the foot-llalk of the leaves is jointed.
In fome fpecies of Tsurnefortia, varronia, and turnfole,
heliotropiurn ; the leaves are placed almoft oppofite -r and in
the final 1 wild buglofs, afperugo, there are three or four
leaves difperfed in whirls round the-ftem. The leaves at the
bottom of borage are oppofite : thofe at the top, alternate..
The Hairs, (pili,) are fimple, and generally very rough
to the touch.
The Flowers are in fome genera folitary; but com-
monly colleaed into a /pike, or corymbus, {Fide Spica,
Corymbus), and do not proceed from the angle formed
by the Hem or branch with the leaf, as in many plants, but
from the fide of the leaf, or from that part of the Item which
is oppofite to it.
In the genus varronia, the fpike of flowers proceeds from
the axilla or angle ol the leaves.
The flowers are generally arranged on the fide of th t/pike,
«r corymbus , and unaccompanied with any fcale.
They are almoft univerl'ally hermaphrodite ; in a few fpe-
cies of febcften, cordia, male and female flowers are pio-
duced upon different roots.
The Calyx, or flower-cup, is monophyllous, that is,
compofed of one leaf, which is divided from three to ten
equal or unequal, parts. Thofe ot the firft feftion with
four naked feeds, have the calyx deeply divided into five feg-
rhenls, which, as in the other genera ot this order, are
permanent, accompanying the gerjnen to its maturity.
Indeed, in the greateft number of rough-leaved plants,
the calyx ferves as a pericarpium or feed-veffel, and
therefore could not be taken away, without injuring the
tender feeds which are nourilhed in its bofom.
The Corolla, or coloured inner cover of the flower,
is mono'petallous, that is, compofed ot one petal, which, in
different plants, is bell — funnel — falver — and wheel-lhapetU
The (livifwns of the liuub or upper part of the petal, are
generally
I
ASP
generally five in number, alternate with thofe of the calyx,
equal, and regular, except in viper’s buglofs, echlum ; where
the fegmentsare unequal.
The Stamina are five in number, alternate with the
divifions of the corolla, and oppofite to thofe of the calyx.
They are equal; attached to the tube of the corolla a little
above its origin, and of the fame height.
The Anthers or fummits, are in fome genera connivent ;
that is, approach and form a compaft body above the fila-
ments. This is particularly exemplified in borage, lung-
wort, pulmonaria ; and the genus tournefortla.
The Pistillum, pointal, or female organ, is generally
compofed of a {lender ftyle, of the fame length with the
{lamina, and crowned with a fimple Itigina. It proceeds
from a germen, which in fome plants rs undivided, but
generally fplit into four* In hound’s-tongue, the ftyle
is permanent.
In all the plants of the three firll feftions, there is pro-
perly no feed- veffel; the calyx, in thefe genera, fupplies its
place, and continues till the feeds are arrived at maturity.
In the plants of the fourth feftion, the feed- veffel is either
a capfule, as in patagonula ; pulpy with a ftone, [drupa,) as
in febeften, cordla ; or pulpy without a ftone, [bacca, ) as
in tournefortla.
The Seeds are generally four in number, and lodged
in the bottom of the calyx.
In honey-wort, cerintbe , there are two feeds of a hard
bony nature, each of which is furnifhed with two cells;
and in the genus nolana , the number of feeds is five.
Sebeften, and the genus varronia , have a ftone or nut,
which is divided into lour cells.
The plants of this natural order are moftly mucilaginous,
with little tafte or fmell.
Moll of the rough-leaved plants* particularly thofe of
the firft leftion, are ufed in medicine. The flowers are
elteemed cordial ; the leaves and roots vulnerary andaftrin-
gent ; and the hard bony feeds, particularly thofe of Grom-
well, litbofpcrmutnt are reckoned powerful promoters of
urine.
D 2
A dccodion
B A C
A deco£lion ol the roots and leaves of comfrey, ( fymphy -
turn officinale,) has been fuccefsfully applied in violent
coughs, and diforders of the lungs and breaft.
Externally, thefe plants are ufed for burnings, and poi-
fonous bites ; they extirpate warts, and relieve diforders in
the loins.
AUTUMNALES Plant a, [autumnus, autumn,) plants-
that flower in autumn. The third divifion in Du Pas s ar-
rangement, from the time of flowering.
AXILLA, an arm-pit; the angle formed by the branch
and Item, or -by the leaf with either.
Leaves are faid to be axillary, which proceed from
the angle formed, by the Item and branch.- Vide Fo-
L IUM.
B.
BACCA, a berry; defined by Linnaeus to be a pulpy
'pericarpium or feed-veffel without a valve, inclofing
feveral feeds which are naked, that, is, liavc no other cover-
ing- The feeds are fometimes difperfed promifcuoufly
through the pulp, as in the water-lily; but generally placed
on receptacles or foot-flalks within the pulp, as in the cur-
rant, goofeberry, rafpberry, (3c.
In the lefTer burdock, xavthium, the feed-veffel, which is
called by Linnaeus, though improperly, a berry, is dry,
and contains within it a nut furnifhed with two cells.
The feed-veffel or fruit of the capftcu?n, which the fame
author alfo improperly ftyles a berry, has no pulp, and is
hollow within.
From thefe and other inflances which might be produced,,
we may fafely affirm, either, that the definition of a berry
lull now given is imperfeft, or that the feed-veffiels of a
great number of plants arc, in the Genera Plantarum, wrong-
ly denominated berries. To fay trial?,- it is fometimes diffi-
cult to refer a pericarpium to the head of bacca, or drnpa,
as defined by Linmeus. The only difference betwixt thefe
feed-veffcls confifls in the nature of the feeds inclofed
1 within.
B A C
within the pulp. In the latter is inclofed a nut, or ftonc;
in the -former, a number of naked feeds. Thefe definitions
being eftablifhed, to what head are we to refer the leffer
burdock, which, as we have feen, contains a nut within a
dry pericarpium ? Why, certainly, to the head of drupa ,
as well as the walnut, and many other plants which have a
dry feed-veflel inclofing a ftone, or nut. On the other
hand, we may refer the walnut, and other dry pericarpiums,
which incfofe a nut, with equal propriety, to the head of
bacca, as the leffer burdock, the feed-veflel of which is
denominated, by Linnaeus, a berry.
The very different fruits, or, to fpeak more properly,
feed-veffels of the fumach ; night-fhade, folanum ; fow-
bread , cyclamen ; medlar, mejpiluf', orange, citrus ; and pine-
apple, bromelia ; are all denominated berries.
The berry is commonly round, or oval, and frequently
furnifhed, like the apple, and other fruits of that kind, with
an umbilicus or fmall cavity, at the end oppofite to the foot
Aalk. .
A berry is faid to be proper ,' when it is formed of the pe-
ricarpium or feed-veffel ; improper , or fmgular, when it is
formed of any of the other parts.
The latter fpecies of formation is frequent, and admits of
numerous varieties.
The following are the molt confiderable.
In the mulberry, rofe, blite, and myrtle-leaved fumach,
coriaria; a large, flelhy and fucculent calyx becomes a
berry. /
In the Arawberry and cafhew nut, anacardiam ; a berry
is formed of the common receptacle ; in the rafpberry and
adonis, of a feed ; in marvel of Peru, mirabilis , of the
neftarium ; (Vide Nectar i u m) in garden -burner, ps/rr/«/»,
of the tube of the corolla, which hardens and Units tor that
purpofe ; in fpindle-tiee, euonymus, of a fucculent arillus,
or proper feed-covering. Vide ARillusv
The berry does not naturally gape, or burfl ; the difper-
fion of the feeds within the pul]) being defigned to be per-
formed by means of animals. Vide Vhilojophia Botanica%
p. To. 87.
■ D 8
BACCirERA
B I G
BACCIFERiE Herba, (from bacca, a berry; and /era,
to bear) ; herbs that have a berry fpr their pericarpium or
fecd-veffel. — The fixteenth clafs in Morrifon, feventeenth
in Hermannus, firft in Chrift. Knaut, twenty-fifth in Bocr-
haave, and feventeenth in Ray’s Method ; confifling in fomq
fy Items of all fuch plants as have a pulpy fruit, whether
of the apple, berry, or cherry kind; in others, with more
propriety, of fuch only as have that fpecies of pulpy peri-
carpium, called bacca. Vide Bacca.
BARBA, a beard ; a fpecies of pubes or down, with
which the furface of fome plants is covered. Vide Pubes.
The term was invented by Linnaeus, and made its appear-
ance in the Delincatio Plants, without any explanation. Its
meaning, therefore, has not been, accurately afcertained :
though, by its application in the fpecies plantarum , it feems
to fignify a tuft or bunch of ftrong hairs terminating the
leaves. Mefembryanthemum barbatum, furnilhes an example.
BARBA Corolla ringentis, the lower-lip of a ringent, or
gaping corolla. Vide Corolla.
The term was invented by Rivinus, and Hands oppofed to
galea ringentis, the upper-lip. Vide Galea corolla ringent is.
BARBATUS Flos, (from barba, a beard) ; a bearded,
gaping, or ringent flower ; a term ufed by Rivinus, fyno-
nimous to the ringens of Linnaeus, and the labiatus and per-
fonatus of Tournefort. Vide Coroula, and Labiatus
Flos.
The ringent, or gaping flowers, form the Didynamia ol
the Sexual Method. Vide Didynamia.
BICORNES Planta, (from bis, twice, and cornu, a
horn) ; plants whofe anthers have the appearance of two
horns.
The name of the eighteenth order in Linnaeus’s Fragments
of a Natural Method.
' •• 1 • * •’ v
Lift of the Genera contained in this Natural Order.
SECTION I.
Plants with horned Anthers, and four Stamina.
Linnyean Genera, Fnglifh Names ,
• .,4 A < »
Blaeria.
__ SECTION
N,
B I C
SECTION II.
Plants with horned Anthers, and Jive Stamina.
(Pentandria c/Xinnaeus.)
Linnaean Genera. Engli/h Names.
Azalea.
Myrfme, — - — African Box.
SECTION III.
t
Plants with horned Anthers, and eight Stamina.
(Oftandria o/’Linnaeus.)
Erica , — — Heath.
Vaccinium, <■— - — Whortle, or Bilberries.
SECTION IV.
Plants with horned Anthers, and ten Stamina.
(Decandria of Linnaeus.)
Andromeda.
Arbutus , —
— Strawberry-tree.
Clethra.
Epigcea , —
— Trailing Arbutus.
Gaultheria.
Kalrnia, —
— Dwarf- Laurel of America.
Ledum , —
: — Marfh Ciftus, or wild Rofemary.
Pyrola, —
— Winter-Green.
Rhododendrum,
— Dwarf Rofe bay.
Rhodora.
Roycna, —
— African Bladder-Nut.
SECTION V.
Plants with horned Anthers, and twelve or more Stamina,
(Dodecandria of Linnaeus.)
Garcinia, — — Mangoftan.
Halefa,
Slyrax, — — Storax-Tree
SECTION
E I O
SECTION VI.
Plants with horned Anthers, and many Jets of united Stam'na.
(Polyadelphia 0/" Linnaeus.)
Linnaean Genera. Englijh Names.
Citrus, — — Citron, Orange, Lemon.
SECTION VII.
Plants with horned Anthers, and Hermaphrodite Flowers , with
Flowers of either or both Sexes, on diftindl Roots.
(Polygamia Dicecia of Linnaeus.)
Diofpyros, — — Indian Date Plumb.
The appearance of horned anthers, which has given name
to this order, is not very confpicuous, unlefs in the follow-
ing genera : whortle-berries, heath, flrawberry-tree, dwarf
rofe-bay, and trailing arbutus. The fifth and fixth feftions
feem to be improperly annexed to this order.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Natural Order.
The plants of this order . are all of the (hrub and tree
kind.
The Roots are branched and fibrous.
The Stems and branches cylindric.
The Bu ds conic, fometimes covered with fcales, as in
the flrawberry-tree ; fometimes naked or without fcales, as
jn ftorax.
The Leaves are generally alternate; in heath, rhodo-
dendron, and fome fpecies of haltnia, they are oppofite.
In mofl of the plants of this order, the leaves are either
feflile, that is placed upon the branches without a foot-flalk,
or fupported by a very fhort foot-flalk, which is femi-cy-
lindric, and flat above. In a fpecies of rhododendron, called
dauricum, the leaves are furnifhed with long foot-flalks.
The Flowers in this order are univerfally hermaphro-
dite, except in one genus, Indian date plumb, diofpyros ;
where hermaphrodite and male flowers are produced in the
fame fpecies, upon diflinft roots.
The flowers proceed either folitary, or in a corymbus ,
from the angles formed by the leaves and branches ; or hang
down
I /
B I C
down in fpikes and cl afters, at the end of the branches;
each flower having a fmall fcale, or floral leaf, placed
under it.
In moft plants of this order, the calyx is placed around or
below the germen. In the genera vaccinium, Jlyr ax, halejia ,
it is feated above the germen ; a circumftance which eflen-
tially diftinguifhes thofe genera from all the plants of the fa-
mily to which they belong.
The Calyx is univerfally a perianthium, and generally
monophyllous or of one piece deeply divided into four or
five fegments, which are permanent, that is, accompany
the germen to its maturity. The fegments are often acute*
and fometimes coloured. In heath, erica-, and mangoftan,
garcinia ; the flower-cup is compofed of four diftinft leaves.
Trailing arbutus, epigcea ; and the genus gauliberia ;
have the appearance of a double calyx : the external confifting
of three leaves in the former, of two in the latter; the in-
ternal being divided into five fegments in both.
Some fpecies of heath, erica, have likewife a double
calyx.
The inner calyx in the genus gaultheria becomes pulpy
like a berry, and in this form furrounds the feed-veffel,
which is a capfule. Vide C APSy,E.\/
In the orange-tree, citrus, the calyx is marcejcent, that is,
withers without falling off.
The Corolla, or coloured inner cover, is generally
inonopetalous, and bell or funnel-fhaped ; the figure, how-
ever, is not very conflant, even in plants of the fame
' genus, as is remarkably the cafe in heath erica ; and the
genus andromeda ; which, in this and other circumftances,
are fo ftmilar, as fcarce to be diftinguifhed but by the number
of ftamina.
The Limb or upper part of the petal, is commonly di-
vided into four or five fegments, which are fometimes
rolled back, as in vaccinium ; fometimes bent inwards, as in
bluer ia.
The limb too is fometimes fiightly cut, as in the genus
gaultheria ; fometimes divided almoft to the bottom, as in
trailing arbutus, epigaca ; and the ftorax-tree, Jlyrax.
The
'B I C
The Tube or lower part of the petal, is cylindric, and
generally of the fame length with the calyx. In the dwarf
laurel of America, kalmia, it is longer than the calyx. The
tube in trailing arbutus, epigaea, is hairy within.
Dwarf laurel of America, kalmia ; and the genus gaul-
tberia , are fumifhed with a ne Barium of ten pieces, which,
in the former, is horn-fliaped, prominent, and furrounds the
limb of the corolla ; in the latter, is placed round the ger-
men or feed-bud, within the ftamina. Vide Nectar ium.
Marfh-ciftus, rhodora , clethra, winter-green, pyrola ;
orange-tree, citrus ; and garcinia; are polypetalous ; that is,
have a corolla compofed of more pieces than one.
The number of Stamina in this order is from four to
twenty. Thefe are generally ereft, and attached to the
lower part of the tube of the corolla. In blaeria , Ame-
rican upright honey-fuckle, azalea ; gaultheria , heath,
erica ; and Indian date plumb, diofpyros , which are mono-
petalous; the ftamina are inferted into the common recep-
tacle.
Dwarf rofe-bay, rhodora , and gaultheria , have declining
ftamina.
1 he Anthers or fummits are bifid or forked below,
and being (lightly attached to the filaments, are frequently
inverted in fuch manner as to exhibit an appearance like
two horns at top. This appearance, however, as we ob-
ferved above, is confpicuous in a few genera only.
In winter-green, pyrola ; and heath, erica-, the anthers are
not inverted, being forked at top.
African bladder-nut, roycna, according to Linnaeus, has
two anthers upon each filament: {Vide Anther A Didyma.)
though I am apt to imagine he has miflaken the horns or
forked fummits of this genus, for two diftinft anthers.
In whortle-berries, vaccinium , the back of the anthers is
fumifhed with two fpreading arijla: or beards.
1 he Germen, or feed-bud, in plants of this order, is
generally roundifh, and feated above the receptacle. In
rhododendron , and blaeria , it is cornered. Vaccinium , ha-
lefia, andyfyrvw, have the germen below the receptacle.
The
B I C
The Style is Angle, thread- fhaped, of the fame length
with the corolla, and in a few genera permanent.
African bl dder-nut, royena , has two ftyles ; the genus
garcinia fcarce any; in blaeria, the ftyle is much longer than
the corolla.
The Stigma or top of the ftyle, is obtufe, and frequently
entire.
In heath, the ftigma is four cornered, and divided in four.
Trailing arbutus, mangoftan, and the genus rhodora , have
likewife a divided ftigma. .
The Seed-Vessel is either a capfule with five cells, as
in kalmia; a roundilh berry with divifions of the fame kind,
as in the ftrawberry-tree: or an oblong four-cornered nut
with two cells, as in halefia.
The Seeds are numerous, frequently hard, or bony,
generally roundilh, fometimes cornered.
The'plants of this order are aftringent; particularly heath,
winter-green, whortle-berries, and uva urfi, [arbutus.)
The berries of the Indian date plumb, arbutus, and vac-
cinium, are acid and efculerit.
From the ftorax-tree is drawn, by incifion, a fragrant,
jefinous gum, which is much ufed in medicine, particularly
for coughs, catarrhs, and internal ulcers.
The leaves of winter-green, [pyroia,) fays Lemery, are
ufed internally, either in infulion, or powder, for the hae-
morrhoids, inflammations of the bread, and fluxes of the
lower belly : externally in plaifters and ointment, for flop-
ping blood, and drying up wounds.
The flowers of the Azalea tribe bear a ftrikingrefemblance
to thofe of honey-fuckle, whence the name of American
upright honey-fuckle, by which the Virginian fpecies are
diftinguilhed. From the clamminels ot the flowers of one
el thefe fpecies, hence termed azalea vifeofa, and by Catelby,
Cijius Virginiana, Jiore et adore periclymeni, it fee ms highly
probable, that the plant poflelles balfamic virtues, which,
if particularly inveftigated, might render it of fovereign ufe
in medicine.
From the dried peel of the fruit of the Japanefe Citron,
B I L
the citrus trifoliata of Linnaeus, cut into fmall pieces, is
prepared, with the addition of fome other ingredients, a cele-
brated medicine known in Japan by the name of Ki-ko-ke ;
by which name the fruit itfelf is known among the vulgar. It
is a thorny fhrub, the trunk of which, fays Kempfer, by age
and culture, acquires the thicknefs of a tree. The leaves
grow by threes like thofe of trefoil, upon the extremity of
a common foot-ftalk : ant) to the white flowers, which re-
femble thofe of medlar, fucceeds a fruit, which in external
beauty differs nothing from a middle-fired orange, the ini
ternal ftru&ure of which it likewife refembles, except that
the pulp, which is contained in a cavity having feven par-
titions, is glutinous, of an unpleafant fmell, and harfli
difagreeable taste. The feeds are exa&Iy like thofe of the
orange, and have the fame tafle with the pulp. See Kemp-
feri Amcenit. Exoticae. p. 801.
Bicorn es, is likewife the name of the forty-fourth
clafs or natural order, in Lud. Gerard’s Arrangement
of the Plants that are natives of Provence in France : con-
lifting, like the fame order in Linnaeus, of plants whofe
anthers have the appearance of two horns. The genera de-
feribed by Gerard are, — vaccinium, erica , azalea, rhododendron
arbutus , Jlyrax, pyro/a, and hedera, (ivy.) The laft men-
tioned genus, though its anthers are bifid at the bafe, does
not belong to Linnaeus’s clafs Bicorncs ; but is placed with
the vine, and fome other genera of plants, in the order
hederaceci". Vide Hederace.e.
BIFER/E Planter, (from bis, twice, and fero, to bear) ;
plants that flower twice a year, in fpring and autumn, as is
common between the tropics. Vide Phil . Bot. p. 277.
BIT ORA Pericarpia , (from bis, twice; and fores, a
door); the name of a clafs in Camellus’s Method, confift-
ing of plants whofe pericarpium or feed-veflel, is furnifhed
with two inclofures, termed valvules. Vide Valvula.
It is exemplified in celandine, chclidonium.
BILOCULARES, (from bis, twice, and loculus, a little
cell) ; the name of the thirtieth class or family, in Lud.
Gerard’s Arrangement of the Plants that are natives of Pro-
vence
BRA
vence in France; confiding of thefe genera; jeflamine,
jafminum ; privet, liguftrum ; the olive, oka ; fpeedwell,
veronica-, mock-privet, phillyrea ; and the ddh-trez, fraxinus .
7’he title of this order would feem to import, that the
feveral genera in queftion were furnilhed with a feed-velfel
divided into two loculi or cells; yet, in faft, there are but
two genera, jelfamine, and fpeedwell, that anfwer thfs de-
fcription ; the reft having either a feed-velfel furnilhed
with one cell only, as the olive, privet, and mock-privet ;
or no feed-velfel at all, except the cruft of tough covering
of the feed, as the afh-tree. The plants of this natural
family make part of the order Scpiaria of Linnaeus ; and,
except the afh-tree, are all reduced to the clafs Diandria ,
in the Sexual Syftem. Vide Sepi ari. ithenng , vol. 1.
CALCAR Corolla ’, the fpur of the corolla. The niff a -
riiim fo called, which terminates the corolla behind, like a
cock’s
/
CAL
cock’s-fpur, in calve’s-fnout ; valerian; orchis; violet;
balfam, impatiens ; lark-fpur, delphinium ; furaatory ; but-
ter-wort, pinguicula : and water-milfoil, utricularia. hide
NECTARIUM, and Phil. Bot. p. 73.
CALENDARIUM Flora, a calendar ; containing an
e.vatl regifler of the refpeftive times, in which the plants of
any given province, or climate, germinate, expand, and?
fhed their leaves and flowers, and ripen and difperfe their
feeds. Vide Phil. Bot. p. 276.
For particulars, on this curious fubjeft, we refer the
reader to the articles Defoliatio, Eff lorescenti a,
Frondescentia, Fructescen ti a, and Germina.-
t i o .
CALIDriE Plan tee, (from color, heat) ; plants that are
natives of warm climates. Such are thofe of the Eaft-
Indies, South-America, Egypt, and the Canary iflands.
Thefe plants, fays Linnaeus, will bear a degree of heat,
which is as 40, on a fcale, in which 0 is the freezing point,
and 100 the heat of boiling-water. In the 10th degree
of cold, they ceafe to grow, lofe their leaves, become
barren, are fuffocated, and perifh. Vide Phil. Bot. p. 277.
CALOR, heat. In affimilating the vegetable with the
animal kingdom, Linnaeus terms heat the heart of Plants,
cor plantarum. Vide Phil. Bot. p. 9S.
“ Cor plantis nullum, fed cakir efficit omne : nec opus v
eft corde, ubi nec perpetui mobilis effeftus necelfarius eft,
&. ubi propulfio, non circulatio humorum.”
C ALYC ANTHEM^E, (from calyx, the flower-cup;
and avSor, the flower) ; the name of the Seventeenth order,
in Linnaeus's Fragments of a Natural Method, confiding
of plants, w'hich, among other characters, have the corolla
and ftamina inferted into the calyx.
Li/l of Genera contained in this Natural Order.
SECTION I.
Plants having the Receptacle of the Flower, placed upon the
fruit ,
Liimtean Genera. Englijh Names.
Fpilohium, — •- — Willow-Herb, or French
Willow.
Gaura,
CAL
Linnasan Genera. Englifh Names.
Gaura, — — Virginian loofe-ftrife.
Ifnardia.
Suffice a.
Ludvigia.
Melajiotua , — — American Goofeberry-troe.
Mentzelia.
Oenothera, — — Tree Primrofe.
SECTION II. ’
Plants having the fruit (Gcrmen) placed upon the Receptacle
Ammannia.
Frankenis.
of the Flower.
Glaux, —
— Sea-chickweed, or Milk-wort,
and Black Salt-wort.
Grifea.
p -
Lythrum, —
Ojleckiet.
■ Willow-Herb, or Purple
loofe ftrife.
Peplis, —
Rhexia.
— Water Purflane.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of the Order Calycanthemie.
This order furniflies trees, fhrubs, and annual, biennial
and perennial herbs. 1 he herbaceous annuals are by much
the moll numerous.
The Roots are branched and fibrous.
The Stems and Branches, cylindric.
In plants of the lall feflion, the branches are generally
oppofite ; in thofe of the firft, alternate*
They are fquare, or four-cornered, when young, in both.
Note. — Such genera of the firft feftion as have oppofite
leaves, have hkewife oppofite branches.
The Buds are ol a conic form, and without feales.
The Leaves, in plants of the firft feftion, are generally
alternate, fimplc, and attached to the branches by a fiiort
foot-ftalk. In American goofeberry-tree, they are oppo-
fite : and in French-willow, epilobium , oppofite and alternate
upon the fame branch.
8
In
CAL
In all the plants of the laft fe&ion, the leaves are oppofite
at the bottom of the item ; and in fome, alternate toward*
the top. They are univerfally feffile ; that is, attached to
the branches without any foot-ftalk.
The Margin of the leaves in tree-primrefe, cenolhera ;
fea-milkwort, glaux ; and French -willow, inftead of in-
dentments, has a number of fmall grains, or white tubercles,
which are not perceptible, without clofe examination.
At the origin of the foot-ftalk of the leaves, in ludvigiat
jnfftaa, and fome other genera of the firft feftion, are dif-
covered two fmall feales in the form of Stipules, attached
to the young branches.
The Flowers are univerfally hermaphrodite; growing
oppofite in fuch as have the leaves oppofite, from the wings
of which they generally proceed.
In French willow, the flowers are attached to the foot-
ftalk of the leaves, as they are likewife in turnera, and a fpe-
cies of althaea frutex, h'tbfctts ; which do not belong iO thi$
natural family. — The modes of inflorefcence in this order of
plants, are a /pike, corymbus, and racemus. Vide S ? I c A , &c.
The Calyx is univerfally a perianthium, and generally
monophyllous, that is, compofed of one leaf. *
In French-willew, it confifts of four diftinft leaves ; and
in menteelia, of five.
The fegments, laeimee , of the limb, or upper part of the
calyx, are different in point of number and diviflon. In
vfbeckia ; tree-primrofe, aenothera ; Virginian loofe-ftrife,
and ludvigia , it is deeply divided ; in rhexia, ifnardia, and
grijlea, more (lightly cut, into four : in franhnia, and Ameri-
can goofe-berry tree, it is marked with five indentments, or
teeth ; in ammannia, with eight ; in water-purflane, and
purple loofe-ftrife, with twelve.
The calyx, in plants of the firft feftion, is placed upon
the germen, or feed bud ; the upper part falls off with the
petals ; the lower is permanent, and in fa£l, continuous with
the germen.
In plants of the fecond fe£lion, the calyx is permanent,
and
C A
t
and furrounds the feed-bud, without touching or being at*
tached to it.
In ojleckia, a fmall fringed fcal c, fquamula ciliata, is inter-
je&ed betwixt each of the four lobes, or fegments of the
calyx.
Within the calyx, in the genus gaum , are lodged four
oblong glandule, or fecrctory vefTels, which are clofely
attached to the tube. Vide Glan dula.
Sea milk-wort, g/aux, according to Linnaeus, has no
calyx.
The Corolla, in this order, confifts of four, five, and
fix petals, which are attached to the tube of the calyx, and
placed fometimes alternate, fometimes oppofite to the
divifions of the limb.
The genus ifnardia, wants the corolla.
Glaux, according to Linnaeus, has only one petal, which
is bell-fhaped, ereft, and permanent.
Frankenia, and American goofeberry-tree, are furnifhed
with a nedlarium , which, in the former, confifls of a fur-
rowed and pointed claw, inferted into the unguis of each of
the. petals : in the latter, of five fcales placed under the fila-
ments.
The Stamina, which are, in number, from four to
twenty, and upwards, are attached to the tube of the calyx,
on its margin, as in the firfl feftion ; or lower down, as in
the fecond. When the number of ftamina is double the
divifions of the calyx, as happens in French willow, gaura,
jujficea, and others ; the ftamina which ftand oppofite to
thofe divifions, are a little longer than the reft.
In the laft fefcdion, the ftamina, which are attached to the
loweft part of the tube of the calyx, are longer than the reft,
and ftand alternate with the petals.
The An th ers, or fummits, are generally of a hemi-fphe-
rical figure ; frequently cleft, or flit below ; and, by that
aperture, attached {lightly to the filaments, on which they
often veer about, like a vane, or needle. They are furrowed
longitudinally, and open on the fides into two loculi , or cells.
1 The
CAL
Tne Pollen, or male dull, confifls of a number of
- minute particles, of an oval figure, yellow, and tranfparent.
The Germen, or feed-bud, in plants of the firft feftion,
is placed under this receptacle of the flower ; in thofe of the
fecond, above it.
The Style is firigle, thread-fhaped, and of the length
of the flamina.
The Stigma is generally fingle, and undivided. In tree-
primrofe, epilobium, gaura, and fome others, it is divided
, • in four.
The Seed-Vessel, in this order, isacapfule, which is
generally divided internally into four loculi , or cells. It
opens commonly at top ; and the apertures are equal
in number to the cells. In Melafloma, the feed-veffel is a
berry.
The feeds are numerous, minute, and frequently three-
cornered.
The plants of this natural o'rder are reckoned aflringent.
Purple loofe ftrife, and epilobium, have been ufed in medi«
cine. The leaves of the hoary willow herb, epilobiu?n hirfu-
tum, being rubbed in the hand, emit a fcent like fcalded
apples, from whence fome have given it the name of codlins
and cream.
The genus ludvigia, fo called from Mr. Chrill. Ludwig,
of Leipfic, an eminent botanifl, is very nearly allied to the
tree-primrofe, from which it differs, however, in the
number of flamina.
Purple willow-herb, lythrum falicaria, is deterfive, a fir in -
gent, and vulnerary. It is efficacious in diarrhoeas, and dy-
fenteries; and furnifhes a diflilled water, which has been
ufed with fuccefs in inflammations ot the eyes. The leaves
and (1cm have a dry and aflringent tafte.
The pulp of the fruit of an Eafl Indian fpecies of
Melafloma, the Katou-Kadel of the Hortus Malabaricus, is
ufed with fuccefs by the inhabitants of Cevlon, in violent
inflammations and excoriations of the tongue. It is from the
colour of the pulp in the different fpecies which flains the
F mouth
CAL
mouth of a deep black, that the generical name Mclajloma ,
that is, black mouth, is derived.
CALYCIFLORAs, (from calyx, the flower-cup, and
fios, the flower) ; the fixteenth order in Linnaeus’s Frag-
ments of a Natural Method, confifting of plants which, a&
the title imports, have the flamina (the flower) inferted into
the calyx.
This order differs from the former, which has a title of
the fame import, in the following particulars.
1. The plants of this order want the corolla.
2. With refpeft to their fex, the flowers are either her-
maphrodite and male upon the fame root, polygarnia ; or
male and female upon different roots.
3. The feed-vefTel is pulpy, of the berry, or cherry-
kind, and contains a fingle feed or Hone.
The Order Calyciflorae contains but four Genera: viz.
Linnaean Genera. Englijh Names.
Elceagnus , — — Oleafler, or Wild-olive.
Hippophacy — — Baftard-Rhamnus, or Seed-
Buckthorn..
— Poet’s-Cafia.
Tropins.
The lafl Genus is only to be found in the improved!
Editions of the Fragments.
Habit and Structure oj the Plants of this Order.
All the plants of this order are of the fhrub and tree kind-
Some of them rife to the height of twelve or fourteen feet,,
as the wild olive ; others to not above two or three, as-poet’s-
cafia.
The Roots are-branched, fibrous, and woody.
The Stems are cylindric.
The Branches, when young, are cornered.
The Buds are of a conic form, and without feales.
The Leaves are fimple, alternate, and attached to the
branches by a very fliort foot-flalk.
The
CAL
The Flowers are male and female upon diftinff roots,
in the three laft genera ; hermaphrodite and male upon the
fame root, in wild olive, elccagnus, where two male flowers
are produced by the fide of an hermaphrodite flower, at each
wing, or angle of the leaves.
Note. — Linnaeus, not attending to this circumftance,
places elaagnus, in the fir ft order of his clafs tetrandrla ;
which, according to his plan, Ihould confift only of her*
maphrodite flowers.
The Calyx, in this order, is a periantkium, which is
compofed of one leaf, divided into two fegments, in fea
buck-thorn ; into three in poet’s cafia ; and into four in
wild olive. It is commonly placed upon the germen,
which it accompanies to maturity.
Note. — The male plants ot the genus trophis , have no
calyx.
The Corolla, in plants of this order, is univerfally
wanting, except in trophis, the male plants of which, ac-
cording to Linnaeus, have four obtufe and fpreading petals.
The Stamina are generally four in number, {lender
like a hair, fhort, placed at a confiderable diftance from the
ftyle, and inferted into the tube of the calyx.
Poet’s cafia has only three ftamina, which are oppofite to
the divifions of the calyx.
The Pistillum is compofed of a roundifh germen ,
crowned with the calyx ; a Angle thread-fhaped Jlyle ; and a
cylindric Jiigma, which, in poet’s cafia, is deeply divided in
three.
The Seed-Vessel in the firft genus, elaagnus, is an
obtufe, oval fruit, of the cherry kind ( drupa ,) with a punc-
ture at the top, inclofing an oblong, obtufe nut ; in the three
other genera, -a globular berry, ( bacca ,) with one cell, con-
taining a roundilh feed.
In poet’s cafia, the feed is hard like a ftone, and fills the
whole cavity of the pericarpiuni.
The plants of this order are aflringcnt.
From the odoriferous flowers of the wild-olive is drawn
an aromatick and cordial liquor, which has been fuccefsfully
ufed in putrid and peftilential fevers.
F 2
Sea
CAL
Sea buck-thorn is purgative; poet’s cafia, highly aftrin-
gent.
The name elaagnus is derived from 'EXala, an olive,
and ’Ayvor, vitex ; becaufe the plant hath leaves like thofe
of the chafte-tree, vitex agntis cajlus , and a fruit like an
olive.
The yellow flowers of the oleafler or wild olive of Boe-
mia, elaagnus angujiifolia , emit a flrong, agreeable fcent,
when fully expanded ; from which circumflance, fays Mr.
Duhamel, the Portugueze have given the name of tree of
Paradife to this plant.
The genus elaagnus , is not to be confounded with the
oleafter or wild olive of Parkinfon, Gerard, and Ray.
This lafl is only a particular fpecies of olive, called by
Tournefort and Cafpar Bauhin, olca fylvejlris, and defcribed
to have a hard leaf, which is hoary on its under fide. It
grows naturally in woods, in the fouth of France, Spain,
and Italy, and is never cultivated.
The wild olive, elaagnus , is faid to pofiefs the fame virtues
as the olive-tree. Vide Sepiari^e.
In elaagnus latifolia, which grows naturally in the ifland
of Ceylon, and fome other parts of India, the leaves con-
tinue green all the year.
The berries of baftard rhamnus, or common fallow-thorn,
as it is fometimes called, obferves Linnaeus, in his Flora
Sueciea, dye yellow. They are exceedingly acid, and by
the fifhermen of Aland, one of the Swedifh ifiands, pre-
pared into an embamma, or fauce, which gives So their fifh
a very agreeable favour. The fhrub flowers in the early part
of the fpring, before it puts forth leaves, and in a fandy
fituation, that is expofed to the fun, is ufed for hedges.
The berries of the genus trophis are efculentr
C alvciflor#,, is likewife the name of the eleventh
clafs in Royen’s Natural Method ; and of the forty«eighth
order in Lud. Gerard’s Arrangement ot the Plants that are
natives of Provence, in France. In Royen’s Method it is
a very extenfive clafs, comprehending all plants which have
the filaments of the flaming inferted into th e pcrUintbium. It
exa&ly
CAL
exactly correfponds to the elafs Floribundt , in Linnaeus’s
Methodus Calycina ; and, befides the clafs Icojandria , in the
fexual method, includes the orders Calycanthema , and Caly-
cifiara, which have been analyfed above. Vide Flori-
BUNDI, and ICOSANDRI A.
In Lud. Gerard’s Method, the order calycijlora is the fame
as in Linnaeus.
CALYCINI, (from calyx, the flower- cup) ; the name of
the fixteenth clafs in Wachendorffius’s Natural Method,
confifling of plants with vifible flowers, which have a flower-
cup, and whofe feeds are furnifhed with a {ingle cotyledon,
or lobe. Cotyledojjes. It is exemplified in rufh,
ericphorum, and •cynemorium.
CALYCISTAL, (from calyx, the flower-cup). Syflema-
tic botanifls fo termed by Linnaeus, who have arranged all
vegetables from the different fpecies, ftruflure, and other
circumftances of the calyx, or flower-cup.
The only fyftems of this kind are the Character Plantarum
tiovus, a poflhumous work of Magnolius, profeffor of botany
at Montpelier, publifhed in 1720 ; and Linnaeus’s Methodus
Calycina, publifhed in his claffes Plantarum, at Leyden, in
•1738.
By the internal calyx, in Magnolius’s Method, is meant
the pericarpium, or feed-veffel.
CALYPTRA, (from y.a.’kvnru, lego , to cover) ; a veil,
or covering ; one of the feven fpecies of calyx, enumerated
in the PhiloJophia Botanica, and defined to be the proper calyx
of the moffes. It is placed over the anthers or fummits,
and in figure refembles an extinguifher, hood, or monk’s
cowl. Vide Mu SC i.
* • /
The term was firfl ufed in this fenfe, by Dillenius, to
whom we owe the principal difeoveries that have been
made in the mofs, mufhroom, and lichen tribes.
The Calyptm is either
Acuminata, pointed, as in minium, and bryum.
Caduca, falling off' early, and before the burfling of the
jjntherg, as in buxbaumia.
¥ 3 Conic a.
CAL
I
Conica, of a conic form, as in molt molfes.
Glabra , fmooth and Ihining, as in hypmim.
JL
This opening of the capfule for difcharging the feeds
when the fruit is ripe, is either at the top, as in moll plants;
at the bottom, as in Iriglocbin ; at the fide, through a pore,
or finall hqle, as in campanula, and orchis; horizontally.
as
CAP
« in plantain, amaranthus, and anagallis; or longitudinally,
as in convolvulus.
All fruit that is jointed opens at every one of the joints,
each of which contains a fingle feed.
Capfules, in fplitting, or opening, are divided, externally,
into one or more pieces, called by Linnaeus valves. Vide
Valvula.
The internal divifions of the capfule are called cells, locu-
lamenta ; thefe, in point of number, are exceedingly diverfi-
fied ; fome capfules have only one cell, as the primrofe;-
others many, as the water-lily. For particulars on this
fubjeft, the reader is referred to the article Locu L amenta.
The number of capfules is generally the fame as that of
the germina, or feed-buds: for the feed-veflel is nothing elfe
than the feed-bud arrived at maturity.
We may obferve, however, that when a flower contains a
number of feed-buds with an undivided cavity, that is, a fingle
cell, thefe feed-buds, in the progrefs of vegetation, unite,
and become detached, or feparate cells of the fame membra-
nous capfule.
The feed-veffel confifts of one capfule, in lychnis ; of two
in paeony, and fwallow-wort ; of three in lark-fpur, and
white hellebore, veratrum ; of four in rofe-root, rhodiola ;
of five in columbine; and of many in globe ranunculus,
and marfh marigold.
The partitions which divide the capfule internally into
cells are called by Linnaeus, DifJ'epimenta ; and the fubftance
which connefts thefe partitions to the feeds, Columella, i
In convolvulus; thorn-apple, datura ; and chick-weed;
the partitions, juft mentioned, feparating, or detaching
themfelves from the top of the fruit, before its maturity,
open a communication betwixt the cells, and thus render
the cavity of the capfule undivided ; which, in its flate of
germen , or feed-bud, confided of numerous divifions, or
cells. As the fame thing may happen, from accidental
caufes, in many other plants, it would not be improper pre-
viaufly to afcertain the number of cells, as they exhibit
themfelves in a tranverfe feftion of the feed-bud, in which
every
i
CAP
every thing refpe&ing the future fruit may be viewed iit
miniature. Without this precaution, numberlefs miflakes
will be committed in fixing and difeovering the genera of
feveral plants ; as of honey-fuckle, cardinal flower, and
others.
The terms valvula, diffhpimentum, , loculamentum , and coin-
viella, which Linnaeus, in the Philofophia Botamca, con-
liders as fo many members, or diftmft parts of that fpecies
of feed-veflel called capfule, are applied, at leaft fome of
them, with equal propriety, to any kind of dry feed-veflel,
. Note. Pulpy feed-veflels of the apple kind, pomum,
contain a capfule. Vide Pomum.
Capfules confifting of three cells, each of which contains
a Angle feed, are denominated by Linnaeus, Capful* Tricoc-
C*' °f th,S lort are the feed-velfels of euphorbia ; mercury -
papaw , palma-chrifti ; jack in a box, hernandia ; baftard-
orpme, andrachne ; and the remaining genera, in the thirty-
eighth order of Linnaeus’s Fragments, entitled tricocca from
that circumflance. Vide TricocCjE.
A capfule is either
Acuminata, pointed, tapering to a point, as in lilac.
Ingona, three-cornered; as in Indian arrow-root, ma-
rant a. ’
Scabra, rough with knots ; as in Indian flowering-reed
cam a. b 5
anlada' lh*Bey°r bri'll>'; “ ™ enchanter's night (hade.
Ovate, egg-Jhaped ; as in fademta.
Subrnmia, roundifh ; as in Indian flowering-reed.
vlricuUHa. r°Und’ ^ 3 g'°bular f°rm ; “ “ w*er-miIf<>iJ,
Venlrtnfa, big-beliied; as in corn-llag gladiolus.
onga , longer than broad ; as in iris.
Tnfukata, having three grooves, or furrows ; as in Indian
flowenng-recd, cama ■ and the genus mama.
Nuda naked, oppofed to bi/fida-, as in cornmlina.
Turbinata, fhaped like a top ; as in montia.
Emarginata , deficient in its margin, notched ; as in Caro-’
una-tlax, polypremum.
%
Bifulca,
CAP
BiJ'ulca, furnifhed with two furrows ; as in buddleia.
Teres , {lender, and cylindrical ; as in primrofe, and foi-
danella.
Coronata , crowned with the calyx ; as in mod plants
which have the feed-bud placed below the receptacle of the
flower.
Pentacvcca, having five cells, each containing a fingle
feed ; as in byttneria.
Celsrata, coloured ; as in ftaff-tree, celajlrus.
Mu ri cat a, prickly ; as in byttneria.
Succulents, fucculent, pulpy ; as in fpindle-tree, euvny-
mus.
Lignafa , of a woody fubftance ; as in cedrela.
Coriacea, of a fubftance like leather ; as in cupania .
Infiata , blown up, fwelled ; as in bladder-nut , JlapbyLza',
and leffer flowering ruih, fcheuckzeria.
ComprejJ'a , flat, prefled together ; as in lefler orpine, craf~
futa ; and water plantain, alijma.
Carnofa , flefhy, or pulpy ; as in pontederia.
Pelltuida , thin, and tranfparent ; as in fuperb lily,
gloriofa.
Flaccida , feeble, flaccid ; as in bladder-nut.
Glabra, having a fmooth even furface ; as in fqu ill, fcilla-
and fpider-wort, anthericum.
Cordata , heart-fhaped ; as in water-purflane, pepdis.
Obcordata , heart-fhaped with its tip downwards ; as in
fpeedwell.
Conica, of a conic form; as in pontederia.
Striata, fuperficially furrowed ; fluted ; as in French-
Willow, epilobium.
Lanceolata , fhaped like a lance; as in log- wood, h
i COL
flower, whence the North Americans gave it the name of
tulip.
Some of thefe trees, fays Cate (by, in his Natural Hidory
of Carolina, are thirty feet in circumference, with unequal
and irregular boughs, which didinguifh them at a diflance,
even when they are flript of their leaves. Their timber is
of great ufe in their native foil, particularly for making that
kind of boats called periaugues.
The cuffard-apple, a fpecies of annona, derives its name
from the texture of the fruit, which, when ripe, is of an
orange colour, with a foft, fweet, yellowifh pulp, of the
confidence of a cudard.
North American annona , is called by the inhabitants papaw-
tree.
The fruit of Soortfak, Zuurfak, or four-fop, the annojra.
muricata of Linnaeus, is fhaped like a heart, but fomewhat
longer, and generally bends towards the point. The out-
fide is of a glaucous green, ftudded here and there with foft-
pointed prickles. The infide is a foft pulpy fubllance, which
as eaten, and looked upon to be a good cooler in fevers.
The leaves of mod fpccies of annona being rubbed, emit
adrong agreeable feent.
COLOR, colour ; an attribute, or fenfible quality,
which, in plants, is found to vary, not only in different in-
dividuals of the fame fpecies, but likewife in different part?
of the fame individual. Thus marvel of Peru, and fweet-
william, have frequently petals of a different colour, on
the fame plant.
Three or four different colours are frequently found upon
the fame leaf, or flower : as on the leaves of the amaranthus
tricolor , and the flowers of the tulip, auricula, three coloured
violet, and others. To produce the mod beautiful, and
driking variety of colours in fuch flowers, is the principaj
delight and bufinefs of the florid.
The primitive colours, and their intermediate fliades fit
gradations, enumerated by botanids, arc as follows
* ♦
Water-colour, Lyalinas.
White, albas.
Lecdk
t
COL
, Lead -colon;-, cine reus. * .
Black, niger.
Brown, Jufcus.
Pitch-black, ater.
Yellow, lutcus.
Straw-colour, flavus.
Flan;e-colour, fulvus.
Iron-colour, gilvus.
Red, ruber.
Flelh-colour, incarnatus.
Scarlet, coccineus.
Purple, purpureus.
Violet-colour, cceruleo-purpureus.
Blue, cceruleus.
Green, viridis.
Thefe colours feem to be appropriated to particular parts
of the plant. Thus white is mod common in roots, fweet
berries, and the petals of fpring (lowers. Water colour,
in the filaments and ftyles. Black, in the root and feeds ;
rarely in the feed-veffel, and fcarce ever to be found in the
petals- Yellow is frequent in the anthers, or tops of the
ftamina; as likewife in the petals of autumnal flowers, and
the compound ligulated flowers of Linnaeus. Vide Lieu -
latus Flos.
Red is common in the petals of fummer-flowers, and in
the acid fruits. Blue and violet colour, in the petals.
Green, in the leaves and calyx, but rarely in the petals.
In the interchanging of colours, which in plants is found
to depend upon differences in heat, climate, foil and culture,
a fort of eleftive attraction is obferved to take place. Thus
red is more eafily changed into white and blue ; blue into
white and yellow; yellow into white ; and white into pur-
ple.
A red colour is often changed into a white, in the flowers
of heath, mother of thyme, betony, pink, vifeous campion,
cucubalus , trefoil, orchis, fox-glove, thillle, cudweed, faw-,
wort, rofe, poppy, fumatory, and geranium.
Red paffes into blue in pimpernel.
K.3
Blue
COL
Blue ?s changed into white in bell-flower, Greek valerian,
bind-weed, columbine, violet, vetch, milk-wort, goat’s-
rue, viper’s-buglofs, comfrey, borage, hyffop, dragon’s-
head, fcabious, blue-bottle and fuccory.
Blue is changed into yellow in crocus.
Yellow pafTes eafily into white in melilot, agrimony, mul-
lein, tulip, blattaria, or moth-mullein, and corn marigold.
White is changed into purple in wood-forrel, thorn-apple,
peafe, and daily.
Although plants are fometimes obferved to change their
colour upon being moiftened with coloured juices, yet that
quality in vegetables feems not fo much owing to the na-
ture of their nourifhment, as to the aftion of the internal
and external air, heat, light, and the primitive organization
of the parts.
In fupport of this opinion, we may obferve with Dr.
Grew, that there is a far lefs variety in the colours of roots,
than of the other parts of the plant ; the pulp, within the
fkin, being ufually white, fometimes yellow, rarely red.
That this effeft is produced by their fmall intercourfe with
the external air, .appears from this circumflance, that the
upper parts of roots, when they happen to Hand naked above
the ground, are often dyed with feveral colours : thus the
tops of forrel roots turn red ; thofe of turnips, mullein, and
radifhes, purple ; and many others green : whilfl thofe
parts of the fame roots, which lie more under ground, are
commonly white.
The green colour is fo proper to leaves, that many, as
thofe of fage, the young fprouts of St. John’s-wort, and
others which are reddifh when in the bud, acquire a perfect
green, upon being fully expanded.
In like manner, the leaves of the fea-fide grape, polygonum ,
which, when young, are entirely red, become, as they ad-
vance in growth, perfe&ly green, except the middle and
tratifverfe ribs, which retain their former colour.
As flowers gradually open, and are expofed to the air,
they throw ofF their old colour, and acquire a new one. In
faff, no flower has its proper colour till it is fully expanded.
Thus the purple flock gilly flowers arc white, or pale, in the
bud.
COL
bud. In like manner, batchelor’s-buttons, blue-bottle,
poppy, red-daify, and many other flowers, though of divers
colours when blown, are all white in the bud. Nay, many,
flowers change their colours thrice fucceflively ; thus the
very young buds of lady’s looking-glafs, buglofs, and the
like, are all white ; the larger buds purple, or murrey ; and
the open flowers, blue.
With refpeft to the colours of the juices of plants, we
may obferve that moll refinous gums are tinftured ; fo me,
however, are limpid; that which drops from the domeftic
pine, is clear as rock-water. The milk of fome plants is
pale, as in burdock ; of others, white, as in dandelion,
euphorbium, and fcorzonera; and of others yellow, as in
lovage, and greater celandine. Moll mucilages have little
colour, tafle, or fmell.
Of all the colours above enumerated, green is the moft
common to plants, black the molt rare.
Moll plants, either by decoftion, or long infufion, com-
municate a green colour to oil. Saffron gives it a light golden
tincture.
Several aromatic plants, as mint, marjoram, balm, being
dried and intufed in oil, give it a double tinflure, both
green and yellow ; one drop of the oil fliewing green ; but
a good quantity of it held up againft a caudle, looks rcddifli,
or of a deep yellow colour.
Alkanet root, the anchufa minor purpurea of Parkinfon, is
the only vegetable yet known, which gives a true red tinc-
ture to oil; yet will it not colour water in the lead.
Red rofes being dried, and infufed for fome time in oil of
anifeed, a more potent menftruum than common oil, lofe
their own colour entirely, and turn white, without effefling
any change on the oil, which remains limpid as at firft. . ->
As oil rarely takes a red, there being but one known in-
flance ol it ; fo there is no plant that 1 know of, which, by
infufion, will give a perfctl green to water.
But although the green leaves will not give their vifible
colour, by intulion in water, yet will they impart moft other
colours, as well as the flowers themfelvcs. Thus the leaves
K 4> of
COL
of cinquefoil give a tin&ure refembling Rhenifh wine; thofc
of hyffep, Canary ; of flrawberry, Malaga ; of mint, Muf-
cadine ; thofe ot wood-forrel produce a tinflure refembling
a mixture- of Claret and water; of balm, near as red as or-
dinary Claret alone. All aromatic hot plants give a yellow-
red tin&ure to water, as well as oil. Thefe leaves, however,
do not all give their tin&ure in the fame fpace of time ; fome
fequire a fortnight ; others a week ; others five, three, or
two days ; and fome but one, or even half a day.
Spirit of wine is as unfufceptible of a blue colour, as the
two former menfl-rua are -of a red and a green. In fabi,
feveral blue flowers, as lark-heel, violet, mallows, borage,
being infufed in that fpirit, produce no fenfible effett in
changing its colour : yet upon dropping a little fpirit of ful-
phur, or fal-ammoniac, into the infufion, it immediately
becomes a full red in the firfl' cafe ; a deep green in the
other : — the precife -effects which thefe fubflances would
have produced, if the liquor had been previoufly of a blue
colour.
Balm, the green leaves of which, as we obferved above,
give a Claret colour to water, gives a pure and perfeft green
tb' fpirit of wine.
- Yellow and red flowers, give a flronger and fuller tinfture
to water than to fpirit of wine; as may be feen by compar-
ing the infufions of cowflips, poppies, clove gilly-flowers,
and’ rofes, in either liquor.
■ Let us now examine what changes are efFe£led in colour,
by the mixture of the infufions of plants with other bodies.
A flrong infufion, or the juice, of the leaves of rofe-tree,
rafpberry, flrawberry, cinquefoil, goofeberry, primrofe,
Jerufalem-cowflip, peony, biflort, laurel, and goat’s-beard,
dropped upon flee I; makes a purple tinfture.
Sugar of lead dropped on a tin&ure of red rofes, turns
it to a faint pale green.
Salt of tartar dropped upon the fame tinflure, turns it to
a deeper green.
Spirit of fulphur dropped on the green leaves of Adonis
flower, everlafling-pea, and hollyhock, turns them all
Salt
> l
COL
Salt of tartar dropped cn the white flowers of daify, changes
them into a light green.
Of all colours, yellow feems to be the moll fixed and un-
fading. No fenfible change is effe&ed by dropping the fpirit
of fulphur, or a folution of tartar, on a tin&ure of the
yellow flowers of crowfoot, adonis, and fa Efron.
Of all water-colours, the rareft and mod difficult to make
clear, bright, and permanent, is blue. There are many
flowers of an excellent blue colour, as thofe of the buglofs,
lark -heel, and others ; but they eafily fade. Among the
very few inftances of flowers that will ltrike into a blue, may
be mentioned lathy r us, or the everlafting pea, which, upon
the affufion of fpirit of hartlhorn, is changed from a peach
to a pure blue. Other alkalis, and particularly lime-water,
will, no doubt, have the fame effedt, and perhaps, render
the colour more permanent.
JFor a full difcuffion of this curious fubject the reader is
referred to a very ingenious treatifeof the learned Dr. Grew
on the Colours of Plants, read before the Royal Society,
from which many of the above obfervations and experiments
are taken.
We proceed to make fome further remarks on the colours
of plants, with reference to method and fyffematic arrange-
ment.
Colour being, as we have feen, fo very fufceptible of
change, ought never to be employed in diftinguifhing the
different fpecies of plants, which are to be charadlerized
from circumltances not liable to alteration by culture, or
other accidents.
Hitherto we have treated principally of the inconftancy
of colour in flowers, as the tulip, hyacinth, anemone, ra-
nunculus, primrefe, blue-bottle, bell-flower, columbine,
violet, fumatory, and many others.
The fame inconftancy is obferved in other parts of the
plant ; berries frequently change from green to red, and
from red to white. Even in ripe fruits, the colour, whether
white, red or blue, is apt to vary; particularly in apple,
pear, plumb, and cherry-trees.
Seeds
COL
Seeds are more conftant in point of colour, than the
veffel which contains them. In the feeds, however, of the
poppy, oat, pea, bean, and kidney-bean, variations are
frequently obferved.
The root too, although not remarkably fubjeft to change,
is found to vary in fome fpecies of carrot and raddifh.
Leaves frequently become fpotted, as in a fpecies of or-
chis, hawk-weed, ranunculus, knot-grafs, and lettuce ; but
feldom relinquifh their green colour altogether. Thofe of
fome fpecies of amaranthus, or flower-gentle, are beautifully
coloifred.
The fpots that appear on the furface of leaves, are of dif-
ferent colours, liable to vary, and not feldom difappear al-
together.
The leaves of officinal lungwort, and fome fpecies of fow-
bread, forrel, trefoil, and ranunculus, are covered with
white fpots. Thofe of dog’s-tooth violet, with purple and
white.
Thofe, of feveral fpecies of ranunculus, and orchis, and
a kind of k'not-grafs, called by Tournefort, Perficaria fcr *
rum equinum referens , with black and purple.
Thofe of Amaranthus tricolor, with green, red, and yellow.
Thofe ot Ranunculus acris, and a fpecies of bog-bean,
with red, or purple.
The under furface of the leaves of fome fpecies of pim-
pernel, and of fea plantain, is marked with a number of
dots, or points. A white line runs through the leaves of
Indian-reed, black-berried heath, and a fpecies of canary -
grafs ; and the margin, or brim of the leaf, in fome fpecies
of box, honey-fuckle, ground-ivy, and the ever-green oak,
is of a filver-white colour.
The whole plant is often found to afTume a colour that is
unnatural, or foreign to it. The varieties in fome fpecies of
cryngo, mugwort, orach, amaranthus, purflane, and lettuce,
furnilh examples.
Such being the inconflancy of colour in all the parts of
the plant, fpecific names derived from that quality are, very
properly, by Linnaeus, deemed erroneous ; whether they
refpetl
COL
refpeft the colour of the flower, fruit, feeds, root, leaves ;
or exprefs in general, the beauty or deformity of the entire
plant, with a particular view to that circumftance. Of this
impropriety, fo generally committed by former botanilts,
Linnaeus himfelf is not always guiltlefs. Thus the two fpe-
cies of farracenia , or the fide- faddle flower, are diftinguifhed
by the colour of their petals into the yellow and purple farra-
cenia ; although the fbape and figure of the leaves afforded
much more conftant, as well as ftriking, chara&ers. The
fame may be faid of his lupinus albus, id luteus ; Reft da alba ,
glauca , id lutea ; Angelica atropurpurea ; Didlamnus albus ;
Lam'ntm album ; S el ago coccinca ; Sida alba ; PaJJiJlora rubra,
lutea, incarnaia , id coerulea ; and of many others, in which
the fpecific name is derived from a charafler or quality that
is fo liable to vary in the fame fpecies, I conclude this ar-
ticle with obferving, that of all the fenfible qualities, colour
is leaft ufeful in indicating the virtues and powers of vege-
tables. The following general pofitions on this fubjeft,
are laid down by Linnaeus, and feem fufficiently confirmed
by experiment.
A yellow colour generally indicates a bitter tafte ; as in
gentian, aloe, celandine, turmeric, and other yellow flowers.
Red indicates an acid, or four tafte ; as in cranberries,
berberries, currants, rafpberries, mulberries, cherries ; the
fruit of the rofe, fea-buck-thorn, and fervice-tree. Herbs
that turn red towards autumn, have likewife a four-taile, as
forrel, wood-forrel, and bloody dock.
Green indicates a crude alkaline tafte, as in leaves and
unripe fruits.
A pale colour denotes an infipid tafte, as in endive, afpa-
ragus, and lettuce.
White promifes a fweet, lufeious tafte; as in white cur-
rants, and plumbs, fweet apples, idc.
Laftly, black indicates a harfh, naufeous, difagreeable
tafte ; as in the berries of deadly night-fhade, myrtle-leaved
fumach, herb-chriftopher, and others ; many of which are
not only unpleafant to the tafte, but pernicious, and deadly
ip their effect*,
To
COL
To difcover the acid, oralkaline quality of any plant, ex-
prefs fome of the juice, and rub it upon a piece of blue
paper, which, if the plant in queftion is of an acid nature,
will turn red ; if of an alkaline, green.
COLUMELLA, ( quafi Columnella, a little pillar, or co-
lumn.) The fubftance which pafles through that fpecies of
feed-veffel called a capfule, and conne£ts the feveral internal
partitions with the feed. Vide C apsula.
COLUMNIFERyE, from columna , a pillar; and fero ,
to bear. The name of the 37th order in Linnaeus’s Frag-
ments of a Natural Method, confifting of plants whofe
ftamina and piflil have the appearance of a pillar in the
centre of the flower.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Natural Order.
SECTION I.
Plants with Stamina that are diftindt , and inferted into the
common Receptacle.
Linnaean Genera.
Bixa, ' —
Corchorus , —
Heliocarpus, —
Kiggelaria .
Microcos.
Muntingia.
Thea , —
Tilia, —
Turnera.
Triumfetta.
Englijh Names.
Arnotta, or Anotta by the
French termed Roucou.
Jew’s-Mallow.
Tree Monti a.
Tea-Tree.
Lime, or Linden-Tree.
. ' - f
SECTION II.
Plants with Stamina that are diftinB , and inferted into the
Piltillum, or Poinlal. (Gynandria.)
Ayenta .
Grevia.
HeliBeres ,
C O L
Linntean Genera.
Engl if Names.
HeliCteres,
—
—
Screw -Tree. '
. Kleinhovia .
SEC
T
I O N III.
Plants with one or
more Jets of united Stamina.
Adanfonia ,
— -
—
.Ethiopian Sourgourd, or
African Calabalh-Tree.
Alcea,
—
Hollyhock, or Rofe-Mal-
low.
Althaa ,
—
—
Marfh-mallow.
Bombax ,
Camellia.
—
—
Silk Cotton-Tree.
GoJJypium,
Hermannia.
—
—
Cotton.
Hibifcus,
—
• —
Althaea Frutex, or Syrian
Mallow.
Lavatera,
—
—
Sea Tree-Mallow.
Malope ,
—
—
Baftard Mallow.
Malva ,
Me lochia.
—
—
Mallow\
4 t
Napcea.
Pentapetes,
MM.
Indian vervain Mallow.
Sida,
Stewartia.
—
—
Indian Mallow.
Tkeobroma,
—
—
Chocolate-nut, or Baftard
Cedar of Jamaica.
Urena.
Waltheria.
Habit and
Structure
of the Plants of this Order.
This order furnifhes a choice and curious colle£iion of
herbs both annual and perennial, fhrubs, and trees. Thefe
?re very different in point of fize and height, from the
creeping mallows, and low fhrubby tea-tree, to the lofty
limes, and (till more lofty filk cotton-trees, which, by fome
modern writer*, are affirmed to be fo large, as not to be
' S ' \ fathomed
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fathomed by fixteen men, and fo tall, that an arrow cannot
reach their top.
The fize of the African calabafh-tree, or ./Ethiopian four,
gourd, the Baobab of Profper Alpinus, as defcribed by M.
Adanfon, is truly amazing. The diameter of the trunk, he
fays, frequently exceeds 25 feet ; and the breadth of the
tree at top, meafures from 120 to 150 feet. The horizontal
branches, he continues, are from 45 to 55 feet long ; and
fo large in circumference, that each branch is equal to a
monftrous tree in Europe. The roots too, where the water
of a neighbouring river has wafhed away the earth fo as to
leave them bare and open to view, meafure one hundred and
ten feet long, exclufive of thofe parts which remain covered
with earth, or fand and yet, amazing as thefe dimenfions
are, the height of the talleft tree, mentioned by that author,
does not exceed feventy feet. Vide Adanfon’s Voyage au
Senegal , td Famille des Plantes, Tom. 1, p.211. Preface.
The fhrubs and trees of this order are deciduous, pretty
thick, of a beautiful appearance, with an ereft Item, which is
formed by its branches and foliage into a round head.
The Roots are extremely long, branch but little, and.
either run perpendicularly downwards, as in plants of the
firfl and fecond fe&ions ; or extend themfelves horizontally
below the furface, as in thofe of the third.
The Stems are cylindric. The young branches, though
commonly of the fame figure, are fometimes angular.
The Bark is thick, and pliant.
The Wood, in general, very foft and light.
The Buds are of a conic form, naked, that is, without
fcales, and fituated either at the extremity of the branches,
or in the angle formed by the branch and leaf. Syrian mal-
low, Ethiopian fourgourd, and lavatera , have no buds.
Tlx; Leaves are alternate, fimple, divided into feveral
lobes, and frequently hand or finger-lhaped. The ribs, or
nerves, on the back of the leaf, in fome genera of this order,
are provided near their origin with a number of hollow fur-
rows, or glands, which being, filled with a clammy honey-
like liquor, have been confidercd as fo many veffels ol fe-
cretion.
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eretion. Egyptian and Syrian ketmia, biltjcus, have one
hollow of this kind, placed on the middle rib. The cotton-
tree has three, two of which frequently difappear in cold
climates ; urma lias fometimes three hollows, but mo ft com-
monly one.
The Foot-stalk of the leaves is cylindric, fwelled at
its origin, and appears jointed at its jundlion with the branch.
In fome fpecies of Syrian mallow, and turner a, the flowers
and leaves are borne on the fame foot-ftalks; or, to fpeak
more properly, the foot-ftalk of the flower proceeds from
the foot-ftalk of the leaf. At each fide of the foot-ftalk are
generally faftened two fa-pula, or feales, which are fimple,
of a moderate fize, commonly ereft, and tali before the
other leaves of the plant. The glands, or veffels of iecre-
tion at the bafe of the leaves in tree montia, furnifh eflential
marks in diftinguifhing the fpecies.
The ftems and branches of fome fpecies of Syrian mallow,
and filk cotton-tree, are armed with long conic prickles,
which in the latter are fometimes two inches in diameter*
and fall off very early, being only faftened to the bark. A
fpecies of filk cotton-tree, called by Linnaeus Bombax pm~
tandrum from the number of its ftamina, has its ftem, when
young and tender only, covered with prickles ; that of the
full grown tree being very finooth, and unarmed. Tree-
moittia, and triumfetta, when young, bear downy leaves;
when full grown, thofe of the former are finooth ; thofe of
the latter, prickly.
The Flowers are univerfally hermaphrodite, except in
\iggelaria, and a fpecies of Virginian marih-mallow, called
by Linnaeus, Napaa dioica ; the former of which bears
male and female, the latter male and hermaphrodite, flowers
on different roots.
In plants of the third fection, the flowers generally open
about nine in the morning, and remain expanded till one
o’clock in the afternoon. Thefe fame flowers, as they
wither, are fubjeft to change their colour; tine red become
violet, or purple; the white contrail a flefh colour; and the
yellow
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<;
/ / '
fellow turn white. The flowers of Triumfetta are rolled
or turned backwards, in the night time.
The flowers either terminate the branches, proceed from
the angles of the leaves, or are difpofed either fihgly, or ill
a corymbus, along the branches, or item. Vide Corymbus.
The Flower -cup is fingle in plants of the firft and
fecond fe&ions; but frequently double in thofe of the third.
In thefc laff, the inner calyx is always of one piece generally
divided into five fegments ; the outer confifls either of one
leaf, as in cotton-tree, and marfh-mallow ; of three diflinCI
leaves, as in mallow and baflard -mallow ; or of many, as in
Syrian mallow. The fin all feales, which frequently accom-
pany the calyx of Indian vervain-mallow, pentapetes , are not
a fecond calyx, as Miller fancies, but Jlipulce, which fall off
foon after their produ&ion. Vide Stipula.
The calyx, when fingle, is fometimes compofed of one
leaf, which is permanent ; as in arnotta, and hermannia : or
of feveral difl inft leaves, which, in plants of the firft feftion,
are generally coloured, and fall off with the petals ; as in
microcos and Jew’s-mallow.
In plants that have a double calyx, both flower-cups are
generally permanent.
The Petals in this order, are in number from four to
nine; five is the prevailing number. In fome fpecies of
filk cotton-tree, the flower confifls of one petal only, which
is fhaped like a funnel, and divided into five fegments at
top ; molt flowers of the tea-tree have fix petals ; fomek
however, are obferved to have nine, three of which are ex-
ternal, equal, and of a middling fize ; fix internal, equal,
and very large. Arnotta has a double corolla , or rather a
double row of petals ; each row confiding of five oblong
and large petals, which are equal. Plants of the third feflion
have univerfally five petals, which are heart-fhaped, termi-
nated below by a claw or flalk which attaches them to the
receptacle of the calyx, and clofely embrace or infold each
oLher above, fo as to form the appearance of a fingle petal.
They are alternate with the divifions of the calyx, and fall
' « foon
t
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foon after their Cxparifion. The lapping, or embracing of
the petals juft mentioned, is always found to be in a dire&ion
contrary to the apparent diurnal motion of the fum
In many flowers of this older is found that fpecies of fuper-
fluity to which LinnaCus has given the indefinite name of
NectaRIUM J this appearance adds greatly to the beauty of
the flower ; and is particularly confpicuouS in bcrmannia,
chocolate-nut, kiggela)ia, and the plants of the fecoiid feC-
tion. Vide Supra i
The fpring flowers of a fpecies of JCw’S-malloWj called
by Linnaeus corcborus ftliqubfits, have no petals* and but
fo.ur ftamina ; the autumnal flowers of the fame fpecies have
five petals, and numerous ftamina. A fpecies of ferew-
tree, termed heliftcres apeiala , wants likewife the petals, as
the name imports.
The Stamina, which are in number from five to twenty,
and upwards, are generally inferted into the common recep-
tacle of the calyx, in plants of the firft and third fe£tions ;
into th cpijlillunii or feed-bud, in thofe of the fecorid;
The Filaments, or threads of the ftamina, are diftinff
hi the two firft feftions ; but in the third are united into a
cylinder, which proceeding from the receptacle of the calyx,
furroUnds the feed-bud, and attaches itfelt to the bafe of the
petals, which it flightly unites. Silk cotton-tree has the ap-
pearance of fevcral fets of ftamina fo united ; and, in the
genus penlapctes, are interfperfed betwixt the fertile ftamina,
which are fifteen in number, five longer filaments that are
coloured, ereft, and caftrated, that is, without anthers*
The Anthers, or tops, are frequently roundifh, and
placed ere£t on the filament ; moft commonly, however,
they arc oblong, or kidney-fhaped, and flightly attached by
the middle, or ftdes, to the filaments, on which they turn
like a vane, or needle. Vide Anthers Incumbentes , id
VerfatileSi
This laft is particularly the chara&eriftic of all the mallow
tribe.
Heliorarpus has twin anthers, or two upon each filament ;
chocolate nut, five.
h
In
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\
In kiggelaria, die tops arc perforated, and gape in two
different places.
The Seed-Bud is generally roundifh, or conic, and
fotnetimes, as in tea-tree, angular.
The genus grevia has its feed-bud furnifhed with a long
foot-ftalk, by which it is attached to a receptacle fhaped like
a pillar, er eft, and cut into five angles at us brim.
From the fummit of the feed-bud arife the ftyles, which
in this order are from one to five, thread-fhaped, of the
length of the ftamina, and crowned with a Jiigma , which is
generally thick, blunt, and fometunes cornered.
Muntingia has a hairy feed-bud, no flyle, and a five
cornered Jiigma, or fummit.
In plants of the third feftion, which have a true claffic
charaftcr, the receptacle of the fruaification, or that to
which the flower and fruit are attached, is prominent in the
centre of the flower. The feed-bud is erea, and furrounds
the top of the receptacle in a jointed ring. The flyle forms
one body with the receptacle below, but is generally divided
above into as many branches, or threads, as there are cells,
or partitions in the feed-bud. Each of thefe branches is
crowned with a thin, fpreading, and frequently haiiy
jiigma.
The Seed-Y essel is generally a capfuls j fometimes a
pulpy fruit of the berry, or cherry kind. In plants of the
third feaion, it is a woody, or membranous capfule, which
is divided into as many cells internally, as there were par-
titions in the feed-bud. I he capfule, in thefe fame plants,
is frequently formed by the union of fo many proper coats,
or coverings of the feed, called by Linnteus arilli. Vick
Arillus.
The capfule of the lime-tree is divided into five cells ; yet,
as only one feed arrives at perfeftion, the reft proving ubor-
tive, we might be apt, without previoufly viewing them in
the feed-burl, to commit a miftake, and conclude that the
capfule Was furnilhed with only one cavity. A fimilar abor-
tion fometimes takes place in the genus triutnjetta , which has
a round
t
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a round capfule, armed on every fide with firong hooked
prickles.
Tree-montia lias a hooked feed-veffel of tJie fame kind.
The feed-veffel ot the gehus hibifeus , is generally a cap-
fule ; in a particular fpccies, called by Linnaeus hibifeus ma-
lavifcus, it is a roundilh berry, with five cells containing
ten feeds. Stewartia, according to the fame author, has a
dry feed-veffel, ot the apple kind.
In tea-tree, and hermannia, the capfule fplits at the top ;
in lime-tree, at the bafe. The woody capfule of Ethiopian
four gourd does not fplit, or open at all.
The Seeds are generally folitary ; fometimes angular,
and, in plants ol the laft feftion, kidney-fhaped.
Thefe plants are mucilaginous, and lubricating.
The lime-tree contains a gummy juice, which being re-
peatedly boiled and clarified, produces a fubftance like fugar*
Arnotto is bitter, and aromatic. The Irefh, or green leaves
of tea, according to Ktempler, are difagreeably bitter,- nar-
cotick, and injurious to the bram and nerves ; but thefe bad
qualities are entirely deflroyed by the preparation which
they undergo before they are expofed to fale.
Applied externally, thefe plants, particularly thofe of the
lull fe£lion, are highly emollient ; taken internally, they
correbl acrid humours, allay excefTive heats in the blood,
internal inflammations, irritations, and heat of urine ; and
are of great benefit in the cough, ftrangury, Hone, and
cholic.
The feeds of arnotta, within their capfule, are covered
on the furface with a reddifh powder, or dull, with wdiich
the American Indians paint their bodies. This powder, faid
to be ufed fometimes as an antidote againft poifon, is taken
off by fleeping the feeds in hot water, until it has totally fub-
fided ; the water being then poured off, the fediment is left
to harden, and afterwards made up in balls, which are font
to Europe, for the ufe of dyers, and painters.
The leaves ot common Jew’s-inallow, the olus judaicum
of Avicenna, are ufed in the Eaft Indies, and by the Jews
about Aicppo, as a pot-herb. Rauwo/f’s Travels.
L 2
An
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An mifufion of the flowers of the lime-tree has been ufed
with fuccefs in an epilepfy. The timber, which is too foft
for any ftrong purpofes, is principally employed by the
carvers, and turners, as likewife by architects, for framing
the models of their buildings. The flowers of the Carolina
lime-tree emit a very fragrant odour, and are confiantly
haunted by bees during their continuance.
The Negroes of Senegal, in Africa, put a very high
Value on a decottion of the bark of a fpecies of Grevia ,
which they call Kell, and confider as a never failing fpeci-
fic in venereal complaints.
The ferew-tree derives its name from the figure and ap-
pearance of the fruit or feed-vcfiel, which is compofed of
five capfulcs that are clofely and fpirally twilled over one
another; like a ferew ; they are hairy, and confilt each of
one cell inclofing feveral kidney-fhaped feeds.
Profper Alpinus, in his Hiflory of Egyptian Plants, de-
feribing Ethiopian fourgourd, by the name of Baobab,
affirms that the much celebrated Lemnian Earth, was no-
thing elfe than a preparation of the powder of the fungous
and four pulp, furrounding the feeds of that tree, which
M. Adanfon alferts had been tranfported from Senegal into
Egypt, by the Arabs. Be that as it may, we are affined
from very good authority, that the powder in queflion is very
much u fed at this day, both in decoftion and infufion, not
only in Cairo, but in all parts of the Levant, for thick,
fizy blood, diarrhoeas, pellilential and putrid fevers, and
diforders arifing from fimilar caufes. At Senegal, this pow-
der is applied to the fame purpofes ; as is likewife that of the
leaves of the tree, a quantity of which the Negroes mix
every day in their food. To this laft powder they liave given
the name of Lalo.
The age of this tree ifc, perhaps, not lefa remarkable than
its enormous fize. M. Adanfon relates, that in a botanical
excurfion to the Magdalen Iflands, in the neighbourhood of
Gorcc, he difebvered fome calabafh-trees, from five to fix
feet diameter, on the bark of which were engraved, or cut
to a confiderable depth, a number of European names. T wo
* of
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of thefe narriPs, which he was at the trouble to repair, were
dated, one the fourteenth, the other the fifteenth century.
The letters were about fix inches long, but in breadth they
occupied a very final! part only of the circumference of the
trunk: from whence he concluded, they had not been cut
when thefe trees were young. Thefe inferiptions, however,
he thinks fufficient to determine pretty nearly the age which
thefe calabafh-trees may attain ; for, even fuppofing thatthofe
in queflion were cut in their early years, and that the trees
grew to the diameter of fix feet in two centimes, as the en-
graved letters evince, how many centuries mult be requifite
to give them a diameter of twenty-five feet, which, perhaps,
is not the lafl term of their growth !'
The inferibed trees, mentioned by this ingenious French-
man, had been fecn in 1555, almolt two centuries before,
by Thevet, who mentions them in the relation of his Voyage
to Terra Antarctica, or Auftralis. Adanfon faw them in
1749.
The fiik cotton-tree ( Bornbax ) is a native both of the Eaft
and Welt Indies, and takes its name from the fine filky down
with which the feeds are wrapped within the capfule, and.
which, in different fpecies, is of different colours, and in
different degrees of eftimation. The dark lhort down, or
cotton, is feldorn ufed, except by the poorer fort, for huff-
ing pillows or chairs ; being generally elteemed unwholfome
to lie upon. By the inhabitants of the Spanifh Weft Indies,
the beautilul purple down is fpun, wrought into eloaths,
and wore, without being dyed of any other colour.
Large pirogues, or canoes fit to carry a fail, are made
both at Senegal, and in America, of the trunk of the fi Ik
cotton-tree, the wood of which is very light, and found un-
fit for any other purpofe. In .Columbus’s firft voyage, fays
Miller, it was reported a canoe was feen at the ifland of
Cuba, made of the hollow trunk of one of thefe trees, which
was ninety-five palms long, of a proportionable width, and
capable of containing a hundred and fifty men. Vide Mil-
ler's Gardener’s Ditt. voce Bornbax.
Bofrnan, in his Defcription of Guinea, fays, he has feen
* l $ one
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one of thcfe trees fo widely diffiufed that 20,000 men. clofely
armed, might eafily (land under the branches. -
Cotton. wool is the produce of the fmall, or fhrubby cot-
forihT' l ?Iantngr°WS in form of a-bufh, and fends
orth branches that ftretch wide, and are garnifhed with
leaves fomewh* lefs than thofe of the fycamore, but almofl:
he fame ftiape. It bears a great many fine yellow large
flowers compofed of five petals, each of which is tinged at
he bottom with a purple colour. The feed-bud, which is of
the fame colour, is placed in the middle of the flower.
It is of an oval or conic fhape, and grows in time to the
A r° . 3 P'S^’s-egg- When ripe, it becomes black,
an fphts into three or four partitions at top, difeovering
the cotton, or down, which infolds the feeds, and ap-
pears white as fnow, in as many flakes as there are cells
or internal divifions in the eapfuje. In thefe flakes, which
fwell with the heat to a confiderable bignefs, are interfperfed
fevcral black feeds, as large as lupines, of a fweet tafte,
white within, oily, and adhering together.
The cotton, of which, in the Eafl Indies, they make their
finefl calico, is too well known to require a farther deferip-
tion Suffice it to o^ferve with Mr. Jiughes, in his Natural
Hi oiy of Barbadoes, that indulgent. Providence has fuffi.
ciently fupphed the want of wool, denied to the flieep
in the warmer climates, by caufing a vegetable, in fuch
countries, to bear the finefl: wool in the world.
1 he ccrta,ntX of gathering a good crop of this kind, is
very precarious ; fince it may be almofl literally faid of this
ihrub, that in the morning it is green, and flourifhes ; and
a moll in the fame evening, withers, and decays. For when
the worms begin to prey upon a whole field of cotton-trees
hough they are at fir ft fcarcc perceptible to the naked eye’
yet m throe days, they will grow to fuch a fue, and prove’
orcftnift.ve as to reduce the molt verdant field, thickly
and beaut. fully cloathed with leaves and flowers, into almofl:
as defolate and naked a condition as trees are in the month
Pf December, in England. When thcfe worms, which
pie of the caterpillar kind, have attained their full growth,
(hey pin, and inwrap thcmfelves as in a bag, cx web,
like
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like filk-worms, in the few remaining leaves, or any other
covering : and after a few days reft in this their Aurelia-ftate,
turn into dark-coloured moths and fly away.
Cotton-flowers, if carefully wrapped up in the leaves of
the fame tree, and baked, or roalled over a fire of burning
coals, yield, fays Pomet, a reddifh vifcous oil, that quickly
cures old ftanding ulcers. Of the .black feed an oil may
be made, which beautifies the face, removes fpots and
freckles, and poffeffes the fame virtues with the oil of cokar-
kernels. The cotton, or down itfelf, is faid to do wonders
in the gout, by being burnt upon the part ; but its efficacy
can be no other than that of fire, or quick-lime ; whatever
good attends this practice being wholly owing to the
burning.
The flowers of the China rofe, bibifcus mutabilis, (fo
termed by Linnaeus from the circumftance to be mentioned),
alter remarkably in their colour. At their firft expanfion,
they are white ; they then change to a deep red, or rofe co-
lour, which, as they decay, turns to a purple. In the Weft-
Indies, where it goes by the name of Martinico rofe, all
thefe alterations happen in the courfe of one day ; which,
in thofe hot countries, is the longeft duration of the flowers
in queftion ; but in England, where they continue near a
week in perfection, the changes are not fo fudden.
Tree vervain mallow of Java, another fpecies of bibifcus ,
the Rofa finenfts of Linnaeus, produces double flowers, com-
pofed of feveral roundifh petals of a red colour, which
expand like the common rofe. With thefe flowers, the
women on the coaft of Malabar, where the plant naturally
grows, tinge their hair and eye-brows of a. black colour,
which will not wafh off; the Englilh refiding on the fame
coaft, ufe it for blacking their fhoes, and thence have named
it {hoe-flower. The green leaves, whifked in water, make
a lather like that which is made with foap ; and, as we are
informed by Kolbcn, are preferred to that fubftance for
wafhing the hands and face, by the Europeans at the Cape of
Good Hope, where the plant has long been introduced from
India.
1 he leaves of a North American fpecies of bibifcus,
l 4> termed
I
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termed by ‘Linnaeus Mofcheutos , from a ^ery probable con.
jefture that it is the Mofcheulon or true rofe-mallow of
Pliny, are foft, and in figure refemble thofe of the maple.
The flower is very large, and white, and. feated not on the
peduncle, but petiole or foot, (talk of the leaves, like that
of Turnera ulmifolifl. The root employed in medicine, fays
Clayton, has a paregorick or pain-alleviating quality.
A fpecies of Hibifcus , the papuliicus of Linnaeus, the Novella
pi Rumphius, the Rupcipiti of the Hofifis Alalabaricus , is
termed, by the natives of Ceylon, Surighahas, that is,
Sun-Tree. The flowers, which, as others of the fame
genus, are ephemeral, have a dingy gloomy colour at the
rifing of the fun, when they expand ; but acquire a reddilh
hue at its fetting, when they fall off.
The fig-leaved hibifcus is cultivated by the inhabitants of
the Weft-Indies for its pods, which, having a foft vifeous
juice, add ft thicknefs to their foujrs, tmd repder them
palatable.
The fruit of the okra, the Hibifcus efculentus of Lmnccus,
js taken, when young and tender, and boiled, and eatep
with buttei. The plant ltfelfis of a very mucilaginous na-
ture, a great reflorative, very wholefome, and extremely
lubricating. It is perhaps the plant which the Romans
valued fo much, and Horace fo well characterizes by the
name of levis malva, or light mallow, which pro yes of eafy
tligeflion, and lightens thelfomach*.
A thimble full of the finall brownifh feeds of a fpecies
of hollyhock, or tree-mallow, deferibed by Hughes, in his
Natural Hiftory of Barbadoes, taken inwardly, proves an
excellent purge; and the yellow juipe that plentifully diflils
from the ltalk when broken, is a fovereigu remedy to cum
old ulcers.
A decoction of the roots of a fpecies of napa:ax called by
thy Negroes lcjsx is deemed a fovercign remedy in the vene-
* * “ Me pafeunt olha:,
Me ciplwrai, Ltyiisuyii n.\Lyx”
Curm. Lif). I, Od. 3}.
f'eaj
f
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real difeafe, which they are faid to cure without any bad
confequences, by means of this plant alone.
Note. The name of the genus Napcea , is derived from
the Greek v«77tj, faltus , Incus, vel vallis, a grove, or valley,
and expreffive of the places where the plants which compofe
it are generally found. In the Mythology of the Poets,
the Nymphs, who prefided over fuch retreats, were called
Napccae.
In the parts of the fruftifi cation of the genera Adanfonia
and Bstnbax , there is a remarkable affinity. They, indeed,
principally differ in the feeds, which, in the firft genus,
are involved in a friable pulp ; in the latter, covered with the
foft, filky fubftance, from which it has obtained both its
fcientific and Englifh names.
Common marfh-mallow, the althcca officinalis of Linnaeus,
is an herbaceous perennial, which grows naturally in moifl
places, in feveral provinces of England, France, Holland,
and in Siberia. The juice is inlipid to the taffe, and, in the
roots, mucilaginous. The herb, flowers, and root, which
laft is one of the five emollients, are employed in medicine.
They are elfeemed balfamic and peftoral, and frequently
ordered in fomentations to eale pain, as likewife to fuppu-
rate tumours and impofihumes. The feeds are rarely ufed.
Marfh-mallow may be diffinguifhed from the tribe of com-
mon-mallow, principally by the foftnefs and length of the
leaves.
From the bark of moft plants of the mallow-tribe, may
be procured a fort of hemp, which, if properly managed,
might be wrought into cordage, or indeed into fine ffrong
thread of any fize.
The inhabitants of the Weft-Indies cut the Indian mal-
lows, fida, in the fame manner as we do heath, and make
them up into brooms for fweeping. Hence they are fre-
quently fent into Britain by tiie title of broom-weed. A
cataplafm of the pounded leaves of the fame plant is reckoned
an excellent vulnerary.
I conclude this article of the pillar-fhaped-flowers, with
(horf hiftory of the Tea-plant, its culture, growth, pre-
paration,
COL
/ '
paration, and ufes, from the accurate defcription of Kaemp-
fcr, in his Natural Hiftory of Japan.
This Ihrub, formerly defcribed by Dr. Brevnius, in his
Century of Exotic Plants, publilhed at Dantzick, in 1<57S
is of a very flow growth, and diminutive flze. It has a
black, woody, irregularly branched root. The rifing ftem
°on fpjeahs it'to many irregular branches, and twigs. Thcfe,
at the lower end, and near the ground, often feem to be
more in number than they really are ; for feveral feeds be-
Jng put together in one hole, it frequently happens that two,
three, or more fhrubs grow up together, and fo clofe to one
another, as to be eafily miftaken for one, by ignorant, or
lefs attentive obfervers. The bark is dry, thin, weak, chef-
nut-coloured, firm, and adheres clofely to the wood. It is
covered with a very thin fkin, which being removed, the
bark appears, of a greenifh colour, bitter naufeous and af-
tringent tafle, with a fmell much like the leaves of hazel-
nut tree, only more difagreeable and offenfive. The wood
is haid, fibrous, of a greenifli colour inclining to white, and
of a very offenfive fmell, when green. The pith is very
.1* and adheres clofe to the wood. The branches and
twigs are flender, of different fizes, irregularly befet with
Ample leaves, Handing on very fmall, fat, green foot-flalks,
and refembhng, when full grown, the leaves of the garden
cherry-tree; but when young, tender, and gathered for ufe,
thofe of the common fpindle-tree, the colour only excepted.
I he leaves are fmooth on both hides, clofely and unequally
awed on the edge, of a dirty dark green colour, which is
lomewhat lighter on the back, where the nerves being raifed
confiderably, leave fo many hollows, or furrows on the
oppohte fide. They have one very confpicuous nerve in the
middle, which is branched out on each fide into five, fix,
or feven thm tranfverfe ribs, of different lengths, and bent
backwards, near the edges of the leaves: between thefe
tranfverfe ribs, run a number of fmall veins. The leaves,
when frefh, have no fmell at all, and though affringent and
bittcnfh as we obferved above, are not naufeous, as the
baik. I hey differ very much in lubflance, fizc, and fhape
' <) *
according
COL
according to their age, and the fituation and nature of che
foil in which the fhrub is planted. From the wings of the
leaves come forth the flowers in autumn. Thefe continue
to grow till late in winter, and are compofed of fix petals,
one or two of which are generally fhrunk, and fall far fhort
of the largenefs and beauty of the others. The foot-flalk of
the flower is about half an inch long, and ends in fix very
fmall green leaves, which ferve inflead of the calyx, or
flower-cup. This defcription, applied by Kaempfer to the
fhrub, which, as he pretends, produces all the different
forts, or preparations of tea, correfponds, fays Linnaeus,
to a particular fpecies only, termed by him Bohea; for fome
tea plants, he obferves after Dr. Hill, produce flowers com-
pofed of nine petals, which mult therefore conftitute a dif-
tincl fpecies from fuch as have only fix. From this cir-
cumftance is conftrufled the other fpecies of that author,
ihca viridis, or green tea, the flowers of which have always
nine petals.
To proceed in our defcription. Within the petals, which
arc of a very unpleafant bitterilh tafle, are placed many white
flamina, exceedingly fmall as in the wild rofe, with yellow
heads in fhape not unlike a heart. Ktempfer reckoned in
one flower, two hundred and thirty -of thefe flamina. To
the flowers fucceed the fruits in great plenty ; thefe are com-
pofed of one, two, but molt commonly of three capfules,
of the bignefs of wild plumbs, adhering, like the feed-vef-
fels of the palma chrilli, to one common foot-flalk as to a
centre, but divided into three pretty deep partitions. From
this character, we may fee how improperly Linnaeus has
placed the tea-tree in the natural order we have been de-
feribing, when the linking circumflance of its tricapfular
fruit feemed fo naturally to point out its connexion and
affinity with tliofe plants which poffefs the fame remarkable
chara&er. Vide Tricocc/E. Each capfule contains a
hufk, nut, and feed. The kernel, or feed, is reddifh, of a
firm fubllance like filberds, contains a great quantity of oil,
and is very apt to grow rank, which is the reafon why there
arc fcarce two in ten that will germinate when fown. The
nat fves
COL
natives make no manner of ufe of either the flowers, or
kernels.
The (hrub mufl be, atleaft, of three years growth, before
the leaves, which it then bears in plenty, are fit to be pluck-
ed. In feven years time, or thereabouts, it rifes to a man’s
height; but as it then grows (lowly, and bears but few
leaves, the natives generally cut it down quite to the hem,
after having firft gathered what few leaves it produced. The
next year, out of the remaining (lem proceed many young
twigs and branches, which bear fuch abundance of leaves,
as 1'ufficiently compenfates for the lofs of the former fhrub.
Some defer the operation of cuting down to the Hem, till the
Ihrub is of ten years growth.
The leaves mufl not be tore off by handfuls, but plucked
carefully one by one, and are not to be gathered all at
onqe, but at different times. Thofe who pluck their fhrubs
thrice a year, begin their firft gathering about the end of
February. The fhrub then bears but a few leaves, which
are very tender and young, and not yet fully opened, as
being fcarce above two or three days growth. Thefe fmall
and tender leaves are reckoned much better than the reft, and,
becaufe of their fcarcity and price, are difpofed of only to
princesand rich people ; for which reafon they are called Im-
perial tea, and by fome the flower of tea. The fecond gather-
ing, and the firft of thofe who gather but twice a year, is made
about the latter end of March, or beginning of April; fome
of the leaves are then already come to perfection, others are
but half grown ; both, however, are plucked off promifeu-
oufly, though care is afterwards taken, previous to the ufual
preparation, to arrange them into daffies, according to their
fize and goodnefs. The third, and laft gathering, which is
*lfo the moft plentiful, is made in the end of May, when
the leaves have attained their full growth, both in number
and fize. The leaves of this gathering are arranged in like
manner as the former, according to their fize and goodnefs,
into different claffes, the lowed of which contains the
coarfeft leaves of all, being full two months grown, and
that fort which is commonly drunk by the vulgar.
The
COL
'The preparation of the leaves confifts in drying or roam-
ing them when trefh gathered, over the fire, in an iron pan,
and rolling them when hot with the palm of the hand on a
mat, till they become curled. The particulars of this pre-
paration, as related by the ingenious author from whom
this defcription is extrafled, are much too tedious for my
purpofe. The reader is therefore referred to the work itfelf.
Vide Ktempfer’s Hiftory of Japan, Vol. 2, Appendix 1.
The tea, after having undergone a fufticient roafting and
curling, mull, when cold, be put up, and carefully kept
from the air. In this, indeed, the whole art of preferving
it chiefly confifts; becuufe the air, in thofe hot climates,
diflipates its extremely fubtile and volatile parts much fooner
than it would in our colder European countries. The Chi-
nefe put it up in boxes of a coarfe tin, which, if they be
very large, are inclofed in wooden cafes of fir, all the clefts
being firft carefully flopped both within and without. After
this manner alfo it is fent abroad into foreign countries.
The Japanefe keep their flock of the common tea in large
earthen pots with a narrow mouth. The better fort of tea,
I mean that which the emperor himfelf, and the great men
make ufe of, is kept in porcelain pots or veffels which are
fuppofed to improve its virtues. The coarfe tea of the third
gathering is not fo eafily injured by the air as tho other forts ;
for though its virtues are comparatively fewer, and lefs fen-
fible, yet are they more conftant and fixed. The country
people keep it, as well as the other forts which they ufe, in
ftraw bafkets made like barrels, which they put under the
roofs of their houfes, near the hole which lets out the fmoak ;
being of opinion, that nothing is better than fmoak to pre-
f'erve the virtues of the leaves, and even improve them.
Some put it up with common mug-wort flowers, or the
young leaves of a plant called fafanqua, which they believe
renders it much more agreeable. Other odoriferous and
aromatic fubftances are found, upon trial, to produce no
fuch beneficial eft'ett.
The tea, as it is taken inwardly, is prepared in two diffe-
rent ways. The firft, ufed by the Chincfe, and now all over
4 Europe,
COM
Europe, is nothing elfe but a fimple infufion of the leases
in hot water. I he other way, which is peculiar to the Ja-
panel'e, is by grinding. In this preparation, the leaves are, by
means of a hand-mill made of a black-greenifh ftone, called
terpentine ftone, reduced into a fine delicate powder, which
being mixed with hot Water into a thin pulp, is afterwards
ipped. This tea is called thick tea, to diflinguifh it from
t je fimple infufion, and is drunk every day by the rich peo-
pie and great men m Japan. 1
I he narcotic quality of the frefii unprepared leaves of tea,
mentioned above, is deftroyed in a great meafure, by a re-
peated and gradual roafting. This operation renders it ex-
hilarating, refrefiiing, and clcanfing. Kaempfer obferves,
that tea is particularly ferviceable in wafhing away that tar-
tarous matter, which is the efficient caufe of calculous con-
cietions, nephritic and gouty difiempers; and affirms that
among the gieat tea-drinkers oi Japan, he never met with
any, who were troubled with the gout, or fione.
The leaves of tea, fay writers on the Materia Medica,
are much more ufed for pleafure than as medicine; the
Bohea, however, is efteemed foftening, nouriffiing, and
proper in all inward decays ; the Green is diuretic, carries
an agreeable roughnefs with it into the ftomach, which
gently aftringes the fibres, and gives them fucha tenfenefs as
is neceflary for a good digeflion. Improper, or exceffive
ule, may, no doubt, render this, or any thing elfe, preju-
dicial ; but, in general, there are very few herbs employed,
either in food or medicine, which, ufed with moderation,
are better, pleafanter, or fafer than tea.
After the moll diligent enquiries that I have been able to
make, I do not find that the tea-plant grows natuially beyond
tfie thirty-fifth degree of north latitude towards the equator,
on the one hand, and the forty-fifth degree towards the pole,
on the other.
COMA, a buffi of hair; a colleftion of large braftea:,
or floral leaves, which, in crown imperial, lavender, fage,
cow -wheat, and fome other plants, terminate the flower-
ftcin, and fonn an appearance like a tuft or buffi of hair.
Vide Br acte a.
COMMUNES.
COM
• \ •
COMMUNES. The name of a clafs in Linnaeus’s
Methodus Calycina , confifting of plants which, like teafel
and dandelion, have a calyx or flower-cup common to
many flowers or florets. Thefe are the aggregate and com-
pound flowers of other fyftems. Vide Agg keg at us and
Co.MPOSITUS Flos. t
COMOSyE, from coma. An order of plants in the
former editions of Linnaeus's Fragments of a Natural Me-
thod, confifling of the fpiked willow, or fpirrea frutex,
drop-wort, and greater meadow-fweet. Thefe, though
formerly diftinfi genera, are now by Linnaeus collefted into
one, under the name of fpiraa. The flowers, growing in
a head, refemble a bulh or tuft of hair, which probably
gave rife to the epithet comojce.
COMPLETUS Flos , a complete flower. A flower is
faid to be complete which is provided with both the covers,
viz. the calyx or flower-cup, and the petals. Vide Ca-
lyx W Corolla.
The term was invented by Vaillant, and is fynonimous
to Calyculatus Flos, in Linnaeus. Berkenhout erroneoufly
confounds it with the auftus and calyculatus calyx of the fame
author.
COMPOSITUS Flos, a compound flower ; a flower
formed of the union of feveral fru&ifications or lefler
flowers within a common calyx ; each lefler flower being
furnifhed with five ftamina, diftinft at bottom, but united
by the anthers into a cylinder, through which pafles a
ftyle, confiderably longer than the ftamina, and crowned
by a Jhgma, or fummit, with two divifions that are rolled
backwards. Such are the eflential chara6fers of a com-
pound flower.
The other properties are as follows :
1. The common receptacle, or feat upon which all the
lefler flowers are placed, is large, and entire, that is, undi-
vided.
2. The Idler flowers themfelvcs conflft univerfalfy each
of one petal, which fits upon the receptacle without any
foot-ftalk, and is of different figures in different genera.
3. Under
C O M
3. Under each floret, or partial flower, is generally placed
it (ingle feed.
A compound flower receives different appellations from
the figure of its monopetalous florets. When thefe are all
hollow like a tube at the bafe only, flat in the middle, and
expanded towards the top, the flower is faid to be ligulatedt
or lingula ted ; that is, compofed of florets which refemble a
{trap, fillet, or tongue, ( Ligu/a , Lingua.) This fpecies of
compound flower is termed by Ray, Planipctalus, and by
Tournefort, Scmiflofculojus, from the femi-florets of which
it is made up; and is exemplified in dandelion, hawk-
weed, nipple-wort, and feveral others.
When all the florets are funnel-fhaped, that is, hollow
almoft from bottom to top, the flower is termed by Linnaeus
Tubular, and by Tournefort Flofcular, to diffinguifh it from
that compofed of the femi-florets mentioned above.
Burdock, thiftle, faw-wort, artichoke, baflard-faffron,
alpine colt’s foot, and feveral other flowers, lurniffi ex-
amples.
Tubular, or hollow florets, are florets properly fo called.
—Again, when a compound flower confifis of florets and
femi-florets mixed together, jlofculis ligulatis 13 tubulojis, it
is called, both by Tournefort and Linnaeus, Flos radiatus ,
from the femi-florets which generally occupy the circum-
ference, margin, or outward part of the flower, termed by
Linnreus Radius, and refemble the rays proceeding from the
difk, or body of the fun. The centre of a radiated com-
pound flower, termed by Linnteus Difcus , is always compofed
of florets properly fo called : the circumference, {Radius,)
generally of femi-florets, as in milfoil; fometimes, of tubu-
lar, or hollow florets unlike thofe of the centre, as in blue
bottle. In mug wort, and cudweed, the partial flowers in the
circumference are naked ; that is, want petals altogether.
The florets and femi-florets of a compound flower, arc
generally very numerous. In the following examples, they
confift of a determinate number.
Wild lettuce confifis of five femi-florets.
Hemp-agrimonv with a fig-wort leaf, of twenty florets.
Hemp*
C O M
Hemp-agrimony with long fage-like leavps, cupaiorium
perjoliatum , of fifteen.
Finger-leaved hemp -agrimony, of five.
Twining hemp-agrimony, of four.
The femi-florets in the circumference, or margin of a
radiated flower, are commonly indeterminate in point o£
-number. The following are exceptions.
Ar&otis, has twenty.
Dwarf fun-flower, twelve.
Tetragonotheca, and hard-feeded chryfanthemum, ten.
Tick-feeded fun-flower, and African-ragwort, eight.
Milfoil, eriocephalus, baflard-cudweed, feriphium, figifbec-
Ha, melampodium , chryjogonum , and African-marigold, have
five.
The genus milleria has only one femifloret in the margin ;
generally two, and fometimes four florets in the center.
The florets and femi-florets in compound flowers that are
not radiated, are generally hermaphrodite, that is, have
both male and female organs within the fame cover.
In radiated flowers, the florets, which occupy the centre,
are all hermaphrodite, or male ; the femi-florets, which
conflitute the rays, or margin, are always female. Vide
Masculus, Femineus, and Hermaphrodite Flos.
The effence of a compound flower, confifting, as we
have faid, in the union of the anthers into a cylinder,
the genus kuhnia, although very nearly allied to hemp-
agrimony, and indeed, in every other refpeft, like a com-
pound flower, is very properly referred, by Linnaeus, to a
clafs containing fimple flowers, becaufe the anthers are fepa-
Tate and diflinfcl.
All compound flowers are aggregate. Vide Aggrega-
te Flos.
The common calyx, and common receptacle, though
generally prelent in compound flowers, fcarce enter into the
number of effential chara&ers. The forma' is wanting in
globe-thiffle ; the latter in milleria.
Compound flowers which- conflitute the 12th, 13th, and
M L4sth
*
com;
Mth daffies m Tournefort’s Method, ate all reduced to the-
diifs Syngenefia in the Sexual Syftem. Vide Syngenesia..
Compos ite. The name of a clafs in Hermannus, and'
Royen, as likewife of an order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of
a Natural Method, confifting of plants which agree in the-
general cha-raflers above enumerated.
A paiticular defcr-iption of this order is given under the
article Syngenefia , which includes all the compound flowers.
Vide Syngenesia.
The moll accurate and complete obfervations on this diffi-
cult clafs- of plants, are thofe of Vaillant, and Pontedera,.
particularly the former, who confining his refearches to that
part of the vegetable kingdom, pubhfhed his difcoveries and
method' of arrangement in the Memoirs of the Academy of
Sciences at Paris, from 1718 to 17188. This method, which
con fills of four feftions, and is- conftru&ed from the difpo-
fition of the flowers on the foot-ftalks, includes not only the
compound flowers properly fo called ; (I mean thofe which
anfwer to the defeription given above,) but likewife all
flowers which, like teafel and fcabiousr form a head, and
are contained within a- common' calyx, or flower-cup. The
four fe&ions juft mentioned, are fubdivided into twenty-
three fubaltern fe&ions, from the figures of the common
and proper calyx, and common receptacle ; from the divifion
of the ftem, or ftalk ; from the number and regularity, or
irregularity of the petals from the crown of the feeds ;
and from the fubftance of the- fruit.
Pontedera, in one of his Botanical Diflertations,. divides,
like d ournefort, the family of the compound flowers,
which he terms Conglobati, into three clafles ; thofe with
femi-florets ; thofe with florets ; and thofe with a mixture
of both. Thefe clafles-, which- are fubdivided into £4 fees-
tions, from an attention to the figure of the common recep-
tacle, and of the partial, or proper calyx of each lefler
flower, would- have been- true natural divifions, if the
author had not, like Vaillant, improperly introduced into
the fecond, fcabious, teafel, and blue daify, which, are
entirely foreign to the family of the compound flowers.
Thus
CON
Thus we have feen, that former authors, arranged -the
compound flowers, either from the manner in which they
are fupported on their foot-ftalks, -as J. Bauhin, Vaillant,
Ray, and Johnfton ; or from the figure and regularity, or
irregularity of the petals, as Tournefort, Pontedera, and
Rivinus. Linnasus, to preferve the uniformity of his fyf-
tem, has conflrufred his primary divifions of the com-
pound flowers, from the different fexes oi the florets,
which he terms Polygamy. The fubaltern divifions
are conftru&ed from the figure of the petals, the difpofition
of the flowers, the pappus or crown ol the feed, the com-
mon receptacle, and other circumftances, which characterize
the fubaltern divifions in other authors.
CONCEPTACULUM, (from concipio) a receiver;
fpecies of feed-veflel, with one valve, which opens from
bottom to top on one fide, and has no future for fattening,
or attaching the feeds within it. This term occurs in the
Pbilofophia Botanica, and the other early works of Linnaeus.
In the Delineatio Plant ce, prefixed to the fccond part of his
Syftem of Nature, and the lateft editions of the Genera
Plantarum, Folliculus is fubttituted in its place. Vide Fo L^
LICU LUS.
It is exemplified in rofe-bay, rcdjafmine, Virginian filk,
dog’s-bane, and fwajlow-wort.
In this fpecies of feed veflel, the feeds are fattened to a
receptacle within the fruit, hence called the recepta c
of the feeds. Vide Receptaculum.
CONGLOBATUS Flos, (from con, in compofition, to-
gether, and globus, a ball) ; growing together in form of a
fphere, or globe. Pontedera’s term for the compound
flowers of Tournefort and Linnaeus ; the flowers forming a
head, ( capitati ,) of Ray. Vide Compo situs Flos, See.
CONGLOMERATI Flores, (from con, together, and
glomus, a bottom of yarn). Flowers heaped or wound to-
gether ; flowers that grow on a branched foot-ftalk, to which
they are irregularly, but clofely connected. This mode of
inflorefcence, as Linnaeus terms it, is oppofed to that in
which the flowers are irregularly and loofely fupported on
m a their
/ . .
CON
their foot-ftalks, hence termed a diffufe panicle. Vide Pa-
N1CULA.
The term is exemplified in feveral of the grades, particu-
larly in fome fpecies of poa, fefeue-grafs, and agroflis. Vide
Gram in a.
CONGREGATES, (eongregare, to gather together) ; the
3 5th clafs in Profeffor Haller’s Natural Method, confifting
of plants which have a number of flowers placed within
a common calyx, under oach of which is placed a fingle
naked feed. It is exemplified in blue daify, fcabious, and
the compound flowers of Linnaeus and other botanifts. Vide ,
Composites Flos.
CONIFERS, (from conus, a cone, and fero, to bear) ;
«one-bearing plants. The name of the fifty-firft order, in
Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, confifting of
plants, whofe female flowers, placed at a diftance from the
male, either on the fame, or diftinft roots, are formed into
a cone.. In this charafter, the only one expreffed in the
title, the plants in queftion feem to be nearly allied to the
family of the modes, from which, however, they are
£afily diftinguifhed by their habit, as well as by the ftrufture
of the male flowers in which the ftamina are united below
into a cylinder, and diftinft at top.
The Genera contained in this Orders are feven r viz.
Linnaean Genera. Englijh Names *
Cupreffiiss
—
— Cyprefs.
Ephedra.
—
— Shrubby Horfe-tail.
Equijelum
—
— Horfe-tail.
Juniperus.
—
— Juniper.
Pinus
— >-
— Fir, Pine, Cedar, Larch..
Taxus
—
— Yew-tree.
Thuja
—
— Arbor- Vitte.
The plants of this order are moltly of the ffirub and tree
kind, and retain 'their leaves all the year. Horfe-tail is an
herbaceous^
CON
herbaceous perennial ; fome forts of larch and fir-trees lofe
their leaves during the winter.
The formof thefe plants is generally conic, and extremely
beautiful, from the difpofition of the branches, which cover
the Hems even to the roots, and extend themfelves horizon-
tally, and circularly, like fo many rays.
The height of fome fpecies of horfe-tail does not exceed
half a foot ; that of fome pines approaches to a hundred.
The roots are fhort, branched, not very fibrous, and ex-
tend horizontally.
The Stems and Branches are cylindric.
The Bark is thin, and fplit into fhort (lender fcales.
The Wood, except that of the yew-tree, poffelfes little
hardnefs.
The Buds are of a conic form, and naked, that is, with-
out fcales.
The Leaves are entire, fmall, and thick, frequently
triangular, and generally pointed. Juniper has a prickly, or
thorny leaf.
With refpeft to fituation, they admit of great variety,
being either alternate, oppofite, placed in whirls round the
fiem, or collefled into fmall bundles, which proceed from a
fmgle point. This laft is particularly exemplified in the
larch and pine-trees; in the former of which, fix or eight
leaves, in the latter, from two to five, are produced together
all along the fiem and branches, put of a very fine mem-
branous fort of fheath. The firft leaves, however, of thefe
fame trees, are fingle, and without any fheath, like thofe of
the fir and yew : the young branches too of the larch-tree,
which emerge from the middle of the bundles, have their
leaves fingle in like manner.
The leaves are placed upon the branches without any fen-
fible foot-lfalk ; in horfe-tail, and fhrubby horfe-tail, they
form a fheath, or glove, round the fiem.
Small Stipu Li£, or fcales, are obferved at the origin of
the young branches of pine and fir-trees ; and of the fmall
bundles of leaves of the larch.
. M 3
Thefe
CON
There plants, like the mofles, are not covered with any
fort of pnbefcence, or down.
The Flowers in this order, are univerfally male and
female. Thefe, in the fir, pine, larch, cyprefs, and ar-
boi vitae, are placed at a diftance from each other, upon the
fame root ; in the reft, they are produced upon diftinft
plants. In the pine, fir, and larch trees, the male flowers
are collefted into a fpike, or cone, at the end of the branches ;
in the other plants of this order they proceed fingly from
the wings of the leaves, or the termination of the branches.
The female flowers are generally collefted into a cone ;
in yew-tree, and fhrubby horfe-tail, they are fingle, and
terminate the branches.
The Calyx of the male flowers is a catkin ; of the fe-
male, a cone.
The Petals in this order are wanting; except in the
female flowers of juniper, which have three rigid, fharp,
and permanent petals.
I be Stamina are in number from three to twenty, and
upwards ; united by their filaments into a cylinder, or pillar,
which rifes out of the centre of the calyx.
The Anthers are ereft, diftina, of a round form,
and divided into internal partitions or cells, which, in
the different genera, are in number from two to ten.
The Seed-Buds, in this order, are generally numerous,
and placed betwixt the feales of the cone, which ferve for a
calyx. From each feed-bud arifes a very fhort cylindrical
ftyle, crowned with a fimpl zjligma of a conic form. Thefe
plants have properly no fruit, or feed-velfel ; the feeds be-
ing naked, and involved only by the feales of the calyx.
Thefe feales, which compofe the cone, are in the pine, of
a bony nature, and almoft united ; in the fir, larch j arbor-
vitae, and cyprefs, they are of a fubftance like leather ; and
in juniper they are united, and become flefhy, and fucculent
like a berry. The calyx, or cone of fhrubby horfe-tail,
becomes likewife a kind of berry, with a flight opening at
top, from whence are difeovered its two acute, egg-fhaped
feed*.
CON
feeds. Laftly, from the bottom of the calyx of the female
flowers of yew, is produced a coloured fucculent receptacle,
which furrounds the greateft part of a fmgle oblong feed,
and is only open at top.
The Seeds in this order, being notiriffeed, as in a feed-
veffel, by the fcales of the cone, or common calyx, differ
in nothing from the ■germma, or feed-bud's. In pine, fir,
larch, and arbor-vitas, the feeds are hard like a ftone, or nut,
and crowned with a large, membranaceous wing of an ob-
long figure, contained within the fcales of the cone.
Each feed is furnifhed with two covers ; the external,
hard, and bony ; the internal, pulpy, of an oval form,
■white, very thick, and without any aperture.
The female flowers, and confequently the fruit and feeds
of the horfe-tail, a fort of fern, have not yet been difeover-
ed. The fru£lifications of the male flowers being difpofed
on the ftalks, in form of a cone, poffibly determined Lin-
naeus to arrange the genus in this natural order.
Moll of the cone-bearing plants are refinous, or gummy.
Thefe gums have a bitter -tafte, but a very agreeable fmell ;
•witnefs the incenfe which proceeds from a fpecies of juni-
per with yellow fruit. By cutting the trunk, and the
dargeft branches of the common juniper, during the great
•heats, there flows a gum, called fandarac, which is brought
•to us from Africa, where the trees grow very large, and in
great quantities. This fandarac is called by fome, the Ara-
bian fandarac or varnifh ; by others, -the varnifh-gum, or
gum-juniper, and is of more ufe to artifis, than in phyfic.
from the larch-tree is extra&ed what we erroneoufly call
Venice-turpentine. This fubflance, or natural balfam, flows,
at firft, without incifion ; when it has done dropping, the poor
people who wait in the fir-woods, make incifions at about two
or three feet trom the ground, into the trunk of the trees,
into which they fix narrow troughs, about twenty inches
long. '1 he end of thefe troughs is hollowed, like a ladle ;
and in the middle is a fmall hole bored, lor the turpentine to
run into a receiver, which is placed below it. As the
igummy fubflance runs from the trees, it paffes along the
M 4 flopinff
C O N
Hoping gutter, or trough, to the ladle, and from thence runs
through the holes into the receiver. The people who
gather it, vifit the trees morning and evening, from the end of
May to September, to collea the turpentine out of the re-
ceivers. "W heir it flows out of the tree, Venice-turpentine
is clear like water, and of ayellowifh white ; but, as it grows
oldei, it thickens, and becomes of a citron colour. It is
procured in greateft abundance, in the neighbourhood of
Lyons, and in the valley of St. Martin, near Lucern, in
- Switzerland.
Trom the wild pine, or pineafter, is exti-afted the com-
mon turpentine, which is chiefly ufed by the farriers, and
from which is diftilled the oil of that name. The finer and
more valuable part of the diftillation comes firft, and is called
the fpirit ; what is left at the bottom of the ftill, is the com-
mon refin.
The pitch-tree, a fpecies of fir, produces the fubifanco
from which it derives its name.
from the white and black fpruce firs of North- America,
oozes a fine clear turpentine, of a ftrong fcent, with which
the native Indians are faid to cure green wounds, and fome
internal diforders. That particularly of the firft fort, called
by Charlevoix, Epinette Blanche , or white prickly fir, is
affirmed to be a fovereign remedy in fevers, and pains of
the breaft and ftomach.
The large branches of the larch-tree, befides its turpen-
tine, produce feveral fmall grains like fugar, which poffeff-
ing the purgative quality of manna, have likewife obtained
its name.
Taken internally, thefe plants are aperient, fudorific,
diuretic, ftomach ic, and antifeptic. An air impregnated
with their balfamic exhalations, is reckoned very falutary to
'confumptivc habits.
Juniper berries, and the gum of the larch, give urine a
flagrant fmcll like that of violets. The 'cones, or female
heads of the cyprefs, improperly called Cyprefs-nuts, are
highly aftringent. Juniper-wood is fragrant when burnt:
for which purpofe it is frequently ufed in houfes, to prevent
peftilential diforders, and other infections.
Applied
CON
Applied externally, the refins, particularly thofe of the
pitch and larch trees, are anodyne, deterfive, and antifeptic.
By its bitternefs, the oil of juniper eflfe&ually deftroys
worms. A deco&ion in milk., of the nuts or feeds of the
wild pine, otherwife called pineafter, or of tjie extremities
of the branches pulled in fpring, is faid, with a proper re-
gimen, to cure the moft confirmed and inveterate fcurvy.
A decoftion of juniper-berries, is proper for fortifying the
ftomach ; that of the wood is employed, like a decoftion of
fafiafras, to promote fweat, and purify the^lood. The
fame medicine, with crude antimony, cures that ftage of the
venereal difcafe in which the face is entirely covered over
with ulcerous puftules. Half an ounce of V enice-turpen-
tine mixed in a clyfter, prevents a mortification in putrid
and contagious dyfenteries. The fame fubflance is fpecific
in fuppreffions of urine.
From the feeds or nuts of the cultivated pine, is drawn
by expreffion an oil, which is equal, in point of excellence,
to that obtained from hazel-nuts. Thefe fame nuts or ker-
nels are frequentlv ferved up in defferts, during the w.inter-
feafon, in Italy; formerly they were ufed in medicine in
this country ; but of late years, the piftacia nuts have been
generally fubffituted in their place. Of the foft white fub-
ilance, commonly called alburnum , which, in trees, lies
betwixt the wood and inner bark, the Swedes prepare a difh
that is efteemed a great delicacy, and much ufed in fpring.
In times of fcarcity a kind of bread is made of the bark.
The natives of Siberia too, wq are informed by Gmelin,
make great culinary ufe of the alburnum of the young pines.,
which, for that purpofe, they colleft with care, dry, reduce
into powder, and mix, as a pleafingand falutary ingredient,
in their common food.
Of juniper-berries, and the tops of the branches of a
fpecies of Canadian pitch-tree, is prepared a very fafe and
wholefome wine.
d he wood of the cone-bearing plants is, in general, tender,
light, not liable to corrupt, and of a fragrant fmell. That
pt the yew-tree is very hard, pliant, fufceptibje of a good
5 polifh.
CON
poliHi, and pofTeffies a red colour, which, for beauty, may
vie witih any of the foreign woods.
The white Canadian pines, lays Charlevoix, ffioot out,
at the upper extremity, a kind of mufhrOom, which the
natives call Guorigae , and ufe with fuccefs againfl diforders
oi the breaft, and in dyfenteries.
Of the four forts of Canadian firs, enumerated by
the fame author, the white prickly kind, and that called
La Perujfe , are excellent for mails, efpecially the firft, which
is alfo extremely fit for carpenter’s work.
I he fort termed La Perujfe, is gummy, but yields not a
quantity fufficient to be made ufe of ; its wood remains long
in the ground without rotting, which renders it extremely fit
for paling, or inctofures. The bark is excellent for tanners,
and the Indians make a dye of it, refembling that of a
Turkey blue./
The branches of the white and black fpruce-firs, are ufecl
by the inhabitants of North America, in making the beer,
/ hence commonly known by the name of fpruce-beer.
1 he ilfand of Cyprus, is faid to have received its name
fiom the cypieis-tiees, which grow there in very great abun-
dance.
The timber of the horizontal cyprefs, a native of the
Levant, is laid to refill worms, moths, and all putrefaftion;
and to laft many centuries. The coffins in which the Athe-
nians ufed to bury their heroes, were made, fays Thucy,.
dides, of this wood, as were likewife the chefls containing
the Egyptian mummies. The doors of St. Peter’s church
at Rome were originally of the fame material. Thefe,
after lafting eleven hundred years, at the end of which time
they difeovered not the fmallefl tendency to corruption, were
removed by the order ot Pope Eugenius the fourth, and
gates of brals fubflituted in their place.
The fame tree is by many eminent authors recommended
as meliorating the air by its balfamic and aromatic exhala-
tions; upon which account, many of the antient phyfi-
cians of the caflern countries ufed to fend their patients,
who
CON
who were troubled with weak lungs, to the ifland of Candia,
where thefe trees grew in great abundance, and where,
from the falubrious air alone, very few failed of a perfeft
cure.
In the fame ifland, fays Miller, the frees in queftion were
fo lucrative a commodity, that the plantations were called
D<;s Filice , the felling of one of them being reckoned a
daughter’s portion.
Cyprefs, fays Mr. Pococke, is the only tree that grows
towards the top of Mount Lebanon, and being nipped by
the cold, does not grow fpirally, tut like a fmall oak.
The leaves of common favin, a fpecies ot juniper, are
much ufed by farriers for deflroying worms in horfes.
The red wood of Bermudas Cedar, the Juniperus Ber-
mudiana of Linnaeus, commonly known in England by the
name of cedar wood, is ufed for making pencils, as likewife
for wainfcoting rooms, and making flair-cafes. It is re-
markable that the worms are never found to eat the bottoms
of veffels built with this wood, as they do thofe built with
oak ; fo that for purpofes of traffic in the Weft-India feas,
cedar fhips are preferable to all others ; but they are not
equally fit to be employed. as fhips of war; the wood being
fo brittle as to fplit to pieces with a cannon-ball.
The pcafants in Switzerland make torches for burning,
pf the wood of a mountain pine, which grows naturally in
that country, and is hence denominated the torch pine.
Cedar ot Lebanon is the Finns Cedrus of Linnaeus, and
the Larix Cedrus of Tournefort. The truth is, that this
curious tree bears the leaves of the larch; but as the fir,
pine, larch, and cedar, are all arranged by Linnaeus, under
the genus Finus , he could not, without ereftinganew genus*,
make the cedar, in any other refpeft connehfed with the
larch, than as they were both fpecies of the fame genus.
The wood of this celebrated tree, which grows naturally
on Mount Libanus, in Syria, and no where elfe, is account-
ed proof againfl all putrefaflion of animal bodies; and faid
to yield an oil, excellent for preferving books and writings,
jt is thought by Lord Bacon, to continue found the fummits, or tops of the ftamina, are filled with a copper
coloured duff, which fheds on being touched ; or if a per-
•fon fmells to the flowers, it will fly off, and fpread over the
face, which it dyes of a purple colour. This is a trick fre-
quently praffifed by unlucky, and roguifh people, upon the
ignorant, and unwary.
The Egyptians put the flowers of tuberofc in fweet oil,
and by this means give it a rnoft excellent fmell, fcarce in-
ferior to oil of jeffamine. ;
The roots, leaves, and flowers of the white lily, which
is a native of Paleftine and Syria, are ufed in medicine.
The root, or bulb, is unftuous, and frequently employed
to ripen and digeft tumours, and hard fwellings. Of the
flowers, and fometimes of the root, are prepared an oil, and
adiffilled water, the former of which is fuccefsfully applied
in diforders of the fkin ; the latter in the ftone, colic, and
pains of child-birth. The diflillcd water of the leaves is
alfo of great ufe in diflempers of the lungs.
Martagon lily differs from the other fpecies, in having its
petals rolled, or turned backwards, in form of a Turkifh
turbant ; from which fancied refemblance, the flower is
generally known by the name of TurkVcap. The root,
o f either
COR
either boiled, or baked in the afhes, furmlhes a principal food
to the natives of Siberia, who ufe, in like manner, inftead
of bread, the roots of other fpecies of lily, particularly the
Lilium bulbiferum of Linnaeus. The talle, fays Gmelin, is
fomewhat farinaceous, or rather infipid.
The root of white hellebore, verstrum album, promotes
violent fneezing, and is mixed in ointments, to cure the itch.
It is never now given inwardly. Boerhaave very juflly
obferves, that it is a medicine much fitter for horfes than
men. It is adminiftered as a fternutatory with great fuc-
cefs, in apoplexies and lethargic complaints.
The plant is of a poifonous quality, and never fails to
prove fatal to fuch cattle, or other animals, as inadvertently
feed on it. In North America, where it is produced in
great abundance, the maize, or Indian wheat, is preferved
from voracious birds, by means of hellebore, in the follow-
ing manner: — The roots being boiled, the maize is put into
the water, as foon as cool, and having remained in it for a
night, is then planted as ufual. The grains,- thus prepared,
are quickly picked up, or plucked out by the crows, and
other birds that infelt the maize fields, fome of which, in
confequence of the infidious meal growing delirious and
falling, ftrike fuch a terror into the reft, that they leave the
field, and are not tempted to renew the vifit. Care mull be
taken, however, that no other creatures touch the grains of
maize thus fteeped, as even a tafte produces violent ficknefs,
and, if fwallowed in confiderable quantity, the confequence
is inftant death. Scorbutic patients, it is faid, have forne-
times found great relief by wafhing the parts aftefted in a
decoftion of the roots of white hellebore. The application
caufes confiderable pain, and a plentiful difcharge of urine.
A comb dipped in the fame decoftion, and pafi'ed through
the hair, efteftually deftroys vermin in the head.
The fquills, generally ufed in medicine, are red, and are
the roots of the J 'cilia maritima , or fea-onion, of Linnasus.
The white fort, which is lefs common, and known by the
name of male fquill, is reckoned a variety of the fame fpe»
Squills, when found, are heavy, and full ol juice.
They
cies.
COR
They are ufed in the (hops for making vinegar, and oxymel
of fquills, and troches for treacle. The heart is reckoned
poifonous; for which reafon, the druggifts fplit them in
two, and throwing away-- the dry leaves and the heart, ex-
pofe the remaining part, before it is proper to be ufed, to the
air. A few grains of cinnamon, in powder, fay writers on
the Materia Medica, take off the emetic quality of this root,
and render it a powerful diuretic, and an excellent medicine
in drop Ties.
If the judgment of the moll numerous part of mankind
who have tailed of the pine-apple, may be relied on, it cer-
tainly defeives the appellation it has univerfally obtained,
that of king of fruits ; the agreeable variety, and delicate quick
poignancy of its juice, being jullly elleemed to excel every
other. The roots are many, and fpread in a circular manner.
From the centre rifes a llrong, hard ftalk, furrounded near
the earth, and for a fonliderable way up the llalk, with long
green leaves, which are fet on alternately, and finely fawed
on their edges. The top of the llalk fultains the fruit,
which is called the pine, from fome refemblance which it
has on the outfide to the cone of the pine-tree. The fruit
is beautifully decorated at top, with a crown of fine green
Iharp- pointed leaves, which are likewife fawed on their
edges. The flowers are funnel -fhaped, placed above the
fruit, of a blue colour, and confill of three petals. When
the flowers are gone, the fruit enlarges and becomes a flefliy,
knobby feed-velfel, of the berry kind, full of juice. The
feeds, which are lodged in the knobs, or tubercles of the
fruit, are very final), and almoll kidney-lhaped. Some time
before the fruit is ripe, two, three, or four fuckers grow
from the llalk below, yet clofe to the fruit : thefe ihoots are
taken off, and planted ; and will in about fourteen months
time produce a ripe pine. Thofe who cannot procure thefe
luckers, fometirnes plant the top, or crown. This, though
intended by Nature chiefly as an ornament to the fruit,
will grow, and in time bear a fruit; not fo foon, however,
nor lo good as that produced by thofe fuckers, which Na-
ture intended to be tfic means of propagating this fruit. The
three
COR
three beft forts of pines arc the Surinam, the fugar-loaf.
and queen-pine. The fruit ought to be eaten foon after it
. is cut, and fhould not be kept on the ftalk in the garden till
it be very foft on the outfide, as the cuftom too frequently is.
As pine apple has naturally a certain degree of acrimony,'
the Kuropeans at the Cape of Good Hope remove it, as
* Kolben informs us, by laying the fruit in flices, in fpring-
water. It is afterwards put in Rhcnifli wine, and has fugar
fcattered upon it, when it taftes delicioufly, having thus
acquired much of the flavour of flrawberries. Of the ex-
p re fled juice of the Ananas, is prepared an excellent wine,'
which, fays Dr. Fermin, in his Natural Hiftory of Suri-
nam, is efleemed almoft equal to Mahnfey, and intoxicates;
Kolben, whom I juft mentioned, afferts, that pine-apple,
not fully ripe, if eaten by a woman with child, will certainly
occafion abortion.
To the fame genus with the pine-apple, belongs the
Karatas, or penguin, a fruit very common in the Weft In-
dies, fo named from its outward covering, which is a fmooth
whitifh-yellow hufk. The outfide of the plant is compofed
of fome fcores of hard fliff green leaves, two inches broad,
with fharp -hooked prickly edges. Thefe leaves, which grow
v to about nine feet high, turn fcoopingly inward on the upper
fide, by which means they fave and convey the dew and the
rain that fall upon them, to the roots. They grow, likewife,
almoft impenetrably thick near the earth, furrounding and
guarding a circular crown, of about a foot diameter. From
this grows a chiller of fruits, each four inches long, and
one broad, pointed at both ends, and quadrangular in the
middle ; by which means they are fo clofely joined, that
they cannot eafily, until very ripe, be taken afunder. The
white outward cover being peeled off, difplays a white pulpy
fubftancc, containing a great number of very fmall flattifir
coal-black feeds. This fubftance, which is the eatable parf,
has fome fm^ll refemblance, in its flavour, of the pine-apple,
and is efteemed cooling and wliolefome. This fruit, when
nearly ripe, being gnawed by rats, or other vermin, emits,
' from the wounded part, drops of the moll tranfparent gum;
which
COR
which manifeflly fhews, that its juices are much impregnated
with volatile oil. A moderate ufe of this fruit has been very'
ftrongly recommended in fevers, and with juftice ; for by
its penetrating, grateful, and aftive fharpnefs, it is capable
of laying open the orifices of the falival dufts, and thereby
enabling the glands of the mouth and throat to difcharge
the contents, which could not be done before the impedi-
ment was removed.
Befides this fort, there is a large and round penguin, of
the fize of an apple, which is much more palatable than the
other, and tailing not unlike a flrawberry, is frequently
called by that name.
Tillahdjia , the caraguata of Father Plumier, the large wild
barren pine of the Weft Indians, is a parafitic plant, and
ought, perhaps, in ftrift propriety, to be denominated an
aquatic : for although it is fufpended in the air among the
branches of lofty trees, to whole houghs it is faftened by its
numerous roots ; yet it is not indebted to thofe boughs, like
the mifletoe, and other parafitic plants, for nourifhment,
but merely for fupport : provident Nature having, in a
very extraordinary manner, fupplied this with other means
to preferve its exiftence : for the leaves, which much re-
femble. thofe of the pine-apple, but are larger, furround
this plant in a circular manner : each leaf being terminated
near the llalk, with a hollow bucket, which contains about
halt a pint of water. It is by thefe numerous fmall refer-
voirs of water, that the roots, as well as every other part
of this plant, are fupplied with nourifhment, without the
help of any earth. The flourifhing condition of this plant,
as well as the great growth of fig-trees upon barren rocks,
{hews that water is of greater ufe to vegetation, than even
earth itfclf.
One contrivance of Nature in this vegetable, fays Dr.
Sloane, is truly admirable. The feed is crowned with many
long, downy threads, not only that it may be carried every
where by the wind; but that, by thofe threads, when driven
through the boughs, it may be held fall, and flick to the
arms, and prominent parts of the barks of trees. So foon
COF
as it fprotite, of germinates, although it be on the under pan
of a bough, its leaves and (talk rife perpendicular, or ereft -
it they attained any other direaion, the cittern or refervoir
juft mentioned, made of the hollow leaves, could not hold
v/atcr, which is necelTary to the life and nourithment of the
plant. In fcarcity of water, this refer voir is ufeful, not
to the plant only, but to men, and even to birds, and all
forts ot infe&s, which come thither in troops, and feldom
go away without refrefhment .
To the fame purpofe, Dampier, in his Voyage to Cam-
peachy, relates, that the wild pine has leaves that will hold
a pint and a half, or quart of rain-water, which refrelhes the
leaves, and nourifhes the roots. When we find thei'e pines,
he continues, we flick our knives into the leaves, jufl above
the root ; and the water gufhing out. We catch it in our hats,
as I myfelf have frequently done, to my great relief.
COROXAl RICES, and CORONATI, from corona ,
a crown. The name of the eighth clafs, in Linnaeus’s Me-
thod founded upon the prefence, different fpecies, figure,
fituation, duration, regularity, and number of divifions of
the calyx or flower-cup, confining of plants, which, like
Trench willow, and tree-primrofe, have the feed-bud placed
under the flower-cup, which ferves it for a crown. This
fs the Gerrnen inf e rum, and Calyx fuperus of Linnaeus. .j
CORONULA, (diminutive from corona)-, a little crown;
a hem, or bolder, which furrounds the feeds of fome flowers
in form of a crown. Linnaeus defines it to be-a fort of little
calyx, or flower-cup, calyculus, which adhering to the
naked feeds of fome plants, ferves to difperfe them. The
principal crown of the feed is that fine downy appearance
termed by Linnaeus, Pappus, which fee.
In fcabious, knautia, and fome others, the flower-cup
becomes the crown of the feed.
COR I EX, (from coriuni, leather, a hide, and tego, to
cover, quod quafi cerium, fays Ifidorus, lignum tegat) ; the
rind, or coarfe oute/ bark of plants. The organifation of
the outer and inner barks, which differ principally in the
finencis
COR
Snenefs of their texture, is particularly explained under
the article Structura Vegetabilis ,
CORYDALES, (from ko%vs, galea, an helmet, quod a
Kaez, caput, the head). The name of the twenty-fourth or-
der in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, confiding
of plants which have irregular flowers, fomewhat refembling
a helmet, or hood.
The title of this order feems to have been fuggefted by a
genus in Dillenius of the fame name, which Linnaeus ha*
joined to his genus Furnaria.
<
Lift of the Genera contained In this Natural Order .
SECTION I.
Plants with h el met -fj aped Flowers , having their Stamina diftinS.
LinnasanGenera..
Englijh Names.
Epimedium, — —
Barren-wort.
Hypecoum.
Leontice , — —
Lion’s-leaf.
Melianthus , — —
Honey-flower.
Plnguicula, — —
Butter-wort, or York (hire
fanicle.
Uiricularia, — —
Water-milfoil.
SECT
ION II.
Plants with Helmet -fhaped Flowers, having their Stamina united
either by the Filaments , or Tops.
Fumaria, — — Fumatory.
Impatierii , — — Balfam, or Female BalfaminA
44 ^nnieria.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
I hefe plants arc moflly herbaceous and perennial.
T he Roots are tuberous, or knobby.
'I he Stems are generally branched.
The
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The Leaves are alternate, fometimes fimple, but moft
commonly winged; that is, confift of two or three pair
of lobes, or lefTer leaves, which are attached to the
middle rib. In monnieria, and fome fpecies of balfam, the
leaves are oppofite.
The foot-flalk of the leaves is narrow, except in bar-
ren-wort, where it is large, and has a membranaceous
border.
In a fpecies of African honey-flower, Stipule, or
fcales, are firmly attached to the foot-ffalk of the leaves,
under which they are placed, fo as to make part of its fub-
flance; the fame fubfidiary leaves are likewife united from
oppofite fides of the flalk ; whence they form the appear-
ance of a Angle fcale, and are fo denominated by Linnaeus.
The middle rib of the leaves, in fome fpecies of fumatory,
particularly that termed by Linnaeus fumaria claviculata, is
terminated with one branching tendril, which appears to be
a fine cylindrical prolongation of the wings, or divifions of
the leaves.
In balfam, finall glands, or veffels of fecretion, are pro-
duced from the baTe of the leaves; roundifh veffels of the
fame kind, diflended with air, are placed at the root of water-
milfoil ; and in butter-wort, the glands are placed upon the
furface of the leaves.
The Flowers are universally hermaphrodite; that is,
contain both male and female organs within the fame covers.
They proceed either fingly from the wings or angles of
the leaves, as in butter-wort, and monnieria ; or are collefl-
ed in clutters, at the end of the branches, as in fumatory,
lion’s-leaf, and hypeceum.
The Calyx, or flower-cup, conflfls of two, four, five,
Or ffx leaves, which are frequently coloured, and commonly
fall off immediately before, or very foon after, the expanfion
of the petals.
In monnieria , and butter-wort, the calyx is permanent;
that is, accompanies the feed-bud to its maturity.
The Corolla, or coloured inner cover of the flower,
is generally irregular, of one, or many pieces, gaping, and
, furnifhed
/
GOR
furnifhed with a neftarium, or finking appendage, which is
very different, in the different ^genera. In butter-wort,
water-milfoil, and balfam, it is fhaped like a horn, and pro-
duced from the bafe of the petal. In barren- wort, four
cup-fhaped neftaria, of the length of the petals, are in ferted
into the common receptacle. In lion’s leaf, fix equal fp read-
ing feales, furnifhed with foot-fialks, are attached to the bafe
of the petals. In fumatory, each lip of the irregular petal
terminates behind in a fpur, which, in the lower lip, is
generally lefs prominent. In monnieria , a fmall egg-fhaped
neftariferous fcale, is feated at the bafe of the feed-bud.^
and in honey-flower, a very fhort fcale of the fame kind is
placed within the lower divifion of the calyx.
In fome fpecics of balfam, the horn of the nefiarium ;
in others, two of the five irregular petals, are wanting.
The Stamina are in number from two to fix, and of a
proportionate length, except in honey-flower, which has
two fhorter than the reft.
The Filaments are diftinFl, except in two genera, fu-
matory and monnieria, which have two lets or firings of
filaments united in a cylinder. The former has three
anthers , or tops, on each fet of united filaments; the latter
two anthers on the upper fet, and three on the lower ;
from whence we may conclude, that the number of flamina
in fumalory, is fix, of monnieria, five; yet Linnaeus has
placed this lalt, along with fumatory, in an order, whofc
charafteriflic it :s to have fix flamina.
The genus monnieria, which, in America, has conflantly
five divifions in the corolla, and five flamina, frequently
bears flowers in Europe, which have only four divifions in
its irregular gaping petal, and tour flamina.
The Anthers, or tops, in this order, are univcrfally
diftincl, except in one genus, balfam, where they are form-
ed into a cylinder that is divided at the bafe.
In barren-wort, and lion’s-leaf, the anthers burff, when
ripe, trom the bafe to the top, through the whole length.
The Seed-bud is generally roundifh ; fometimes, how.
ever, angular, as in monnieria, and honey-flower.
The
COR
The Style is commonly fingle, extremely fhort, (lender,
or thread-fhaped, and crowned with a fimple Jligma.
Hypecoum h as two ftyles : balfam, none.
The Seed-Vessel is either a hollow, blown up berry,
as in Iion’s-leaf ; a capfule of one cell, as in butter-wort,
and water milfoil ; a longifh pod, filiqua, as in barren-wort
and hypecoum ; or a roundifh pod, ftlicula, as in fumatoiy.
In balTam, the caplule, which in fome fpecies is long,
in others round, or egg-fhaped, burfls open with an elaflic
fpring, at five feveral valves, which are twifled fpirally.
Monnierla has fivre capfules.
In Hypecoum, the pod is jointed, and contains as many
cells as there are joints. This finking mark, however, is
not conflant : the neSarium is invariable.
»
The Seeds are generally numerous, and round.
In tnonnieria, each feed is inclofed in a dry covering with
two valves, called by Linnaeus arillus, which falls off fpon-
taneoufly.
Hypecoum has a fingle feed lodged in each cell or joint of
the feed-veffel.
In balfam, the feeds, which are numerous, are affixed to
a pillar in the centre of the capfule.
The feeds of hypecoum remain a year in the ground with-
out riling. (
The juice of thefc plants, which is generally of a yellow
colour, is narcotic and anodyne. The roots are opening.
Officinal fumatory, which is elleemed refreffiing, is bitter,
and foapy; its juice depofits a number of nitrous chryflals,
of eight Tides, which fparkle in the fire. The root of bul-
bous fumatory is an emmenagogue ; applied externally,
it cleanfes ulcers, and proud flefh.
The juicet of common fumatory is greatly commended
for bilious colics ; it deflroys warts, and other prominences
in the fkin ; and mixed with a great quantity of watef,
is an efficacious lotion in diforders of the eyes.
A fpecies ot fumatory is termed fumaria cava , from its
having a pretty large tuberous root, hollowed in the middle.
The juice of all the fpecies of hypecoum is of a yellow
colour.
COR
colour, Fefenlbling that of celandine, and is affirmed by
fome eminent phyficians, to be as narcotic as opium. From
the ne&arium of the bloflom, the bees collect great quan-
tities of honey.
The pods of yellow balfamine, or touch-me-not, are
taper, twilled fpirally like a fcrew, and upon being lightly
touched, or lhaken with the wind when ripe, burft open,
and eje6f the feeds with confiderable elafticity.
Barren-wort, fays an author, whofe name I have forgot,
is fo termed, from the flowers being totally eclipfed, or
covered by the leaves ; fo that, without proper infpeftion,
they appear to be wanting.
From the calyx of the honey-flower, oozes a fweet liquor,
which is fometimes ufed in medicine, and efteemed flo-
machic, and nourilhing. Kolben fays, that the Hottentots,
and moll of the Europeans of the Cape of Good Hope, are
exceedingly fond of the fweet juice of the two fpecies of
Melianthus, which grow naturally there, and never fail of a
treat whenever they can find it- Vide Kolben, vol. it. p. £43.'
Both honey-flower, however, and barren-wort, are by
molt authors deemed poifonous. Vide Phil. Bot. p. £8£,
feft. 355.
CORYMBIFER^E, from corymbus, a mode of flower-
ing, and fero , to bear. The name of a clafs in Morifon and
Ray’s Methods, and of Vaillant’s Arrangement of the
Compound Flowers; confifting of plants, whofe flowers
are produced in clufters or bunches like thofe of ivy-ber-
ries, and form that particular fort of head, termed by bota-
nifls, corymbus. Vide Infra.
Tanfy, feverfew, elecampane, colt’s-foot, groundfel, and
marigold, furnilh examples.
Corymbi perA' is likewife the name of an order or
divifion of the compound flowers, adopted by Linnaeus,
after Ray and Vaillant, in the former editions of his Frag-
ments of a Natural Method. This title is in the later editions
changed for Difeoidece, another name borrowed from Ray’s
Method, but uled in afomewhat different fenfe.
CORYMBU-S, (a JfioQus, galea, an helmet, quod a
P Kaga,
COR
K ocqcc, caput , the head,) properly fignifies a duller of ivy.,
berries. This, is Pliny’s definition in the 34th Chapter of
the 16th Book of his Natural Hillory. Corymbus , inquit,
eft hederce racemus in orbe?n circumadlus. By Columella it is
ufed to exprefs all fuch fru&ifications as grow in a head, or,
as Scaliger writes, quicquid in panicam ant Jirobilum ajjurgit,
as artichoke, thiflle, &c. — In modern Botany, Corymbus.
is a mode of flowering, in which the leffer or partial
flower- (talks are produced along the common {talk, on
both fides ; and, although of unequal lengths, rife to the
fame height, fo as to form a flat and even furface at top.
The term is exemplified in fpircea opulifolia , fcurvy-grafs,
gold of pleafure, flock, and the other crofs-fhaped flowers,
the Tetradynamia of Linnaeus.
A corymbus differs from an umbel, another manner of
flowering, in that the numerous partial foot-flalks arife from
different parts of the common ffalk ; whereas in the umbel-
liferous flowers, they all proceed from a common centre.
Vide Um BELLA.
A corymbus may be fuppofed to be formed from a fpike,
a third mode of inflorefcence, as Linnaeus terms it, by raif~
ing the flowers on partial foot-flalks, which rife to a pro-
portionable height. The flowers in a fpike are feated on the
common ffalk, without any proper or partial foot-ftalk.
Vide Spica.
This manner of floweripg as well as the others, frequent-
ly affords certain marks in diftinguifhing the fpecies. Thus
in fpircsa , the fpecies are fcarce to be diflinguifhed, but by
the mode of flowering, which in fome, is a corymbus; in
others, an umbel ; and in others, a racemus, or clufler like
that of grapes. P^Racemus.
The partial foot-flalks in a corymbus, are fometimes
fimple, that is, have no branches, as in fome fpecies of flar
of Bethlehem ; fometimes branch out into feveral irregular
ramifications, yet fo as to form an even furface at top. In.
the former cafe, the corymbus is faid to be fimple ; in the
latter, compound.
The corymbus is a mean betwixt the clufler, racemus,
and
COT
and the umbel ; like them, its fimvers are furnifhed with
proper foot-ftalks, which rife gradually from bottom to top,
as thofe of th cracemus, and are produced to the fame height,
as thofe of the umbel.
COTYLEDONES, (from KotoX-h, cavitas, a hollow) ;
a term of placentation transferred from the animal to the
vegetable kingdom. The perilhable, porous fide-Iobes of
the feed, which involve, and, for fume time, furnilh nou-
rilhment to the embryo-plant.
J The lobes in quedion, generally two in number, are very
confpicuous in the bean, and mod of the leguminous tribe,
upon dripping off the hulk, or outer cover of the feed ; par-
ticularly if they have previoufly been laid in earth or water.
Their fubdance is meally, mucilaginous, and ealily ferments.
They refult from the expanfion of an infinite number of
branching veffels.
The lobes are externally convex, internally flat, unlefs
where they are united, and infold the principle of life, corcu-
lum, which communicates with them by means of two large
trunks of veffels, that fupply it with nourifhment, and cor-
refpond to the navel-dring in animals; as the lobes them-
felves feem to anfwer the purpofe of the placenta in women,
and cotyledones in brutes.
We faid, in the definition, that the lobes are the perilhable
part of the feed. To explain this, we mud previoufly ob-
ferve the changes which are effe&ed upon the embryo-plant,
in the fird dagcs of vegetation.-
After lying fome time in water, or earth, the lobes of
the feed, penetrated by the watery particles, which are
charged with nutritive juices, put in motion by heat, fwell
and thicken ; the air contained within their fubdance, dilat-
ing, burfls open the outer cover, or hulk, which unites them,
and difeovers the radicle, and embryo-plant. In this fird
dage, the feed is properly faid to fpi out, or germinate. Soon
after, the lobes expanding, rife out pf the earth, in the form
of leaves; very different, however, from thofe which the
plant is afterwards to produce. In this ilage, the feed is
properly faid to rife.
P 8
Thefe
COT
Thefe leaves, called, fpr t^fti lift ion, feminal, or feed-
leaves ; (that is, the firft leaves produced by the feeds) are
commonly two in number : feme feeds, however, have
only one feminal leaf ; in which cafe, the plants by botanifls
are termed Monocotyledonous, a term of the fame import ;
as thofe which rife with two feminal leaves, are ltiled Dico-
tyledonous. Caefalpinus, and Jungius, termed both thefe
kinds.of feeds, univalvular, and bivalvular; that is, having
one, or two feed-covers. The former was the firft who
difeovered the number of lobes in the embryo of feeds.
To proceed with our infant-plant. Under this- new
form of leaves, the lobes elaborate, and reftify the fap,
which is deftined tonourifh the tender vegetable. The youn*
root too, which naturally tends downwards, has by this time
made fome efforts to penetrate into the bofom of the earth,
where meeting with ffrong exhilarating juices, it tranfmits
them to the lobes, through which they pafs highly refined,-
to the future plant. The item begins to appear ; but although
enlarged in volume, its parts are not developed, but com
tinue as they were in the feed. The lobes, flill united to
the plant by the two trunks of veffels, accompany it for
fome time after its eruption from the earth, till, having ac-
quired fufficient ftrength and growth, the feminal leaves
become ufelefs, wrinkle, wither, and die away. Vide Ger-
MINATIO.
Of plants which have only one feminal leaf, we muff care-
fully diftinguifh thofe in which the lobe forms a fort of
(heath furroundin’g the whole body of the plant, as in the
palms, graffes, and liliaceous vegetables, from thofe in
which the lobe is only extended in length, as in dodder.
Pine and fir trees, fays Linnaeus, have ten ; cyprefs,
five ; flax, four lobes ; in faft, however, thefe plants have
only two lobes, each of which is differently divided almoft
to the bafe : the lobes only being perfeftly diftinft.
The prefence of the lobes, or feminal leaves, fuffieiently
evinces the previous exiflence of the feed; and coniines
the ridiculous opinion of equivocal generation, long fin.ee.
exploded.
The.
CRY
The lobes being in the vegetable ceconomy, what the pla-
centa is in the animal, their difpofition at the time when the
feed begins to grow, is termed very properly by Linnaeus,
placentation.
In the mulhrooms, ferns, and other imperfecl plants, the
feminal leaves are not fufficiently afcertained. The feeds
of the moffes want only the proper covering and lobes. Vide
Acotyledones.
The number of lobes, or feed-leaves, furnifhes a primary
diftinftion in Ray’s Method.
CRETA, chalk; a fpecies of earth.
CRUCIFORMIS Flos, (from crux, a crofs, and forma ,
a fhape or figure) ; a crofs-lhaped flower ; a flower confift-
ing of four equal petals, which fpread at the top, in form ot
a crofs. Stock gilly-flower, honelty, and candy-tuft, fur-
nifh examples.
Cruci formes. The name of the fifth clafs in Tourne-
fort, and feventeenth in Pontedera’s Method, confining of
plants with crofs-fliaped flowers. Thefe are the Siliquofa
of Morifon, Hermannus, Royen, Boerhaave, and Ray ;
the Tetrapetali regulares of Rivinus, and Chriftopher Knaut;
the Tetrapetali uniformes of Chriflian Knaut; and the
Tetr adynamia of the Sexual Method. Vide Si LIQUOS/E, idc.
CRYPTOGAMIA, from xgvTiru, to hide, and yaptor,
a marriage ; a claridelline marriage. The name of the
twenty-fourth clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual Method, confifling
of plants, in which the parts of fructification, the criterion
of the fexes, are, either from their minutenefs, or their par-
ticular fituation, entirely concealed, or iraperfeCtly vifible.
The great obfcurity that Rill prevails in this very confider-
able part of the vegetable kingdom, notwithllanding the
ingenious refearches of Ray, Micheli, Dillenius, Gmelin,
Haller, Battarra, Schaeffer, Stackhoufe, and other eminent
names in Botany, the Sexual Method of Arrangement is
little qualified todifpel. Indeed it would be difficult to con-
ceive a fyflernatic method, in which the numerous plants of
the clafs Cryptogamia, could be arranged with facility; but
in Linnaeus’s Syftem, the difficulty inuft be tenfold, as,
P 3 from
cue
from the abfence, or unafeertained prefence of the very
organs which lay the foundation of the primary divifions,
the character of the clafs and order is neceffarily, in many
inftances, merely negative ; and the fubordinate divifions,
of couife, are llrangely huddled together, without effential
and certain marks of diflin£lion.
The clafs Cryptogamia, which correfponds to the Imper-
feft Plants of Ray, and to the ISth and 17th dalles of
Tournefort’s Method, containing herbs not bearing flowers,
with and without feeds, is divided into four orders. Thefe
are, Filices, Ferns ; Mufci, Moffes ; Alga, Sea- weed, or
Wrack; and Fungi, Mufhrooms. Vide Filices, Alg^,
€*.
For a more particular account of the progrefhve difeo-
veries of Naturalifls in this extenfive department of Botani-
cal knowledge, the reader is referred to the author’s Insti-
tutes of Botany, Parti, p. 67, and feq.
Confideredas a natural clafs, or rather as an ahemblage of
natural orders, the plants in queflion are generally of a
fufpicious nature.
CUBITUS, a term of meafure. Vide Men sura.
CUCURBITACEjE., from cucurbita, a gourd; the
name of the thirty-fourth order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of
a Natural Method, confiding of plants which refemble the
gourd in external figure, habit, virtues, and fenlible
qualities.
Fiji of the Genera contained in this Natural Order.
SECTION I.
Cucurbitaceous Plants with Hermaphrodite F/oivers.
Linnaean Genera. Englijh Names.
Gronovia.
Melothria , — — Small creeping Cucumber.
Pafjfora, — . — Paflion-Flower.
SECTION
cue
I
SECTION II.
Cucurbitaceous Plants with male and female Flowers produced
either on the fame or dijlindi Roots.
Linnaean Genera.
Anguria Jacquin.
Bryonia, —
Cucumis, —
Cucurbit a, —
Elaterium Jacquin.
Fevillea.
Momordica, —
S icy os, —
Trichofanthes, —
Eng/ijh Nasties.
Bryony.
Cucumber, Melon.
Gourd, Pumpion.
Male Balfam-apple.
Single feeded Cucumber.
Serpent- Cucumber.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order
The plants of this order, which generally climb, and have
long diffufed branches, are moltly herbaceous and perennial.
Wild cucumber, the Elaterium of Boerhaave, a fpecies
of Momordica of Linnaeus, is the only plant in this order,
which rifes ereft, without climbing, or fupporting itfelf on
the plants in its neighbourhood. Some fpecies of paflion-
flower are of the fhrub and tree kind, and retain their leaves
during the winter.
The Roots, in the perennial plants of this order, .are
fhaped like thofe of turnip ; in the annuals, they are branched
and fibrous.
The Stems are cylindric and fucculent. The young
branches have generally five angles. In fome fpecies of
pafiion-flower, they are fquare.
The Leaves are alternate, angular, and fometimes
hand-lhapcd. They are attached to the branches by a foot-
flalk, which is pretty long, and cylindrical, without any
furrow. In a fpecies ot pafiion-flower, hence denominated
paffifiora vrjpertilio , the leaves arc fhaped like the wings oi a
k>ut, and fupported on a foot-flalk half an inch long.
p 4
From
cue
From the wing or angle of each of the upper leaves, pro-
ceeds a tendrd, which is either fimple or branched, and
twifts itfelf fpirally round the different bodies in its neigh-
bourhood, for the purpofe of fupporting and training the
branches.
The lower leaves have no tendril. Wild-cucumber, in
which the tendrils feem wanting, has afmall Jlipula, or fcale,
in the form of a triangular tongue, at the origin of each of
the male flowers.
Befides tendrils, water-melon, and fome fpecies of bryony,
have a Jlipula, or fcale, of an oval fhape, which iffues from
the wing or angle of each leaf. In male-balfam apple, a
fcale of vthe fame kind accompanies each flower. Paffion-
flower has two pretty large Jlipula. ?, or feales, which are
placed on both fides of the foot.ftalk of the leaf.
In the gourd, glands, or fecretory veffels, are placed on
the bafe of the leaf : in the paffion -flower, they are feated
on the foot-ftalks.
The Flowers, in plants of the firff fe&ion, are her-
maphrodite; male and female, in thofe of the fecond. In
this laid, the male flowers are generally feparated from the
female upon the fame root, and that either in the fame wing,
or angle of the leaves, as in Sicyos and ferpent-cucumber ;
or in different angles, as in gourd, and fome fpecies of
In fevillea , and fome fpecies of bryony, the male flowers
are produced on diftinft roots from the female.
Small creeping cucumber, melathria , has hermaphrodite
flowers ; in every other refpeft it refembles the cucumber,
to which moll botanifls have joined it.
The flowers proceed from the wings of the leaves, either
fingly, as in pumpion, water-melon, mJe balfam-apple,
and paffion-flower ; two and two, as in fome cucumbers; in
a Jpikc , as in Jcvillea, and ferpent-cucumbcr ; or in a corym-
bus, as in bryony, and the male flowers of gourd. In fingle.
fueded cucumber, the male flowers form a fpike, the female
a corymbus.
, The Flower-cup, in the female flowers, is placed
upon
cue
upon the feed-bud, and generally confifts of one bell-fhaped
leaf, that is deeply divided into five equal fegments ; and,
unlike the other plants which have the calyx feated upon the
fruit, falls off with the petals and the other parts of the
flower. In the genus gronovia , the calyx is permanent;
that is, accompanies the feed-bud to its maturity. In the
paflion-flower, it is feated below the feed-bud. Elaieriumt
a genus of M. Jacquin, has no calyx.
The Corolla confifts of one petal, with five equal
divifions, which adhere to the tube of the calyx as if glued
to it. Angaria, Gronovia , and paffion-flower, have five
petals. Thefe, in the latter, are lancet-fhaped, flat,, of the
fize, figure, and colour of the calyx. A fpecies of paffion-
flower, termed by Linnaeus pajjijlora fuberofa, wants the
petals.
The Nectar i um, in paffion-flower, is very Angular,
confifling of a number of beautiful fibres, or rays, which
are placed horizontally within the petals, in three feries or
rows. Thefe Linnaeus calls, very improperly, a triple
crow n : a triple helmet would have been equally expreflive
of the appearance ; but this is not the only impropriety in
Linnaeus's defeription of this beautiful flower.
The gourd has a holloWj triangular gland, or veflel of
fecretion, feated in the middle of the flower. .
In fevillea , the neflarium confifts of five crooked threads,
or firings, which in the male-flowers are placed in the
middle, alternate with the ftamina.
The Stamina are, in number, from one to five, fhort,,
and generally inferted into the calyx.
In paffion-flow'er, they arc attached to a pillar-fhaped re-
ceptacle, which Hands in the middle of the flower, and is
crowned with the feed-bud. This receptacle, Linnaeus,
who was refolved, at all events, to obtrude this genus into
his clafs Gynandria , has dignified with the name of a pillar-
fhaped fly le : by which means he has fallen into the abfur-
dity of aliening, that the ftyle in the paffion-flower elevates
the feed-bud, contrary to what is obferved in every other
flower yet known. The ufelelfnefs of this pillar-fhaped
ftyle
cue
flyle farther appears from this circumffance, that three
ftyles properly fo called, arife from the germen , as in
other flowers.
The filaments, in this order, are diflinft ; the Anthers,
or tops, in molt plants of the fecond feftion, are united in
a cylinder. Bryony has five anthers to three filaments.
In the female-flowers are fometimes obferved three, or
four filaments, which have the appearance of ftamina with-
out tops. Thefe, in bryony, and male balfam-apple, are
attached to the top of the tube of the petal ; in pumpion,
gourd, and water melon, they proceed from its bafe.
The anthers in paffion-flower, are (lightly attached to the
filaments, on which they turn like a vane, or the needle of
a compafs.
The Sef.d-bud is (ingle, and placed below the receptacle
of the flower. In paffion-flower, it is feated upon a long
pillar-ffiaped receptacle, in the middle of the flower. The
feed-bud, in the genus elaterium , is covered with prickles.
The Style is generally fingle, cylindrical, of the
length of the calyx, and crowned with a triple Jligma.
Paffion flower has three flyles; fevillea, five. The male-
flowers of ferpent-cucumber, have three very fmall flyles,
adhering to the tube of the calyx.
The Seed-Vessel is generally pulpy, of the apple, or
berry kind, and confifls of one, two, or three cells. In
elaterium, and gronovia, it is a capfule, which in the
former is prickly and fucculent.
The fruit of fmgle-feeded cucumber, is at firfl a thorny
berry, which dries, and hardens as it ripens, fo as to be-
come a very dry capfule, before the feeds have attained
maturity. The partitions which feparate the cells are com.
pofed of fibres furrounded with a watery pulp, which, when
dried, •difeovers the fibres, under the form of a thick-fet
web or net.
'1 he Seeds are numerous, 'generally flat, or compreffed,
and fometimes, as in paffion-flower and cucumber, covered
with that kind of proper coat called by -Linnaeus, arillus.
Vide Arillus.
In
cue
In male balfam-apple, and wild cucumber, the feeds
burft, or are fpirted from their cells with an elaftic fpring.
The fruit of thefe plants is generally purgative and re-
frefhing. That of fome of them proves a very violent
emetic, when ufed too freely.
Male balfam-apple, is famous in Syria for curing wounds.
The natives cut open the unripe fruit, and infufe it in fweet
oil, which they expofe to the fun for fome days, until it
is become red ; and then prefent it for ufe. Dropped on
cotton, and applied to a frefh wound, the Syrians reckon
this oil the bell vulnerary next to balfam of Mecca, having
found by experience, that it often cures large wounds with-
in three days. The leaves and Hems of this plant are ufed
for arbours, or bowers.
The Egyptian balfam-apple, called by the Arabians lifF,
or l..ff, is cultivated in gardens, in the eaflern countries,
and climbs upon palm trees ; covering, and elegantly
adorning their Items.
The elaterium of the fhops, is the fruit, or rather the in-
fpiff.ted faecula of the juice ol the fruit, of the wild, or
afs’s cucumber, a fpecies of balfam-apple. It is ufually
fent us from Spain, and the fouthern parts of France, where
the plant is common, in fmall flat whitifh lumps, or cakes,
that are dry, and break eafily between the fingers. It is of
an acrid, naufeous, bitter- tafle, and ftrong ofienfive fmell,
when newly made : bi.t thefe, as well as its other qualities,
it lofes, after being kept for fome time. Elaterium is a
very violent purge and vomit, and is now very feldom ufed.
The plant is commonly called fpirting-cucumbej-, from its
calling out its feeds, together with the vifeid juice in which
they are lodged, with a violent force, if touched, when
ripe; from which circumffance it has fometimes obtained
the appellation of noli me tangere, or, touch me not.
The root of white bryony is faid to be fo violent in its
effefls, when taken frelh, that the peafants call it the mad
turnip : being dried, it enters as an ingredient into fome
medicinal coinpofitions, particularly bryony-water, in which
it
cue
it is reckoned to affifi as a powerful uterine cleanfer. Some
believe bryony to be air excellent remedy againft the* bites of
Jbrpcnts, and other venomous creatures. Its fiecula, when
diied, is like ftaich ; but as this is found a medicine of little
ufe, there is hardly any of it now made.
In the eaftern countries, and both the Indies, bottle-gourd,
the cucurbita lagenaria, of Linnaeus, is very commonly
cultivated, and fold in the markets for the table, and is
the principal part of the food of the common people in the
waim months, particularly from June to October. The
Arabians call this kind of gourd, charrah. They boil it
and feafon it with vinegar; they likewife fill the (hell with
nee and meat, and thus make a kind of pudding, like
what we fometimes, in England, prepare of the fhell of
pumpion, or pumpkin.
The leaves of the bottle-gourd are large, almofl , circular,
covered with fine foft hairy down, and finell flrongly of
mufk. The flowers are fo tender, that they clofe as ifoon
as the fun fhines upon them. The outfide tegument or rind
of the fruit, as it ripens, grows hard ; and when the feed*
and pulp are taken out, will hold water, for which purpofe
it is fometimes ufed. Some gourds are fix feet long, and
one and a halt round, and when cleared of their pulp, will
contain twenty-two gallons : fuch, however, are very un-
common.
Ihe different kinds of pumpkin, the cucurbita pp0 of
Linnaeus, are generally diflinguifhed by the names of the
white, the blue, the marbled, and the garden pumpkin.
I hefe make a great part of the food of the poorer fort in
lummer, as well in Afia> and Africa, as in America. Th®
fhilks and leaves are hairy, the flowers yellow, the fruit is
generally, when young, of a mixture between a deep blue
and a pale white. It is boiled and eaten with butcher’s meat ;
and by the poorer fort is much ufed in foups.
Squafh, cucurbita melopepo ; and warted gourd, wh»n
boiled, are by fome people effeemed very delicate eating.
The fquafh is generally plucked by the Americans, when it
is
cue
is about the fize of a walnut, and immediately after the
falling of the flower.
Water-melons, or citruls, the Anguria of Tournefort,
the cucurbita ci/rullus of Linnaeus, are diftinguifhed by the
colour of their pulp, into the white and red, and derive
their name from the great quantity of water, or liquid,
which they contain. Thefe fruits, by their cooling and
diuretic quality, are fo beneficial in hot climates, if ufed
in moderation, that the poor people in Perfia, and the Le-
vant, live almofl folely, during the hot months, upon the
mufk and water-melon, cucumbers, and milk. The
water-melon, fays Haffelquift, ferves the Egyptians for
meat, drink, and phyfic: when it is very ripe, and al-
mofi; putrid, they hollow part of it, gather the juice there
coliefted, and mixing it with rofe water, and a little fugar,
adminifler it in burning fevers, with fuch fuccefs, that the
common people ufe no other medicine in thofe diftempers.
It is not, however, from the common water-melon, that
this medicine is procured. The fruit in quefiion, is fofter,
more juicy, and more rarely to be found than the common
fort, of which this is a variety. It is termed by the Arabs,
et-naovi, which fignifies water.
Water-melons fliould be eaten with great circumfpe&ion ;
for if taken in the heat of the day, when the body is very
warm, they feldom fail to occafion colics, fluxes, and dif-
orders of the ftomach.
The common cucumber, in the eallern countries, is
boiled and eaten with vinegar. The richer fort fill it with
flefh and fpices, and bake it into a pudding, which is faid
to be extremely palatable.
The Egyptian melon, or queen of cucumbers, the Cucu
mis Chate of Linnaeus, the Abdellavi of Alpinus, grows in
the fertile earth round Cairo after the inundation of the
Nile, and no where elfe in Egypt. The fruit is fometimes
fweet, cool, and a little watery ; the pulp aimoft of the
fame fubftance as the melon. The grandees in Egypt, and
the Europeans who refide there, elleem this the plcafanteif,
as well as fafefl fruit, which the country affords.
The
CUL
The mufk-melon is diftinguifhed, like the water-melon,
by the colour of its pulp, into the white and red forts ; and
derives its name from the fragrancy of the fmell.
Coloquintida, or bitter-apple, the Colocynthis of Tourne-
fort, the Cucunus Colocynthis of Linnaeus, is brought to us
from Aleppo, and the lfland of Crete. The leaves are
large, placed alternate, almoft round, and {land upon foot-
ftalks four inches long. The flowers are white, fuc-
ceeded by a fruit, which is yellow when ripe. The
fhelly 01 hufky outfide mclofes a white bitter pulp, inter-
fpei fed with white flattifh feeds. II a hole is made in one of
thefe ripe gourds, (for the fruit is of that kind,) and a glafs
of rum poured in, and fuffered to remain for twenty-four
hours, and then drunk, it proves a fuccefsful purge; but
is fo bitter, and leaves fuch a naufea behind, that it is feldom
iTfed. It is befides, the roughed: purge we know, and
therefore ought not to be ufed without great precaution ;
taken in a large dofe, it not only often brings away pure
blood, but likewife produces colics, convulfions, ulcers
in the bowels, and fatal fuper-purgations. The Indians
feparate or pull oft' the outer rind, and dry the flefhy part
of the fruit, which is what we call the Coloquintida of the
{hops.
CULMIFERyE Plant#, from culmus, a ftraw, or haulm ;
plants fo called which have a fmooth jointed ftalk, ufually
hollow, and wrapped about at each joint with Angle, narrow,
{harp-pointed leaves; and the feeds contained in chaffy
hulks. Such are oat, wheat, barley, rye, and the other
plants of the natural family of the grades. Vide Gra-
MINA.
Culmifer jz, the name of the eleventh clafs in Mori-
fori s Method, confifting of plants which agree in the general
chara£Iers above enumerated.
CLLMINIyE, from culmcn, the top, or fummit ; the
name ol an order in the former editions of Linntcus’s Frag-
ments of a Natural Method, confiding of a number of
plants, moftly of the mallow-tribe, now removed to the
natural order C O L u M n IFER ,-e, which fee.
CULMUS,
C Y M
CULMUS, (a Ka’Kxy.n, ftipula, (bubble, non *
Krf.xfj.os-, arundo, a reed); a ft raw, or haulm; defined by
Linnaeus to be the proper trunk of the grades, which ele-
vates the leaves, flower, and fruit.
This fort of trunk is tubular or hollow, and has Frequently
knots or joints diftributed at proper diftanccs, through its
whole length. The leaves are long, fleek, and placed,
either near the root in great numbers, or proceed fing’ly from
the different joints of the ftalk, which they embrace at the
bafe, like a Iheath, or glove.
The haulm is commonly garnifhecl with leaves ; fometimes,
however, it is naked, that is, devoid of leaves, as in a few
fpecies of cyprefs-grafs. Moll grades have a round cylin-
drical ftalk ; in fome fpecies of f chasms, fcirpus, cyprefs-
grafs, and others, it is triangular.
The ftalk is fometimes entire, that is, has no branches ;
fometimes branched, as in fchcenus acukatus & capmjis , and
not feldom conlifts of a number of fcales, which lie over
one another like tiles, [imbricevtus.)
Laftly, in a few grades, the ftalk is not interrupted with
joints, as in the greater part. The fpace contained betwixt
every two knots or joints, is termed by botanifts irilernodium,
and arlicu lus culmi. V'ide Articulus.
This fpecies of trunk often affords certain marks of dif-
tinftion in difcrirninating the fpecies. Thus in the genus
Eriocauion, the fpecies are fcarce to be diftinguiffied but by
the angles of the culmus , or ftalk. Thefe in fome fpecies
are in number five, in others fix, and in others ten.
CYMA, (from Kv/xac, idem quod K uyfjux, foetus, — die
uppermoft tender (hoots of herbs, particularly of colewortsj ,
a fpecies of receptacle, according to Linnaeus ; or more
properly, a mode of flowering, in which, as in the umbel,
a number of (lender foot-ftalks proceed from a common
centre, and rife to the fame height; but, unlike the umbel,
the fecondary or partial foot-ftalks are difperfed without
any regular order. Vide U M B E L I. A.
The term, which is of great antiquity, having been ufed,
though not in the fenfe now affixed to it, both by Colu-
, me 11 a,
DEG
njella and Pliny, is exemplified in elder, gelder rofe, blofcdy
rod, and adder’s tongue.
CYMOSUS Flos, from cytna: an aggregate flower, which
has the general characters juft enumerated. Vide Cyma,
and Aggrecatus Flos.
Cymos.e. The name of an order in the former editions
of Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, confifting
of honey-fuckle, morinda, loranthus, and a few other
genera, molt of which are, in the later editions, removed
to the forty-eighth order, intitled Aggregate.
C\ NAROCEPHALI, (a c'tnara or cynara, an arti-
choke, derived from .the Greek Ki vaga, carduus, a thiftle,
in which fenfe it is ufed both by Diofcorides and Athenaeus,
and K sipaXri, the head), plants whofe flowers form a head
like thofe of artichoke. The name of a clafs, or divifion,
in Vaillant’s Arrangement of the Compound Flowers, cor-
refponding to the Capitatee, or flowers forming a head, of
Ray, and other botanifts ; and to part of the Flofculofi of
Tournefort. It is exemplified in thiftle, globe-thiftle, bur-
dock, faw-wort, and blue-bottle.
D.
DECAGYNIA, (from Sexcc, ten, and ywn, a woman.)
The name of an order, or fecondary divifion, in
the clafs Decandria, of the fexual method, confifting of
plants whofe flowers arefurnifhed with ten ftamina, and the
fame number of ftyles. Neurada and American night-
(hade furnith examples,
DECANDRIA, (from Sana, ten, and avmg, a man.) The
name of the tenth clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual Syftem, con-
fifting of plants whofe flowers, as the name imports, are
furn idled with ten ftamina or male organs. This clafs, as
well as the other claflcs in Linnaeus’s Method that are com-
pounded with a numeral, has another charafter, which is
not expreffed in the title, I mean that the flowers are all
hermaphrodite, that is, have both llaminaand pointal, which,
5 according
DEC
according to our author, are the male ami female organs of
generation, within the fame covers. In this refpebt, the
claffes in quellion differ from the Monceda, and Diced a > of
the fame author, in which the male and female organs are
feparated ; being placed, in the former, upon different parts
of the fame plant ; in the latter, upon diftinft plants. This
obfervation merits particular attention, becaufe the circum-
fiance, or character which is the fubjebt oi it, is indifpen-
fably neceffary ; and a plant having ten or any number of
flamina, is not on that account to be referred to its refpec-
tive numeral clafs, unlefs both male and female organs are
found contained within the covbrs of the flower.
To take an example from the clafs which we are now con-
fidering : the flowers of the curious exotic, papaw, orpopo-
tree, have ten flamina ; and yet the plant cannot be arranged
under the clafs Decandria, becaufe the male and female parts
are not only placed within different covers, but likewife
produced upon diflinft plants : the popo feed ripened by the
female flowers producing both tnale and female trees.
Befides the fexes of the flowers, we are likewife to at-
tend, that the flamina be of an equal length and diflinft ;
that is, neither joined at the bottom, nor top ; circum-
flances which would remove the plants in which they are
found, to claffes wliofe effential character is no ways con-
ne£tpd with the number of the male and female organs.
The orders or fecondary divifions in this numerous clafs,
are five, and take their name from the number of the ftyles,
or female organs. Fraxinella, lignum vitas, dwarf rofe-bay,
and ftrawberry-tree, have one flyle ; foap-wort, and • car-
nation, have two; cucubalus, vifeous campion, and fand-
wort, three ; hog-plum, navel-wort, and houfe-leek, five j
Neurada , atid American night-fhade, ten.
Dkcandki a is likewife the name of an order or fecon-*
dary divifion in the claffes Moncidelphici , Diaddphia, Gy nan*
dria , and Dicecia , in all which, the claffic character being
unconne£ted with the number of flamina, that circum-
flance, properly enough, ferves as a foundation for the
fecondary or fubordinate divifion. f
q DECANTHE RJE,
\
D E F
DECANTHERE, from ^xa, ten, and emthtra, the
tops of the filaments. The name of an order or fecondary.
divifionin Ludwig’s improved Method, confifting of plants,
which to the claflic charafifcr, whatever it is, add the cir-
cumftance of having ten ftamina, or male organs.
DECIDUUS, (from decido, to fall off, or down, to die);
— Deciduous ; a term expreflive of the fecond ftage of de-
ration in plants, but, like caducus , fufceptible of different
fenfes, according to the particular part of the plant to which
it is applied. A leaf is faid to be deciduous which drops in
autumn. — Petals are deciduous which fall off with the ftamina
and pijlillum ; and this epithet is applied to fuch flower-cups
as fall after the expanfion and before the dropping of the
flower. This laft is exemplified in berberry, and the flowers
of the clafs Fetradynamia. Vide Caducus and Persis-
tens.
DECOMPOSITE, the name of the tenth clafs in Sal-
vage's Melhodus Foliorum, confifting of plants, whofe leaves
are twice compounded ; that is, have a common foot-ftalk
fupporting a number of leffer leaves, each of which is com-
pounded. Vide Folium Decompofitum .
The term is exemplified in fumatory, barren-wort, bigno-
nia, germander, feverfew, and fome umbelliferous plants.
DECOMPOSITI Flores-, — fome compound flbwers fo
termed by Linnaeus, which contain within the fame com-
mon calyx, a number of . leffer or partial flower-cups, that
are each of them common to many florets. The term is
exemplified m elephants foot, and globe flowei. A few
other compound flowers, as globe-thiftle, gundelia, and
ftqcbe, have partial flower-cups ; but each of thefe contains
only a (ingle floret. Linnaeus reduces all the compound
flowers which have partial flower-cups, undei the older
Polygamia Segregate! of the clafs Syngenefia.
DECUMBENS Flos, from decumbo , to lie down; a
drooping flower, in which the ftamina and pointal are in-
clined towards the lower fide; exemplified in wild-fena, and
ihe pea-bloom, or butter-fly-lhaped flowers.
OLIATIO, from dr, and folium, a leaf; the fall of
the
D E F
the leaves; A term oppofed to Frondefcentia , the Annual
renovation of the leaves, produced by the unfolding of the
buds in fpring.
Moll plants in cold and temperate climates, Ihed their
leaves every year. This happens in autumn; and is gene-
rally announced by the flowering of the common meadow
falfron. The term is only applied to trees and Ihrubs ; for
herbs perifh down to the root every year, lofing Hem; leaves,
and a:lh.
All plants do not drop their leaves at the fame time.
Among large trees, the afh and walnut, although lateft in
Unfolding; are fooiiert diverted of them : the latter feldom
carries its leaves above five months.
On the oak and horn-beam, the leaves die, and wither,
as foon as the colds commence ; but remain attached to the
branches till they are plifhed off by the new ones, which
unfold themfelves the following fpring. Thefe trees are
doubtlefs a kind of evergreens ; the leaves are probably de-
ftroyed only by cold ; and, perhaps, would continue longer
upon the plant, but for the force of the fpring-fap, joined
to the moirture.
In mild and dry feafons, the lilac, privet, yellow jefla*
mine of the woods; and maple of Crete, preferve their
leaves green until fpring, and do not drop them till the
new leaves are beginning to appear* The fig-tree, and
many other trees that grow between the tropics, are of this
particular clafs of ever-greens. The trees in Egypt, fays
Dr. Haflelquirt, cart their leaves in the latter end of Decem-
ber, and beginning of January, having young leaves ready
before all the old ones are fallen ofT ; and to forward this
operation of Nature, few of the trees have buds; the
fycamore and willow, indeed, have forne, but with few and
quite loofe Jh’pulu^ or feales. Nature did not imagine buds
fo necefLry in the fouthern, as in the northern countries ;
this occafions a great difference between them*
Laftly, fome trees and Ihrubs preferve their leaves con-
stantly through the whole year : and are not in the leart
influenced by the clctpency -or inclemency of feafons* Such
ci 2 are
D £ F
are the firs, juniper, yew, cedar, cyprefs, and many other
trees, hence denominated ever-grecns. Thefe preferve their
old leaves a long time after the formation of the new, and
do not drop them at any determinate time. In general, the
leaves of ever-greens are harder, and lefs fucculent than
thofe which are renewed annually. The trees are generally
natives of warm climates, as the alaternufes of France and
Italy, the ever-green oak of Portugal and Suahia.
Some herbaceous perennials, as the houfe-leeks and navel-
worts, enjoy the fame privilege with the ever-green trees,
and refift the feverities of winter : fome even can difpenfe
with the earth for fome time; being replete with juices,
which the leaves imbibe from the humidity of the atmofphere,
and which, in fuch plants, -arer of themfelves, fufficient for
effedling the purpofes of vegetation. It is for this reafon
that, unlefs in exceflive hot weather, gardeners are feldom
wont to water fat fucculent plants, as the aloe, which rot
when they are moiltened, if the fun does not quickly dry
them up.
The leaves of all the ever-green fhrubs and trees, have a
thin compaft (kin or cover, over their furface ; as is eafily
discovered by macerating them in water, in order to feparate
the parenchyma, or pulp, from the vcffels of the leaves;
which cannot be effe&ed in any of thefe ever-greens, till a
thin parchment-like cover is taken off. Thefe trees and
fhrubs are found by experiment to pcrfpire but little, when
compared with others which Ihed their leaves ; and it is per-
haps, principally owing to this clofe covering, as alfo to the
ftnall proportion of moifture contained in their veffels, that
they retain their verdure, and continue through the winter
on the trees. The nutritive juices of thefe plants always
abound more or lefs with an oily quality, which fecures
them from being injured by fevere frofts; fo that many of
thefe ever-green trees are adapted to grow in the coldeft
parts of the habitable world.
With refpett to deciduous trees, the falling off of the
leaves feems principally to depend on the temperature of
the atmofphere, which likewife ferves to liaffcn or retard the
the
\
D E F
the appearance in queftion. An ardent fun contributes to
haffen the dropping of the leaves. Hence in hot and dry
fummers, the leaves of the lime tree and horfe-chefnut turn
yellow, about the firft of September ; whilft in other years,
the yeilownefs does not appear till the beginning of Oftober.
Nothing, however, contributes more to haften the fall of
the leaves, than immoderate cold or moift weather in au-
tumn ; moderate droughts on the other hand ferve to retard
it. As a proof of this pofition, M. Adanfon relates, that
in the year 1759, the leaves of the el, m-tree, which generally
fall off about the twenty-fifth of November, continued in
verdure and vigour at Paris, where the autumn was remark-
ably dry, till the tenth of the following month.
• The following table, relpefting the mean times in which
different trees lhed their leaves, is founded upon obser-
vations.
Goofeberry-tree, and Bladder-
Sena,
Walnut and Afh,
Almond-tree, Horfe-chefnut,
and lime-tree,
Maple, Hazel-nut, Black-pop-
lar, and Afpin-tree
Birch, Plane-tree, Mountain-
ofier, Falfe-acacia, Pear and
Apple-tree,
Vine, Mulberry, Fig, Sumac,
and Angelica-tree,
Elm-tree, and Willow,
Apricot, and Elder-trees,
Oclober Iff.
15tn,
20ih.
25 th.
November Iff.
10th.
15th.
20 th.
It defervcs to be remarked, that an ever-green tree grafted
upon a deciduous, determines the latter to retain its leaves.
X his obfervation is confirmed by repeated experiments-;
particularly by grafting the laurel, or cherry bay, an ever-
green, on the common cherry ; and the ilex, or ever-grcc;i|
oak, on the oak. . - » •'-
Q.3 DEHISCENT! A.
B E S
DEHISCENTIA, dehifco , to gape wide. The burfling
open of the anthers for difperfing the male-duft; as likewife
of the feed-veflel called a capfule, for difcharging the feeds
when ripe. . Vide Anther a and Capsula.
Moll capfules fplit or open at top ; moll anthers burfl on
the Tides.
DENOMINATIO, the giving or impofing of names —
One of the principal foundations of practical botany ; which,
like the eftablifhment of proper characters, has been a necef-
fary confequence of the methodical divifion into claffes,
genera, and fpecies.
Linnaeus’s rules, with refpeCt to the generic and fpecific
names of plants, and the great improvements made by that
author, in this. very important. part of botany, are particu-
larly mentioned under the main article, Nomina, whither
we refer the reader.
DENUDATyE, ( denudo , to ftrip naked.) The name of
an order in the former editions of Linnaeus’s Fragments of
a Natural Method, confifling of plants whofe flowers are
naked, that is, wrant the Perian/hium, or flower-cup, although
they burfl from a fpatha, or fheath. Vide Spatha.
The genera in this order were four ; crocus, meadow-
faffron, bulbocodium, and gethyllis. They are now moftly
removed to the order Spathacea:, which fee,
DESCRIPTIO. A defcription, — a detail of all the
parts and qualities of any objeCt, compared or npt compared
with thofe of another :■ — applied to botany, the natural cha-
racter of the whole plant, including all the external parts.
In this refpeCt the defcription of the fpecics is diflinguifhed
from the fpecific difference, which regards the efl’ential or
ftriking charaClers only,
A perfeft, or complete defcription is not confined to the
principal parts ot plants, as the root, ftem, leaves, and fruc^
tification ; but includes, likewife, whatever is confpicuous
jn their external appearance ; as the foot-ftalks of the leaves
and flower ; the JiipuUc , or fcales ; the braflcic, or floral
leaves ; the glands, or veffels of fecretion ; the weapons of
offence and defence; the buds; the complication, or fold-
ing
D E S
ing of tile leaves within the buds ; and the habit or genera]
appearance of the whole plant.
The order to be obferved in the defcription, is that of
Nature, proceeding from the root to the ftem ; next the
branches ; then the foot-balks, leaves, bower-balks, and
flowers. The impropriety would be manifeb, to defcribe
the leaves, or their foot-balks, before the ftem, from which
they proceed ; or the Hem ' before the root, which ferves to
elevate it. ■
Further, the defcription of each feparate part fhould be
contained in a feparate paragraph ; that the parts may appear
equally diflinft in defcription, as they are in the plant itfelf.
The names of the different parts too ought to be delineated
in large letters, that they may the more eafily be difcovered by
the reader ; and that omiffions in the defcription, if there
are any, may be more readily perceived and fupplied.
Nothing, in faft, can be more tedious and unentertaining
than a very large defcription, that is neither divided into
paragraphs, nor dibinguifhes the parts of the plants in the
manner juft recommended.
A defcription, to be complete, ought equally to avoid the
extremes of prolixity and exceffive brevity.' Colour, di-
menfion, and other circumftances, which are fubjeH to
change, are never to be much infilled on : on the other
hand, no flriking characters, no cffential parts, however
minute, fuch as the Jlipul'r, or fcales, the hracfea ’, the glan-
dules, the hairs, and downy appearances on plants, and fuch
like, are, from a ffudied and faulty brevity, to be excluded
from the defcription of any fpecies whatever.
Laftly, a feientiffe defcription fhould employ only terms
hf art, if thefe are fufficient ; and delineate all the parts,
according to tlveir number, figure, proportion, and fituation.
The intelligent reader will difeover, whether in deferring
the feveral ifatural orders that occur in the courfe of this
work, I have praffifed the rules juft delivered.- Some dif-
ference, however, obtains in the mode of deferibing an
affemblagc or family of plants, and a particular fpecies.
T he mob complete fpecific defcripCions are thofe of Clu-
• ' * Q 4 fius,
DU v
' ■ I 4. S' ,
fius, Columna, Bauhin, Rheede, Ray, Rumfius, Plunder,
Dillenius, VaiUant, Scheuchzgr, Linnaeus in his Horti^s
Cliffortianus, and Haller.
DEi ERMINA1 10 Foliorum , Vide Foi.lUM,
DIADELPHIA, from twice, and a bro-,
therhood ; two brotherhoods ; the feventeenth clafs in Lin.
naeus’s Sexual Syftem, confining of' plants whofe flowers
are hermaphrodite, and have the (lamina, or male organs,
united below into two fets of cylindrical filaments.
This clafs, which is a true natural order or family, cor-
refponds to the Leguminofcs, or plants having pods, of Mori-
fon, Hermannus, Boerhaave, Ray, and Royen ; the tetra-
pctali irregular cs of Rivinus and Chriftopher Knaut ; the
tetrapetali diffortnes of Chriftian Knaut; and the Papiliona'cei,
’or butterfly-fhaped flowers, of Tournefort and Pontedera,
The claflical characlers of this numerous and fimilar
gflemblage of plants, will be delivered under Linnaeus’s
Natural Order Papilion ace£, which fee.
The orders, or fecondary divifions, in this clafs, are
founded on the number of ftamina, confidered as diftinft.
Some pea-bloom, or butterfly-flraped flowers, have five
flamina, or male organs, as Monnieria ; fome fix, as Fuma-
■tory; fome eight, as Milk-wort; fome ten, as Broom,
Bladder-Sena, Lupine, Lady’s-Finger, Vetch, and the far
greater number of butterfly-fhaped flowers. It is only the
laft order that is included in the natural family Papilionacea ;
the remaining four genera are diftributed among other
families, lo which they have, at Icafl, an equal alliance.
Fiunatory and Monnieria are arranged under the order
Corydales ; Milk. wort, under Lomeniaccoe.
I cannot help remarking, before I conclude this article,
that the names given by former botanifls to the extenfive
clafs of plants in queflion, are much more charafteriflic of
their nature and appearance, than that of Diadclphia.
In fact, the figure of the flowers and fruit never varies :
the latter being always of the pod kind ; the former of the
butterfly-fhape. On the other hand, the two fets of united
ftamina, the only claffic char after exprefled in the Linntcan
4 title,
D I C
title, are never to be traced without difficulty : for one of
the fets only is properly united ; the other confiding of a
{ingle filament, which, in mod plants, adheres fo clofely to
its kindred fet, that it cannot be feparated without the appli-
cation of a pin or needle for that purpofe. In fome even,
no reparation can be effefted by this means.
DI/ETETICI. By this name Linnaeus didinguidics a
clafs of Medical Botapids, who pronounce of the qualities
of vegetable food, by tade and fmell. Such are Querce-
tanus, Nonnius, Behren, and Lider.
PIANDRIA, (from oir, twice, and ewi§, a man) the.^
name of the fecond clafs in Linnaeus’s fexual fydem, con-
fiding of hermaphrodite plants, which, as the name imports,
have dowers with two Jlamina or male organs.
The orders in this clafs are three, derived from the num-
ber ot dyles or female parts. Mod plants with two damina
have one dyle, as Jeffamine, Lilac, Privet, Veronica, and
Badard Alaternus. Vernal grafs has two dyles ; Pepper,
three.
DIANGLvE, (from £is, twice, and a-yjor, a veffel) the
fifteenth clafs in Boerhaave’s fydem, confiding of plants
whofe feeds are contained within two capfules, or within a
fmgle capfule having two cells. It is exemplified in purple
loofe-drife.
DIANTHERyE (from Sir, twice, and anther ce, the tops
of the damina.) The name of an order or fecondaiy divifion
in Ludwig’s Improved Method, confiding of plants, which,
fo the cladic character, whatever it is, add the circumdance
pt having two damina or male organs.
piCOTYLEDONES (from Sis, twice; and Cotyledon ,
a feed-lobe or feed-leaf) plants whofe feeds have two fide-
lobes, and confequently rife with two feminal leaves. Mod
plants are of this kind. Vide Cotyledon es. '
In the lip and mafqued dowers, the Didynamiaot Linnaeus,
and in plants, whofe feed-vedcl is of the apple, cherry, or
pod kind, the feed-leaves rife unaltered; that is, without any
farther extenfion or dcvelopement, than when they made
part ot the feed.
In
bid
In mallow, and the crofs-ffiaped flowers, they appear
double ; m buck-wheat they arc rolled up ; in cotton, fold-
ed or planed; in falt-wort, glafs-wort, ceratocarpua, mala.
bar ".ght-ffiade, and all the pot-herbs, they are fpiral, or
twilled like a ferew.
-DIDYNAMIA, (from hr, twice, and power ')
two powers; the name of the fourteenth clafs in Lmnam^s
Sexual Method, confiftmg of plants with hermaphrodite
towers, which have four ftamina or male organs, two of
which are long, and two ftiort.
This numerous clafs of plants contains two natural afferc-
blages or families, and confifts of flowers, which, befides
the circumftance expreffed in the title, have one verv irre-
gular petal, fometimes divided into two diffitnilar lips, fome-
times fhaped like a mafque. From an attention to the diffe-
rent figure of this grinning or gaping petal, former botanifts,
who, perhaps, never dreamt of the fex of plants, or, if they
did, thought of nothing lefs than founding a fyftem upon it,
ananged the plants in queflion under two claffes, which
they confidered as having nothing in common ; the number
of the ftamina, and their proportion being totally difregarded.
In faft, the two orders, which fubdivide the clafs Didy-
namia, and correfpond to the fame number of claffes in moft
botanical fyftems, are fo very diftimilar, that, I believe, it
would have been difficult, except from the number and pro-
portion of the ftamina, to have reduced them under one
head, with a Angle circumftance of refemblance. The petals
feed-bud, feed-veffel, and feeds, are totally different in the
two orders. The habit too, or general appearance of the
plants, is perfeftly different ; what two things, in fa&, can
be more diftinft than mint and bear’s breech P or marjoram
and fox-glove ?
Linnaeus himfelf is fo fenfible of the few relations that
fubfift betwixt thefe two orders of plants, that, in his
i lagments ol a Natural Method, he is obliged to feparatethem,
and have recourfe to two divifions, the one from Ray, the
other from Tournefort ; although in the Genera Plant arum,
ilc co,1^crs ^lc clals Didynavila as having, independently of
that
D I F
Chat exprefled in the title, particular claffic characters ; that
is, a variety of relations, which approximate the plants in
that particular elafs to one another.
The two orders in the clafs Didynamia are flrongly mark-
ed ; being founded upon the prefence or ab fence ot the
feed-veflel. Their names are borrowed from Hermannus.
The order Gymnofpermia confifls of plants, which, as mint,
hvfTop, favory, lavender, and other aromatics, have four
naked feeds lodged in the bottom of the calyx without any
proper feed-veflel. Thefe are the Labiati , or lip-flowers, of
Tournefort and Pontedera ; the Verticillate , or plants that
flower at the joints, or whofe flowers are placed in whirls
round the flalk, of Hermanniis, Boerhaave, Ray, and Lin-
naeus in his Fragments of a Natural Method. Vide Vrr-
TICILLAT.fi.
The fecond order, termed Angiofpermia, confifls of plants,
whofe feeds, as the name imports, are lodged in a pericar-
pium or feed-vetfel. To this order' belong fig-wort, fox-
glove, bignonia, eye-bright, toad-flax, calve’s fhoat, oily
purging grain, agnus caflus, bear’s breech, and feveral
others. Vide Angiospermia.
Thefe plants are the perform! a or mafqued flowers of
Toyrnefort, and make part ot the third clafs in his fyftem.
Under the fame name Linnaeus arranges them in his Frag-
ments of a Natural Method. Vide Person at£.
ProfefTor Royen, in his Florae Leydenfis Prodromus, has
traced the outlines ot what he calls a natural method, in
which we find the clafs Didynamia of Linnaeus diflinguifhed
as one entire natural family or order, under the name Rin-
gentes , or the grinning flowers. As I never fuffer my ad-
miration for any man, however diflinguifhed, to betray me
into the fatal complaifance of adopting his errors ; I mufl
beg leave to differ from both the learned dofctors, and to
confider the clafs Didynamia, as compofcd of two natural
orders of plants, that have npttheleaff affinity together.
The lip flowers, which conilitute the firfl order, are de-
feribed under the article Vrrtici ll at/E* thofc with a
jnafque, which conilitute the fecond, under Person am.
D1FFORMIS figs (from Sir, twice, and forma , a form]
having
D I CE
s
having two different forms, irregular; the term is expreflive
o the inequality and irregularity of the petals. It is ufed
by Jungms and Chriftian KnautRand is Lonimous tote
i7nf n-S r°Il,,;nefort and Pontedera, the Irregularis
Psoi Rivmus, and the Corolla irregularis of Linmeus.
1 ieKtCrm IS exemPllfied the mafqued flowers, aconite
umbine violet, fumatory, lark-fpur, orchis, and other
p ants in which the petals are very irregular and diffimilar.
Kntf’FMMiIS,1SthenamCOf 3 ferieS 0f rlaffes ^ Chriftian
aut s Method, confiftmg of plants which have one or
comnreh T 'll };Ctal‘S’ Am°ng m3ny °thei'S’ thefe clafres
prehend all the grinning and pea-bloom flowers; they
con-eipond to the divifion in Rivinus’s method, termed /J-
gulares .
DIGYNIA (from Sir, twice, and vow, a woman). The
name of an order or fecondary divifion in each of the full
3 r'n-eXCerPt “,e niMh’ in rinn^us's Sexual
Method; confiding of plants, which to the claffic character
Ltle'orgLt' add dK CirCUmlUn““f ^‘*0 ftykiol
dCECIA (from Sir, twice, and a houfe or habi-
tat,on,) twohoufes. The name of the twentv-fecond clafs
“ Linnaeus s Sexual Method, confining 0f plants, which,
having no hermaphrodite flowers, produce male and female
flowers on feparate roots. Thefe latter only ripen feeds, but
equue, for that purpofe, according to tho Scxualids, the
icim y of a male plant, or the afperfion of the male duft.
I'tom the feeds ol the female flowers are raifed both male
and female plants.
Che plants then in the clafs Dicecia, areall maleor female <
not hermaphrodite as in the greater number of claffes ; or
with male and female flowers upon one root, as in the clafs
Mencecia of the fame author.
Accurate as the Swedifh Botanift undoubtedly is there
are many plants difperfed through the different claflbs in
l^e Geuera Piaufarum, which have male and female flowers
on .ft, n6l. roots, and therefore ought, in ftrift propriety, to
have been reduced under the clafs Di*ck. Linnams/fen-
fihle
D 1 QL
fible of the weak fule of his fyflem, has endeavoured to art-
ticipate and dellroy the force of this criticifm, by infmuat-
ing that fuch plants could not properly enter into this clafs,
becaufe the circumftance alluded to does not run through
the genus, but is peculiar to fome particular fpecies only,,
To an unexperienced botaniil the reafon is fatisfablory ; but
examined with attention, it is refolved into a mere begging
of the queflion; for, if the fex of plants be a doftrine of
fuch importance in botany, as to juftify the joining together
of things which Nature never joined, and the reparation of
others which were never meant to be disjoined ; it certainly-
authorized the great reformer of the fcience to erefl feveral
genera out of one, efpecially when the leading principles of
his fyflem required it. The liberties he has taken with the
genera of Ray, Tournefort, Boerhaave, and other eminent
botanifls, are well known. In faff, what a perplexed ftudy
is Botany now rendered, by the prodigious multiplication of
fynonimous genera! To whom then is this mighty confu-
fion owing ? Why, in a great meafure, to Linnaeus, who-,
by fplitting fome genera, incorporating others, and intro-
ducing a variety of new names, ljas rendered every other
fyffcm unintelligible, without the afliflance of his nomen-
clature.
When fuch a renovation of the genera was to take place,
where would have been the impropriety of making diflinft
genera of mod of, or all the fpecies, to be afterwards enu-
merated, when they could not be confulered as mere fpecies
without infringing the fundamental laws of his fyflem ? To
take an example ; a fpecies of campion, the lychnis of Lin-
naeus, bears male and female flowers on feparate plants. I
fhall fuppofe that, with the afliflance of the Genera Planta-
rum, or Syjlema Nalura:, I would explore the clafs, order,
genus, and fpecies of a plant of the male lychnis, which,
by chance, I have found in the fields. To determine the
clals, I reckon the number of flamina ; which finding to
be ten, of an equal length, and united neither above nor
. below, I am almofl ready to refer my plant to the tenth,
clafs, Dcccinciria, when I reflect, that, belides the cliara£lei s
juft
D I Cfc
juft mentioned, the dafs in queltion bears hermaphrodite'
flowers. Upon examining the plant with a view to this
particular, I can difcover no ftyle, nor feed-bud < the flower
then, is not hermaphrodite, but male; confequently can-
not belong to the clafs under which I was raffily going to
arrange it. I now examine the whole plant, if, perchance, I
can difcover any female flowers placed promifcuoufly with
the male upon the fame root ; a circumftance which would
immediately determine my plant to the clafs M oncecia < but
not being able, after the ftrifteft fearch, to difcover any
difference in point of fex, I conclude the plant to be male,
and to belong to the clafs Dioecia, in which male and female’
flowers are placed apart on feparate plants. Having, in this
manner, detefted the clafs, I proceed to explore the order,
which I foon difcover to be the ninth, Decandria, that order
containing fuch dioecious plants, if I may ufe the expreffionr
as have their male flowers furniflied with ten ftamina. I
have now reduced my plant to one of four genera; for the
order in queftion contains no more; thefe are Papaw,
(Carica) Kiggelaria , Indian Maffick (Schinus) and myrtle!
leaved fumach (Coriaria). Thefe names begin to flagger me ;
for to my belief and even knowledge, the plants juft now
mentioned are all natives of very warm countries, and are,
befides, of the tree and fhrub kind : whereas the plant to be
explored rifes with an herbaceous ftalk, that is not above
two or three feet high. But fuppofing that I am fuch a novice
in the ftience, as to be ignorant of thefe particulars ; I pro-
ceed, fatisfied that I have detefted the clafs and order, to
afcertajn the genus. I begin with Carica ; but foon find the
impropriety of arranging the plant under that genus, which
has only one funnel-lhaped petal; whereas my unknown
flower has five diftinft petals, with long claws. The next
genus Kiggelaria, although foinewhat fimilar in the calyx
and petals, has a glandular neftarium in the bottom of the
flower, of which I can difcover no trace in Lhe other.
f he filaments of the ftamina too are very fliort ; thofe in the
plant to be difeovered, very long. I proceed to Ceriaria ,
the next genus, which is quickly difmiffed on account of
* the
D I (E
the minutenefs and divifions of the calyx : and comparing
my plant with Scbinus, the laft genus in this order, I can
difcover nothing to convince me that I have yet detefted
the genus of the flower in queflion. What remains then
but to confider it as a new genus, which Linnaeus has never
feen, and confequently never defcribed ? In this belief, I
difcover my new acquifition, as I imagine it, to fome fkilful
botanift, who, furprized at my ignorance, allures me that it
is a common weed, and grows wild in many parts of Eng-
land ; that it belongs to the clafs Decandria , and not Dicecia ,
in the Sexual Method, although it pofTeffes the charafters
of the latter, and not of the former ; but that as thofe
chatafters are only to be found in the particular fpecies
under confideration, the founder of that method did not
chufe to fplit the genus, and arrange its feveral parts under
clafTes, fo very diflinft and remote: though, upon more fri-
vilous grounds, he had torn and mangled, without referve,
the genera of former botanifls, when they did not coincide
with his own principles or opinions.
For examples of the impropriety complained of, the
reader is referred to the following fpecies, which, by Lin-
nasus, are arranged under clafTes and genera containing her-
maphrodite flowers.
Valeriana Dioica.
Rhamnus Catharticus.
Infe&orius.
• Alpinus.
Rhus vernix.
Rumex tuberofils.
Multifidus..
* — — Acetofa.
Acetofella. /
—— Aculeata. ■
Lonicera Dioica.
Laurus nobilis.
Guilandina Dioica.
Cucubalus Otites.
Lychnis
D 1 CL
Lychnis Dioica. _ '
Phytolacca Dioica.
Spiraea Aruncus.
Rilbus Chamcemorus.
Clematis Virginiana,
Dioica.
Thali&rum Dioicum.
Napaea Dioica.
Gnaphalium Dioicum.
Gypfophila paniculata.
Phylica Dioica.
ihe three following fpecies are improperly referred by
Linnaeus to the clafs Moncecia, which contains plants with
male and female flowers upon the fame root.
Ca rex Dioica.
Urtica Dioica.
Morus Nigra.
® . i
It is worthy of obfervation, that not a Angle fpecies hi
Lie rough-leaved plants oi Ray, and the lip, mafqued,
crofs-fhaped, and pea-bloom flowers of Tournefort is found
to differ in point of fex. Thefe are true natural affemb’Iages,
accurately denned by fixed and precife characters. For°tli
fame re..fon we have been able to trace but one deviation of
Naluie in the compound flowers ; I mean, in a fpecies of
cud-weed. As deviations, howeVer, or exceptions to the
general law of their nature, I would remove. all l'uch fpecies
from a clafs or order, in which, at beft, they appear but as
vegetable monflers ; and either place them apart in an ap-
pendix to the work, under the title of Anomalous, that is,
irregular plants which do not commodioufly arrange them-
selves under any of the foregoing claffes, as Ray? Tourne-
foit, and other eminent botanifls have done : or refer each
fpecies as a genus, if neceflary, to the particular clafs, to
which, in ftrift conformity to the principles of the fyftem,
it can only belong.
1 he orders in the clafs Dioecia are fourteen, founded
upon tfje number, union and fituation of the ftamina in the
male
D I P
ihaie plants : their names are thofe of the clafles containing
hermaphrodite flowers. Najas has one ftamen or male organ j
willow, two; poets cafia, three; mifletoe, and fea-buck«
thorn, four ; piftacia-nut, fpinachj and hop; five ; rou^»
bindweed (Smilax) and Diofcorea , fix; poplar, and rofe-
root, eight ; mercury, nine ; papaw; and Indian maffick,
ten ; moonfeed, and baftard-hemp, twelve. In Cliffortia ,
the ftamina are numerous ; in juniper, yew* and Ihrubby
horfe-tail, they are united by their filaments into a pillar j
in butcher’s-broom, they are united by the anthers or
tops ; and in Clutia, fays Linnaeus, they are attached to
the middle of a very long cylindrical ftyle in the centre of
the male flowers. Here is another impropriety ; the very
name of the order under which Clutia arranges, (Dicecla Gy~
handria ) is abfurd. For if a genus of plants be truly dioecious ,
that is, contain male and female plants on different roots,
the flamiria of the male flowers cannot be inferted into the
ftyle or female organ, becaufe fuch female organ is not pre-
fent. On the other hand, if the female organ, or any of its
parts, be prefent and confpicuous; the plant is not diaeciousf
but hermaphrodite. In the clafs Monoecia , which contains
plants with male and female flowers on the fame root, the
order in queftion again occurs, and with equal impropriety
as in the prefent cafe. Baftard orpine, (Andrachne) the
Angle genus in that order, is nearly allied to Clutia in the
tlafs Dicecia.
DIPETALI (from Sir, twice, and weraXov, a petal,) hav-
ing two petals ; the name of two clafles in Rivinus’s method,
Confiding of regular and irregular flowers with two petals.
Enchanter’s night-fhade and Commelina furnifh examples.
DIPSACEI, (from Dipfacus, teafel)} the name of an
improper divifion in Vaillant’s Arrangement of the Com-
pound Flowers, confiding of plants, whofe flowers, like
thofe of teafel and fcabious, form a head, and are contained
within a common calyx. Thefe plants differ from the Com-
pound Flowers of Linnaeus, in having their ftamina free, or
diftinft both at bottom and top : the partial flowers too are fre-
quently furnifhcd with a proper calyx. They correfpond to
R Linnaeus’s
DO D
Linnaeus’s aggregate flowers properly To called. Vide A«-
Gregatus flos. Befules thofe already mentioned, vibur-
num, honey-fuckle, and valerian furnifh examples.
DISCOIDEAt, (from Difcus , the middle of a radiated
compound flower) the name of a clafs in Ray’s method,
which includes a great part of the Radiati of Tournefort. A
radiated difcous flower has feveral femi-florets placed in the
circumference like fo many rays round the difk ; fuch
are groundfel,. feverfew, after, golden rod, daify, and many
others.
A naked difcous flower has no rays or femi-florets in the
circumference, as cudweed, foreign cok’s-foot, Cotula, and
ploughman’s fpikenard.
Discoide/£, isdikewifethe nameof divifion in Linrneus’s
Arrangement of the Compound Flowers.
DISCUS, (Gr. Aiffxor, difcus, a quoit, dilh, and from
its flat and round appearance, the circumference of the fun.)
This term in the modern Botanical Nomenclature fignifies
the centre of a radiated compound flower, and generally
confifts of fmall florets with a hollow regular petal. It is.
commonly furrounded by large, flat, tongue-fhaped petals in
the circumference or margin ; as in daify, groundfel and
leopard’s bane; fometimes the circumference is naked, as in
cotton-weed, and fome fpeciesof cok’s-foot.
DISCUS foil], the whole furface of the leaf.
DISSEMINATIO. The various and wonderful con-
trivances of Nature to difperfe and fcatter abroad the feeds
©f vegetables, for the purpofes of increafe. For particu-
lars on this curious fubjeft, the reader is refeired to the-
article Semen.
DISSEPIMENTUM, (from Sepcs, a hedge.) By this,
name Linnaeus denominates the partitions, which, in dry
feed-veffels, as capfules and pods (Siliqua) divide the fruit,
internally into cells.
DODEC ANDIvIA (from S&Aexo, twelve;, and dvr,g, a
man.) J iie name ol the eleventh clals in Linnaeus’s Sexual
Syftem ; confifting of plants with hermaphrodite flowers,
that, according to the title, have twelve ftamina or male
organs.
t
r> r u
organs. This clafs, however, is not limited with refpeft
to the number of ftamina. Many genera have fixteen,
eighteen, and even nineteen ftamina ; the effential charafter
feems to be that, in the clafs in queftion, as in Polyandria,
the 13th, the ftamina are inferted into the receptacle : where-
as in the intermediate clafs, Icofandria , which is as little de-
termined in point of number as the other two, they are
attached to the infide of the calyx.
The orders in this clafs, which are fix, are founded upon
the number of the ftyles, or female organs. Afarabacca,
mangoftan, ftorax, purple loofe-llrife, wild Syrian rue, and
purflane, have one ftyle; agrimony and heliocarpus have
two; burning thorny plant, and baftard rocket, three; Glinus,
five; Illicium , eight; and houfeleek twelve.
DODRANS, a term of meafure. Men sura.
DRUPA, and DRUPPA, (ufed by Pliny for an olive
waxing black with ripenefs, and ready to fall off the tree) ;
a fpecies of feed-veffel that is fucculent, has no valve or ex-
ternal opening like the capfule and pod, and contains within
its fubftance a ftone or nut. The cherry, plumb, peach,
apricot, and all ftone fruit, are of this kind.
The term, -which, as we have feen, is of great antiquity,
is fynonimous to Tournefort’s “ fruftus mollis oflictilo,”
foft fruit with a ftone ; and to the Prurnis of other botanifts.
The ftone, or nut, which, in this fpecies of fruit, is fur-
rounded by the foft p lpy flefh, is a kind of woody cup,
containing a fingle kerne! or feed, (Nucleus.)
The reader will be miftaken, if he imagines that the de-
finition juft given will apply to every feed-veffel denominat-
ed Drupa in the Genera Plan/arum. The almond is a Drupat
fo is the feed-veffel of the elm tree and the genus Rumpbia ;
though far from being pulpy or fucculent, the firft and third
are of a fubftance like leather ; the fecond like parchment.
The fame may be faid of the walnut, Piftacia-nut, Guettarda ,
Quifqualis, jack-in-a-box, and fome others.
Again, the feeds of the elm, Scbrebera , Flagellarla, and
the mango- tree, are not contained in a ftone. The feed-
r 2 veflel
D U M
* i
vcffel of burr-reed is dry, fhaped like a top, and contains
two angular Hones.
This fpecies of fruit, or more properly feed-veffel, is
commonly roundifh, and, when feated below the calyx, or
receptacle of the flower, is furnifhed, like the apple, at the
end oppofite to the foot-ftalk, with a fmall umbilicus or
cavity, produced by the fwelling of the fruit before the fall-
ing off of the flower-cup.
DrupacEjR (from Drupa) an order o.f plants in the
former editions of Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Me-
thod, confifting of the almond, peach, plumb, apricot,
cherry, and bird-feed, which have that fpecies of fruit-
veflel called by Linnaeus, Drupa. Vide Jupra.
Thefe plants are now reduced to two genera, Amygdalus
and Prunus , and make part of the natural order Pom ace^e,
which fee.
DUMOStE, (from Dumus, ' a bufli) bufhy plants;,
the name of the forty-third order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of
a Natural Method ; confifting of a number of fhrubby
plants, which are thick fist with irregular branches, and
bufhy.
Lijl of the Genera contained in this Natural Order.
SECTION I.
Thickfet bujhy Shrubs, with Leaves placed alternate.
Linnaean Genera.
Englijh Names.
Achras, —
— Sapota.
Cajftne, — •
— Caftioberry-bufh, and South-
Sea or Paraguay tea.
Ceanothus,
— New Jerfey tea.
Cclajlrus , —
— Staff-tree.
Chryfophyllurn, • —
— Star-apple, and damfon-tree.
F agar a.
Ilex, —
— Holly.
Phylica , • —
— Baftard alaternus.
Prints,
D U M
Linnaean Genera.
Prinos, —
Rbamnus, —
Rhus, —
Schinus, —
Sideroxylon, —
Englijh Names .
— Winter-berry.
— Buckthorn, alaternus, jujube-
tree-
— Sumach, poifon-tree, Var-
nifh-tree.
— Indian maftick.
— Iron-wood.
SECTION II.
Thichfet luj])y
Callicarpa , —
Euonymus , —
Sambucus, —
Tomex.
Viburnum, —
Shrubs, with Leaves placed oppojite.
— Johnfonia.
— Spindle-tree.
— Elder.
— Pliant rncaly-tree, or way.
faring tree, lauriftinus and
gelder-rofe.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
The plants of this order are all of the fhrub and tree kind,
thick and bulhy, and rife from fix to twenty-five, thirty,
and even forty feet high. Many of them too, as baftard
alaternus, holly, iron-wood, new-jerfey tea, ftar-apple, vi-
burnum, winter-berry, and fome others, retain their beau-
tiful leaves during the whole year.
The Roots are branched and fibrous.
The Stems are cylindric ; the young branches fometimes
angular.
The Buds are naked, that is, without fcales, in the ever-
green Ihrubs of this order ; covered with fcales in moll of
the others.
The Leaves, which in fome genera are fiinple, in other!
compound, are placed alternate ir> plants of the firft feflios ;
oppofite, in thofe of the fccond. In cafliobqrry-bulh, fome
pi the leaves are almoll oppofite.
From the bafe of the leaf of the gelder-rofe, a fpecics of
r 3 viburnum,
D U M
' viburnum, proceed a number of fmall glands or fecreforv
veffels.
Holly, elder, and fpindle-tree have two Stipule or
fcales, one on each fide of the branches ; in the two lait
they are (lender like hairs, and alrnoft imperceptible.
The branches of flaff-tree, and of fome of the fpecies of
Rbamnus, aie terminated by a thorn, which difappears by
culture. Jujube tree, and Chrifl’s-thorn, two other fpecies
of Rbamnus have, at both fide* of the origin of the footflalk
of the leaves, two unequal fpines ; the one of which is
eieft and large ; the other, fmaller and curves downwards.
In Fagara there are placed along the branches, and ribs
of the leaves, a number of prickles, which being (lightly
attached to the bark of the plants, fall off quickly. In holly,
the leaves are thorny. ,
.The leaves and branches of the genus Tomex are covered
with foft downy hans, which have a (ilver-white appearance.
This kind of pubefcence is termed / omentum , whence the
genus derives its name.
TheFLOWERS are modly hermaphrodite. Indian maffick,
and fome fpecies of buck-thorn and fumach, have male and
female flowers upon different, roots : holly too, (laff-tree,
fagara, and alatemus, a fpecies of buck-thorn, fometimes
produce mde flowers on one root, and hermaphrodite flowers
on another ; the laft has fometimes male and female flowers
on the fame root.
The flowers proceed from the angles of the leaves, either
fingly, as in winter-berry ; or in duffers, as in buck-thorn,
johnlonia, caffioberry-bufh, and iron-wood; or they termi-
nate thd flem in that fort of flowering head called a Corym-
Bus; as in baftard alaternus.
The Calyx is generally very fmall,- placed below or
around the feed-bud, and confifls of one leaf, with four,
five, or fix divilions, which are permanent, that is, accom-
pany the feed-bud to its maturity. The genus Rbamnus has
jio calyx. In fapota, it is compofed of fix diflin£t leaves.
In elder and viburnum, it is placed above the feed-bud,
i lie Petals are, in number, horn one to five; in buck-
thorn
DUM
shorn and fapota, five fcales, which ferve for a neffartum,
are inferted into the chaps (faux) of the tube of the
petal. ' ...
The Sta m i N a are either four, as in johnfonia and holly ;
five, as- in fumach, fpindle-tree, and the greater number of
plants in this order ; fix, as in fapota and winter-berry ; or
ten, as in Indian maffick..
The Seed-bud is generally roundi&fc and placed within
the flower; in elder and viburnum it is placed below it.
The Style is generally fingle, and fometimes wanting,
as in Indian maffick, fumach and viburnum : the latter, as
well as the elder, has a gland or veflel of fecretion, in its
place.
The Stigma, or fummit of the flyle, is either fingle,
as in iron-wood and buckthorn ; or triple, as in fumach,
viburnum, caffioberry-bnfh, and elder.
The Seed-vessel in this order is generally a berry;
fometimes a dry capfule, as in fpindie-tree and baftard
alaternus : in iron -wood, the feed-veffel is of the cherry
kind ; in fapota, of the nature and fubflance of an apple.
The Seeds are generally fingle and egg-fhaped. In th«
fpindle and ffaff-trees, drey are wrapped up in a proper coat
or arillus. Vide A R I L L U S .
Thefe plants have no ftriking claffical character ; I have,
however, after the example of Linnaeus, confidered them
4as a natural order, though their relations are not fo numer-
ous as ftri&ly to entitle them to that appellation.
The berries, bark, and flowers of many of thefe plants
are purgative; and a£t particularly on the lymph and bile.
Sapota, fometimes called Mammee. Sapota, is very com-
mon in the Weft India ifiands, where the trees are planted
in gardens for the fruit, which, by many perfons, is much
efteemed. The flowers, which are of a cream colour, are
fucceeded by an oval top-fhaped apple covered with a
brownifh hufky fkin, under which is a thick pulp, of a
ruffet colour, and very lufeious taffe, including one or two
hard oval nuts or ftoncs. It is called Natural Marmalade,
r 4/ from
BUM
from its refemblance in tafle to marmalade of quinces. The
flones or kernels of this fruit, taken in emulfion, are a power,
ful aperient, and reckoned fpecific in gravelly complaints.
The leaves of Johnfonia, which grows plentifully in
South Carolina, are ufed with fuccefs in dropfical cafes.
A deco&ion of the root of Ceanolhus Americanus, or New.
Jerfey tea, is efleemed a certain remedy, not only in flight
gonorrhceas, which it flops in two or three days without
any bad confequences ; but alfo in the mod inveterate vene-
real complaints. A largo vefTel mufl be employed in this
deco£lion, becaufe the plant, in the time of boiling, throws
up a great quantity of froth, which mufl not be loll. The
inhabitants of North America, where this fhrub naturally
grows, dry the young leaves and infufe them in water like
tea; whence the name of New-Jerfey tea, by which title
the feeds are generally brought into Europe.
The root of t,he flaff-tree, being powdered, is ufed by
the negroes of Senegal as a fpecific againft gonorrhceas,
which it is faid to cure in eight, and fometimes at the end
of three days. An infufion of the bark of a fpecies of flaff-
tree, which grows in the ifle of France, is faid to poffefs
the fame virtues.
Star-apple is garnifhed with oval leaves that are fmooth
above, and of a beautiful gold colour, fhining like fatin on
their under fide; whence the name Chryfophyllum or
golden leaf, by which it is known among botanifls.
The wood ot the fpindle tree is yellow, and ufed in
works of Iculpture. By the mufical inflrument makers it
is employed for toothing of organs and virginal keys. The
branches are cut into tooth-picks and fkewers, and fpindles
are made ot the wood, whence the tree derives its title. Iq
fome countries, fays Miller, it is called dog-wood.
From the arillus, or proper covering of the feeds of the
fpindle-tree, is drawn a very beautiful red tin£lure. The
powder of the qapfules, fprinkled upon the }iead and cloaths
is faid to defiroy lice and other vermin.
The capfules, or dry feed-veffels of the genus fa^ara, are
ufed by the Africans for pepper.
Iro.n-
DUM
Iron-wood is fo called from its great weight, itshardnefs,
j*nd the clofenefs of its grain ; for it is proof againft all
weather, and fcarce known to fuffer any decay in feveral
ages; it is fo heavy, that it will fink in water.
Of the bark of common holly is made the common bird-
lime, which is better than that made of mifletoe. The wood is
very white, and admits of an exceeding fine polilh. It is
chiefly made into hones for whetting of razors.
The berries of narrow-leaved ever-green privet, the
Rhamnus Alaternus of Linnaeus, the alaternus anguftifolia of
Tournefort, are fold in France by the name of Avignon-
berries for the ufe of painters, who prepare from them a
yellow colour or pigment. Thefe berries are, by fome.
erroneoully imagined to be the fruit of the dwarf buckthorn,
or Rhamnus Catharticus Minor.
The Egyptian thorn, the cenoplia fpinofa of Cafpar Bau-
hin ; the nabca paliurus athenaei of Profper Alpinus; the
naba or nabka^of the Arabians; and the rhamnus fpinachrifti
of Linnaeus ; is fuppofed, by many travellers, to be the
tree from which the crown of thorns that was put on the
head of our Saviour, was made. It is very common in the
eaffern countries, particularly in Paleftine. This plant, fays
HafTclquift, was very proper for the purpofe to which it is
fuppofed to have been applied, as it has many fmall fharp
fpines, or thorns, well adapted to give pain. The crown,
too, might be eafily made of the foft, round and pliant
branches with which this tree or hedge is furnifhed. What
^n HalTelquilf’s opinion feems to be the greatell proof of
the fuppofed ufe of this plant, is, that its leaves have a great
resemblance to thofe of ivy, with which emperors and
generals were wont to be crowned. The enemies of Chrift
would, perhaps, defire to have a plant fomewhat refembling
that which was ufed in triumphs and times of feftivity, that
there might be calumny and reproach even in the punilh-
jnent.
Syrup of buckthorn, which is prepared of the berries of
the purging or common buckthorn, is reckoned a good me-
dicine in the dropfy, jaundice, itch, and other eruptions of
the
DUM
the flan. It is of a very difagreeable bitternefs, caufes
thirlf, and is proper for fuch as are eafy to work upon, and
whofe Itrength has not been impaired by continual difeafes.
The bemes may be eafily known by counting their feeds,
which are four in number; and, by rubbing the juice upon
white paper, which it ftains of a green colour.
Of the juice of thefe berries the French prepare a beau-
tiful green pigment or colour, known among painters by the
name ol Verd-de-veflie.
Half an ounce of an infufion of the inner bark of the
berry-bearing alder, the Rhamnus Frangula of Linnaeus,
or a dram of the powder, proves as violent a purge as rhu-
barb. The berries are often brought to market, and im-
pofed upon the ignorant for buckthorn-berries. They may,
however, be eafily diftinguilhed ; the berries of buck-thorn
having generally four feeds; thofe of frangula, but two.
Jujube, which Linnaeus has joined along with alaternus,
berry-bearing alder, and Chrilt’s thorn, to his genus rham-
nus, by the name of rhamnus Zizyphus, is a native of the
warm parts of Europe, particularly the fouth of France#
and Italy, having been tranfported thither from Syria, as
' Linnaeus obferves, by Sextus Pampinius, in the time of the
emperor Auguftus. The fruit, which is about the fize of a
plumb, is reckoned peftoral, warm and moillening; it has
an agreeable tafte, though fomewhat infipid, and was
formerly ufed in ptifans and pe&oral apozeins; but is now
feldom to be found in the drops. In Italy and Spain,
x jujubes are ferved up in defferts as a dry fweet-meat, during
the winter feafon.
A decoftion of the roots and branches of the common
jujube is faid to be fuccefsful in venereal complaints.
I he brandies and leaves of the elm-leaved fumach, or
Rhus Canaria of Linnaeus, are ufed inflead of oak-bark for
die tanning ol leather; the Turkey leather is faid to be all
tanned with this flirub. The leaves, berries, and feeds of
this fpeciesol fumach, are vifed in medicine; they areaflrin-
gerit, refrdhing and antifeptick ; the berries are ufed in de-
coction ior Hopping fluxes and violent haemorrhages.
Virginian
DUM
Virginian fumach is covered with a fine foft velvet down j
the young branches refemble, both in colour and texture,
a Hag’s horn ; by which appellation it is generally known
among the inhabitants of North America. This fort is like-
wife ufed for tanning leather: and the roots, fays Miller,
are often prefcribed in medicine, in the countries where
the tree naturally grows.
Very good vinegar is made of the infufion of the fruit
of an American fpecies of fumach, which, lor that reafon,
is generally known by the name of vinegar-tree. Venice,
or red fumach, the Rhus Cotinus of Linnaeus, is more ufed
by the curriers than in phyfic ; it is faid, however, to be
vulnerary and aliringent ; the wood dyes a fine yellow
colour.
Moll fpecies of fumach abound with a white milky juice,
which is reckoned poifonous : that of Rhus Vernix, or poi-
fon-afh, is elleemed for its quality of flaming; and the
plant, from that circumftance, adjudged to be the true var-
nilh-tree, defcribed by Kaempfer in the Amcenitates Exotica:,
by the name of Sitz-dfiu.
l’his tree, the Toxicodendron foliis alatis , frudiu rhomb oidt
of Dillenius, the poifon-tree of Kalm, rifes with few
branches to the height of a willow, and grows naturally
in Japan and North America. The bark is hoary, rough
with warts, and eafily parts from the wood, which is very
brittle, and refembles that of willow. The pith is copious.
The fhoots are long, thick, and covered at the extremity
with leaves placed without order. Thefe are winged with
an odd one. The lobes, pinna7', or lelfer leaves, are {len-
der, egg-fhaped, of a dark green, fmooth on the upper fur-
face, hoary below, and Hand oppofite upon very fhort foot-
flalks. The juice contained in the leal being rubbed upon
paper, immediately tinges it with an iron colour. The
flowers proceed in clullers from the arm-pits ot the leaves.
Thefe clullers are loofely branched, and {lender, being
com pofed ot linall yellow flowers, ot a fweet and very
grateful finell, fomewhat refembling that of the flowers of
the orange-tree, TJie fruit is bundled, comprelfed into a
rhomboidal
DUM
rhomboidal figure, covered with a thin ftining membrane,
and very hard when ripe.
The bark of varniffi-tree being notched with a knife, effufei
a milky fubftance, mixed with a chryftalline humour exud-
ing from other dufts, which blackens by the admiflion of air.
This fubftance, which is likewife produced from the
branches, pedicles and ribs of the leaves, has no perceptible
tafte, unlefs a little heat without any acrid fenfation. The
tree, however, it is affirmed, emits poifonous exhalations
fo exceeding ftrong, as to produce in boys who play about
it violent inflammations in different parts of the body— -effeft*
which, in others, have attended the handling of the wood.
They colleft the varniffi, by wounding the trunks of the
trees (generally thofe of the age of three years) with a few
notches, or gentle incifions; from which the liquor flowing
is received into veffels placed there for that purpofe: the in-
cifions being repeatedly continued in frefh places, till the
tree is left wholly without juice. It is then cut down to the
root, which quickly yielding a new offspring, is, at the end
of three years, again fubjeffed to a new incifion for the
colleftion of more varnifh.
Japan produces the nobleft and moll precious varniffi,
but in fo fmall a quantity, that it would not even fuffice for
their own ufe, without the affiftance of a more ignoble fpe.
cies brought from Siam, and termed Nam-Rak, which
ferves as a foundation to the other. The tree which furniffies
the inferior fort is the anacardium produced in the province
Corfama, and in the kingdom of Cambodia. The trunks
being perforated, and a tube inferted to receive it, the li-
quor is produced in fuch abundance as fuffices for ftaining
the utenfils of China, Tonquin, and Japan. Varniffi of
Japan, after being colle&ed from the tree, as above-de-
fcribed, is filtrated through a double fold of paper alrnoft
as thin as a fpider's web, and lingularly conllrufted for that
purpofe. The intention of this procefs is to cleanfe the
fubftance from all thick and heterogeneous particles. When
thoroughly cleaned, a little of the oil named Toi, exprcffed
from the fruit of the tree kiri, is mixed with it. It is then
put
DUM
put into wooden veffels, and carried through Japaft to be
fold. Both fpecies of varnifh, that of Japan and that of
Siam, emit a poifonous exhalation, which fwells the lips, an3
gives the head-ach ; for which reafon the artificers in put-
ting it on, bind their mouth and noftrils with a napkin. •
See Kaempfer’s Amoenitates Exoticae, p. 791.
Spurious Varnifh -Tree, the Arbor vernicifera fpuria fyl-
vejlris angujlijolia of Kaempfer, the Rhus fuccedanea of
Linnaeus, grows naturally in China and Japan, and is dif-
tinguifhed from the true varnifh-tree, which it greatly re-
fembles, chiefly by the narrownefs of the pinnae of the
leaves, and by the fize of the fruit, which is as large as a
cherry; whilft in the true varnifh-tree, the pinnae are
broader, and the fruit, which is altogether white, (another
circumftance of difcrimination) is about the bignefs only
of a pea. The true varnifh-tree, obferves Kaempfer, is
faid to be changed into this wild or fpurious kind, if planted
in a barren fpot, and its culture ncgle&ed. He adds, that
he has feen fome plants, the leaves of which flu&uated fo
remarkably betwixt both forts, that even the natives were at
a lofs whether they fhould, or fhould not, be reckoned of
the true kind. This tree emits its varnifh fo very fparingly,
that it is fcarce worth while to colleft it. The fruit of both
fpecies of varnifh tree, the true and the fpurious, being beat
and boiled, together with the berries of the fanders-tree,
and put hot under a prefs, leave a juice which the Japanefe
employ in making candles, as they do likewife what is ex-
prefTed from the berries of two fpecies of laurel, termed by
them Taab and Tfuns. Kaempferi Amcenitat. Exot. 794.
From the handling, or even breathing in the atmofphere
of other poifonous fpecies of fumach, effefts equally un-
pleafant are produced as thofe defcribed above. The ex-
halations, in particular, of Rhus radicans and Toxicodendrum ,
which, by the way, have no great refemblance to the fu-
machs, the leaves not being pinnated, but growing by threes,
as in trefoil, ( ternata ,) are faid to occafion fmall red fpots on
the fkin, not unlike thofe eruptions vulgarly known by the
name of St. Anthony’s Fire. The flighted touch of the leaves
produces
DUM
produces very violent itchings, which are fometimes followed
by an inflammation and fweliing. If the juice of any fpec.es
of poifon-tree is fiiffered to remain but tor a few minutes on
the flan, it occaflons puftules, which are fometimes miflaken
for the itch. The wood when burnt, emits a very noxious
fume, which isfaid to fuffocate animals that are expofed to it •
When expofed to the heat of the fun, the juice become
fo xelinous and clammy, that it proves a good bird-lime, and
w ufed with great fuccefs for that purpofe. A cataplafm
oi the newly extrafted juice of a fpec.es of poifon-tree,
mentioned by Hughes in his Natural Hiflory of Barbados’
applied to the feet, is faid to kill the vermin, called by the
vVeft-Indians chigers.
The Americans, it is faid, pretend to diftinguilh the
poifon-afh, (Rhus Vernix ) by the touch in the dark, from
its extreme coldnefs.
Fiom the Rhus Copallinumoi Linnaeus, the Rhus Virgini-
enuvi leatifci foliis of Ray, is produced Gum Copal, an ex.
cellent balfam, equal in goodnefs to that of Peru. The
animals which are wounded by hunters in Louifiana, Florida,
and Virginia, cure themfelves, we are told, by rubbing
againft the tree from which this balfam exudes, attrafted
thereto, probably, by its pleafing aromatic fmell.
The Natives of Louifiana and Florida toaft the fmall
leaves of Prinos glaher, termed by Catefby the true Cafline
or Caflena, as we do coffee, and drink the infufion of them
wTith much ceremony. This the Indians call the Liquor
ot Valour. It is an excellent diuretic; but when taken in
great quantity, or made too lirong, which, from their at-
tachment to this beverage, is frequently the cafe, excites a
kind of con vul lions, which are not produ&ive, however,-
of any ferious inconvenience.
Ihe bark, leaves, flowers and berries of the common
elder are uled in medicine. An infufion of the inner bark
in milk, wine, or water, is a gentle purgative; the leaves,
which aie ot a bitter tafle, are outwardly applied in fomen-
tations tor the piles. The flowers infufed in whey are bene,
ficiul in diforders of the Ikin, and afford a vinegar, which
BUM
is lefs hurtful to the ftomach than common vinegar. From
the berries, befides a rob and extraft, are prepared a fpirit,
a wine, and an oil, which promote urine, perfpiration, and
fweat. The whole plant has a difagreeable and almoft naufe-
ous fmell. The leaves and ftalks are lo bitter, that few ani-
mals will brouze upon them.
The juice of the dwarf elder, the fambucus ebulus of
botanifts, is recommended in dropfical cafes. The root is
bitter, fomewhat acrid and naufeous ; the inner bark of the
root is ftrongly purgative ; the pith, or internal fubllance,
is more aftringent than the reft of the plant ; the berries and
feeds are a gentle purge. The whole plant exhales a ftrong
and difagreeable odour ; and is, on that account, frequently-
placed round granaries, to drive away rats and other vermin.
The ever-gr'een caftine, otherwife called Paraguay, or
South-fea tea, Linnaeus has confounded with the Carolina
or Dahoon’ holly; though they are undoubtedly diftinft
This fpecies of caftine, which grows naturally in Caro-
lina and Virginia, is called yapon by the natives of thofe
countries. The berries are of a beautiful red colour, and as
they continue moll part of the winter upon the plants with-
out being touched by the birds, we may reafonably conclude
that they are poflefied of a poifonous quality, as few of the
wholefome innocent fruits efcape their depredations. The
Indians, however, have a great veneration lor this plant, and>
come in great numbers, at certain times of the year, to fetch'
away the leaves. On fuch o.cafions, their ufual cuftom,
fays Miller, is to make a fire upon the ground, and putting
on it a great kettle full ot water, they tluow in a large quan-
tity of yapon leaves; and, when the water has boiled fuffi-
ciently, they drink large draughts of the decoftion out of
the kettle, which feldom iails to aft as a powerful emetic.
In this manner, notwithftanding, they continue drinking
and vomiting for the fpace of three days, until they have-
fufficiently cleanfed themlelves ; they then gather every
one a bundle ol the Ihrub, and cairy it home with them.
In the operation of thefe leaves by vomiting, fay thofe *
who
v
D U R
Who have taffcd of them, there is no unCafy fenfatiort or
pain. The matter difcharged comes away in a full dream-
from the mouth without any violence, or fo muchasdif-
pofing the patient, if he may be called fo, to retch, or de-
cline his head. The Spaniards who live near the gold mines
in Peru, are frequently obliged to drink an infufiorr of the
herb paraguay, Which is generally fuppofed to be the ever-
green caffine, in order to moiden their bread. Without
this relief, they are liable to a fort of fuffocation, from the
ilrong metallic exhalations which are continually proceeding
from the mines.
In Paraguay, the Jefuits make a great revenue of the
leaves of a plant, which mod; authors believe to be the ever-
green caffine, called yapon by the North Americans. Thefe
leaves are imported into many countries by the name of
Paraguay or South-fea tea, and are drunk in infufion, as the
leaves of the China and Japan tea ; and hence the evergreen
caffine is generally known with us, by the name of the South-
fea or Paraguay tea.
DUPLICATI. The name of a clafs in Linnaeus’s Me-
ihodus Calycina, confiding of plants which have a double
ferianthium. The clafs is exemplified in mallow, and mod
of the plants of that tribe or family ; as lavatera, badard
mallow, cotton, Syrian mallow, hollyhock, marffi-mallow,
and Indian mallow (Urena). Thefe plants make part of the
clafs Monadelphia in the Sexual Method, and of the Na-
tural Order, Colunmifera, which fee.
DUPLICATUS fits, (from duplex , double) having the
corolla doubled, or, in other words, two feries or rows of
petals. The term is expreffive of the lead degree of pleni-
tude or luxuriance of which the petals are fufceptible, and
is exemplified in campanula with a nettle leal, and thorn
apple with a violet flower.
Thisfimpled dage of luxuriance is very common in flowers
with one petal.
DURATIO, Duration.
The divifion of vegetables into trees, and perennial and
annual herbs, is founded on the different duration of thefe
plants.
E F F
giants. Trees fubflft for feveral years, both by the rout and
{fern : perennial herbs lofe their Items during the winter, and
are renewed by the root in the following fpring: annuals
perform the changes of vegetation but once, and are perpe-
tuated in the feed. Striking as thefe differences are, Linnaeus
thinks the duration of plants lo fallacious, that he never em-
ploys it aS a fpecific difference. The reafon he affigns is
very pertinent. The duration of plants, fays he, is fre-
quently affe&ed by place or climate, and therefore ought not
to be regarded as an invariable circumffance proper for dis-
criminating the fpecies. In the Warmer climates, which
enjoy a perpetual fumrner, inofl of the plants are perennial,
and of the tree kind ; yet many of them, when removed
to our colder European climates, lofe their woody texture,
and become herbaceous and frequently annual. Of this the
ricinus, or tree palma chriffi, and marvel of Peru, are
familiar inflances.
Indian crefs, beet, fweet marjoram, and tree-mallow,
Which, with us, are annual, become, in very warm regions,
perennial and fhrubby. , 1
.Mi
EFf LORESCENTIA (from ejjlor'efco , to bloom); ,a
term expreflive of the precife time of the year and
month in which every plant fhews its firft {lowers.
Some plants flower twice a year, as is common be-
tween the tropics; others oftener, as the monthly rofe.
The former arc called by botanifts, bif'era ; the latter, mul-
iif-ra. The etymology of each is evident.
rI he time of flowering is determined by the degree of heat
which each fpecies requires; mezereon and fnow-drop pro-
duce their flowers in February ; primrofe in the beginning
of March ; the greater number of plants during the month
of May; corn, and other grain, in the beginning of June;
the vine, in the middle of the lame month ; feveral com-
pound flowers, in the months of July arid Augufl ; laftly,
S meadow-
£ P F
rhiracfow-faffron flowers' in the month ol October, and an-
nounces the fpeedy approach of winter.
Grafs of Parnaffus always flowers about the time of cut-
ting down the hay ; and in Sweden, the different fpecies of
thiflle, mountain-lettuce, fuccory, and balfam, feldom flower
till after the fummer folflice. The country-men even know,
as by a calendar, that the folflice is part, when thefe plants
begin to produce their flowers.
The temperature of the feafons has a mighty influence,
both in accelerating and retarding the flowering of plants.
All plants arc earlier in warm countries : hence fuch as are
cultivated out of their native foil never flower, till the
heat of the climate or fituation into which they are removed,
is equal to that under the influence of which they produced
flowers ill their own country. For this reafon, all exotics
from warm climates are later in this country than many
plants which it naturally produces.
In general, we may obfervc, that the plants of the coldeff
countries, and thofe produced on the mountains in all cli-
mates, being of equal temperature, flower about the fame
time : to wit, during our fpring in Europe.
Plants that grow betwixt the tropics, and thofe of tempe-
rate climates, flower during our fummer.
Plants of temperate climates fituated under the fame
parallel of latitude with certain parts of Europe, but re-
moved much farther to the Weft, fuch as Canada, Virginia,
and the Mifliffippi, do not produce flowers till autumn.
Plants of temperate climates in the oppofite hemifphere to
Europe, flower during our winter, which is the fummer ol
thofe regions.
Linnaeus, and after him A clan fort, have each given a
fkctch of a table of the different times in which the moft
common plants produce flowers at Upfal and Paris. Such
tables, or flower- calendars, however, are very uncertain,
and, to be ufeful, ought to be conftru&ed after the mofl
exaft observation*. The temperature of the feafon, as we
mentioned above, Tometimes retards, fometimes accelerates
the flowering of plants ; not' to mention that annual plants
a, ' flowex
E N S .
fio\ver late or early, according to the time in which the feeds
have been Town ; and that perennials, for the firft year, are
liable to the fame, variations.
ENNEANDRIA, (from ewm, nine, And dwg, a man or
hufbandj; the name of the ninth clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual
Syftem, confiftirig of plants which have hermaphrodite
flowers with nine ftamina or male organs.
The orders, or fecondary divifions, in this clafs are three,
being founded on the number of the ftyles, feed-buds, or
female organs. Laurus, tinus, and caffytha, have one ftyle;
rhubarb ( Rheum ,) has a triple ftigma or fummit, but fcarce
any ftyle; flowering-rufh has fix ftyles.
The genera juft enumerated are all that belong to the
clafs Enncsndria . The firft genus-, laurus , is very exten-
fivp; comprehending the ba)%tree, cinnamon-tree, camphire-
tree, benjamin-tree, faffafras-tree, and the avocado or avo-
gato pear.
EX SAT JE. (from enjis, 3 fword) 5 the name of the fix th
order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, con*
lifting of plants with fword-fhaped leaves^
Lift of the Genera contained in this Natural 'Order,
Linnaean Genera, JLngliJh Names „
! Antholyza ,
Callijia.
Commelina.
■Crocus, —
— Saffron.
Eriocaulon.
F err aria.
*
Gladiolus , — -
— Corn-flag.
Jris, —
Ixia .
— Iris, or Flower-de-luce,
Alorcca.
1
Fontederia.
Sjfyrincbiunu
•
Trade fcantia,
ENS
Linnasan Genera.
Tradefcantia, —
Englijh Names.
Virginian Spider-wort, or
Flower of a Day.
Wachendorfia.
Xyris.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
This order, which is very nearly allied to the graces and
liliaceous plants, furnifhes a very beautiful colleftion of
perennial herbs, which are of different heights, from one
inch to fifteen feet. A fpecies of commelina is annual.
The Roots, are tuberous, or flefhy, and garnifhcd with
fibres ; thofe of crocus, and two fpecies of iris, called by
Linnaeus Iris Xiphium and Sifyrinchium from genera of
Tournefort of the fame name, are bulbous. 1 he roots of
the laft fpecies confiif of two bulbs.
The Stems or fialks are fimple, and commonly flat, or
compreffed on the fides. Crocus has no Item above ground ;
the flowers being produced immediately from the root.
The Leaves are fimple, alternate, entire, fword-fhaped,
and, like the liliaceous plants, form at their origin a fheath
or glove, which, in the greateft number, is cleft through the
whole length, except at the bafe, where it is entire, and
embraces the Hem like a ring.
In Virginian fpider-wort, wachendorfia, pontederia, and
fifyrinchium, the fheath of the leaves is totally cleft. The
leaves of tuberous iris and crocus are not fword-fhaped,
but formed like a prifm with four prominent angles. Thofe
of bulbous iris, Virginian fpider-wort, and ins with a
double bulb, are femi-cylindrical. The leaves of commelina
are of an oval form.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite, and generally proceed
from the fummit of the fialks, dither fingly, as in iris ; in
an umbel, as crocus, Virginian fpider-wort, and commelina ;
in a fpike, as Sifyrinchium ; in a Corymbus, as in Ixia ; or in
a panicle, that is, loofe fpike, as in wachendorfia. In
Pontederia, they proceed from the angles of the leaves, ei-
thpf
E N S
ther fingly, or in an umbel. Vide Umbella, Spica,
Corymbus and Panicula.
Mod of thefe plants want the Perianthium. The flowers
burft from a common cover or fheath termed by Linnaeus,
Spatha, which, in this order, is frequently permanent.
Virginian fpider-wort and callifia, have a flower-cup of three
leaves. Eriecaulon has a common calyx confifting of fcales
laid over one another like tiles. The calyx in Xyris is hufky,
like that of the graffes.
The Petals are in number from one to fix ; in eriocau-
lon, the calyx and petals are placed under the feed-bud.
The feveral fpecies of commelina differ exceedingly in
the number of their petals : fome have two green, and four
coloured petals; fome four green, and but two coloured.
In many fpecies of iris, the bafe of the outer petals, that
are rolled back, is adorned with a fine foft downy beard,
which, in fome other fpecies, is fupplied by three mellifer-
ous points fituated externally at the bafe of the flower.
Commelina has three crofs-fhaped bodies in the middle of
the flower refembling the ftamina, but placed above them.
In IVacbendprJia, the nedlarium confifls of two hairs or
briftly appearances, which are placed on the infide of the
upper or higher petal.
The St amin A are generally three in number. Virginian
fpider-wort, and poniederia , have fix ftamina. The fila-
ments in eriocaulon, fifyrinchium, and terraria, are placed
upon the ftyle and feed-bud ; in Virginian fpider-wort, they
are covered with a fine beautiful down.
The Seed-bud is fometimes placed above the flower,
as in eriocaulon, wachendorfia, callifia, and commelina;
fometimes below it, as in iris, corn flag, ixia, and crocus.
The Style is generally fingle, and crowned with a triple
ftigma. Eriocaulon has three llender ftyles.
The Stigma in iris is vpry lingular , being large and
expanded into three leafy parts, that in colour and figure re-
ferable the petals, within which they are placed. This triple
ftigma is broad, rolled backwards, and parted in two at the
top of each leaf or divifion.
S 3
In
E’RI
i
In crocus, the Aigma is fawed on the edges, and twiftetj-
into a fpiral form.
The Seed-Vessel is a dry capfule, generally of an
oblong fhape, and opens at three valves difcovering the
fame number pf cells, each inclofing a quantity of rouudiih
feeds.
I hefe plants refemble the liliaceous in their powers and
fenfible qualities; very few of them, however, are ufed
in medicine.
1 hp root of the white florentine iris, commonly called
florentinp orrice, is defcribed by Lemery as pectoral. Out-
wardly it is ufed as fweet powder for the hair. The dyers,
perfumers, and confectioners, employ this root in their
feveral profelfions, to give a grateful fcent to their cloaths,
jperfumes, comfits, and the like.
Of the common iris is made a green colour or pigment
much ufed by the painters in miniature.
The roots of moll of the fpecies of ixia are eaten by the
inhabitants at the Cape of Good Hope, who reckon then}
very delicate food.
The flower of the Virginian fpider-wort is of very fhort
duration: hence the plant was named by Tournefort, Ephc*
ifierum , or the flower of a day.
Saffron is the chives or flamina of the crocus fativus. In
Hungary and Poland they eat it as a cordial, fometimes an
ounce or more at a time ; but taken in great quantities with
us, whether medicinally or for pleafure, it produces con*
vulfions, delirium, and even death.
EPIDERMIS. The fcarf-fkin, pr outer covering of
the bark of plants.
EPIPHYLLOSPRRM^E, (from t%i, upon, ov, a
leaf, and oore^1 fj.ee, a feed.) The name of a clafs in Hal*.
lerrs Natural Method, confifling of plants which hear their
feeds on the back pf the leaf. This clafs comprehends all
the fern s. Vide F I L I C E S ,
ERECTUSyfrr, an ereft flower, in oppofition to a nod-
ding, or drooping one.
ERISTjICI, (from egir, flrife) polemical or controver-
M
F E M
fial botaniRs fo termed by Linnasus ; fuchwerevTourn effort.,
Colet, and Chomel; Ray and Rivinus ; Dillenius and Ri-
vinus ; Linnaeus and Sigeibeck.
ESSENTIALIS eharafter. Vide Characteres.
EUNUCHI, eunuchs. Full flowers fo called, whichi
by multiplying the petals, exclude the ftamina or male or-
gans of generation altogether,, and thus render the feed
barren. Vide Luxctrians and Plenus/w,
F.
FACIES Externa, the port or habit of plants. Vide
Habitus and Characteres.
FACTITIUS Charadler. Vide Characteres.
FASCIA!' A planta (from fafcis, a bundle) plants fo
called, which confill of feveral Rems or Ralks growing clofe
together fo as to form a compafl bundle.
FASCICULUS (a diminutive from fafcis , a bundle) a
little bundle ; a mode of flowering, in which the flower-
Ralks are ereft, parallel, placed clofe to one another, and
raifed to the fame height ; as in fweet-william,
FAUX, the jaws or chaps. The gaping at the top of
the tube of a monopetalous flowrer. Ei/r Corolla.
FEMINEUS flos, a female flower. By this name Lin-
naeus and the SexualiRs denominate a flower which is fur-
nifhed with the piflillum or female organ of generation,
but wants the flamina or male organ.
Female flowers may be produced apart from the male,
either on the fame root, or on diRinft plants. Birch and
mulberry are examples of the firR cafe ; willow and poplar
of the fecond. Male and female flowers feparated on the
fame plant, conftitute the clafs Moncccia of Linnaeus ; fe-
parated on diRindl roots, the clals Dicuia f Vide MoNCE-
CIA y DlCECI A.
Fem I N A planta , a female plant, a plant which bears female
flowers only; oppofed to a male plant, which produces only
s -t maje
F I L
male flowers, and to an adrogynous one, which bears
flowers that are of both fexesr Vide jupra.
Female plants are produced from the fame feed with the
male, and arrange themfelves tinder the clafs Dicccia in
the Sexual Method.
FIGURA, Figure ; a property of natural bodies, from
which marks and diftinftive characters are frequently drawn.
Vide Characteres. Figure is more conflant than num-
ber, more variable than proportion and fituation.
The figure of the flower in the fame fpecies is more coiir
Jflant than that of the fruit: hence Linnaeus advifes to ar-
range under the fame genus, fuch plants as agree invariably
in- {he flower, that -is, in the calyx, petals and flam in a*
although the fruit or feed-yeffel fhould be very different. The
feed-veffels of the different fpecies of French honey- fu,ckle,
wild fenna, acacia, Syrian mallow, and fophora, are ex-
ceedingly diverfified in point of figure. Hence fome former
botanifls, who paul more attention to the parts of the fruit,
confidered many of thefe fpecies as diflinft genera, and
denominated them accordingly.
The figure of the feed-veflel is a very common fpecific
difference in the Sexual Method.
FILAMENTUM, (from filum, a thread) the lower,
fieri der, or thread-fliaped part of the ftamina, that ferves as
a foot-ftalk for elevating the anthers, and connecting them
with the vegetable. The term is equivalent to the ftamen
of Tournefort and other botanifls. With Linnaeus, Jiamen
is a general term, the two parts of which are, the filament
or tlnead, and the (, inthera or fummit. Vide Stamen &
Antiiera.
From the number of the filaments the firft thirteen
claffes in the Sexual Method arife: it is, therefore, unne-
ceffary to enlarge upon that circumftance in this place.
With refpeCt to figure, filaments are either {lender like a
hair, as in plantain ; flat, as in flar of Bethlehem ; wedge*-
fliapcd, as in meadow-rue; twifled like a ferew, as in hir-
t?l)a; awl-fhiiped, as in tulip: notched, as in many of the
lip-flowers ; or bent backwards, as in fuperb lily, The
filaments in fpider-wort and flower-of-a-day are beau-
tifully covered with a fine hairy down.
With refpefil to proportion, the filaments are either very
long, as in plantain ; very fhort, as in arrow-headed grafs ;
of equal lengths, as in moil flowers ; or irregular and un-
equal, as in the lip and crofs-fhaped flowers, which, from
this circumftance,'- conftitute the claffes Didynamia and
Tetr adynamia in Linnaeus’s Method.
The fituation of the filaments is generally oppofite to the
divifions of the calyx, and alternate with the petals. In
elaeagnus, and other flowers which want one of the covers,
the filaments are placed alternate with the divifions of the
remaining cover : whence I fhould be inclined to imagine
that fuch flowers want the calyx, not the petals, as Linnaeus
aflerts. In general it may be affirmed, that when the divi-
fions of the calyx are equal in number to the petals and
ffamina, the petals are alternate with the ffamina and flower-
cup : the ffamina are placed oppofite to 'the divifions of the
calyx, and to the valves or inclofures of the fruit, when
thefe correfpond in number, as fometimcs happens in the
natural order Caryophyllei ; and all the parts in queftion are
attached to the receptacle of the flowers. Again, if the
ffamina, in plants which have neither calyx nor petals, are
equal in number, and oppofite to the valves or inclofures of
the fruit, we may reafonably conclude that they are placed
upon the receptacle, as in the laftcafe. But if, on the other
hand, they are alternate with the valves, the inference is,
that they are attached, like the plants of the clafs Icofandria,
to the calyx.
In flowers that confifl of one petal, the flamina are gene-
rally inferted into its bafe. For this obfervation, we are
indebted to the minute and accurate refearches of Vaillant
and Pontedera, particularly the laft, who is faid to have
diirc&ed the flowers of two thpufand fpecics of plants, with
a view to eflablilh a general rule with refpeCl to the infertion
of the filaments of the ffamina. By attending to the rule
jufi mentioned, we can determine with exaflnefs, in doubt-
ful
FI L
*
M cafes, whether the flower confifls of one or more petals.
a is m this manner we pronounce with certainty the flowers*
of wood-forrel, and winter-green (trientalis) to confift of
only one petal, although the divifions cohere fo flightly at
the bafe as to be eafily miftaken for diftinft leaves.
There are, however, fome examples of flowers with one
petal that have the ftamina attached to the receptacle; fuch
are heath, American upright honey-fnckle, and fome other
plants which belong to the natural order Biconies. The fame
way be faid of the ftamina of cifTus, aloe and acacia.
In flowers that confift of more petals than one, the ftamina
are generally diftinft from the petals ; being attached either
to the calyx, as in the clafs Icofandria of Linnaeus, and the
natural orders Galycanthema and Calycijlora ; or to the recep-
tacle, as in the greater number. This rule, however, as
well as the foregoing, admits of exceptions. In fea-pink,
the filaments of the ftamina are inferted into the claws of
the petals, which are five in number. The fame appear-
ance is obferved in ftar-wort, which confifis of fix diftinft
petals; and in moft of the plants of the natural order
Caryophyllei, the ftamina are attached alternately to the claws
of the petals and the receptacle.
A fluking exception to the general rule has not yet beetr
mentioned. In fome plants, as birth-wort and orchis, the
ftamina are inferted, neither into the calyx, petals, nor re*
ceptacle, but into the pointal, or female organ of gene-
ration. Upon this fingular circumftance is founded the
clafs Gynandria in the Sexual Method, which, however,
contains many more genera than in ft rift propriety pertain
to it ; as paftion-flower, grevia, and fere w. tree, which have
no charafteriftic mark of this kind.
xii aflimilating the animal and vegetable kingdoms, Lin*
nasus dn ’'’guifhes the filaments by the name of the fperma-
dc veffels.
FILICES, (from Jtlutp, a thread,) ferns, one of the feven
families or natural iiibes into which the whole vegetable
kingdom is divided by Linnaius in his Philojopbia Botanica .
I hey arc defined to be plants which bear their flower and fruit
on
F I L
on the bafck of the leaf or ftalk, which, in this clafs of
imperfeft plants, arethefame. Vide Frons.
In the Sexual Syftem, the ferns conftitute the firft order
or fecondary divifion of the twenty-fourth clafs, Cryptoga-
piia : in Tournefort’s Method they are the fixteenth clafs ;
and in Ray’s the fourth under the name of Capillares. Hal-
ler denominates them Epiphyllofpermce , that is, plants that
bear their feed on the back of the leaf ; others term them
Acaules , becaufe they have properly no Hem.
Filices is likewife the name of the fifty-fifth order in
J-ipnaeus’s Fragments ot a Natural' Method, confifting of
plants, which, among others, have the general charadlef
juft mentioned,
Lift of (be Genera contained in this Natural Order .
SECTION I.
ferns, in which the farts of Fructification grow upon th$
Lcayes,
Linnaean Genera,
Engl if j Names,
Acrofi churn,
Adianthum , — - — •
Maiden-hair.
Afplenium , — •—
Spleen-wort, or milt-wafte.
Blechnurn.
\
Hemionitis , — «—
Mules- fern.
JJoetes.
Lonchitis , — - —
Rough fpleen-wort.
Polypodium , — : • —
Polypody..
Ptcris, — ar—
Brakes, or female fern.
Trichomanes,
SECT
ION II.
ferns , m which the Flowers
are borne upon Foot-falh that
oyer-top the Leaves .
Mar flea,
(Inoclea,
OphiogloJJhm,
F I L
Linnaean Genera,
Englijh Names ,
Ophiogloffum, —
— Adder’s-tongue.
Ofmunda, —
— Ofmund-royal, or flowerin
fern.
Pilularia, —
• — Pepper-grafs.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Natural Order.
Thefe plants, in figure, approach the more perfeft vege-
tables, being furnifhed, like them, with roots and leaves.
The Roots creep, and extend themfelves horizontally
under the earth, throwing out a number of very flender
fibres on all Tides.
The Stem in thefe plants is not to be difiinguifhed from
the common foot-flalk, or rather middle rib, of the leaves :
To that, in Hrift propriety, the greater number of ferps may
befaidtobe acaulcs, that is, to want the Hem altogether : in
plants of the fecond feftion, however, the middle rib, or a
ftalk proceeding from the root, overtops the leaves, and
forms a Idem, upon which the flowers are fupported.
The Leaves proceed either fingly, or in greater num-
bers, from the extremities of the branches of the main root.
They are winged, or hand-fhaped, in all the genera, except
in adder ’s-tongue, pepper-grals, and fome fpecies of fpleen-
wort.
The Flowers of the ferns, whatever be their nature,
are, in the greater number of genera, faflened, and, as it
were, glued to the back of the leaves ; in fome, they are
fupported upon a Hem or fialk, which rifes above the leaves,
and is either, as we faid above, a prolongation of their middle
rib, or iffues out of the centre of the plant, unconnected
with the leaves altogether. From thefe different modes of
flowering, arife the two fe&ions, or divifions of this Natural
Order.
The Stamina are placed apart from the feed-bud, or
female organ, in a genus termed by Adanfon, palma-flix :
in the other ferns, where we have been able to difeover the
flamina, they arc found within the fame covers with the
feed'
F I L
feed-bad. This principal part of the flower, however, haft
not been accurately or fatisfa&orily traced, except in a very
few genera, the chief of which are ifactes, pepper-grafs,
and marfilea. M. de Juflieu, who firft difcovered the
flowers of the two lafl genera, obferves, in his Memoir on
this fubjeft, delivered to the Royal Academy of Sciences*
in 1739, that their ftamina are anthers , or tops without fila-
ments ; that they are top-fhaped, and open above by a tranft-
verfe or broad furrow. They have only a fingle cavity,
from which iffues a fine duft, compofed of fimple, hard
globules, which do not open when put into water, as thofe
of perfeft plants.
M. Maratti, in 1760, employed his enquiries upon the
ftamina of thefe imperfeft plants, and is faid to have traced
them in a great many genera. His difcoveries, however, oft
this fubjeft, have not been generally received as authentic.
With refpeft to what are vulgarly called the feeds of ferns,
we have not yet been able to determine, with any degree of
precifion, whether they are indeed feeds, or of the nature
of ftamina. M. de Juflieu inclines to the latter opinion.
The Canadian fern bears at the origin of each divifion of
the leaves a number of berries, which being fown, produce
new plants in the fame manner as other feeds. In the Py-
renaean Mountains is produced a fmall fpecies of annual
Tern, which fows itfelf every year, and is termed by Tourne-
fort, filicula montana folio vurio. M. de Juflieu is of opinion,
that a ftrift attention to this plant might alone accurately
decide the queftion, which has been fo long agitated among
botanifts ; not whether the ferns are furnifhed with feeds,
{tor that few people are now difpofed to call in queftion) ;
but of what nature thefe feeds are, and where placed; whe-
ther the ftamina are fcparate from the female parts, on the
fame, or on different roots; or, whether thefe parts are
mingled together under the fame cover, or in the fame
heap or bundle of flowers, as fome obfervations of Dillc-
nius would lead us to imagine.
In fhort, all our refearches upon this fubjeft are mere
conje&ure; and men knew much more of thefe imperfcft
plants.
plants, who never lufpe&ed they were furnifiied with Hamirid
or feeds, than the moderns, who confining their enquiries
to thofe minute parts which generally elude the fight, have
entirely uegle&ed their port or habit ; although that only can
furnifh accurate diftinftive charaftew in this natural tribe
or family of plants.
Moft of the ferns have a heavy, difagreeable fniell ; they
are opening, and attenuating.
The true maiden-hair, or Capillaire of Montpelier, a
'well-known medicine, is the adiantum film coftandri of
Cafpar Bauhin, the capillus veneris verus of Gerard, the
adiantum capillus veneris of Linnaeus. It is a plant which
grows in France, Italy, and the Levant, upon old moift walls,
in wells, fountains, and the clefts of rockst The leaves,
which are almalt triangular, have a fragrant ftnell, and an
agreeable tafte, though {lightly aftringent and bitter. They
are much ufed in the countries which produce the plant
in fyrups, and in opening and diuretic decoftions.
Black maiden-hair, or oak {ern, the adiantum pulcberri-
rnum of Bauhin, the AJpletiium adiantum nigrum of Linnaeus,
is produced naturally in moft parts of England upon old
walls, and in fhady places, at the roots of trees and fhrubs.
1 he pedicles are black, and the pollen or dull upon the bach
of the leaves is of the colour of faftron.
As there has been no finall confufion in diftinguiflung the
feveral fpecies of maiden-hair ufed m medicine ; and as
fome, ignorant in botany, have erroneoufly fubftituted in their
place, the leaves of Polypody and Hart’s tongue, which
they do not, however, much referable, and even the root of
the former ; I thought it would not be improper in this place
to obferve, that the genuine fpecies of Capillaire are re*
dpced to fix : that of Montpelier, or adiantum Capillus Vena*
ns ; the black which has juft been deferibed ; the Triehomanes ,
or Englilh black, generally ufed with us for the firft fort ;
the true white, or ruta muraria ; Ceterach of the {hops,
and adiantum pedatum , which grows naturally in Canada
ami Virginia. All the forts, except the firft and laft, rank
under the genus Ajpkniunu . , ... ...
The
FLO
The Canada maiden-hair approaches neareft in quality to
that of Montpelier. The traders, we are told, pack up
their goods with it inflead of hay, when they are fent into
diftant countries, as France and England ; a circumftance
which renders this fern fo very common in Europe.
Ceterach, or common fpleen-wort, juft mentioned,
which, like other fpecies of the fame genus, grows naturally
on old walls, churches, and clefts of moift rocks, is termed
by the natives of Languedoc, where it is produced in great
abundance, golden locks, becaufe of its great refemblance
to hair, and its golden oolour. It is pe&oral, aperient, and
particularly adapted for difeafes of the fpleen.
The plants of the polypody kind ftrike their roots into
whatever they can lay hold of, whether ftone, earth or tree.
They were formerly believed to be particularly attached to
oak-trees ; but this is a miftake, as they are found much more
frequently on other trees. Polypody is prefcribed in medi-
cine, and efteeined a gentle purgative.
Ophiogloffum has only one leaf, Irom the middle of which
proceed one or two fpikes of flowers refembling a' ferpent’s
tongue; from which fancied fimilitude this genus of plants
has derived its name in both languages. The plant is vul-
nerary, particularly the leaves, when infufed in oil of
olives.
The root of the female fern, a fpecies of pteris, has a bitter
aftringent tafte, and enters into the compofition of fern-
ftone, a very powerful aftringent. In England, the afhes
of fern kneaded in water, have been fuceefsfully ufed in
bleaching linen, and fupplying the place of foap. The trivial
name aquilina , which Linnaeus gives to this fpecies of
filix, is derived from the figure of a tranfverfe fe£lion of
the root, which is faid to refcmble the Roman eagle.
Royal ofmund, a fpecies of flowering fern, is lefs bitter
and aflringent than the other ferns ; the pith of the root is
white, vulnerary, and ufed in decotlion, as are likewife the
bunches or clufters of llowers.
FLORESCENTIA (from florefco , to flourifh or bloom).
Iheatl of flowering, which Linnautis and the Sexualifts
compare
i' L 6
compare to the a£l of generation in animals ; as the ripening
of the fruit, in their judgment, refembles the birth.. VidH
Flos. , /
FLORIBUNDI (from florcre, to bloom.) The name'
of the feventh clafs in Linnaeus’s Method founded on the
calyx, confifting of plants that have a fimple perianthium,
into which are inferted the petals and {lamina. This clafs
comprehends the icoflandria of the Sexual Method, and the
two natural orders, Calycanthenus and Calyci flora, which fee.
FLORISTS, from Flora. By this name Linnaeus
terms a clafs of botanical writers, who enumerate the indi-
genous or native vegetables of any particular place or
country. The molt eminent of thefe enumerations, or, as
they are commonly called, Floras, are Ray’s and Hudfon’s
flora anglica; Linnaeus's flora fuecica and lapponica ; Haller’s,
Helvetica; Magnolius’s, monjpcliaca ; Gmelin's, Jibirica ;
Vaillant’s, pariflna; Ruppius’s, jenenfls \ and Hill’s flora
britanmea.
Thefe floras are arranged according to fome approved
fyftem, as Hudfon’s after that of Linnaeus, and contain •
the generic and fpecific differences of whatever method they
adopt. They are ufeful in conducing to the knowledge of
the curious plants in one’s country ; as they inftruft both
in the place of growth, the nature of the foil, the time of
flowering, and the duration of any particular plant in
queftion.
FLOS. The flower: by this term, former botanifls,
as Columna, Jungius, Ray, and Tournefort, e\*idently
meant the petals, or beautiful coloured leaves of the plant,
y/hich generally adhere to the feed-bud, or rudiment ol the
fruit. Vide ANTHUS.
Since the introduftion of the Sexual Method, the petals
have loft their importance, and are now only eonfidered as
a finer fort of cover, which is generally prefent, but not
effentially neccffary to the exiftence of a flower.
A flower then, in modern botany, is as different in mean-
ing from the fame term in former writers, as from the vulgar
acceptations of the word at this day. « The petals, the calyx,
nay.
FlO
nay, the threads or filaments of the ftamina may all be
wanting; yet it is a flower ftill, provided the anthers or
male organ, and the ftigma or fummit of the ftyle, the
female organ, can be traced, and that either immediately
in the neighbourhood of one another, as in mod plants ; on
different parts of the fame plant, as in the clafs Moncecicr,
or on different plants, raifed from the fame feed, as in
the clafs Dioscia. In this manner is to be underftood
the general principle with which the Sexual Method fets
out, that every vegetable is furnifhed with flower and fruit.
The effence of the flower, as the author immediately fub-
joins, confifis in the anthers and Jllgma , which conftitute a
flower, whether the covers, that is, the calyx and petals,
are prefent or not. Vide Principles ot the Sexual Method,
under the article An thera.
The general principle juft mentioned is extended by Lin-
naeus to thofe plants vulgarly called impeded; I mean the
ferns, moffes, mulhrooms, lichens and fea weed ; in mod
of which we have not been able to difcover any thing re-
fembling flower or fruit. As, however, in a few genera,
fomething like ftamina and feeds, have been difcovered; it is
probable that they are all furnifhed with fimilar parts, although
their minutenefs, or their fituation within the plant, may pre-
vent us from difcovering them, either by the naked eye, or
with the affiftance of glaffcs.
The flowers of pepper-grafs and marfilea, two of the fern
tribe, were difcovered by B. Juflieu, in 1739 ; thofe of
ifoetes by Linnaeus ; the ftamina of the fuci, a numerous
tribe of fea- weed, were difcovered by Reaumur, in 1711;
whofe obfervations on this curious fubject were confirmed
by Grifelini, in 1750. Micheli, in 1729, difcovered, as
he imagined, the ftamina ot the mulhrooms. The calyx,
petals, ftamina and pointal are properly parts of the flower;
the remaining parts ol the frudification pertaining only to
the fruit.
I'LOSCULOSI. The name of the twelfth clafs in
I ournefort s Method, confifling of compound flowers which
are compofed entirely of florets with hollow funnel-lhaped
T petals.
\
f OL
\
petals. The term is exemplified in burdock, thiftle, arti-
choke, blue-bottle, arid cudweed. To this clafs Tourne-
fort has added fcabious, teafel, and fome others, which re-
ferable the compound flowers in being contained within a
common calyx.
Moft of the plants in this clafs belong to the two firft or-
ders in the clafs Spigenejia of the Sexual Method. Vide Sy n -
CENESI A.
FLOSCULUS. A partial or Ieffer floret of an aggregate
flower. Vide Aggregatus flos.
FOLIATIO, (from folium , a leaf.) The curious man-
ner in which the leaves are wrapped or folded up in the buds.
This term in the latter editions of Linnaeus’s works is chang-
ed for Vernatio, which fee.
FOLIOLA. The lefler leaves or lobes, which, toge-
ther, conftitute a compound leaf. Vide infra.
FOLIUM. A leaf, defined to be a part of a plant ex-
tended into length and breadth in fuch a manner, as to have
one fide diftinguifhable from the other. This is Miller’s
definition; and is certainly more intelligible than that of
JLinnaeus, which denominates leaves the organs of motion,
or mufcles of the plant.
The leaves are not merely ornamental to plants ; they
ferve very ufeful purpofes, and make part of the organs of
vegetation.
The greater number of plants, particularly trees, are fur-
nifhed with leaves: in mufhrooms, and fhrubby horfe-tail,
they are totally wanting. Ludwig defines leaves to be fibrous
and cellular procefles of the plant, which are of various
figures, but generally extended into a plain, membranaceous
or fkinny fubflance. They are of a deeper green than the
foot-ftalks on which they ftand, and are formed hy the ex-
panfion of the veflels of the ftalk, among which, in feveral
leaves, the proper veflels are diftinguifhed by the particular
tafte, colour, and fmell of the liquors contained within
them.
By the expanfion of the velTels of the ftalk are produced
feveral ramifications, which crofting each other mutually,
4 form
F O L
form a kind of net, the mefhes or interftjces of which are
filled up with a tender cellular fubflance, called the pulp,
pith, or parenchyma. This pulpy fubflance is frequently
confumed by certain fmall infefts, whilfl the membranous
net remaining untouched exhibits the genuine fkeleton o£
the leaf.
The net in queffion is covered externally with an epidermis
or fcarf-fkin, which appears to be a continuation of the
fcarf-fkin of the flalk, and, perhaps, of that of the flem.
M. Defauffure, a judicious naturalift, has attempted to prove
that this fcarf-fkin, like that of the petals, is a true bark,
compofed itfelf of an epidermis and cortical net ; thefe
parts feem to be the organs of perfpiration, which ferve to
diffipate the fuperfluous juices.
The cortical net is furnifhed, principally on the lower fur-
face of the leaf, with a great number of fuckers or abfor-
bent veffels, deflined to imbibe the humidity of the air. The
upper furface, turned towards heaven, ferves as a defence
to the lower, which looks downward ; and this difpofition is
fo effential to the vegetable oeconomy, that, if a branch is
overturned in fuch a manner as to deftroy the natural direc-
tion of the leaves, they will, of themfelves, in a very lhort
time, refume their former pofition ; and that as often as the
branch is thus overturned.
Leaves then are ufeful and neceffary organs ; trees perifh,
when totally divefied of them. In general, plants flript of
any of their leaves, cannot fhoot vigoroufly; witnefs thofe
which have undergone the depredations of infefts ; witnefs,
likewife, the very common practice of (tripping off fome
of the leaves from plants, when we would fufpend their
growth, or diminifh the number of their fhoots. This me-
thod is fometimes obferved with corn and the efculent graffes ;
and, in cold years, is pra&ifed on fruit-trees and vines, to
render the fruit riper and better coloured : but in this cafe
it is proper to wait till the fruits have acquired their full
bulk, as the leaves contribute greatly to their growth, but
hinder, when too numerous, that exquifite rectifying of the
T % juices,
F O L
juices, which is fo neceffary to render them delicious and
vegetation ceafes, the organs of perfpiration and
infpiration become fuperfluous. Plants, therefore, are not
always adorned with leaves : they produce new ones every
year ; and every year the greater part are totally diverted of
them, and remain naked during the winter. Vide Fron-
DESCENTIA et DeFOLIATIO.
Having premifed thefe general obfervations refpedHng
the anatomy and ufe of the leaves, I proceed to confider the
external form and configuration of this ufeful and orna-
mental part of the plant, and to particularize the feveral
diftin&ions which are made by botanical writers on that fub-
jeft.
Of leaves, fome are primary, others acceffary; thefe
Iaft are the fiipulte and braflecc of Linmeus ; the firft of
which are a fet of fcales, generally placed at the origin of
the young footftalks for fupport : the latter accompany the
flowers, and differ in figure and colour from the proper
leaves of the plant. Vide Bractea and Stipu la.
In viewing the external appearance of leaves with re-
ference to vegetable arrangement, two things occur to be
confidered :
The Form of leaves, and their Determination.
By the form of leaves , I underftand their ftru&ure, and
external configuration. By their determination, every thing
refpetting leaves, which does not pertain to their form, but
to their difpofition on the plant.
Leaves, confidered with refpedl to their form, are divided
into Ample and compound.
- . . ; . . . . .1 . . ...
Simple Leaves.
Simple leaves are fuch whofe footrtalk is terminated by a
Angle expanfton; in other words, whofe divifions, however
deep, do not reach the middle rib. To underftand this, let
it be obferved, that the middle rib of every leaf is the prin-
cipal
palatable.
When
F O L
cipal prolongation of the footftalk, which, to form the
membranaceous expanfion called the leaf, runs out, as was
obferved above, into a number of ramifications, that inof-
culating and eroding each other mutually, form the cortical
net already deferibed. When thefe ramifications of the
footftalk are fo connefted as to form one entire expanfion,
the leaf is faid to be fimple ; but when the middle rib be-
comes, in fafft, a footftalk, and many different expanfions,
inftead of one, proceed from the common footftalk, the
leaf is faid to be compound. This will be further illuftrated
below.
Simple leaves are either
Round, folium orbiculatum ; as in rumex digynus.
Egg-fhaped, ovatum \ as in vaccinium myrtillus.
Oval or elliptic, ovale ; as in the rofe.
Wedge-fhaped, cuneifarme ; as in apium graveolens.
Oblong, oblongum, as in forrel and woolly ceraftium.
Lancet- fhaped, lanceolatum ; that is, tapering towards each
extremity, as in plantago lanceolata.
Equally broad every way, lineare ; as in rofemary, pine,
and the grades.
Chaffy and ever-green, aecrofum ; as in fir, yew, pine,
and cedar-trees.
Awl fhaped, fubulatum ; that is, gradually contraffing
towards the top, as in juniper, arenaria faxatilis, and jedum
rupejlre.
Ear fhaped, auriculatum ; that is, furnifhed with two ap-
pendages or ears at the bafe near the foot-ftalk, as in jun -
germannia ciliaris.
Heart-fhaped, cordatum ; as in lime-tree.
Kidney-fhaped, reniforme ; as in afarabacca, fea bind-
weed, campanula rotundijolia , and Jaxijraga granulata.
Arrow-lhaped, Jagittatum ; as in field bind-weed, and
common heath.
Halbert or fpear-fhaped, hajlatum\ as in bitter-fweet ;
and fcutellaria bajltfolia.
Parted halt-way down, fiffum.
Divided almoft to the midrib, lobatum.
T 3
( 4
From
F O L
From the number of divifions in either cafe, the leaves
are termed bifida, tri/da, biloba, triloba , &c.
Hand-fhaped, palmatum ; that is, refembling an open
palm or hand, a fan, or an umbrella. Thefe leaves have
very deep longitudinal divifions extending almofl to the bafe ;
fuch are thofe ot palma chrijli , palmetto or thatch, fome of the
ferns, and the true rhubarb, the rheum palmatum of Linnaeus.
The leaves of a fpecies of paflion-flower are fhaped like the
wings of a bat.
With refpeft to their tip or extremity, fimple leaves are,
Stumped, or feem bitten, truncatum ; as in the tulip-tree.
Terminated with tendrils, cirroftm ; as in fuperb lily.
Fhe margin or brim of the leaf runs out into rigid points
or thorns (folium fpinof urn) as in holly; oris furnifhed with
horizontal points of the confiftence of the leaf (folium
dentatum) as in dandelion, fpring-primrofe, and epilobium.
montanum. In vaccinium myrtillus, and arbutus alpina, it is
fawed (folium /erratum) ; that is, furnilhed with teeth, whofe
points look towards the tip or upper extremity of the leaf.
In primula farinofa, it is notched (crenatum) or cut into fmall
teeth, which are either fharp or round at the points, and do
not look to either extremity. In erica ciliaris, it is fringed
like an eye-lalh, ( ciliatum ), or guarded longitudinally by
parallel briftles. The upper part of the leaf has commonly
a fmoother furface than the lower ; it is befides of a deeper
green, and has its nerves and ramifications generally hollow ;
whilft the ribs of the lower furface are moll commonly pro-
minent. This rule, however, is not univerfal ; fome leaves /
have their ribs prominent above, and hollow below. Thefe
leaves are called by botaniffs, folia bullata ; that is, blifiered
leaves. Such are thofe of many fpecies of fage. Again,
the leaves of fucculent, bulbous, and feveral liliaceous
plants, have on neither fide, the prominent nerves or ribs
which are found on almofl: all the leaves of trees.
With refpeft to their furface, leaves are,
Cottony, or covered with a beautiful white down, folium
tomentofum ; as in cerajluun iomentofum, rafpberry, and the
greater part of plants that grow in the neighbourhood of the
fea.
Woolly,
F O L
Woolly, or foft like velvet, lanatum, as in iron-wort,
ledum villofum, and fome geraniums.
Hairy, pilofum ; as in cortuja and juncus pilofus.
Brillly, hifpidum ; as in turrit Is hirfuta.
Rough with knots, fcabrum ; and covered with pimples,
papulojum ; as in feveral of the fig-marigolds.
Prickly, ciculeatum ; as in fome of the thirties.
Covered with tranfparent points, punBatum ; as in St.
John’s wort.
Smooth, glahrinn ; as in bay.
Shining or glittering, nitidum; as in Canadian angelica,
and fome magnolias.
Wrinkled, rugo/um; as in fage.
Beautifully plaited, plication ; as in lady’s mantle.
Riling and falling in convexities towards the margin, un-
dulation ; as in oenothera mollijjima.
Covered with fimple, unbranched prolongations of the
footftaik, that extend from the bale to the tip, nervojum ;
as in cinnamon, carnphire, and fome of the plantains.
Covered with veins, or branched vellels, venojum ; as in
laurus nobilis , and moll plants.
Clammy, vifcidum ; as in Jeuecio vifcofus.
Beautifully coloured, coloration ; as in amaranthus trlcolar.
Naked, nudum ; that is, without any kind of hair or
pubelcence.
Ray, and after him Lirrtiaeus, has dirtinguifhed a natural
family of plants, by the name of afperijolice ; that is, plants
whole leaves arc rough to the touch.
With refpetl to t..eir fubllance, or general port, leaves are,
Cylindrical, teres ; as in allium v 'tneale, and oleraceum .
Succulent, as in the aloes.
Sword-lhaped, as in iris.
Shaped like a Perfian feymitar, acinacijorme ; as in fome of
the fig-marigolds, fome of which are likewile hatchet and
tongue-lhaped.
Two-edged, anccps ; as in Jifyrinchium.
Keel-lhaped on the under lurlacc, carinatum; as in crinum
njiaticum. .
T 4
Compound
F O L
Compound Leaves.
Compound leaves are fuch whofe footflalk is terminated
by feveral expanfions ; in other words, whofe divifions ex-
tend to the common footflalk, which not running1 into the
membranaceous part of the leaf, fupports the feveral lobes
or leffer leaves, called folio! a, of which the compound
leaf confifls.
Thefey^/LAz or lobes are, themfelves, fmall fimple leaves,
and, like them, vary in their form, according to tide diflinc-
tions already effahl fhed. Like them, alfo, they are fome-
times furnilhed with fhort footftalks, (folium petiolatum) ;
fometimes feated upon the middle rib without any proper
footflalk, ( folium fejjile.) Vide infra.
In compound leaves, the produftion of the bafe of the
leaf to which the leffer leaves adhere is by botanifls called
cojia, the rib. The fame term is ufed forthe principal pro-
longation of the footflalk in fimple leaves. This prolonga-
tion in each of the lobes of a compound leaf is by fomc
denominated a nerve; by others, lefs properly, a vein.
The nerve is either moll confpicuous in the middle of the
leaf, and then it is likewife fometimes called cofla, the rib ;
or it is divided at its entrance into the membranaceous part ot
the leaf, into two, three, five, feven, or more parts.
As fludents of botany are frequently at a lofs to know
compound leaves by fight, and fometimes apt to miflake a
common footflalk for a branch, it is proper to obferve, that
in the angle which they form in iffuing from the Hems and
branches, the footftalks of the leaves are flat, if not hollow-
ed ; fo that they prefent two furfaces, a front and a back ;
the former, as we have faid, hollow or flat, the latter, con-
vex : whereas flems and branches are univerfally alike on
both fides, being either both round, both flat, or both angu-
lar.
Again, buds are never obferved in the angles formed by
the lobes of a compound leaf with the foot-flalk : they iffue
from the angle which the whole leaf makes with the branch
or Item, Laflly, the branches in woody plants continue after
the
FOL
the leaves are fallen. The common footftalk of a compound
leaf, however much it may refemble a branch in appearance,
may always be certainly diftinguifhed by this circumftance,
that it falls off with the leaves which it fupports.
Compound leaves are divided into compound properly fo
called ; leaves twice compounded ; and leaves more than
twice compounded. Each divifion admits of a variety of
modifications, which give rife to as great a variety of terms.
A compound leaf properly fo called, folium co?npoftium ,
is only once compounded, and admits of the following
varieties.
A finger-fhaped leaf, digitafum, is properly a modification
of a hand-fhaped one, with this difference, that the divifions,
which refemble fingers, are diftin6l, and extend to the ex-
tremity or top of the footftalk on which they are collected
in rays. Lupin, horfe-chefnut, Ethiopian fourgourd, and
filk cotton-tree, furnilh examples. From the number of
fingers or leaves thus collefted, other terms have been in-
vented. When two, (he leaf is termed binatum ; when
three, ternatum, from the numerals, two and three, com-
pounded with the Latin verb, fignifying to grow. Some-
times too, the fingers in queftion are feated immediately on
the top of the footftalk; fometimes, as in trefoil, each finger
is furnifhed with a fmall proper footftalk.
A winged or pinnated leaf, pinnatum , is compofed of a
number of fmaller leaves arranged like wings along the
fides of a common footftalk. In the former fpecies of
compound leaves, the lobes are attached to the fum-
mit of the footftalk; in this, the common footftalk is
prolonged, becomes a kind of middle rib, and receives the
lobes on both fides of it. Thefe lobes or lefler leaves are
diftinft, and have generally fmall partial footilalks, by which
they are attached to the common footftalk or middle rib.
The term is commonly appropriated to leguminous plants,
as the acacias and moft of the butterfly-fhaped flowers, and
admits of confiderable varieties.
I he lobes of a winged leaf are fometimes opp- fte, s in
fumachj fometimes alternate, as in Greek valerian. Com.-
FOL
c
This fpecies of leaf was formerly termed umbilicated, from
a fmall cavity like a navel, that is formed on the upper fide,
immediately oppofiteto the infertion of the footflalk.
A running-leaf, decurrens, adheres clofely to the ffalk as
if glued to it, from the bafe to the middle, the upper half
remaining detached and free ; in other words, this fort of
leaf extends itfelf downwards along the item, beyond its
proper termination. It is exemplified in thiflle, verbaf-
curn, and globe flower.
A leaf is faid to embrace the hem, amplexicaule , when by
its bafe it entirely furrounds it tranfverfely ; as in moth-mul-
lein, and black henbane. Thefe leaves are generally heart
and arrow-fhaped.
A perforated leaf, folium perfoliatum, differs from the
forrper term, in that the perforating ffalk or branch does not
touch the margin, but approaches the center of the leaf. It
is exemplified in perforated uvularia, and round-leaved
bupleurum.
Two oppofite leaves cohering at their bafe, fo as to form
one body embracing the ffalk, are termed by Linnaeus folia
connata. Many fpecies of honey-fuckle and hemp-agrimony
furnifh proper examples.
A glove -like leaf, folium vaginans , has the bafe formed
into a tube or cylinder, which embraces the ffalk like a
fheath or glove-; as in corn, grafs, and many liliaceous
plants.
Situation regards the refpeftive pofition of the leaves be-
tween themfelves. In this rel'peft leaves are
Alternate, when they come out fingly, and are ranged
gradually upon both fides of the Ifem, as in antirrhinum cym~
balaria ; oppofite, when they come out in pairs, facing
each other ; the reverfe of the former.
In moft plants with oppofite leaves, each pair is croffed bv
that immediately above or below it, lo that the leaves point
four different ways ; thus, if one pair hands eait and welt,
the one immediately below it hands north and fouth, and
croflesthe former at right angles; the third pair erodes the
fecond.
FOL
fecond, and fo on alternately, till all the pairs are completed.
In this way are arranged the leaves of myrtle, jeflamine,
rocket, and feveral others.
Placed in whorls or rings, verticillata folia , when more
than two leaves furround the Hem. The different modifica-
tions of this term are derived from the number of leaves of
■which the ring confifls; folia terna, when three, as in olean-
der ; quaterna, four, as in fedum verticillatu'm ; quina , five ;
Jena, fix, as in galium fpurium.
Starry leaves, fellata, a modification of the former term:
when four, fix or more leaves are fo placed around the Item
as to refemble a ftar, as in wood-roof and galium.
Scattered, fparfa, when they are difpofed without any re-
gular order ; as in feveral fpecies of lily.
Crowded, or difpofed in cluflcrs, conjerta, when they
Come out from the tides of the branches in great numbers,
and are placed fo clofely together, that it is not eafy to dif-
cover their exaft fituation, as in toad-flax, and antirrhinum
monfpeffulanum .
Laid over one another like tiles or fifh-fcales, imhricata ,
as in tome fpecies of faxifrage.
Placed in bundles, fafciculata , when many leaves pro-
ceed from the fame point, as in the larch tree, and fome
pines.
Ranged along two tides of the branches only, dijlicha , as
in the fir-tree.
With refpeft todireflion, leaves are,
Oblique, obliqua, when the bate looks to the fky, and
the tip to the horizon, as in knee-holly, Perfian fritillaria
and protea.
Bent inwards, infexa, when they are bowed or turned
upwards towards the plant.
Laid clofc to the Item, adprefja.
Upright, ercfla, nearly perpendicular; in other words,
when they form an extremely fmall angle with the ftem.
Spreading, patentia , when they recede from the ftem, yet
fo as to form an acute angle with it.
Horizontal,
TO L
Horizontal, horizontals, or paientijjlma , when they {land
at right angles with the flem.
Reclined, rechnata et reflexa , when they are bowed down-
wards in fuch a manner that the bafe is higher than the tip
or fummit*
Rolled back, revoluta, when the fummit or tip is rolled
inwards.
Depending, dependents, when they point with their fum-
mits to the earth.
A rooting leaf, folium radlcans is one, which being
planted, ftrikes root, and vegetates. Such are the flelhy
folid leaves of feveral liliaceous plants, as the aloe and fea-
onion.
A floating leaf, natans , lies or floats on the furface of
the water, as in the water-lily and pond-weed.
A drowned or funk leaf, demerfum, is that which is placed
below the furface of the water, as in the fea-weed.
In moft fpecies of rufcus, or butcher’s broom, the flowers
grow upon different parts of the leaves; on the middle of
the upper furface in rufcus aculeatus et fexuofus; on the
middle oi the under fide in rufcus hypophyllutn et hypoglojjum ;
in which lalt the flowers ilTue from between the main leaf,
and a fmaller one refembling a tongue, which is placed near
the middle of the under furface of the former. In rujcus
androgynus , the flowers proceed from the margin or
brim of the leaves.
The leaves furnifh very elegant and natural marks
in difcriminating the fpecies of plants. In no part,
indeed, is nature more various than in the ftrufiure of
the leaves, the very numerous fpecies of which ought,
therefore, to be carefully fludied by the beginning botanifl.
Ray, Linnaeus, Royen, and other eminent botanifis, have
borrowed the greater part ot their fpecific names, as well as
characters, from this part of the plant.
The oppofition and alternation of the leaves furnifh cha-
racters which are generally conflant, that is, found to obtain
in all the plants of the fame genus, or even of the fame
natural order.
In
FOL
In euphorbia, rock-rofe, American viburnum, calves
fnout, lily and French willow-herb, thefe characters ferve
to diftinguifh the fpecies ; in fome of which the leaves are
oppofite, or placed two by two ; in others alternate.
In the different fpecies of jeffamine, fpeedwell and borage,
the lower leaves at the branches are oppofite; the upper
leaves at the flowers, alternate.
Pond-weed, and a fpecies of cinquefoil, have the lower
leaves alternate; the upper ones at the branches, oppofite.
In oleander, the lower leaves are oppofite ; the upper
ones grow by threes, the loweft modification of leaves
placed in a whorl or ring (folia verticiJlata). Fide Supra.
In butcher’s broom, the lower leaves grow by threes; the
upper ones are alternate: the branches have the fame
fituation.
In a fpecies of calve’s fnout, and tick feeded fun-flower,
coreopfis, the lower leaves grow by fours ; the upper ones
are alternate.
The natural fituation of the leaves in plants that are much-
branched, Linnaeus thinks is beft concluded from the radical
or bottom leaves.
Oppofite and compound leaves are often fubjeCt to luxu*-
riance in the fame fpecies, and hence give rife to considerable
varieties, which muff, in all cafes, be carefully diftinguifhed
from the fpecies.
In fome fpecies of lyftmachia and pimpernel, the leaves,
which are generally oppofite, grow occafionally by threes,
fours, or fives.
A fpecies of purple loofe-firife has fometimes three leaves
growing round the ftalk.
As thefe, however, are but accidental varieties, and the
characters in queftion are not permanent, but fubjeft
to vary when the plant is propagated from feed, we
Should be careful, in all fuch inftanccs, not to load or in-
cumber any genus of plants with an unneceffary multipli-
cation of fpecies, when the characters are not fufficiently
conflant to entitle any particular plant to that appellation.
"When thefe varieties happen in plants with oppofite leaves,
the
F O L
the ftalk, From being fquare, becomes furnifhed with many
fides, as of fix in the laft inftance.
Again, finger-fhaped leaves, of which there are many
different modes, occafionallv gain an addition of one or two
leaves in the fame fpecies, as in fome trefoils.
Curled leaves, folia crifpa , which are a frequent variety,
Linnaeus denominates a fort of monftrous production, and
compares them to the prodigious multiplication of the petals
in full flowers. Without doubt, no genuine fpecies of
plants has curled leaves, the appearance being accidental
and inconflant : yet botanifts, till the time of Linnaeus,
not attending to this circumftance, have confidered asdiftinfl
fpecies, many plants in which the fuppofed chara&er of the
fpecies is but occafionally prefent. To fay truth, Linnaeus’s
greateft merit confills in the excellent rules he has laid down
for eftablifhing the fpecies and varieties, particularly the
latter, which he found involved in one undiftinguifhed chaos,
but has now happily reduced into the moll perfect fymmetry
and order-
The curled leaves, juft mentioned, are to be found in
fome fpecies of mallow, dock, nipplewort, hart’s-tongue,
endive, and baftard rocket.
In tanfy, feverfew, bafil, and mint, when the leaves are
curled, their fcent is confiderably heightened.
We explained above the nature of a bladdery or bliftered
leaf, by botanifts termed folium bullatum. The warted leaf,
folium verrucofum , is a fpecies of the former ; and, both
feem to be incidental varieties, produced from the luxuriance
of a wrinkled leaf, folium rugofum, as curled leaves are a
preternatural extenfion of an undulating or waved one.
Inftances of bladdery and warted leaves may be feen in
fome fpecies of bafil, brafiica and lettuce.
In a fpecies of foapwort, teimed by Miller faponaria hy~
brida , and by Linnaeus faponaria concava avglicana , the leaves
are generally hollowed like a fpoon, or ladle. Vide Caryo-
ph Y L lei in fine.
In fome fpecies of cow-parfnep, water, hore-hound, braf-
fica, elder, and valerian, the leaves are incidentally found
to
FRA
to vary from broad-leaved to narrow-leaved ; but this variety
is lefs frequent.
Such are the principal varieties to which leaves are inci-
dent in their form and dru&ure. I conclude this article*
with obferving, that in the enumeration of terms expreffive
of the form and configuration of the leaves, I have purpofely
avoided mentioning fuch whofe meaning is fufficiently ob-^
vious, without any laboured elucidation. The reader will
obferve too, that I feldom offer an explanation, without ac-
, companying it with as familiar an example as the nature of
the thing will admit. Without an illuftration of this kind,
every fuch explanation mud be inadequate and unfatisfa£lory;
and yet, Linnaeus has in very few inftances favoured us with
any : nor have his latinized tranflators, Lee and Berkenhout,
difcovered any vehement inclination to remove the thick
cloud, which dill reffs on every part of this delightful
fcience. — In affimilating the vegetable and animal kingdoms,
Linnaeus denominates leaves, the lungs of plants.
FOLICULUS, (diminutive from follis, a leather bag);
a fpecies of feed-veffel, generally confiding of one valve,
fynonymous to conceptaculum, and fubdituted for it in the
later editions of Linnaeus's works* Vide Conceptacu-
lum.
Folliculi are likewife defined by the fame author to
be fmall glandular veffels didended with air, which appear
on the lurface of fome plants; as at the root of water-milfoil,
and on the leaves of aldrovanda. In the lormer, the veffels
in quedion are roundilh, and furnilhed with an appearance
like two horns ; in the latter, pot-lhaped and femi-circular.
FRAGMENTA Mcthodi Naturalis, the Fragments of a
Natural Method; Linnaeus’s title of a plan or Iketch of a
natural arrangement of plants, which he has barely traced
in the Pbilofsphia Botanica and Genera Plant arum. The Au-
thor of the prefent work has the honour of having been
the firJt who attempted to complete the draught of which
only the outline had Keen furnilhed by the'great Mailer; his
Defcriptions of the habit and dru&ure, virtues, fenlible qua-
lities and (Economical ufes of the plants which compofe the
leveral Natural Orders of Linnaeus having been fubmitted by
u him
FRO
him to the public in the firft edition of the Botanical Dic-
tionary, publifhed in 1770, in precifdy the fame form in
which they now appear. Linnasus’a own Lettures on the
fubjeft, from the notes of Gifeke and Fabricius, two of his
pupils, were not given to the world till a longtime after *.
FREQUENS Plants, a plant fo termed by Linnaeus,
which grows fpontaneoully and copioudy in a proper foil.
The term is fynonymous to vulgaris planta of the fame author.
FRIGIDtE Plant as, from frigus, cold; plants that are
natives of cold climates. Such are thofe of the Alps, Siberia,
Canada, Germany, Holland, England, and France to the
northward of Paris.
Thefe plants, fays Linnaeus, fcarce bear a degree of heat
that is as 30 on a fcale in which 0 is the freezing point, and
100 the heat of boiling water. In excefhve heats, they
firft prove luxuriant, then turn feeble and die.
FRONDESCENTIA, (from frnns , the leaf of a tree,) a
term expredive of the precife time of the year and month
in which each fpecies of plants unfolds its firft leaves.
All plants produce new leaves every year; but all do not
renew them at the fame time. Among woody plants, the
elder, and molt of the honey -fuckles; among perennial
herbs, crocus and tulip, are the firft that pulh or expand
their leaves. The time of fowing the feed .decides with re-
fpeft to annuals. The oak and afh are conftantly the lateft
in pufhing their leaves: the greateft number unfold them in
fpring * the moffcs and firs in winter. Thefe ftriking diffe-
rences, with refpedl to fo capital a circumftance in plants as
that of unfolding their leaves, feem to indicate that each
fpecies of plant has a temperature proper or peculiar to, it-
felf, and requires a certain degree of heat to extricate the
leaves from their buds, and produce the appearance in quef-
tion.
This temperature, however, :s not fo conftant as, to a.
fuperficial obfeyver, it may appear to be. Among plants-
of the fame fpecies, there are fome more early than others;
whether that circumftance depends, as it moft commonly
* Iu 1792.— See more upon this fubjeft in the Preface.
o
does.
t R O
does, on the nature of the plants, or is owing to differences in
heat, expofure, and foil. In general, it may be affirmed,
that fmall and young trees are always earlier than larger or
old ones.
The pufhing of the leaves is likewife accelerated or re-
tarded according to the temperature of the feafon; that is,
according as the fun is fooner or later in difpenfing that
certain degree of heat which is fuitable to each fpecies.
Till very lately the time in which plants renew or unfold
their leaves, was confidered as an abfolute fixed term or limit,
happening every year, nearly at the fame time, in every
climate. Linnaeus is the only one who has paid proper at-
tention to this curious fubjeft. His deflgn in publifhing the
obfervations which he had made in eighteen provinces of
Sweden, fituated betwixt the fixtieth and feventieth degrees
of north latitude, during the three fucceffive years, 17.50,
1751 and 1752, was merely to difcover what trees begin to
open their buds and unfold their leaves, at the moft proper
time for fowing of barley.
The birch-tree appeared to him the moft proper indication
for this purpofe; and he concludes, that in every province
in Europe, there may be found trees, in default of the birch,
that will, in the like manner, indicate the proper time for
fowing grain and efculent herbs. Thefe obfervations, how-
ever, do not perfeftly anfwer the purpofe for which they
were made, as the birch, and every other fimilar tree, can
only indicate the paft or prefent, not the future; which, by
the way, is the only thing importing the hufbandman to
know, that he may have time to prepare the ground and fow
the feed ; befides, the fpecies birch, like moft other trees,
has individuals, which are three or fou^ weeks later than the
reft ; fo that if we have not an opportunity of feeing more
than one tree, we cannot poflibly divine whether it is the
lateft or earlieft of its fpecies, and thus may often run the
rilk of delaying to fow the feed a whole month beyond its
proper time.
In Ihort, to be able to draw any certain conclufions, with
refped to the time in which the different plants of different
v 2 climates
FRU
climates unfold their leaves, and to reduce their apparent
variations to fixed and precife rules, we mull
I. Obferve the different times in which different indivi-
duals of the fame fpecies unfold their leaves ; and thence draw
the mean times betwixt the earlieft and latefl.
II. Obferve, by a thermometer, the difference of tem-
perature in the early and iate years.
III. Draw me n refults of the degrees of heat obferved
every month an^l every day, for a fufficient number of
years.
IV. Obferve the days in which the frofts begin to ceafe,
and' thofe in which there are ten degrees of heat, even
during the night. Thefe are the times in which vegetation,
formerly clogged, if not altogether ftopt, begins to make
progrefs, and to continue without interruption.
Laflly, From the extreme produfls of each of thefe ob-
fervations, we mull drawn mean refults ; as without fuch
precaution, nothing certain can be obtained in enquiries of
this kind.
For the application of thefe obfervations, the reader is
referred to the ingenious M. Adah Ton’s Families des Plantes,
a book which for variety of botanical knowledge, exceeds
any hitherto publifhed.
FRONDOSUS flos. Vide Prolifer ftos.
FRONS, is defined by Linnams to be the trunk of the
palms and ferns, in which the leaves are confounded with
the Hem and branches, and frequently with the flower and
fruit. The term, indeed, Teems to import the union of a
leaf and a branch; and that the pretended trunk in queflion
is really a compound leaf, appears from this circumflance,
that it has plainly two Tides, which are different in figure and
colour ; whereas all the parts of a real trunk or Item are per-
ieflly fimilar.
The leaves of the ferns and palms are generally winged.
Tire bafe of the foot-flalk, or that part which has no pinna or
leffer leaves proceeding from it, conllitutes, according to
Linnams, another trunk, which he denominates^?//^.
FRUCTESCENTIA, (from fruftus, fruit,) comprehends
the
FRU
the precife time in which, after the fall of the flowers, the
fruits arrive at maturity, and difperfe their feeds.
In general, plants which flower in fpring, ripen their
fruits in fummer, as rye ; tkofe which flower in fummer,
have their fruits ripe in autumn, as the vine; the fruit of
autumnal flowers ripens in winter, or the following fpring,
if kept in a flove, or otherwife defended from exceflive
frofls. Thefe f rolls, fays M. Adanfon, are frequently fo
pernicious and violent as to deflroy the greateft part of the
perennial plants of Virginia and Mifliffippi that are culti-
vated in France, even before they have exhibited their fruit.
The plants which flower during our winter, fuch as thofe of
the Cape of Good Hope, ripen their fruit in fpring in our
ftoves.
The time in which plants ripen their fruit, combined with
that in which they germinate and unfold their leaves, gives
the entire fpace or duration of their life, which, in the
fame fpecies, is proportionably fhort or long, according to
' the greater or lefs intenfity of heat of the climate, in which
they are cultivated.
In general, it appears, that if the heat is equal and unin-
terrupted, the time betwixt the germinating or fprouting and
flowering of annual plants, is equal to the interval betwixt
their flowering and the maturation of their fruits, or even
the total deftruflion of the whole plant.
In Senegal and the other burning climates, an annual
plant generally lives as long before as after flowering.
In temperate climates, as France and England, plants
which rife in fpring and flower before the month of June,
live a little longer before than after flowering ; fuch as flower
in fummer, as barley and oat, which flower in June, live as
long before as after ; while the later plants, which do not
rife till autumn, live longer after flowering than before.
Thefe faffs, which are undoubted, prove the very great
efficacy of heat in operating the vegetation of plants. In
effeft, it is in fummei, when the heat is moll equal, that the
life of plants is equally divided into two parts; whereas in
fpring and autumn, when the heat is more unequal, it is cut
U 3
or
, I
F R U
or divided unequally : the plants of the fpring feafon, which
is colder in the beginning, live, as we have faid, longer
before flowering than after, when the heat is more intenfe :
and, on the contrary, the plants of autumn, which is
warmer in its beginning, live a fhorter time before than after
flowering, when the heat becomes every day lefs, and con-
fe.juently retards the maturation of the fruit.
Thefe obfervations are only to be underftoo.d of herba-
ceous vegetables, and thofe chiefly annual. Among trees,
fome do not renew their leaves till a little before, and fome-
times not till after, they have produced flowers ; fo that
there is a much greater interval between their flowering and
the maturation of their fruit, than between the former and
the unfolding of their leaves, which, in trees, may be con-
fidered as equivalent to the germination or fprouting of the
feed in annuals. The maturation of the fruit in trees is
never accomplilhed, while they abound in fap, and produce
new wood ; for this reafon, when wy would accelerate the
bearing of fruit-trees, we generally ftrip off a part of their
leaves, which dimimfhes the motion of the fap, and thus
removes the obftruttion which retarded the ripening of the
fruit. Vide Folium.
FRUCTIFICATIQ, (from frudlus, fruit, and facia, to
make.) Under this name Linnaeus comprehends the flower
and the fruit, which, according to the Sexualifts, are con,
netted in the fame manner as generation and birth in animals.
In fatt, although the fruit does not fwell and ripen till after
the flower is fallen, yet it feems now to be generally allowed,
that its firff beginning or rudiment is in the flower.
Fruttification is defined to be a temporary part of plants
appropriated to generation, terminating the old vegetable
and beginning the new. The parts of fruttification are, by
Linnaeus, reckoned feven : viz.
The calyx, emp.alement, or flower-cup.
T..e corolla, or petals.
The ftamina, threads, chives, or male organs,,
The piflillum, pointal, or female organ,
The pericarpium, or feed-vclfel.
The feeds.
The
PRU
The receptacle or bafe, upon which all the other parts are
feated.
The four firft are properly parts of the flower; the three
laft, of the fruit. The germen or feed-bud conne&s them
together. This is properly part of the flower, as being the
bafe of thepiftillum ; yet as, in procefs of time, it becomes
the feed-veffel, it is generally confidered as a part of the
fruit : and hence, if the perianthium or flower-cup furrounds
it alone, it is called a perianthium of the fruit.
The effence of every vegetable, fays Linnaeus, confifts in
the fruftification^ the effence of the falsification confifts
in the flower and fruit.
The various aphorifms eftablifhed by modern bo.tanifts
with rcfpeft to the importance of the parts of fru&ification
in vegetable arrangement, are delivered in feveral parts of
this work ; particularly under the articles C lassjs, Genus
and Characteres. The following fall properly enough
to be eftablifhed in this place.
I. The primary difpofition or arrangement of vegetables
ought, with due reftri6iions, to be derived from the parts of
falsification. Former botanifts urged the infufficiency of
thefe parts to ferve as a foundation for the claffes and genera j
becaufe* perhaps, they were not all fo accurately known as
at prefent : and, even with all our fuperior knowledge, we
are often at a lofs in afcertaining feveral genera of plants*
without calling in the afliftance of parts unconne&ed with
the fru&ification.
By a rigid attention. to the aphorifin juft mentioned, Lin-
naeus has converted into fpecies many genera of Tournefort,
Dillenius, Boerhaave, Ruppius, Vaillant, Micheli, and
Gmelin, which are not founded upon the parts of frutfi-
jication alone.
The following genera of Tourn,efort, among many others,
furnilh examples.
Purple bird’s-neft is, by Linnaeus, converted into a
fpecies of orchis;
Biftort, of knot-grafs.
^Turnip, of cabbage.
U 4
Ski nets,
s
F R U
Skirrets, of water-parfnep.
Hermodaflylus, of Iris.
Orpine, of leffer houfe-leek or fedum.
Flea-wort, of plantain.
Cork-tree, of the oak.
Larch-tree, of the pine.
Dwarf broom, of fingle-feeded broom or genifta.
Dragons, of cuckow-pint.
Englifh black maiden-hair, of fpleen-wort,
The bean, of the vetch.
Water-melon, of the gourd.
II. Vegetables which agree in all the parts of fru&ifi ca-
tion are not to be arranged in different claffes, orders, or
genera,
Gel'ner was the firft who fuggefted this aphorifm ; Caefal-
pinus the firft who reduced it into pra&ice.
III. The more conftant any part of falsification is,
throughout a great number of fpecies, the more certainly is
it to be depended on as a chara&eriftical mark in diftinguiftu
jng the genera.
The neftarium of the genus hypecoum is conftant, but not
the jointed pod.
The fpotted berry of the genus convallaria is found in all
the fpecies ; the corolla in lily of the valley, Solomon’s feal
and one blade, three fpecies of convallaria, is very different.
The corolla of wild fena is conftant, but not the pod.
In the genus lobelia, which includes feveral genera of
other authors, the corolla is conftant. The feed-vcffel, in
cardinal-flower, rapuntiuin of Tournefort and Dillenius,
laurentia of Micheli, and lobelia of Plunder, which are all
fpecies of the Jdnnaean genus, is different. That particu-
larly of the lali fpecies, the lobelia of Plunder, is pulpy, and
of the cherry kind, containing a nut or (lone with two cells ;
whereas in the other fpecies, it is a dry membranaceous
capfule.
/ In vervain, the calyx and corolla are conftant throughout
the fpecies : the Ifamina and feeds are different.
FRUCTIFLORdE, (from fruftus , fruit, and fios, a
flower) ;
F R U
Sower) ; the name of the tenth clafs in Royen’s Natural
Method, confining of plants, in which the flower, or,
to fpeak more propeily, the receptacle of the flower is
placed above the fruit : it correfponds to the clafs coronatrices
in Linnaeus's Metbsdus Caiycina, and is exemplified in French
willow-herb.
FRUCTlSTrE, (from fruftus, fruit ;) a clafs of Syfte-
xnatic Botanills fo termed by Linnaeus, who have arranged
vegetables from the feed-velfel, feeds and common recepta-
cle, the three parts of the fruit. The belt fyftems of this
kind are thofe of Caefalpinus, Morifon, Ray, Chriftopher
Knaut, Hermannus, and Boerhaave. Vide Method us.
FRUCTUS, the fruit; defined by Jungius and former
botanifls to be an annual part of the plant, which adheres to
the flower and fucceeds it ; and, after attaining maturity,
detaches itfelf from the parent plant ; and, being commodi-
oufly lodged in the bofom of the earth, gives hirth to a new
vegetable. This definition is fufficiently accurate, and fo
perfpicuous, that it requires no illuflration. I fhall only
obferve, that, in its vulgar acceptation, the word fruit is
expreflive, not of the feeds, which are doubtlefs the of-
fence of every fruit, but of the cafe or velfel in which
they are contained. Thus, when we fpeak of the fruit of
an apple-tree, we always mean the lufcious pulp which
enfolds the feeds ; although that, in drift propriety, is only
the cover of the fruit.
The Sexual Syllem being founded on the fuppofed im-
pregnation of the feeds by the male dull, the importance of
that part of the plant, (the feed) is confiderably augmented:
accordingly Linnaeus, among the other principles with which
his Method fits out, eftablilhes the aphorifm manifeflly de-
ductible from J ungius’s definition, that a fruit is conftituted
by the prefence of the feed, whether there be a feed-veflel
or not ; and to this he immediately lubjoins, that all vege-
tables are furmlhed with fruit, that is, feeds; though the fe
are frequently fo minute, or fo fituated, as to elude the
fight. Vide Flos,
With refpeft to the imperfeft plants here manifellly alluded
to,
I
F U L
to, the feeds of the fuel were difeovered in 1711 by M
de Reaumur; thofe of the moffes by Dillenius, in 1719
and mi. Linnteus, in his Philofophia Botanica, arrogates
the d.fcovery of the latter tribe of plants to himfelf. “ Se-
mina mufeorum,” fays he, “ ego detexi.” Micheli was the
firll who in 1729, detefted the feeds of mufhrooms ; his cu-
rious difcoveries in this, till of late, lhamefully negleaed
tribe of vegetables, were confirmed by the obfervations of
Mr. Gleditlch, in 1753; and of M. Battarra, in 1757.
The feeds of fome ferns were difeovered by Dr. Bobart
of Oxford ; thofe of others, by Bernard de Juflieu, in
1739 ; and of M. Maratti in 1760.
Fructus camofus, flefhy or pulpy fruit. The name
given by fome former botanifts to that fpecies of fucculent
feed-veffel called by Linnaeus, Pomurn. Vide Pomum.
FRUMENTA, corn; the name of the twenty-firft clafs
m Ray’s Mcthodus Propria, confifting of the efculent grains;
as oat, rye, barley, and the like.
FRUTEX, a fhrub ; a plant which rifes with a woody
durable Item to a height fuperior to that of under-fhrubs,
inferior to that of trees. Trees too always rife with a
iingle body or trunk. Many fhrubs have feveral ftemi
growing out of the fame root.
For the opinions of different authors concerning the
foundation of the diftin&ion of vegetables into herbs, trees,
fhrubs, and under-fhrubs, fee the article Arbor.
FRUTICES. The name of the fecond clafs in Mori-
fon s Syftem, and of a diflinftion in all the fyftematic bo-
tanifts prior to Lirinteus, confifting of thofe woody plants
termed fhrubs. Vide fttpra.
f UC A I yE figura ; figures of plants coloured from
nature; fuch are thofe of Martin, Blackwell, and Wein-
mannius.
I ULCRA, props, fupports. By this name Linnaeus
difhnguifhes certain minute external parts, which ferve
either to fupport or defend the plants on which they are
found, from external injuries; or to facilitate fome necef-
fury fccretion.
Thefe
f UL
Thefe fulcra have undergone confiderable alterations fince
their firft publication in the Fundamenta Botanica in 1736,
when they flood thus : braftea, cirrus, fpina, aculeus,
ftipula, glandula. In a fubfequent edition of the fame book,
printed at Paris in 1744, they are augmented to nine, by
the addition of fcapus, petiolus and pedunculus, which were
formerly confidered as different fpecies of trunks. In the
Philofophia Botanica, publifhed in 1755, the three terms
which were formerly added are again transferred to the
head of trunks, and another term is joined to the original
lilt, fo that it Hands thus ; ftipula, braftea, fpina, aculeus,
cirrus, glandula, pilus. Laftly, in the Termini Botanici,
publilhed in the Amcenitates Academic® by Elmgren, a pupil
of Linnaeus ; and in the Delineatio Plant®, prefixed to the
fecond volume of the Syftema Natur®, the fulcra undergo
another revolution. Inftead of aculeus and fpina the diffe-
rent often five weapons of plants, is fubftituted the general
term arms. : and inftead of pilus, a particular fpecies of de-
fenfive weapon, is fubftituted pubes , which implies every
kind of pubefcence or hairy appearance on the furface of
plants. Glandula , which had appeared in the very earlieft
editions of Linn®us’s works, is not now to be found in the
lift of fulcra , being included in the general term pubes ; and
the paitial trunks, as they were formerly reckoned, petiolus
and pedunculus , once more change their place, and are
transferred to an article with which they have no connexion.
The lift of Fulcra, thus new-manufafftured, ftands as fol-
lows :
Petiolus, the foot-ftalk of the leaf.
Pedunculus, the foot-ftalk of the flower.
Stipula, a fcale feated at the infection of the foot-ftalks.
Bra£lea, a coloured leaf accompanying the flower.
Cirrus, a tendril or clafper.
Anna , the oflenfive weapons of plants.
Pubes, the hairs, defenfive weapons, or fccrctory veflels
ef plants.
A particular defcription of each of thefe auxiliary parts is
given under its refpedive term.
FUNDA-
FUN
FUND AMENT AUESfigura, figures of plants not {haded,
outlines; fuch are thole of Brunsfelfius, Fuchfius, Clufius*
2nd Father Plumier.
FUNGI, mufhrooms. The name of one of the feven
families or tribes into which all vegetables are divided by
Linnaeus in his Philofophia Botanica. In the Sexual Syllem
they conftitute the fourth order of the clafs Cryptogam', a ; i*
1 ournefort’s Method, a part of the feventeenth clafs, entitled
afpernue vulgo habit a.
In Ray’s and Haller's Methods is likewife a clafs of the
fame name, containing the fame plants. Thefe have all a
very fimilar appearance ; and as the parts of fruaification,
which by modern botanifts are folely attended to in diftim
guifhing the genera, are fcarcely to be difcovered, the con-
fequence has been, that, till lately, fcarce any diffusion of
the genera has been attempted, and of courfe, this ve'ry con-
fiderable part of the vegetable kingdom, to the great reproach
of lcience, lay much uncultivated. I mull not, however,
forget, upon this occafion, to do that juflice which is fo
eminently due to the ingenious refearches of Dillenius and
Micheli, to whom we were long indebted for molt of the
little knowledge we poffeffed of the Fungi, as well as fome
other tribes of imperfect plants.
1 he former, in his Catalogus Plantarum circa GifTam,
publiihed at Fraricfort in i 7 1 9, arranges mu (brooms from
the figure of their footflalk, their hat or upper part termed
pilens, its laminar or plates, holes and cavities, into ten genera,
which contain mail about two hundred fpecies.
Micheli, in a work entitled Nova Plantarum Genera,
publifhed at Florence in 1729, arranges this tribe of plants
fiom the figure of their flowers, and the fituation of the
flamina and feeds, which, as he imagined, he had detefted
in the greateft number.
Micheli s method is divided into four feflions, which
contain in all about eight hundred fpecies, arranged under
thiity genera, accurately and perfpicuoufly diflinguilhed.
I Ins author is the nrif who, by means of the microfcope,
cufcovered fometning hk« ffannna in the mufhrooms : and
attempted
FUN
attempted to prove that thefe plants, like the more perfefft
ones, are produced from feed.
Gleditfch’s Arrangement of the mufhrooms, publifhed at
Berlin, in 1753, differs but little from that of Micheli juft
mentioned. This author defcribes with accuracy about a
thoufand fpecies or varieties of thefe plants, and gives figures
of each of his genera, copied from tliofe of Micheli.
Battarra, in his Enumeration of the mulhrooms that grow
in the neighbourhood of Rimini, printed in 1755, has given
figures and defcriptions of two hundred and fixty fpecies,
which are diftributed, not very methodically indeed, among
eighteen feftions or orders, which might, without hurting
the work, have been reduced to feven.
The author proves in this work, that mufhrooms owe their
exigence, not to putrefaction, as had been erroneoufly ima-
gined, but to feeds ; that thofe which grow upon vegetables
have their fibres contiguous only to thefe plants, not conti-
nuous with them ; and in fa6t, have their own proper roots,
as other vegetables. He has likewife evinced, that they are
not a lufus naturae, but that their fpecies are conftant, and
renewed by uniform laws, as many fpecies, which grow in
Italy, grow likewife in Britain, France, Germany and Turky;
and as he, Micheli, and Gleditfch had fucceeded in their
experiments for raifing mufhrooms fimilar to thofe which
they had fown.
After all, our knowledge of this part of vegetable nature
is exceedingly limited ; and, as I have often had occafion
to obferve in the courfe of this work, a very intimate ac-
quaintance with thefe and plants of a fimilar character, is
fcarcely to be expended during the dominion of the Sexual
Syftem : for, as the parts of fructification in thefe plants,
if they are indeed fuch, can only be detected by the aid of
glafTes, it is impofiible they fhould be fo univerfally known,
as to give much afliftance in detecting the genus, far Jefs
be of themfelves fufficient towards that detection.
Fungi, the name of the fifty-eighth order in Linnarus’s
Fragments of a Natural Method, confifting of the following
genera,
FUN
genera, which are the fame with thofe of the fourth order of
the clafs Cryptogamia in his Artificial Method, with the
addition of bylfus, which is there joined to the algs or fea^
weed.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Natural Order.
Linnsean Genera.
Agancus, — —
Boletus.
Byft'us.
Clathrus .
Clavaria, — —
Elvela feu Helvetia, —
Hydnum.
Lycoperdon, — —
Mucor , — —
Peziza, — —
Phallus, — —
Englijh Names .
Agaric.
Club-top.
Turban-top.
Puff-ball.
Mould.
Cup-mufhroom.
Stinkhorns, Morel!.
Thefe plants are rarely branched, fometimes creep, bu?
are molt commonly ere£. Such as are furnifhed with
branches have them of a light fpungy fubftance like cork.
Mufhrooins differ from the fuci in that thole, which, like
the fuci, have their feeds contained in capfules, are not
branched, as that numerous clafs of fea-weed is.
The greatefl part of mufhrooins have no root ; fotne, in
their Head, have a number of fibres, which, by their inof-
culations, frequently form a net with unequal mefhes, fome
of which produce plants fimilar to their parent vegetabie.
The Stamina, in thefe plants, archill undetermined.
What Micheli takes for this pretended male organ has all
the appearance of a number of fhoots or fuckers, under thp
form of a fine powder or duff.
The Seeds are either fpread over the furface of the
plant, or placed in cavities which are open, and refemble the
open
FUR
open capfules of fome of the fuci. In mufhrooms which
are branched, the feeds are frequently vifible by the naked
eve, and always to be diftin&ly obferved with the aftiftanca
of a good microfcope. • t
Thefe plants are very aftringent, and of familiar ufe for
ftopping violent haemorrhages.
As a vegetable food, they are, at beft, fufpicious. Several
Fungi are rank poifon.
Agaric is an excrefcence found upon the trunks and
large branches of feveral trees, but chiefly upon the larch,
and fome oaks. It is of two forts, the male and female;
the former is yellow, hard and woody, and ufed for dying
black; the latter is covered with a yellow bark, and white
within : it taftes fweet at firft, but becomes bitter after being
held a fhort time in the mouth. This is the fort ufed in
medicine. It is adminiftered in infufion, from two drams to
half an ounce, and in fubftance from one to two drams.
Being a very lliong purgative, it ought to be corre&ed
with ginger, cloves, cinnamon, mace, mint, or fome fixed
fait. The troches prepared of agaric and ginger are com-
monly prefcribed in inveterate diforders and obftru&ions of
the bowels from half a dram to one dram. From agaric is
likewife drawn an extract and a rofin. It enters into feveral
purgative compofitions, particularly the confe&ion of ha-
mech, hiera picra, the bleffed extraft, and pills of euphor-
bium.
Jew’s ears, the peziza auriculam referens of Ray and
Cafpar Bauhin, is a fungous excrefcence refembling an ear,
found on the flumps of elder-trees, before their leaves
appear. It is in great efteem among the common people as
a remedy for fore throats, but is feldom found in the (hops.
The powder, which is found in the cavity of fome fpecies
of ly^operdon after burfling, is a very powerful aftringent :
and, mixed with the white of an egg, is efl'e£lual in ftopping
all forts of ha:morrhages.
FURC.F,, Forks: a fpecies of armature or ofFenfive
weapon, with which fome plants are furnifhed. They are
ol the nature ot prickles, being, like them, detached from
the
GEM
the bark or outer rind only, and confift of two or three
prongs. 'I he term is exemplified in berberry, currant-tree,
triple-thorned acacia, hard feeded chryfanthemum, black
horehound, barleria, fagonia , and garden burnet.
G.
ALEA Corolla ringentis, the helmet or upper lip of a
grinning or gaping flower. The term was invented
by Rivinus, and hands oppofed to barba-ringentis , the beard
or lower lip.
GEMMA, a bud, a compendium of a plant feated upon
the hem and branches, and covered with fcales, in order to
defend the tender rudiments inclofed from cold and other
external injuries, till their parts being unfolded, they ac-
quire ftrength, and render any further protection unnecef-
fary.
Buds, together with bulbs, which are a fpecies of buds
generally feated upon or near the root, conflitute that part
of the herb by Linnaeus called Hybernacula ; that is, the
winter quarters of the future vegetable — a very proper ap-
pellation, as it is during that fevere feafon that the tender
rudiments are protefted in the manner juft mentioned. Vide
Bulbus.
Plants, confidered in analogy to animals, may properly
enough be reckoned both viviparous and oviparous. Seeds
are the vegetable eggs; buds, living fcetufes, or infant
plants, which renew the fpecies as certainly as the feed.
Mr. Ray was the firft who gave the name of gemma to the
bud, which had formerly been denominated germen. Gemma,
indeed, was ufed to fignify one kind of bud, that containing
the flower, which we now denominate oculus , an eye ; but
was by the ancients carefully diftinguifhed from the germen,
or bud containing the leaves and wood, hence termed by the
French, bouton a bois.
Pliny marks this diftinflion in the following words.
“ Germen autem eft id quod ex ipfis furculis arborum
prime
G E M
primb vere exit, ex quo deinde folium producitur:' narn
gemma proprie eft floris, quanquam utrumque confundatur:’-’
Notwithftanding this obvious remark of Pliny, the modern
botanifts, after the example of Ray, have applied the term
gemma to every kind of bud, whether of the flowers or
leaves; the other term gcnnen being appropriated to the feed-
bud, or that part of the flower which (wells and becomes
the feed-veffel vulgarly termed the fruit.
With refpeft to its external form or figure, a bud is a
fmall rounded body, fometimes ending in a point. In the
different fpecies, however, of the fame genus, the form of
the buds is fo different, as frequently to afford an excellent
mark of diftin£lion during the winter. This is particularly
exemplified in many fpecies of willow and buckthorn, ef-
pecially the former.
Buds are placed at the extremity of the young fhoots,
and along the branches, being fixed by a fhort foot-ftalk
upon a kind of brackets, the remainder of the leaves in
the wings or angles of which the buds in queftion were
formed the preceding year. They are fometimes placed
(ingle ; fometimes two by two, and thofe either oppofite or
alternate; fometimes collefted in greater numbers in whirls
or rings.
With refpett to their conftruftion, buds are compofed
of feveral parts artificially arranged. Externally, we find a
number of feales that are pretty hard, frequently armed
with hairs, hollowed like a fpoon, and placed over one
another like tiles. Thefe feales are fixed into the inner plates
of the bark, of which they appear to be a prolongation. Their
ufe is to defend the internal parts of the bud, which, being
unfolded, will produce, fome, flowers, leaves, and ftipulae ;
others, foot-flalks and feales. All thefe parts, while they
remain in the bud, are tender, delicate, folded over one
another, and covered with a thick clammy juice, which is
fometimes refinous and odoriferous, as in the tacahamac-tree.
The external feales fall off after the entire expanfion of the
internal parts.
In general, we may diftinguifh three kinds of buds: that
x containing
GEM
containing the flower, that containing the leaves, and that
containing both flower and leaves,
I he firft, termed gemma fortfera , and by the French,
l out on a fieur ou au fruit, contains the rudiments of one or
feveral flowers folded over one another, and furrounded
with feales. In feveral trees, this kind of bud is commonly
found at the- extremity of certain fmall branches which are
fhorter, rougher, and lefs garnifhed with leaves than the
rclt. The external feales of this fpecies of bud are harder
than the internal ; both are furrtifhed with hairs, and in
general, more fwelled than thofe of the fecond fort. The
bud containing the flower, too, is commonly thicker,
fhorter, almofl fquare, lefs uniform, and lefs pointed, be-
ing generally terminated obtufely. It is called by Pliny
ocu/us gemma, and is employed in that fpecies of grafting
called inoculation or budding.
The fecond fpecies of bud, (that containing the leaves,
termed Gemma folilfera , and by the French, Bouton a
feui/ks ou a bols,) contains the rudiments of feveral leaves
which are varioufly folded over one- another, afid outwardly
furrounded by feales, from which the fmall flipulas that are
feated at the foot of the young branches, are chiefly produced.
1 hefe buds are commonly more pointed than the former
foitv In the hazel-nut, however, they are perfeftly rounds
and in horfe-chefnut very thick.
1 he curious and various ways in which the leaves are
folded up in this kind of bud, are particularly enumerated
under the article Vernatio, which fee.
i he third fort of bud is fmaller than either of the precede
ing, and produces both flowers and leaves, though not al-
ways in the fame manner. ' •
Sometimes the flowers and leavek are unfolded at the fame
time. I his mode of the floNver-and-leaf-bud, is termed by
Linnaeus, gemiha folilfera & for if era, and admits of the fol-
lowihg diftmftions from the fex of the flowers fo produced
With the leaves : male-flower and leaf-buds, as in the pine
and fir-tree: female-flower and leaf-buds, as in hazel-nut
and horn-beam: hermaphrodite-flower and leaf-buds, as in
tha elm-tree, cornel-tree, mezereon, and almond tree.
8 Sometimes
\
GEM
Sometimes the leaves emerge out of this kind of bud
upon a ftnall branch, which afterwards produces flowers.
This mode of the flower-and-leaf-bud, is termed by Linnaeus,
gemma foliifero-fiorifera , and is the moft common bud of
any.
Such buds as produce branches adorned only with leaves,
are called barren ; fuch as contain both leaves and flowers,
fertile : the varieties of the laft have been juft fpecified.
From the bulk of the bud we may often, with eafe, foretel
whether it contains leaves only, or leaves and flowers toge-
ther, as in cherry and pear-tree.
The fcales which envelop the bud, confift chiefly of a
cuticle or fcarf-fkin, and a parenchyma or medullary pulpy
part. They are, as we have laid, for the moft part, hairy,
particularly in the margin ; and the internal furface is covered
with a flight down, in the fame way as the leaves contained
or folded up in the bud.
The thick clammy juice, which oozes from the fcales and
leaves of the bud, ferves not only to defend the more tender
parts of the embryo-plant from cold, the aflaults of infefts,
and other external injuries; but likewife from exceffive per-
fpiration, ' which, in its young and infant ftate, would be
very deftru&ive. This is confpicuous in the buds of horfe-
chefnut, poplar, and willow-tree§.
Neither the buds produced on or near the root, called by
fome authors tuviones, nor thofe produced on the trunk,
and from the angles or wings of the leaves, contain, in
ftrift propriety, an entire delineation of the plant, fince the
roots are wanting : and in various buds, as we have feen,
fhoots are contained with leaves only, and not with flowers :
but as a branch may be confidered as a part fimilar to the
whole plant, and if planted, would, in procefs of vegeta-
tion, produce roots and flowers, we may, in general, allow
that the bud contains the whole plant, or the principles of
the whole plant, and thus refembles the feed, in containing
a delineation of the future plant in embrvo : for although the
bnd wants a roftellum or radicle, of which the feed is pof-
fefled, yet it would undoubtedly form one, if planted in the
x A earth.
GEM
earth. But as the medullary part adhering to the bud is too
tender, and by the abundance of juice flowing into it from
the earth, would be difpofed to putrefaftion, the buds are
not planted in the foil, but generally inferted within the
bark of another tree ; yet fo placed that the produ&ion of
die marrow or pith adhering to them, may be inferted into
the pith of the branch in which the filfure or cleft is made ;
by which means there is a large communication of juice.
This propagation by gems or buds, called inoculation, is
commonly pratfifed with the firft fort of buds above de-
fcribed.
From the obvious ufes of the buds, we may colled the
jreafon why the fupreme Author of Nature has granted this
fort of proteftion to mofl of the trees that are natives of cold
climates: and, on the other hand, denied it to fuch as, en-
joying a warm benign atmofphere, have not the tender parts
of their embryo-fhoots expofed to injuries and depredations
from the feverities of the weather. Of this latter kind are
the plants of the following lift, fome of them very large
trees ; others, fmaller woody vegetables, of the fhrub and
under-fhrub kind : — Citron, orange, lemon, caftava, mock-
orange, blad-apple, fhrubby fwallow-wort, alaternus, fhrubby
geraniums, berry-bearing alder, Chrift’s thorn, Syrian mal-
low, baobab, or ./Ethiopian four-gourd, jufticia, wild fenna,
the acacias and fenlitive plant, coral-tree, ftinking bean-
trefoil, medicago, oleander, viburnum, fumach, ivy, ta-
marilk, heath, Barbadoes cherry, lavatera, rue, fhrubby
night-fhades, Guinea henweed, cyprefs, lignum- vitas and
favine a fpecies of juniper.
On annual plants, whofe root, as well as ftalk, perifhes
after a year, true buds are never produced ; in their ftead,
however, are protruded fmall branches like a little feather,
from the wings of the leaves, which wither without any
further expanfion, if the plants climb, and have no lateral
branches ; but if, either by their own nature, or from abun-
dance of lap, the plants become branched, the ramulijult
mentioned obtain an increafe fimilar to that of the whole
plant.
The
9
GEM
The fame appearance obtains in the trees of warm coun-
tries, fuch as thofe enumerated in the above lift, in which
a plumula, or fmall feather, fends forth branches without a
fcaly covering, as in fuch countries, this tender part re-
quires no defence or protection from cold. A fcaly cover-
ing then is peculiar to buds, as it protects the tender embryo
enclofed from all external injuries. When we fpeak, there-
fore, of trees having buds that are naked or without fcales,
our meaning is the fame as il we had faid, that they have no
buds at all.
Ray and Pontedera have inftituted a divifion of vegetables
into herbs and trees from the buds. The former they have
diftinguifhed by the name of plants wanting buds; the latter
by that of plants bearing buds.
This divifion, however, is certainly erroneous; moft
trees of warm climates being, as we have already' fhewn,
devoid of buds, at leaft of that fcaly appearance which
feems effential to every bud.
The buds that are to be unfolded the following year, break
forth from the evolved buds oi the prefent year, in fuch a
manner, as to put on the appearance of fmall eminences in
the wings or angles of the leaves. Thefe eminences or
knots grow but little during the fummer, as, in that feafon,
the fap is expended on the increafe of the parts of the plant :
but in autumn, when the leaves begin to wither and fall
off, the bu’ds, placed on the wings, increafe ; and the embryo-
plant contained in the bud, is fo expanded, that the leaves
and flowers, the parts to be evolved the following year, are
diftinftly vilible. Thus in horfe-chefnut, the leaves, and
in corncl-tree, the flowers, are each to be obferved in their
refpeftive buds.
As each bud contains the rudiments of a plant, and would,
if feparated from its parent-vegetable, become every way
fimilar to it, Linnaeus, to Ihew the wondrous fertility of
nature, has made a calculation by which it appears, that, in
a trunk fcarce exceeding a fpan in breadth, ten thoufand
buds (that is, herbs) may be produced. What an infinite
x 3 number
GEN
number then of plants might be raifed from a very large
tree !
GEMMATIO, from gemma , a bud ; a term ufed by
Linnaeus expreffive of the form of the buds, their origin,
and their contents. It includes both thofe properly called
buds, and thofe which are feated upon the roots, ftiled
bulbs.
As to the origin of buds, they are formed either of the
foot-flalks of the leaves, . of Jlipulce, or of fcales of the
bark. Their contents have been already difcovered, in the
preceding article, to be either flowers, leaves, or both. Vide
fupra. f
GENERATIO. Vide Sexus.
GENITALIA. By this appellation Linnaeus and the
fexualifls denominate the anthers and Jiigma of the flowers ;
the firff, in their judgment, performing the fun&ion of the
male organ of generation in plants, the other, of the female.
Vide Sexus.
GENITURA, the generating fubffance of plants. By
this name, Linnaeus, in his fancied analogy betwixt vege-
tables and animals, diflinguifhes, from its fuppofed ufe,
the pollen, that fine powder or dull, which, when ripe, is
difcharged by the anthers or tops of the ftamina, and falls
upon the Jiigma, for the purpofe of impregnation. Vide
Pollen,
GENUS, a race or kind ; one of the five members or
parts into w'hich every fyftem or regular method of arrange,
ment refolves itfelf.
A genus is an aflemblage of feveral fpecies ; that is, of
feyeral plants which refemble one another in their rtioft
effential parts. Hence it is aptly enough compared to a
family, all the relations of which bear the fame firname*
although every individual is diffinguifhed by a. particular
Ibecific name.
The eflablifhment of genera renders botany more fimplc
and eafy, by abridging the number of names, and arrang-
ing under one denomination, termed the .generic name,- feve-
ral
GEN
ral plants, which, though different in many other refpefts,
are found invariably to poffefs certain relations in thofe effen-
tial parts, the flower and fruit. Plants of this kind are
termed by botanifls plants congcneres, that is, plants of the
fame genus.
The works of Theophraflus, Diofcorides, Pliny and
Galen, leave us no room to doubt that the antients had fome
knowledge of plants : but they as certainly convince us,
"that their knowledge was extremely limited, and very fuper-
ficial. In the ages which immediately fucceeded that of
Pliny, little or nothing was done to enrich the fcience of
plants. At length, all Europe was plunged in ignorance,
and Botany lay neglefled with every other ufeful art. On
the revival of learning in the fifteenth century, men were
folely devoted to the ftudy of the ancients, in order to re-
cover that knowledge which had been fo long buried in ob-
fcurity. Botanifls, therefore, if any there were, fearched
for plants in the books of the Greeks and Romans. In the
fequel, however, they perceived the imperfeftion and im-
propriety of fuel) a mode of fludy. The wide book of
Nature lay open before them, and folicited their attention.
They fought for plants in the fields. Botany foon wore a
more agreeable afpefl, and numbers of plants were daily
added to the fcanty original lift. Thefe quickly pointed out
the neceflity of having recourfe to an arrangement, and
divifions determined by accurate and diflinft charafters.
Methods were invented, and thefe in progrefs of time
fubdivided into claffes, genera and fpecies.
Genera, then, no more than Methods, feem to have been
known to the ancients, in the fenfe in which that term is now
generally underflood. Every fpecies with them was a genu.s ;
and they had no conception of giving a common name to a
great number of plants which they could not difeover pof-
feffed any thing in common : for the reader will obferve that
the minute parts of the fructification which lay the founda-
tion of moll ot our boafled fyflems, were then but little
known, and lefs attended to. In fa 61, the port or habit of
plants, their duration, place of growth, time of flowering,
X 4 and
gen
and their ufes both medicinal and (Economical, formerly
fnrnifhed the foie charefters of diftinftion. Conrad Gefner
was the fir ft, who, in 1559, fuggefted a diftinftion of plants
into genera and fpecies. In his letters to Fabricius, inferted in
the third book of his Cohesion, are the following palTages,
which may be reckoned decifive on this head. “ Generis
unius polii fpecies duae funt. Noyi et alias duas oreofelini
fpecies. Exiftirnandum eft autem nullas propemodum herbas
eire quae non genus aliquod conftituant, in duas aut plures
fpecies diverfas dividendum. Gentianam uqam prifci de-
fcnbunt, mihi decern aut plures fpecies nottE funt,” Again,
m a letter, dated 1559, he lays, “ Montana vero ilia berba,
. florc quidem doronici, fed folus plantaginis, radice aroma-
tic* fui omnino generis eft. Obleftavit me etiam rarum
illud pilofellae genus.” And again, “ Mihi rara eft etiam
arthriticae ilia fpecies- Milifti cum rehquis fpeciem aqui-
foliae nulhs per maj-ginem fohorum fpims praeterquam in
mucrone Lunariam graecam quam phlitteren appellant
multam jam hie habemus, fed floribus inodoris : quibusodo-
ratis, GENUSalterum repeririaudiohaftenusmihi non vifum.”
^Columna, who was poftenor to Gefner, entertained the
fame idea refpe&ing the diftribution into genera and fpecies :
as did likewife Joachim Jungius, who died in 1657, in
whofe pnfthumous works, publifhed in 1679, under the
title of Ifagoge Phytofcopica, is the following palTage :
Plants, nifi certo in genera & species conllanti
ratione, non pro lubitu hujus vel illius, redigantur, infini-
tum quafi reddetur Phytofcopiae ftudiuip ; intejleftus autem
humanus infinitum fugit. Ordo autem clalftum, gene-
rum, fpecierum, terminum infinitis pronit.”
This doftrine of Conrad Gefner,' ' Columna and Jungius
was adopted by fucceeding botanifts, from Clufius who was
contemporary with them, to J. Bauhin. They arranged
fevcral fpecies ol plants under the fame generic name, as iris,
narciftus, or willow : but the genera were ftill vague and
undetermined.
In 1655, Morifon attempted to eftablilh the genera on
a certain foundation, as did likewife the celebrated Ray in
1682,
GEN
1682, and Rivintis in 1690. The characters, however,
which they afligned, were far from being fatisfaClory or
fufficient : and Ray himfelf was fo fenfible of their defeCts,
that he afterwards changed his for thofe of Tournefort.
This illuftrious botanift was the firft who, in 1694, pro-
pofed a fatisfaClory diftribution of the genera, founded on
the parts of the fruftifi cation, and determined by fixed and
precife characters common to feveral fpecies of plants. A
genus of plants, as defined by Tournefort, is an afTemblage
of feveral fpecies which agree in all the parts of fructification
or the mofl effential. This is properly what. Tournefort
calls a primary genus, or genus of the firft order. His
Secondary Genera will be explained below.
The rules eftablifhed on this fubjeCt by the French botanift,
are as follow.
I. The parts of fructification, when prefent in plants, are
folelyto be employed as charafteriftical marks in difcriminat-
ing the genera, if found fufficient for that purpofe.
II. If thefe marks are found infufficient, recourfe muft
be had to other parts lefs effential — as the roots, Items, bark,
and number of leaves ; to the fenfible qualities of plants, as
their colour and tafte ; or to their port and external habit.
III. With refpeCt to plants in which the parts of the
flower and fruit are wanting, or not to be difcovered without
the afliflance of glades, the genus is to be fixed from the .
moft remarkable of the characters mentioned in the laft
paragraph.
IV. All fuperfluous marks are to be rejected.
V. A greater ffiare of attention is to be paid to the general
habit of plants, than to the particular varieties, which can
only be difcovered by nice and minute obfervation. Thus,
although the large common trefoil, and fome other flowers
of the fame genus, are only furnifhed with one petal, they
are by no means to be feparated from the other fpecies,
which, like moft pea-bloom flowers, have four irregular
petals; becaufe they agree with them in more ftriking cha-
racters. Some fyftematic writers, however, have been ab- •
furd enough to advance, that a difference in the number of
petals
/
GEN
petals and feeds, is a fufficient foundation for forming dif-
ferent genera from plants otherwife very nearly allied ; and,
in fhort, that a flower having only one petal or one feed,
can never be referred to the fame genus with a flower having
two, three, four, or more petals or feeds. The abfurdity
of this doCtrine appears from hence, that, were the rule in
queftion to be ftriCtly followed, we fhould fometimes refer
to different genera, different individuals of the fame fpecies.
From the feed of papaw, are produced /both male and female
plants, that is, plants which have male and female flower ;
ondiftinCt roots. The male flowers have always one petal,
the female five. The fame thing obtains in the male and
female flowers of caflada, which indeed are not placed
on diftinCt roots as the former, but Hand apart within diffe-
rent covers on the fame plant.
Thefe rules, which are delivered and illuflrated at great
length in the Preface to the Inftitutions, led the author to
diftinguifh two forts of genera, under the appellations of
genera of the firft order, and genera of the fecond. The
genera of the firft order are fuch as Nature herfelf appears
to have inftituted, and accurately diftinguifhed by the flower
and fruit; fuch are violet, ranunculus, aconite, paflion-
flower, and feveral others. Thefe are the only genera which
Linnaeus admits : or, to fpeak more properly, all the genera
of plants are, by this author,, rendered primary, whether the
characters derived from the parts of the flower and fruit are
fufficient for the purpofe of diferimination, or not.
The genera of the fecond order are thofe, for the diftinc-
tion of which we muft have recourfe, not only to the fruc-
tification, but to parts that are unconnected with the flower
and fruit, by reafon of the infufficiency of thefe laft to dif-
criminate the genera of themfelves.
Thus, according to Tournefort, germander forms a genus
different from poley mountain, teucrium and ground pine, on
account of its hollow calyx, and the difpofition of its flowers
in the wings or angles of the leaves. — Poley mountain is
dillinguiflied from teucrium, ground-pine and germander, by
its flowers, which are collected in a head or round fpike ;
teucrium
GEN
teucrium from the three others by its bell-fhaped calyx; and
ground-pine by the difpofition of its flowers, which pro-
ceed fingly from the wings of the leaves, and not in whirls
or rings, as in germander.
Thefe fecondary genera, which Tournefort ufes but
rarely, are entirely reje£ted by Linnaeus, who has eftablifhed
as a principle in no cafe to be departed from, that the generic
characters are to be derived from all the parts of fruftifica-
tion, and none other. A total revolution of the genera mufl
evidently be the confequence of a rigid obfervance of this
principle : and in faff, not the fecondary genera of Tour-
nefort only, but many of his primary genera which were
eftablifhed upon the fame principle, have felt the effects, of
this undiftinguifhing feverity. Linnaeus’s genera, then,
contain a defcription of each particular part of fructification,
its various relations, and different modes with refpett to
number, figure, fituation, and proportion.
Thus, all the different fpecies of calyx, corolla , ?ie£lariumy
Jlamina, &c. .confidered with refpeCt to the four attributes
juft; mentioned, furnifh the obferver with fo many fen-
fible and effential characters.
Thefe characters the author denominates the letters or al-
phabet of botany. By ftudying, comparing, and, as it
were, fpelling thefe letters, the Undent in botany comes, at
length, to read and underhand thcgenerical characters which
the great Creator has originally imprinted upon vegetables :
for the genera and fpecies, according to Linnteus, are folely
the work of Nature ; whilft the claffes and orders are a
combination of nature and art.
Upon thefe principles, Linnasus, in his Genera Plantarum,
determines the generical characters of all the plants there
deferibed. — His method will be belt illuftrated by an
example. '
NARCISSUS.
* \ •
Calyx — A fpatha or fheath, which is oblong, obtufc,
compreffcd, tears open on the fide, and withers upon the
plant.
Corolla.
GEN
Corolla — Six petals , or rather one petal cut almoft to the
bottom into fix parts, which are oval, terminated in a
point, flat, and inferted externally above the bafe of the
tube of the neftarium , which is fituated in the middle of
the flower, bell or funnel -fhaped, and commonly called
the cup.
Stamina — Six awl-fhaped filaments, fhorter than the nec-
tar ium and attached to its tube — The anthers or Jummits
Pistil lum — The feed-bud roundifh, obtufely triangular
and placed under the receptacle of the flower. The Jlyle
thread- fhaped, and longer than the Jlamina. — The fligma
or fummit of the flyle divided into three parts, hollow and
blunt.
Seed-Vessel — A capfule that is roundifh, obtufely three
cornered, having three external openings or valves, and the
fame number of internal divifions or- cells.
Seeds — Numerous, globular, and furnifhed with an appen-
dage or border. The receptacle to which they are fixed is
fhaped like a pillar.
By this manner of deferibing all the parts of the fr uni-
fication, almoft innumerable combinations are produced of
the botanical letters ; I mean the generical chara&ers of
plants are multiplied, and furnifh an amazing diverfity of
relations.
Some charaffers are common to feveral genera, indepen-
dently of thofe which conftitute the clafs and order. Thus
fnow-drop, greater fnow-drop, and fea-daffodil, which be-
long to the fame clafs and order with narciffus, agree with
it not only in the number of the fiamina and ftyles which,
in the fexual fyftem, lay the foundation of the two primary
divifions, but likewife in the form and nature of the calyx,
which, in all thefe genera, is a fpatha or fheath. By com-
paring the other charaffers, we difeover, in like manner,
thofe which are fimilar, and thofe which are diftinftive.
Thus, in greater fnow-drop, the diflinftive character is the
bell-fhaped petal : in fnow-drop, the galanthus of Linnaeus,
the three-leaved neftarium ; and in fea- daffodil, the neftarium
divided into twelve parts.
It
GE N
It is, as we have faid, in the Genera Plantaruifi, that thefe
full defcriptions of all the parts of fructification are to be
found. In the Syjiema Nature, another work of the fame
author, thofe characters that are common to all the genera of
the fame clafs and order are omitted, and the diltinCtive cha-
racters or generic differences alone are mentioned. — Tourne-
fort, knowing his method to be artificial, did not pretend to
afTert that his genera were otherwife. Linnaeus, however,
we have feen, has carried his pretentions further, and affirms
that all genera as well as fpecies are natural. What feems to
favour this affertion is the ftriking appearance of the flowers
of certain genera, as ranunculus, violet, aconite, fennel-
flower, fyrian-mallow, paffion-flower, and feveral others
which have efTential and uniform characters, that, at firft
fight, feem to entitle them to the appellation of natural
genera. But to this it may be anfwered, that for the com-
paratively fmall number of genera which have ftriking dif-
tinCtive characters of this kind, there are many, particularly
in fome natural families, as the umbelliferous plants, lipped,
crofs-fhaped, and pea-bloom flowers, in which the characters
in queflion are fo little confpicuous, and the plants fo re-
markably fimilar, that one is frequently tempted to make
but a Tingle genus of each of thefe families.
Linnaeus has defcribed about twelve hundred and thirty-
nine genera, that is, upwards of five hundred more than
Tournefort, the number of whofe genera amounts, I
think, to fix hundred and ninety-eight. We muft obferve,
however, that the former frequently incorporates feveral
genera which had been divided by the latter. Such, for
inflance, arc germander, teucrium, inountain-poley, and
ground pine, which the French botanifl has dihinguifhed, as
was obferved above, into fo many genera of the lecond order,
by charafters independent of the fructification. Linnaeus,
however, employing thefe characters only for diflinguifhing
the fpecies, and finding elfential relations to fubfift betwixt
the parts of fructification of the Tournefortian genera in
queftion, colkCts them all under one head ; fo that inftead of
. j four
GEN
four diflina genera, they become as many fpecies of the
fame genus.
B elides the fix hundred and ninety-eight genera of Tourne-
fort, Linnteus s books contain feveral new genera of other
botanifts, who jivbd pofterior to Tournefort. The mod re-
markable of thefe are, Father Plunder, who eftahlifhed
about ninety-fix genera of American plants, Boerhaave,
who deferibed feventeen new genera ; Vaillant, thirty ;
Dillenius, fixty-feven ; Miche.li, twenty -feven ; Houffon,
fifteen, Petit, Meffieuis de Juffieu, NrfTole, Marchant,
Danti, Reneaume, Ruppius, Pontedera, Scheuchzer, Bux-
baum, Ammannus, Haller, Gmehn, NIonti, Gronovius,
Mitchel, Catefby, Kaempfer, &c. have publifhed in all
about fifty new genera. The remaining genera, to the num-
ber of two hundred and upwards, are publifhed by Linnaeus
himfelf.
I conclude this article with a few aphorifms refpe&ing
the genera of plants as laid down by Linnaeus in his Philo-
fophia Botanica.
I. There are few genera in which all the parts of frufti-
fication are conflant throughout the fpecies.
To this inconfta'ncy is owing the great number of fiHitious
or fpurious genera in Tournefort and other authors: for
although fuch varieties afford excellent fpecific diftinftions,
they are not ffriking enough to conflitute real fcientific
genera. Tl;e author very pertinently adds, if genera were
to. be multiplied in this manner without any neceffity, we
fliould fpon have as many genera as fpecies, and the fcience
of botany, as far as it refpe&s arrangement, beat an end.
II. It an unneceffary multiplication of the genera is to be
avoided on the one hand, an unneceffary reduction of them
is no lefs to be fhunned on the other. From the affinity of
fome genera to claffes and orders, ■ we. frequently incur the
danger ot throwing all into confufion, by reducing under
one g^nus a whole natural affcmblage or family. Some ot
the natural orders wliofe plants have a very fimilar appear-
ance, were enumerated above. Many plants of the mallow
tribe.
GEN
/
uibe, as mallow, marfh-mallow, holly-hock, Iavatera,
urcna, and Syrian mallow, are of the fame kind.
The following parcels of genera, which belong to other
natural orders, are very fimilar in their appearance, and
might each, by an inaccurate obferver, be confounded under
one genus.
Houfe-leek, leffer houfe-leek, navel-wort, leffer orpine,
and tillaea,
Torch-thiftle, fig-marigold., aizoon, and tetragonia.
Campion, wild lychnis or agroftemma, vifcous campion,
carnation, foapwort, ceraftium, fpurrey, fandwort, moer-
hingia, and fagina.
In this manner, feveral natural orders might each be re-
duced to a fingle genus, and thus the fcience be as effe&ually
deftroyed by the enormous fize of the genera, as formerly by
the unneceiTary multiplication of their number.
III. A genus may confill ol one fpecies only, although
it is mod commonly compofed of a greater number.
The following genera, among many others, confift of
only one fpecies :
Grafs of ParnalTus, tamarind, baftard cumin, fand-box-
■tree, barren-wort, horn-of-plenty-grafs, fuperb lily, water-
leaf, neurada, calligonum, African fly-honey-fuck le, leaft
water-plantain, corymbium, calhew-nut, coris, nepenthes,
hop, flowering-rulh, baftard-indigo, mangoftan and orvala.
Other genera, as the following, confift of a great number
of fpecies :
Fig-marigold, lefler houfe-leek, bind-weed, faxifrage,
acacia, calves-fnout, milk-wort, after, carex, burning thorny
plant, geranium, campanula, vifcous campion, wild fenna,
St. John’s wort, kidnev-bean, cud-weed, willow, fig-tree,
French honey-fuckle, hemp-agrimony, aloe, aflragalus,
blue-bottle, Syrian mallow, wild orach, flax, ranunculus,
gentian, night-fhade, thrift, heath, garlick, ox-eye, and
cinquefoil.
IV. In many genera, foine ftriking or efTential mark of
fructification is obferved.
Thus the eflcn.ce of ranunculus confifts in its nefiarium,
r 1
which
GEN
which is a fmall prominence in the claw of each petal : that
of felf-heal, torenia, eye-bright, mad-wort, and fea-cabbage,
in the denticuli or fmall teeth with which the ftamina are
furnifhed : that of martynia, turmeric, bignonia, and che-
lone, in a pointed body which is placed within the ftamina,
and refembles a filament without its anther: that of helle-
bore and fennel-flower, in its numerous hollow ncEiaria:
that of water-leaf, in its clofed chinks, [rima clauja) within
the divifions of the petal : that of henbane, in the covering
of its feed-veflel, by which it is diftinguifhed from alke-
kengi : that of fea-daffodil, in the infertionof its ftamina into
the upper part of the ne&arium, by which it is diftinguifhed
from narciflus, where the ftamina are placed within the nec-
tarium, and affixed to its tube : that of baftard-rocket, and
bell-flower, in their neftarium : laftly, that of iris, in its
{\ngu\ax Jligma, which refembles three petals, or leaves.
V. The ftriking or fingular charafteriftical mark of every
genus mull run through all the fpecies. Without a ftrift
attention to this rule, we might be apt to confound genera
that fhould be diftinguifhed. It was for want of this caution
that aloe and American aloe were formerly incorporated into
one genus ; as were likewife ranunculus and adonis, andro-
meda and heath.
Aloe is now feparated from American alo e, (Agave) becaufe
its ftamina are inferted, not into the petals, but into the com-
mon receptacle ; adonis from ranunculus, becaufe it wants
the prominence in the claw of the petal, which is the diftin-
guifhing mark of the latter ; andromeda from heath, becaufe
of the two horns of the anthers, which are more confpicu-
ous in the latter than the former.
VI. Plants which are of the fame genus, poffefs like
medicinal powers. The truth of this aphorifm will be bell
ifluftrated by attending to the following lift of congeneres.
Scammony, turbith, jalap, and fea bind-weed belong to
the genus convolvulus.
Moly, leek, onion, andgarlick, belong to the genus allium.
Cinnamon, camphire, benjamin-tree, faflafras, and avo-
cado pear, belong to the genus laurus .
Southernwood
G E R
. '* /
Southernwood and wormwood belong to the genus arte <=
rnfla.
Genus fummum, a termed ufed by Rivinus and Ray,
fynonymous to Classis in Linnaeus, and Ordo in Tourne-
fort. ,
Genus fubalternum , another term ufed by the fame bota»
niffs, fynonymous to Ordo in Linnaeus, and Sectio in
Tournefort.
GERMEN, the feed bud ; defined by Linnaeus to be the
bafe of the piftillum, which contains the rudiments of the
feed, and, in progrefs of vegetation, fwells and becomes
the feed-veffel.
When the feed-bud is placed above the receptacle, or, in
other words, within the cover or covers of the flower, it is
termed germen fuperum ; when fituated below the receptacle,
or under the calyx, germen inferum. The former, which
correfponds to flos inferus, is exemplified in fumach, bippuris ,
wachendorfla , commelina , xyris, and the grades ; — the latter,
fynonymous with flos fuperus, in valerian, iris, gladiolus,
epilobium, cenothera, viburnum, elder, and the umbelli-
ferous and cucurbitaceous plants.
In aflimilating the vegetable and animal kingdoms, Lin-
naeus denominates the feed-bud the ovarium or uterus of
plants, and affirms its exiftence to be chiefly at the time of
the difperflon of the -male-duff by the anthers ; as, after its
impregnation, it becomes a feed-veffel.
Germen, by Pliny and the ancient botaniffs, is ufed to
fignify a bud containing the rudiments of the leaves. Vide
Gemma.
GERMINATIO, comprehends the precife time which
the feeds take to rile after they have been committed to the,
foil.
The different fpecies of feeds take longer or fhorter time
in rifing, according to the degree of heat which is proper
for each. Millet, wheat, and feveral of the grades, rife
in one day ; blue, fpinach, bean, multard, kidney-bean,
turnip, and rocket, in three days ; lettuce and dill, in four;
cucumber, gourd, melon, and crefs, in five; radifh and
y * beet,
GER
beet, in fix ; barley, in feven ; orach, in eight ; pur-
flane, in nine ; cabbage, in ten ; hyfiop, in thirty ; parf-
ley, in forty or fifty days; peach, almond, walnut,
chefnut, paeony, horned poppy, hypecoum, and ranun-
culus falcatus, in one year; rofe-bufh, cornel-tree, haw-
thorn, medlar, and hazel-nut, in two. The feeds of
fome fpecies of orchis, and of fome liliaceous plants,
never rife at all. Of feeds, fome require to be fowed
almoft as foon as they are ripe, as otherwife they will
not germinate. Of this kind are the feeds of coffee and
fraxinella. Others, particularly tliofe of the pea-bloom
flowers, preferve their germinating faculty for a feries of
years. — M. Adarrfon afferts, that the fenfitive plant retains
that virtue for thirty or forty years.
Air and water are the agents of germination. The humi-
dity of the air alone makes feveral feeds to rife that are ex-
pofed to it. Seeds too are obferved to rife in water, with-
out the intervention of earth: but water, without air, is in-
fufficient. — Mr. Homberg’s experiments on this head are
decifive. He put feveral feeds under the exhaufted receiver
of an air-pump, with a view to eflablilh fomething certain on
the caufes of germination. Some of them did not rife at
all ; and the greater part of thofe which did, made very weak
and feeble produ&ions.
Thus it is for want of air, that feeds which are buried at a
very great depth in the earth, either thrive but indifferently,
or do not rife at all.
They frequently preferve, however, their germinating
virtue for many years, within the bowels of the earth ; and
it is not unufual, upon a piece of ground being newly dug
to a confiderable depth, to obferve it foon after covered with
feveral plants, which had not been feen there in the memory
of man.
Were this precaution frequentlyrepeated, it would doubt-
iefs be the means of recovering certain fpccics of plants
which are regarded as loft; or which, perhaps, never coin-
ing to the knowledge of botanifls, might hence appear the
refult of a new creation.
Some
G L A
Some feeds require a greater quantity of air than others.
Thus purflane, which does not rife till after lettuce in the
free air, rifes before it in vacuo ; and both profper but little,
or perifh altogether, whilft crelTes vegetate as freely as in the
open air.
GLANDULA, a fpecies o*f fecretory or excretory
velfel that is found on the furface of fome plants.
Glands are feated either on the footftalks, on different
parts of the leaves, or on the tender flipulae. They re-
ferable fometimes a bl ifter or bladder, as in St. John’s
wort ; fometimes a number of feales, as in fern ; fometimes
feveral fmall grains like millet, as in fir-tree; at other times
a little cup, as in apricot-tree; fometimes too they appear
by a microfcope to be fupported by footftalks ; and often
to be feated upon the leaves without any footftalk.
All thefe bodies appear to be produced by the fwelling of
fome portion of the cellular or parenchymatous fubftance.
From many of them oozes a vifeous liquor, which,
drying upon the plant, forms a fine white powder, and a
number of fiender threads, that are frequently to be feen
furrounding the glands in queftion. Hence it has been con-
cluded that they are the organs of fome fecretion ; but it is
not yet afeertained, whether that is their foie funftion.
In palma chrifti, caflava, paftion- flower, wild fenna, and
acacia, the glands are feated on the footftalks.
In willow-tree they are placed on the indented or fawed
margin of the leaves: in almond-tree, gourd, heliocarpus,
balfam, gelder-rofe, and bird-cherry, they proceed from the
bafe of the leaf : in urena, tamarilk, and baftard ricinus,
from its back ; in butter- wort and fun-dew, from the upper
furface.
In mountain ebony and apricot-tree, the glands are feated
upon the tender ftipulae or feales which furround the young
footftalks of the flower and leaves.
The glands in currant-tree, a fpecies ol calve’s fnout,
ceraltium, fig-wort, and vifeous campion, are (lender like
hairs, and are hence denominated glandule capillar es.
I he pores or final! holes obfervabhe on the furface of fome
V 2 plants,
G L U
plants, as tamarifk, and a fpecies of vifcous campion, are
reduced by Linnaeus under the term glandula: whitfh we are
now confidering.
The glands furnifh excellent chara&eriftical marks for
difcriminating the fpecies of plants. Thus the almond-tree
can fcarce be diftinguilhed from the peach, but by its glands.
Which are feated at the bafe of the leaves, upon the ferra-
tures: whereas, in the peach-tree, there is no appearance of
this kind. A fpecies of convolvulus with a pimpled or knotty
calyx, is fo variable in the fhape of the leaves, as to juftify
its divifion into feveral fpecies ; yet it is kept entire by the
conftancy of the glands, which are placed upon the leaves.
In a fpecies of monarda, the petal is covered over with
glands; an appearance which evidently diflinguilhes it from
all the plants of the fame genus.
The prickles of baubinia aculeata are covered with glands
of the fame kind.
A glandular appearance is frequently to be obferved be-
twixt the ftamina of fome plants, particularly in the crofs-
{haped flowers, ( Tetradynamia ) in which Linnaeus reckons
it an efTential clallical charafter.
GLANDULATIO, from glandula, a term refpefting the
veffels of fccretion in plants, which are, by Linnaeus,
reckoned three: viz. Glan du l^, Fo lliculi and Utri*
CU LI.
GLUMA, a hufk; the calyx of the grafTes, dompofed
of one, two, or three valves, a kind ol leales commonly
tranfparent in the margin, and mod frequently teiminated by
a pointed thread termed th c urijla, or beaid. Vide Gra-
wina ct Arista.
GLUMOSUS Flos , a fpecies of aggregate flower fo
called, which has a {lender thread-fhaped' receptacle, along
which are placed a number of florets or partial flowers ; the
bafe being furnifhed with a common bulky calyx, termed by
Linnaeus gluma. Of this kind are bromus, fefeue grafs,
oats, reed, poa, wheat, and other grades.
GlumosjE, the name of a clafs in Linnaeus's Methodus
Calycina and WachendprEus’s Natural Method, confiding
G R A
of plants which have that particular fpecies of calyx called
a gluma or hulk. — It contains all the natural order of the
graffes.
GLUTINOSITAS, from gluten, glue ; a term occurring
in the Delimatio Plant ce prefixed to the Syjlema Nature, and
placed under the general head pubes \ it feems to denote that
IliflF clammy matter which is fometimes found on the furface
of the leaves and ffalks of plants.
GRAMINA, graffes; one of the feven tribes or natural fa-
milies, into which all vegetables are diftributed by Linnaeus
in his Philofopbla Botanica. They are defined to be plants
which have very fimple leaves, a jointed Item, a hufky calyx
termed gluma , and a fingle feed. This defeription includes
the feveral forts of corn as well as graffes. In Tournefort
they conflitute a part of the fifteenth clafs, termed apetali ;
and fn Linnaeus’s Sexual Method, they are moffly contained
jn the fecond order of the third clafs, called triandria digynia.
This numerous and natural family of the graffes, has
engaged the attention and refearclies of feveral eminent bo-
tanift3. The principal of thefe are, Ray, Monti, Micheli
and Linnaeus.
Giufeppe Monti, in his Catalogus Stirpium agri Bo-
nonienfis, gramina ac hujufmodi affinia compleciens, printed
at Bologna, in 1719, divides the graffes from the difpofition
of their flowers, as Theophraftus and Ray had divided them
before him, into three fetlions or orders. Thefe are,
Section I.
Graffes having flowers collefted in a fpike.
Section II.
Graffes having their flowers colle&ed jn a panicle or loofe
Section III.
Plants that in their habit and external appearance are allied
to the graffes.
This clafs would have been natural, if the author had not
Y § improperly
G R A
improperly introduced fweet-rufh, juncus, and arrow-headed
grafs into the third fe£tion. Monti enumerates about 306
fpecies of the grafTes, which he reduces under Tournefort’s
genera ; to thefe he has added three new genera.
Scheuchzer, in his Agroftographia, feu Graminum, Jun-
porum, Cyperorum et Cyperoidum jifque affinium hiftorig,
pubhfhed hkewife in 1719, divides the grafTes, as Monti,
from the difpofition of their flowers, into the five following
fe&ions :
Section I.
GrafTes with flowers in a fpike, as phalaris, anthoxanthupj:
and frumentum.
Section II.
Irregular grafTes, as fchcenanthus and cornucopias.
Section III.
GrafTes with flowers growing in a Ample panicle or loofe
fpike, as reed and millet.
Section IV.
GrafTes with flowers growing in a compound panicle or
diffufed fpike, as oats and poa.
Section V.
Plants by their habit nearly allied to the grafTes, as cyprefs-
grafs, fcirpus, linagroflis, rufh and fcheuchzeria.
Scheuchzer has enumerated about four hundred fpecies,
which he defcribes with amazing exaflnefs.
Micheli has divided the grafTes into fix fe&ions, which
contain in all forty-four genera, and are arranged from the
filiation and number of the flowers.
Gramina. The name of the fourth oilier in Linnaeus’s
Fiagmcnts of a Natural Method, confiftiog of the extenfive
patural family of the grafTes,
G R A
/
Lift oj Genera contained in this Natural Order.
i , '• ' <
SECTION I.
GraJJes having Hermaphrodite Flowers.
Linnaean Genera.
Agrojlis, —
Air a, —
Alopecurus, —
Anthoxanthum, —
Arftida.
Arundo,
Avena,
Bobartia.
Briza,
Bromus,
Cinna.
Cornucopia,
Cynojurus,
Dactyl! s,
Ely mu s.
Feftuca,
Hordeum,
Lagurus,
Lolium ,
Lygeum ,
Melica.
Milium,
Nardus.
Oryza,
Panicum,
Pafpalum.
Phalaris,
Phleum,
Poa,
Saccharum ,
Englijh Names.
Bent-Grafs.
Hair-Grafs.
Fox -tail grafs.
Vernal grafs.
Reed.
Oats.
Quaking grafs.
Brome grafs.
Horn-of-plenty grafs.
Dog’s-tail grafs.
Cock’s-foot grafs,,
Fefcue-grafs.
Barley.
Hare’s-tail grafs.
Darnel.
Hooded matweed.
Millet.
Rice.
Panic-grafs.
— Canary-grafs.
— Cat’s-tail grafs.
— Meadow grafs.
— * Sugar-cane.
Y 4 Secale,
G R A
Linnaea*
Genera.
Englijh Names .
Sec ale.
— —
Rye.
Stipa,
— —
Winged fpike-grafs.
Triticum,
— —
Wheat.
Uniola ,
— —
Sea-fide oats of Carolina.
SECT
ION II.
GraJJes having Male and Female Flowers upon the fame Root .
Linnaean Genera.
Co'lXy —
Olyra.
Pharus.
Tripjacum.
Zea , —
Zizania.
Fnglijh Names .
— Job’s tears.
— Indian, or Turkey wheat,
Indian corn.
SECTION III.
GraJJes with Hermaphrodite and Male Flowers on the fame
Root.
Linnaean Genera.
Englijh Names .
Aegilops, . —
Andropogon.
Apluda.
— Wild fefcue-grafs.
Cenchrus.
Holcus, —
— Indian millet.
Jfchamum.
i •
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
Moll of thefe plants are annual or perennial herbs ; fome
of them areereft, others creep upon the ground.
The Roots, in the greatefl number, creep, and emit
fibrea
G R A
fibres from each knot or joint : in others, they are limply *
branched and fibrous.
The Stems and branches are round.
The Leaves are firnple, alternate, entire, very long,
and commonly narrow. They are generally placed imme-
diately upon the ftem, except in bamboo, pharus, a new
fpecies of reed called guioraat fenegal, and a fpecies of Ifthie,
mum, which have a foot-ffalk at the origin of the leaves.
The leaves form below a fort of fheath, which embraces
the Item, and is generally cleft on one fide through its whole
length. In two fpecies of melica, • mentioned by M. Adan*
fon, the fheath in queftion is perfectly entire.
The top of the fheath is fometimes crowned with a mem-
brane, that is either cleft or entire, and is frequently ac-
companied with two appendages or ears, as in rice, pharus,
darnel, wheat, rve, and barley. In others, the fheath is
crowned with hairs, as in millet, panic-grafs, and andropo-
gon ; and in fome fpecies of panic grafs it is naked; that is,
has neither membrane nor hairs.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite in plants of the firff
feftion ; male and female upon the fame root in thofe of the
fecond ; hermaphrodite and male on the lame root in thofe
of the third.
They proceed either fmgly from the fheath of the leaves,
as in lygeum ; form a finglc fpike, as in nardus and darnel ;
or are formed into a panicle, that is, loofe fpike, as in poa,
Bgreilis, and oats. ,
The Calyx and Corolla in this order, are not fuffi-
ciently afeertained. In fome, a fingle fcale or hulk, in
others two, as in nardus, fupply the place of both covers ;
feme grafies, as canary-grafs, and phleum, have four bulky
feales, two of which ferve for the calyx, aud the other two
for the corolla ; fome have five, as anthoxanthuni ; others
fix, as rice, four of which are fuppofed to conlfitute the
calyx, and the other two are termed, improperly enough, the
bulky petals.
The corolla is fometimes compofed of one petal with two
divifions,
GRA
>
divifions, as in fox-tail grafs. In general, the hulks ef the
calyx are placed oppolite to thofe of the corolla ;
Befides the hulky feales that have been mentioned, there
are two other final 1 fquare feales, placed by each other, be-
twixt the feed-hud and the -external hulk of the coroila.
Thefe feales are not always to be feen without theaflif-
tance of a magnifying glafs ; and in fome, as pamc-grafs
and cenchrus, they are entirety wanting. Laftly-, the calyx;
.and corolla, if indeed they are to be confide; ed as diftinft
covers, are frequently accompanied with an arifta or fharp-
headed awn, which fomethnes terminates the hulk, fome-
times proceeds from the middle or bafe of its back. In oats,
wheat and barley, thefe fharp beards are frequently made to
ch (appear by culture. Some graiTes have, befides the calyx,
a cover which accompanies or furrounds the flowers under
the form of a fcale, and is varioufiy cut, and of a very differ
rqnt figure from that of the leaves.
The calyx and corolla, or rather the hufky feales which
referable them, always accompany the feed-bud to its matu-
rity. Upon the whole, I am of opinion, that former
fcotanifts wepe not greatly miflaken, when they denominated
the graffes plant# apeial #, plants which want petals; as the
hufky feales are, perhaps, with much more propriety, to be
denominated a calyx.
The Stamin a are generally three in number, and placed
irregularly, with refpeft to the fituation of the calyx and the
corolla. One flamen is commonly placed betwixt the feed-
hud and the two fmall feales or external lnifk of the corolla ;
and two betwixt the feed-bud and the inner hufk. Kice,
zizania, and pharus, have fix ftamina.
The Anthers are long, furnifhed with two cells, and
(lightly attached to the filaments.
The Seed-bu d is placed upon the fame receptacle as
the calyx, corolla and (lamina. In bobartia it is faid to be
placed under the receptacle of the flower.
The Style is generally double, and crowned with a
hairy Jligma or fummit.
The
GRA
The Seed-Vessel in this order is wanting.
The Seeds are (ingle, oval, and attached below to tlie
bottom of the flower.
The roots of the grafTcs are aperient ; fuch as have an
aromatic fmell are ftomachic ; their feeds are meally, muci-
laginous and nourifliing.
All the parts of thefe plants are wholefome. The leaves
of fuch as are not too rough to the touch, are browzed upon
by animals; the large feeds, as of wheat, rye, barley, oats,
& c. are daily converted into food for men ; the fmaller feeds,
as of canary-grafs, and panic-grafs, afford a very excellent
repafl to fparrows and other birds ; and, in times of fcarcity,
the tuberous roots of fome of the efculent graffes are no
bad fuccedaneum, in default of their feeds.
Of a fpecies of reed, which grows plentifully in Syria
and Palefline, the Turks make their writing pens.
Theflalks of arundo donax are ufed for fifhing-rods.
There are two forts of reed, fays HafTelquift, which
grow near the Nile : one of them has fcarce any branches,
but is furnifhed with numerous leaves, that are narrow,
fmooth, and channeled on the upper furface ; and the plant is
about eleven feet high. The Egyptians make ropes of the
leaves. They lay them in water like hemp, and then mako
them into good ftrong cables. Thefe, with the bark of the
date-tree, are almofl the only cable ufed in the Nile. The
other fort is of great confequence. It is a fmall reed, about
two or three feet high, full branched, with fhort, fharp,
lancet-fhaped leaves. The roots, which are as thick as the
flem, creep and mat themfelves together to a confiderable
diftance. This plant feems ufelcfs in common life; but to
it, continues the learned author, is the very foil of Egypt
owing: lor. the matted roots have Hopped the earth, which
floated in the waters, and thus formed out of the fea, a
country that is habitable.
Bamboo Cane, the Arundo Bambos of Linnaeus, the Ily
* — ■ Bean-caper.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
This oider furnilhes both herbaceous and woody plants.
The Roots are fometimes fibrous, fometimes tuberous.
In fome fpecies of wood-forrel they are jointed.
The Stems are cylindric. The young branches, in
fome, nearly fquare.
Z 2
The
GRO
The Buds are of a conic form, and covered with
fcales.
The Leaves are either fimple, as in geranium ; or com-
pound, as in lignum vitae and caltrops. In bean caper, they
confifl ot one pair of pinna or wings only ; in lignum vitae,
from two to five pair; and in caltrops, from three to eight,
placed oppofite. In fagonia the leaves are finger-fhaped,
each leaf being compofed of three lobes or lelfer leaves.
1 he lower leaves ot molt of the geraniums are commonly
alternate; the upper ones are oppofite, one of the two being
larger than the other.
The Stipule or fcales in the European geraniums fur-
round the iootllalks of the lower leaves, and fall with them.
In the African fpecies, all the leaves, both upper and lower,
have fupports ot the fame kind, which are fometimes united
at the bafe, fo as to have the appearance of a fingle ftipula.
The fcales which accompany the leaves at the top of the
branches of the European geraniums, fall off very early.
Wood-forrel bears Jiipulce on its footllalk,, precifely at the
joints.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite.
They proceed from the wings of the leaves, either fingly,
as in guaiacum, flax, aldrovanda, and fagonia ; or in clut-
ters, as in fome fpecies of geranium and wood-forrel.
In fundew they terminate the branches in a fpike : and irr
bean caper, they are produced either fingly, or two by two,
along the branches, without the angles or wings of the
leaves.
The Calyx or Flower-cup confifls either of five
diftinfct leaves, as in molt of the geraniums, flax, and bean-
caper ; or of one leaf divided almolt to the bottom into five
parts, as in aldrovanda and fundew ; it generally accompanies
the feed-bud to its maturity. In fagonia, the calyx, which
is compofed of five leaves, falls with the petals, and the other
parts of the flower.
The Petals ar,e five in number, fpread, and are fre-
quently funncl-lliaped. Iu the different fpecies pf geranium,
.the
G R U
thr'figure of the petals is different, as is likewife their num-
ber. In aldrovanda, the petals, as well as the calyx, are
permanent.
The Nectarium in bean- caper and quaffia, confrfts of
a number of finall leaves or fcales, which are inferted into
the infide of the bafe of the filaments, and furround the
feed-bud. Thefe fcales, in the former, are ten in number,
■one for each filament : in the latter, they are hairy, and
but five in number.
The Stamina are generally ten in number, awl-fhaped,
ereft, and of the length of the petals. In averrhoa and
geranium they are alternately long and fhort. The filaments
in fome of the geraniums are united below ; in others, dif-
iinft. i
In flax, aldrovanda, and fun-dew, there are but five fta-
mina ; the firff, however, befides its five perfeft ftamina,
has five other bodies refembling ftamina without tops, which
are placed alternate with the former. Nay, in a particular
fpecies, called linum lujitanicum, there are ten p erf eft
ftamina.
The Anthers or tops of the ftamina are generally ob-
long, and frequently attached to the filaments by the middle,
foas to lie and Ibmetimes to veer about upon them. In flax,
the anthers are arrow-fhaped. Their number is not conftant
in the different fpecies of geranium : fome have ten, fome
feven, and others five.
The Seed-bud is either oblong, or five cornered.
The number of Jiyles is either one, as in bean-caper,
quaffia, and fagonia ; or five, as in aldrovanda, wood-forrel,
and flax. In tri Indus the fly le is wanting.
The Seed-vessel is generally a five-cornered capjule,
with one, three, five, or ten cells. In averrhoa , the feed-
veffel is of the apple-kind, fhaped like a top, with five angles,
and the fame number of cells. Quuijjia and tribuLus have
five different fruits or fecd-vellels, which, in the former, are
egg-fhaped, and inferted into a large round flefhy receptacle.
In a fpecies of iribulus, the cijioidcs of Tournefon, the
pumber. of fruits is ten.
z 3 The
t
G R U
The Seeds are generally equal in number to the internal
divifions or cells of the feed veflel ; pne feed being plac<*l
in each cell. In geranium, the feeds, which are five in
number, and kidney-fhaped, are commonly wrapped in the
proper coat or covering, called by Linnaeus, arillus, and
terminated by a fpiral beard or haulm. In wood-forrel,
the feeds are difperfed with an elaftic fpring.
Flax, with refpeft to its virtues and ufes in medicine, is
bitter, mucilaginous, purgative, and ufed in inflammation^.
Geranium is vulnerary and aftringent.
The leaves of wood-forrel, boiled in broth, are faid to
be ferviceable in putrid fevers.
The leaves of geranium zonale are marked with a purple
circle like a horfe-fhoe, which reaches from one fide of the
bafe to the other, and correfponds with the border of the
leaf. When gently rubbed, they have a fcent like fcalded
apples.
The flowers of geranium trifle are marked with dark purple
fpots, and fmell very fweet after the fun has left them ; hence
the fpecies is known among gardeners by the name of
night-fcented crane’s-bill. In general, it may be obferved,
that moft fpecies of geranium with tuberous flefhy roots have
their odour augmented in the evening, and during the ab.
fence of the fun.
Guaiacum, or holy-wood, grows plentifully both in the
Eaft and Weft Indies, and is brought to us in large long
billets or logs, fome of which weigh four or five hundred
■weight, It is about the fize of a common walnut-tree,
bearing bark which is thick and gummy, and eafily parts
from the wood. The leaves are winged, and the lobes
placed oppofite. The flowers, which confift of five petals,
are of a beautiful violet colour. They are fucceeded by a
fiuft like finall chefnuts, round, folid, and brown; within
which is contained another little fruit or nut, of an orange
colour. I he wood is hard, firm, weighty, and marbled
with brown, red, and black: it is of an acrid tafte. G-uaia-
pum is the bell lort of wood for turnery-ware, efpecially
tpi making mortars, peftles, rowhng-pins, and bowls for the
bowling-
G Y M
bowling-green. In medicine, the Ihavings or rafpings have
been long ufed an ptifans and fudorific drinks for the vene-
real difeafe. The bark and gum of this tree have likewife
been ufed with fuccefs in the cure of the fame diforder, as
well as in catarrhs, gouts, rheumatifms, and other difeafes
proceeding from weaknefs or obftru&ions of the vifeera.
From the feeds of common flax is expreffed an oil, which
is ufed both by phyficians and painters ; from the bark or
peeling of the ftalks is made linen ; and from the rags of
linen is made paper ; fo that this plant is one of the moft
valuable in the whole vegetable kingdom.
Caltrops, the tribulus of Virgil*, bears a fruit that i#
armed with ftrong prickles. Thefe are apt to run into the
feet of the cattle which walk over the ground where they
are produced. It has derived both its fcientific and Englifli
names from the form of the fruit, which refembles thofe
inftruments of war that were caff in the enemies way to
annoy their horfe. A fimilar inftrument, and with three
iron fpikes, (which exactly correfponds to the Greek ToiCo-
7.or, /res jaflus, aut tria jacula,) has been ufed in hunting the
wolf. The military caltrop has commonly four fpikes, one
of which is always ere£l, the other three adhering to the
ground.
GYMNODISPERMyE, (from yv/nvor, naked ; Sis,
twice; and
of the
Rurnex, *-»-
— Dock.
$alicornia , —
— Jointed glafs-wort,
wort.
or fait-
Salfola, —
Tinus.
1 Pint e rani a ,
— Glafs-wort.
SECTION II.
■Male, Female, Androgynous and Polygamous Plants .
— » Orach.
Atriplex,
Axyris.
Begonia.
Ceratocarpus ,
Nyjfa,
Spinacia ,
The tupelo-tree.
Spinach.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
This very numerous order of plants contains trees, fhrubs,
and perennial and annual herbs; fome of the woody vege-
tables, as the bay, cafhew-tree, and atraphaxis, retain their
green leaves during the winter.
The Roots are very long, and frequently fpindle-fhaped ;
from the knots of the Items and branches ot luch plants as
creep on the ground, or float in the water, proceed fibrous
and branched roots.
The Stems and young branches are cylindric. In Mala-
bar night-fhade, they climb and are twilled from left to right,
A a 3. in
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in the diredlion of the apparent diurnal motion of the fun.
In the greateft part of the aquatic plants of this order, the
flalks are hollow whhin. In fome fpecies of polygonum, the
branches being flript of their leaves, appear to be terminated
in a thorn.
The Buds are of a conic form, and naked; that is, not
accompanied with fcales.
The Leaves are generally fimple, alternate, entire, and
attached to the branches by a cylindric foot-ftalk, which is
fometimes very long, as in the tupelo-tree, but generally
very fhort. — The leaves of glafswort are fhort, awl-fhaped,
flefliy, and terminated with fpines. In jointed glafs-wortj
the leaves appear to be nothing elfe than finall appendages
of the articulations or joints of the branches. — In mountain
knot-grafs the leaves are placed oppofite; and in polycnemum,
they are oppofite at the bottom, and alternate at top. — Some
plants of this order have two Stipule or fcales attached to
the branches, near the origin of the foot-ftalk of each leaf.
Thofe of mangrove are very large, furround the extremity
of the branches, and envelop the young leaves, which in
unfolding, puih off the Jlipulx that are placed above them.
In many plants, as the biftorts, rhubarb, dock, and atra-
phaxis, inftead of each leaf bears on its foot-ftalk a
membranaceous (heath, which is cylindric, frequently fring-
ed on the margin, and penetrated by the ftem. In fome
fpecies of polygonum, the vagina or (heath in queftion con-
tinues a long time after the fall of the leaves.
The F lower s in plants of the firft fcftion are hermaphro-
dite : in thofe of the fecond, male and female upon the fame
root, as in axyris; male and female upon different roots, as
in fpinach hermaphrodite and male on the fame root, as
in begonia ; hermaphrodite and female on the fame root, as
in orach ; hermaphrodite and male on different roots, as
in the tupelo-tree.
In tick-feed, and fome fpecies of wild orach, which be-
long- to the firft' feffion, there are female flowers mixed with
the hermaphrodite upon the fame plant.
Many of the hermaphrodite flowers of the cafhew-nut
prove barren.
The
f
II O L
✓ \
The flowers proceed either fingly, or in greater numbers,
from the angles ot the leaves ; or terminate the branches in
fpikes, umbels, or panicles.
Thefe are the only ftriking and eflential charaflers of this
numerous collection of plants; for, as they do not fo proper-
ly conftitute one natural order, as an aflemblage of many, a
defcription of the parts of fru&ification would lead us to
a feparate dlfcuflion of each genus, which is foreign to the
defign of the-prefent work.
The cafhew-nut, or acajou, is a native of both Indies.
It is a low, wide-fpreading tree, and feldom exceeds twenty
feet in height ; the branches are crooked, ftraggling, and
covered with oval leaves refembling thofe of the ivy, or
Englilh dwarf-apple. The flowers are final!, white, and cut
into five fegments. Thefe are fueceeded by the fruit, which
is generally of a yellow colour, as large as an orange, of a
conical form, with the lefTer end towards the ftalk on which
it grows. At the greateft end, or outfide top of this fruit,
fometimes called the cherry, grows the ffone commonly
fliled the nut, quite bare, in the exa£t fhape of a fheep or
hare’s kidney, about an inch long, containing within it a
large white kernel, of a fine tafle, which is roalled and
eaten. The infule of the fruit or cherry is very ftringy, ami
full of rough, aflringent, but pleafant juice, which in Ame-
rica is frequently ufed, like that of lemons with us, in mak-
ing punch. The outer fhell of the nut is of an afh-colour,
and very fmooth. Under this outer rind is another which
covers the kernel ; between them is a thick black inflam-
mable oil, which is very cauftic..
When the Weft-India young ladies fancy themfelves too
much tanned by the fcorching rays of the fun, they gentl/
ferape off the thin outfide Ikin of the flone, and then rub
their face all over with the Hone. This immediately fwells
' and grows black ; and the fkin being thus poifoned, will, in
the (pace of five or fix days, come entirely off the face in
large flakes, fo that they cannot appear in public under a full
fortnight ; by which time the new fkin looks as fair as that
of a young child.
A a 4
The
H O L
The negroes in Erafil cure themfelves effe&uallv of dif.
orders in the ftomach, by eating of the yellow fruit of the
acajou, the juice of which being acid, cuts the thick tough
humour which obllru6fed the free circulation of the blood,
and thus lemoves the complaint. 1 his cure, however, is
not voluntary ; for their mailers, the Portuguefe, deny them
any other fuftcnance, and letting them loofe to the woods,
where the cafhew-nuts grow in great abundance, leave it in
their option to perifh by famine, or fullain themfelves with
what Nature had provided them. — It is this neceflity which
leads them to the fruit of the acajou, of which they are not
fond ; and after continuing the ufe of it for fome days, they
return to their mailers perfectly recovered from their indif-
pofition, and endued with Jlrength to perform their cuftomary
labour.
The milky juice pf the cafhew-tree will llain linen of a
deep black, which cannot be walked out again.
From the berries of climbing malabar night- ffiade, is
drawn a beautiful red colour. The juice of thefe berries is
f2id to be ufed for llaining calicoes in India. The llalks
and leaves ot the plant are thick, llrong, and fucculen(.
Moll of the fpecies of wild orach have an aromatic foetid
fmell. A fpecies which grows near the coails of the Medi-
terranean is ufed by the Egyptians in fallads, on account of
its faltilh aromatic talfe, which is agreeable. — From the famy
plant kelp is made in other countries,
Mangroves, the mangles of Plunder, are often forty or
fifty feet high ; they grow only in water, and on the banks
«f rivers where the tide flows up twice, a day. They pn;-
ferve the verdure qf their leaves throughout the year. From
the lowed branches ilfue long roots, which hang down to
the water, apd penetrate into the earth. In this po-
fition they jefembie fo many arcades from five to ten
feet high, which ferve to fupport the body of the tree,
and even to advance it daily into the bed of the water.
Thefe arcades are lo clofely intertwUled one with ano-
ther, that they form a kind of natural and tranfparent
terrace, railed with fuch folidity over the water, that one
might;
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might walk upon them, were it not that the branches are too
much encumbered with leaves. The moll natural way of
propagating thefe trees, is to buffer the feveral (lender fmall
filaments which iffue from the main branches, to take root in
the earth. The moil common method, however, is that of
laving the fmall lower branches in bafkcts of mould or earth
till they have taken root.
The defcription juft given pertains chiefly to a particular
fpecies of mangrove, termed by the Weft-Indians, black
mangles, on account ot the brown dulky colour of the
wood. The bark is very brown, fmooth, pliant when
green, and generally ufed in the Weft-India iflands for
tanning leather. Below this bark lies a cuticle, which is
lighter, thinner, and more tender. The wood is nearly of
the fame colour as the bark, hard, pliant, and very heavy.
It is frequently ufed lor fuel, for which purpofe it is faid to
be remarkably proper : the fires which are made of this wood
being both clearer, more ardent and durable than thofe made
of any other materials whatever. — The wood is compaft,
almoft incorruptible, never fplinters, is eafily worked, and,
were it pot for its enormous weight, would be commodioufly
employed in almoft all kinds of work, as it poflefles every
property of good timber. — To the roots and branches of
mangroves that are immet fed in the water, oyfters frequently
attach themfelves ; fo that wherever this curious plant is
found growing on the fea-fhore, oyfter-fifhing is very eafy;
£s in fuch cafes, thefe fhell-filh may be literally faid to be
gathered upon trees.
The red mangles or mangrove, grows on the fea-fhore,
and at the mouth of large rivers, but does not advance, like
the former, into the water. It generally rifes to the height
of twenty or thirty feet, with crooked, knotty branches,
which proceed from all parts of the trunk. The bark is
flender, ot a brown colour, and, when young, is fmooth,
and adheres very clolely to the wood ; but when old, appears
quite cracked, and is eafily detached from it. Under this
Jiark is a fkui as thick as parchment, red, and adhering clofelv
to the wood, from which it cannot be detached till the tree
is
H O L
is Felled and dry. The wood is hard, compaft, heavy, of
a deep red, with a very fine grain. The pith or heart of the
wood being cut into fmall pieces, and boiled in water, im-
paits a \ ei^ beautiful red to the liquid, which communicates
the fame colour to wool and linen. The great weight and
hardnefs of the wood prevent it from being generally ufed.
Fiom the fruit of this tree, which, when ripe, is of a vio-
let colour, and refembles fome grapes in tafte, is prepared
an agreeable liquor, much efteemed by the inhabitants of the
Caribbee iflands.
White mangles, fo termed from the colour of its wood,
grows like the two former, upon the banks of rivers, but is
feldom found near the fea. The bark is grey ; the wood,
as we have faid, white', and, when green, fupple ; but dries
as foon as cut down, and becomes very light and brittle.
This fpecies is generally called rope-mangrove, from the
ufe to which the bark i s ■ applied by the inhabitants of the
Weft Indies. This bark, which by reafon o: the great
abundance of fap, is eafily detached, when green, from the
wood, is beaten or bruifed betwixt two ftones, until the\
hard and woody part is totally feparated from that which is
foft and tender. This laft, which is the true cortical fub-
ftance, is twifted into ropes of all fixes, which are exceed-
ingly ftrong, and not apt to rot in the water.
The afhes of the glaflworts and jointed glaffworts, are
ufed in making of glafs and foap.
True rhubarb is the root of the rheum pahnatum of Lin-
naeus. The leaves are hand-fhaped and pointed. The
purgative quality of the root is too well known to be enlarg-
ed on in this place.
A fpecies of rhubarb, called by the Arabians, rihes, grows
naturally on mount Libanus, and other mountainous parts
of Syria. J he furface of the leaves is covered with warts
or rough protuberances. — The monks in thofe parts are faid
to fubfift principally upon this plant.
i he avocato or avigato pear-tree, a native of the Weft-
India iflands, fo called from its fruit, which in form and
thick nefs refembles a pear, is the laurus perfea of Linnaeus.
The
H O L
The pulpy or flefhy part of the fruit is of a pale green, with
little or no confiftence when ripe, and melts in the mouth
like marrow, which it greatly refembles in tafte. — The Ikin
is fmooth and thin, but of a ftrong tough fubftance, and
of a beautiful green colour, which does not become yel-
low till the fruit is perfe&ly ripe.— The fruit, by rea-
fon of its foftnefs, may be eaten out of the furround-
ing Ikin with a tea-fpoon, like jelly and marmalade. It
is frequently ferved up, in the Weft-Indies, on a plate
with fugar, role-water, and orange-flowers ; moft commonly,
however, it is mixed with fugar, and the juice of limes,
which render it extremely palatable. The unripe fruit too
is frequently plucked, and eaten in thin flices with pepper
and fait. In this ftage, the tafte of the avocato greatly re-
fembles that of artichoke. Every preparation of this fruit
is efteemed highly nourilhing ; as it warms, exhilarates, and
fortifies the ftomach. — It is particularly recommended in dy-
fenteries. In the middle of the pulpy part of the fruit lies
the nut or feed, which is very large, almoft round, of a
pale ruflfet colour, a little wrinkled, contains no kernel
Vvithin it, and whole degree of hardnefs does not exceed that
of a chefnut divefted of its fkin. This nut, about an hour
after it is feparated from the fruit, fplits of itfelf into two or
three pieces. If committed to the ground in this ftate, no
vegetation enfues, becaufe the embryo of the feed is broken ;
fo that fuch as would propagate thefe plants from feed mu ft
fow the nuts the moment they are taken out of the pulp ; in
which cafe they will begin to germinate in eight or ten days
after. The bark and wood of this tree, which rifes to a
confidcrable height, are of a greyilh colour. The leaves are
long, pointed, of a fubftance like leather, and of a beauti-
ful green colour. The flowers are pfoduced in large knots
or clufters at the extremities of the branches, and confift
each of fix petaE difpofed in the form of a ftar, and of a
dirty-white, or yellow colour, with an agreeable odour, which
ditiufes itfelf to a confiderable diftance. The tree begins
to bear fruit two years and a half, or at moft three years after
being planted ; and, like moft of the trees in warm climates,
bears twice a year.
The
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The buds of the avigato pear-tree are faid to be ufed with
fuccefs in ptifans againft the venereal difeafe. An infufion
of them in water, drunk in the morning falling, is brongly
recommended for diflodging coagulated blood in the llomach
produced by a fall or a i'evere broke on that important vifcus .
“ The wild boars in the Indies,” fays Labat, “ eat greedily
of the mammees and avigato pears, which give their flefh
a lufeious and moll agreeable favour.”
The wood of the lattrus borbonia, or red bay of Carolina,
is much elleemed, being of a very fine grain ; fo is fre-
quently made into cabinets, and other ornamental furniture.
It dyes a beautiful-black colour.
Camphire-tree, the Lnurus Camphora of Linnaeus, the
Laurus Campborifera of Kaempter, grows naturally in the
woods of the weftern parts ot Japan, as likewife in Su-
matra, Borneo, and other parts of India. The root fmelis
more of camphire than the other parts, and being boiled
yields it. The bark of the balk is, outwardly, fomewhat
rough ; but in the inner furface, fmooth and mucous, and
therefore eafily feparated from the wood, which is dry,
and of a white colour. The leaves band upon bender
footbalks, have an entire undulated margin, run out into a
point, have the upper furface of a lively and biining green,
the lower herbaceous and filky, and are furnilhed with a
few lateral nerves, which bretch archwife to the circumfe-
rence, and frequently terminate in fmall warts ; a circum-
bance which may be confidered as peculiar to this fpecies of
laurel. The bowers are produced on the tops of footbalks,
which proceed from the arm-pits of the leaves, but not till
the tree has attained confiderable age and fize, 1 he bower-
balks are bender, branched at the top, and divided into very
ihort pedicles, each lupporting a fingle bower. 1 he bow-
ers confift of fix white petals, and are fuccecdcd by ajpurpl^-
fhining berry, of the fize of a pea, and in figure fomewhat
top fhaped. It is compofed ul a foft pulpy fubbance, that
is purple, and has the tabe of cloves and camphire, and of
a nucleus or kernel, ol the fize ot a pepper, that is covered
with a black, fhining, oily cprticle, of an infipid tabe,
Camphire-
H O L
Camphire-tree is known in Japan by the feveral names of
Sfio, Kus-no-ki and Nambok. The fubftance termed cam-
phire is procured by diftilling tbe roots and branches of the
tree in an alembic having a head made of twilled and plaited
llraw. All the humidity evaporates through the head, and
the camphire flicks to it. In this Hate it is of a grevifh
colour ; but, after being refined by fublimation in a fand-
heat, it becomes white and tranfparent. Taken inwardly,
camphire is cordial, fudorific, and anodyne; ufed exter-
nally, it is a powerful difcutient. The ancients believed it
to be an enemy to generation, which proves to be a miflake.
Subfiances refembling camphire, and oil of camphire,
are likewife obtained from the roots of Laurus CafTia,
termed by Kaempfer Caftia Canellifera, from the bark of
which is alfo got, by difliilation, an oil of cinnamon, and
from the leaves, an oil of cloves. The fame curious
traveller informs us, that a camphire is depofited in great
abundance at the bottom of the oil obtained by difliilation
from the Arabian and Perfian Schcenanthus : and he doubts
not that a fimilar fubftance might be extrafled from juniper
and other plants, which have the camphire-fmell, as the
Bramins extrafl a fugar from every fweet, even from milk
itfelf. A tree which grows naturally in Sumatra and Borneo
yields a cryftalline camphire, that is exceedingly precious
and rare.
The tree which produces the gum or fubftance called
benjamin is the laurus benzoin of Linnaeus. The leaves are
likethofeof the citron and lemon-trees, only fmaller, and
lefs lucid. — Benjamin promotes expe£loration, and is of
great force and prevalence in the afthma, and lingering
phthifical coughs. “ It is likewife endued,” fays Lemery,
“ with a virtue to provoke urine and perfpiration.”
Saftafras-tree, the laurus JaJJ'afras of Linnaeus, grows na-
turally in many parts of North America, particularly Florida,
where there are whole forefts of it. It has a very ftrait
trunk, which rifes about ten feet high. The branches on its
top are covered with green leaves-like thofe of the fig-tree,
which the inhabitants eftcem an excellent vulnerary, when
bruifed.
HOL
bruifed. The bark is reddifh, thick, and rough, and more
fragrant than the wood. When the wood is cut or rafped
for ufe, the fmell is fo firong that it occafions the head-ach
in thofe that work upon it ; as it likewife does in thofe that
”, which has much leffened its credit.— Ufed in infufion
ike tea, the wood is a powerful antifcorbutic.— In Carolina,
a decoftion of the wood and leaves has been adminiftered
with fuccefs in intermitting fevers. In pains of the feet,
an oil obtained from the broiled berries of faffafras, rubbed
into the part affeaed, though attended with a difagreeable
naufea, never fails, fays Kalm, to produce a fpeedy and
perfea cure. The bark dyes an orange colour, that is
particularly pleafing to the eye, and does not fade in the
fun.— In New Jer fey, and other parts of North America,
they wafh and fcour the veffels in which they intend to keep
cyder, beer, or brandy, with water in which the faffafras-
root, or its peel, has been previoufly boiled — a precaution
which they think renders all thofe liquors both more pala-
table and more wholefome. Some get their bed-polls made
of the wood of faffafras, in order to expel the bugs : and
in Penfylvania, for a fimilar purpofe, they put chips of it
into their chefls containing deaths, and other woollen fluffs,
to get rid of the larvae and moths, which commonly fettle in
them in fummer, — SafTafras-wood, thrown into the fire,
crackles like fait. It lafts, we are told, a long time un-
der ground : yet is there hardly any kind of wood which,
when expofed to the air without cover, is more generally
attacked by vermin, fo as in a fhort time to be quite
worm-eaten through and through.
Cinnamon-tree, the kurus cinnamomum of Linnaeus, is a
native of the lfiand of Ceylon in the Eaft Indies. The
leaves have three beautiful nerves, which run through the
difk or furlace, and difappear towards the top. The tree
has three barks or rinds. The firft and fecond are only
ufed; the third, and innermoft, which inclofes the body of
the tree, being never touched ; not, as fome have pretended,
becaufe it is of no value ; but becaufe an incifipn in it kills
the tree. After three years time, the two extreme barjts
are
I
H O L
are renewed, and fit to be pulled off. When the Dutch,
fay fome authors, who ingrofs the whole trade of this and
the other fpiceries, are apprehenfive of abating the value
of cinnamon, by fending home too great abundance, and
thereby glutting the European markets, they lay it on an
heap, and burn as much of it as they imagine ufelefs for
their fervice ; which fpicy mountain fends out its fragrant
exhalations for many leagues into the fea ; fo that of thefe
coafls it may be truly affirmed, in the beautiful language of
Milton, that
“ Pleas’d with the grateful fraell, old Ocean fmilcs.”
The Dutch, not remarkable for honefty in any of their deal-
ings, are particularly fraudulent in conducing the fpice trade:
for they frequently extraft a quantity of oil, efience, or Spi-
rits, from the cinnamon and cloves; and then confidently ex-
pofe them for choice untainted commodities. Hence we often
meet with feveral fpiceries, cinnamon in particular, that are
very dry and infipid, almofl: devoid of fmell and tafte, and
pillaged of their oil and elfcntial fubftance. — The fruit of
the cinnamon-tree yields, by coftion and expreffion, an oily
fubfiance, of which candles are made for people of the firft
rank : and from the neck of the root is drawn a fine kind of
camphirc, of a fpicy, aromatic fmell, very rarely to be met
with in Europe.
“ In Siberia,” fays Gmelin, “ they eat for ordinary food,
the root of a fpecies of polygonum , termed by fome botanifts,
lijhrta montana minor ; and by Haller, bijlorta foliis ad oram
nervofts. The natives call it mouka ; and fo indolent are
they, that, to fave themfelves the trouble of digging it out
of the earth, they go in fpring and pillage the holes of the
mountain-rats, which they find filled with thefe roots.”
White Beet, the Beta Cicla of Linnaeus, is a variety of
the common Beet well known to be cultivated in gardens,
as are all its varieties, for the fake of the leaves. I
mention it in this place with a view of introducing a
fcrics pf experiments made by M. Marginal', with a
viewt
HOL
view of extracting fugar from the roots of this and fomd
other vegetables. The plants which that ingenious philofo-
pher has examined chymically for the purpofe juft mention-
ed, are common in moft countries, and demand neither a
favourable foil, nor an afhduous culture. — Such are,
1° White Beet, acla officinarum .
Skirret, Sium Sifarum.
S° Red Beet.
1 he roots of plants containing fugar may be fufficiently
known by thefe charaftenfticsr When cut into fmall pieces,
and carefully cleaned, they imprefs upon the palate a very
agreeable fenfation : and, d examined by the microfcopc,
exhibit a number of white cryftalline particles, which
are the fugar of the plant. Sugar being a fait which is
diftolved in brandy, M. Margraaf imagined that it might
likewife be cxtra&ed from vegetables with the aftiftance of
that liquor. To determine the quantity of fugar which
might be diftolved by this method, he put into a glafs one
ounce of the beft and fineft fugar, well pulvenfed, with four
ounces of the ftrongeft brandy. The whole being well di-
gged,. he made the mixture boil, and the fugar was foort
perfectly, diftolved. The folution being fl ill warm, he
pafted it through a very fine feared or fieve into another
veftel. This he carefully flopped, and had the pleafure at
the end of eight days to find the fugar reftored, and formed
anew into regular and beautiful cryftals. To fucceed in
this experiment, it is neceftary that the veftel and the fugar
be well dried, and the fpirit highly rectified.
Prepared by the experiment juft reLted, the ingenious
chymift cut into very thin flices fome roots of White Beet,
which he had feledied for the purpofe, and dried them before
the fire, taking care, however, that they might not be burnt.
He next reduced them to a grofs powder, which he a fecond
time dried, as it eafily contrafils humidity. Of this powder,
whilft ftill hot, he put eight ounces into a glafs veflld, and
poured over it fixteen ounces of fpirit fo flrong that it kin-
dled gun-powder. The veftel being half full, lie placed it,
well flopped, into a fand-heat, till the fpirit began to boil :
2 /halting
H O L
(baking the powder at proper intervals, that it might not fall
to the bottom. — As foon as the fpirit had begun to boil, he
removed the vefTel from the fire, and poured the mixture it
contained as quickly as polfible into a coarfe linen bag,
fqueezing it hard, in order to exprefs all the liquor. ' This
he immediately palled, whilft hot, through a finer cloth,
into a glafs vefTel, which he carefully flopped, and kept in
a warm place. At firfl the liquor was diilurbed ■ but at the
end of fome weeks it had precipitated a cryflalline fediment,
which had all the appearance and properties of fugar in its
lefs refined Hate. By this firfl experiment, M. Margraaf
extra&ed from the three roots formerly mentioned the fol-
lowing quantities of fugar :
1 . From half a pound of the root of White Beet, half an
ounce of pure fugar.
2* From half a pound of Skirret, an ounce and half of
pure fugar.
3. From the fame quantity of Red Beet, an ounce and a
quarter of fugar equally pure.
Thefe experiments prove, that lime-water is not fo necef-
fary for drying and thickening the fugar as certain chymifts
have pretended* fince it certainly cryitallifes without it.
Being thus well affured from afifual observation, that the
plants in queflion were poffeffed of a real fugar, he next em-
ployed himfelf in difcoveringa lefs expenfive method of ex«
trafting it. Such an end, he thought, would moft effeftu-
ally be attained, 1°, by expreffing the fweet fugar juice, pu-
rifying it, and difpofing it to cryflallize by evaporation; — •
2°, by purifying the cryflals which might refult from the
preceding operations.
Having taken with this view, a certain quantity of Skirret,
he cut the frefh roots into very fmall pieces, and having
bruifed them with all Ins flrength in an iron mortar, removed
them into a linen bag, and exprelfed the juice by means of a
prefs prepared for that purpofe. — He then poured water
upon the roots in the bag, and preffed them a fecond time.
The liquor thus obtained he put into proper velfels, and kept
in a cool place for 48 hours, at the end of which time it wai
n b clear,
H O L
clear, and a meally fubflance had fallen to the bottom. He
now, there tore, very gently paffed the liquor through a fine
linen cloth into another veflel.
The fir ft clarification thus accomplifhed, he added to the
juice fotne whites of eggs, and then boiled the whole to-
gether in a copper pan, continuing to fkim it, till there ap-
peared no more impurities on the furface, and the liquor
was as tranfparent as the brighteft and beft clarified wine.
He boiled it a fecond time in a leffer pan, till it had loft con-
fiderably of its quantity ; and thus he continued, ufing {fill
fmaller veffels, till the liquor, originally thin, was reduced to
a fyrup of a pretty thick confidence. This he kept in a warm
place for fix months, at the end of which time he found the
fugar colleftled upon the fides of the veflel in the form of
cryftals. To purify thefte, which was the fecond and prin-
cipal operation, he immerfed the veflel containing them into
warm water, and when the heat had rendered the mixture
fluid, he poured over the liquor and the cryftals into an
earthen veftel having a very large mouth, with a narrow
bottom pierced with feveral holes. This veftel he placed
within another, and left them in this fituation, in a temperate
place. By degrees the fyrup fell into the veftel below,
whilft the cryftals remained in the upper.
To render this raw fugar ftill purer, he now put it into a
fort of blotting paper folded in different forms, which he
gently fqueezed with his hand. It had the defired effeft :
the paper imbibing much of the vifeous and tenacious fyrup
which was attached to the fugar.
Thus freed of its impurities, he diffolved it a fecond time
in water, paffed it again through the fined linen, and boiled
it to the confidence of a thick fyrup. He then added fome
lime-water, and after boiling it a-frefh, till it was ropy,
took it off the fire, and kept ftirring it till cool ; when he
once more poured it over into earthen veffels of a conical
form, flopped with wood. Thefte he put within other veffels
of the fame form and fubftance, but thicker : and the cryf-
tals in the courfte of eight days being completely formed, he,
after that period, fuflcred the fyrup to flow into the lower
3 veftel,
H YB
VefTel, and drying the fugar by means of the blotting-paper
as before, had the fatisfa&ion to find it as pure and beautiful
as the belt fugar which is produced from the fugar-cane:
and the fyrup to ferve the fame purpofes as common treacle.
Bv the fame operation may fugar be extracted from White
and Red Beet. That of Skirret is fuperior to the fugar
obtained from Red Beet : but the fugar from the White
Beet M. Margraaf a (firms to be the belt of all.
Continuing his experiments, this ingenious naturalifl next
elfayed to extraft fugar from the Items and leaves of thefe
plants ; but from thofe with all his efforts he could only
obtain a fort of earth.
Might it not be very advantageous for the poor inhabitants
of the country to procure to themfelves a fugar from fuch
common plants as have been mentioned, inffeadof purchaf-
ing foreign fugar at fo dear a rate ? In fuch a cafe, it would
not be neceffary that they fhould follow all the Heps of the
procefs juft defcribed; — it would be fufficient to exprefs the
juice, to purify it a little, and boil it to the confidence of a
fyrup.
Encouraged by the fuccefs of thefe experiments— expe-
riments which plaialy evince that the countries which pro-
duce fugar-canes, produce them not exclufively, fince Na-
ture has furnifhed every country with fugar-plants — Mar-
graaf has fince extended his enquiries on the fame fubjeft to
a great number of vegetables. I {hall mention the refult of
a very few only. Carrot yields a very fwcet juice, but re-
fembling honey rather than fugar. The fame is affirmed of
the Gourd. From Parfnip he procured a fmall quantity of
fugar, as likwife from the American Aloe. The juice
which is obtained from the Birch-tree by incifion in water,
yields a fort of manna. Laftly, grapes moiftened, and then
preffed, give a fyrup which contains a little fugar.
HOROLOGIUM Flora. Vide Vioini.
HYBERNACULUM, winter-quarters; defined by Lin-
naeus to be a part of the plant which defends the embryo-herb
from injuries during the feverities of winter. Vide Bul-
sus id Gemma,
B b 2.
HYBRIDA
I c o
HYBRIDA Plant*, a monflrous production of two dif-
ferent fpecies of plants, analogous to a mule among animals.
— The feeds of hybrid plants will not propagate.
I.
I '
ICOSANDRIA, (from auotu, twenty, and avn§, a man
or hufband) ; the name of the twelfth clafs in Linnaeus’s
Sexual Method, confifting of plants with hermaphrodite
flowers furnifhed with twenty or more ftamina, that are in-
ferted into the inner fide of the calyx, or petals, or both. By
this laft circumftance, and not by thenumber of llamina, is the
clafs in queftion diftinguilhed from that immediately follow-
ing it, termed polyandria , in which the number of ftamina
is frequently the fame with that of the plants of the clafs
icojandria , but they are inferted, not into the calyx or petals,
but into the receptacle of the flower.
This nice and minute diftinftion requires the ftrifteft at-
tention, becaufe of the very different nature of the plants
of thefe two claffes. Icojandria furnilhes the pulpy fruits
that are moft efteemed, fuch as apples, pears, pomegranates,
medlars, goofeberries, rafpberries, ftrawberries, currants,
almonds, peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, and guavas.
The plants of the clafs polyandria are moftly poifonous :
fuch, for inftance, are aconite, columbine, lark-fpur, helle- '
bore, virgin’s bower, paeony., herb-chriftopher, burning
thorny plant, and fome others.
Befides the charatters juft mentioned, the plants of the
clafs icojandria have a hollow flower-cup compofed of one
leaf, to the inner fide of which the petals are fattened by
their claws.
The orders in this clafs are five, founded upon the num-
ber of theftyles or female organs.
Mock-orange, myrtle, almond, and plum trees, have
one female organ; wild fervice has two; fervice and fefu-
vium, three; medlar, apple, fig-marigold and fpiraea, five;
rofc, rafpberry, ftrawberry, herb-bennet, and cinquefoil,
an indefinite number.
1MPERFECTUS
I N F
IMPERFECTUS Flos. Vide Apetalus Flos.
IMPLETIO. Vide Plenus Flos.
INCOMPLETE, the name of the ninth clafs in
Royen’s Natural Method, and the fixteenth in Linnaeus’s
Methodus Cahcina ; confilling of plants whofe flowers want
either the calyx or petals.
INCOMPLETUS Flos. Vide Apetalus Flos.
INFLORESCENTIA, (from inflorejco, to flourilh,) a
mode of flowering; the manner in which flowers are fup-
ported on their footflalks.
The various modes in which flowers are joined to the
plant by the pedunculus or footftalk, are expreffed by the
following terms :
Verticillus.
Spica.
Cory m bus.
C APITU LUM.
P’ascicu lus.
Thyrsus.
Racemus.
Pan icu la.
Each of thefe terms is explained in its proper place.
We may here obferve that the various modes of flowering
juft mentioned are equally applicable to thole flowers which
proceed from the angle formed by the leaves and branches,
as do molt flowers, and to fuch as terminate the . Item and
branches. In the former cafe, flowers are termed axillares ,
that is, proceeding from the arm-pit of the leaf : in the
latter, terrninales, that is, terminating the branch.
Some terms refpeffing inflorefcence will be explained un-
der the article Peduncu lus, which fee.
Inflorefcence affords an excellent charafteriftic mark in
diftinguifhmg the fpecies of plants, but is never, according
to Linnteus, to be employed as a generic difference. Many
eminent botanifls, however, among whom are Ray, Rivi-
nus, Knaut, and Kramer, have employed it in diferiminat-
ing the genera.
INTORSIO,
Bb3
I N T
INTORSIO, a term of habit refpefting the flexion or
bending of any of the parts of a plant towards one fide.
- /
Twining Stems.
In hops, honeyfuckle, diofcorea, black bryoriy, hippo-
cratea, and moon-feed, the ftalks twine to the left ; in kid-
ney-bean, convolvulus, Virginian- filk, quamoclit, and
fpiirge, they bend towards the right.
1 wining Ciafpers or Tendrils.
Thefe wind to the right, and back again : of this kind are
the tendrils of raoft of the pea-bloom or leguminous tribe of
plants.
Twijled Flowers.
In fwallow wort, oleander, periwinkle, Virginian-filk,
and flapelia, the petals bend to the left ; in pedicularis, to the
right.
dhepomtal in cucubalus, and vifcous campion, is twilled
to the left; as is the feed-bud in fere w- tree, and fpircea ul-
tnaria. (
The fpikes of flowers in claytcmia, and foine fpecies of
rough-leaved plants, are fpirally twifled ; in poppy, marta-
gon lily, guinea-hen weed, and lizard’s tail, they are bowed
or crooked.
In oats, the beard which terminates the hulk is twifled
like a rope. The proper coat of the feeds of fome fpecies
of geranium has a fpiral tail of the fame kind. This fpecies
of contoifion being affefled by the moifture or drynefs of
the atmofphere is termed by Linnaeus, intorfio bygremetrica.
I o the different fpecies of intorfion may be added the ap-
pearance of the petals in the European fpecies of violet,
oriental bugle, bafil, and a fpecies of fatyrium, in which
the upper lip of the corolla looks towards the ground, and the
under lip upwards. This appearance is termed by Linnaeus,
rejupinatio.
INUNDATA
1 N U
)
INUNDATA Loca , ( immdari , tobeover flowed,) — a term
of foil — places covered with water.
INUNDATE, the name of the fifteenth order in Lin-
naeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, confining ot plants
which grow in the water.
Lift of Genera contained in this Order .
Linntean Genera.
Ceratophyllmn, —
Elatine, —
Hippuris, —
Myriophyllum , —
Potamogeton, —
Proferpinaca.
Ruppia.
Zannichellia, —
Englijh Names.
— Horned pond-weed.
— Water-wort.
— Female horfe-tail.
— Water-milfoil.
— Pond weed.
\
*
— Triple-headed pondweed.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
The plants of this order are aquatic, of low flature, her-
baceous, and moflly perennial.
The Roots are fibrous.
The Stem is generally wanting. In its place are an
affemblage of leaves, which, wrapping or enfolding one
another mutually, form a fheath, from the middle of which
is produced the foot-fialk of the flower.
The Leaves are fometimes alternate, fometimes placed
in whorls round the ftem. In a great many genera, the foot-
ffalk is extended at its origin into a membranaceous fubftance
forming a fheath, that is cleft through the whole length, on
the fide oppofite to the leaf.
In fotne fpecies of pondweed the {heath in queftion is ex-
aflly like that of thegraffes, being terminated at the top, like
the plants of that natural family, with a membranaceous tri-
angular crown. In water-milfoil, ceratophyllum, and pro-
ferpinaca, the footflalk of the leaves forms no fheath of this
kind. The leaves of an aquatic plant of Madagafcar, which
B b 4 Adanfon
I N U
Adanfon affirms to be nearly ailed to pondweed, are pierced
through the fieve in different places round the ribs.
if i of thefe plants are covered with down or
hair.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite in pondweed, profer-
pinaca, elatine, hippuris and ruppia ; male and female on the
fame root in. thc^ reff. Adanfon pretends, with what foun-
dation I Jcnow not, that the flowers in ruppia are likewife
male and female upon the fame fpike.
The difpofition of the flowers in this order ferving fre,
quently of itfelf to diftinguifh the genera, deferves particular
attention.
I. The flowers in water-milfoil, eeratophyllum, proferpi-
naca, elatine and hippuris, proceed fingly from the wings
of the leaves. Thofe of the lower leaves of water-milfoil
are female ; thofe of the upper, male.
II. Triple-headed pondweed has two flowers in the fame
wing ; one male and the other female.
III. The flowers in pondweed and ruppia are difpofed in
fpikes in the wings of the leaves. In ruppia, fays Adanfon,
male flowers are arranged on one fide of the fpike, and female
flowers on the other.
The Flower-cup is either wanting, as in hippuris and
zannichellia; or confiffs of three, four or five divifions
or leaves, which accompany the feed-bud to its maturity.
The Petals are generally wanting. — Elatine has four
petals, that are egg-fhaped, blunt, and fpreading. Pond-
weed has a like number.
The Stamina are in number from one to fixteen and
upwards. The filaments, in foine genera, are fo ffiort, that
they feem wanting.
The anthers or tops are fhort, and generally marked with
four longitudinal furrows. In ruppia, the anthers have one
cell, and open at top.
The Seed-buds are in number from one to four. The
ffyle is frequently wanting. — In projerpinaca, the feed-bud
is placed below the receptacle of the flower.
1 he Seed-vessel is universally wanting, except in
elatine.
I N V
Ratine, which has a dry capfule with four external openings,
and the fame number of cells.
The Seeds are generally four in number. — In ceratophyl-
lum, the fruit is a nut or Hone, which is egg-fhaped, pointed,
and contains a fingle cell.
INVOLUCRUM, (from tnvolvo, to roll or wrap up) a
fpecies of calyx reftritted by Linnaeus to umbelliferous
flowers.
It is placed below the common receptacle, which in thefe
flowers is a number of foot-flalks, that proceed from the
fame centre, and rife to the fame height. Each foot-ffalk
is terminated with an umbel fimilar in its form and ftrudhire
to the large umbel, and generally furnifhed like it with an
involucrum or cover. When a calyx ol this kind is placed
under the longer or univerfal umbel, it is (tiled an univerfal
cover; when under the partial or finaller umbel, a partial
cover. Vide Umbella & Umbellate.
Umbelliferous flowers, befides the two covers already
mentioned, have generally a proper perianthium or flower-
cup under each of the florets of which the umbel is com-
pofed.
The partial involucrum of an umbelliferous flower is fome-
times termed involucellum, that is, leffer cover.
The univerfal cover is either of one leaf, as in coriander
and caraway ; of three, as in angelica ; of four, as in baftard
ftone-parfley ; ot five, as in Macedonian parfley ; of feven,
as in lovage ; or of many, as in laferwort and water drop-
wort.
The partial cover confifls cither of two leaves, as in arte-
dia ; of five, as in hare’s ear ; or of many, as in bifhop’s
weed and fennel giant.
In fanicle, the univerfal, in' coriander, the partial cover,
goes but half way round the receptacle formed by the foot-
flalks or rays of the umbel.
1 hapfia, parfnep, alexanders, dill, burnet-faxifrage, and
herb gerard, want both the univerfal and partial cover ;
fhepherd’s needle, chervil, mafterwort and fefeli, are fur-
jiifhed with tfie partial, but want the univerfal cover.
IRREGULARIS
»
L A B
IRREGULARISy7w, afn irregular flower; a flower that
wants uniformity; the term is generally applied to the petals,
and is fynonymous to the anomalus of Tournefort, and the
difformis of Jungius and Chriftiaji Knaut.
Examples of flowers with irregular petals are exhibited in
the pea-bloom or leguminous tribe of plants, the lipped-
flowers, vicdet, aconite, lark-fpur, and fome others.
IRREGULARES. The name of a divifion in Rivinus's
Method, comifimg of plants which have irregular flowers.
P ide fapra.
ISOSTEMONES (front loos, equal, and flamen). The
name of a clafs in Haller’s Natural Method, confuting of
plants whole ftamina or male organs of generation are equal
m number to the petals. Such are pimpernel, campanula,
night-fhade, bryony, borage, apocynum, and the umbelli-
ferous flowers.
Mofl of Linnaeus’s clafs penlandria belong to this divifion
of Haller.
JULNERvE, (from julus, a catkin, and fero, to bear,)
trees bearing flowers in catkins. The name of a clafs in
Hermannus’s Syflem, correfponding to the amentaceee of
Boerhaave and Tournefort. Vide AivififtTACEjEand Amen-
taceus jlos.
JULUS, ( IaXor, lanugo, quae i'stxi ouXn, exit mollis).
Catkin. By this term, as likewife by the names, nucamen-
tum and catulus , fome former botanifls difhnguifhed the fpe-
cies of calyx called by Linnaeus Amentum, which fee. The
term is manifeflly as old as Pliny, who, in the 39th Chapter
of the 16th Book of his Natural Giftory, ufes it of the hazel-
tree, an amentaceous or catkin-bearing plant. Fcrunt et
/Ivcllana: Julos compadlili cailo ad nihil utiles.
L.,
JABIA1 US Jlos, a lipped-flower ; a flower confifting of
-J one irregular petal whefe diviflons refemble two lips.
Ti»-j lipped-flowers conftitutea clafs in Toitmefort’s Method,
by
LAC
by the name of labidti , and are the didynamia gymnofpermia of
Linnaeus, and the verticillatee of Ray ; by which name, like-
wife, they are diftinguifhed in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a
Natural Method. Vide Verticii.laTjE.
Mint, thyme, marjoram, balm, dead nettle, and hyffop,
furnifli examples of the term in queftion. Lipped-flowers
make part of the grinning or gaping flowers of Linnaeus.
Vide Corolla r in gens .
LACINI/E, (properly fringes, lappets, pieces, or jags.)
In botanical language the feve.al fettions of the calyx, petals,
and piffillum. The term is likewife applied to leaves.
LACTESCENTIA, (from lac, milk). A term of habit
refpefting the juices or liquors, of whatever colour, which
flow out of plants when any injury is done them.
The colour of the juices in queifion is either *»
White, as in burning thorny plant, poppy, fwallow-wort,
apocynum, cynanchum, campanula, cardinal flower, fheep-
fcabious, maple, fumach, milk-parfley, a fpecies of rrtelon-
thiftle, fow-thiflle, dandelion, hawk-weed, nipple-wort,
and the other compound flowers with flat or tongue-fhaped
florets, the JemifioJculofi of Tournefort, the ftorcs ligulati of
Linntcus.
Yellow, as in celandine, bocctnia, and puccoon,
Red, as in bloody dock.
Moil la&efcent plants are poifonous, except thofe with
compound flowers, which are generally of an innocent
quality.
Of the poifonous laflefcent plants the moll remarkable are
fumach, agaric, maple, burning thorny plant, caffada, ce-
landine, puccoon, prickly poppy, and the plants of the
ziafural order contorts, as fwallow-wort, apocynum, cynan-
chum, and cerbera.
The bell-fhaped flowers are partly noxious, as cardinal
flower; partly innocent, as campanula.
Among the laftefeent plants with compound flowers that
are innocent in their quality, may he mentioned dandelion,
picris, hyoferis, wild lettuce, gum-fuccory, hawkweed,
bail ai d
L I B
/
baftard hawkveed, hypochceris, goat's beard, and moft fpe-
cies of lettuce : I fay mod fpecies, becaufe the prickly fpe-
cies of that genus are of a very virulent and poifonous
nature.
LACTESCENTES. The name of a clafs in Mori Ton's
Method, confiding of plants with compound flowers which
abound with a white milky liquor. Such are the femi-flof-
culofi of Tournefort, juft mentioned. Videjupra.
LAMINA, a plate ; the upper fpreading part of a flower
eonfiflingof more than one petal. Vide Corolla.
LANA, w'ool ; a fpecies of pubefcence, down or velvet,
which ferves, according to Linnaeus, as a veil to fereen
the leaves and branches which are covered with it from the
extremities ol heat.
The appearance in queftion is very confpicuous in hore-
hound, mullein, ftachys, fage and iron-wort of canary,
woolly thiftle, and fomc others.
LEGUMEN, (properly all manner of pulfe, as peafe,
beans, See.) — that fpecies of the feed-veflcl termed a pod,
in which the feeds are fallened along one future only. In
this laft circumftance, the feed-veflel in queftion differs from
the other kind of pod, termed by botanifts friiqua, in which
the inclofed feeds are faflened alternately to both the futures
or joinings of the valves. Vide Siliqua.
The feed-veffcl of all the pea-bloom or butterfly-fhaped
flowers, the diadelphia of Linnaeus, is of the leguminous
kind. Such, for inftance, is the feed veflel of the pea,
vetch, lupine and broom. Vide Papi lion ACE/E.
The valves or external openings for the purpofe of dif-
perfing the feeds are, in both kinds of pod, two in number.
LEGUMINOS/E (from legutnen). The name of a clafs
in Morifon, Hermannus, Boerhaave, Ray, and Royen,
conftfting of plants whole feeds are inclofed in a leguminous
pod. The term correfponds to the papilionacei of Tourne-
fort and Porstedera, and the diadclphia of Linmeus in his
Sexual Syftem. Vide Legumen.
LIBER, the inner bark or rind of plants. Fora parti-
cular defeription of the bark, and the other internal orga-
nized
L I L
nized parts of vegetables, the reader is referred to the article
Structura Vecetabilis.
LIGNUM, the wood. Vide Structura Vegetabi-
LIS.
LIGULATUS flos , (from ligu/a, a flrap or fillet) a fpe-
cies of compound flower fo termed by Linnaeus, all the •
florets or partial flowers of which are flat or tongue-fhaped,
and expanded towards the outer fide.
Of this kind are dandelion, fow-thiftle, lettuce, fuccory,
nipple-wort, hawkweed, goat’s beard, fcorzonera, picris,
and fome others. The flowers in queflion correfpond to
the femiflofculoft of Tournefort, the lingulati of Pontedera,
the planipetali of Boerhaave and Ray, the cichoracei and aca-
nacea of Caefalpinus, and' the ladlefcentes of Morifon.
Thefe plants generally abound with a milky juice, which
is of an innocent quality.
LILIACEI, (from lilium, a lily). The name of the
ninth clafs in Tournefort’s Method, confilting of plants,
whole flowers refemble thofe of the lily, being generally
compofed of fix regular petals ; fometimes, however, of
three, or even of one that is deeply divided into fix parts.
The feeds of the liliaceous flowers are generally contained
within a capfule having three cells. — Afphodel, lily-afpho-
del, hyacinth, grape-hyacinth, meadow faffron, bulboco-
a colour, walk, or
dye, a lotum, as fomentum a foturn — likewife Bean-meal).
The name of the thirty-third order in Linnaeus’s Fragments
of a Natural Method, confifting of plants, many of which
furnifh beautiful tirnftures or dyes, and whole pericarpium ,
univerfally {polygala excepted,) a leguminous pod, contains
feeds th?t are farinaceous or raeally, like thofe of the bean.
Note.
L O M
Note.— Which of thefe characters, or whether both in
Conjunction, determined Linnaeus to affix the name Lomen-
tacetf to the following genera, we poffiefs no means ot afcer.
taining : and it feeins rather flrange, that Gifeke and Fa'bri-
cius, who lately publiffied Linnaeus’s own Explanations of
his Natural Orders, have not offered a tingle word on the
fubjeCt.
Linnaean Genera. Englljh Names.
Adenanthera, —
— Baffard flower-fence.
Bauhinia, —
— Mountain-ebony.
Ccefalpitiia, —
— Brafiletto.
Cajfia , —
— Wild fenna.
Ceratonia, —
— Carob-tree, or St. John’s
bread.
Cercis, —
— Judas tree.
Glediif.a, —
— Honey-locuft, or triple-thorn-
ed acacia.
C inland met, —
— Bonduc, or nickar-tree.
Hcematoxylon , —
— Logwood.
Hymcnaa, — —
— Locuft-tree or courbaril.
Mimofa, —
— Senfitive plant, acacia, &c.
Parkinfonia.
Poind ana, — *
*— Barbadoes flower- fence, or
Spaniffi carnation.
Polygala, ■ —
— Milkwort.
This order, in its general appearance, fo nearly refemblcs
the pea-bloom or buttertly-ffiaped flowers, that, to avoid
repetitions, we fhall only, in this place, mention the few
circumftances in which the two orders differ.
I. In all the plants of this order, except milk-wort, the
filaments of the flaminaare dittinCL
II. The flower is not ffiapcd like a butterfly, but is lefs
irregular, and frequently confifls of but one petal.
I lie Leaves are either fimple, as in Judas-tree; or
winged, as in the greater number.
The
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The Seeds are generally marked with a circular furrow
on both furfaces.
The plants of this natural order, like thofe of the legu-
minous tribe, are generally mucilaginous. From the inner
bark of the greater number exfudes, either naturally or by
incifion, a mucilaginous liquor, which, in acacia and cour-
baril, dries upon the plant, and becomes a gummy fub-
ilance.
Brafiletto, or Brafil-wood, the Ccfalpirtia Brafilienjis of
Linnams, is much ufed by dyers. The tree, from which
it is cut, is very thick and large, and has long branches that
bear a vail quantity of little roundilh leaves, of a fine fhining
green. The bark is reddilh and thorny. The heart of the
wood only is ufed; it is faid to have the fame virtue with red
fanders, but is little ufed in medicine. Boiled in water with
a little allum, Brafil-wood will flrike a red dye into eggs that
are boiled along with it; it is alfo ufed for colouring althea
roots to clean the teeth. The rafpings of Brafil-wood, in-
filled in vinegar with a little gum arabick and allum, pro-
duce a beautiful blood-red tinflure, which lerves either for
ink, or for dying of Ikins, book-covers, and the like. The
fame rafpings, infufed in water, ferve for the dying of
wool, which will not turn purple, nor eafily fuffer de-
cay.
Cafalpinla Sappan, the Lignum Sappan of Rumphius,
the Tliam Pangam of the Ilortus Malabaricus, is a native of
both Indies, and, in its general habit, refembles fome of the
Acacias. The tree rifes with a very prickly Item, from
which proceed branches that are covered with large winged
leaves. The flowers are yellow, grow in cluflers, and are
fucceeded by very broad fmooth pods. The wood, termed
Sappan, is of a red colour, and ufed in dying like Brafiletto,
which it nearly refembles.
The cafha filtula tree, the fruit of which is an approved
medicine, grows naturally in the Eafl and W ell Indies, as
well as in Egypt, and feveral parts of Aha. Its height,
when full grown, often exceeds thirty or forty feet. The
• bark,
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bark, efpecially upon the trunk, is very much furrowed
and cracked ; the wood is white and foft ; the tree generally
branches pretty near the top, and bears feveral middle-fized
fharp-pointed green leaves. The flowers are produced in
clufters, and confift each of five petals, which are of a
yellow colour and agreeable fmell, and are fucceeded by
blackifh pods, from ten to twenty inches long, and about
three quarters of an inch diameter, having a feam running
the whole length on the one fide, and another lefs vifible on
the other. The excellence of cafiia is generally eftimated
by the length, thicknefs and weight of the pods which con-
tain it. The infide is divided into a great many cells, fepa-
rated from each other by thin brittle plates or partitions,
covered with a black fweet pulp ; between thefe partitions
are placed the feeds, which are fmall, flat and fmooth. The
pulp is the part which is ufed in medicine. It gently loofens
the belly, and eje£ts the faeces without occafioning gripes.
— M. Labat relates that the caffia-pods ufed formerly to be
preferved as comfits, and fent to Europe, where they were ad-
miniflered as a gentle and agreeable purgative. The pods
fo preferved were gathered when extremely tender, and
about two or three inches only in length ; fo that pod, pulp
and all, were equally ufed, and equally efteemed. The
flowers were preferved in like manner, and prefcribed with
fuccefs in fimilar diforders. — Cafiia fiftula is thus prepared
in Egypt. The pods are colleffed before they are quite
ripe, and carried into a very clofe room, in which has been
previoufly prepared a bed of palm-leaves and ftraw, fix
inches thick. On this they lay the pods in a heap ; the door
is then clofely fhut ; and the next day they fprinkle water on
the heap, which is repeated the day following. — In this man-
ner they lie heaped for forty days, till they become black ;
others dig a hole in the ground to put them in ; but this
method is greatly inferior to the former. — It is to the Ara-
bians we owe the knowledge of the medicine in queflion ;
the Greeks and Romans being entirely unacquainted with
it. 1 lie Alexandrian cafiia is the bell ; what we principally
ufe, however, is the American, on account of the fcaiCitv
c c of
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of the former. The Brazil cadi a is aftringent while green,
but purges twice as ftiongly as any other kind when ripe
The chief excellence of caflia is, that it is a proper purge in
all inflammatory cafes, which cannot be affirmed of any
other known cathartic.
Senna of the (hops is the leaf of the caffia fenna of Lin-
naeus. The fhrub which produces it is about a foot high,
and grows naturally in Egypt, and feveral parts of the Levant.
The fineft fenna is that from Alexandria, called by the Turks
palte, which pays a confiderable tribute to the Grand Signor.
This fort bears narrow leaves of a moderate fize, lancet
fhaped, yellowiffi, and of a ftrong, fwect, fragrant fmell.
The Tripoli fenna, which is green, comes next in vir-
tue to the Alexandrian, but is eafily diftinguilhed by its
little fmell.
CaJJia Javanica, or broad-podded caffia, is a native of
Java, Brafil, and other parts of both Indies. It has com-
pound winged leaves, confiding of twelve or fourteen pair
of lobes, flefli -coloured flowers, and very large, thick,
three-ribbed pods. In America this fpecies of caffia is com-
monly known by the name of Horfe- Caffia, from the black
purging pulp which furrounds the feeds being generally ad-
miniftered in medicine to horfes only, on account of its
griping quality. In the fhops this fpecies is termed purging
caffia of Brafil.
Kalm afferts that Caffia Charncecrijia , which grows abun-
dantly in the woods of North-America, and whofe leaves:
rcfemble thofe of the fenfitive plant, poflefles likewife the
quality of contrafling them when touched, in common with
the leaves of the latter.
I he flowers of the Canada fpecies of judas tree, commonly
called red-bud tree, are frequently put into falads by the in-
habitants of that country. The French too fomctimes
pickle them ; but they have little flavour.
I he wood of the common judas tree, called by the Por-
tugucfe, the tret* of love, is very beautifully veined with
black and green, and admits of an exceeding fine poliffi.
The roots of moringa, a fpecies of guilandina, are feraped
• when
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when young, and ufed by the inhabitants of the ifland of
Ceylon, and the Malabar coaft, where the tree naturally
grows, as thofe of horfe-radifh are in Europe. The wood
dyes a beautiful blue colour.
Logwood, or Campeachy-wood, grows naturally in the
Bay of Campeachy, at Honduras, and other parts of the
Spanifh Weft-Indies. It is much efteemed among the dyers
and hatters for the fine purple and black colours which it
produces. Pomet and Lemery have confounded this tree
with that which produces the pimento or allfpice. The
latter is the myrtus pimento of Linnaeus. Vide Hesperi-
DE£.
The fpecies of acacia which produces gum-arabic, frank-
incenfe, and the fuccus accicice , is the mimofa nilotica of Lin-
naeus, and not the mimofa fenegal , as was long imagined. The
gum is gathered in vaft quantities from the trees growing in
Arabia Petraea, at the foot of Mount Sinai, whence they
bring the frankincenfe, called by the dealers in drugs in
Egypt, gum-thus, from Thur or Thor, the name of a har-
bour in the North Bay of the Red-Sea, near Mount Sinai ;
thereby diftinguifhing it from the gum-arabic, which is
brought from Suez, another port of the Red-Sea, not far
from Cairo. — Befides the different places from which thefe
gums are brought, they differ alfo in fome other particulars.
Frankincenfe is pellucid, of a white colour, brittle, and
eafily pulverized ; gum-arabic is lefs pellucid, and of a
brown or dirty-yellow colour.
SuccuS acaciae is an infpiffated juice obtained by ex-
preftion from the pods of the fame fpecies of acacia
which produces the two valuable fubftances already men-
tioned. It is generally expreffed before the fruit is ripe,
and is black without, and reddifh or yellowifh within.
In it3 general habit, mimofa nilotica has certainly a great
refcmblance to that fpecies of acacia which produces the?
gum-fenega. — We have, therefore, the lefs reafon to be
furprized, that it fhould fo long, by the undifcerning, have
been confounded with it. T^hey may be diftinguifhed by the
following chara&ers. Gum-fenega acacia, the mimofa fine -
C c 2 gal
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gal of Linnaeus, is covered with a white, true acacia, or
acacia of the Nile, with a purple, bark. The former, too,
protrudes its thorns at the infertion of the leaves by threes ;
the latter by pairs. Two thorns likewife accompany the
doubly-winged leaves of another fpecies of acacia, which
acacia of the Nile much refembles, the mlmofa farnefxana of
Linnaeus, known in the Weft-Indies by the name of fponge-
tree, and remarkable for the fragrancy of its flowers ; but
thefe thorns are not fo long as in the true acacia, which alfo
has its heads of flowers furnilhed with footftalks ; whereas,
in fponge-tree, footftalks are wanting to the flowers.
Gdm-Senega or Senegal, juft mentioned, is produced
from a tree which grows plentifully in feveral parts of Arabia,
and of Africa, particularly in Guinea and Negro-land,
whence it is brought by the blacks, who carry it on their
back, or on camels, in panniers made of palm leaves, to
Senegal, and from this laft place it is tranfported to the
feveral parts of Europe. It is generally brought to us in
large pieces; and, what is commonly fold for gum-arabic,
is nothing elfe than gum-fenega, broken into fmall pieces.
The gum in queftion is pe&oral, moiftening and refrefhing,
gives confidence to the humours, when they become too
ferous, cures rheums, and is reckoned fpecific in dyfenteries,
the piles, and other haemorrhages. It is, however, princi-
pally in the manufafture of various fluffs, and of feveral
dying materials, that a large quantity of it is confumed, and
its chief ufe and excellence confift.
The Senfitive and Humble plants are arranged by Lin-
naeus under the fame genus with the acacias. Thefe are well
known to poftefs a kind of mufcular motion, by which the
leaves and ftalks are contra£lcd and fall down, upon being
fTightly touched, or fhaken with fome degree of violence.
The fenfibility of thefe plants is lodged in the young
branches, in the common foot-ftalk ot the winged leaves,
and in the nerve or middle rib to which the lobes or leffer
leaves are attached. Thefe different motions, which feem to
be totally independent of one another, may be aptly enough
compared
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compared, by analogy, with the irritability of certain parts
in animals.
The fenfitive plant has two kinds of motion ; the one
natural, occafioned by the afclion of warm nourifhing va-
pours ; the other artificial, in confequence of being touched
or fhaken.
M. Duhamel having obferved, about the fifteenth of Sep-
tember, in moderate weather, the natural motion of a branch
of fenfitive plant, remarked, that at nine in the morning, it
formed with the Item an angle of one hundred degrees ; at
nocn, of , one hundred and twelve degrees ; at three afternoon,
it returned to one hundred ; and after touching the branch,
the angle was reduced to ninety. Three quarters of an
hour after, it had mounted to one hundred and twelve ; and,
at eight at night, it defcended again, without being touched,
to ninety.
The day after, in finer weather, the fame branch, at eight
in the morning, made an angle of one hundred and thirty-
five degrees with the ffem ; after being touched, the angle
was diminilhed to eighty ; an hour after, it rofe again to one
hundred and thirty-five ; being touched a fecond time, it
defcended again to eighty ; an hour and a half after, it had
rifen to one hundred and forty-five ; and upon being touched
a third time, defcended to one hundred and thirty-five, and
remained in that pofition till five o’clock in the afternoon ;
when being touched a fourth time, it fell to one hundred and
ten.
With whatever body the fenfitive plant is touched or irri-
tated, it is remarkable that the fenfibility refides particularly
in the articulation or joining either of the branches of the
common foot-llalk, or of the particular foot-ftalk of each
wing.
The time which a branch requires to recover itfelf after
being touched, varies according to the vigour of the plant,
the hour of the day, the feafon of the year, or the heat and
other circumltances of the atmofphere.
The order in which the parts recover themfelves, varies
in like manner : lometimes it is the common foot-ltalk ;
CCS fometimes
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fometimes the rib to which the lobes are attached ; and forne-
times the lobes themfelves are expanded, before the other
parts have made any attempt to be reinftated in their former
pofition.
If, without {halting the other fmaller leaves, we cut off
the hall ol a lobe belonging to the laft pair, at the extremity
or fumjnit of a wing, the leaf cut and its antagonift, that is
to fay, the firft pair, begin to approach each other; then the
fecond; and fo oh fucceffively, till all the leffer leaves of
that wing have collapfed in like manner, frequently, after
twelve or fifteen feconds, the lobes of the other jvings,
which were not immediately affeaed by the ftroke, {hut ;
whilft the ftalk and its wing, beginning at the bottom, and
proceeding in order to the top, gradually recover themfelves.
If, inftead of one of the leffer extreme leaves, we cut off
one belonging to the pair that is next the footftalk, its anta-
gonifl: fhuts, as do the other pairs fucceffively, from the
bottom to the top.
If all the lobes of one fide of a wing be cut off, the op-
pofite lobes are not afteRed, but remain expanded.
With fome addrefs it is poffible even to cut off a branch
without hurting the leaves or making them fall.
The common foot-ftalk of the winged leaves being cut
as far as three fourths of its diameter, all the parts which
hang down collapfe, but quickly recover, without appearing
to have fuffered any confiderable violence by the ffiock.
An incifion being made into one of the principal branches,
to the depth of one half the diameter, the branches fituated
betwixt the fefcfion arid the root will fall down : thole above
the incifion remain as before, and the leffer leaves continue
open ; but this diieflion is foon defiroyed, by cutting off
one of the lobes at the extremity, as was obferved above.
Lafily, a whole wing being cut off with precaution near
its infertion into the common foot-ftalk, the other wings are
not affcfted by it, and its own lobes do not fhut. No motion,
likewife, enfues fiom piercing the branch with a needle or
other ffiarp inftrument.
from the preceding experiments, moft of which I have
myfelf
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l
myfelf made, and from many others, which, for brevity’
fake, I forbear to mention, thefe inferences are clearly to
be deduced.
I. That when the plant is in its greateft vegetative force,
its motions are greater and more fenfible.
II. That when the fky is ferene, and the fun bright dur-
ing the whole day, the plant is more fenfible in the morning
than at noon.
III. That in the circumftances in which they are lefs fen-
fible, the leaves continue to fold and collapfe, although the
foot-llalks, which through age become flifF and woody, have
loft their motion. ,
IV. That a ftroke, or an irritation, produces a more for-
cible effe£t than an incifion or even an entire fe&ion.
V. That a flight irritation only a£ts upon the neighbour-
ing parts, and extends its influence in proportion to its
force.
VI. That any given irritation a£ls more ftrongly upon
fome parts than on others.
VII. That whatever can produce any effeCt upon the
organs of animals, a£ts upon the fenfitive ; as a ftroke, ex-
cels of heat or cold, the fleam of boiling water, that of
fulphur and volatile fpirits, &c.
VIII. That plunging it in water, or lodging it in the ex-
haufted receiver of an air-pump, feems to have no other effefil
than that of diminifhing its vigour.
IX. That there appears to be no more intimate commu,
nication betwixt the oppofite lobes of a winged or pinnated
leaf, than betwixt the other parts of the plant.
X. That the mufcular motion of the fenfitive plant is
owing to a ftrong contraction : each footftalk feems to be
terminated with a kind of joint, on which the leaves turn in
all directions with furprifing facility.
Different from all the kinds of fenfitive plants yet known,
is the dionaea mufcipula, a native of the Swamps of North
America. The plant, which is of very long growth, and
rifes with a naked ftalk, is garnifhcd at the bottom with eight
or nine Ample leaves with winged foot-ftalks, which proceed
c c 4 immediately
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immediately from the root. In the figure and fenfibility of
thefe leaves, confifts the Angularity of the plant. Each
leaf is almoft round, ciliated, that is, fringed like an eye-lafh,
and runs out into a foot-ftalk, which is not, as I faid, of
equal breadth throughout, but is gradually enlarged towards
the top. Upon touching the leaves in cold weather, no fen-
fible contraftion enfues ; in warm weather, and particularly
at noon, it is very ftrong. But what is mod remarkable of
this plant is, its rare way of deftroying flies and other infedts
which. approach it. A fly no fooner touches the middle of
the uppei furface of the leaf, than its lobes, moving as by' a
fpring, crulh the infeft to death; the cilia, teeth or feelers
at the margin, by their inofculations, producing fo tight a
compiefhon, as quickly to occafion that event. No accu-
rate trials have yet been made with refpedl to the intenfity of
the contradhon at different times, and the difference of apti-
tude in the plant to recover its former direction.
If we except the number of its ftamina, which are ten,
Dioncea has a confiderable refemblance to the plants of the
genus Drofera, commonly called Ros Jolis or fun-dew, in the
leaves of the Cape fpecies of which, the Drofera ciflif ora of
Linnaeus, Roth, an ingenious botanift, obferved a fenfitive
quality to refide, analogous to that of Dionaa, though fainter.
Both genera arrange under the natural order Gruinales.
An Indian fpecies of wood-forrel, which belongs to the
fame natural order, pofTefling a like contradiing faculty, is
on that account termed, by fome botanifls, Herba viva,
Herba fenticns, Herba inimofa Malabarienfum, and by Lin-
naeus, Oxalis fenfitiva.
To conclude, the caufe of this and the other motions of
plants is merely external. The motions themfelves,' there-
fore, are not fpontaneous, as in perfedt animals, which have
that caufe dependant on their choice and will. How many
imperfedt animals, however, are there, fuch as thofe
in animal and vegetable infufions, whofe motions, like
thofe of the plants in queflion, are folely to be attributed
to heat, light, and other external caufes P — and again, how
many, as the gall-infedls, the oyfler, and other Ihell-filh,
have
L U R
have not a motion fo perceptible nor rapid as that of Dionaa
mufcipula, and the fenfitive plant !
The negroes in Senegal call a large fpecies of fenfitive
plant, which grows in that country, guerackiao, that is, good-
morrow ; becanfe, fay they, when you touch it, or draw
near to fpeak to it, the plant immediately inclines its leaves,
to wifh you, as it were, a good-morrow, and to fhew that it
is fenfible of the politenefs done it. In the fame country,
is produced a fmall fenfitive plant, that is rampant, not fpi-
nous, and which M. Adanfon affirms to be infinitely more
delicate and fenfible than all the other fpecies.
A lye-water made from the affies of the roots of Spanifh
carnation is reckoned proper for bringing down the catame-
nia. The flowers, bruifed and fteeped in breafl-milk, are a
gentle anodyne, for which purpofe they are often given, in
the Weft Indies, to quiet very young children. The leaves
of this plant are ufed inftead of fenna in Barbadoes and the
Leeward iflands; and in.Jamaica it is called fenna.
The root of polygala Jenega, or fenega rattle-fnake root,
confifts of many jointed flelhy tubercles or knobs, and has
been long ufed by the Seneka Indians, both outwardly and
inwardly, as an infallible remedy for the bite of that per-
nicious animal, the rattle-fnake. The inhabitants of Virgi-
nia have, of late years, ufed the fame plant with confiderable
fuccefs in many diforders proceeding from chick fizy blood.
LURIDzE. The name of the twenty-eighth order in
Jnnnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, confifting of
plants whofe pale and ominous appearance feems to indicate
iomethijig noxious in their nature and quality.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnsean Genera.
Atropa , —
Brozvallia.
Capjicutn , — -
Catejbaa,
Ccljia.
Englijh Names.
Deadly night-fhade.
Guinea pepper.
Lily-thorn.
Cejirum ,
LUR
Linnaean
Genera.
Englifh Names.
Cejirum ,
—
— - Baflard jafmine.
Datura ,
—
— Thorn-apple.
Digitalis ,
—
— Fox-glove.
Ellifa.
**
Jlyofcyamus,
—
— Henbane.
Lycium ,
—
— Box-thorn.
Nico/iana,
—
— Tobacco.
Pedalium.
Phy falls.
—
— Alkekengi or winter-cherr
Sefamum ,
—
— Oily purging grain.
Solanum ,
—
— Night-fhade, potatoe.
Strychnus.
Verbafum,
-
— Mullein.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
Molt of thefe plants are herbaceous and perennial. Many of
them are ot the mafqued tribe of flowers, fuch as fox-glove,
pedalium, oily purging grain, celfia, and browallia ; others
refemble thefe in their general appearance, but differ from
them effentially in the equality of their ftamina.
The Roots are generally branched, fometimes tuberous.
The Stems and Branches are cylindric.
The Leaves are generally fimple and placed alternate.
In browallia and pedalium, the lower leaves are oppofite,
the upper alternate. Lily thorn and flrychnus have all their
leaves placed oppofite.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite. They proceed either
fingly, or in clutters, from the angle formed by the leaves
and branches. In fomc fpeciesof box-thorn, they terminate
the branches.
The Calyx is generally of one piece deeply divided
into five parts.
The Corolla confifls of one petal, which is either
bell, funnel, or wheel-fhaped.
The Stamina are four or five in number, and thofe
either oi equal lengths, as in the greater number, or unequal,
as
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as in fox glove, pedalimn, oily purging grain, celfia, and
browallia, where two of the ftamina are long and two fhort.
The Seed-bud is placed above the receptacle of the
flower. The flyle is Angle, and terminated by a fummit,
which is hemifpherical, and frequently channelled or fur-
rowed.
The Seed-vessel in fuch as have equal ftamina, is a
berry ; in the reft, it is generally a capfule.
The Seeds are numerous, and frequently kidney-fhap-
ed.
Thefe plants in general have an infipid tafte, and a naufe-
ous difagreeable fmell.
The greater part, particularly the fruits of deadly night-
shade and thorn-apple, taken internally, if in any con-
siderable quantity, prove mortal : caufing a ftupor, delirium,
and convulfions. Thefe fatal effefts, it is true, may be in a
great meafure prevented by the fpeedy and copious ufe of
emetics, and, perhaps, more certainly If ill, by that of acids,
fuch as vinegar, or the juice of lemons adminiflered in
great abundance.
Alkekengi berries are diuretic.
The external application of thefe plants is more deferv-
ing of recommendation than their internal ufe. The frefh
leaves of deadly night- fhade applied to hard tumours and
fchirrous fwellings on the breaft have long been efteemed as
an affured remedy. The ladies in Italy make ufe of the dif-
tillcd water of this plant for beautifying their Skin, whence
the name belladonna, (handfome lady,) by which it is gene-
rally known among botanifls. The painters in miniature
prepare a very beautif ul green colour from the macerated fruit.
Guinea-pepper grows naturally in both the Indies. It is
railed from feed in America, Spain, Portugal, Languedoc,
Provence, and even in our gardens. In all the Caribbec
iflands, the inhabitants ufe the pods in fauces; as do like-
wife the Negroes, who are very fond of them ; whence this
genus of plants had the appellation of Ncgroe and Guinea-
pepper, by the former of which names it is generally known
all over the Weft Indies. The feeds arc intolerably acrid.
An
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An ointment, made of the flowers of purple fox-glove,
and May-butter, is much commended by fome phyficians
for fcrophulous ulcers, which run much, and are full of
matter. Taken internally, it is a violent purgative and
emetic ; and is, therefore, only to be adminiftered to robuft
conftitutions. The country people in England frequently
ufe a decoftion of it with polypody of the oak, in epileptic
fits. In Italy, fox-glove is elleemed an excellent vulnerary.
Thorn-apple is ufed externally in burnings, and in inflam-
mations. Gf its juice is made an ointment which is excel-
lent for the piles.
The leaves of henbane are emollient, cooling and anodyne,
good for inflammations, and defluxions of hot rheum. Ufed
internally, they are a ftrong poifon. The roots are account-
ed narcotic, and but rarely ufed inwardly ; they are frequent-
ly hung about childrens’ necks, being cut to pieces, and
flrung like beads, to prevent fits, and caufe an eafy breeding
of teeth. The feed, made into an ele&uary, with conferve
of roles, and' white poppy feeds, is commended by Mr.
Boyle and Haelideus, againft {pitting of blood, as well as
any other haemorrhage. A fumigation of the feeds is faid
to give eafe in the tooth-ach. The juice of henbane, or the
oil made by infufion with its feeds, is fpecific in pains of the
ear.
Green tobacco pounded, and mixed with unflacked lime,
is frequently ufed by the inhabitants of the Weft-Indies for
poifoning waters abounding with cray-fifh, which, by thefe
means, are eafily taken. The plant is very liable to be de-
ftroyed at the roots, by a grub or large worm, called by the
Weft-Indians, kitifonia; the leaves are likewile often de-
ftroyed by a fmall green worm of the eruca kind.
The leaves and berries of common night-fhade, ( folanum
nigrum,) are ufed externally for inflammations and hot fwell-
ings; as alfo for burns and fealds.
Bitter-fweet, the folanum dulcamara of Linnaeus, is com-
mended for the dropfy, jaundice, and king’s evil ; for the
former of which difeafes, common fox-glove has lately, on
the authority of Dr. Withering, obtained very great, and,
as
LUX
as far as I can learn, veiy deferved eftimation. In Weff-
moreland they fcrape the bark off the ftalks of bitter-fweet,
and boil about an ounce of them in ale, which they give to
women in childbed, to help the fwelling of their breafts.
A decoftion of the feeds of this plant is faid to be ferviceable
in venereal complaints. — The fruit of folanum melongena,
fometimes called the egg-plant, is often ftiled the mad-apple,
or apple of Sodom. This poifonous fruit is frequently at-
tacked in the eaftern countries by an infefl, which turns all
the infide into duff, leaving the Ikin only entire, and of
a very beautiful colour.
The flowers of great white mullein, the Verbafcum Thap-
fus of Linnaeus, are ufed externally in inflammatory fwell-
ings. An infuflonof them is prefcribed internally in dyfen-
teries and colics occafioned by fharp humours. The leaves
are accounted peftoral, good for coughs, fpitting ol blood,
and other diforders of the breaff. Outwardly they are ufed
like the flowers in fomentations or fumigations. They are
reckoned a fpecific again!! the piles. — In North-America, a
decoftion of the roots injefled into the wounds of cattle
which are occafioned by worms, effeftually cures them by
deffroying the infefts. Thefe worms are the Lamce of the
Oejirus or Gadfly, which depofits its eggs on the back of
cattle — and the Larvae being hatched from thefe eggs, caufe
great fores, in which they live, till they are ready for their
change. In the fouth of Ruffia, they ufe for the fame pur-
pofe the decoffion of Veratrum, or white hellebore.- — A tea
is prepared from the leaves, as well as from the flowers,
which is faid to be ufeful in the dyfentery. The Indians,
it is believed, ufe the plant inftead of tobacco, whence,
in Penfylvania it has obtained the name of Tobacco of the
Savages. The Swedes in that country, fays Kalm, tie the
leaves round their feet and arms, when they havq the ague.
LUXURIANS flos, a luxuriant or double flower; a
flower, fome of whofe parts are increafed in number, to the
diminution or entire exclufion of others.
The parts that are augmented or multiplied in luxuriant
flowers, are the flower-cup and petals, which Linnaeus con-
fers as the teguments or covers of the flower ; the parts
that
LUX
that are diminifhed or entirely excluded, are the ftamina or
chives, which the fame author denominates the male or-
gans of generation.
Luxuriance in flowers is capable of the three following-
varieties. 6
I. A flower is faid to be Multiplied, ffios multiplicaius)
when the mcreafe of the petals is not fuch as to exclude all
t ie ftamina. In this fenfe, flowers are properly faid to be
double, triple, or quadruple, according to the number of
multiplications of the petals.
II. A flower is faid to be Full, ffios plenusj when, by
the multiplication of the petals, all the ftamina are excluded.
Such aie moft of the double flowers that engage the attention
of florifls.
III. A flower is faid to be prolific, ffios prolifer) which
produces flowers, and fometimes leaves, from its center.
For a particular defcription of each of thefe kinds of lux-
uriance in flowers, the reader is referred to the articles Mu L-
TIPLICATU Sfios, PLENUSy??r, and PllOLIFER^r.
Many natural orders of plants do not in any circumftances
produce luxuriant flowers. Of this kind are the mafqued
flowers of Tournefort, excepting calve’s fnout ; the rough
leaved, umbellifeious, Harry plants, and fuch as flower at
the joints, of Ray. Some umbelliferous flowers, however,
are prolific.
The pea-bloom, or butterfly-fhapcd flowers, are rarely
rendered- double ; fome inftances, however, of luxuriance,
are obferved in a fpecies of ladies finger, eoronilla, and
broom.
All luxuriant flowers are vegetable monfters. Such as are
perfe&ly full, by which I mean the greateft degree of luxu-
riance, cannot be propagated by feeds; becaufe thefe, for
want of impregnation, can never ripen. Full flowers,
therefore, are very properly denominated by Linnaeus, eu-
nuchs. T. his higheft degree of luxuriance is very common
in carnation, lychnis, anemone, flock, Indian crefs, rofe,
,jnarfh marigold, ranunculus, violet, pceony, and nar-
ciffus.
Flowers which do' not exclude all the ftamina, perfeft
1 their
MEN
their feeds. Of this kind are poppy, fennel-flower, campa-
nula, and fome others.
Some flowers, as thofe of the water-lily, fig-marigold,
and caftus, have many rows or feries of petals, without the
number of {lamina being in the lead diminifhcd. Such
flowers are by no means to be reckoned luxuriant in the
flighted degree.
Luxuriance in flowers is generally owing to luxuriance or
excefs of nouriffunent.
M.
MAS Planta, a male plant ; a plant which upon the fame
root produces male flowers only. Vide infra.
MAS C ULUS Flos, a male flower ; a flower which con-
tains the damina, reckoned by the fexualids the male organ
of generation, but not the Jiigma or female organ.
All the plants of the clafs dioecia of Linnzeus have male
and female flowers upon different roots : thofe of the clafs
moncecia, bear flowers ot different fexes on the fame root.
The plants, therefore, of the former, are only male or
female : thofe of the latter are androgynous ; that is, con-
tain a mixture of both male and female flowers.
MEDULLA, the pith. Vide Structura Vegetal i lie.
ME.) OSTEMONES, (from ixelaiv, lefs; and ltamen) ;
the name of a clafs in Haller’s Natural Method ; confiding
of plants, the number of whofe damina or male organs is
lefs than that of the petals, or divifions of the corolla. The
term is exemplified in fpeedwell.
MENSURA, meafure. In defcribing the parts of plants,
Tournefort introduced a geometrical fcale, which many of
his followers have retained. They meafured every part
ol the plant ; and the effence of the defcription confided in
an accurate menfuration of the whole.
As the parts of plants, however, are liable to variation in
no circumdance fo much as that of dimenfion, Linnaeus
very rarely admits any other menfuration than that arifing
from
I
M E f
frotn the refpefTtive length and breadth of the parts compared
together. In cafes that require aftual menfuration, the fame
author recommends, in lieu of Tournefort’s artificial fcale,
the following natural fcale of the human body, which he
thinks is much more convenient, and equally accurate.
The fcale in queftion confifts of eleven degrees, which
arc as follows:
I. A hair’s-breadth, or the diameter of a hair, capillus.
II. A line, line a, the breadth of the crefcent or white
appearance at the root of the finger, (not thumb ) meafured
from the {kin towards the body of the nail ; — a line is equal
to twelve hair-breadths, and is the twelfth part of a Parifian
inch.
III. A nail, unguis, the length of a finger-nail ; — equal
to fix lines, or half a Parifian inch.
IV. A thumb, pollex, the length of the firft or outermoft
joint of the thumb ; — equal to a Parifian inch.
V. A palm, palmus, the breadth of the palm, exclufive
of the thumb ; — equal to three Parifian inches.
VI. A fpan, fipithama, the diftance between the extremity
of the thumb, and that of the firft finger, when extended
equal to feven Parifian inches.
VII. A great fpan, dodrans, the diftance between the
extremity of the thumb, and that of the little finger, when
extended ; — equal to nine inches.
VIII. A foot, pes, meafuring from the elbow to the bafis
of the thumb ; — equal to twelve Parifian inches.
IX. A cubit, fubi/us, from the elbow to the extremity
of the middle finger ; — equal to feventeen inches.
X. An arm-length, brachium, from the arm-pit to the ex-
tremity of the middle finger; — equal to twenty-four Parifian
inches, or two feet.
XI. A fathom, orgya, the meafure of the human ftature ;
the diftance between the extremities of the two middle fin-
gers, when the arms are extended; — equal, where greateft,
to fix feet.
METEORI Cl. Vide V i g i l
METHODUS,
MET
METHODUS, a mode of arrangement from certain
agreements or circumflances of refemblance ; a method.
Botanills have diftinguifhed two kinds ot methods in ar-
ranging vegetables ; the natural and the artificial.
A natural method is that, which, in its diftribution, re-
tains all the natural clafles-; that is, fuch into which no
plants enter that are not connefted by numerous relations,
or that can be disjoined without doing a manifeft violence to
nature.
An artificial method is that whofe clafies are not natural,
becaufe they collect together feveral genera of plants which
are not connefted by numerous relations, although they agree
in the chara&eriftic mark or marks, afiigned to that particu-
lar clafs or afiemblage to which they belong.
An artificial method is eafier than the natural, as in the
latter it is Nature, tn the former the writer, who prescribes
to plants the rules and order to be ohferved in their dillribu-
tion. Hence, likewife, as Nature is ever uniform, there
can be only one natural method : whereas artificial methods
may be multiplied almoll ad infinitum, according to the feveral
different relations under which bodies are viewed.
To form a precife idea ot the nature and utility of vege-
table arrangement, whereby only a proper eftimate can be
made of the merits and defeats of particular fyftems, we muff
look backward, and trace method and arrangement from its
firft and fimplelt rudiments in botanical writings, to its more
perfect fLte under Csefalpinus and his fuccelfors.
Although it may be prefumed that every plant pofTeffes
virtues which are proper to it, we have not been able to af-
certain them with any degree of pre ifion, unlels in feven
or eight hundred fpecies, one half only of which are ufed
in medicine.
If then, in order to be an expert botanifl, it were fuffi-
cient to know this limited number of plants, by their names
and their virtues; infpedlion, repeated examination, and
comparifon, would, perhaps, be the only neccffary means
for attaining fuch knowledge. A botanill would acquire
information in the fame manner as a traveller does of the
o d countries
M E T
countries through which he paffes, or as a labourer learns to
diftinguifh the few plants which come under his obfesvatioit.
It would be fuperfluous to have recourfe to other means.
But, even with the provifo we have mentioned, fuch
a method would have itfe inconveniences. It would be
tedious, irkfome, and always uncertain. The refemblance
of feveral ufeful and wholefome plants to fuch us are noxious
and ufelefs; the impoffibility ot diilinguifhing fuch fimilar
plants, without a diflinft idea of each; the external agree-
ments of feveral fpecies, whofe properties arc elfentially
different; the great danger of committing miftakes; and the
ill confequences of fuch miftakes : tliefe, and other circum-
flancesy concurred tofuggeft theneceffity of having recourfe
to divifions determined by accurate and diftinft characters.
The neceftity of divifions becomes ftill ftronger, if we
extend our views, and, not fatisfied with the few medicinal
plants which our own country affords, embrace the whole of
vegetable nature. Here memory mull unavoidably fink un-
der the mighty load, if observation, realoning, and method,
did not bring it timely affiftancc.
By obfervation, we diftinguifh the external marks or
characters which are obvious in the appearance of natural
bodies : by reafoning, we determine the relations which
fubfift betwixt them : and by method, we colleft, under
one he. d, fimilar bodies, and f'eparate fuch as differ. Hence
arife divifions and fubdivifions, which the mind feizes with
avidity, and retains ever after.
Thus it is, that the ftudy of plants, which at fir ft feems,
and for a long time aftually was, a fimple nomenclature, be-
comes a fcience ; and this fcience is called botany. Agree-
ably to this idea, Boerhaave defines botany to be a part of
natural knowledge, by means of which, plants are inoft cer-
tainly and eafily known, and engraved on the memory.
It was not, however, till after many ages, and much ob-
fervation, that botany began to be confidered in this philo-
fophical view : though divifions ot a certain kind have al-
ways been admitted, in order to facilitate the knowledge of
plants.
Thus
*
MET
Thus, vegetables hare been fucceffively diflinguifhed
from the place of growth, into aquatic, marine, wild, and
domeflic ; from the time of flowering, into fpring, fummer,
autumnal, and winter plants ; fometimes too, lefs philofo-
phically Hill, they have been arranged by the names of the
authors who firft difeovered or deferibed them ; and not fel-
dom, according to the letters of the alphabet.
Theophraflus, the fcholar of Ariflotle, arranges plants,
from tpeir qualities and ufes, into efculent grains, fucculent
plants, and pot-herbs ; Diofcorides, into aromatic, alimen-
tary, medicinal and vinous plants.
Thefe philofophers, ftudious tp render botany ufeful, were
ignorant of the means to facilitate its knowledge. Their
vague and uncertain divifions can, at beft, affift his me-
mory, who already knows the plants they deferibe, but will
never conduft to the knowledge of them. They fuppofe
every thing ; they teach nothing.
The fame may be affirmed of all the divifions or methods
founded folely on the qualities or medicinal virtues of plants.
Thefe methods, generally adopted by phyficians, with a
view to confine the fcience to its true objefts, have always
the contrary effeCt, by confounding things which ought to
be diflinguifhed.
Three reafons, according to M. Adanfon, concur to ren-
der every fuch method uncertain and dangerous.
I. The fame plant has often feveral different virtues.
II. The different parts of a plant have often different,
and even oppofite virtues ; fo that, according to the rules of
flriCl arrangement, the root fiiould be placed in one divifion,
the flower in another, and the leaf in a third. Thus in
buckthorn, and dillaff-tree, the leaves are aflringent, the
fruits purgative. In rhubarb, monk’s rhubarb, and com-
mon knot-grafs, the roots are purgative, the leaves and feeds
binding.
III. Several plants, characterized by a particular virtue,
poffefs it to fuch a degree of flrength or weaknefs, that we
may reafonably expert very different effefts from this dif-
ference of intenfity in the fame quality. Thus in the natural
Dd 2 family ,
M E T
family of lipped flowers, the aromatic virtue which is com-
mon to the whole tribe is poflefled in the highefl degree by
rofemary, fage, mint, marjoram, balm, and hyflbp; in a
lefs degree, by germander, and felf-heal: and becomes al-
moft infenfible in fage-tree and bafe bore-hound. It is the
fame with other qualities ; tin&ures, for example. Thus
the roots of molt of the pea-bloom tribe, and harry plants,
(Jlellata) afford a dye or tin&ure more or lefs lively; in the
fame manner, a coloured juice, which is more or lefs vivid,
is procured from the leaves and flowers of that numerous
tribe of plants called compound. The knowledge of this
common quality, however, is fo far ufeful, that on the dif-
covery of a new plant in any particular family, we are led
by analogy to explore thofe properties in it which are known
to be poflefled by the family to which it belongs. — It was on
this principle that M. Adanfon drew from a fpecies of indigo
at Senegal, which had efcaped obfervation, a fecula of an
azure blue colour, different from that of America, and pei-
haps fupei ior in beauty.
From thefe obfervations, which are furnifhed by expe-
rience, it follows as a corollary, that the principal virtue of
any plant is that which is found to be poflefled in common
by all the plants of the family to which it belongs; and that,
although the virtue in queftion fhould not be moll predomi-
nant in a particular fpecies. It is for this reafon that the
family of the purflanes may be regarded, in a particular
manner, as cordial; for although many of that tube aie
likewife aflringent, yet the former is the prevailing or general
virtue.
Upon the whole, diviflons drawn from the vutues of
plants, far from enlightening botany, plunge it anew into a
chaos of confufion and ignorance. We allow them theii
ufe in the materia meciica, where plants are diflinguifhed by
their fenfible qualities, into bitter, acid, fait, Iweet, and
acrid; and by their virtues, into purgative, aperient, fudorific,
hepatic, &c. But this is not botany; it is the materia me-
dica: the one condutls to the knowledge of plants; the
ether indicates their ufe : the firft ought, confequently, to
• *. ' to
M E T
to precede and direft the fecond; but cannot i tfelf be en-
Jightened, without divifions founded upon figns more deter-
minate in their nature, more condant, and fenfible to the
eyes of the obferver.
In the progrefs of the fcience, botanids have endeavoured
to diftingui'fh thefe figns, to fix their charafters, and afcer-
tain their relations. The mod apparent would, doubttefs,
fird attrafl regard ; fuch are the fize and duration of plants ;
circumftances from whence arofethe fird didin&ion of vege-
tables into herbs and trees : that is, into plants of a tender
fucculent nature, which lofe their dems during the winter;
and into fuch as are of a folid confidence, woody, and
whofe flems fubfift during the winter. See Arbor, where
this didin&ion, as likewife that of fhrubs and underfhrubs,
is particularly di feu fled.
Ancient, however, as this difiinftion is, and numerous as.
are the authors who have adopted it, it can be of very little
affiflance alone in determining plants with precifion; as we
mufi; wait at lead a full year to be afcertained of the dura-
tion of a particular plant. Some annuals, too, have a woody
fort of dem, which may caufe them to be midaken for
fhrubs; nay more, fome plants, which in a warm climate
are flirubby, become herbaceous, and even annual, (as the
ricinus or paltna chrij'ti,) when removed into a cold one.
The fame infufficiency to ferveas foundations of a method
will be found in the roots, and dill more in all the variable
qualities of vegetables, fuch as tade, colour, and fmell,
which are modified in a thoufand diderent ihapes, by culture
and climate.
The leaves being earlier, more apparent, more common,
and more permanent than the flowers, fooner engaged atten-
tion : but in proportion as botany made advances, the un-
certainty of chara&eriftic marks drawn from the leaves mani-
fedly appeared. In the courfe of thefe advances, it has been
found that the leaves vary in their forms, even on the fame
individual; that the fame plant, under a diderent climate,
with different management, or fown at different fcafons,
lhall be covered with leaves which have not the {mailed re-
D d 3 fcmblaiice
M E T
ferablance to each other; that plants otherwife extremely
fimilar in their appearance, have leaves absolutely diflimilar;
and that others, whofe figure, qualities, and habit, diller ef-
fentially, are (o remarkably fimilar in their leaves, that con-
fufion mull be unavoidable, if the charafters of the leaves are
made the foundation of primary divifions. Thus a fpecies
of veronica or fpeedwell bears the leaves of the germander;
which, in like manner, bears thofe of the oak.
Notwithflanding thefe difcouraging circumilances,, a fyf-
tem of plants founded upon the leaves has been attempted
by two ingenious moderns, both Frenchmen ; M. Sauvage,
in a work entitled Me/bode pour connoilre les Plantes par les
peuilles ; and M. Duhamel du Monceau, in his Traite des
Arbres. Thefe gentlemen do not, however, mean to fix pre-
cife cbara&ers from the leaves ; their foie intention is to
jyrefent us with new relations, and thereby facilitate the dif-
tin&ions which they fuppofe determined by means more
certain and methodical. They have even let out with de-
claring the infufficiency of the leaves for this purpofe.
Methods having hitherto been attempted to be ereCled
without fuccefs, occafioned by the infufFiciency of the lead-
ing characters, men had recourfe to fuch as were more folid1
more conflant, and more general. Thefe were named natural
characters, and are drawn from the habit or general appear-
ance of the plant ; and from the combination oi the moll
elTential parts of vegetation, the flower, fruit, feed, difpo-
fi Lion of the Item, and branches, &c. All the accidents of
each of thefe parts, viewed and compared together, led to
natural and determinate divifions.
Thefe divifions, founded upon numerous, permanent,
and fenlible relations, are called natural orders, or natural
families. Such are the grades ; the crofs-fliapcd, umbellifer-
ous, liliaceous, pea-blooin, and lipped-flowers. Each plant in
every one of thefe natural families colleCts lenfible charac-
ters, which are eflentially the fame in all the plants oi the
family to which it belongs.
The families alluded to feenr to have been truly dillinguifli.
ed by nature ; and botanills have fucceflively determined a
great
M E T
great number of them. If they had been able to arrange,
in like manner, all the fpecies of known plants, they would
have difcovered a natural method, the great dcfideratum in
botany, and which has in vain engaged the attention and re-
fearches of every naturalift fince the origin of the fcience.
Such a natural method would be a kind of table, exhibit-
ing the gradual progreflion which nature has obferved in the
formation of vegetables, as in that of all other beings.
Many of the intermediate Heps of this progreffion j feveral
links in the great chain, are not known. A great number
of plants cannot find a place in the natural families; devoid
of uniform relations betwixt themfelves, they cannot con-
flitute new families ; they remain, in fome fort, folitary ;
and would again involve the feience in confufion, if
Art had not fuppiied what Nature refufedto grant.
Artificial methods were invented ; and chara&ers eftablifh-
ed, which, although lefs fenfible, and lefs numerous than
the natural characters juft mentioned, were fimpler, more
general, and equally invariable.
Upon thefe general characters, fcrupuloufly obferved,
and minutely examined, primary divifions have been found-
ed, which are again fubdivided from an attention to other
characters lefs apparent.
Thefe divifions, which form a kind of fcale or progref-
fion, are characterized by different names; as dalles or fa-
milies; orders or feCtions ; genera; fpecies; varieties; and
the individual; and all together conftitute what is called a
’Method; and, when the principles upon which the divi-
fions proceed, are fixed and determined, — a System.
As this fubjeCt is ol the utmoft importance to the begin-
ning botanift, I mu ft beg leave to dwell upon it, and to
trace the order of bodies into genera, fpecies, varieties, and
individuals, both in the inveftigation and the enunciation of
truth; that thence the general laws of method may be efta-
blifhed.
Every natural body differs fo from all others which are
expo fed to our {cafes, that it may be confidered as lingular
D d 4
or
MET
or individual. Thus a dog, a fparrow, a fly, a tulip, 3
diamond, nitre, are all bodies which may be confidered in
themfelves, and without relation to others, as often as they
foil Ci i the enfe=.
Many individuals of the fame kind give an idea both of
fimiiitude and plurality. The fimilitude, therefore, of feveral
individuals conflitutes a Species or Kind,— an abftra£l
01 geneial tenn, to which all thefe individuals, on account
of tneir agieement in certain charafders, may be referred.
But two bodies are never obferved ot finular properties
in every lefpecf ; and, therefore, the idea of a fpecies would
never aiife, were not ceitain charafters diflinguifhed from
others, the eflential from the merely accidental. The effen-
tial charaftei s never vary in the fame fpecies ; the accidental
fometirnes vary in the fame fpecies, from certain acceffory
caufes, which are not always and neceilanly prefent in a
natural body. 1 hefe accidental charafters give rife to the
v aneties, which are not, by any means, to be confounded
with the fpecies. 1 hus of the fpecies of dogs, different
breeds, as the greyhound, fpaniel, and beagle, conflitute
the varieties ; all together make up the fpecies of that animal.
In t(he fame manner, difference of colour, magnitude,
feent, tai'e, and other attributes, exhibits varieties in the
different fpecies of vegetables.
In a number of fpecies accurately diflinguifhed, fome
fimilar charatiers are found : thefe beget the idea of a
Genus or Race, a general term, expreffirig a fimilitude
of fpecies, from an agreement in fome charatiers. Thus,
to tuke an example from botany. Of various plants, which,
in fprirg, are feen in our meadows, and are confidered as
different fpecies, from the appearance of their leaves, which
are either diffeienily cut, or of different figures, if intire;
the petals are ot an eijual number, (five) the flamina and
flyles numerous, and at the claw or bottom of each petal
is a fmall prominence or pore. Thefe refemblances in the
parts ot the flower, in fuch a number of different fpecies,
conllitute a genus, which in the inflance I have been
giving, called genus ranunculi : and all plants which agree
it)
MET
in the characters juft mentioned are referred to that
genus.
Similitude admits of almoft innumerable degrees. Ac-
cordingly, orders and claftes, higher degrees ftill, are
conftituted from genera, by attending to the agreements of
a number of genera in the firft cafe, and of a number
of orders in the fecond. Thefe divifions, however, are
altogether arbitrary, according to the points of refemblance
under which we confider bodies.
From what has been faid, it is clear how natural things are
to be inveftigated, and how communicated. The difcover-
ers of natural things evidently proceeded from the confidera-
tion of individuals to that of Ipecies and genera, and fo on
to the higher arbitrary divifions : and a like method do all
adopt who would improve natural knowledge by further dil-
coveries.
But when invented and propofed to be communicated to
others, we take a different method, and beginning with the
higher arbitrary divifions, as cLffes and orders, defcencl to
genera, fpecies and varieties, in a direction retrograde to
what we billowed in invention. This method is found
moll adapted to the capacity of learners.
This general idea of the divifions admitted into artificial
methods or fyllems, will be better underfiood by the appli-
cation which we intend to make of it to particular methods.
At prefent I would obferve with Caelalpinus, that, “ by
means ot thefe diftinCtions, the vegetable kingdom is divided
like a large body of troops. The army is divided into
regiments ; the regiments into battalions ; the battalions into
companies ; the companies into foldiers.” Vegetables are
ranged in claffes, which are divided into orders ; the orders
confift ot genera ; the genera of Ipecies; and, as the term
regiment is an aggregate of foldiers, fo the term clafs, or,
to go higher ftill, fyllern, is nothing elfe than an aggregate
of fpecies.
To be convinced of the great utility of artificial methods
m conducting to the knowledge ot plants, let us fuppofe
the number of known fpecies of plants to be twelve thou-
fand,
MET
r « ,
fand, and the number of claflfes in a certain known method
to be twenty-four. A plant is prefented to me which I never
faw. I immediately look for the general chara&er which
ferves to diftinguifli each of the twenty-four clafTes. This
being found, and confequently the clafs of the plant being
determined, I have no longer to look for my plant among
twelve thoufand, but, on a fuppofition that each clafs con-
tains an equal number of genera, among five hundred only,
the twenty-fourth part of the number juft fuppofed. I next
look for the charafter of the order, the fecond divifion,
which being likewife found, will reduce this number to about
an hundred. The character of the genus, which 1 next
explore, will reduce this ftill further, to twenty, for inftance:
that of the fpecies determines the plant in queftion.
This method of proceeding is fimilar to that which is ob-
ferved in turning over a dictionary, where, in fearching
for a word, as Space, we firft look, for the letter S, next
P, then A, and fo fucceflively the C and E. S mayrepre-
fent the clafs; P the order; A the genus; C the fpecies,
and E the variety.
It was long, however, before artificial methods attained
that degree of accuracy, which we have been deferib-
ing. The determination of the general and particular
characters which conilitute fuch methods, required ob-
fervations fo much more exaCt and numerous, as their prin-
cipal merit confifts in collecting the greateft poffible number
of natural families ; as they muft at the lame time agree with
all known plants : and, as botany, fince the difeovery of
the new world, has more than doubled its former riches.
Lobclius in 1570; Clufius, in 1576, and Dalechamp, a
pbyfician ol Lyons, in 1587, gave fuccelftvely very good
tieferiptions of a large number of plants, but were greatly
puzzled in-determining what parts were moft proper lor lur-
nifhing clajlic and generic characters. Gefner was the firft
who fuggefted the propriety of the parts of fructification tor
this purpofe ; and CaTalpinus, a phylician of Pifa, firft
.rranged plants according to Gefncr’s idea, and began the
period of Sy Hematic Botany.
In
M E T
In, 1583, he deferibed eight hundred and forty plants, and
divided them into fifteen claires, by a method, in which, after
abutting the general diftinftion formerly mentioned, of herbs
and trees, he draws his diftinftive chara&ers from the parts
of fructification, particularly from the feed-vefiel ; the num-
ber of cells; the number, form, and difpofition of the feeds ;
d;e fituation of the radicle in the feed ; and other circuiii-
fiances. Thefe fifteen clafies are fubdivided into forty-feven
feCtions or orders, from an attention to the difpofition, fitua-
tion and ficrureof the flowers ; the fituation of the radicleorem-
bty 9-plant in the feed; the number of lobes or feed-leaves ;
the fruit or feed-veftel ; the colour of the flowers ; the form
of the leaves and roots, and fome other circumftances. Cae-
falpinus’s method then is not founded folely upon the fruit,
as has been imagined, but combines with feveral other parts
of falsification, various modifications of parts, which, like
the root and leaves, are connefted neither with the flower
nor fruit. The fituation of the radicle or embryo-plant in
the feed, as likewife the number of lobes or feed-leaves, are
faid to have been firfl obferved and accurately diflinguifhed
by this author.
The fame botanifi diflinguifhed with great accuracy the
cel!*, and partitions of feed-veffels. He made no methodical
diftinftion of genera ; each fpecies being deferibed as a
diflinfl genus.
Contemporary with Caefalpinus flourifhed Acofta, a
Spaniard; Camerarius, a German; Porta and Profper Al-
pinus, both Italians. The latter wrote an excellent treatife
on the plants of Egypt ; as likewife two feparate dilfertations
on rhubarb and balfam.
Porta, in 1588, publilhed a work, entitled, Pbytogno-
mica, or the Aflrology of plants. In this motley colleCfion,
vegetables arc divided into feven claires, from their place of
growth, their refeinblances and relations to men and animals}
ami their relations with the flars. Thefe clafies are iubj
divided into forty-feven feCfioiis.
Recording to Porta, plants, which have any of their part*
like
M E T
like a liver, are proper for the difeafes of the liver;
fuch as refemble eyes, are good for the eyes ; and fo of
others.
#
1 his idea, fays a French writer, and the method founded
upon it, is very ingenious ; and contains, at leaft, as many
truths as falfehoods.
In 159^, Fabius Columna, a Neapolitan, improved upon
(he diftjribution of the genera, and invented mofl of the
terms now ufed for denominating the parts of fructification.
His engravings on copper are efteemed excellent.
Columna publifhed his Phytobafanus, at Naples, in 1594, *
with thirty-five figures. The firft part of his “ Ecphrafis
minus cognitarum ftirpium” was publifhed in quarto, at
Rome, in 1610, with one hundred and fifty-fix figures;
and the fecond part at the fame place in 1616, with forty-
three figuies. This author is laid to have been drawn into
the ftudy of botany, by fome experiments on Valerian to
cure hnnfelf of the epilepfy. He followed no particular
method, but treated of plants hiftorically, or without
order.
In 1596, Cafpar Bauhin, a Swtfs, fixed, with indefati-
gable labour, in his Pinax, the name of every plant then
known and defcnbed; and in 1650, his brother, John Bau-
hm, wrote his Univerfal Hiftory of Plants, in three vo-
lumes folio. In this work are defcnbed five thoufand two
hundred and fixty-fix plants, divided, not very methodi-
cally, it mull be allowed, into forty claffes. To this “ par
nobile fratrum is botany indebted for a confiderable part
of its progrefs ; yet the rage, which Rill fubfifled of form-
ing divifions from the virtues and ufes of plants, greatly re-
tarded the introduction of thofe orthodox methods, as Lin-
naeus terms them, which alone can bring the fcience to per-
fection.
In this period of botany, gardens were erefted at the
public expence, and opened tor the convenience of fuch as
addicted themfelves to the ftudy of plants; a circumftance
which greatly accelerated the progrefs of the fcience.
The
M E T
The firft botanical garden Was opened at Padua in 1540,
by the Family of' the Medici.
That at Bologna and Pifa in 1547.
That at Montpelier in 1598.
That at Paris in 1626.
• That at Edinburgh, in 1675, by Sir Andrew Balfour,
prefident of the Royal College of Phyficians.
That at Upfal, in Sweden, in 1657.
That at Oxford in 1683.
That at Leyden in 1677.
That at Amfterdam in 1682.
That at Utrecht in 1725.
Befides thefe and many other academical and public
gardens which might be enumerated, there were three erefted
in Italy, one in France, one in England, five in the Low-
Countries, eight in Germany, and two in Sweden by pri-
vate gentlemen.
In 1680, Robert Morifon, a native of Aberdeen in
Scotland, publifhed at Oxford, an Univerfal Hiftory of
Plants, in which he retains, under a new form, the divifions
of Caefalpinus, founded upon the parts of frufilification,
particularly the fruit.
Morifon was long an exile in France, where he applied
himfelf to botany, and other branches of phyfic, and was
appointed fuperintendant of the gardens at Orleans.
Upon the reltoration of Charles the Second, he was in-
vited over to England by that monarch, who appointed him
Regius Profeffor of Botany at Oxford.
The Hiflory of plants was completed by Mr. James Bo-
bart, after Morifon’s death, and publifhed in folio, in 1699,
with one hundred and ninety-five figures on copper.
Morifon’s Method, fays Mr. Adanfon, although not very
elaborate, is extremely difficult in praffice, and has not, on
that account, been followed by any author, except Bobart,
who completed his large work on plants, and the anonymous
author of a work publifhed in o£tavo, at Oxford, in 1720,
under the title of “ Hiftorise Naturalis Sciagraphia.” His
arrangement
MET
arrangement of the umbelliferous plants is very ingenious
and has been followed by moil fucceeding authors.
John Ray, or Wray, was born near Braintree in Effex in
1628, and early applied himfelf to the ftudy of natural hiflory
In his Natural Method of Plants, publifhed in 1682, he
fuggeflcd an idea or plan of arrangement, much fuperior
to that of either Casfalpinus or Morifon, arid, perhaps, in
many refpeas, inferior to none of the boaffed methods
that have appeared fince his time. This plan Mr. Ray did
not execute till 1686, when he publifhed his General Hif-
tory of Plants, in which are described eighteen thoufand
fix hundred and fifty-five fpecies, including varieties. His
method is founded upon the general habit or ffrufilure of
plants; their fize and duration, as -herbs and trees; then-
greater or lefs degree of perfeftion ; the place of growth ;
the number of feed-leaves, petals, capfules, and feeds;
the fituation and difpofition of the flowers ; the form of the
leaves ; the abfence orprefence of the 'flower- cup and petals ;
the fubffance of the leaves and fruit ; and the difficulty of
arranging and cuffing certain plants. From a combination
of thefe circumftances, Ray has arranged all vegetables in-
to thiity-thiee claffes, which are fubdivided into one hun-
dred and twenty-five feHions. His method is extremely
elaborate, and collefts more natural claffes than any artificial
fyffem I am acquainted with ; it is, however, extremely
difficult in praflice, and, therefore, now fi udied more for curi-
ofity than ufe. It would have fucceeded better, fays M.
Adanfon, if Ray had been as great a botanifl, as he was a
learned writer, and judicious compiler.
In 17Q0 Ray publifhed an edition of his method, aug-
mented and correfited after that of Tomnefort, which had
appeared in 1694. Some pretenders to botany, envious of
the fuccefs which thefe great men had juflly obtained, endea-
voured to embroil them, though without effect ; for it ap-
peals that they always lived in the Jlrififeft intimacy and
friendfhip.
Ray’s method was followed in 1707 by Sir Hans Sloane,
in his Hiftory of Jamaica.
In
MET
In 1713, by Petiver, in his “ Herbarium Britannicum.”
In 1724, by Dillenius, in his enlarged edition of Ray’s
“ Synopfis Stirpium Britannicarum.”
In 1727, by Martyn, in his “ Methodus Plantarum circa
Cantabrigiam.”
Chriftopher Knaut, in his Enumeration of the Plants
which grow round Hal, in Saxony, publifhed in 1C87, in-
vented a method, effabliffied, in part, upon the fruit, which
differs but little from that of Ray. It is exceedingly com-
plex and difficult.
Paul Hermannus, Profefforat Leyden, Magnolius, Pro-
feffor at Montpelier, and Rivinus, Profeffor at Leipfick,
fucceffively enriched botany with ingenious methods and
new obfervations ; — the dawn of the day, which the illuftri-
ous Pitton de Tournefort was about to diffufe over every
branch of the fcience.
This great reformer of botany was born at Aix, in
France, in 1656. He was early defigned for the church,
but, upon the death of his father, he quitted all thoughts of
embracing that profeffion ; and, about two or three years
thereafter, went to Montpelier, where, along with botany,
he fludied anatomy, and other branches of phyfic, with
great diligence.
In 1694, he publifhed his Method, which confifls of
twenty-two clafles, and is founded on the regularity and
figure of the petals or coloured leaves of the flower. The
perfpicuity and precifion of this method, gave it defervedly,
from its firft appearance, the preference above all which
had preceded it.
By the acknowledgement of all botaniffs, Tournefort has
introduced into the fcience, order, purity, and precifion,
by delivering the bcfl and mofl certain principles for efla-
blilbing the genera and fpecies ; and by founding on thofe
principles the moil accurate, and, if we except that of
Rivinus, the cafieft method which has yet appeared. His
cijeft was not, as he himfclf declares, to eflabliffi an
univerfal method, a thing which he confidered as im-
podible to be erefled upon hypothetical and arbitrary
principles i but to trace that method which appeared to him
2 molt
M E T
moil convenient for obtaining an eafy and accurate know-
ledge of vegetables. His twenty-two clafles, which, by the
way, might have been reduced to feventeen, are fubdivided
into fix hundred and ninety-eight genera, which are again
fubdivided into ten thoufand one hundred and forty-fix
fpecies and varieties.
Upwards of twenty authors of eminence have fucccf-
fively adopted Tournefort’s method, after making the alter-
ations, which new difeoveries, and the correftion of trivial
errors, rendered neceflary. A lift of the moft noted of
thefe authors is given under the article CorollistjE,
which fee.
'1 he facility of acquiring Tournefort’s Method had pro-
cured it an almoft univerfal reception, when Linnaeus pro-
pofed his Sexual Syftem, and, afiifted by the works of his
predeceftors, and much obfervation of his own, eftablifhed,
by indefatigable labour, a method, which has fmee attracted
the attention of the learned all over Europe.
Charles Von Linne was the fon of a clergyman in Smolan-
dia, a province of Sweden. He applied himfelf very early
to the ftudy of Natural Hiftory, and made fuch progrefs,
that before he reached his twenty-third year, he was judged
capable of aflifting Rudbeckius, Profeftorof Botany at Up-
fal, in teaching his clafs.
In 1731, he introduced his method, then in embryo,
into the garden at Upfal, with fuccefs. After this he was
employed by the Upfal fociety to travel through Lapland,
Norway, and other northern parts of Europe, in queft of
plants, and other natural curiofities. In 1735, he travelled,
through Denmark, Sweden, Germany, England, and Hol-
land, with the fame view ; and publifhed his “ Syftema
Naturae,” at Leyden, in the fame year.
In 1736, he publifhed his “ Fundamenta Botanica,”
which contain the rudiments of his method ; thefe he af-
terwards enlarged, and publifhed under the title of “ Phi-
lofophia Botanica.” When Linnaeus was in London, he
propofed his method to Sir Hans Sloane, Prefident of the
Royal Society, who reje&ed it.
In 1742, Linnaeus was chofcn Profeffor of Botany at Upfal.
9 • He
I
M E T
He was afterwards appointed Chief Phyfician to the King of
Sweden, knighted, and ennobled. The idea upon which
Linnaeus’s method is founded, is as old as the time of The-
ophraftus, and fuppofes that in plants, as in animals, gene-
ration is accompliflied by the concourfe of the two fexes.
The ftamina or chives he confiders as the male organ of
generation ; the piftillum or pointal as the female. From the
number, fituation, proportion, union, and abfence of the
ftamina are formed his primary divifions or clalfes ; and from
the number and other circumifances of the pointal or female
part, arife mod of the fecondary divifions or orders.
Such is the general idea upon which the celebrated Sexual
Syftem of Linnaeus proceeds. A particular delineation or
analyfis of it is prefixed to this work ; and a juft eftimate of
its merits and defedls may be obtained by a careful perufal
of the criticifms on his feveral clafles, to be found in the
prefent work, and an exadf comparifon of thofe claftes with ,
the primary divifions of other Syftematic writers, Ray and
Tournefort in particular.
The authors who have followed Linnaeus’s Sexual Method
> are,
In 1739, Gronovius in his Flora Virginica.
In 1755, the fame author in his Flora Orientalis Rau-
wolfij.
In 1756, Brown in his Natural Hiftory of Jamaica.
In 1762, Mr. Jacquinin his Enumeratio Plantarum Ame-
ricanarum.
In the fame year, Mr. Hudfon, apothecary, in London,
in his Flora Anglica. In this ufeful book, Mr. Pludfon
gives the generic and fpecific charadlers of every known
plant that is native in England; the time of flowering; the
Englifh name ; the place of growth ; and its duration,
whether annual, biennial, perennial, woody, or herba-
ceous.
The Sexual Method, when firft propofed by its author,
gained little approbation. 'I bis was certainly owing to the
great reputation which Tournefort ’s had obtained, and which
nothing but the conviftion of fuperior ingenuity, merit and
e e induftry.
M I S
indullry, could poffibly diminifh. Without entering, at
prefent, into a detail of the refpeclive merits of thefe two
illuftrious botanifts, let us endeavour to derive inftruftion
from the diverfity of their principles and methods.
The order of nature is alone without imperfection ; an
order, however, which we have not yet been able to deteft.
Every artificial method has necefiarily its defeats, and its ob-
fcurities. But two methods, fuch as thofe of Tournefort and
Linnaeus, fo well conceived, fo judicioufly executed, and
founded upon obfervation, muft enlighten each other mu-
tually. They cannot err on the fame fubj eel ; if the one
wanders but for a moment, the other immediately fets him in
the right path.
The fame refleftion occurs in comparing fcveral other
learned and ingenious methods ; fuch as thofe of Haller,
Van Royen, Sauvages, Ludwig, Adanfon and Duhamel ;
and the obfervations fcattered through the works of Juflieu,
Guettard, Dillenius, Louis Gerard and others; fo certain
is the maxim with which I fhall conclude this article, that
a multiplicity of methods and obfervations compared to-
gether, leads us to diitinguifh plants under a greater number
of relations, and confequently condu&s us, with greater
eafe, to their knowledge.
MISCELLANEAL . The name of the fifty-fourth order
in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, confiftingof
the following plants, which not being connedled together
by numerous relations in their habit and ftru&ure as the
natural families, are alfembled into one head, under the title
of Mifcellaneous Plants. Such of them as feem mod nearly
connefted, we have placed together, and diftinguifhed from
the others by a letter of the Greek alphabet ; a method
which we fhall obferve on other fimilar occafions.
Linnaean Genera.
a Daiijca , —
Refeda, —
fj Poterium , —
Sanguiforba,
Englijh Names.
Baflard hemp.
Baflard-rocket, dyer’s-wccd.
Garden-burnet.
Greater wild-burnet.
7 Le/ma,
I
\
M I S
Linnaean Genera.
Englijh Names.
Lemna , —
—
Duck-meat.
Pijiia, —
—
Kodda-pail.
Coriaria, —
—
Myrtle-leaved fumach.
Etfipeirum, —
—
Black-berried heath, or crow
berries.
Achyrantkes ,
—
Cadelari.
Amaranthus,
—
Amaranth, or flower-gentle.
Celofia, —
—
Cock’s-comb.
Gomphrena , —
Irefme.
— *■
Globe-amaranth.
Phytolacca , — ■
—
American night -fhade.
Nymphaa , —
—
Water-lily.
Sarracema, —
—
Side-faddle flower.
Cedrela , —
— •
Barbadoes cedar.
Swieienia, * —
Cor rig Iola.
Litneum.
Mahogany.
Telephium , —
—
True orpine.
Dyer’s weed, or wild woad, by feme called weld, is
chiefly efteemed by the dyers for its fine yellow colour. In
medicine it is little ufed ; yet the root is elleemed aperient,
and fometimes given in decoftion, and the juice of the plant
promotes perfpiration. This is now generally believed to
be the plant with which the Pifts, the ancient inhabitants of
Britain, painted their bodies ; the rather, as the plant in
queftion is a native of this ifland ; whereas woad, (Ifatis of
Linnaeus) the plant contended for by fome, has been intro-
duced into Britain fince that time.
The flowers of Egyptian refeda, termed likewife, mignio-
nette of Egypt, have a very fweet, agreeable fmell.
Burnet is of a heating, drying nature, cordial and alexi-
pharmic; in fummer the leaves are ufed in cool tankard,
to give the wine an agreeable flavour. The powder of the
root is commended againfl. fpitting of blood, bleeding at the
nofe, dyfenteries, and difeafes attended with violent fecre-
E e 2 tions.
M I S
tions. In winter and fpring, the young tender leaves are
ufed in fallads. Greater wild burnet, ftript of its bark., is
fometimes applied with fuccefs to recent wounds ; the dried
powder Hops the progrefs of cancerous ulcers.
Myrtle-1 cavejd fumach is much ufed in the South of
France, where it naturally grows, for tanning of leather,
whence it has been termed by fome, tanner’s fumach. The
famfc plant dyes a beautiful-black colour. The. berries are
dangerous, and when eaten, generally occafion vertigoes,
and epilepfies. The old leaves, when browfed upon by
cattle, have the fame effeft ; the young leaves have no fuch
pernicious quality.
The leaves and roots of American night- (hade, (the Phy-
tolacca decandra of Linnaeus) fometimes termed pork-phyfic,
are anodyne. The juice of the root is a violent purgative,
and therefore to be ufed with caution ; the berries, when
ripe, give a very beautiful purple-red tinfture. The leaves
are ufed externally indifculling painful fwellings. InNorth
America the inhabitants boil the young (hoots, and eat them
like fpinach. The Vignerons in Portugal, fays Mr. Mil-
ler, for many years made ufe of the juice of the berries of
this plant for mixing with their red port wines, to which it
gave a deep colour, and when a great quantity was added, a
very difagreeable tafle. A complaint of this practice having
been made to his Portugueze majefty, he commanded that
the items of this plant fhould be cut down before they pro-
duced berries, to prevent the further adulteration of the
wines. Vide Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary,
Voce Phytolacca.
The wood ot Barbadoes cedar, ( ccdrcla odorata,) and of
mahogany, ( Swietcnia mahagoni,) has an aromatic, balfamic,
and agreeable fmell. The former is employed in the Weft-
Indies, on account of its pliancy, for making canoes of a
fingle piece, as well as planks, and fhingles for covering
houfes, and houfehold furniture. There are canoes in thefe
places, fays Miller, formed out of the trunks of thefe trees,
which are forty feet long, and fix broad. As the wrorms are
apt to eat the wood of the Barbadoes cedar, it is not proper
fpr
M O N
for building of {hips, though frequently ufed both in build-
ing and fheathing veflels. The fame objection does not lie
againft mahogany, which is lefs liable to be attacked by
worms than oak ; fo that mahogany Chips are preferable to any
other, not only for the reafon juft mentioned, but becaufe
the wood is very durable, and buries gun-Ihot without fplin-
tering. The excellency of mahogany for all domeftic ufes,
is too well known in England to require any eulogiums in
this place.
MODUS fiorendi , a mode of flowerirrg. Vide Inflo-
R ESC E-NT I A.
MONADELPHIA, (from poovor, alone ; and dS&fytz,
a brotherhood,) a {ingle brotherhood. The name of the
fifteenth clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual Syftem, confifting of
plants with hermaphrodite flowers ; in which all the {lamina,
or male organs of generation, are united below into one
body or cylinder, through which paffes the pointal or female
organ. The particular claflic characters of the plants in
queftion, befides that exprelfed in the title, have been al-
ready given under the article CoLUMNiFER/E ; to which
natural order, mod of the plants in the clafs monadelphia are
referred. The principal ol thefe charaClers are the following.
I. A permanent flower-cup, and generally double.
II. Five heart- {haped petals, clofely embracing one
another above, fo as to form the appearance of a Angle
petal.
III. The anthers, or tops of the ftamina, kidney-fhaped,
and {lightly attached to the fllaments by the middle.
IV. The receptacle of the fruflification, or that to which
the flower and fruit are attached, is prominent in the middle
oi the flower.
V. The feeds, kidney-fhaped.
The orders of the clafs are five, from the number of
united ftamina.
Hcrmannia, waltheria, and melochia, have five ftamina.
Ctane’s-bill, connarus, and hugonia, hare ten.
Brownaea has eleven.
Pentapetes, twelve.
r. e 3
Silk
MON
Silk cotton-tree, Ethiopian four-gourd, Indian mallow,
napma, marfii-mallow, hollyhock, mallow, lavatera, baftard
mallow, urena, cotton, Syrian mallow, ftewartia, and ca-
mellia, have numerous ftamina.
In fome fpecies of geranium or crane’s bill, the ftamina
are diftinft. In others, the filaments are alternately furnifh-
ed with anthers.
A fpecies of filk cotton tree, termed by Linnaeus, bom -
bcix pentandrum, has only five ftamina.
The genera of this clafs were formerly diftinguifhed by
the fruit; which being found infufficient, feveral botanifts
had recourfe to the leaves as an auxiliary. Linnaeus diftin-
guifhes the genera chiefly by the calyx, which is generally
double in plants of the laft order.
MONANDRIA, (from provor, alone, and a man or
hufband); the name of the firft clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual
Syftem ; confuting of plants with hermaphrodite flowers,
which have only one Jlamen or male organ.
This clafs is fubdivided, like the other plain clafles in
the fame fyftem, from the number of the ftyles or female
organs, into two orders.
Indian flowering-reed, ginger, cojlus, alpinia, Indian ar-
row-root, lurmerick, kcejnpferla, thal'ia , American hog-
weed, jointed glafs-wort, and hippuris, have only one
ftyle.
Tickfeed, callitriche, blite, and cinna, have two ftyles.
MONANGIAi,, (from /xovor, alone, and ocyfoe, aveftel);
the name of the fifteenth clafs in Boerhaave’s Method ; 'con-
lifting of plants with a fingle feed-veftel, that is not divided
internally into more than one cell. It is exemplified in
loofe-llrife, water-leaf, and pimpefnel.
MONOCOTYLEDONES Plant a, (from /xovor, alone,
■and cotyledon , a lobe or feed-leaf); plants fo termed, whofe
feeds have only one lobe, and confequently rife with a fingle
feed-leaf. The term is oppofed to dicotyledones, which in-
cludes plants that rife with two feed leaves.
The diflinflion of the lobes of the feed was firft obferved
by Cmfalpinus, who thence denominated feeds, umvalvia
and
M O N
/
and bivalvia. Mr. Ray afterwards employed it as a primary
divifion in the conftru&ion of his ingenious method. Vide
COTYLEDONES.
MONCECIA, (from /aovoc, alone, and oixia, a houfe) ;
the name of the twenty-firft clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual
Method; confifting of plants which have male and iemale
flowers placed apart, that is, within different covers, on the
fame root.
The plants then in the clafs moncecia are not hermaphro-
dite, as thofe of the greateft number of claffesin the Sexual
Syftem ; nor male and female upon different roots, as in the
clafs dicecia ; but androgynous ; that is, confift of male and
female flowers upon different parts of the fame plant. Vide
Androgyna Planta.
In arranging the genera of a fyftem, founded, like that
of Linnaeus, upon the fexes of plants, it is of the utmoft
confequence to pay the ftrifteft attention to that real or fup-
pofed diftin&ion : as by arranging feveral genera or fpecies
of different fexes under one clafs or order, the very inten-
tion of the arrangement, which is profeffedly to facilitate
the knowledge of plants, is totally defeated. Obvious as
this obfervation muff appear, it has not always been attended
to by Linnaeus ; who, in clafhng and new-modelling the
genera, has frequently deviated from the principles of his
plan, by confounding plants of different fexes under the
lame clafs, order, and genus. — Inffancesof this impropriety
have been already given in the article dicecia .
The plants of the following lift, which, in ftrifd con-
formity to the rules of arrangement, ought to have been re-
ferred to the clafs moncecia, are arranged by Linnaeus under
clafTes and genera, containing hermaphrodite flowers :
Callitriche verna ,
Plantago unifier a,
Rumex Jpinofus ,
Glycine monoica.
Arum tripbyllum ,
t Mercuriulis ambigua.
The orders in this clafs are derived from the number, union,
E e 4 and
MON
and fituation of the ftamina, or male organs ; circumftanceg
which conftitute the primary charaflers in the herma-
phrodite claffes of plants. They are eleven in number,
and diftinguiffied by the fame names with thofe of the clafteg
juft mentioned. Thus,
Cynomorium, triple-headed pond-weed, ceratocarpus,
and elateriuin, have only one ftamen, or male organ.
Anguria and duck-meat have two ftamina.
Omphalea, cat’s tail, burr-reed, Job’s tears, Indian wheat,
tripfacum, olyra, carex, tragia, axyris, jack,in-a-box, and
fea-fide-laurel, have three ftamina.
Centella, birch, box, nettle, and mulberry, have four
ftamina.
Lefler burdock, ambrofia, parthenium, Jefuit’s-bark-
tree, amaranthus, and folandra, have five ftanlina.
Zizania andpharus have fix ftamina.
Guettarda has feven ftamina.
Ceratophyllum, water-milfoil, arrow-head, dog’s cabbage,
garden-burnet, oak, walnut, beach, horn-beam, hazel-nut,
plane-tree, and fweet gum, have feveral ftamina.
Pine, arbor-vitae, cyprefs, plukenetia, dalechampia, aca-
lvpha, baftard ricinus, caflava, palma-chrifti, fand-box-tree,
manchineel-tree, and fterculia, have their ftamina united
below into a cylinder.
Serpent cucumber, male balfam-apple, gourd, cucumber,
bryony and fingle-feeded cucumber, have their ftamina
united above by the anthers into a cylinder.
Baftard orpine has the ftamina placed upon the female
organ ; a circumftance which involves an abfurdity when
affirmed of any plant of the clafs in queftion ; and which,
if true, ffioald moft certainly have determined the author to
place the genus in the clafs gynandria, of which the circum-
ftance juft mentioned is the ftriking and claftic chara&er.
lo obviate this ©bje&ion, it has been obferved by M.
Gouan, that both in baftard orpine and clutia, which latter
belongs to a fimilar order in the clafs dicecia, the pijiillum , or
female organ, is entirely wanting in the male flowers : yet^
as the ftamina are inferted into the place which the pi/iillum
would
MON
would occupy, if the flowers were hermaphrodite, he, there-
fore, concludes there is no impropriety in eftablifhing an
order from that circumflance. To illuftrate this, he con-
fiders the receptacle of the flower as divided into four con-
centric circles : the calyx, or flower-cup, conflitutes die firft
or outermofl circle; the petals occupy the fccond ; the
flamina are placed in the third ; and the pijiillum, or female
organ, poflefles the innermoft or middle circle. Hence it
follows, continues our author, that even when the flamina
are inferted into the inner fide of the petals, they ftill occupy
a circle which is concentric to that of the petals, and placed
without that of the pointal. The flamina, therefore, in
fuch circumftances, cannot be reckoned out of their place.
But if the middle circle of the receptacle, which is
eflentially deflined for the pijiillum , fliould, in the abfence
even of that organ, be occupied by the flamina, thefe
lafl are then quite out of their place, and may properly
be confidered as being attached to the pijiillum , when in-
ferted into the place which that organ, it it extfled, would
certainly occupy.
I fhall only obferve upon this ingenious remark of the
French author, that by the fame way of reafoning, all the
plants of the claffes monoscia and dicecia, might be referred
to the clafs gynandria in the Sexual Method; as in thefe
claffes the female organ is entirely wanting in the male
plants, and the flamina occupy the centre of the recep-
tacle.
MONOGRAPHI, (from //.ovsr, alone, and y§*(pw, to
write); a clafs of botanical writers fo termed by Linnaeus,
who have bellowed their attention and refearches upon a
Angle vegetable. Of this kind is Dillenius’s Treatife on
Fig-mangold; Kaempfer on Tea; Boerhaave on Silver-
tree; Haller on Garlick, and the Mountain-fpeedwells ;
Breynius and Lafitau on Ginfeng; Bradley on the Aloe;
and feveral dilfertations of Linnaeus in the Amosnitates Aca-
demical.
MONOGYNIA, *(from /xovor, alone, and yuvr), a woman,
or wife) ; the name of the firft order or lubdiviflon in the
firft
M O T
firft thirteen elafles of Linnaeus’s Sexual Method ; confifling
of plants, which, b'efides their agreement in the claflic cha-
rafter generally derived from the number of {lamina, have
only one ftyle or female organ.
MONOPERIAN THAI,, (from fxovos, alone, 9 re§f, around,
and avSor, a flower) ; the name of a clafs in Wachendorffius’s
Natural Method ; confifling of plants with vifible flowers,
which have only one of the covers; that is, want either the
flower-cup or petals. It is exemplified in ladies mantle,
wild orach, hellebore, meadow-rue, medeola, rhubarb,
American night-fhade, afarabacca, and feveral others.
MONOPETALOIDES Flos. Vide Multi fidus Flos.
MONOPETALUS Flos , (from /xovor, alone, fingle,
and WETaXov, a leaf J. Vide Corolla.
MONOPETALI, the name of two dalles in Rivinus’s
Method ; confifling of plants whofe flowers are compofed of
one petal, which, in its form, is either regular or irregular.
The regular flower of one petal is exemplied in borage, bu-
glofs, tobacco, and the bell-lhaped flowers ; the irregular
flowers of one petal, are the lipped and mafqued flowers of
Tournefort, the didynamia of Linnaeus and the Sexualifls.
Day-nettle, balm, mint, fox-glove, calves-fnout, and marjo-
ram, furnifh examples.
MONOPHYTANTHAL, (from vor, alone, v, a
plant, andavSor, a flower); the name of a clafs in Wachen-
dorffius’s Natural Method ; confifling of plants which have
male and female flowers placed apart upon the fame root. It
correfponds to the clafs tncncecia in the Sexual Syftem. Vide
Monoeci A.
MORBUS, a difeafe. The difeafes of plants, fo far as
they regard botany, will fall properly to be confidered under
the article Varietas, whither we refer the reader.
MOTUS, motion ; when applied to plants, the term
motion is very limited, and expreflive not of an abfolute
change of place, but of direftion. The following obferva-
tions on this curious fubjeft, may, perhaps, prove not un-
entertaining to the reader.
And firft pf the direction of roots and trunks. The direc-
tion
MOT
tion of the roots and Items of plants is totally oppofite ; the
former either running dire&ly downwards, or extending
themfelves tranfverfely or horizontally under the furface of
the earth: the latter exhibiting motions of a fimilar nature,
but in a contrary dire£tion. The dire&ion of the root is
never vertical, except in the upata or fanar of Senegal, the
roots of which twilling, rife vertically upwards a foot above
the furface of the earth, and are fometimes covered by the
flux of the fea.
Familiar as the appearance is, naturalills are not agreed
with refpeft to the caufes which determine the roots of plants
to tend univerfally downwards, either in a horizontal or
perpendicular direftion, and the Hems, on the contrary, to
mount perpendicularly or horizontally upwards. So con-
flant, however, are thefe oppofite directions, that a plant
being taken out of the earth, and replaced in it in fuch
manner that the root is uppermolt, and the flem lowermoft ;
the root will quickly curve downwards, the Hem upwards,
till each has refumed the direction which is proper and natural
to itfelf.
All the caufes which concur in promoting the growth of
plants, appear likewifeto operate in determining their direc-
tion. Such are the air, the fun, light, and the mo ill warm
vapours which arife out of the earth. The three firft feem to
concur molt certainly to the direction of the Item ; air and
moilture to that of the root.
If any number of plants are placed in pots in a room
which only admits the light by a lingle hole, the Items will
incline or direct themfelves towards that fide. In thick
forelts, the young trees always lean to the fide where the
light penetrates. The new Ihoots of an efpalier detach
themfelves from the wail which robs them of the air, the
fun, and the light. It is in quell of the fame excellent
gifts of Nature, that the lateral branches of trees abandon-
ing the direction of the Item, fpread and extend themfelves
in a direction parallel to the foil, even when planted on a
declivity.
In like manner it appears, that the roots penetrate more
or
M O T
or lefs deeply into the ground, either in a perpendicular or
horizontal dire&ion, in proportion to their greater or lefs
tendency to fearch for moiflure. Thus it is a well known
faft, that, in the neighbourhood of canals, ditches filled
with water, and ground newly tilled, the roots of plants
abandon their natural direction, and, as it were, fleer their
courfe towards the fine air, rich juices, and grateful humi-
dity which their fituation has placed within their reach! — So
ftrongly indeed are the roots of plants attrafted by water,
that they frequently relinquilh the foil, and penetrate into
the very heart of, ditches and canals.
This force of extenfion appears to be greater in roots than
in Items. The branch furmounts an obftacle, by leaving its
natural dircftion, and overtopping it. The root, on the
contrary, without once going out of its way, pierces the
hardeft foils, penetrates into walls, which it overturns, and
even into rocks, which it burffs.
Although the natural motion of the trunk be to afcend,
as was fuggelled above, yet is it forced oftentimes to defcend':
for the trunk-roots growing out of fome plants near the
ground, and fhrinking into it, ferve, like fo many ropes, to
pluck the trunk annually lower and lower into the ground,
along with them. If thefe trunk-roots break out only about
the bottom of the trunk, then it gradually defcends into
the eaith, and is converted into a root ( Vid$ Bulb us);
but if the trunk is very (lender, and the trunk-roots break
forth all along it, then it creeps horizontally ; the trunk-
roots in queflion tethering it, as it trails along, to the
ground, as in ftrawberry, cinquefoil, and mint.
I clofe the prefent fubjetl with this obfervation, that the
direction of the roots and Aems of plants feems to be regu-
lated, in a great meafurq, by the vapours which they con-
tain, but more by thofc which arife from the foil in which
they grow ; and, that heat, the fun, or the light, the caufes
already fuggelled, appear to contribute to that direftion,
only in fo far as they augment or regulate the current of
thefe nourifhing vapours.
Trunks are not, however, the only parts of plants which
direft
I
, M O T
direCt their courfe towards the air and the light of the furi.
There are flowers, which, quitting their perpendicular di-
rection, prefent their furface direCtly to that luminous body,
and follow its fituation in its diurnal courfe. This fort of
motion has been called by foine writers, Nutation; and
the plants which are fubjeCttoit, have been termed heliotrope?',
that is, turning with the fun. Of this kind are baftard-
rocket, dyer’s weed, fun-flower, turnfole, and the greateft
part of the compound flowers with plain tongue-fhaped pe-
tals, the femiflofculoji of Tournefort, x.\\c planipetala ot Ray,
and the ligulaii of Linnaeus. In thefe flowers, the difk or
furface looks towards the eaft in the morning, the fouth at
noon, and the well at night.
The fpikes or ears of corn, which hang down by their
weight, are obferved, in like manner, to incline themfelves
towards the fun, never to the north. The (terns of draba,
trientalis, and a fpecies of buftard fever-few with egg-fhaped
and notched leaves, incline or hang downwards during the
night.
The obfervations of La Hire, Hales, and Bonnet, efla-
blifh, that thefe motions are occafloned, not by any twitting
in the (tern, but by the drynefs of the fibres, which, by
being expofed to the heat of the fun, contraCt, and thus
determine the nutation of the flowers and young Hems. It
is in this manner that inoifture and drvnefs alternately
dilate and contraCt the plant improperly called the rofe of
Jericho; an appearance which is likewife obferved in the
beards of oats, and in thofe of the capful es of crane’s bill.
The dircClion of the leaves of feveral plants fuffers con-
fiderable changes during the night. This is fo certain, that
if abotanift who is accuilomcd to the port or habit of plants,
were to examine, in a fummer-night, the plants which cover
any particular meadow, he would find feveral which he
could not recognize by that character. The fame changes
happen, when the moifture ot the day correfpunds to that
of the night. The change ot direction juft mentioned is
particularly fcnfible in compound leaves. During the heat
of the fun tn the day-time, the pinnated or winged leaves
of
MOT
of feveral plants, particularly thofe of the pea-bloom or legu-
minous tribe, rife vertically upwards, and form a right angle
with the common foot-ftalk; the lobes orlefTer leaves, which
Hand oppofite, being applied clofely together by their upper
fuiface. Several firnple leaves, particularly thofe of ftgef-
beckia, and Indian mallow, ( urena ,) when their upper furface
is expofed to an ardent fun, become, in like manner, con-
cave; which demonftrates their analogy with the winged
leaves juft mentioned. The artificial heat of a red-hot iron
has the fame effect upon both ; but the plants fuffer greatly
by the experiment. M.'Adanfon fays, he has obferved a
fimilar motion in the leaves of feveral fpecies of wild orach,
after fun-fet.
In that ftate of the atmofphere which generally precedes
a ftorm, and is found moft favourable for vegetation, I mean
in a clofe, moift and cloudy air, the winged leaves extend
themfelves along the common foot-ftalk. The fame appear-
ance is obferved in the leaves of the fenfitive plant, when it
has been kept for feveral days in a cellar below ground.
After fun-fet, and during the fall of the dew, they in-
cline Hill lower, hang vertically downwards, and are appli-
ed clofely together, like the leaves of a book, by the lower
furface under the ftalk, with which they Hand at rightangles.
The odd lobe, it there is one at the extremity of the leaf,
folds itfelf up, till it has reached the firft pair of lobes or
fmaller leaves in its neighbourhood. This motion, which
Linnaeus calls the Sleep of plants, and can be produced by
an artificial as well as natural dew, has been obferved not
only in compound leaves, fuch as thofe of the pea-bloom
plants, but likewife in fome firnple leaves, particularly thofe
of balfam and baftard fever-few.
1 he fmall leaves of falfe acacia and liquorice hang down-
wards during the night, but are not united by the un-
der furface, like the greater part of leguminous plants.
Thofe of the fenfitive plant, mimefci pudica, extend them-
felves longitudinally along the common foot-ftalk, and
infold one another mutually. The fmall lobes of feveral
fpecies ol trefoil, lucern, and lotus, are united only by
their
9
M O T
their Fummits, and form a cavity which contains the young
flowers, and fhelters them from cold and other injuries to
which they are liable in the night-time. In fome fimple
leaves, a fimilar appearance is obferved. Thus the upper
leaves of garden orach approach during the night, unite
perpendicularly, embrace the young fhoot, and do not relin-
quifh that pofture till the fun has diflipated the humidity of
the air.
The aftion of the fun has a very different effeft upon thefe
leaves, as well as thofe of fome mallows, blites, and trefoils,
which, like the flowers mentioned above, follow the direc-
tion of that body, and prefent to it their external furlace or
difk.
That fpecies of motion peculiar to fome flowers, which
open and fhut at certain ftated times, is explained on nearly
the fame principles with thofe of the winged leaves mentioned
above. For particulars on this fubjeft, the reader is referred
to the article Vi G I L I jE Plantarum, by which term the motion
in queflion is generally diftinguifhed.
The irritability, if I may fo term it, of thofe plants called
fenfitive, has been fully confidered under the article Lo-
ment ac e j£, which lee.
The lafl kind of motion obferved in plants, is elaflicity ;
a flight irritation at the bafe of the ftamina of berberry,
melon -thiflle, and little fun-flower, [ciftus helianthemutn,)
caufes a convulfive motion, or trembling in the parts ; the
flamina contract, approach the pointal, and do not recover
their former pofition. The flefhy fruits of balfam, fpirting
cucumber, and wood-forrel, contraft with violence when-
arrived at maturity, and dart the feeds contained within
them to a confiderable diffance. Dry feed-veffels, as the
capfules of moft of the ranunculus tribe, aconite, and
lark-fpur, as likewife thofe of fraxinella, and the liliaceous
and leguminous plants, burft open, in like manner, with "a
confiderable force.
To conclude, there are plants, which, far from being
endued with that elaflicity orfpring we have been illuftrating,
have not even the faculty of refuming their former fituation,
, when
MUL
V>hen, by any means, they have been made to change if.
Of this kind are the flowers of a fpecies of dragon’s head
of Virginia, which, on whatever fide they are turned, dif-
cover not the fmalieft tendency to recover their former po-
fition.
MULTI C APS UL ARES, (from multus, many, and cap-
Jula, a fpecies of feed-veffel) ; the name of a clafs in Mor-
rifon’s, Hermannus’s, and Chriftopher Knaut’s Methods;
confifting of plants which have more dry capfules or feed
veffels than one. Of this kind are paeony, columbine, hel-
lebore, aconite, lark-fpur, and feveral others.
MULTIFIDUS Flos, (from multus, many, and findo, to
cleave); a flower fo termed by Linnaeus, which con fifis of
one petal divided into feveral fegments. It is fynonymous to
the laciniatus Jlos of Tournefort, and the monopetaloid.es of
other authors.
MULTIPLIC ATUS Flos, a luxuriant flower, whofe
petals are multiplied fo as to exclude a part of the flamina.
Vide Luxurians Flos .
A multiplied luxuriant flower differs from a full one, the
higheft degree of luxuriance, in that the petals of the latter
are fo multiplied as to exclude all the flamina : whereas,
thofe of the former are only repeated or multiplied, two,
three, or four times, to the exclufion of but a fmall part of
the elfential organs.
A double flower properly fo called, that is, a flower whofe
petals are twice repeated, is the firft and loweft degree of
luxuriance.
A triple flower, whofe petals are thrice repeated, is the
fecond degree, of luxuriance. Examples of either degree
are afforded by fome fpecies of campanula and thorn-apple.
Flowers of one petal are frequently multiplied, but rarely
found full. Vide Plekus ..Flos.
Flowers with more than one petal are fubjeft to all degrees
of luxuriance, from the loweft to the higheft. That they
are fubjeft to multiplication, the genus anemone furnilhes
fufftcient proofs.
In fome flowers, the multiplication is effe6led, not by
the
M U t
tiie petals, but by the fcales or divifions of the flower-cup ;
fuch inflances, however, are rare. In a fpecies of dianthus
or pink, mentioned by Linnaeus, the fcales of the calyx arc
multiplied to fuch a degree as to give the whole flower the
appearance of a fpike or ear of corn. The luxuriance of
feveral mountain grades, particularly of fejtuca fpiculis vivz -
paris, is of the fame kind, being effected by fhe monftrous
growth of the hulks of the calyx, which are metamorphofed
into leaves. The fame appearance obtains in a fpecies of
willow called falix rofca, in which, both male and female
organs being deflroyed by iiifefls, the fcales of the catkins
are lengthened into leaves. In a fpecies ot plantain called
plantago rofca, the floral leaves of the fpike or head of flowers
undergo a limilar enlargement.
In fome plants the flower-cup is coloured ; a circumftance
which not rarely mifleads inattentive obfervers, who are led
to confider fuch an unufual appearance as a repetition of the
petals. Some fpecies of primrofe furnifh examples of the
appearance in queftion.
All multiplied flowers are monftrous, and are accidentally
produced from Angle ones. Vide Varietas.
MULTISiLIQU/E, (from multusi many, and filiqua, a
fpecies of pod); the name of the twenty-flxth order in'Lin-
naeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method ; confiding of plants
which have more feed-veflels than one. from the etymology
of the term; one would naturally imagine, that the feed-
vefl'cls in queftion were of that kind, called by Linnaeus,
filiqua, or pod : but the faff is, that not a Angle plant of this
order bears pods ; the greater part having many dry capfules ;
and the remainder being furnifhcd properly with no feed-
veflel, but bearing numerous diftinft feeds.
On this account, Morifon’s title, miilticapfulares, would
have been more proper than the prefent ; though even that
would have been expreflive of part of the plants only.
Lif of GenCra contained in this Order .
Linnzean Genera. Englijh Names.
« Aconitum, — — Monks-hood, wolf’s bane.
F ^ Aquil(gia,
M U L
Linntean Genera.
Englijh Names.
Aquilegia , — *-
—
Columbine.
Delphinium ,
—
Lark-fpur.
Pteonia, —
• —
Paeony.
Diflamnus, —
— >
Fraxinclla, white dittany.
Peganum , —
— /
Wild Syrian rue.
Rut a , —
—
Rue.
Adonis, —
—
Adonis, or bird’s eye.
Caltha , • —
—
Marfh-marigold.
Garidella , —
—
Fennel-flower of Crete.
Helleborus —
—
Hellebore.
Jfopyrum,
*
My of ur us, —
—
Moufe-tail.
Nigel la, —
—
Fennel- flower, or devil in a
bufh.
Ranunculus, —
— .
Crowfoot.
Trollius, —
—
Globe-ranunculus, or locker
gowlans.
Adlcca, —
- —
Herb-chriftophcr, or bane-
berries.
Anemone, —
Atragene.
- —
Wind-flower, anemone.
Clematis, —
—
Virgin’s bower.
Phaliclrurn, —
—
Meadow-rue.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
Tliefe plants are inoflly perennial herbs : the flems of
fome are ereft ; others creep upon the ground, and produce
roots near the origin of each leaf, as in fome fpecies of ra-
nunculus ; others climb, and attach themfelves to the
bodies in their neighbourhood, either by the foot-flalk.
of their leaves, as virgin’s bower, or by tendrils which ter-
minate the foot-llalk, as atragene. The greateft height of
thofe which rife eretf, as lark-fpur, feldom exceeds eight
feet. Thofe which climb, rarely exceed fifteen or twenty
feet.
The Roots are generally flefhy. In fome fpecies of
anemone they arc hand-fhaped ; in others, as likewife in
feveral
MUL
\
feveral fpecies of ranunculus, they are finger-fhaped, or
cvlindric. In fome fpecies of hellebore and ranunculus,
they are divided into fpherical knobs. In fome plants tdo of
this order, the roots are fibrous.
The Stems and Young Branches are cylindric.
The Leaves, which are of different forms, being fome-
times fimple and entire, fometimes hand-fhaped or winged,
are generally alternate, except in virgin’s bower and atra-
gene, which bear oppofite leaves.
The foot-ftalk, which is fometimes cylindric, fometimes
angular, is membranous, and very large at its origin, fur-
rounding a great part of the ftem from which it proceeds.
In ifopyrum, the membrane in queftion is terminated on each
fide by two fmall teeth, in the form of Jlipulce or fcales. In
marfh-marigold it forms a (heath or glove, which is entire,
fhaped like a cylinder, and quite furrounds the ftem.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite.
They proceed either fingly from the wings of the leaves,
or termination of the branches, as in paeony, globe ranun-
culus, mar(h-marigold, moufe-tail, fennel-flower, and fome
fpecies of ranunculus and anemone; or terminate the
branches in a fpike, panicle or head, as in aconite, lark-fpur,
columbine, meadow-rue, and fraxinella. The flower of
the winter aconite, a fpecies of hellebore, in coming out of
the earth, is folded up in a fpiral manner upon its foot-ftalk.
Thefe flowers are eafily rendered double by culture.
Ranunculus, anemone, paeony, monk’s-hood, lark-fpur,
columbine, and fennel-flower,, are well-known examples.
The Calyx or flower-cup is wanting in marfh-marigold,
monk’s-hood, lark fpur, columbine, fennel-flower, meadow-
rue, anemone, globe ranunculus, ifopyrum , hellebore, and
virgin’s bower ; in the reft it is compofed generally of five
pieces, which fall with the petals. The calyx of rue, pe-
ganum, and paeony, is permanent.
The Petals are in number from four to fifteen, gene-
rally equal, and fometimes, asr in anemone, difpofed in two
Or three feries: five is the prevailing number.
d he Nectarium in this order is various. In the greater
f f 2 number,
M U L
fninlber, particularly lark fpur and columbine, it fs fliapc>4
like a horn or fpur, and forms a tube at the bottom of the
flower. In ranunculus it is a fmall prominence or mellife-
rous pore in the claw of each petal. In aconite, or monk’s
hood, it is compofed of two long fmgular appearances like
flyles, that are lodged within the upper petal, which refem-
blesa helmet.
The St AM I N a are, in number, from five to three hundred,
diftinfl, and attached, generally in feveral rows or feries, to
the receptacle.
The Seed-buds are generally numerous. The ftyle is
frequently wanting.
The Seed-vessel is wanting in ranunculus, meadow-
rue, adonis, atragene, virgin’s bower, and anemone. In
the reft it is compofed of feveral dry capfules, each contain-
ing a fingle cell.
The Seeds are numerous, and frequently angular. In
anemone, virgin’s bower, and atragene, they are terminated
each by a beard or hairy tail, which fome confider as the
remains of the ftyle.
Moft of thefe plants are acrid, and many of them poifonous.
In general, plants that have a great number of ftamina, are
noxious in thejr quality. Thofe of this order that are cau-
tioufly to be avoided on this account, are moft fpecies of
monk's-hood, columbine, lark-fpur, wild fyrian-rue, herb-
chriftopher, hellebore, paeony, and virgin’s-bower — Being
burnt, thefe plants furnifh a fixed alkali ; by diftillation,
there is drawn from them a nitrous and aluminous fubftance.
Rue and fraxinella have a ftrong penetrating fmelL — With
refpeft to their virtues, they are cauftic and purgative ; ift>-
pyrum is hepatic. Hellebore, according to fome moderns-,
caufcs convulfions, and ftiftens the limbs.
Since the time of Theophraftus, moft of the fpecies of
monk’s-hood have been reckoned a deadly poifon both to
men and brutes. Diofcorides, however, recommends the
external application of common monk’s-hood for pains oi
the eyes. The flowers of a great many fpecies communicate
their noxious quality, by being fmellcd to ; and thofe of the
fpeciesi
MUL
fpecies called napellus, being placed upon the head, occafiora
a violent megrim. Of the bad qualities of thefe plants, we
fomedmes avail ourfelves to get rid of vermin. A deco&ion
of the roots deitroys bugs ; the fame part being powdered
and adminiflered in bread, or fome other palatable vehicle,
to rats and mice, corrodes and inflames their inteftines, and
foon proves mortal; the juice of the plant is ufed to poifon
flefh with, for the deftru&ion of w.olves, foxes, and other
ravenous beads. The bed antidote to the poifon of the dif-
ferent monk’s-hoods is faid to be the root of a fpecies of the
fame genus, hence termed healthful or wholefome monk’s-
hood. It is the aconitum anthsra of Linnaeus. The fame plant
is regarded as efficacious againfl bites of ferpents and other
venomous creatures. The roots have a bitter acrid tafte ;
the leaves are only bitter ; the former are chiefly ufed in
medicine, and befides the excellent quality juft mentioned,
are ftomachic, and promote perfpiration. The peafants
who gather the plant on the Alps and Pyrenees, ufe it with
fuccefs againft the bite of mad dogs, and to cure th?
colic.
It is remarkable that the monk's-hoods wgh blue flowers
are much more virulent than the yellow or white-flowered
kinds. Miller afferts, from whofe authority I know not,
that the huntfmen ot the wolves and other wild beads on the
Alps dip their arrows into the juice of thefe plants, which
renders the wounds made by them deadly.
Columbine is termed in Latin, aquilegla , from the refem-
blance of its flowers to thp claws of an eagle. The leaves
of common or wild columbine, the fpecies ufed in medicine,
have been preferibed in gargarifms for inflammations of thp
jaws and throat. The feeds and roots are reckoned fuccefs-
ful in facilitating the eruptions of the mpafles and final 1
pox.
An ointment made of the feeds of ftavefacre, a fpecies
of lark-fpur, which grows naturally in Italy and the Levant,
is faid to kill all kinds of lice ; whence the plant is fometime
known by the name of loufewort.
I lie lark-fpurs are fo called from the horn or fpur which
*' 1 3 terminate*
terminates the upper petal, and is termed by Linnaeus the
neBarium. Delphinium, which is the Latin appellation of
this genus of plants, is expreffive of the fancied refpmblaRce
of the flowers to a dolphin before they are expanded.
Paeony is faid to have derived its name from Paeon, the
phyfician, who is reported to have cured Pluto, when
wounded by Hercules, with this herb.
braxinella is fo called from the refemblance of the form
of its leaves to thofe of the fraxinus or afh, from which
circumftance it was denominated little alh, as the name imr
ports. In the difpenfatories it has been long known by the
title of diBamnus. The ftajks of this plant abound with an
eflential inflammable oil, efpecially in great droughts, when,
on the approach of a candle or other igneous matter, the
fubflance in queftion takes fire, and burns like fpirit of wine,
till it is entirely exhaufted. The roots of this plant have had
many, virtues attributed to them, but are at prefent only
known as an ingredient in feveral of our compofitions. By
its bitter quality, dittany is faid to kill toads.
Rue, by its aromatic quality, is heating, cordial and fuT
dorific ; all the parts are ufed in medicine, except the roots.
"Wild Syrian-rue poflefles the fame virtues in its native foil,
which is Egypt, Syria, Italy, and Spain.
The leaves . of {linking black-hellebore are very acrid to
the tafle, and highly purgatiye. Thofe of the green-flowered
kind, being dried and powdered, are accounted good to
kill worms in children ; the former {pecies is dangerous.
The country-people, however, frequently give the powder'
of it likewife to their children for worms : but how danger-
ous a medicine it is, may be underftood by the following faft,
related by the ingenious Mr. Martyn* Some years ago,
when the ground was covered with a deep fnow, a flock of
fheep, in Ox-meadow, near Fulborn, in Cambridgefhire,
finding nothing but this herb above the fnow, eat plentifully
of it. They foon appeared much out of order, and moft
of them died : fuch as were faved having feme oil ad-
miniflered to them in time, which made them yomit up the
pernicious herb. Some of thofe who died, being opened,
were found to have the flomach greatly inflamed. In
Wefhnoreland,
M U L
Weftmoreland, where this plant grows in gd'eat abundance,
it has obtained, from its pernicious quality, the name of
felon-grafs. Adanfon fays, that a clyfler of an ounce of a
deco&ion of its root is preferable to any other remedy in
apopleft lck fits.
Moufe-tail is fo termed from its feeds, which, after the
fall of the flowers, grow in {lender fpikes, two or three
inches long, refembling a moufe’stail.
All the fpecies of crowfoot are remarkably acrid ; yet in
fome parts of France they eat the tuberous roots of a few
fpecies without any bad confequences. The frefh roots of
ranunculus acris are ufed by the peafants as an excellent cau-
tery for their cattle. Ranunculus fceleratus is faid to prove
mortal to fheep which feed upon it.
The berries of heib-chriffopher, which are of a fhining
black, and of the fize of peafe, are fuppofed to be of very
noxious quality. A fingle berry is inffant death to poultry
and other birds. The root of a fpecies of herb-chriftopher,
a native of North-America, where it is denominated black
fnake-root, to dihinguifh it from common fnake-root, is
fuppofed to be an antidote againfl poifon, and particularly
that of the rattle fnake.
Wood anemone with blue flowers tinged with purple,
which grows naturally at Wimbledon, in Surry, and Looton-
hoo, in Bedfordfhire, has its leaves frequently covered with
the eggs of an infeft, whereby the plant, before the expan-
fion of its flowers, is frequently miftaken for a fern.
N Anemones, or wind-flowers, (fo the Greek name imports,)
were fo called, from a fuppofition foohlhly entertained by
the ancients, that the flowers of thefe plants never open,
except in a brifk wind.
The feeds of great wild climber, or traveller’s joy, a fpe-
.cies of virgin’s bower, which grows naturally in the hedges
in many parts of England, make a very fine appearance at
the latter end of the year, when tl
of other
Botanifts,
for
Clypeola,
NOM
%
Clypeola, Lin. (clypcus, a fliield) from its fecd-vefTel refenw
bling a Ihield. ,■
Mitreola, Lin. ( mitra , a mitre) from its mitre-fhaped fruit.
Gladiolus , Tourn. ( gladius , a fword) from its fword-fhaped
leaves.
Samolus, Tourn. (Samos, an ifland) from its place of
growth.
Calendula, Ruppius, (calender, the fir ft of every month) from
its flowering at all feafons, and during every month in the
year.
Campanula, Tourn. ( campana , a bell) from its bell-lhaped
flower.
CraJJula, Dillen. ( crajj'us , thick) from the thicknefs of its
leaves.
Primula, Lin. ( primus , firft) from its early flowering.
Pinguicula, Tourn. (pinguis, fat) from the fatnefs of its
leaves.
Hirtella, Lin. ( hirtus , hairy) from the hairinefs of its
branches.
i I
Cruciane/la, Lin. (crux, a cro fs) from its leaves being placed
crofs-wife.
Sanicula, Tourn. (fano, to cure) from its vulnerary quality,
Serratula, Dillen. fjerra, a faw) from its fawed leaves.
Spergula, Dillen. (jpargo, to Ratter) from the dilperfing or
fcatteringof its feeds.
Convolvulus, Tourn. (convolvo, to twift together) from the
convolutions or twiftings of its ftalks,
AJperugo, \ Tourn. f (a/per, rough) from the roughnefs of
Afperula, S Lin. £ the plants which compofe the genus,
Mollugo, Lin. ( mollis , foft) from its foftnefs.
Plumbago, Tourn. ( plumbum, lead) from its leadTcolour.
Sohdago, Vaill. (Jolidus, folid) from its confolidating
quality.
Urtica, Tourn. ( uro , to burn) from its flinging or burning
upon being touched.
Ladluca, Tourn. and Vaill. (lac, milk) from its leaves,
ftalks, and flowers abounding in a white milky juice.
TuJ/ilago,
7
NOM
Triage. Tourn. and Vaill. [tujjls, the cough) from its
great efficacy in coughs, and catarrhs.
Spinacia, Tourn. ffpina, a thorn) from its pricldy fruit.
SalJ'ola, Plum, (fal, fait) from the brackilh tafte of the
plant.
Sedum, Tourn. (fedeo , to fit) from its flation on walls and
rocks.
i Cornus, Tourn. (cornu, a horn) from the (hell of the fruit,
which is as hard as a piece ol horn.
Juglans, Lin. (quaji Jovis glans) from its being confecrated
to Jupiter.
Ranunculus, Tourn. (rana, a frog) from its growing in moift
places, which are frequented by frogs.
Lavandula, Tourn. (lava, to wafh) from its being ufed in
baths and wafhes, on account of the fragrancy of its
fmell.
Juncus, Tourn. (jungo, to join) from the ftalks being joined
together, and wrought into bafkcts and other ufetul uten-
fils, when dried.
Ledum, Rupp, (lado, to hurt) from its offenfive fmell.
Salix, Tourn. ffalio, to leap) from its quick growth.
Rejeda, Tourn. (rejedare, to appeafe) from its allaying
pain.
fiorago, Tourn. (quaji cor ago, to take heart) from its exhi-
larating quality.
Ferula, Tourn. (ferio, to ftrike) from rods being formerly-
made of its flalks, with which fchool-malters corrected
their fcholars.
Biferrula, Lin. (bis, twice, an&ferra, a faw) from its pods
being fawed or indented on both edges.
Bifcutella, Lin. (bis, twice, and J'cutum ) from the fruit re-
fembling a double buckler.
Tropaolum, Lin. ( tropaum , a trophy) from its fancied rc-
femblance to the infignia of atrophy.
fhafcolus, Tourn. ( phafclus , an oblong fwift fhip) from the
hufk or covering of the feeds refembling the hulk of a
galley.
Pjrola, Tourn. ( pyrus, a pear) from its pear-fhaped leaves.
Frejerpinaca,
N O M
Froferpinaca , Lin. fferpo , to creep) from its ffalks creeping
on the ground.
Medicago, Tourn. (Media, the name of a country) from its
having been brought into Greece, from Media, by Darius
Hyftafpes, as Pliny relates.
CoroniUa, Tourn, ( corona , a crown) from its flowers being
collected in bunches at the termination of the italics.
Arenaria, Lin .(arena, fand) from its native foil.
Convallaria , Lin. ( convallis , a valley) from its common place
of growth.
Clavaria, Vaill. (clavus, a club) from its habit and appear-
ance.
Cap raria, Lin. (capra, a fhe-goat) from its being browzed
on by goats.
Cochlearia , Tourn. (cochleare, a fpoon) from its leaves being
hollowed like a fpoon.
Coriaria, Niffol. (corium, leather) from its ufein tanning.
Cymbaria, Ammannus, (cymha, a boat or fkiff) from the
figure of its fruit.
Dentaria, Tourn. (dens, a tooth) from its roots being com.
pofed of a great number of fcates refembling teeth.
Fragaria, Tourn. (fragrans, fragrant) from its fragrant aro-
matic fmell.
Globularia, Tourn. (globus, a globe or fphere) from the
figure of the flower.
Hcrniaria , Tourn. (hernia, a rupture) from its efficacy in
ruptures.
Lunaria, Tourn. (luna, the moon) from the figure of ita
fruit or feed-veffels.
Matricaria, Tourn. and Vaillant, (matrix, the womb) from
its efficacy in difeafes of the uterus.
Pu/monaria, Tourn. (Pulmones, the lungs) from its efficacy
in diforders of the brealf and lungs.
Parietaria, Tourn. ( paries, a wall) from its growing on
old walls.
Mirabilis, Ray, (Lat. admirable) from the beautiful diver-
fity of colours ill its flowers.
SempervLVum, Rupp. (Jcmper, always, and vivo, to live)
from its continual verdure.
Perficaria ,
NOM
Perfuarta, Tourn. fperfica, a peach-tree) From the refem*
blance of its leaves tothofeoF the peach-tree.
Sagittaria , Lin. ( fagitta , an arrow) from its arrow-fhaped
leaves. / ,
Sanguinaria, Dillenius, (fanguis , blood) from its juice,
which is of a yellow colour, inclining to red.
Saponaria , Lin. (J'apo, foap) from the deterfive quality of
the leaves.
Scoparia , Lin. ffcopee, a befom) from the ufe to which the
plant is generally applied.
Momordica , Tourn. [mordeo, to bite) from the appearance of
the feeds, which are flat and compreffed, as if they had
been grinded or chewed.
Scrophularia, Tourn. (fcrophula , king’s evil) from its fup-
pofed efficacy in fcrophulous complaints.
Pr folium, Tourn. ( Ires, three; folium, a leaf) from its
bearing finger-fhaped leaves, each leaf tonfilling of three
fmaller leaves furnilhed with ffiort partial foot-flalks.
Puff ora, Lin. ( patior, to fuffer, and ft os, a flower) from
the fancied refemblance of the organs of generation to a
hammer and nails, the inflruments of buffering.
Stcllaria, Lin. (Jlella, a ftar) from the figure of its Flower.
Subularia, Ray, (Jubula, an awl) from its awl-fhaped leaves.
Utricularia, Lin. ( utriculus , a little bladder) from the round
two-horned veffels dlltended with air, which it bears on
its roots.
Gloriofa, Lin. ( gloria, glory, excellence) from the beau-
tiful and fuperb appearance of its flowers.
Angelica, Lin. [lat. angelic) from the approved virtues of its
root and feeds.
Fontinalis, Dillen. ffons, a fountain) from its place of
growth.
Sanguijorba, Ray, (Janguis , blood, and forbeo, to drink up)
from its great efficacy again!! fpitting of blood.
Turritis , '1 ourn. [turns, a tower) from its height.
Impatiens, Ray (in, not, and patior, to fuffer) from the
elaflicily of its fruit, which may therefore be laid not to
hear the touch.
J/npcraforia ,
N O M
Imperatoria, Tourn. [wipe rat or, a commander) from the
great efficacy of its root in medicine.
Hepatic a, Rupp, and Dillen. [hepar, the liver) from the
figure of its leaves. ,
Pediculans , Tourn. fpediculus , a loufe) from its fuppofed
efficacy in deftroying lice.
Saxifraga, Tourn. ffaxum , a rock, and fravgo, to break)
from its growing on the clefts of rocks.
ParnaJJia, Tourn. ( ParnajJ'us , a mountain in Phocis) from its
place of growth.
Ibcrts , Rupp, and Dillen. from the kingdom of Iberia or
Spain.
Smyrnium, Tourn. from the city of Smyrna.
Nepeta, Lin. from a town in Italy of that name.
Arahis, Lin. from the kingdom of Arabia.
Moluccel/a, Lin. from the Molucca ifiands.
Arethufa , Gronovius, from the celebrated fountain of that
name, near Syracufe in Sicily.
Punica, 1 ourn. ( Poeni , the Carthaginians) from the city
Carthage.
Thapfia, Tourn. from Tbapfus, a town of Africa propria ,
near which Scipio and Juba weredefeated byCtefar.
Colchicum, Tourn. from Colchis, a country of antient
Afia, to the Eall of the Euxine Sea, celebrated for the ex-
pedition of Jafon and the Argonauts.
Patagomila, Lin. from Patagonia, a country in South
America.
Carica, Lin. from Caria, a country in leffer A fia.
Ligujiicum, Tourn. from Liguria, a province of Italy.
Marrubium , Tourn. from a town in Italy, now San Bene-
detto.
Toluifera , Lin. from its producing the fubftance known by
the name of Balfam of Tolu.
Indtgofera , Lin. from its producing the colour known by the
name of Indigo.
Digitalis, louin. ( digitus , a finger) from its flower, refem-
bling the finger of a glove.
\
Scabiofft,
N O M
Scabiofa , Tourn. (/cables , fcab, itch) from its efficacy in
cfiforders of the {kin.
Amthyjlea , Lin. from its flowers refem'bling an amethyft
in colour.
Gratiola, Lin. ( gratia , favour, efficacy) from its ufe in
medicine.
Ziziphora, Lin. from the Indian name Zizi.
Jamba! fera, Lin. from the Indian name Jambolo.
Uvaria, Lin. [Uva, a grape) from the figure of its fruit.
Uvularia, Lin. from the fancied refemblance of its fruit to
the uvula of the throat.
Craniolaria, Lin. [cranium, the fcull) from the nut which,
in figure, refembles the fcull of fome wild beads.
Pifcidia, Lin. ( pifcis , a fifh) from the rare quality pofTeded
bv its bark, of intoxicating fifh. See Papilionacea.
XVI. Names borrowed from the fables of the poets, or
intended to perpetuate the memory of fome celebrated men,
and particularly of the patrons of botanical knowledge, are
admitted into the modern nomenclature, which, however,
excludes the numerous lid of generical names in commemo-
ration of faints and illudrious men in other fciences.
The poetical names of genera are as follows ; Ambro/iay
Nepenthes, Cornucopia, Crocus, Protea, Centaurea, ASlaa ,
Chironia, Achillea, NarciJJus, Hyacinthus, Amaryllis, Phyllis ,
Peeonia, Cerbera, Adonis, Circcea, Medeola, Andromeda ,
Daphne, Syringa, Canna, Myrftne, Mentha, Smilax. A very
flight acquaintance with the poets, particularly with Ovid’s
Metamorphofes, will render any comment upon thefe names
altogether urujecedary.
The following genera are denominated from gods, kings,
and patrons of the fcience.
A/clepias, Tourn. f rom /Efculapius, the god of phyfic.
Mcrcuriaiis, Tourn. from Mercury, the interpreter and
meflenger of the gods.
liymenaa, Lin. from Hvmen, the god of marriage.
Serapias, Lin. from Serapis, the idol worfhipped by the
Egyptians; or, perhaps, from Serapion, the celebrated
Arabian phyficiau.
Sat \rium,
* •
N O M
Satyrium , } Lin. > from the Satyrs, a fort of wodd-larid
Satureiay S Tour. 5 deities, fuppofed to prefide over the
libidinous aftions of men ; the name is very properly ap-
1 plied to the firll genus, on account of its fuppofed aphro-
difiac or {Emulating quality.
Ixora, Lin. the idol worfhipped by the natives of Malabar.
Tagdesy Tourn. and Vaill. from Tages, a grandfon of .Tu-
piter, and inftruftor of the ancient Tufcans in augury
and the occult fciences.
Nymphaa, Tourn. from the nymphs in general, but particu-
larly thofe who prefided over waters.
Naias, Lin. from the naiads, a clafs of nymphs who pre-
fided over rivers and fountains.
Dryas, Lin. from the dryads, another cldfs of nymphs,
who prelided over woods and trees, particularly the oak*
(S, wool* and the ftemj
from its foft woolly flalks.
Erlocephaius, Dillen. («giov, wool* and x.soSov> a rofe) from the fmell of the roots*
which refembles that of the rofe.
Trigonella, Lin. (T?e is, three, and yuv&i, an angle) from its
three cornered flower.
Crotalaria, Tourn. (x§ora\sv, a rattle) from the branches that
are furniihed with pods being ufed by the infant-Indians
for rattles.
Rhizophora, Lin, (p<£«, a root* and .Xo>, a leaf)
from the leaves being of a beautiful gold-colour on their
under-fide.
Chesropbylltcm, Tourn. to rejoice, and tyuXXov, a
leaf) from the exhilarating quality of the leaves.
Hcemanthus, Tourn. (ii/xa, blood, and av0@*, a flower)
from the beautiful-red colour of the flower.
Ama ran thus, Tourn. (a, not, and /xxqodvu, to wither) from.
"its flower not fpeedily withering after being cropped.
Ccphalanthus, Lin. (xetpaXw, a head, and av9@v a flower)
from the branches being terminated with fmall bunches or
heads of flowers.
Chionanthus , Royen. [ywv, fnow, and a flower) from
the beautiful whitcnefs of its flowers.
Galanthus, Lin. {yxXa, milk, and «v0©> a flower) from the
milky whitenefs of its flowers.
Melianthus, Tourn. (pxiXi, honey, and avfl©*, a flower) from
the flower being filled with a lweet fubflance like hone) .
Chryjobalanus,
N O M
Chryjdhulanus, Lin. (x?u&&y gold, and /3 a\a\&, a plumb,
or cherry) from the red, or yellow colour of its fruit.
L’thofpermum, Tourn. (Xt0©>, a flone, and a feed)
from its hard ftony feeds.
Ceratocarpus, Buxbaum. (xeqzs, a horn, and xagw©-, fruit)
from its capfule or feed-veflel and feeds being furnifhed
with an appearance like two horns.
Melampyrum, Tourn. (ixsXtzs, black, and . <7.©, the flower called convolvulus, and
broils, like) from the great refemblance ot its flower to
(hat of convolvulus, or bind-weed.
Bunlas , Lin \(/3«v©, a little hill) from the native foil of
Bunium, Lin. / the plants.
Sideroxjlum, Dillen. (ffiSng®*, iron, and £>Xov, wood) from
the hardnefs and firm texture of the wood, which is fo
weighty as to fink in water.
A phones, Lin. (aipav-nr, not confpicuous) from the mi-
nutenefs, and low (lature of the plant.
Pteris, Lin. (Trrrgov, a wing) from the divifions of the
fmaller leaves refembling wings.
Bythrum, Lin. (Xu0§ov, blood, gore) from the deep purple
colour of the flowers.
Orchis, Tourn. (6§x*y> a teflicle) from the fancied refem-
blance of its roots.
Cotyledon , Tourn. (xotuXti, a cavity) from the leaves being
hollowed, like the navel.
phallus , Micheli ($aXX©, the yard) from the peculiar figure
of this mufhroom.
Xeranthcrnum , Tourn. (Ipjgor, dry, and avS©, a flower)
from the extreme drynefs of the petals; a circumflance
which preferves the beauty of the flowers for many
months. Hence it is termed, in Englifh, everlafting, or
the eternal flower.
Adoxa, Lin. (a, not, and bold, glory) from its diminutive
appearance and want of beauty.
Anlhoxanthum , Lin. («v0©, a flower, and $av9©, yellow,)
from the yellowifh colour of the fpike ot flowers.
Sphv, a fyphon, or tube, and a»'S©^, z
' flower) from its long tubular petal.
}AcJembryanthemum , D lien. the middle, rnxeqac, a
day, and avS®-, a flower) from the flowers of tins gen s
opening in the middle of the day. Lionteus derives it
from the flower being feated upon the germen, or feed-bud,
in Greek, Either etymology is expreflive of a
charadteriftic of the genus in queflion.
' Sideritis, Tourn. iron) from the plants of this
genus being vulnerary, and of efpccial efficacy in wounds
made by the fword.
Catnphorojma , Lin. (ocrpew, a fmell) from its having the
fmell of camphire.
Polypodium , Tourn. (7 roXt/r, many, and tths, a foot) from
its roots ferving theofficeof feet, by penetrating into what-
ever they can lay hold of, and thus fupporting the plant.
Afplenium , Lin. (a, priv. and ff-7rXw, the fpleen) from its
efficacy in difeafes of the fpleen.
Diojma, Lin. (£ew, Si©-, Jupiter, and oujun, a fmell) from
the very agreeable odour of the plants of this genus.
Dracontium, Lin. (Sgccxcov, a dragon) probably from the
protuberances of the ftalks, which are of different .colours,
and Ihine like the body of a ferpent.
Echium, Tourn. (ex,ir, a viper) from its feeds when ripe
refeurbling the head of a viper.
Geranium, Tourn. (yegav®-, a crane) from the fancied re-
Lmblance of its permanent ftyle to a crane’s bill.
Jlieracium, Tourn. (t ega£, a hawk) from a vulgar opinion
that the juice of thefe plants is ufed by hawks to remove
any occafional films from the eyes of their young.
Cardiofpermum , Lin. (xagSia, the heart, and a feed)
from tire feeds being marked at the bale with a heart.
fieliocarpos , Lin. (^X »©*, the fun, and xa§ 7r©-, fruit,) from
the refemblance of the threads which funound the bor-
ders of the capfuie to the rays of the fun.
Tnchojiema , Gronovius, ($gi£, rgt y&, a hair, ’ trr rt/xuv, a
ltamen, or thread) from its long . e^der flamina refemoung
hairs.
fiianthera, Gronovius. (Sir, twice, and avflnga, the top of
1 i 3 the
N O M
the ftamen) from its having two anthers upon each fih,
ment.
ELzocarpus, Burman, (iXaia, an olive, and xa§7r©', fruit)
from the refemblance of its fruit to that of an olive.
Buphthalmum, Tourn. (/3as, an ox, and opflaX/zor, an eye)
from the fancied refemblance of its large compound flower
to that of an ox-eye.
Dracocepbalum, Tourn. (S§a'x«v, a dragon, and xsfpaX?), the
head) from the figure of the flower.
Diofpyros, Lin. (%tus, Sior, Jupiter, and Hvq©’, wheat)
from the'excellence of the plant.
Dipfacus, Tourn. (ch\J Ax, to thirff) probably from the leaves
coliefling water in their cavities, and thus preventing the
injuries which might arife to the plant from aridity.
Stachjs, Tourn. (aTiyjus, a fpike, or ear of corn) from its
flowers being produced in long fpikes.
Ceratonia , Lin. (xsgamqv, a pod, a. Kegas, cornu, quia Jiliquct
ejl quaji corniculata ) from its bearing pods. It was former-
ly termed filiqua, the pod by w.y of eminence; Linnaeus
has changed that name for a Greek one of the fame im-
port.
Flat anus , Tourn. (nhs-Tus, large, ample) from the great
dimenfions of the trees of this genus.
Tribulus , Tourn. (-rgi'jSoXoi, caltrops,) from its prickly fruit.
Thlafpi , Tourn. (6x«w, to comprefs, to fqueeze together)
from its flat comprefled feed-veflel.
Panax, Lin. (vav, every, and «x@s a medicine or remedy)
from its boafled efficacy in medicine.
Iatropha, Lin. (isrrgor, a phyfician, and 'eIla-
3 7 £ Veronica,
r
of
PI
umier,
for
/'CiffampeIos,
Oclma.
Feuillea.
Hymentea.
Pilfia.
Chryfobalanus,
Chryfophyllum.'
V
Bromelia.
Papaya,
HOM
Papaya — — — "
^Carica.
Bonduc - — — • —
GuiLindina.
Cijete — ■ —
• -
Crefcentia.
R:joc — — —
Lantana,
Monbiti — — —
Spondias.
Sapota — ' — —
of
Achras.
Calaba — — -
>. Plumier, -<
Calophyilum.
Tapia — — —
for
/
Crateva.
MancanUla — —
Hippomane.
Mangles — — —
Rhuophora,
Arapabaca — —
Spigelia.
Caraguata — —
Tillandfia.
Ceiba ' — — ?=■ — j
vBombax.
Agialid — — —
} of Profper 1
1 Ximenia.
Baobab — - — — -
\ Alpinus, for <
1 Adanfonia,
Azcdarac
Belcimhanda
Upata —
Cadelari —
Carambda
Mays —
j Cacao —
Ketrnia —
Alhagi —
Adhatoda
Guajava —
Alkckengi
Acajou —
Ahouai —
fvlanihot —
ftlujcari —
— of Avicenna, for Melia,
r , y-Ixia-
r of the l .
% TT ,» lAvicenma.
7 Hortus Ma- J .
— \ , , r J AchyrantheSi
labaricps, f<*/Ave.rh°a.
f Zea.
Theobroraa.
Hibifcus.
Hedyfarum-
Jufticia.
^ Pfidium.
Phyfafis.
Anacardium.
Cerbera & Thevetia
Iatropha.
Hyacinlhus.
of
— j. Tournefort,
for
The following genera are retained by Linnaeus in contra-
4i6tion to this rule. Orvala , Scorzonera , Galega, Datum,
Riba.
NOM
Rlbet, Boron, cum. Then, Coffea, CaJJine, Annina, Mammext ,
Char a, Pothos , P (fella, Huru, Yucca , Guaiacuni •
Names of the Species.
Since the time of Cafpar Bauhin, the different fpecies
of pi nts have been diftinguifhed by certain fhort defcrip-
tionsr or phrafes, \expreflive of fome circumflance in their
external form or habit. Thefe defcriptions, which have
been very improperly denominated fpecific names, Linnteus
has fubjeaed to the fame rules with the names of claffes and
genera. The effential difference of each fpecies is to be
expreffed in the name or definition, which is intended to dif-
criminate the fpecies in queftion from all the plants of the
fame genus, and from none others.
The defci iption of the fpecies termed the fpecific name,
and which, in Linnaeus’s opinion, ought never to exceed
twelve words, is preceded- by the trivial name, which
always confilis of one word placed after the generic name,
and is not fubje&ed to the fame conftraint as the names of
the claffes and genera, and defcriptions of the fpecies. In
the following examples the generic name is marked in fmall
capital*, the fpecific in Roman characters, the trivial in
Italic.
Generic name. Trivial name. Specif c name.
Rhododendron ferrugineum. Rhododendron foliis
glabris fubtus leprofis,
corollis infundibuli-r
formibus.
P y r o l a racemis uni-
lateralibus.
P Y ro l a pedunculis fub,
umbellatis.
Pyrola fcapo unifloro.
Magnolia foliis lan-
ceolatisperennantibus,
Macnolia foliis o-
vato-oblougis fubtug
glaucis.
Heuenst&etia
PyR OLA fecunda.
Pyrola umbellaia .
Pyro-la unfora.
Magnolia grand fora.
Magnolia glaucs.
N O M
Generic name. Trivial name.
Hebenstretia dentata.
Hebenstretia. foliis
dentatis.
Specific name.
H EBENSTRETIA cor data.
Hebenstretia foliis
fubcarnofis, cordatis,
feflilibus.
Pyrus MaJus.
P Y R u s foliis fer ratis,
umbellis feflilibus.
Pyrus Cydonia.
Pyrus foliis integerri-
mis, floribus folitariis.
From the fir ft, third, fourth, fixtb, feventh and eighth of
the above examples, it is evident that the trivial name is fre-
quently an abbreviation of thefpecific ; and as this laft con-
tains the effential difference, where fuch difference is confpi-
cuous, the trivial name is an abridgment of that difference,
where fuch abridgment can be conveniently contained in
one word.
When two or three genera of former authors are abforbed
by one, it is common to fee the names of thofe genera re-
tained as trivial names. Thus, in the two laft examples,
Malus and C Y do n i a, two genera of Tournefort, are con-
verted into trivial names, for charafterizing the moft com-
mon fpecies of each refpeftive genus. Such trivial names
have always a capital for their initial letter.
The diftinftion of fpecific and trivial names fuggefled by
Linnaeus deferves particular attention, the rather as many
circumftances, deemed improper for entering into the de-
feription, or fpecific name, are employed without referve
for the trivial.
So extraordinary a meafure required fome explanation :
but Linnaeus has thought fit to be filent on that head. He
has judged very properly ; for no fatisfa&ory reafon could be
affigned for fo glaring an inconfiflency.
In latf, what can be more abfurd, than to charafierize a
plant by a circurnftance, which is either accidental and in »
conftant, or, at bell, deemed unworthy of a place in its de-
feription ! yet, half the trivial names in the Species Plantarum
are
nom
»re of this kind Not that thefe names are totally to be res
J fled; many of them being highly proper and Lnificant •
but we mu ft difapprove and condemn the fophiftryof Un’
even append, intern
what he fo feverely cenfures in others.
This being prefmifed, we proceed to lay down Linnteus’s
general principles or aphorifms on this fubjea.
. Genuine fpecific differences are afforded by the root
trunk, leaves fulcra, mode of flowering, and fuel cir
cumftances of the parts of fruftification a! are unconta d
"ith thegenerical defeription.
II. The fpecific name ought to be expredive of chafers
m Jk, 1i “ "'ere’ P'ant “felF- A11 accid™'f‘ 1
marks, therefore, not ex, fling in the plant, or not conrpi.
n^:rarance’ arttottm“f» rpeci.
III. Magnitude being fnbjeft to variations, from place
foil climate and other circumflanees, is not to enter into
the fpecific difference.
IV. Specific names are by no means to be employed
11Ch Ple-fuPP°fe a knowledge of other fpecies of a diffe’
rent genus Former botanifls, fays Linnaeus, conftrufted
heir fpecific differences mfuch amanner, as ifthofe for whom
they wrote had been previoufly acquainted with moil of the
uropean plants. Their defections are frequently com.
pari Tons of the plants in queflion with thofe of their own
had thry.* f r, fUCh ,1 Plant had a haWk-Weed leaf s another
had the leaf of the willow ; a third of groundfel ; one had
the appearance of balm; another of wormwood. Such
c larafilers Linnaeus difclaims. A plant, in his opinion
:* V° n n™ P' ,he name affiSned 10 U and name
uggeffed by the appearance of the plant. Each is to
e difeovered by its proper charafter, written in the one
defeated in the other. Names, he continues, pre-fiip.’
po ingot ter p ants, have always a tendency to lead thofe who
ufe them into an error fimilar to what Logicians call commit*
ting the circle.
Notwtthflanding this ihew of reafoning, I believe it will
be
N O M
be found that fpecific differences from cmnparifon with
plants, or the parts of plants, generally known, make a much
ftronger impreffion, and lead more direBly to tlie knowledge
required, than the molt accurate defcription ol charters
exiting in the plant itfelf.
V. Specific names, pre-fuppofing a knowledge of other
fpecies of the fame genus are, for the fame reafon, profcrib-
ed from tho modern nomenclature of botany. Hence the
following names are cenfured by Linnaeus,
Orchis flor ccandiclijjimo, Tourn.
Campanula angujiifplia, magno flore, minor, Tourn.
Campanula, flore minor e, ramojier, Morifon. • ,
A beginner is not fuppofed to know of any fpecies of
campanula, that is lefs branched, or of orchis, whofe flowers
are lefs white. Such names too, from their very nature,
are flu 6luating. In faB, the.-eftablifhment of fpecific names
upon a folid foundation, muff be preceded by a knowledge
of all the fpecies of any particular genus. For as the effen-
tial difference of any fpecies manifeflly implies a chara&er
peculiar to that fpecies, and which does not exift in any
of its congeners ; it is evident that the difcovery of a nevf
fpecies poffeffing a common charaBer, mull bring the effen-
tial difference in queflion to an end.
To illuflrate this by an example. The effential charaBer
of a fpecies of winter-green is defcribed by Linnteus to be A
naked ftalk fupporting a fingle flower. By this defcription
the fpecies in queflion is effential ly diftinguifhed from all
the fpecies of winter-green yet known. But, fuppofing ano-
ther fpecies fhould be difeovered with a naked lLlk and a
fingle flower, the fpecific name juft mentioned would no
longer be an effential difference ; another muft be fubftitut-
ed ; and that, perhaps, in confequence of further difeove-
ries, muft give place to a third. This obfe'rVadon fuffi-
ciently accounts for the numerous alterations in every
edition of the Species Plantarum ; and has almoft convinced
me of tlie neceflity of employing proper fpecific names, not
expreffive of any effential difference whatever, nor, of con-
lequence.
N O M
fequence, fubjefl to continual variation from future difco-
Veries.
VI. The name of the difcoverer or defcriberof any plant
is not to enter into the fpecific difference. On this account,
the following fpecific names are reje&ed from the modern
nomenclature.
Trifolium gajionium of Morifon.
Gramen cyperoides Bcelii of Lobelius.
Conyza tertia Diofcaridis of C. Bauhin.—
Conyza media Matthioli of I. Bauhin. .
Narciffus Tradefcantli of Rudbeckius.
The following are liable to cenfure lor a fimilar reafotf;
Sideritis Valerandi Dourez f e t
Campanula a Toffano Carolo miffa J °f L Bauhin<
Mimofa a Domino Hermans miffa of Breynius.
Amanita Divl Gearglj of Dillenius.
Chamaepithys llore plufquam eleganti
Eriocephalus Bruniades,
VII. The place of growth, or native foil of any plant is
not aneffential chara&er; and, therefore, ought to make no
part of the fpecific difference. No one, fays Linnaeus, would
chufe to make a voyage to Japan, the Cape of Good Hope,
or Peru, to be fatisfied of the accuracy of the defeription of
a plant. Befides, the fame fpecies is often produced in
very different foils, and in regions the moll dilfant from one
another. The Alpine plants are not rarely found in the
fens; nay, Lapland, Siberia, Canada, Afia, and America,
frequently produce the fame individual fpecies.
Improper, however, as the circumflances of foil, and
place of growth, are deemed in a fpecific defeription, Lin-
nams has not fcrupled, however inconfiftently, to employ
them upon feveral occafions in denominating the fpecies. 1
faid, however inconfiftently ; for if the foil, by reafon of its
being an accidental and variable circumftance, is deemed
unworthy a place in the fpecific difference, how can it, with
any propriety, enter into the abridged defeription, or trivial
name ?
N O M
name ? If a plant, which is a native of two very remote
countries, as Guinea and Japan, cannot have its place of
growth exp re (Ted in the defciiption, is it proper to nnflead
the ignorant, by fignifying in the title, or trivial name, that
the plant in queflion is the produce of one particular
country only, when, for the very oppolite reafon, its place
of growth could not be mentioned in the fpecific defcription ?
VIII. The time of flowering, duration, colour, talle,
fmell, and powers of plants, are very fallacious marks of
diflinftion, and, therefore, to be totally excluded from the
fpecific name.
IX. The generic name is to be applied and prefixed to
each particular fpecies, that the genus, as well as fpecies,
may be' fignified by the defcription, or fpecific name. In-
deed, without the name of the genus, the fpecific difference
is of no fignificancy. A mutilated defcription of that kind
may be applicable to a hundred different plants, as the effen-
tial characters of the fpecies are only intended to difcrimi-
nate plants , of the fame genus, and may, therefore, be fie-
quently poffeffcd in common by plants of a different genus.
To afeertain, therefore, the plant in queftion, beyond the
poffibility of a miftake, let the generic name be prefixed to
each fpecies, and announced with it. Morifon and Ray,
although they reduced the fpecies under their refpebtive
genera, were feldom careful to adopt the generic name, but
fubftituted a kind of proper fpecific name in its flead ; fo
that a quotation trom either of tnefe authors, not fuggelfing
an idea. of the genus, becomes only intelligible by being
confulted in their refpefilive works. Thus to take an ex-
ample from Ray. Under the generical name StoECHAS are
arranged the following fpecies.
I. Stoechas citrina gennanica, latiore folio.
II. Chryfocome Ait bio pic a, plantaginis folio.
III. Helicbryfum abrotani fc mime foliis.
IV. Helicbryfum creticum. i
V . Stoechadi citrina: alteri inodorce Lobclij affinis.
VI. Gnaphalium montanurn alburn.
Of thefe fix fpecies, the firft only, and perhaps the fifth,
is exempted from confute, as containing both the generic
k. k and
N O M
and fpecifie name : the reft, when viewed apart, would fcerri
to have no connexion with the genus under which they are
arranged ; but, on the contrary, appear to belong to other
genera, chryfoccme, hcUcbryfum, and gnaphplium, with which,
in reality, they have no affinity.
Again, the generic name is not only to be applied, but
to be prefixed to each fpecies. The following fpecifie names
of Lobelius are faulty in this lefpeCL
Minus heiiotropium repens
Matthioli Jecundum limonium.
Aquatica plantago foliis beta.
X. Specific names are, if poffible, to exhibit the effential
difference of each fpecies. Where the effential characters
of any fpecies have not been inveftigated, other differences,
lefs eflential, but more numerous, are to be fubftituted in
their place. Specific names of the latter kind are termed
by Linnaeus, fynoptical, and are not to be admitted, unlefs
in default of the effential name. The merits of each will
beft appear from comparifon.
Synoptic name — Salix foliis ferralis glabris ovatis acutis fub i
feffilibus of Royen.
Effential name — Salix flofculis pendandris , Lin.. Flor. Lap.
Synoptic name — Salix foliis fubintegerrimis lanceolalo-lineari-
bus longifjimis acutis, fubtus fericeis ; ramis virgaiis. Flora
Suecica.
Effential name — Salix foliis linearibus revolutis.
From thefe examples it appears that the effential name
confifts of but two or three words, and is generally expref-
five of a Angle idea. We have feen, however, that even
effential fpecifie names, however excellent when compared
with thofe termed fynoptic, muff always be inconftant, as
long as a fingle fpecies of any genus remains undetected. In-
deed, were that obftacle removed, and every fpecies cha-
racterized by an eflential name, I lhould molt heartily con-
cur with Linnaeus, that the fcience, at leaft, in one point,
had reached perfection ; but till that diltant day arrive, and
a diltant day it mult he from the very nature of things, we
mult reft latisfied with aferibing to thofe effential names, a
degree of merit proportioned to their liability.
6 XI.
/
NOM
XL The excellence of the fpecific name, according to
Linnaeus, confifls in its brevity. In this refpedt chiefly*
the efTential name, as containing a fingle idea, is preferable
to the fynoptical, in which the charadlers are numerous, but
not flriking. After all, it may be doubted, whether the
ample defcriptions of former authors, however feverely cen-
fured by certain moderns, are not fuperior, in point of
merit, to the fhort phrafes, or fpecific differences, which
are now fo generally adopted ; as thefe are not defcriptive of
any fpecies confldered by itfelf, but arife from a view of its
refemblances and contrafls with others.
I clofe the fubjedl of fpecific names with obferving, that
the differences in queftion are not always uniform ; I mean,
that the fame idea does not predominate in the eflabliihment
of the fpecies of any genus, the charadlers being feldom re-
lative, or drawn from the fame parts : in fine, that a com-
panion of oppofition or contrail, is rarely either inflituted
or implied. This fault we mufl pronounce a capital one ;
and every page of the Species Plantarum affords flriking evi-
dences of its exiflence. The following are examples of the
impropriety alluded to.
I. Ly thrum foli is lincaribus alternis, foribus hexandris.
Lythrum foli is linear thus a lie rnis, fo rib us tetrapetalis.
II. Cotyledon folds laciniatis , fori bus quadrifdis .
Cotyledon folds oblongis Jub/eredbus, floribus fafciculaiis.
III. Sedum folds qua/crnis.
S E D u M folds planiuf culls ferratis.
The want of uniformity complained of will be belt un-
derftood, by contrafling the above examples with a few fpe-
cific names of the fame author, in which the oppofition al-
luded to is carefully preferved.
I . R o Y E N A folds lanceolatis glabris.
Roye N A folds lanceolatis hirfutis.
II. Scleranthus calycibus fruttus pa/ulis.
SCLE RAN THUS calycibus frudlus claufts ,
III. Li L i u M foh is fparfis , corol/is campanu/atis, in/us glabris.
L i L i U M folds fparjis, coroll is campanulatis, intus fcabris.
A comparifon of thefe two oppofite fets ot examples,
R k 2 will
NUX
\ * i l
will conv ince the reader of t he excellence of the uniformity
recommended, and render any further llluflration unnecef-
fary.
Names of the Varieties. \ *
Varieties being only occafional modifications of the fame
fpecies, the circumftance which conftitutes the variety in
any fpecies is to be placed immediately after the fpecific
name. Such cincutnftance, however, for the fake of dif-
tmftion, fhould be delineated in a different charafter ; in
like manner as the fpecific name fhould Hand diftinguifhed
from the generic. A few examples will illuftrate the ob-
fervation in queflion.
CoNVALLARXA fcapo nudo; corolla plena.
Con VALLARI A fcapo nudo ; corolla rubra.
Sax i F tt AG k alpma ericoides ; florepurpurafccnte.
Saxi FR AGA alpina ericoides ; fore ccerulco.
In the above examples, the generic name is marked in
fatal l capitals ; the fpecific in Roman charafters ; and the
name of the variety in italics : a diftinftion which is abfb-
lutely necefiary, to prevent the variable circumftance from
being confounded with the fpecific difference. The fame
fpecies of lily of the valley has fometimes a red, fometimes
a full flower. This occafional difference does notenter into
the fpecific name ; it is expreflive of a variety, and ought
to be diftinguilhed as fuch. *
NUC AMENTUM. Vide Amentum.
NUDUS Flos, a naked flower; a flower fo termed by
Vaillant which wants the calyx, or flower-cup, but not the
petals. The term, perhaps, would have been more pro-
perly applied to a flower wanting both calyx and petals,
which are properly the cloathing or covers of the flower.
Inflances, however, of entire nakcdnefs in flowers are very
rare.
NUX, a nut ; a fpecies of feed, according to Linnams,
covered by a hard bony flicil. The inclofcd feed is termed
the nucleus , or kernel. ^
OC TAN-
O D O
O.
OCTANDRIA, (6x.ru, eight, and a man, orhuf-
band) the eighth clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual Syflem ;
confifting of plants with hermaphrodite flowers, which are
furnifhed with eight ftamina, or male organs of generation.
The orders, or fecondary divifions of this clafs are four,
and derive their names from the number of female organs
polfefled by the plants of each refpe£Hvedivifion.
French-willow, Indian-crefs, heath, and tree-primrofe
have one ftyle, or female organ.
Galenia, iveinmannia , and moehringia, have two flyles.
Biftort and heart-feed have three flyles ; tuberous mofcha-
tel and dne-berry, four.
OCULUS, an eye, a fpecies of bud. Vide Gemma.
ODOR, fmell ; the weakeft and moft obfcure of the
fenfes, as being different in almoft every objeft, and variable
in each. Dogs trace their mafters with furprifing facility at
one time, and Jofe them with equal facility at another.
The ancients, according to Ariftotle, recognized feven
primitive or original fmells, which, on account of their
ftriking affinity to the Ample taftes, were designed by the
fame names.
Smells being fo extremely variable, admit of no determi-
nate limits, and are, therefore, never to be employed in \
difcriminating the fpecies of plants. Hence fuch fpecific
names as the following are very properly profcribed from
the modern nomenclature of botany.
Hypericum hircinum (rank-fmelling). .
Melo mofchatus (fmelling of mufk).
Helper is notiu olens (fmelling in the night).
Caryophyllus inodorus (without fmell).
Ocymum caryophyllatum , C. Bauhin, (fmelling of cloves).
citri odore (fmelling of citron).
anijt odore (fmelling of anife).
foztiiculi odore (fmelling of fennel).
mcltjj'ce odore (fmelling of balm).
rut# odore (fmelling of rue).
Kk 3
Ocymum
O R c
Ocymum cinnamomi odore (fmelling of cinnamon).
For obfervations on fmell, as indicative of the virtues and
qualities of plants, the reader Preferred to the ai tide of tafte,
between which, and fmell, there is, as we have faid, a re-
markable affinity. Vide Sapor.
OLIGAN i I IERdt, (oAry©., few; and «v6r;§©<, floridus,
ab av0©<, flos) the name of the fixteenth clafs in Royen’s
Natural Method, confining of plants with hermaphrodite
flowers whofe ffamina are lefs in number than the divifions of
the corolla, or equal to them. It includes feveral genera of
the plain daffies in the Sexual Method.
ORCHIDEdi [orchis, the name of a well-known genus
of plants). The feventh order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a
Natural Method, confifting of orchis, and the plants which
refemble it in habit, powers, and fenfible qualities.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Natural Order.
Linnaean Genera. Englifh Names-.
Arethufa.
Cypripedium , —
— Ladies flipper.
Epidendrum , — ,
— Vanilla, or vanelloft.
Lhnodorum.
Ophrys, —
— Bee-flower, bird’s-nefl, twy-
blade.
Orchis.
S(ftyrium, —
— Lizard-flower.
Serapias, —
— Flelleborine, or baflard-hdle.-
bore.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
The Roots of many of thefe plants are compofed of one
or more fleffiy tubercles, attached to the lower part of the
Item, and fending forth fibres from the top. Thofe of or-
chis bear an obvious refemblance to the ferotum in animals ;
from which circ-.irffiance the genus has derived its name.
The Leaves are of a moderate fize, inferibed with a
pumber of longitudinal nerves or ribs, and without any foot-
ffalk, At their origin, they form, round the ftalk, a kind
of
O R C
of {heath, which is long, entire, cylindrical, but not fur-
niflied, like the grades, and fome other plants, with a crown
at top. This fheath is fometimes wanting in the leaves that
are placed towards the top of the ftalk. In fome fpecies of
bird’s-neft, the leaves prove abortive ; the /heaths which
furround the ftalk appearing like fo many feales.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite, and placed at the
fummit of the ftalk, either in a fpike, as in ladies flipper,
bee-flower, orchis, fatyrium, lirnodorum and arethuja ; or
in a panicle, that is, a loofe, diffufed fpike, as in vanelloe.
Each flower is accompanied writh a leaf that is fmaller than
the other leaves, and forms no fort of {heath round the
ftalk.
The Calyx in this order is that fort termed by Linnaeus
a fpatha or fheath, that, burfting open, protrudes a head
or clufter of flowers termed the Jpadix, which have no peri -
anthium , or proper flower-cup.
The Petals are five in number, and very irregular. The
two innermoft frequently approach and form the figure of a
helmet. The three outermoft are larger, and nearly equal.
The NectariUM in this order is remarkably confpicu-
ous, yet fo different in the different genera, that Linnaeus
has employed it for his principal chara&er or mark of dif-
tinftion, inftead of the root, which had chiefly engaged the
attention of former botanifts. It has the appearance of a fixth
petal, and conllitutes the lower lip of the helmet. In fome
fpecies of jphrys it is fhaped like a bee ; whence the Englifh
title of bee-flower, which has been given to that genus. In
lirnodorum it confifts of one piece, which is hollow, of the
length of the petals, and placed within them. In cypripedium
the appearance in queftion is fituated between the petals, and
refembles a wooden ffioe or flipper ; from which circura-
ftance it has derived both its fcientific and Englifh name.
In orchis and fatyrium, the nedlarium confifts of two lips;
the upper ereft and very fhort, the lower larger, hanging,
and terminated behind by a tube, which, in the former, re-
femblcs a horn, in the latter, the ferotum in animals. In
Mr e thuja it is placed in the bottom of the flower, and confifts
K k 1 , of
ORC
of one piece that is divided into two lips ; the Iowermoft Of
which is b i'o,-id, wrinkled within, turned backwards, hangs
down, and is of the length of the petals ; the upper flender
like a line of elegant texture, and incorporated with the
< Jlyle* In vanc,loe’ ^ is fhaped like a top, and placed at
the back of the^petals. Laftly, in helleborine, it is placed
m the middle of the flower, and in molt of the fpecies re-
fembk s the embowelled bod)- of a fly.
The -Ft lam ents, or lower part of the flamina, areal-
ways two m number, very fhort, and placed upon the pijlil-
lum, or female organ; from which lingular circumllance,
the plants in queftion are arranged under the clafs Gynandria
in the Sexual Method. lyide Gy n an d r i a.
I he An thers or fuinmits are ere£t, and generally cover-
ed by the upper lip of the nettarium.
The Seer-bud is either oblong or pillar-fhaped, twilled
like a fcrew, and univerfally placed below the receptacle- of
xthe flower.
1 he Style is fingle, very fhort, and forms one fub-
llame with the inner margin of the nefiarium, fo that both
1’yle and lligma are with difficulty to be perceived. This
Jaf! is commonly filled with a vjfcous fweet fubftance like
honey.
Ihe Seed-vessel is generally a capfule with one cavity
and t ; : i ee valves or openings, which are commonly keel-
lliaped, and open on the angular fides, being joined both
at bottom and top. In vanelloe, the ieed-veffei is a long,
cylindrical, un&uous, flefhy pod. 'What chiefly diftinguifhes
it fiom the caplular fruit of the other genera is, its wanting
t e keel-ihaped ribs or valves, lo conlpicuous in the other
plants ot this order.
The feeds are numerous, very fmall like faw-dufl, and
attached, without foot-ilalks, to a flendei receptacle, or
lib, winch extends itfeif length-wife in the middle of each
iuclolute. In vanelloe, they are almoft round, finning, and
ol d'biacR colour. In the other genera, they are rather
fi.-n, ot a yellow colour, and fringed on the border with a
longitudinal membrane, or wing.
The
ORC
¥
The plants of this order are celebrated as mighty provo-
catives to venery. This reftorative quality, which is chiefly
poflefled by the roots, is moll predominant in the vaneiloe of
the Americans, the falep of the Eaftern countries, and the
orchis and fatyrium of the Europeans. The tubercles
of the roots have an acrid quality, which is deflroyed
by drying, or moiftening them in warm water.
Vanelloes are the pods of a twining parafitic genus of
plants, which grow plentifully- on trees, both in the
Eafl and Weft Indies. Thefe pods refemble our kid-
ney beans, being about half a foot long, and contain-
ing a number of very finally feeds. When ripe and
dry, the inhabitants of Mexico and St. Domingo, whence
thefe pods are imported into Europe in greateft abun-
dance, gather them, and, having rubbed them with oil, left
they fliould harden and break, form them into bundles, or
bags of different fizes, containing, fome fifty, fome a hun-
dred, fome a hundred and fifty pods. The Indians call the
plant tlilxochitl, and the pod maxacochitl. Hernandez fays,
it is ufeful in fuppreflions, warms and fortifies the ftomacli,
facilitates digeftion, and diflipates wind. Vaneiloe has a
very agreeable tdfte and fmell. It is efteetned an ex-
cellent cordial, and ente-s into the compofition of choco-
late, which, indeed, is its principal ufe with us. A black
fragrant balfam is procured from the fame pods ; but this is
very rarely brought to Europe. The name vanilla, fignify-
ing a fheath, was given to this plant by the Spaniards, from
the figure of its pods.
The flowers of the different fpecics of orchis and opkrys are
remarkably various and Angular in their lhape ; reiembling
fometimes a naked boy, fometimes a gnat, a butterfly, a
bee, a pigeon, an ape, a parrot, a lizard, or a fly. Thefe
refemblances have given names to the fpecies in queftion.
The beard or neflarium of the bee-flower, is a large fat
leal, beautifully reprefenting a drone or bee of a l'ooiy
colour, and which, when turned to the light, feeins variegat-
ed with three bright yellow circularlines, with ruft-colourcd
) paces between them. I he neffartum of humble-bee faty-
rion.
OVA
rion, the tefliculus fphegodes hirfuto flore of Ray, is remarkable
for two upright lines, of a livid colour, and a tranfverfe one
oi the fame colour, reprefenting a capital H. The flowers
of many of the orchis-tribe are beautifully fpotted.
ORDO, an order; the firft fubdivifion of a clafs in the
Sexual Method, correfponding to the term fe&io, in Tourne-
fort. Such a divifion, by parcelling out the genera of any
clafs into feveral diftincd lots, gives perfpicuity to the method,
and facility to its diftinfitions.
The orders in Tournefort’s Syflem are chiefly founded
upon the fruit : thofe of the Sexual Method, on the number
of fly les or female organs. A particular enumeration of the
latter is fubjoined to their refpe&ive dalles, whither the
reader is referred for information on this fubjeft.
I would at prefent, only remark one circumftance in
which Linnaeus s orders are preferable to thofe of Tourne-
fort. The latter botanift exprelTes this fubdivifion by a cir-
cumlocution, which commonly includes a repetition of the
abridged clavis of his Syflem. On the other hand, Lin-
naeus’s orders are always exprefied by a Angle term, which,
like the names of the clafles, is of Greek etymology, and is
fignificative of the chara&er of the order to which it is ap-
plied. It is needlefs to fubjoin, that the names of thefe
orders are often the fame in different clafles, becaufe the
fame idea predominates in their inftitution. If the fame
charafter could, in like manner, be employed for diftin-
guifhing all the orders of each clafs, the fyflem would, in
that point, at leafl, have attained perfe&ion. Theclaffes in
the Sexual Syflem are much more uniform than the orders.
The latter, therefore, as fcientific divifions, are greatly in-
ferior to the former.
Oiido, a term of Tournefort, correfponding to the clajjis
or highefl. divifion of Linnteus. Vide Classis.
ORGYA, a term of Meafure. Vide Men sura.
OVARIUM (ovum, an egg) the ovary; a name, by
which botanifts, who are fond of alfimilating the animal and
vegetable kingdoms, have diftinguifhed the gertnen or feed-
bud, as containing the rudiments of the future feed.
PALATUM
PAL
P.
PALATUM corolla, the palate of the flower ; by this
name Linnaeus charatterizes any prominence or gib-
bofitv in the jaws (faux ) of the corolla.
PALEST, thin, membranaceous, chaffy plates fpringing
out of a common receptacle, and intended as lines of par-
tition between the fmall partial florets of compound and ag-
gregate flowers.
PALEACEUS flos, a term of Ray, expreffive of fuch
flowers as produce no fruit. It correfponds to the mafculus
fas of Linnaeus, the fe rills of Tournefort, th e abortiens of
other botanifts.
PALMyE, palms. Under this name Linnaeus has ar-
ranged fevered genera, which, although capable of a place
in feparate clalTes of his fyftem, he has chofen rather, on
account of their lingular ftrutture, to place apar t, in an ap-
pendix to the work.
The fame plants conflitute one of the feven families or
tribes into which all vegetables are diftributed by Linnaeus
in his Philofopbia Botanica. They are defined to be plants
with fimple Hems, which, at their fummit, bear leaves ie-
fembling thofe of the ferns, being a compofition of a leaf
and a branch ; and whofe flowers and fruit are produced on
that particular receptacle, or feat, called a fpadix, protruded
from a common calyx, in form of a fheath or fcabbard,
termed by Linnzeus, fpatha.
It is to be obferved, however, that the terms fpaiha and
fpadix , though originally applied by Theophraftus to palms
only, are ufed with much greater latitude by modern bota-
nifts, and applied to narcillus, fnow-drop, orchis, fatyrium,
arum, dracontium, calla, pothos, fea-daifodil, and many
other plants, whofe flower-ftalks come out of a fheath.
Palm/E is likewife the name of the firft order in Lin-
naeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, confiltingof the fol-
lowing genera, the three laft of which, although not ranged
With the palms in the appendix to his Artificial Syftem, are
placed
PAL
placed with them, on account of their alleged conformity
in point of habit, in Ids Natural Method. ° 1
Linnaean Genera.
Englifh Names.
* Areca , —
— The faufel-nut.
Baraffus, —
Malabar-palm, called arripana
and carim-pana.
CaryoTa, —
Palm with doubly - winged
Chanuzrops, —
leaves, called fchunda-
pana. .
LefTer, or dwarf-palm, pal-
metto, tliatch.
Cocos, —
— Cocoa nut tree.
, Corypha , —
— Mountain-palm with largeft
leaves, called codda-pana.
Cycas,
— Todda-pana.
Elais.
Elate , —
— • Wild Malabar-palm, called
Katou-Indel.
Phoenix, —
— Date-tree.
Zatnia.
@ Hydrocharis, —
— Frog’s-bit.
Strafiotes, —
— Water-foldier.
Vallifneria.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order .
v The plants of this order are perennial, and moftly of the
ffirub and tree kind. The Item is in height, from two to a
hundred feet and upwards.
Tiie Roots. form a mafs of fibres, which are commonly
fimple, that is, without any ramifications. In frog’s-bit,
the roots aie terminated b,y a firiall cup, ol a conic form,
which covers them like an extinguilher, as in duck’s-meat.
The Stem is generally fimple, cylindrical, and compofed
of ilrong longitudinal fibres.
7 he Leaves, which area compofition of a leaf and a
branch, termed by Linnaeus frondes , are of different forms ;
being
PAL
being fometimes Shaped like an umbrella or fan ; fometi-mes
ftngly or doubly-winged ; the fmall or partial leaves, which
are often three feet in length, being ranged alternately. The
branches or principal leaves are fix, eight* ten and twelve feet
long ; the length varying according to the age and fize of
the plant.
They are covered at firft with a brown thick duft,v like
thofe of the ferns. The bafe of the leaves frequently em-
braces the greater part of the Item. Schunda-pana is the
only genus of this order yet known, which bears doubly-
winged leaves.
The Flowers are male and female upon the fame or
different roots, except in water-foldier, which bears her-
maphrodite flowers only, and palmetto, in which the flowers
are hermaphrodite and male upon dilfinff roots. In vallif-
neria and frog:s-bit too, the Sowers are not fo properly male
and female upon different roots, as barren hermaphrodites ;
a fmall feed-bud being difcovered in thofe called the male
flowers, and the remains of flamina in the female. Abor-
tive flowers of the fame kind are frequently obferved in val-
lijneria upon the fame root.
The flowers are all difpofed in a panicle or diffufed Ipike,
except in the three laft genera, in which they proceed fingly
from the angles of the leaves. In todda-pana, fays M. Adan-
fon, the flowers grow upon the indenUnents of the leaves,
whofe divifions form a kind of panicle.
The Common Calyx in this order is that fort termed
zfpatha or fheath, and has either one valve or opening, as in
date tree, and cocoa-nut; or two, as in faufel-nut, and
wild Malabar-palm. The Jpadix, or head of flowers pro-
truded from the flieath, is generally branched. Each flower
is commonly furnifhed with a perianthium, or proper floweiv
cup, confining of three leaves or divifions that are fmall and
permanent.
The Petals are three in number, of a fubffance like
leather, and permanent like the leaves of the calyx. The
flowers of zatnia have no petals.
1 he Stamina are in nunibar from two to twenty and up-
wards.
I
PAL
wards, and cohere {lightly at the bafe. In frog’s-bit they
appear like a pillar in .the centre of the flower. 7
The Seed-buds are from one to three in number, placed
m the middle of the flower, and fupport a like number of
flyles, which are very fhort. In frog’s-bit, vallfneria , and
water-foldier, the feed-bud is placed under the receptacle of
the flower.
The Seed Vessel is generally a pulpy fruit of the berry
or cherry kind, containing one cell filled with fibrous flefh,
and covered with a fkin, which is of a fubflance like
leather.
The Seeds are in number from one to three in each pulpy
fruit, of a hard bony fubflance, round or oval, and attached
by their bafe to the bottom of the fruit.
Thefe plants, particularly the feeds, are ailringent, and
of efficacy in dyfenteries.
The date-tree, the phtznix daElylifera of Linnasus, is a
native of Africa, and the eaflern countries, where it grows
to fifty, fixty, and one hundred feet high. The trunk is
round, upright, and fludded with protuberances, which are
the veffigesof the decayed leaves. From the top iffues forth a
clufler of leaves or branches, eight or nine feet long, ex-
tending all round like an umbrella, and bending a little to-
wards the earth. The bottom part produces a number of
flalks like thofe of the middle, but feldom fhooting fo high,
as four or fivejeet. Thefe flalks, fays Adanfon, diffufe
the tree very confiderably ; fo that, wherever it naturally
grows in forefls, it is extremely difficult to open a paffage
through its prickly leaves. The flowers are male and female
upon different roots. The dates, which are the produce of
the iemale plant, grow in large fpiral cluflers, each being
about the bignefs and fhape of a middling olive, and con-
taining within the pulp, which is of a yellow colour, and
agreeable tafte, a round, flrong, hard nut or flone, of an
alh-colour, marked with a deep furrow running length-
wife. Of the freffi dates and fugar, fays Haffelquifl, the
Egyptians make a conferve, which has a very plealant tafle.
I he kernels or Hones, though hard as horn, they grind on
hand-
PAL
hand-mills, and in default of better food, give to their camels.
Of the leaves are made bafkets, or bags, which are much
ufed in Turkey on journies, and for other ceconomical ufes.
In Egypt they are ufed as fly-flaps, for driving away the nu-
merous infects, which prove fo troublefome in hot countries;
and RauwolfF relates, that of the fibres of the leaves, and
covering of the fruit, are fpun ropes, of pretty large dimen-
fions and confiderable ftrength. The hard boughs are ufed
for fences, and other purpofes of hufbandry; the principal
ftera for building ; in fine, no part of this curious tree
wants its ufe. The fruit, before it is ripe, is fomewhat
aftringent, but when thoroughly mature, is of the nature
of the fig. The Senegal dates are fhorter than thofe of
Egypt, but much thicker in the pulp, which is faid to have
a fugary agreeable tafle, fuperiof to that of the bell dates of
the Levant. .
Palmetto, that is, little palm, called, by the Americans,
thatch, from the ufe to which the leaves are applied, is a na-
tive of Africa and the W ell-indies, and feldom grows fo
high as the other palms. M. Adanfon, however, defcribes,
under the name of palmetto, a fpecies of palm, which
grows naturally at Senegal, whofe trunk rifes from fifty to
fixty feet in height. The negroes call this pahn, ronn,
which name the French have changed to rondier. From the
upper end of the trunk iflues a bundle of leaves, which, in
turning off, form a round head ; each leaf reprefents a fan
of five or fix feet in expanfion, fupported by a tail of the
fame length. Of thefe trees, fome produce male flowers,
which are confequently barren ; others are female, and load-
ed with fruit, which fucceed each other uninterruptedly al-
mofl the whole year round. The fruit of the large palmettos,
M. Adanfon affirms to be of the bignefs of an ordinary me-
lon, but rounder; it is enveloped in two fkins as tough as lea-
ther, and thick as ftrong parchment ; within, the fruit is
yellowilh, and full of filaments, faftened to three large ker-
nels in the middle. The negroes are very fond of this fruit,
which, when baked under the afhes, is faid to tafle like a
quince.
Tfle,
PAL
The fruit of the areca, or faufel nut, refembles a nutmeg
in texture, and, when ripe, is infipid and aftringent. It3
infpiflated juice is fuppofed to be the cachou, or, as it is im-
properly termed, Japan-earth of the fhops.
Palm-oil tree, oroily palm, is a native of Africa, and rifes
about fifty feet high; from the fruit is drawn an oil, of
which the negroes are remarkably fond. They generally
roaft the fruit in. the embers, and then fuck the fine fweet
oil, which is contained in the many interfaces of its vellow
hufky tegument. With this oil they likewife anoint their bo-
dies, to prevent a too plentiful perfpiration, as well as to
fupple and relax their ftiffened nerves. Being thus anointed,
tueir ikins appear fleek and Chining. Within. the outward
covering is the nut, which contains a white kernel, in tafte
fomewhat refembling that of the cocoa-nut, but not fo agree-
able. Thefe nuts, .when bored and emptied of their kernels,
are fining by the negroes, as ornaments about their necks.
From the body of this and the cocoa-nut tree is extra&ed a
hquor, which, when fermented, has an intoxicating quality,
,and is known by the name of palm wine.
I he cocoa-nut tree is fuppofed to be a native of the Mai- *
dive Ifiands, but is cultivated in both Indies, particularly in
South America, and the, Weft India Ifiands, where it fup-
plies the inhabitants with many of the common neceflaries of
life. This tree frequently rifes fixty feet high. The body
of the trunk, \ which generally leans to one fide, occafioned,
as is fuppofed, by the great weight of nuts which it fuftains
when young, is the exafii fhape of an apothecary’s large iron
peftle, being of an equal thicknefs at top and bottom, but
fomewhat (mailer in the middle ; its colour is of a pale brown
throughout, and the bark fmooth. The leaves, or branches,
often fifteen feet long, are about twenty-eight in number,
winged, of a yellow colour, ftraight and tapering. The
pinnae, or partial leaves, are green, often three feet long
next the trunk, but diminifhing in length toward the ex-
tremity of the branches. The branches arc fattened at
bottom by brown firingy threads, about the fize of ordinary
packtlnead, that grow out of them, and are interwoven like
a web. The nuts hang at the top of the trunk, in clufters,
of
/
PAL
of a dozen each. Each nut, next the Hem, has three holes
clofely Itopped ; one of them being wider and more eafily
penetrated than the reft. When the kernel begins to grow,
it inccufts the infide of th£ nut in a bluifh jelly-like fub-
/fance. As this grows harder, the inclofed liquid, diftilled
into the nut from the roots, becomes fomewhat acid; and
the kernel itfelf, as the nut ripens, becomes ftill more folid ;
and, at length, lines the whole infide of the nut for above
a quarter of an inch thick, being as white as fnow, and of
the flavour of an almond. The quantity of liquor in a full
grown nut is frequently a pint and upwards. The hufky
tegument of the nut confilfs of ftrong, tough, ftringy fila-
ments, which, when removed from the fruit, reiemble
coarfe oakum ; and might, perhaps, be conveniently enough
ufed as fuch. The fhells of thefe nuts being tipped with
lilver, are frequently ufed for drinking-bowls; the bark of
the tree may be wrought into cordage, and the leaves into
bafkets, brooms, hammocks in form of nets, mats, fapks,
and other ufeful utenfils. The liquor contained in the fhel.l
is a moft cooling wholefome beverage in thofe fultry climates,
and the white kennel a moft agreeable food.
In the Eaft Indies, during the prodigious rains and tem-
peftuous feas on -the coafl of Malabar, which generally con-
tinue from the end of May till the beginning of September,
the Banian Indians endeavour toappeafethe incenfed ocean,
by offering a number of gilded cocoa-nuts to its enraged
waves ; an anniverfary ceremony of which the young In-
dians are remarkably fond, as it gives them an opportunity
of {hewing their dexterity in fwimming, to recover the nuts
which have been thrown into the fea. The cocoa-nut of
the Maidive iflands is efteemed by -the inhabitants a very-
powerful antidote- againft the bites of ferpents, and other
poifons.
The cabbagc-tree, or mountain palm, the palma altijfma
nonfpinofa of SJoane, is a native of the Weft Indies, where
it is faid to rife to the height of one hundred and fifty, and
two hundred feet. It is, by fome authors, called the pal-
metto toyal ; and \veN, fays Hughes, in his Natural Hiftory
J.1 of
/
P A L
of Barbadoes, may it be called royal, fince neither the tall
cedars of Lebanon, nor any of the trees of the foreft are
equal to it in height, beauty, or proportion. It is generally
as ftraight as an arrow : near the earth it is about feven feet
in circumference, but tapers as it afeends. The bark is of
an afh colour till within t'wenty-five or thirty feet of the ek-
• tremity of the tree, when it alters at once to a deep fea-green,
which continues to the top. Upon removing the large
leaves or branches which furround the top of the trunk, a
little way above the beginning of the green bark juft men-
tioned, what is called the cabbage is difeovered lying in many
thin, fnow-white, brittle flakes, in tafte refembling an al-
mond, but Tweeter. This fubftance, which cannot be pro-
cured without deftroying the tree, is boiled, and eaten with
mutton, by the inhabitants of the Weft-Indies, in the fame
manner as turnips and cabbage are with us; it is likewife
pickled, and lent to Europe, where it is efteemed an exqui-
fite delicacy.
In the pith of the trunk of the cabbage-palms, when felled,
there breeds a kind of worms or grubs which are eaten,
and efteemed a great delicacy by the inhabitants of Martinico,
and of the other French Weft-India iflands. Thefe worms,
fays Father Labat, are about two inches long, and of the thick-
nefs of one’s finger ; the head is black, and attached to the
body without any diftinftion of neck. Their preparation
for the table is as follows : they are ftrungon wooden fkewers
before a fire, and, as loon as heated, are rubbed over with
rafpings of cruft, fait, pepper, and nutmeg; this powder
ablorbs all the fat, which, during the cookery, would
otherwife efcape ; when properly roafted they are ferved up
with orange, or citron fauce. Thefe worms being ex-
pofed for fomc time to the fun are faid to yield an oil which
is of great efficacy in the piles. The oil in queftion, fay?
Labat, is never to be heated before its application to the part
affeiled ; as repeated experiments have evinced that its fpirit
is tot-Uy dijhpated by the fire.
From the pith of a fpecies of palm that growS pat u rally
in -Japan, is prepared the fubftance, well known in the fhops
* . * by
PAP
by the name of fago. The pith is taken out, and, after be-*
ing pounded in large mortars, is mixed with water. The
liquor is then Itrained, and the faeculte formed into cakes,
which the Japanefe eat as bread, in default of rice : part
of the fame fubftance they granulate and dry, and fend
into Europe by the name of fago; it is ellecmed highly
nourifhing and reftorative.
From the dragon-tree, a palm which grows naturally in
the Cape-Verd I (lands, and has leaves like thofe of the
yucca or Adam’s needle, flows by incifion, a red gummy
juice, commonly known by the name of dragon’s blood,
and reckoned vulnerary and aftringent.
A fpecies of water-foldier, or marlh-aloe, is the furprif-
ing plant which is faid to move in the waters of the Nile,
feekin^ for nutrition in the fame manner as animals. The
fa£t is, that the plant produces tufts of leaves,- at a very
great diflance from one another, and fupported by a flem,
which, after floating on the water, lofes itfelf infenfibly in
the earth, in much the fame manner as the potamogetons,
the menyanthes, and even the leaves of the water-lily.
PANICULA, (diminutive from panus — Feflus; the woof
wound on the quill in the fhuttle) a mode of flowering, in
which, according to Linnaeus, the trustifications are dif-
pcrfed upon footfialks varioufly fubdivided. It is, in faSt,
a fort of branching or diflfufed fpike, compofed of a num-
ber of fmall fpikes that are attached along a common foot-
ftalk. The term is exemplified in oats, panic-grafs, and
many other plants.
When the partial foot-flalks diverge, and the fructifica-
tions hang loofe, the panicle is properly faid to be diffufe,
( panicula diffufa j as in poa aquatica, and alpina : when the
foot-flalks approach, the panicle becomes flraight and nar-
row, f panicula c oar Bat a) as i nfejtuca ovina and air a cceruka.
PAPILIONACEUS flos, ( papilio , a butterfly) a butter-
fly fhaped flower. LV/f Corolla.
Papi LLON acei, the name of two clafifes in Tournefort’s
and Pontedera’s methods, confiding of herbs and trees with
hptterfly-fhapcd flowers. Thefe plants, which are the legu-
l\ 2 minofae
PAP
minor* of Ray, and form a true natural affemblage, con-
tinue the thirty-fecond order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a
Natural Method under the fame title, which indeed is ex-
prediveof their moll llriking chara&er.
Lifi of the Genera contained in this Natural Order.
; ' SECTION I.
Butterfiy-Jhaped Flowers, having the Filaments of the Stamina
dijlinft.
Linnaean Genera. Englijh Names.
Anagyris , — — Stinking bean trefoil.
Sophora.
SECTION II.
Butterfiy-Jhaped Flowers with One Set of united Filaments.
A hr us.
—
—
Wild liquorice.
Amorpha , •
—
—
Ballard Indigo.
Anthyllis,
—
——
Kidney-vetch, or ladies fin-
ger.
Arachis ,
—
t ■
Earth or ground-nut,
Afpalathus,
Borbonia.
—
—
African broom.
Crotalaria ,
—
—
Rattle-wort.
Ehenus,
—
—
Ebony of Crete.
Erythrina,
—
—
Coral tree.
Genifia,
—
• — '
Single- feeded. broom, Dyer's
broom.
Lupinus ,
Nijjblia.
—
—
Lupine.
Vnmis,
_
—
Anonis, or reft-harrow.
Pfcidia,
Ptcrocarpns.
—
— •
Dog-wood tree.
Spartiurn,
—
—
Broom.
Llex,
- T”~
Furze, whins.
SECTION
PAP
SECTION III.
Butterfly -Jhaped FI avers with two Sets of united Filaments .
Aefchynomenc , — —
AJlragalus , — —
/
Biferrula.
Cicer, — —
Cliioria.
Colutea, — —
Coronilla , — —
tytifus, — —
Dolichos .
Ervum, — —
Galega, — —
Geoffraea.
Glycine , — —
Glycyrrhiza, — —
Hedyfarum , — . —
Hippocrepis , — —
, Indig of era, — —
Lathyrus, — . —
Lotus, — —
Medicago , — - —
Ornithopus , — —
Orobus, - —
Pbaca, — —
PhaJ coins, — —
Pfum, — - —
Pforalea.
Robin ia, — —
Scorpiurus , — —
Tr folium, •— —
Trigone l la, , — —
Vicitt, — — .
l
Ballard- fen fitive- plant.
Liquorice vetch, or milk
vetch, goat's-thorn,
Chich pea.
Bladder-fenna.
Jointed-podded cohitea.
Laburnum, bafe tree-trefoil.
Lentil. .
Goat’s-rue.
Carolina kidney-bean tree.
Liquorice.
French honey-fuckle.
Horfe-lhoe vetch.
Indigo.
Chichling vetch, everlafting
pea.
Bird’s-foot trefoil.
Medic, fnail and moon-trefoil,
Lucern.
Bird’s-foot.
Bitter vetch.
Ballard milk- vetch.
Kidney-bean, or French-
bean.
Pea.
Falfe acacia.
Caterpillars.
Trefoil.
Fenugreek.
Vetchj beau-
3 Habit
PAP
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
Thefe plants, otherwife called leguminous, from the feed-
velfel, which is that fort termed a leguvien, arc very
different both in fize and duration ; fome of them being
herbaceous, and thofe either annual or perennial ; others,
woody vegetables of the fhrub and tree kind, a few of which
rife to the height of feventy feet, and upwards. The her-
baceous plants of this order generally climb, for being weak,
and, as it w'ere, helplefs of themfelves, indulgent Nature has
either provided them with tendrils, and even {harp-pointed
hooks at their extremities, to fallen upon the neighbouring
trees or rocks, or endued the flalks with a faculty of twill-
ing themfelves, for the purpofe of fupport, around the
bodies in their neighbourhood.
The pea, vetch, and kidnev-bean, afford familiar exam-
ples of the appearances in queftion. The fhrubs and trees
of this natural family are mollly armed with ftrong fpines.
The Roots are very long, and furnifhed with fibres:
fome genera have flelhy tubercles, placed at proper inter-
vals along the fibres.
The Stems are cylindric, as are likewife the young
branches, which are placed alternately : thofe which climb
t.will themfelves from right to left, in a direftion oppofite to
the apparent diurnal motion of the fun.
The bark of the large trees is extremely thick, and wrin-
kled, fo as to refemble a net with long methes ; the wood is
very hard in the middle, and commonly colouied, or veined ;
the alburnum is lefshard, and generally of a yellow colour. •
The Buds are hemifpherical, without fcales, and pro-
ceed from the branches horizontally, a little above the angle
which they form with the leaves.
The Leaves are alternate, and of different forms, being
either fimple, finger-fhaped, or winged. This laff form is
very common, '['he lobes or leffer leaves are entire, and
fometimcs placed in pairs, as in wild liquorice, *vetch, lathv-
rus, and ground nut ; but moft commonly, the winged-leaf
is
f* A P
is terminated by an odd lobe ; as in colutea, liquorice, goat's
rue, fenugreek, ladies finger, medicago, allragalus, indigo,
and coronilla. The winged or pinnated leaves of this order
have a daily or periodical motion depending upon the pro-
grefs of the fun in his diurnal courfe. See the article Mo-
tus, where the motion alluded to is particularly explained.
The common foot-ftalk of the winged and other compound
leaves is marked on the upper furface with a cavity, or fur-
row, which runs through its whole length. In the vetch,
Iathyrus, and fome others, the foot-ftalk is terminated by a
pretty long branching tendril, inftead of the odd lobe, which
in thefe plants is wanting; although, from the alternate dif-
pofition of the lefter leaves along the foot-ftalk, an abrupt
termination does not appear natural.
Apkaca, a fpecies of Iathyrus, has no leaves ; that want
being fupplied by a fimple tendril, which proceeds' at each
joint from the ftem, betwixt two large Jiipula that are
oppofite, and united, fo as to form the appearance of a
fingle leaf penetrated Ty the ftalk. The furface of the leaves
of fome fpecies of pforale3 is covered with pellucid glandu-
lar knobs, which, when held up to the light, appear like fo
many minute points, or holes : the calyx is fttfddcd in like
manner.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite, and proceed either
from the wings of the leaves, as in furze, goat’s-rue, liquo-
rice, lupine, colutea, kidney-bean, goat’s thorn, a fpecies
of aftragalus, biferrula , medicago, and glycine; or front
the extremity of the branches, as in ebony of Crete, falfe
acacia, trefoil, lotus, African broom, crotalaria, and coral-
tree. In a fpecies of goat’s rue of Senegal, mentioned by
M. Adanfon, the fpike of flowers proceeds not front the
angle of the leaves, but from the oppofite fide of the
branches, as in the rough-leaved plants.
1 he Calyx is a perlanthium of one leaf, bell-fitaped,
bunching out at the bottom, and cut on its brim or margin
into five irregular divifions, or teeth, the fowermoft of
which, being the odd one, is longer than the reft ; the other
four Hand in pairs, of which the uppermoft is fhorteft, and
i-1 * Hands
PAP
Khnds fartheft afunder. The bottom of the calyx is moifteru
ed with a fweet liquor like honey, fo may be deemed the
ncEiarium of thefe plants.
Some fpecies of kidney-bean have a fecond calyx without
the oilier, that is round, and confifts of two leaves.
- I he Petals ate four or five in number, very irregular,
and fiom their figure and pofition, bear an obvious refem-
blance, in mod of the genera, to a butterfly expanding its
wings for flight. Thefe petals have been charafterized by
diftina names .• the upper one, which is commonly the
large ft, is termed the ftandard, (• vexillum ); the two fide
petals, the wings, {ala) ; and the lowermoft, which is
generally united at top, and divided at bottom, the keel,
( carina ). Vide Corolla.
In baftaid indigo, the flower is furnifhed with the upper
petal, or ftandard, only ; a circumftance which effentially
diftmguifhes the genus in queftion. In kidney-bean, the
keel, involving the parts of generation, is fpirally twifted,
in a dire&ion oppofite to the fun ; by which charafter this
genus is diftinguifhed from dolichos, to which it is otherwife
very nearly allied. In Ethiopian bladder- fenna, the ftandard
is fhorter than the keel ; the wings much fhoi ter than the
ftandard. Some fpecies of trefoil have only one petal, the
ftandard, wings, and keel, being conjoined. In fenugreek,
the keel is very fmall, and the ftandard and wings are fo fitu-
ated, as to form the appearance of a regular flower with
three petals; whence the name Jrigonclla, that is, three-
cornered flow'er, which has been given to this genus. Ebony
of Crete has no wings to its flowers. In coral-tree, both
wings and keel are very fhort, fo that the butterfly-lhape is
not very confpicuous in the flowers.
The flowers fall off' very early in moft of thefe plants,
except in the trefoils with one petal, and fome fpecies of
ladies finger, in which they are permanent. That they may
fometimes, though very rarely, be rendered double by
culture, lufhy, or Spamfh broom, the Jpartium junccuvi -of
Linnaeus, is fufficient evidence.
i he Stamina are generally ten in mimbef. Thefe
are
PAP
are either totally /iiftinct, as in pi ints of the firffc fe&ion, or
united by the filaments into one or two bundles involving
the feed-bud, as in thofe of the fecond and third. In the
latter cafe, where there are two fets of united filaments, one
of the fets is compqfed of nine (lamina, which are united
into a crooked cylinder that is cleft on one fide through its
whole length. Along this cleft lies the tenth filament, or
flamen, which conflitutes the fecond fet, and is often fo
clofely attached to the large bundle, that it cannot be fepa-
rated without fome difficulty.
Upon the union of the (lamina juft mentioned is found-
ed the fyftematic or artificial chara£ler o( the clafs Dia-
dclphia in the Sexual Method : to which clafs, all the
plants of this order, except thofe of the firft feftion, are
referred. Yet with what propriety can the plants of the
fecond feflion, which confelfedly have but one fet of united
filaments, or, at leaft, whofe filaments are all connefted
at the bafe, be arranged under a clafs whofe charafleriftic,
as exprefted in the title, is to have two diftinft fets, or bro-
therhoods, (fo the term imports) of (lamina fo united ? Their
ftrufdure would much more naturally determine them to a
place in the immediately preceding clafs, Monadelphia,
which, indeed, is expreffive of the very circumftance in
their ftru&ure alluded to. The plants even of the third
feftion, though they come nearer to the defcription expreffed
in the title, are very rarely to be difcovered, or dif-
tinguiffied by that circumftance. In ffiort, the more accu-
rately we examine the ftrublure of the butterfly-fhaped
(lowers, the more reafon (hall we find to be dilTatisfied with
the arbitrary manner in which Linnaeus has arranged them,
and to prefer the more natural and eafy arrangements from
the figure of the (lower, and llnuflure of the fruit.
The anthers are (mall, round, marked with four lonoL
o
tudinal furrows, and (lightly attached to the filaments. In
lupine, the anthers are alternately round and oblong.
The Seed-bud is (ingle, placed upon the receptacle of
the flower, oblong, cylindrical, (lightly compreffed, of the
length of the cylinder oi the united (lamina by which it is
■ . . involved;
PAP
involved ; arid fometimes, as i„ coral-tree, elevated bv a
ender ioot-ftalk, which ifTues from the centre of the
calyx.
I he Style is fmgle, {lender, and generally crooked.
In pea, the ftyle is hairy, three-cornered, and keel-fhaped
above; by which lalf cireiiraftance chiefly, that genu* is
diflingmfhed from lathy, us, in which the ftyle is plain.
The Stigma, or fummit of the ftyle, is generally cover-
ed with a beautiful down, and placed immediately unde*
the anthers , or tops of the ftamina.
The Seed-vessel in this order, is that fort of pod.
termed a legumen, which is of an oblong figure, more of
lefs compreft, with two valves, and one, two, or more
cavities; thefe cavities are often feparated, when ripe, by
a fort of joints, which are confpicuous in the pods of coro-
mlla, French honey-fuckle, horfe-fhoe vetch, bird’s foot,
baftai d-fenfitive-plant, and fcorpiurus : in the latter, the
pods rarely open of themfelves ; hut as they are more eafily
feparated crofs-wife by the joints than length- wife by the
futures, it would feem that they have been naturally deftined
to fplit in that manner. In pterocarpus the pod is compreffed,
Of a leafy fubftance, marked with veins on the fides, and
woody within j in lupine, and ground-nut, it is of a
fubftance like leather; in ladies finger it is roundifh,
and placed within the permanent calyx; in borhonia it
is pointed, and terminated with a fpine; in furze, it is
turgid, and almoft furrounded by the calyx ; in anonis it
is of the figure of a rhombus ; in bfadder-fenna it ,s large,
inflated like a bladder, membranaceous, tranfparent, and
opens at the bafe of the upper future ; in hippocrepis it is
fhaped like a horfe-fhoe ; in hedyfarnm clypeatum it is round
like a fhield ; in medic, or lucern, it refemhles, a fnail's
{hell,' or ram’s horn.
The Seeds are generally few in number, round, fmooth,
and flefiiy. Jointed pods have generally a fingle feed in each
ai ticiiiation. The feeds are ail fa-llencd along one future,
and not alternately to both, as in the other fpecies of pod
termed Jtliqna.
1 he plants ol this family are, in general, mucilaginous.
From
PAP
From the inner bark of moil of them flows, either naturally,
or by incifion, a clammy liquor, which dries and hardens
like gum; the juice of fome others, as liquorice, and gly-
cine, is fweet like fugar.
Some of thefe plants are bitter to the tafle, purgative, or
emetic, and even mortal. A fpecics of ealtern aftragalus
with goat’s rue leaves, is Paid to be remarkably cauftic, and
to burn the tongue exceflively when chewed. In general,
however, thefe plants are foft and clammy.
Common dyer’s broom has the fcetid naufeous fmell of
the elder-tree.
With refpeft to their virtues, the plants of this order are
highly emollient ; fome of them too are vulnerary and aftrin-
gent ; the root of anonis, or reft-harrow, is diuretic.
The leaves of thefe plants, particularly thofe of trefoil*
lucern, vetch, lotus, lathyrus, French honey-fuckle or
faint-foin, and fenugreek, afford excellent pafture for
cattle; the feeds, which are ineally and flatulent, are u fed
in food both for men, and quadrupeds of the tame kind.
The chief of the efculent feeds are thofe of the pea, bean,,
vetch, kidney-bean, chich-pea, and lentil. Externally
thefe plants are applied to inflammatory tumours which tend
to fupptiration. Dyer’s broom is Paid to be of Life in drop-
fies. From the young fhoots of amorpha , and a fpecies of
fophora , the inhabitants of North America formerly pre-
pared a coarfe fort of Indigo, before the introduction of
the true-indigo plant ; for which reafon the title of baftard-
Indigo is given to the former genus.
The branches of genijla tinfforia are ufed by dyers to give
a yellow coloui, whence the fcientific and Englilh names of
this fpecres.
The feeds of white lupine are fomctimes ufed in medicine ;
they are bitter and difagreeable to the tafle, but open, re-
folve, and clcanfe. An ointment made of the powder of
• the feeds, juice of lemons, and all urn, is efteemed an ex-
cellent cofrrtetic.
Prickly anonis, or reft-harrow, overfpreads the eaftern
countries, particularly Egypt and Paleftine, in fuch abun-
dance, that Dr. HafTelquift concludes it to be one of thofe
pernicious
/
PAP
pernicious cumber/ome plants, whicfi are fo frequently
mentioned in Scripture by the name of thorns.
Put pic red-harrow without thorns, the ononis twits of
Linnajus, which grows plentifully on the borders of fields
and barren pallures in Lngland, emits a vifcid kind of moil-
ture that fmells rank like a goat.
Dogwood-tree, the pifcidia erythrina of Linnaeus, which
grows plentifully in the W ell-Indies, is chiefly noted for
the quality faid to be pofiefled by its bark, of intoxicating
fifh, which, by that means, become an eafy prey to thofe
who employ this flratagem againfl them. When any number
of gentlemen have an inclination to divert themfelves with
filhing, or more properly fpeaking, with filh-hunting, they
fend each t^f them a negro {lave to the woods, in order to
fetch fome of the bark of the dogwood-tree. This bark is
next morning pounded very fmall with ilones, put into old
facks, carried into rocky parts of the fea, flceped till
thoroughly foaked with falt-waterr and then well fqueezed
by the negroes to exprefs the juice, which immediately
colours the fea with a reddilh hue, and being of a poifonous
nature will, in an hour’s time, make the fifhes, fuch a3
groopers, rock-filh, old wives, welchmen, &c. fo intox-
icated, as to fwim on the furface of the water, quite
heedlefs ot the danger. The gentlemen then fend in
their negroes, who purfue,. both fwimming and diving, the
poor inebriated fifhes, till they catch them with their hands ;
their mailers, mean time, Handing by, on high rocks, to
fee the palfime.
It is remarkable, that though this poifon kills millions of
the fmall try, it has never been known to impart any bad
quality to the fifh, which have been caught in confequence
of the intoxication.
7 he wood ot this tree, although pretty hard, is only fit
for fuel ; and even for this purpofe, the negroes very feldoin,
if ever, employ it, on account of its fingular quality juft
mentioned. 7 he bark is rough, brown, and thick ; the
tree lends forth a eonfiderable number of branches, and is
well cloatlied with leaves, which referable thofe of the pea,
are
i.
PAP
*re thick, cottony, and of a deep green. The bark ufed
tor the above-mentioned purpofe is chiefly that of the roots.
See Labat, Voyage aux Illes de 1’Amerique ; and Smith’s
Natural Hiftory of Nevis.
The branches or (talks of common broom being dried
in the fun, and treated like hemp, produce threads which
may be fpun, and worked into a coarfe linen cloth. In the
country they are made into befoms, thence denominated
brooms ; from this its familiar ufe, Linnxus has derived the
trivial name of this fpecies, and called it fparlium fcoparium,
fweeping-broom.
The wood of a Weft-Indian fpecies of broom, the /par .
tlurn arborefeens of Miller, frequently known by the name
of American ebony, is of a fine greenifh-brown colour,
bard, durable, and admits of an exceeding good polifh.
M. Adanfon, in his Voyage to Senegal, mentions a new
fpecies of baftard-fenfitive-plant, which he haddound grow-
ing wild in feveral parts of that country. This plant, by
the negroes termed billeur , rifes to about ten feet "in height ;
its roots are clofely twifted ; the wood, which is lighter than
cork, is much ufed by the negroes in fifhing, and for tranf-
porting them over rivers, which, by reafon of their breadth,
render fwimming, without fuch a precaution, dangerous.
Goat’s thorn, affirmed by Tournefort to be the plant which
produces gum-dragant, or tragacanth, is the aflragalus traga -
cantba of Linnaeus. It is a native of the Levant, and fome
maritime parts of France, where it grows to the height of
two or three feet. The branches are very woolly, and the
foot-flalks of tlte leaves end in long (harp thorns; the gum
flows both Ipontaneoully, and by incilion, from the roots
and trunk, and is generally of a light fubflance, white,
fliining, and curled. It is ell^emed highly refrdhing.
1 he leaves and feeds of common bladder-fenna have i
purgative quality, on which account they are frequently
fubflituted for letina by the peafants of Languedoc, Pro-
vence, and Italy, where the plant naturally grows. The
leaves have an acrid naufeous talle.
The leaves of fcorpion fennn, the corotiilla cmcrus o f Lin-
nteus,
PAP
mens, are fikewife eftecmed laxative, and employed by the
European peafants for the fame purpofe as tiiofe of the plant
above mentioned. A dye is procured, by fermentation,
from the leaves, like that of Indigo.
The common laburnum, the cytfui laburnum of Linnams
the cytifus alpinus latifolius, fiore racemofo penduh , of Ray and
Tournefort, grows naturally on the Alps and the mountains
of Dauphiny. It grows to the fize of a pretty large tree,
with a ftcaight ftem ; the bark is of a greenilh colour ; the
wood very, hard, and when finely polifhed bears a great re.
fcmblance to green ebony ; whence the plant is generally
known in France by the name of ebony of the Alps. It is
frequently u fed on the continent, and in the highlands- of
Scotland, lor making different kinds of houfehold furniture,
as chairs, tables, and bedfteads, which are faid to equal the
fineff manhogany in beauty.
• A fpecies ol cytifus , termed by Linnaeus, cytifus cajan, is
known m the Weft-Indies, where it naturally grows, by
the name ol pigeon-pea, from the feeds being the common
food of thole birds in that part of the world. The leaves
are very foft, and covered with a white hoary meallinefs on
the under furface. The flowers which grow in clufters, are
ol a yellow colour, and fucceeded by pods, containino-
three, four, or five roundilh feeds, or peas, feparated from
one another by {lender tranfverfe partitions. Thefe deeds,
befides the ufe juft mentioned, are boiled and eaten, whe-
ther green or dry, and being ol a binding quality, afford a
very whole' fame lood, efpecially during the wet feafon,
when dyfenteries are fo fiequent. The wood of the fame
plant is ufed for fuel.
I he pods of dolichos urcns, a twilling or climbing plant,
are thickly covered with very fine fhort bullies, or ft iff
hairs, which fting worfe than nettles ; hence the title of
Qow-4ch vine, by which this fcandent plant is generally
known, in the Weft-Indies. The leaves are downy and
g lifter on their under furface. The feeds arc black, and
furnifhed with an eye like thole of the beau.
The roots ol liquorice, the only part ufed in medicine,
y are
r
PAP
art peftoral, and of great ufe in difiempers of the lungs:,
gs coughs, catarrhs, fliortnefs of breath, and hoarfenefs.
Its chief place of growth with us is about Pontefraft in
Yorkfhire, and Work fop in Nottinghamfiiire, where it is
propagated for fale. Black liquorice is the infpiffated juice
of the root of the liquorice plants. The belt preparation
of this kind is that which is brought from Catalonia in
Spain.
From the hedyfarum alhagi of Linnteus, which grows
plentifully in Syria and the ealtein countri s, flows abun-
dantly a juice, which when condenfcd upon the plant, is
gathered by the inhabitants, and fent to Europe by the name
of Perfian manna.
From the leaves and fmall branches of the indigofera iindio-
■ria of Linnaeus, is prepared that excellent dye, known by
the name of indigo. The leaves, when ready for this pur-
pofe, are cut down, and . thrown into large vats of water,
where they are fuR'ered to fteep till a violent fermentation
rnfucs, and the water acquiring heat, boils upon every fide
of the infufed leaves, and infenfibly becomes ol a violet
colour. When thefe e Hefts, which generally happen after
fixteen or eighteen hours infufion, are obferved, the water
is conveyed, by means of cocks at the bottom of the vat, into
another veffel, of the nature of a churn, where it is worked,
by a negro, with great violence, till the water abounds with
a lather, and the falts, and other parts of the fubftance of
the plant are fufficiently united. . It is then allowed to fettle,
arid the water, which becomes as clear as ar firR, is drawn off
by means of cocks, leaving at the bottom of the vefTel, a
fediment or fascula, like the lees of wine, which, when
dried, is the valuable dye knovyn by .the name of indigo.
The negroes on the coaR of Guinea, gather the leaves of
the indigo plant at any time of the year, and having pounded
them in a mortar, make the pafle up into loaves, which they
preferve dry. . When they- \yant. to make, ufe of . them in dy-
ing, they dilfolve them in a kind of lee,, made of the allies of
an unff nous plant, w.hich grows, in their fields, the porlulacq
marina, latifolia of Pi annex, by the negroes called theme.
Tin's
PAP
This lee imbibes a tin&ure of the indigo, into which they
dip their linen cold, as often as they think neceflary,
according to the deepnefs of the colour required.
The roots of lathyrus arvenjis repens tuber of us of Bauhin are
edeemedan excellent food by the Siberians. They are com-
pofed of feveral fmail round bulbs, or knobs ; whence the
plant is termed by Dodonaeus, terra: glcmdcs, or earth-nuts.
In Holland hkewife they are fold in the markets, and ufed
for food.
M. Adanfon, in his Voyage to Senegal, mentions a legu-
minous tree, termed farobier by the negroes, who are ex-
tremely fond of its pods. The wood is bard and weighty.
The pod, or hufk, is like that of a French bean, but above
a foot in length, and contains a black flat feed, enveloped
in a yellow farinaceous fubftaiice, which frequently ferves
them for fuftenance, efpecially on a journey. It is very
nourifhing, fays Adanfon, and talfes like the bell ginger-bread
cake. \
Of the wood of the fhrubbv medic, which is fuppofed to
be the cyti/us of Virgil, the Turks make handles to their
fab res .
The knobs of the root of Englifh wild-wood, or bitter
vetch, talle very like liquorice, and are ufed in the high-
lands of Scotland for the fame di borders of the bread, in
which liquorice is proper. The fame knobs tempered with
tvater are laid to be of lingular efficacy in enabling thole
who ufe it to fudaiti hunger and third for a very conlidcrable
time.
The leaves of common meadow trefoil are drying and
binding, ufef ul in fluxes, ltrangury and heat of urine. Made
into a poultice with hog’s-lard, they are reckoned good for
tumours and inflammations.
The leaves and flowers of melilot, the tr folium melilotus
officinalis of Linnaeus are ufed iu medicine. They foften,
difcufs, and eafe pain, and are frequently ordered^ in cata-
plafms againd inflammations, hard tumours, and any kind
of (welling. Melilot plader, made ot the leaves of this
herb boiled in mutton fuet, rofin, and wax, is drawing,
and
PAP
and good for green wounds, but is chiefly ufed in drefling
cf blifters.
PAPPOS.dE, (Pappus, vide infra) the name of the 11th
clafs in Chriftopher Knaut’s Method, confifting of com-
pound flowers which have their feeds crowned by a
PAPPUS, (thiftle-down — pappi volantes Lucr. Pliny
gives this name to the fenecio or groundfel, another down-
bearing plant. His words are, Erigeron a nojiris vacatur
Scnecio , al. pappus) ; — a fort of feathery or hairy crown, with
which many feeds, particularly thofe of compound flowers,
are furnilhed, for the purpofe of diflemination. A feed,
furmounted by its pappus , refembles a fhuttle-cock ; fo that
it is naturally framed for flying, and for being tranfported by
the wind to very confiderable diftances from its parent
plant; — an admirable contrivance of nature to diffeminate
her productions, and thus render common to different foils
and territories, individuals of the fame fpecies, which,
without fuch precaution, might have been confined to
one. It mull be obferved, however, that Dandelion, hawk-
weed, nipple-wort, groundfel, and many others of our moll
cumberfome weeds, are di-ffeminated in this manner.
The pappus, as was juft hinted, is either Ample like hairs,
( pappus pilcfus) as in filk cotton-tree, fucculent fwallow-
wort, colt’s-foot, groundfel, golden rod, hawk-weed, do-
ronicum, cacalia, and feveral other compound flowers ; or
branched like a feather, ( pappus plumofus) as in valerian,
dandelion, fonchus, hemp-agrimony, and cud-weed. In
fome plants, as hawk-weed, and prenanthes, the pappus
adheres immediately to the feed ; in others, as lettuce, and
crepis, it is elevated upon a foot-ftalk which connects it
with the feeds ; in the firft cafe, it is termed by Linnaeus,
pappus fejjilis ; in the fecond, pappus Jiipitatus ■, the foot-ftalk
or thread upon which it is raifed having obtained the name
of Jiipcs. Vide Stipes.
Linnaeus has, with furprizing accuracy, pointed out the
numerous varieties which obtain in this minute part of
the plant, which he generally employs as a diftin&ive cha-
M m rafter
P E D
I
rafter in difcriminatirig the different genera of Compound
flowers . Vide SYNGENESIA.
PEDICELLUS (diminutive from pcdiculus, a foot- (talk)
a partial flower-ftalk ; the proper ftalk of any fingle flower in
an aggregate or head of flowers. The principal flalk which
fupports all the flowers, is termed the1 common flower-ftalk ;
the ftalk of each partial flower, if it has one, is filled the
proper flower-ftalk, and by Linnaeus, Pedicellus,
PEDICULUS (diminutive from pcs, a foot) a foot-
ftalk ; a term ufed by the ancient botamfts, to denote the
foot-ftalks both' of flowers and leaves. Linnaeus has ex-
ploded the term, and, in its place, fubftituted two others,
petiolus, for the foot-ftalk of the leaves ; pedunculus, for the
foot -ftalk of the flowers.
PEDUNCL LUS [pes, a foot) the foot-ftalk of a flower,
Or head of flowers. Loth flower and leaf-ftalks were form-
erly ranged by Linnaeus among the trunks : of late years,
however, they have loft much of their confequence ; and
in the Iateft editions of the Syjlema Natures, are degraded to
a place among the fulcra, or parts of plants that ferve for
fupport, prote61ion, and defence.
The Pedunculus, or flower-ftalk, elevates the flower and
fruit only, without the leaves ; thf petiolus, or leaf-ftalk fup-
ports the leaves-only, without the flower, or fruit. Thus
thefe partial trunks ftand effentially diflinguifhed from each
other.
Flower-ftalks have different epithets, from the place which
they occupy on the plant. When they proceed immediately
from the root, they are termed radical, (pcdu/icuhis radicalis)
when from the Item, trunk-ftajks, (pedunculus caulinus) when
from the branch, branch-ftalks, f pedunculus rumeus ) and fo
of others.
Again, flower-ftalks fometimes terminate the ftem or
branches ; fometimes proceed from the angle formed by the
leaf and ftern, or by ther, ftem and branch. A flower-ftalk
of the former kind is termed by Linnaeus pedunculus termi-
nalis ; of the latter, pedunculus axillaris, as it is from the
axilla,
P E D
axilla , or arm-pit of the leaf or branch, that the ftalk in
queflion is protruded.
Flower-flalks, as well as flowers, are faid, in the language
of botany, to be folitary, when they grow fingly, or are pro-
duced one by one : fcattered ( pedunculi fpurft) when they
grow together in great numbers, and are produced without
any order.
T
From the number of fructifications on each foot-ftalk,
arife other epithets of the pedunculus ; fome bear one, feme
two, fome three flowers ; others an indeterminate number ;
hence the terms pedunculus uniflerus, b'florus, mulfflorus , See.
expreffive of thefe fevcral circumliances. A folitary foot-
ftalk may fupport many flowers ; whilfl a folitary flower
neceffarily implies a Angle or folitary flower-flalk.
For the different inodes in which flowers are borne and
connected on their foot-ftalks, fee the article Inflores-
CENTIA.
The flower-flalks frequently afford excellent dharaflers in
diferiminating the fpecies. Thus a fpecies of globe ama-
ranth is very accurately diftiriguifhcd by its flower-flalks be-
ing furnifhed with two leaves that are placed oppofite, and
immediately under each head of flowers.
Flower-flalks, whether of equal or unequal length, that
form an even fur face at top, are termed by Linnaeus pedv.n-
culi fujliglati. The term is exemplified in fweet-wiliiam,
and vifeous campion.
A flower-flalk is termed flaccid, [pedunculus flaccldus )
which is fo weak and feeble, as to hang down by the weight
of the flower which it fupports.
A drooping or nodding flower-flalk ( pedunculus cernuus)
is bent at the top, fo that the flower is inclined to one fide,
or towards the earth, and cannot be placed erc£t, on account
of the curvature of the flalk. fins term is exemplified in
carpejtum, droopmg-thiflle, niount.ain-fcnbious, annual fun-
flower, and the Siberian fpecies of blefled thiflle.
In fwcet-weed and oldenland'ta b flora, tRe flower-flalks
come out in pairs ; in a fpecies of balfam, they proceed by
threes from the angle of the leaves.
M m 2
In
PEN
In jambolifera, ochna and jufticia, the flower-flalks remain
on the plant after the flower and fruit are fallen.
The flower-flalks of aira flexuofa take a variety of diffe-
rent directions ; thofe of goat’s-beard, cotu/a, and molt of
the nodding flowers, thicken towards the upper extremity.
In fome fpecies of Syrian mallow, ftda , and wood-forrel,
the flower-flalks are jointed ( pedunculus articulafus feu geni-
culatus.) Thefe circumftances refpe£ling the flower-flalks,
will be found to be of lingular ufe in difcriminating the
fpecies.
PELTA, a very fhort buckler, or target ; — by this name
Linnaeus characterizes the flower or flat fructification of
the genus Lichen or liver wort, which, in molt of its
fpecies, is glued to the edges of the leaves.
PENTAFORA (ttevte, five ; and fores , a door) the name
of a clafs in Camellus’s Method, confifting of plants with
feed-veffels which have five external openings or valves.
It is exemplified in flax, lime-tree, Syrian mallow, and
filk -cotton tree.
PENTANDRIA (-jtevte, five ; and dvrg, a man or huf-
bandj the name of the fifth clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual
Method, confifting of plants which have hermaphrodite
flowers with five Itamina or male organs.
The orders in this numerous clafs of plants are fix ; and,
like thofe of the other plain or numeral claffes, are found-
ed upon the number of ftyles, or female organs.
Night-fhade, water-leaf, loofc-ftnfe, marvel of Peru,
fow-bread, ivy, vine, and the rough-leaved plants, have one
ftyle.
Elm, dog’s-bane, fwallow-wort, gentian, and the umbel-
liferous plants have two ftyles. — Sumach, viburnum, tama-
rifk, bladder-nut, and chickweed, have three ftyles.
Grafs of Parnaflus and evolvulus have four ftyles.
Berry-bearing angelica, flax and thrift, have five ftyles.
Moufe-tail has many ftyles.
PENTANGI/E (ttevte, five; and dyfjs, a veflel) the
name of the fixteenth clafs in Boerhaave’s Method, confift-
ing of plants with five capfules, or a fingle feed-veffel divid-
ed
PER
cd internally into five cells. It is exemplified in rue, bean-
caper, kalmia, ledum, -dwarf rofe-bay, ftrawberry-tree,
winter-green, and columbine. „
PENTAPETALI (7T£vt£, five; and imaXov, a petal or
flower-leaf) the name of two claflesin Rivinus’s Method; con-
fifling of plants whofe flowers have five petals, which, in their
form, are either regulaf or irregular. The regular flower of
five petals is exemplified in flax, berry-bearing angelica,
rock-rofe, pseony, mallow, marfh-mallow, and ranunculus ;
the irregular, in aconite, and lark-fpur.
PERFECTUS fios, a perfe£l flower ; a term of Ray,
Rivinus, Kramer, and Pontedera, correfponding to the
fetalodes of Tournefort, and expreflive of the prefence of
the petals, which, by thofe authors, were deemed the
eflential part of every flower. In the Sexual Method, the
petals are confidered only as the inner cover of the flower,
which is folely conftituted by the prefence of the ftamina and
fligma, the fuppofed male and female organs of generation,
PERFORATE fperforari, to be pierced through) the
name of an order in the former editions of Linnaeus’s
Fragments of a Natural Method, confifting of plants, whofe
leaves have many pellucid fpots in them, which, when held
up againfl the light, appear like fo many minute dots or
points.
The genera in this order were four, St. John’s-wort,
eifcyrum, rock-rofe, and true orpine (telephium). The
three former are now removed to the order Rotacea: , the latter
to Mifcellanea.
PERIANTFffUM (tt^ i, around, and avS®-, the flower)
the flower-cup properly fo called ; the moll common fpe.
cies of calyx, placed immediately under the flower, which
is contained in it as in a cup.
The flower-cup, like the other parts of fruftification,
differs in point of number, figure, proportion, and fitua-
tion. •
Vaillant eftablifhed for an axiom that in complete flowers*
when the calyx is of fevcral pieces, the flower, or corolla,
is likewife of fevcral pieces, & c contra. That this rule is
m in 3 erroneous,
PER
erroneous, appears from the pea-bloom flowers, and thole
of the mallow tribe, in which the calyx confifts of one leaf,
and ithe petals are five in number. On the other band, it
may be affiiraed with certainty, that when the flower confifls
of one petal, the calyx always confifts of one leaf, although
the divifions may be fo deep as,to induce an opinion, upon
a fijperficial view, that it is compofed of feveral diftinfit
leaves. Thus in the rough leaved plants, the lipped and
jnafqued flowers, and forrie other natural families, the calyx,
although deeply divided, is determined to be of one piece,
as the divifions, when the calyx is detached from the flower,
adhere clofely together, and do not refolve themfelves into
diftina leave?, as they doubtlefs would, if divided to the
bale.
The number of fegments in a flower-cup of one piece is
generally equal to the number of petals, if the flower con.
lifts of jnore petals than one ; or to the number of divifions
of the fingle petal, it the flower contains no more. It may
here be proper to obferve that a flower-cup confifting o{
many leaves is rarely found to have its leaves cut into feg-
ments ; the above rule therefore refpe&s only fuch flower- '
cups as have one leaf.
Some flowers, as tulip, crown imperial, and moll of the
other liliaceous plants, want the flower-cup. In moft plants
it is fingle. In movina, fidp-faddle flower, and fome genera
of the mallow tribe, double. Vide Co lumni ferje.
With refpeft to the number of leaves of which it is
compofed, the flower-cup is either of one leaf (perian-
thium monophyllum) as in primrofe and thorn-apple of
two leaves, as in poppy, globe-amaranth, cock’s-comb,
hypecoum, claytonia, and fumatory ; of three, as in dock,
arrowheaded-grafs, tulip-tree, magnolia, cuftard-apple, and
Virginian fpider-wort ; of four, as in French willow, heath,
water-lily, barren- wort, and the crofs-fhaped flowers, the
tetradynamia of Linnaeus ; of five, as in ranunculus, rock.,
rofe, adonis, jacquinia, mountain knot-grafs, wild orach,
golden-rod tree, glafs-wort, beet, moufe-tail, flax, and the
greater number of flowers with more petals than one ; of
8 1 fix,
PER
fix, as in lion’s-leaf, berberry, hillla, fagellaria and tc tra-
cer a : of feven, as in winter-green, ( trientahs ) of eight, as
in mi mu fops and diapevjia ; orof ten, as in galax.
A flower-cup of one leaf is either .undivided, (periasw
thium integrum) as in genipa and olax ; cut into two feg-
ments (perianthium bifidum) as in tuberous mofchatel, pur-
fiane, and mammee ; into three, as in burmannia and clif-
fortia ; into four, as in ladies bed-ftraw, and elephant’s
head ; into five, as in tobacco, and the greater number of
flowers that have a calyx of one leaf ; into fix, as in ginora ;
into eight, as in tormentil ; into ten, as in cinquefoil, and
herb-bennet; or into twelve, as in purple loofe-ftrife and
water-purflane. •
With refpeft to figure, it may be obferved, in general,
that the calyx fpreads lefs than the petals ; an ereft pofition
being more fuitable to its office, which is to prop and con-
tain the flower. In cucubalus, the flower-cup is round
like a globe ; in vifeous campion it is club-ffiaped ; in fwal-
low-wort, it is turned backwards.
The leaves or divifions of the flower-cup are either equal,
as in molt plants ; or unequal, as in rock-rofe, tormentil
and cinquefoil ; in the two lalt of which examples, all the
divifions of the flower-cup are alternately greater and lefs ;
in rock-rofe, two of the five leaves of which the calyx con-
fifls, are alternately lefs than the other three.
The margin of the cup in mofl plants is entire ; in a fpe-
cics of St. John’s wort it is fawed, or indented (perianthium
ferratum) ; and in fome fpecies of centaury it is fringed like
an eye-lafli (perianthium cihatum).
The apex or lip of the flower-cup is fometimes fbarp,
as in primrofe and henbane ; or blunt, as in water-lily and
mangoflan. In vervain the calyx is cut into five indent-
ments, four of which are fharp, and the fifth, being blunt,
looks as if lopped or bit off.
\\ ith refpeft to proportion, the calyx is cither fhorter
than the corolla, as in moll plants ; equal to it in length, as
in a fpecies of ceraflium ; or longer, as in Jagina agro/ieriwia,
and a fpecies of calve’s fnout,
Mm 4
When
?ER
When the flower-cup includes the ftamina and not the
feed-bud, as happens in French-willow, and all the other
flowers winch have their feed-bud placed below the recep,-
tacle of the flower, it is termed the perianthium of the
flower ; when the feed-bud and not the ftamina, the peri-
anthium of the fruit ; when both ftamina and feed-bud, the
perianthium of the fru&ification, Limata, clove-tree, and
morina, have two perianthium s, which ferve very properly
to illuitrate the terms juft mentioned ; one of thefe cups is
appropriated to the flower, the other to the fruit. The peri-
anthium of the fr unification is exemplified in paeony, and
the greater number of plants.
With refpeft to compofition, the flower-cup fometimes
confifts of a number of leaves which are laid over one
another like tiles or feales, (perianthium imbricatum) as
In hawk-weed, fow-thiftle, and camellia ; fometimes of
It ales that Ipread wide, and are diffufed on all Tides, (perian-r
thium fquarrofum) as in thiftle, and flea-bane, in which
the icajes are not clofely laid upon one another, as in hawk-
weed, but diverge o;i every fide. In pink, tick-feeded fun-
flower, water hemp-agrimony and ballard hawk-weed, the
bafe of the flower-cup, which is fimple, is furrounded ex-
ternally by a feries of diftinft leaves, lhorter than its own.
Tins fort of flower-cup Linnaeus terms calyx auftus, an in-
crealed or augmented calyx ; V aillant had termed it, with
equal propriety, calyx calyculatus ; that is, a flower-cup fur-
nilhed with a lefler flower-cup.
With refpeft to duration, the fthwer-cup either falls off
at the firft opening ot the flower, (perianthium caducum) as
in poppy and barren-wort ; with the flower, that is, the
the petals, ftamina, and ftyle, (perianthium deciduum) as
in beruerry, and the crofs-fhaped flowers ; or continues till
the fruit has attained maturity (perianthium perfiftens) as in
the lipped and mafqued flowers, and feveral others.
Laltly, a flower-cup is proper to one flower, as in all the
plants with fimple flowers ; or common to many, as in fca-
bious and the compound flowers.
PERICARDIUM (iregi, round ; and xagTr©-, fruit) the
feed-
PER
feed- ve (Tel ; an entrail of the plant, big with feeds, which
it diicharges when ripe. The feed-veflel is, in faft, the
developed feed-bud, and may very properly be compared t6
the fecundated ovary in animals ; for it does not exift till
after the fertilizing of the feeds by the male duff, and the
confequent fall of the flower. All plants, however, are
not furnifhcd with a feed-veflel ; in fuch as are deprived of
it, the receptacle or calyx performs its funftions, by in-
clofing the feeds as in a matrix, and accompanying them
to perfeft maturity. This is particularly the cafe with the
rough-leaved plants, and thofe of the firft order of the clafit
Didpwmia ol Linnaeus. Vide AsperifolJjE, et Verti-
cil LATiE.
The different fpecies of fericarpium enumerated by
Einnaeus are as follows ;
I. Capfula,
II. Siliqua.
III. Legumen.
IV. Folliculus, — Formerly concepTaculswi.
V. Drupa.
VI. Pomum, — — Fruthis carnofus of others*
, VII. Bacca.
VIII. Strobilus, — =■ — Conus of Tournefort,
Each of thefe terms is explained in its proper place.
Although the feed-veflel, like the other parts of fruflifi-
£ation, is commonly employed to difcriminate the geneTa
only ; yet fuch flriking circumftances in its ftrufture as, for
want of uniformity, cannot enter into the generic difference,
are frequently ufed, with elegance, to dirtinguifh the fpecies.
Thus the inflated pod of fumaria vcficaria \ the top-fhaped
fruit of the pear ; the twilled feed-veflel of a fpecies of mea-
dow-rue, fome fpecies of fcrew-trce and meadow-fweet ; the
prickly fruit of caltrops, and fuch like characters, which
do not run through a whole genus, afford very certain marks
of diftinCiion in determining the fpecies, and ought to be em-
ployed without referve.
PERSISTENS
PER
PERSISTENS ( perjifio , to continue}— Permanent This
term is expreffive of the third and longeft ftage of duration
m plants, and, l.ke the other terms of duration (caducus
and deciduus) admits of different fignifications, according
to the part of the plant to which it is applied. Leaves are
faid to be permanent which remain till the fruit is ripe. Sti-
pules are permanent which continue on the plant after the
fall of the other leaves ; and this epithet is applied to fuch
perianths, or flower-cups, as inclofe the naked feeds, and,
fupplying the place of a pericarpium , accompany them fa
maturity. This laft is the moft common ufe of the term iij
Botanical language, and it is exemplified m the afperifolia ,
or rough-leaved plants of Ray, and in thofe of the order
gymnofpermia of the clafs didynamia of Linnaeus. Vide
Caducus ^/Deciduus.
PERSONATUS fios, ( perform , a mafque) a mafqued
flower; a flower with an irregular petal, refembling the
head or fnout of an animal. Vide RlNGENS JJas.
The mafqued flowers conflitute part of a clafs in Tourne-
fort’s Method, by the name of fores tubulati , perfonati ,
which partly correfpond to the didynamia angiofpermia of the
Sexual Method.
Person at/E, the name of the fortieth order in Lin,
naeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, confifting of a
number of plants, whofe flowers are furnifhed with an irre-
gular gaping or grinning petal, which, in figure, fomewhat
refembles the fnout of an animal.
Moft of the genera of this natural order arrange therafelves
under the clafs and order didynamia angiofpermia of the Sexual
Method. The reft, although they cannot enter int6 the arti-
ficial clafs juft mentioned, for want of the claffic charafifer,
(the inequality of the ftamina,) yet, in a natural method, which
admits of greater latitude, may be arranged with the Perfo-
natce, which they referable in their habit and general ap-
pearance, and particularly in the circumifancc expreffed in
the title. .
VJl
I
PER
Lift of the Genera contained in this Natural Order,
\
SECTION I.
Plants with jnafqued Flowers having their Stamina of an equal
length.
Linnaean Genera.
Englijh Names.
Collitfonia.
Dianthera,
—
Gratiola, ■ — •
— Hedge-hyflop.
Jujlicia, *—
Sc op aria.
— Malabar-nut.
Verbena, —
— Vervain.
Veronica, —
Speedwell.
SECTION II.
i — ' ... Vi :•
Plants with mafqued Flowers having two Jong and two fbort
Stamina.
Acanthus ,
Antirrhinum ,
Avicennia.
Barleria.
Bartfia.
peferia.
Bignonia,
Bontia,
Buchnera.
(dap r arm,
Che lone.
Citharexylon,
Clerodendrutn.
Columnea.
Cornutia.
— Bear’s breech.
— Calve’s -fnout, toad’s- flax,
fnap-dragoa.
— Trumpet-flower.
— r- Sweet-weed.
Fiddle-wood.
Craniolaria .
PER
Linnasan Genera.
Englijh Names1
Craniolaria .
Cymbaria.
Dodartia .
Duranta,
Prims.
Euphrajia ,
Eye -bright.
Gerardia.
Gefneria.
Gmelina.
Halleria ,
/
African fly — honey -fucfcle.
Laniana ,
1 —
American Viburnum.
Lathraa,
Manu/ea.
Martynia.
■
Melampyrum,
— —
Cow-wheat.
Mimulus,
-
Monkey -flower.
Obolaria .
Orobanche,
•mm
Broom-rape.
Ovieda .
Pedicularis,
9 -
Rattle-coxcomb, or Ioufe.
Tetrea.
Phryma.
t
wort.
Rhinanthits ,
— —
Elephant’s-head.
Ruellia.
Schwalbea.
Scropbularia,
— . —
Fig-wort.
Stcmodia.
N *
/
Torenia.
Tozzia.
Vandellia.
Vitex,
— r
Agnus callus, or chaile-tree.
V olkameria.
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
This order furnilhes both herbaceous and woody vege.
tables of the Ihrub and tree kind.
The
PER
The Roots are generably fibrous and branched ; in
gerardia and tozzia, they are tuberous. The roots of broom-
rape are parafitical ; that is, attach themfelves to the roots of
other plants, from which they derive their nourifnment.
The Stems and branches are cylindrical when young,
except in feme fpecies of fig-wort, in which they are
fquare. (
The Leaves are fimple, generally placed oppofite in
pairs at the bottom of the branches, but in many genera,
(land alternate towards the top. In lathrcea , cymbaria, and
Jiemodia, the leaves are placed alternate from the bottom to
the fummit of the branches. The leaves of petrea are fo
rough, that they ferve to file and polifh wood ; thofe of
broom-rape and lathraea referable feales. In hedge-hyffop
and limofella , the leaves are tranfparent, and feem marked
with dots or minute points. In halleria, they have feveral
finall prominences or knots on the under furface. In a fpe-
cies of volkameria, after the fall of the leaves, the lower
part of the foot-flalk remains attached to the branches under
the form of a thorn. The fame appearance is obferved in
the genus Tourncfortia. Vide Asperifoli^e.
Some fpecies of trumpet-flower have the common foot-
ftalk of tljeir winged leaves terminated by a tendril, with
three or five branches. In a fpecies of cornutia is ob-
ferved a ftipula or fcaie, in form of a half-moon, of the
fame fubftance with the leaves, between which it is placed.
The Flowers are univerfally hermaphrodite. They pro-
ceed either fingly, or in clutters, from the wings of the
leaves, as in American viburnum, bontia, columnea, hedge-
hyffop, and fig-wort ; or terminate the branches in a fpike,
panicle, or head, as in cornutia, clerodendrum, gmelina,
vervain, and agnus callus. In the latter they feem placed
' in whirls.
The Calyx or flower-cup is of one leaf, which is cut
into two, three, four, or five divifions that are permanent.
In trumpet-flower the calyx falls off early, and generally
refolves itfelf into five diftinft leaves. The flower-cup of
bartfia is of a beautiful-red colour at Its apex, by which
finking
/
PER
Arfting character the genus in queflion is chiefly diflinguifhecj
from eye-bright, elephant’s-head, and rattle coxcomb, to
which it otherwife feems nearly allied. The genus cymharia
Hands diftinguifhed from the other genera by the numerous
divifionsof the calyx.
The Corolla is Compofpd of one irregular petal with
two lips, refembling, as was already obferved, the head or
fnout of an animal. In toad-flax, the petal is terminated
behind by a ne&arium in form of a fpur.
The Stamina in plants of the firft feft'ion, are two or
four in number, and of an equal length; in thofe of the
fecond, they are universally four in number, two of which
are longer than the other two. In hedge-hyflTop, and fome
fpecies of vervain, the filaments are four in number, but
two of thefe only ale terminated by anthers; fo that the
numbei of perfect flamina in thefe plants is only two ; the
other two being, in the language of Linnaeus, caftrated.
The filaments likewife of vervain are generally of an un-
equal length. In dianthera , as the name obfcurely imports,
two anthers are placed upon each filament ; and in chelsne
the rudiment of a fifth filament, without the anther, is
placed within the upper pair of flamina.
The Seed-bud is Angle and placed above the receptacle
of the flower. The flyle is Angle, thread-fliaped, bent in
the direction of the flamina, and crowned with a Jiigma ,
which is generally blunt, and fometimcs divided into two.’
In American viburnum, the fummit of the flyle is hooked;
in which circumflance confills the eflential charafter of the
genus. In broom rape, and lathnza, a glandular nedlarium
is feated at the bafe of the feed-bud.
The Seed-vessel is a capfule, generally divided inter-
-nally into two cavities, and externally into the fame number
of valves. In latbraa , dianthera , jujiicia, barleria, ruellia,
and bear’s-breech, the capfule opens with an elaflic fpring.
The Seeds are numerous, and affixed to a receptacle in
the middle of the capfule.
Thefe plants poflefs nearly the fame qualities with the
lipped-flowcrs, though in a lcfs degree.
The
PER
The powder of the roots and leaves of officinal vervain,
cr an infufion of them in water, is applied with fuccefs,
both internally and externally, in dangerous ulcers, and
tumours of the vifcera, particularly thofe of the fpleeri.
Both root and leaves have a bitter and difagreeable tafle.
The plant is generally found in the neighbourhood of
dwelling-houles.
The juice of a fpecies of vervain with blue flowers,
which grows naturally in the Weft-Indies, is faid to be fo
powerful a deobflruent, that a large fpoonful taken in-
wardly, for three or four mornings in fucceffion, has greater
efficacy in bringing down the catamenia, than either the
ufe of chalybeate medicines, or any other method.
fluellin, male fpeed-well, or officinal veronica, is reckoned
among the vulnerary plants, and ufed both inwardly and out-
wardly. It is likewife peftoral. The fumes of a decoftion of
this plant in water and vinegar being received into the mouth,"
by means of a funnel, are faid to be a fovereign remedy in
fuffocations, and afthmas, occafioned by a collefcbion of
phlegm in the lungs. The herb is ufed as tea in gouty and
rheumatic diforders. The leaves have a fomewhat bitter
tafle, with little or no ftnell.
Brook-lime, the veronica beccalunga of Linnasus, is ufed
in infufion for the feurvy, and' is a principal ingredient in
mod diet-drinks for that diftemper. The herb is almoff in-
fipid to the tafte, and without fmell.
Round leaved female fluellin, the antirrhinum fpurium of
Linnaeus, is fuccefsfully ufed in fluxions and inflammations
of the eyes.
- Toad-flax, the linaria vulgaris of former botanifls, the
antirrhinum linaria of Linnaeus, is rarely ufed internally ;
externally it is of efficacy in the piles. The diddled water
of the herb is faid to be an excellent cofnetic.
. Eye-bright has been long efteemed a fpecific in diforders
of the eyes, cfpecially for dimnefs of fight, as the name
teems to import. Its internal ufe, and even the propriety of
its external application, has been of late greatly difputed.
The berries, of feveral fpecies of-camara, or American
viburnum.
\
t £ T
rirfcurnurti, which grow naturally in the Wefl-India iflands
and are known by the name of wild fage, ferve for food to
^arrows and other birds. The leaves, either boiled into a-
ctecofhon, or mtufed like tea, are an excellent fudorific.
Th.e roots of fig- wort powdered, and made into a plaftcr
with wax and foap, are faid to di/fipate cold fcrophulous
tumours m the neck. A decoftion of the leaves cures the
itch.
The leaves of water-betony, the fcrophularia aquatica of
-Linnaeus, are fometimes ufed in the form of fnuff, to pro-
mote fneezing. ’ “
Collmfmia , a native of Penfylvania, and other parts of
Lorth America, from which it was introduced into Europe
by the ingenious Mr. Bartram, is poffeffed of a peculiar
fcent, which, though agreeable, is fo very flrong, as fre-
quently to give a violent head-ach, efpecially when the
plant is abundant, and in flower. An infufion of Collinfonia
m water, taken internally, has been found efficacious in dif-
pelling the poifon occafioned by the bite of the rattle- fnake ;
nor is the outward application of the herb lefs fuccefsful in
pams of the limbs, when the parts affe&ed are rubbed with-
it. In New- York they diflinguifh this plant by the name
of horfe-wecd, becaufe the horfes eat it in fpring, before
any other herbs make their appearance.
PETALUM, (reraXov, a leaf); a petal or coloured leaf
of the flower. Vide Corolla.
PETIOLUS, (diminutive a pale, quaft pcdialus. — By Co-
lumclla it is ufed for the fruit-ffalk— “ Petioli quibus pendent
mala, ) tlie foot-flalk of the leaves ; one of the fulcra of
plants, according to Linnaeus, or parts that ferve for fup-
poit, pi ote&ion and defence. As the leaves and frufti-
fication are generally fupported by different foot-ftalks,
Linnaeus has very properly marked this diftinfiion, by
afligning to each foot-flalk a different name ; peduncular to
that of the flower ; peiiolu s to that of the leaves. In a very
few inftanccs, however, as turnera and Syrian mallow, the
fame foot-flalk fupports both flower and leaves.
The foot-flalk of the leaves is of a green colour, fome-
£ times
p I p
times cylindrical, but moil commonly furnifhed with two
diftinft furfaces, a front, and a back ; the former flat, the
latter round and convex. By this configuration, the foot-
ftalks of compound leaves are generally with accuracy dif-
tinguifhed from the young branches, with which beginners
are very apt to confound them. Vide Folium.
This part of the plant fometimes affords very elegant marks
of diflin&ion in difcriminatingthe fpecies. Thus the wing-
ed footflalks of the orange-tree, and hedyfarum triquetrum ,
fufficiently diflinguifh each from its refpettive congeners.
PILEUS, a hat or bonnet ; the orbicular horizontal ex-
panfion or upper part of a mufhroom, which covers the
fru&ification. This, from its figure, is properly enough
termed by botaniffs the hat of the mufhroom.
PILI, hairs ; one of th® fpecies of pubes or defenfive
weapons with which feveral plants are furnifhed. Vide
Publs.
PIPERIT^E [piper, pepper) the name of the fecond
order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, con-
fiffing of pepper, and a few genera which agree with it in
habit, ftru&ure, and fenfible qualities, particularly the latter.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linna:an Genera.
Englifh Names.
a Ambrojinia.
Arum,
—
— Cuckow-pint, or wake-robin.
Calla ,
—
— African arum.
Dracontium,
Pothos.
—
— Dragons.
Zoftera,
—
Grafs-wrack.
& Acorus,
—
— Sweet-rufh, or calamus aro«
maticus.
Orontium,
—
— Floating arum.
Piper,
—
— Pepper,
Saururus,
*— Lizard’s-tail.
Thefe plants arc moftly herbaceous and perennial. The
N n ftalks
p i p
flalks of pathos creep along rocks and tree*, into which they
(trike root at certain diftances. The greateft height to which
any of thefe plants is known to attain, is fifteen feet ; the
greater part do not exceed three or four.
The flelhy roots of many of tliefe plants, particularly
thofe of feveral fpecies of arum, are extremely acrid when
frefh. They lofe this pungent quality, however, by being
dried, and become of a foapy nature. The fmell of many
of the arums, and of loune other plants of this order, par-
ticularly Dracontium feetidum, is very offenfive, frequently
refembling the odour of human excrements. The flowers,
however, of an Ethiopian fpccies of dracunculus , or arum,
the Cada JElhiopica of Linnaeus, and the cover in which
they are involved, are faid to emit a very fragrant odour.
With refpe£l to their virtues, thefe plants are aftringent.
The Lecula of -common arum pofTefTes the diaphoretic vir-
tue of antimony ; the powder of its root attenuates and dif-*
fipates obftru£fions.
In hot countries, the tuberous roots of many of the arums,
particularly thofe of the fpecies called colocalia, are dried
and eaten by die inliabitants, either roaflcd or raw. In the
Weft-Indies too, the leaves of foine of the forts, particu-
larly that with a water-lily-leaf, are boiled and eaten as
greens ; hence the names of Indian kale, and efculent arum,
'which have been given to this fpecies.
The native Indians in North- America, boil the fpadix
and berries of the Virginian arum, which they efteem as a
dainty. Thefe berries, when raw, have a liarlh pungent
tafte, which they lofe in a great meafure by being boiled.
They eat hkewife the roots, which often grow to the thick-
riefs of a man’s thigh, and when frefh, have a pungent tafte,
and are reckoned poiforrous.' For this' reafon they never
venture to cat them till the deleterious juice has been totally-
expelled by the force of fire, when they devour them with
great avidity. Prepared in this manner, they tafte like po-
tatoes. This fpecies, however, is never, like thofe men-,
tioned in the preceding paragraph, dried and preferved tor
ufie, but taken iiefh out of die marfhes as it is wanted.
From
p I p
Prom the root of Calla /. Ethiopira , the Arum ALthlopicum
of Commelyn, the Hottentots, we are told, prepare a
farinaceous fubflance, which they ufe inflead of bread, and
which, by the Europeans at the Cape, is commonly called
Hottentot-bread. Its acrimony they extract by boiling it
in two or three frefh waters, after which, they adapt it to
their tafle by drying it in the fun, and roafting it in embers.
The flower of this fpecies ol calla is white, as was obferved
above, and of a fragrant fmell refembling mufk. The root
is white and large, and, when cut in flices, fays Kolben,
bears fo flrong a refemblance to Spanifh radifh, that the
Cape Europeans, for the fake of amufement, frequently pafs
the former upon If rangers for the latter. But the mirth, he
continues, of this deceit, is frequently fpoiled by the refent-
ment of the deceived. For fo very tormenting is the effeft
of the arum upon the palate, and to fuch a degree doth it
fling and inflame the mouth, that the pain is fcarcely fup-
portable, and greatly exafperated by the drinking of water,
to which a flranger is always tempted to have recourfe, with
a view of allaying it.
The fucculent fruits of the genus pathos are eaten like
ftrawberries.
The ftalksof fweet-rufh, when rubbed, emit a very agree-
able aromatic fmell, as do the leaves when broken. The
roots arc fometimes ufed in decofilion.
The natives of the Afiatic iflands- chew inceffantly with,
the areca-nuts the leaves of a fpecies of pepper, termed
betel. They commonly wrap up a quarter of an areca-nut
in fome betel leaves, and fo chew them together. This
juice, which they pretend fortifies their gums and ftomach,
is as red as blood, and gives a like tinfture to the fpittle and
lips, but blackens the teeth prodigioufly. The tafle, at firft,
is faid to be infupportably acrid.
Pepper of Senegal is different from that of India. The
plant bears a round berry about the bignefs of hemp feed,
which, when ripe, is of a beautiful-red colour, and of a
fweetifh tafle. It contains a feed of the fhape and bignefs of
a grain of cabbage, hut very hard, and poffefling an agree-
N n 2 able
P L E
able poignancy. Tlie berries grow in fmall bunches on a
fhrub that is three or four feet high, and has thin fuppie
branches, furnifhed with oval leaves, that are pointed at the
ends, very greafy, and not unlike thofeof the privet.
PISTILLUif, (properly apeflle to pound, or damp with,
in a mortar — a pirtfo, pijlurn , id eji, tundo, to beat) the peftle,
piftil, or pointal ; an ereft column, generally placed in the
centre of the flower, within the ftamina, and fuppofed by
the fexualifls to be the female organ of generation in plants.
Its parts are three.
I. The gcrmen , or iced-bud, which exifls before the
burning of the anthers, and is, in faft, the rudiments of the
feed-veflel, vulgarly called the fruit. This is the bafe or
lower part of the pointal. *.
II. The flyle or vagina, elevated' by the feed-bud. From
the number of flyles, not of feed-buds, arife the orders or
fecondarv divifions in the- Sexual Method.
III. The Jiigma , or fummit of the flyle, which receives
the pollen or male duff, upon its difperfion by the burfling
of the anthers , and tranfmits it elaborated to the feed-bud
below.
Each of fhefe principal parts of the flower is particularly
explained under its refpeflive term.
PLACENTATIO, a term of habit, exprefliwe of the
difpofition of the fide-lobes of the feed, or feminal leaves,
about the time of the fprouting of the embryo plant. Vide
C O TY LED ONE'S.
Some plants have no feed-leaves, feme have one, but the
•neater number rife with two. Vide Acotyledones,
° i
jVIo n ocoxy i. k don e s, and Dicotyledon es.
PLANT PIT ALAi, (from planus, flat, plain, and pet alum,
a petal or flower-leaf,) the name of a clafs in Ray’s Method,
confiHing of plants with compound flowers, compofed of
florets with flat or plain tongue-fhaped petals. The term is
exemplified in fuccory, dandelion an hawkweed, and cor-
refponds to the femijlofculofi of Tournefort.
PLENUS fios , a full flower ; a term expupffive of the
highefl degree of luxuriance in flowers. The petals in full
flowers are fb multiplied, as to exclude all the ffamina, and
frequently
P L E
frequently to choak up the female organ, Co that fuch
flowers, although the mod delightful to the eye, are both
vegetable monfters and vegetable eunuchs : the unnatural
increafe of the petals conftituting the Arff ; the consequent
exclufion of the flamina or male organs, the latter.
Flowers with more petals than one are moil liable to this,
as well as the inferior degrees of luxuriance. The following
are well-known examples; ranunculus, anemone, marfh-
marigold, columbine, fennel-flower, poppy, paeony, pink,
gilliflewer, campion, vifeous campion, lily, crown impe-
rial, tulip, narcilfus, rocket, mallow, Syrian mallow, ap-
ple, pear, peach, cherry, almond, myrtle, rofe, and ftraw-
berry.
Flowers with one petal are more rarely fubjeCl to full-
nefs. That they are not, however, totally exempted, appears
from polianthes, hyacinth, primrofe, crocus, meadow-faf-
fron, and thorn-apple. With thefe familiar examples be-
fore his eyes, Kramer did not hefitate to affert, that a full
flower with one petal, is a contradiction in terms.
In flowers with one petal, the mode of luxuriance, or
impletion, is, by a multiplication of the divifions of the
limb or upper part; in flowers with more petals than one,
by a multiplication of the petals or neClarium.
To take a few examples : columbine is rendered full in
three different ways ; 1. by the multiplication of its petals,
and total exclufion of the neCtaria ; CZ. by the multiplication
of the neCtaria, and exclufion of the petals ; or, 3. by fuch
an increafe of the neCtaria only, as does not exclude the
petals, between each of which are intcrjeCted three neCtaria,
placed one within another. Again, fennel-flower is ren-
dered full, by an increafe of the neCtaria only ; narciflus
cither by a multiplication of its cup and petals, or of its
cup only ; lark-fpur, commonly by an increafe of the
petals, and exclufion of the fpur, which is its neClirium.
In faponaria concava attglica, the impletion is attended with
the Angular effeCt of incorporating the petals, and reducing
their number from five to one ; and in gelder-rofe, the lux-
uriance is effeCled by an increafe both in magnitude, and
N n 3 number,
{
P L E
number of the plain, wheel-fhaped, barren-florets of the
circumference of the head of flowers, and an exclufion of
all the bell-fhaped hermaphrodite florets of the centre.
Hitherto we have treated of plenitwje in fimple flowers
only . the inftance juft now adduced Teems to connert the
different modes of unpletion in them and compound flowers,
Befoie I proceed further, ' however, it will not be improper
to prermfe, that as a fimple luxuriant flower is frequently,
by beginners, miftaken for a compound flower in a natural
ftate, fuch flowers may always be diftinguifhed with certainty
by this rule : that in fimple flowers, however luxuriant,
there is but one pijlillum or female organ ; whereas in com-
pound flowers each floret, or partial flower, is furnifhed
with its own proper pijlillum. Thus in hawk-weed, a com-
pound flower, each flat or tongue-fhaped floret in the aggre-
gate has its five Jiamina and naked feed; which laft is, in
effeti, its pijlillum : whereas, in a luxuriant lychnis, which
is a fimpie flower, there is found only one pijlillum or female
organ common to the whole.
In a compound radiated flower, which generally confifts
of plain florets in the radius, and tubular or hollow florets
in the difk, plenitude is eflerted either by an increafe of the
florets in the margin, and a total exclufion of thofe in the
centre; which mode of luxuriance is termed jmpletion by
the radius, and refembles what happens in the gelder-rofe ;
pr by an elongation of the hollow florets in the centre, and
a lefs profound divifion of their brims ; which is termed
impletion by the difk.
In the firft mode of luxuriance, the florets in the centre,
which are always hermaphrodite or male, are entirely ex-
cluded ; and in their place fucceed florets fimilar in fex to
thofe of the radius. Now, as the florets in the margin of a
radiated compound flower are found to be always either
female, that is, futnifhed with the pijlillum only ; or neuter,
that is, furnifhed with neither Jiamina wox pijlillum ; it is evi-
dent, that a radiated compound flower, filled by the radius ,
Will either be entirely female, as in fever-few, daifv, and
African marigold ; or entirely neuter, as in fun-flower,
marigold,
» I*
? L £
marigold, and cbirtanfy. Hence it wifi always be eaty to
diftinguifh fiich a luxuriant flower from a compound flower
with plain florets irt a natural ft are-, as thefe florets are all
hermaphrodite, that is, ftirnifhed With both Jiamina and
pljtilhirn . Thus the full flowers of African, marigold have
each floret furnifhed with the piftilhtm or female organ only :
the natural flowers of dandelion, which, like the former, is
cornpofed of plain florets, are furnifhed with both Jiamina
and pijhllum.
In the fecond mode of luxuriance, termed impletion by
the difk, the florets in the margin fometimcs remain un-
changed ; but moft commonly adopt the figure of thofe in
the centre, without, however, fuffering any alteration in
point of fex ; fo that confufiort is lefs to be apprehended
From this mode of luxuriance than from the former. Be-
fides, the length to which the florets in the centre run out,
is, of itfelf, a iufficient dtffinftion, and adap-ted to excite at
once an idea of luxuriance. Daify, fever-few, and Afri-
can marigold, exhibit inflances of this as well as of the
former mode of impletion.
In luxuriant compound flowers with plain florets, the ftmi-
fltrfcuhji of Tournefort, the Jligrr.a or fummit of the ftyle in
each floret is lengthened, and the feed -buds are enlarged and
diverge ; by which char afters fuch flowers may. always be
diflinguifhed from flowers of the fame kind in a natural ftate,
Scorzonera, nipple-wort, and goat’s-beard, fnrnifh frequent
inflances of the plenitude alluded to.
Laftly, the impletion of compound flowers with tubular
or hollow florets, the JlofcuhJi of Tournefort, feems to oh-
fervethe fame rules as that of radiated flowers juft delivered.
In cverlafling floWer, the Xerantbemum of Linnaeus, the im-
pletion is Angular, being effected by the enlargement and
ex pan (ion of the inward chaffy f'cales of the calyx. Thefe
feales, win Ch become coloured, are greatly augmented in
length, fo as to over-top the florets, which arc fcarce larger
than thofe of the fame flower in a natural flatc. The florets
too in the margin, which in the natural flower are female,
become, by luxuriance, barren ; that is, arc deprived of the
N n 4 pijiillum ;
POL
pi/1 ilium; the ftyle, which was very fhort, fpreads, and is of
the length of the chaffy fcales, and its fummits, formerly
two in number, are metamorphofed into one.
Pull flowers are more eafily referred to their refpeaive
genera in methods founded upon the calyx, as the flower-*
cup generally remains unaffefted by this higheff degree of
luxuriance.
PLUMULA, a little feather; the fcaly part of the car.
culum or embryo plant within the feed, which afcends and be-
comes the Item or trunk. It extends' ltfelf into the cavity of
the lobes, and is terminated by a fmall branch refembling
a Lathei, from which it derives its name. Vide Corculum
and Gkrminatio.
POLLEN, properly fine flower, or the duff that flieth in
the mill. By Columella it is ufed of the fine duff or powder
of fiankincenfe in Botany, the fecundating or fertilizing
duff contained within the anthers or tops of the Jlaviina , and
diiperfed upon the female organ when ripe, for the purpofe
of impregnation. Vide Sex us Pjantarum.
This dull correfponding to the feminal fluid in animals,
is commonly of a yellow colour, and very confpicuous in
the fummits of fome flowers, as tulip and lily. Its particles
are very minute, and of extreme hardnefs. Examined by
the rnicrofcope, they are generally found to affume fome de-
terminate form, which often predominates, not through all
the Ipccies of a particular genus only, but alfo through the
genera of a natural family or order.
The powder in queftion being triturated and otherwife
prepared in the ftomach of the bees, by whom great quan-
tities are collefted in the hairy brufhes with which their legs
are covered, is fuppofed by fome authors to produce the
fubftance known by the name of wax; a fpecies of vegeta-
ble oil, rendered concrete by the prefence of an acid, which
muff be removed before the fubftance can be rendered
fluid.
POLYADELPHIA (xo \vs, many, and plat, a bro-
therhood) many brotherhoods. The name of the eighteenth
clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual Syftem, confifting of plants with
hermaphrodite
POL
hermaphrodite flowers, in which feveral Jlamina or male
organs are united by their filaments into three or more dif-
tinft bundles.
This clafs, which contains very few genera, is fubdivid-
ed into four orders from the number of Jlamina.
Chocolate-nut has five Jlamina., or rather five bundles of
Jlamina , each filament having five anthers or tops.
Monfonia has fifteen Jlamina in five bundles.
Citron, orange, and lemon, which belong to the fame
genus, citrus , have twenty Jlamina formed into a great
number of bundles.
Melaleuca , hopca, St. John's wort, and St. Peter's wort,
have many Jlamina , which, in the three former, are colle£fed
into five, in the latter, into four bundles.
POLYANDRIA [nokvs, many, and av»jg, a man, or
hufband) many hufbands ; the name of the thirteenth clafs
in Linnaeus's Sexual Method, confiding of plants with
hermaphrodite flowers furnifhed with feveral Jlamina that
are inferted into the common receptacle of the flower. By
this circumffance chiefly, though not exprefTed in the title,
is the clafs under confidcration diftinguifhed from that im-
mediately preceding it, termed icojandria, in which, although
a numeral clafs, the mod linking charafter is the fituation of
the Jlamina , which are inferted into the calyx or petals, or
both. The number of Jlamina in the two clafies being in-
determinate, would frequently clalh, and hence create mif-
takes : their infertion is an invariable chara&er, and there-
fore an unerring mark of didinftion.
This numerous clafs of plants, the fruits of which are
frequently poifonous, is fubdivided into feven orders, from
the number of the dyles or female organs.
Poppy, herb-chrilfopher, rock-rofe, and water-lily, have
one female organ.
Paeony, and calligonum , have two dyles, or female
organs.
Lark-fpur, and monk’s-hood, have three; tetracera has
four.
Columbine,
POL
Columbine, and fennel- flower, lave five; water- foldwr
oj maiffi-aloe, lix ; virgin’s. bower* meadow-rue, hellebore
mat fh-marigold, anemone, globe-ranunculus, cuflard-apple*
tulip-tree, magnolia, ranunculus, and adonis, have many
ityles. 7
POLYANGI^E (« oXyf, many, and *>,©/ a veflel) the
name ot the twentieth dais in Boerhaave’s Method, con-
lilhng ot plants winch have many capfules, or a Angle
caplulc divided into numerous cells. It is exemplified
in marfh-marigold, hellebore, globe-ranunculus, and water-
lily.
POLYGAMIA (TroXi/r, many, and y***©., marriage)
polygamy. This term, exprefling an inter-communication
of fexes, is applied, by Linnaeus, both to plants and flowers-
A polygamous plant is that which bears both hermaphrodite
flowers and male or female, or both. This will be particu-
larly explained below. Polygamy of flowers refpeehs the
inter-communication of the florets in a compound flower.
The diffeient modes ot polygamy in compound flowers,
anting fiom the different combinations ot fexes, have been
adopted by Linnaeus as very proper circumftances, in a
method founded upon the fexes, for fubdividing that numer-
ous and difficult clafs of plants. The fubjeft, therefore,
of the polygamy of flowers falls more properly to be handled
under the aiticle Sxngenesia, whither we refer our
readers.
Polygam i A, is likewife the name of the twenty-third
clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual Method, confifling of polyga-
mous, or mongrel plants, that is, plants having hermaphro-
dite flowers, and likewife male or female flowers, or both.
A plant to be polygamous muff have f'ome of its flowers
hermaphrodite : for by that eircumftauce alone is its con-
nection cut off with the plants of the clafles monatcia and
dioecia , in the former of which the plants are androgynous,
that is, bear male and female flowers upon the fame root ;
in the latter, male and female. 1 his rule, however, admits
of a few exceptions, which will be mentioned after-
wards,
POL
wards. Further, the polygamy may be either on the fame
plant, or on diftinft plants from the fame feed. The giodes
of which it is. i'ufceptible, areas follows :
I. Hermaphrodite and male flowers on the fame plant, as
in white hellebore, nettle-tree, crofs-wort, and asgilops.
This kind of polygamy is likewife obfervable in feveral of
the umbelliferous plants, particularly carrot, fanicle, hog’s-
fennel, coriander, chervil, fhepherd’s-needle, Alexanders,
carui, and baflard-parfley. Thele plants, therefore, ought,
in’ftrift conformity to the principles of the Sexual Method,
to have been arranged under the clafs polygamia ; though I
think Linnseus has judged far better to place them with the
other umbelliferous flowers, as fo unnatural a feparation
mull have flrucka fatal blow at the very root of'his fyftein.
It is evident, however, that the fame objeffion continues in
force againft the principles of his method ; fince, if carried
into rigid execution, they have a direft tendency to commit
the moft violent outrages againft Nature, by disjoining things
which were never meant to be feparated.
II. Hermaphrodite, and male flowers on diftinfi plants,
as in palmetto, ginfeng, Indian-date plum, and tupelo*
tree.
III. Hermaphrodite and female on the fame plant, as in
pcllitory and orach.
IV. Hermaphrodite and female on different plants, as in
moft fpcciesof afh-tree.
V. Androgynous and male upon diftinft roots, as in arflo-
pus, and amber-tree, which have male and female flowers
upon one plant, and male flowers only on the other.
VI. Androgynous, male and female upon three diftin£i.
plants, as in carob-tree and fig-tree. This and -performer
cafe, having no hermaphrodite flowers, feeiri to be cx-»
ceptions to the definition of polygamous plants given
above.
VII. Hermaphrodite, male and female upon two diftinfl
plants, as in three-thorned acacia , in which the male and
hermaphrodite flowers are placed upon one plant, and the
female flowers on the other.
VIII.
POM
VIII. Male hermaphrodites, and female hermaphrodites
on the fame plant ; that is, flowers which, although they
contain the parts proper to each fex, have one of the parts
reciprocally abortive; th t Jiamina or male organ in fome,
the piftlllum or female organ in others. In the former cafe
they are ftiled female hermaphrodites, in the latter, male her-
maphrodites, according as either fex is predominant. This
Angular mode of polygamy, if it can be called fuch, is ob-
ferved in the flowers of plantain or banana tree.
POLYSPERMY, ( tioKvs, many, and ampp i*, a feed)
the name of the fifteenth clafs in Ray’s Method, confiflnm
of plants with many capfules or feeds. It is exemplified in'
marfh-marigold, hellebore, and globe ranunculus. '
POL\ STEMONES (7 roXvs, many, and orvf/.wv, a
flamen) the name of the eighth clafs in Haller’s Natural
Method, confifting of plants which, as the name imports,
have many Jiamina or male organs. It is exemplified in
poppy, ranunculus, mallow, cherry, and role. The Jiamina
in this clafs are generally triple the number of petals.
POMACEY (pomum, an apple) the name of the thirty-
fixth order in Linmeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method,
confifting of the following genera, which have a pulpy ef-
culent fruit of the apple, berry, and cherry kind.
Linnaean Genera. ~ Englijh Names.
Cratcegus , —
— Wild-fervice thorn.
Mefpilus , —
— Medlar.
Pyrus, —
— Apple, pear.
Riles, — .
— Currant-tree.
Sorbus , —
— Service-tree.
Spirecq, —
— Spiraia frute.x, fpiked willow,
drop-wort.
$
Punica, ■ —
— Pomegranate.
V
Amygdalus , —
— Almond-tree, peach.
Chryjobalanns,
— Cocoa-plum.
Prilnus , — .
— Plum, apricot, cherry.
Halit.
POM
Habit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
The plants of this order, which furnifhes many of
our moil efteemed fruits, are mollly of the fhrub and tree
kind.
The Roots are branched, fibrous, and in the greater
part very long. In dropwort, th tfpirasa filipendula of Lin- ,
njeus, they confift of a great number of oval knobs or glan-
dules, which hang, or are fattened together by (lender fibres;
from which circumftance are derived both its Englitti and
fcientific names.
The Stems and branches are cylindric. Thefe laft are
placed alternate ; and, when young, are, in Come genera,
angular. The bark is thick and wrinkled.
o »
The Buns are of a conic form, placed in the angles of
the leaves, and covered with fcales which lie over one ano-
ther like tiles. In apple, pear, plum, apricot, cherry,
almond, and peach trees, befides the buds of the leaves,
there are fcaly buds, or eyes, of a different form, from
which proceed bundles or clutters of flowers. Vide
Gemma.
The Leaves, which differ in form, being in fome genera
fimple, in others winged, are, in the greater number, placed
alternate. Thofe of medlar, wild-fervice, fpirtea with
marfh-elder leaves, and fome others, have their furfape
covered with finall (hining fpots, which referable minute
points or holes.
The foot-ttalk of the leaves is furrowe'd above, and fre-
quently accompanied, as in the cherry-tree, with a number
of knobs in the form of glands.
Mott of thefe plants are furnilhed with two Stipule at
the origin of the young foot-ftalks of the leaves. Thefe,
in fome genera, are pretty large ; in others they are fo
fmall as fcarce to be perceived ; and in cocoa-plum, in
particular, they, by their minutenefs, refemble hairs. In
apple, prune, cherry, and almond-trecs, the appearances in
queftion fall off before the leaves.
The
p O M
The branches of apple, pear, and medlar trees are ter.
mmated by a thorn. The Hera of hawthorn and bullacc-
tree, a fpecies of prunus, is clofely armed with offenfive
weapons of the fame kind. Thefe fpines, however
though protruded from the wood, totally difappear bv
culture. 1 }
The Flowers are univerfally hermaphrodite, except in
JPirata ^uncus, in which male and female flowers are pro-
duced upon diflinft plants. J
In the greater number of genera they are produced in
earners or heads [corymbi) at the end of the branches. Many
of thefe flowers are eafily rendered double by culture.
The Flower-cup is of one piece with five divifions,
which are permanent, and placed above the feed-bud in
fpiraea, apple, pomegranate, fervice, wild-fervice, medlar,
and currant-trees ; in the reft they either fall off with the
flower, or wither upon the flalk.
The Petals are five number, and inferted into the tube
of the calyx.
The Stamina are generally twenty and upwards, and
attached, like the petals, to the margin of the tube of the
calyx.
The Anti-iers aie fhort, and fliglitly' attached to the
filaments.
The Seed-bu n is fingle, and in thofe genera which have
the calyx permanent, it is placed below "the receptacle of
the flower. 1
Tlie Se e D-VEssE'L is a pulpy fruit of the apple, berry,
01 cherry kind. Thofe of the apple kind are divided inter-
nally into a number of cells. Pomegranate has nine cells,
apple and pear five.
The Seeds in pomegranate, apple, and currant-trees,
are numerous ; in fervice-tree, three; in medlar, five; in
wild- tci v ice, two; in peach, plum, and cocoa-plum, alingle
nut, or flone, containing a kernel.
Jht. pulp) hints of this order of plants are acid, efeu-
lent, and ol great efficacy in putrid and bilious fevers.
The
\
9
P R E
The kernels of plums, cherries, and almonds, contain A
jjreat quantity of oil, and, when bitter, are faid to be highly
pernicious to certain animals, particularly birds which feed
on them. The fruit of the wild apple-tree yields, by ex-
preffion, an acid juice, which being fermented, becomes an
agreeable vinous liquor. Medlars are allringent and diuretic.
The flowers of peach-tree are a gentle purgative. The
gum of cherry and peach-trees may be fubllituted for gum-
arabic, which, however, is greatly preferable. The wood
of bird-cherry is fudorific, yet rarely ufed in medicine.
From bitter almonds is drawn by expreflion an oil, which
is anodyne, and highly proper in deafnefs, and pains of the
ear.
POMIFERdE, f pbviuin, an apple, and fcro, to bear) the
name of a clafs in Hermannus, Boerhaave, and Ray’s
Methods, confiding of plants which have a flefhy fruit of
the apple kind. It is exemplified in the pear, and pome-
granate-trees.
POMUM, an apple ; a fpecies of feed-veflel, compofed
of a fucculent flefhy pulp, in the middle of which is gene-
rally found a membranous capfule, with a number of cavi-
ties for containing the feeds. Seed-veflels of this kind have
mo external opening or valve. At the end oppofite to the
foot-ftalk is frequently a frnall cavity, called by gardeners
the eye of the fruit, and by botanifls, umbilicus , the navel,
from its fancied rcfemblance to the navel in animals. Gourd,
encumber, melon, pomegranate, pear, and apple, furnifh
mflances of the feed-veflel in queftion-.
PRECISE, ( prccius , early) ; the name of the twenty-fhft
order in Linnarus’s Fragments of a Natural Method; con-
fiding of primrofe, an early flowering-plant, and a few
genera which agree with it in habit and druhlure, though
not always in the charahler or circmnflance exprefled in the
title* ’ ‘
Liji
PRO
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnaean Genera.
*
Englijh Names.
Androface.
A relia.
Cor tufa, —
— Bear’s-ear fanicle.
Cyclamen, —
— Sow-bread.
Diapenfia.
Dodccatheon, — -
— Meadia.
Primula, —
— Primrofe, auricula.
Soldanella ,1 —
— Soldanel.
/3 Limofella , —
— Leafl "Water-plantain,
7 Hottenia, —
— Water milfoil, or water-violet.
Mcnyantbes, —
— Bog-bean, or marfh-trefoil.
Samolus, —
— Round-leaved water-pimper-
nel.
Thefe plants, which poffefs no linking uniform charac-
ters, are, in general, innocent in their quality; yet the
root of fow-bread is dangerous, if taken internally.
PROLIFER ftos ; ( proles, an offspring, and fere , to
bear) ; a prolific flower, or flower which from its own fub-
llance produces another ; a fingular degree of luxuriance, to
which full flowers are chiefly incident.
In fimple flowers, the prolification arifes from the feed-bud
of the parent or full flower fhooting up into another flower;
in which cafe, a Tingle foot-flalk only is protruded : in
compound and aggregate flowers properly fo called, it arifes
trom the common calyx, from all parts of which are fent
forth many foot-flalks, each fupporting a fingle flower.
Examples of the former mode of luxuriance are frequent in
ranunculus, anemone, pink, rofe, and herb-bennet : of
the latrcr, in daify, hawkweed, marigold, and fcabious.
Simple umbelliferous flowers become prolific, by the
produ&ion of another fimple umbel from their centre ; as in
|he Cornus Mefomora of Rivinus-. In milk-parfley, and wild
•arrol, is protruded from the centre of the compound um-
bel.
PUB
bel, another univerfal umbel which overtops the former;
By a further exertion of the fame caufe it is eafy to con-
ceive that this laft umbel may likewife be rendered prolific ;
and thus a triple crown ol heads of flowers be erefted, each
growing out of the ©ne immediately below it.
Prolific flowers are faid to be frondofe or leafy, which
produce branches charged with both leaves and flowers.
Inftances of this mode of luxuriance, though rare, are
fometimes obferved in rofe and anemone. In the full flowers
.of cherry-tree, the feed-bud frequently fhoots up by luxu-
riance into a number of leaves.
PROPAGO, (properly a flip, layer, or cutting of a
vine, or other tree; thus Virgil — “ Melius propagine vites
rejpondeni Georg. 2. 63.) Linnaeus’s name for the feeds
of the moffes. Vide M U S C I .
PUBES, hair, down, a general term* expreffive of all the
hairy and glandular appearances on the furface of plants, to
which they are fuppofed by naturalifts to ferve the double
purpofe of defenfive weapons, and veflels of fecretion. The
different fpecies of Pubes enumerated by Linnaeus, are,
I. Pi li, hairs;
II. Lana, wool;
III. Barba , a beard, or tuft of hair.
IV. Tomentum, a hoary, filver-white appearance;
V. Strigce, }
VI. Setez, $ bnflIes-
VII. Ham i, hooks;
VIII. GlanduL/E, glands.
IX. Glochides, pointed hairs.
X. Vifcsfitas , clamminefs.
XI. Glut'mofitas , ftiff clamminefs.
Many of thefe terms it is impoffible to define with accu-
racy, as their differences are fo minute, that an adequate
idea of the appearances can only be obtained by fight. The
more finking kinds of Pubes, fuch as tomentum, glandulee ,
&c. are each particularly explained under its relpeftive
head.
In general, it may be obferved, that hairs are minute
■ o o threads,
PUL
threads, of greater or lefs length and -folidity, fome of'
which are vifible to the naked eye, whilft others are rendered
v^fible only by the help of glaffes. Examined by a micro-
fcope, almoft all the parts of plants, particularly the young
/talks, appear covered with hairs. •
Hans on tne furface of plants prefent themfelves under
\ ai lous forms, in the leguminous. plants, they are generally
cyhnduc; in the mallow tribe, terminated in a point; in
agrimony, fhaped hkea fifh-hook ; in nettle, awl-fhaped, and
jointed ; and in fome compound flowers with hollow, or fun-
nel-fhaped florets, they end in two crooked points.
Probable, as fome experiments have rendered it, that the
hairs on the furface of plants contribute to fome organical
fecretion, their principal ufe feems to be, to preferve the
parts in which they are lodged from the bad effetls of vio-
lent friflions, from winds, from extremes- of heat and cold,
and fuch like external injuries.
M. Gucttard, who has effabhfhed a botanical method
from the form, fituation, and other cireumftances of the
hairy and glandular appearances on the furface of plants, has
demonftr^ted, that thefe appearances are generally conftant
and uniform in all the plants of the fame genus. The fame
uniformity feems, fometimes, to chara&erize all the genera
of the fame natural order.
The different forts of hairs which form the down upon,
the furface of plants were imperfeftly diftinguifhed by
Grew, in 1682, and by Malpighi, in 1686. M. Guettard,
juft mentioned, was the firft who examined the lubjeft, both
as a botanift and a philofopher. His obfervations- were,
publifhed in 1747.
PUBESCENTIA, {pubes, hair, down) pubefcence, or
hairinefs ; a general term of habit, expreftive of every kind
of armature, whether offenfive or def’enfive, with which
plants are furnifhed. The term, which is highly improper to
be uled with fuch latitude, is omitted in the later editions of
•JLinn&‘us s works; the terms pubes and anna, its conftituenL
parts, fupplying its place.
PULMONES, the lungs. By this name, Linnams, in
aflimilating
PUT
aflimilating the animal and vegetable kingdoms, has diftin-
guifhed the leaves, the organs of perfpiration, arid refpira-
tion in plants.
PUTAMINEiE, { putamcn , a fhell) the name of the
twenty-fifth order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural
Method ; confifting of a few genera of plants, allied in
habit, w’nofe tlefhy feed-vefiel, or fruit, is frequently co-
vered with a hard woody fhell.
'N, ■
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnaean Genera.
Capparis ,
Cleome,
C rat (tv a,
Crefcentia ,
Mar cor avia.
o
Morijoniai
Englijh Names.
— Caper-bufh.
— Baflard-muflard,
— Garlick-pear.
— - Calabafh-iree.
Mod of thefe plants are acrid, and penetrating* and yield*
by burning, a great quantity of fixed alkali.
With refpeft to their virtues, they are powerful aperients.
The Indians pretend that the fruit of a fpecies of caper-
bufh, which they call baducca, extinguilhes the flames of
love.
Ptifans, baths, and fumigations of thefe plants, are great-
ly ufed by the Negroes at Senegal for venereal complaints,
palfies, and diftempers of the fkin. Baftard-muflard is ad-
miniflered in leprofies in the Levant^
In default of the leaves of baobab, the Negroes on the
coaft of Guinea mix thofe of garlick pear-tree, which
fmell very flrong, in their ordinary food called coufcous.
The llower-buds of caper-bulh, preferved with vinegar,
fu rmfh the pickle well known by the name of capers.
The fruit called calabalh, is of two kinds, the one fmall
and round, the other large and oval. The trees which bear
both fruits are as large and lpreuding as an apple-tree. The
fruit, when largefl, is about the fizc of a man’s head, arid
00 2 when
RAC
when carefully cleared of its pulp, capable of holding fifteen
pmts of water, or other liquid, for which purpofe its fcoop.
ed fhell, which is as thin and light as brown paper, is chiefly
ufed by the inhabitants of the Weft-Indies. At Barbadoes,
befides drinking-cups and punch-bowls, there are made of
the calabalh-fhells, fpoons, difhes, and other eating utenfils
foi the llaves : the p*rlp is folt, four, and unfavoury, and
feldom eaten, except by the cattle, in time of drought : the
wood, which is hard and fmooth, is frequently made into
ftools, chairs, and other furniture.
The leaves and fruit of cratava fmell ftrongly of garlick ;
whence the name of garlick pear-tree by which this genus
has been diftinguifhed. The fruit, which in one fpecies is
fmooth, and in the other, prickly, grows to the fize of an
orange, and has its infide filled with an agreeable pulp, in-
terfperfed with fmall granulated feeds. The tender buds
from the young branches being bruifed, and applied as a
plafter to any part of the body, will, in time, raife as regu-
lar a blifter as that occafioned by cantharides.
ACEMUS, properly fignifies a bunch or clufter of
grapes. In a fcientific fenfe it is ufed to fignify a
mpdeoi flowering, in which, the flowers placed along a
common foot-ftalk, are furnifhed with ftiort proper foot-
ftalks, proceeding as lateral branches from the common
flower-ftalk. It is exemplified in the vine and currant-tree.
A clufter refembles a fpike, in having its flowers placed
along the fides of a common foot-ftalk, but differs from it
in being furnifhed with proper flower ftalks ; whereas the
flowers of the fpike are placed immediately upon the fides
of the common foot-ftalk, and are feldom produced in fuch
ab u n dan ce. Vide S P I c A .
Again, a clufter differs from that mode of flowering
termed a corymbus, in the fhortnefs and equal length of
its branches or proper flower-llalks, which in thofe of the
corymbus, rife to fuch a proportionable height, as to form
R.
an
RAD
an even furface at top; by which means, each lower flower-
ftalk is confiderably longer than that immediately above it.
Vide Corymbus.
RADIATUS fos. Vide Compositus fios.
RADIATI, the name of the fourteenth clafs in Tourne-
fort’s Method, confiding of compound radiated flowers,
that is. compound flowers with plain florets in the margin,
and hollow florets in the centre. It is exemplified in ground-
fel, feverfew, milfoil, marigold, and daify.
RADICATIO, [radix, a root) a term of habit, ex-
preflive of the form and difpofition of the root. Vide Bul-
bus and Radix.
RADICULA, (diminutive from radix, a root) a little
root : the ftringy or fibrous part of the root, which gene-
rally terminates the flock or main root, and penetrating into
the foil, attracts moifture and nourifhment for the fupport of
the vegetable. The radicle is, in fa£t, the principal and ef-
fenti.d part of every root, and is therefore never wanting,
not even in thofe plants improperly Ailed imported! : for the
mofles, lichens, and fub marine plants, difcover a remarkable
analogy in the lamella and Jlrice , by which they adhere to
the bodies placed under them, to the radicles, or flringy
fibres, which are prefent in other plants.
RADIUS. Vide Compositus flos.
RADIX, the root ; the lower part of the plant, generally
bid below the furface of the earth, and deftined for attradt-
ing the moifture from the foil, and communicating it to the
other parts, viz. the heib and the fructification 'which are
produced from it.
The root confifts of two parts; the caudex, flock, or
main root, and the radicula, or fmall flringy roots, de-
pending from the other. Vide Caudex and Radicui.a.
Main roots, with refpedl to form, are of three kinds ; bul-
bous, tuberous, and fibrous. The firft fort has been fully
confidered under the head Bulb us.
Tuberous or knobbed roots, are flefhy, folid, hard,
commonly thicker than the bafe of the Item, and compofed
■either of one knob, as inradilh, turnip, and carrot; or, of
. 0 0 3 many
rad
many colI*£led into a bunch, as in pceony, fun-flower, and
di op-wort : in the laftof which plants, feveral fmall roundifc
bodies hang, or are faftcned together by a number of {lender
firings, or filaments.
In tubeious roots, the radicles or fmall flnngy roots are
generally difperfed over the whole furface : in which refpefl,
they differ effentially from bulbous roots, in which the ra-
dicles ai e confined to the bottom of the bulb, that part only
being the genuine root ; the bulb itfelf ferving as a large bud
under ground, for inclofing and protedling the embryo
plant.
The roots of arpm, orchis, mofchatelline, and fome other
plants, although tuberous, emit fibres at the top, from a knot
formed berwixt the trunk and the thicker part of the root.
Such roots, from the fibres which adhere to the top of the
flefhy mafs refembling a bufh of hair, have been diftinguifhed
by the name of radices cemofec.
Fibrous roots are flenderer than the bafe of the trunk,
and are either divided by equal branches, as in the greater
number of trees, in which, likewife, the fubflance is woody •
or confilt of a number of fingle fibres like hairs, which pro-
ceed from the fmall knot, or bafe of the Item, as in many
graffes. This laft kind of fibrous root is termed radix capiU
lacea.
With refpeft to direction, roots are faid to be perpendi-
cular, which run dire&ly downwards. The term is moft
commonly applied to a particular kind of root, which, net
exceeding in dimenfion the bafts of the Item, defeends per-
pendicularly downwards in one firaight fibre that is thicker
in the upper part, and gradually tapers downwards. It is
exemplified in carrot, parfnep, radifh, and fuch like roots,
which, from their tapering ihape, haveproperly enough ob-
tained the name of radices fufiformes, or fpindle-lhaped roots.
Spindlc-fhaped roots are a fpecies of tuberous root, as
appears Irom the fituation of the firings or fibres, which are
difperfed over the whole furface of the flock or principal
root, and divided into numerous branches, which, after
feveral fubdivifions, become as fine as hairs. This kind of
tapering
RAD
tapering root is frequently changed by culture into a round,
knobbed, or tuberous root properly fo called, as in fome
.umbelliferous plants.
Horizontal, level, or tranfverfe roots, extend themfelves
horizontally under the furface of the ground ; as in iris,
mafterwort, hop, bifhop’s weed, cinquefoil, and all fuch
as properly creep.
Of horizontal roots, fome run very near the turf, as
woodbine and wild anemone : others lower down, as couch-
-grafs.
Of perpendicular roots, fome flrike down but a little way,
as thorn-apple : others pierce deep, as horfe-radilh.
The diredlion of roots is alfo fometimes compounded.
Thus, the main root or flock- of primrofe, is level ; the radi-
cles, or firings, run perpendicular.
With refpect to divifion, roots are entire, as liquorice,
or parted, as St. John’s wort, forked or parted at the bottom,
as in moil roots, or at the top, as in dandelion, and fome
others.
The roots in radifh are flraight : in biftort, crooked ; in
rhubarb, thick $ in vine, (lender ; long, in fennel ; fhort, in
turnip; in eryngo, cylindrical; in borage, pyramidal.
Some are Uneven and pitted, as potatoes, where the eyes,
or buds of the future trunk, lie inward ; or knotty, as Jeru-
salem artichoke, where they Hand out.
Roots, in point ot duration, are either annual, biennial,
or perennial ; that is, of one, two, or many years continu-
ance : the two firft are attributes of herbaceous vegetables
.only ; the latter, is applicable both to herbs and trees. In
fome plants, both root and 1km fubfill for many years.
Of this kind are all trees ; the roots of which may be termed,
by way of diftinflion, radices fruticofec. In others, the roots
only fubfill during the winter, whilfl the flalks, which decay
and perifh, are annually renewed from the root. Of this
kind, are all thofe herbs, from this circumflance termed
perennial. Biennials renew their flalk only twice; annuals
yxift but for a year, at the end ot which time, both Item
o o 4 and
rad
and root perifh, and the individual is at an end. Thefe Uft
as is evident, can only be propagated from feed.
Uniform and conftant as Nature is in all her produftions
there are many perennial roots which become annual, when
tran.planted into cold climates. Nay, there are not wanting
examples ol fhrubs lofing their Hems annually in fuch clU
mates, in the fame manner as the ftalks of herbaceous vege-
table^ perifh in autumn, whilft the root continues in full
vigour : fometimes even, in fuch circumftances, the fhruh
not only diverts itfelf of its woody ftem, and becomes herba-
ceous, but is metamorphofed, in every re'pefci, into an
annual plant, and lo'es both its ftem and root at the end of
one year. {Vid* Methodus.) Culture, on the other hand,
may prolong the life of annuals. Thus, Ivl. Dnhamel men-,
iions a root of barley, which put forth new* rtalks after the
old ones were cut down in harveft, and produced a fpikeof
flowers the following year.
Among the accidents that happen to roots from an excefs
of culture, or a luxuriance of nourifhmeht, may be reckon-
ed the monftrous appearance of the roots of fome potatoes,
ydnch, although genei ally fix inches long, and three broad,’
are fometimes found eighteen inches, and two feet long, and
one foot in diameter. Thofe of turnip, in like manner, are
fometimes found increafed to the enormous fize of nine or
ten inches in diameter, although, in general, they feldom
pxceed three or four.
Rous, as we obferved in the definition, are generally hid
below the furface of the ground, and derive their nourifh-
ment immediately from the foil. This is a general law of
vegetable nature, but like moft other general laws, admits
of exceptions. 1 he roots of miftletoe, vanelloe, dodder,
hypocijlis, and fome others, do not penetrate into the foil,
and feek nourilhment for themfelves, but derive it, as by
flealth, from other plants, to which they attach themfelves.
Such plants, from the lingular circumrtance juft mentioned,
are termed paralitic.
Miftletoe and vanelloe cling to the branches of trees, hypo -
RAD
ciJUs to the roots of plants, particularly of cljius, or the
rock-rofe, whence it derives its name : dodder, to the Items
of all forts of plants, though it is generally known by the
name of epithymum, or thyme- weed, as if it were only to be
found on the plant of that name.
The manner in which parafitic plants attach themfelves to
others, is not uniform. The feed of dodder germinates in
the ground, and puts forth a Item, which attaches itfelf to
the firft plant it encounters in its progrefs. From this plant
it attracts the nourilhing juices, by means of certain fecretory
glands with which the Item is furnifhed. Mean time, the
lower part of the Item, which is detached from the fupporting
plant, and receives no part of the nourifhment, dries up ;
its firft root dies, and the plant continues to live and be
nourifhed at the expence of that upon which it is fixed.
On the other hand, miftletoe, vanelloe, and hypoeijiis, are
produced originally upon the plant which affords them
nourifhment : the two former, which grow upon large trees,
extend their roots under the bark, and penetrate infenfibly
into the body of the wood.
Other parafitical plants, confiding of fmall tubercles,
emit fibrous roots, which often penetrate the bulbs of
faffron, extract all the fubffance, and hence occafion the
fudden death of the parent or fupporting plant.
Some roots attach themfelves to the hardeft bodies, as the
moffes to the bark of trees, the lichens to hones and rocks,
nourifhed, without doubt, by the humidity of the air abforb-
ed by their leaves, or branches. Other plants fwim upon
the furface of the water, as lemna , or duck’s meat, which
grows upon Handing waters in moft parts of England, and,
if not difturbed, will loon cover the whole furface. Some
plants appear to be totally devoid of roots ; fuch are
many of the Alga, particularly the genera Byflus and Tre-
mella.
In affimilating the at.imal and vegetable kingdoms, Lin-
naeus, properly enough, compares the root in plants to the
lacteal veffels in animals. 1 he foil, or earth, is the vege-
table itomach ; the trunk, its bones ; the leaves, its lungs;
and
EEC
and heat its heart : analogies, which probably fuggefted tire
epithet of inverted animal, fo frequently bellowed upon plants
by the ancient naturalills.
RECEPTACULUM, (properly, a place to receive or
keep things in) one of the feven parts of fruftification, de-
fined by Linnaeus to be the bafe which connefts or fupports
the other parts. The different fpecies of receptacle enume-
rated by Linnaeus are thefe :
I. A Proper Receptacle, which fupports the parts
of a Angle fi unification. Of this kiml is the receptacle of
all Ample flowers.
II. A Common Receptacle, which is common to
an aggregate or head of flowers. Of this kind is the recep-
tacle of compound and other aggregate flowers. Vide Ac,
GRECATUS Jlos.
III. Umbella. ^ Thefe two would have been more pro-
Vperly denominated Mooes of Flow-
IV. Cyma. J ERlNG,
V. Spadix.
The firft of thefe receptacles only falls to be confidered
in this place. The fecond, which admits of the greatefl
number of varieties, and is chiefly employed in difcriminat-
ing the genera of compound flowers, will naturally enter
into the defeription of that numerous and difficult clafs of
plants. The other three, to which the name of receptacle
feems totally mifapplied, are fufficiently explained, each
under its refpeftive head.
A proper receptacle obtains different names from the parts
of thcfrufclification which it fupports and connefts. When
both flower and fruit are fupported by it, it is generally fliled
the receptacle of the fi unification, and not feldom the com-
mon receptacle. This laflterm, though fomewhat improper,
I have generally adopted in deferibing feveral natural orders
of fimple flowers that occur in the courfe of this work.
Again, when the receptacle fupports the parts of the flower
only, it is called the receptacle of the flower. In fuch
cafes, the feed-bud or fruit, which is placed below the
receptacle ol the flower, has a proper bafe of its owiij
which is diftinguifhed by the name of receptacle of the
fruit.
R H CE
fruit. Gf this French-willow and tree-primrofe furnifh
examples.
In fome fimple flowers which have the feed-bud placed
above the receptacle of the flower, the fruit has a feparate
^receptacle. This observation is particularly exemplified in
magnolia, tulip-tree, cuflard-apple, and the other genera of
the natural order coadunaia , in which the numerous feed-
buds are feated upon a receptacle, which rifes like a pillar
above the receptacle of the flower. Vide CoadunatiE.
Again, The term receptacle is often ufed to fignify the
bafe to which the feeds are fattened within their inclofure or
vettel. Inftances of the application of this term are fur-
nifhed by deadly night-fhade, winter-cherry, hen-bane, to-
bacco, thorn-apple, mullein, and many other plants. This
fort of receptacle is commonly known among botanifts by
the name of placenta , from its being the common recep-
tacle of the umbilical veffels, which ferve to tranfmit the
nourishment to the feeds.
RESUPINATIO. Vide Intorsio.
RHQEADE-/E, ( rhoeas , Linnaeus’s name, after Diofco-
jrides, for the red poppy) the name of the twenty Seventh
order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, con-
fifting of poppy, and a few genera which refembie it in habit
and ttrufture.
Lift of Genera contained in this Natural Order .
Linnaean Genera.
> • • • j • »
Argemone , —
Bocconia.
Chelidonium , —
Papaver, —
Podophyllum, —
Sanguinaria, —
Englijh Names.
Prickly poppy.
\
Celandine.
Poppy.
Duck’s-foot, or May apple.
Puccoon.
Thefj plants, upon being cut, emit plentifully a juice,
which is white in poppy, and yellow in the others. From
the
v
ROT
the infpiflated juice of the heads and leaves of black poppy,
is prepared the extra# well known by the name of opium!
The tafle of thefe plants is, in general, acrid and bitter ; the
petals of poppy are fomewhat fweet.
. Wlth relPea to their virtues, they feem to operate prin-
cipally upon the nerves. Their juice is fodorific and nar-
cotic, their feeds lefs fo, their roots aperient. Applied ex-
ternally, they are flightly corrofive.
A decofbon of the roots of prickly poppy is much ufed
fey the Negroes of Senegal in the early ftages of the venereal
difeafe. The juice of celandine applied externally has the
£ame effe# as that of common fumatory, to deflroy warts
and cutaneous eruptions. Mixed with a very great quantity
of water, it is fuccefsfully employed as a lotion in weaknefs
of fight, and pains of the eyes. The leaves of wild poppy
are put into cooling ointments, being accounted proper for
burnings, inflammations, and hot fwellings.
With the j uice of puccoon, the Indians of North-America.
where the plant naturally grows, paint themfelves of a yel-
low colour.
ROSACEI, {rofa, . a rofe) the name of the fixth and
tw.enty-firff claffes in Tournefort’s method, confiding of
herbs and trees with fimple flowers, having an indeterminate
number of regular petals placed circularly like thofe of
the rofe. The term is exemplified in amaranthus, purfiain,
poppy, paffion-flower and chick-weed,
ROSTELLUM (diminutive from rojlrum, a beak) a
little bell, beak, or fnout ; the fcaly part of th ecorculum, or
embryo of the feed, which flioots downward into the foil,
and becomes the root ; its form is that of a fmall beak placed
without the lobes, and adhering internally. to the plumula, or
embryo flem. The term is claffical, and as old as Colu-
mella.
ROT ACEtE, [rota, a wheel) the name of the twentieth
order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, con,
filling of plants with one flat wheel-fhaped petal, ( corolla
rot gin ) . Vide Corolla.
I _ _ _
R O T
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnaean Genera.
Engl if ') Names.
e Anagallis, —
— Pimpernel.
Centunculus.
Chironia.
Exacum.
Gentiana , —
— Gentian, or fell-wort.
Lyfimachia, —
• — Loofe-ftrife.
Phlox , —
— Lychnidea, or baftard lychnis.
Sarothra , —
— Baftard-gentian.
Swertia, • —
— Marlh-gentian.
Trientalis, —
— Winter-green with chick-
weed-flowers.
£ Afcyrum , —
— St. Peter’s wort.
Ciftus , —
— Rock-rofe.
Hypericum, —
— St. John’s wort.
The three laft genera are very improperly annexed to this
order, and indeed, few of the other genera can be faid,
in ftritt propriety, to poflefs the character fpecified in the
title.
Thefe plants refemble in quality thofe of the order Pre-
cise, to which they are in all refpefts very nearly allied.
The root of greater yellow gentian, the gentiana lu/ea of
Linnaeus, is a well known ftomachic, and makes a princi-
pal ingredient in bitters. The plant grows naturally in the
mountainous parts of Germany, from whence the roots are
brought to England for medicinal purpofes. The roots only
are ufed. LefTer centaury of the (hops, the gentiana centau -
rium of Linnaeus, pofleffes an operative cleanfing faculty,
removes obllru£tions, {Lengthens the ftomach, and deftroys
worms. Outwardly, it is ufed in fomentations agamft
fwellings and inflammations.
Gum labdanum is an odoriferous balfam or refin which
is found upon a fpccies of rock-rofe, the ciftus ladunfera of
Linnxus, that grows naturally in the Levant. This fub,
ilanee*
S A P
fiance, which the natives colleft by means of leather thongs,
rubbed gently over the furface of the fhrub which produces
it, is of a very balfamic nature, and ufed in medicine both
internally and externally.'
From a fpecies of Hypericiim , the natives of Louifiahay
we are informed by Boffu, extraft an oil that proves an ex-
cellent vulnerary. The following is the Indian method of
making it. In an earthen pot they put a proper quantity of
the flowers, and fome bear’s oil above it. The pot or vafe
is then well flopped, and expofed to the morning fun, the
heat of which, concentrated in the vafe, imparts to the
inclofed fubflance, which turns red, and has a very agree-
able fmell, the quality of purifying and curing all forts of
wounds.
S.
SAPOR, tafte. An attribute or quality in plants, depend-
ing upon an external fenfe, and, therefore, apparently
different even in the fame individual, according to the (late
of the organ, which is probably affefted by every change of
habit in the human body.
The ancients, particularly Ariftotle, and Theophraflus,
enumerate only feven primitive taftes ; thefe are,
1. Sweet.
II. Fat.
Ill* Acid.
IV. Acrid.
V. Auftere, or harfh.
VI. Acerb.
VII. Salt, and bitter. Thefe laft are by Theophraflus
confounded.
To thefe feven primitive tafles of Ariftotle and Theophraf-
tus, Pliny has added the following fix, which, however, ap-
pear to be rather intermediate fteps of thofe already enume-
rated than fimple taftes.
VIII. Agreeable (f navis) 4 mode of fweet.
IX. Poignant,
/
SAP
IX. Poignant, or tart (< acutus ) a lefs degree of acid.
X. Bitter ( amarus ) a fimple tafte, confounded by the
Greek naturalift, as was obferved above, with a/ different, as the fubftances differ; thus the heat of
black hellebore comes to its greatefl intenfity and diminifhes
in one minute; that of the root of garden crefs in the fame
time ; that of the root of afarabacca, in two minutes.
The leaves of milfoil, which are bitter in the fourth de-
gree, and warm in the firft, lofe, at firft, their bitternefs,
whilft their heat ff ill continues. Acorus, or fweet rufh, is
hot in the firft degree, aromatic in the third, and bitter in
the fourth ; yet its bitternefs is prefently extinguifhed ; its
heat lafts two minutes, and its aromatic fenfation feven or
eight. The heat of garden-crefs endures feven or eight
minutes ; the bitternefs of elaterium a quarter of an hour ;
the heat of euphorbium and black hellebore half an hour; the
acrid fenfation occafioned by the root of arum, or cuckoAv-
pint, often lafts twelve hours. Fromthefe familiar examples
it appears, that ihe fenfation acquires its greatefl force, in
four or fix minutes at moft, from the time of contaft ; iis
duiation in its decreafe is often thirty or forty minutes and
upwards.
1 aftes, confidered with relation to the parts which they
affefl, are either, 1, fixed and local ; 2, extend themfelves
to the parts in the neighbourhood of that whicb.is firft affefled,
without.
SAP
without, however, relinquifhing their former ftation ; as
the bitternefs of the dried roots of black hellebore, which
fpreads from the end of the tongue to its middle, and that
of the leaves of elateritim, which fpreads from the tip of the
tongue to its root ; or, 3, are tranflated from one part to
another, as in the roots of gentian, the bitternefs of which
foon relhiquiffies the tip/-f the tongue, the part firlt affe&ed,
and transfers itfelf to the middle.
Sapid bodies affeft differently the parts which they touch,
as the lips, tongue, palate, throat, and gullet.
The lips are affe&ed more ftrongly by the heat of the root
of white hellebore, than any of the other parts.
The tip of the tongue is affefted by moll plants ; gentian
and coloquintida affefl chiefly the middle, the leaves of ela-
terium, the root.
The palate is affected by the root of deadly night fhade ;
its impreffion lafls four minutes.
The throat is more affedted than the other parts by the
roots of mercury, afparagus, and jalap.
The cefophagus or gullet is particularly affefted with heat,
by the roots of wormwood. The leaves make no impreffion
of this kind, on which account they are not fo ftomachic as
the roots.
As the tafte of the fame individual undergoes feeming al-
terations, according to the perfeft or morbid ftate of the ex-
ternal organ ; fo different individuals of the fame fpecies are
liable to real variations from climate, foil and culture.
Apples and pears, which grow naturally in the woods, are
extremely harffi and acid ; wild fuccory is bitter ; wild let-
tuce difagreeable. Culture renders them all fweet and
efculent, and moreover produces fuch variety in the article
of tafte, that of 172 diftindl kinds of pears, and 200 of apples,
enumerated by authors, each kind has a peculiar tafte.
All the parts of a plant have not the fame tafte ; in fome,
the fruit has an acid and agreeable tafte, whilft the leaves or
roots are bitter and difagreeable ; in others, the reverie of
this happens. It is for this reafon that plants can never be
properly arranged by their fenftbl? qualities; the different
? p parts
S A R
parts of the fame plant poffefling different qualities, muff
necefiarily be disjoined and arranged under feparate articles.
The above obfervations on the variable nature ot tafte,
*
fufhciently evince the neceffity of excluding it from the lift
of genuine fpecific differences. The following names,
therefore, which are to be met with in authors, and others
of the like kind, are totally to be rejefted.
Apium iugratius (difagreeable)
duke (fweet)
Laftuca opij Jucco virofo (harfh like opium)
. rnitis (mild)
Pyrus fruftu faccharato or.c dcliquej cents (fweet like fugar,
and melting in the mouth).
All plants aft either by their fmell upon the nerves, by
their tafte upon the mufcular fibres, or by both upon the
fluids. Sapid bodies never aft upon the nerves, nor odo-
riferous bodies upon the mufcular fibres. The former aft
upon the fluids and /olid s, and change the fluids, which are
evacuated by both fapid and odoriferous fubftances.
The virtues' and qualities of plants are commonly indi-
cated by their tafte, fmell, and colour.
Infipid plants and fuch as have no fmell, have rarely any
medicinal virtue.
Sapid and odoriferous plants, on the contrary, always
po fiefs very ftrong powers.. In faft, to deprive a plant of
its tafte and fmell, is to rob it of its virtue, as is evident
from the change effefted in the faeculae and extrafts of arum,
calla,' caffada, and elaterium.
Sweet- fmelling plants are generally of innocent quality
fuch as are naufeous, and ot a rank, heavy, difagreeable
fmell, are noxious.
The plants of the following lift are linking examples of
the latter. Many mufhrooms, elder, herb-chriftopher,
aconite, hellebore, afarabacca, llinking bean-trefoil, thorn-
apple, tobacco, henbane, coloquintida, and hounds-tongue.
SARMENTACE^E,^ famientum , the twig, Ihoot, or fpray
of a vine) ; the name of the eleventh clafs in Linnasus’s
Fragments
S A R
Fragments of a Natural Method, confining of plants which
have climbing hems and branches, that, like the vine, at-
tach themfelves to the bodies in their neighbourhood for the
purpofeof fupport.
I '
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnaean Genera. Englijh Names.
Alftroemeria.
A rijlolochia,
—
— Birthwort.
Afarum ,
- —
— Afarabacca.
Afparagus ,
—
— Afparagus, by corruption
Centella.
Sparrow-grafs.
Ciffampelos .
Convallaria ,
—
— Lily of the valley.
Cy firms.
Diofcorea.
*
Erythronium,
—
— Dog’s tooth violet.
Gloriofa ,
—
— Superb lily.
Mcdeola ,
—
— Climbing African afparagus.
Menifpermum ,
N
— Moon -feed.
Paris,
—
— True-love, or one-berry.
Rajania.
Rufcus ,
— Butcher’s broom, or knee-
•
holly.
Smilax,
—
— Rough bind-weed.
Tamus ,
—
— Black bryony.
Trillium,
—
— Three leaved night-fhade, or
Uvularia.
herb true-love of Canada.
Thefe plants are far from being a true natural aflemblage.
In fa£f, they agree in fcarce a fingle circumltance, fave that
expreired in the title, which is far from being peculiar to this
order.
The pounded root of cifj'ampelos, the caapeba of Plumier,
P p 2 applied
S A R
applied externally) is faid to be an antidote again!} the bites
of venomous ferpents. The plant being infufed in water,
quickly fills the liquor with a mucilaginous fubftance,
which is as thick as jelly; whence the name of freezing.-
wyth, by which this genus of plants has been diflinguifhed
by the Brazilians.
The powdered root ot a Mexican fpecies of birth-wort,,
the Ariftolochia anguidda of Linnaeus, proves, according to-
Dr. Jacquin, an infallible remedy againft fnakes ; thofe per-
nicious animals being adlually fafcinated and even killed by
it. In Carthagena, the Indians chew the root of this plant,
and mix its juice with the faliva. If one drop of this mix-
ture is put into the fnake’s rnouth, it becomes iptoxicated,
and you may handle it with perfect impunity; if two or
three drops are forced in, and they reach the ftomach of the
reptile, convulfions inftantly follow, and it dies. The
Indian, who fliewed Dr. Jacquin this method, informed
him likewife, that he himfelt had been thrice bitten by,
fnakes, and had at each time cured the wound by the appli-
cation both internal and external of AriJloJochia. The plant
itfelf has fo naufeous a fmell, that it is always avoided by
fnakes-, and, when chewed, caufes vomiting even to men.
It feems highly probable that it is ol this fpecies of Arif-
tolocbia , that Bofi'u, in his- travels through .Louifiana, relates
the following curious fact. “ During my voyage to Tom-
bekbe, a wbijiler-fnake , (fo termed from its having a prodi-
gious wide moufch, and when angry, whiffling at a terrible
rate) which lay concealed under fome leaves, bit a foldier
of my detachment, who trod upon its tail. The foldier
-was barefoot, and the fnake fo irritated, that it got hold of
his big toe, which, it obftinately held faff. I was very un-
eafy and forry to fee this foldier, who was my interpreter,
expofed to perifh ; and, as an Indian dodtor juft then acci-
dentally pafl'ed by the place where we were, I applied to
him for advice. He look a powder out of a little fack, and
blew it through a tube upon the fnake’s head, which died
inftantly. He put another powder upon the wound, .which
prevented the poifon from taking effedf, giving fome of it in
water
SAR
water at the fame time to the patient, who was quite V'ftl in
a moment. This Charlaton, continues Boffu, I recoin-
-penfed very handfomely, and wilhed to know his fecret,
but in vain. He refilled every impoitunity to that effect,
telling me haughtily, and in the tiue ftile and ihanner of
the juggler, that the Mailer of life, who had communicated
the art to him alone, would not permit it to be imparted to
another.” — Boffu, Louifiane, Tom. I.
Yams, the root of the diofcorea bulbifera of Linnaeus, are
the principal food of the Negroes in the Well-Indies. The
Ikin is pretty thick, rough, unequal, covered with many
ftringy fibres,- and of a violet colour approaching to black.
The inlide is white, and of the confidence of red beet ; it
refembles potatoes in its mealinefs, but is o-l c-lofer texture.
When raw, thefe roots are vifcous or clammy ; when
boiled or roafted, they afford very nourilhing food, and are
often preferred to bread by the inhabitants of the Well-
Indies, on account of their lightnefs and facility of digellion.
The Item of the plant is fquare ; when placed by itfelf, it
trails upon the ground, and ftrikes root at proper dillances ;
but when planted in the neighbourhood of bulhes or trees,
it avails itfelf of their fupport, climbs, and in a ihort time,
covers every place to which it can penetrate. The leaves
are oppofite, and lhaped like a heart; they are of a dark
green, pretty thick and fucculent. The flowers, which are
fmall and bell-lhaped, grow in fpikes from the wings of the
leaves, and are fucceeded by dry capfular fruits, each con-
taining feveral fmall, flat, black feeds. The plant, which
is a native of Africa and the pall-indies, is propagated by
the eyes of the root, in the fame manner as potatoes and
Jerufalem artichoke. When firlt dug out of the ground,
the roots are placed in the fun to dry ; after which, they are
.either put into fand, dry garrets, or calks, where, if kept
from moillure, they may be preferved whole years, without
being fpoilt, or diminilhed in their goodnefs. Two or three
pounds is the common weight of this root ; fome yams,
however, weigh twenty pounds and upwards.
In Siberia, fays Gmelin, they dry and mix with their
P p 3 foups,
S C A
foups, in fpring, the root of dog’s-tooth-violet, which
grows in great abundance in that country, and is termed by
the Siberians, befs.
The feeds of a Levant fpecies of moon-feed, being
formed into a pafte, are regarded, by the inhabitants, as a
genuine fpecific againft lice, and eruptions of the fkin.
The fame pafte is ufed for the purpofe ot intoxicating fifties,
which thus become an eafy prey to the firft invader.
SCABRIDvE (f caber , rough, rugged, briftly) the name
of the fifty-third order in Linnteus’s Fragments of a Natural
Method, confifting of plants with rough leaves. There is
an impropriety in chara&erizing thefe plants by a name ex-
preflive of the roughnefs of the leaves, as that circumftance
had previoufly furnifhed the claflic charafcler of the forty-
fir ft order, AspERIFOLIjE,
The degree of roughnefs, however, is much greater in
the plants which make the fubjeft of the prefent article.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order,
Linnaean Genera.
Englijh Names,
Acnida.
Bofea,
Cannabis,
Cecropia.
Cel/is,
Dorftenia,
Ficus,
Humulus,
Morus,
Parietaria,
Theligonum,
Uimus,
Urtica,
— Yerva-mora, or golden - rod
tree.
— Hemp.
— Nettle-tree.
— Contrayerva.
— Fig,
— Hop.
— Mulberry-tree.
— - Pellftory.
— Dog’s -cabbage.
— Elm -tree
— Nettle,
Some
U A
Some of thefe plants, particularly fig and mulberry, yield,
'by incifion, a milky juice. That of the fig-tree is fo acrid
■and cauftic, as to make impreffions upon the fkin, which,
.when buffered to remain for a fhort time, can never be ef-
faced. Cecropia furnifhes an oily aflringent liquor.
Thefe plants are in general of an aftringent nature ; their
tafle is bitter and flyptic.
The flefhy fruits of the mulberry, fig, and nettle-trees,
-and of the genus cecropia , are efculent.
From the leaves of hemp, pounded and boiled in waiter,
the natives of the Eaft-Indies prepare an intoxicating liquor,
•of which they are very fond. From the feeds is drawn, by
expreffion, an oil, which is very proper for burning. Boiled
in milk till it cracks, the feed is accounted good for old
.coughs, and a fpecific to cure the jaundice. The (Economi-
cal ufe of hemp is well known.
The Europeans at the Cape of Good Hope fow hemp
chiefly on account of the Hottentots, who fmoak the feed
and the leaves as they do tobacco. This preparation like-
wife, to which they give the name of Dacha, has an inebri-
ating quality: “nor,” fays Kolben, “have the ftrongeft
diflillations a more furious effeft upon the head of an Euro-
pean than Dacha has upon the brain of a Hottentot. He
raves, flares, and capers as if poffeffed, and lofes himfelf
in a million of the wildefl attions and incoherencies. They
often mix Dacha and tobacco together, and then call it BuJ~
pajch."
The fcaly fruits of hops are employed to procure an
agreeable bitternefs to beer, and keep it from fouring ; the
young flioots, prepared like alparagus, afford a very pala-
table food. From the macerated flalks of hops might pro-
bably be obtained a fibrous fubftance, fimilar to that which
is obtained from hemp.
From the fruit of nettle-tree is drawn a juice, which is
faid to be aflringent, and to give eafe in violent dyfenteries.
The plant has obtained the name of nettle-tree from its
leaves, which are rough on the upper furface.
The root of the feveral fpecies of dorjlenia is the true
P p 4 contrayerva
S C I
contraverva or counterpoifon of the Spaniards. The name
has been, at different times, given to many different roots,
fuppofed to pofTefs the virtue of refilling both internal and
external poifons. With us, the root is in great eflimation
in fevers that can be relieved by encreafing the difcb'arges
through the pores of the fkin, and for throwing out the
fmall pox. The root of all the fpecies is likewife ufed in
A decoftion of the old wood of a fpecies of mulberry,
called tataiba by the Brafilians, dyes a fine yellow colour.
The leaves of fome fpecies are the common food of filk
wonns.
SCAPUS, (properly the fhaft of a pillar — a tcottw,
innitor,) an herbaceous flem fo called, which elevates the
fruttification, but not the leaves : in other words, a naked
flalk, proceeding immediately from the root, and terminated
by the flowers ; as in narciflus, lily of the valley, hyacinth,
and winter-green. This fpecies of trunk differs from a
flower-flalk, (pcdunculus) in that the latter iffues, not from
the root, but from the flem, or branches; and from a naked
flem, ( caiills aphyHus) in that the fcapus, though it elevates
no leaves, has always radical or bottom leaves ; whereas, a
naked flem is devoid of leaves altogether.
This fort of univerfal trunk generally prevails through
all the fpecies of the fame genus, and hence, can be but
feldom ufed as a difcriminating charadter. Two fpecies of
winter-green with a triangular flalk of this kind, are diflin-
guifhed by that circumflance from the other fpecies. In the
Species P/an/arum, the term fcapus is generally preceded by the
fuperfluous word naked ; an addition which is apt to miflead
the unexperienced botanifl, as feeming to imply, that naked-
nefs is not an eflential pari of the defcription of this fpecies
pf flalk.
SCI FAMINE AL, (fcitarnentum, fcitum eduliu/n, a dainty,
meat of an agreeable taflel the name of the eighth order in
Linnaeus's Fragments of a Natural Method, confifliog of
the following beautiful exotic plants, fome of which, as
banana,
S C I
banana, furnifh exquifite fruits ; and others have an agree-
able aromatic flavour.
Lif of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnaean Genera. Engl if Names.
Alpinia.
Amomum ,
— Ginger.
Canna ,
—
— Indian flowering-reed.
CoJius.
Curcuma ,
— Turmeric.
Kcempferia.
Mar ant a,
— Indian arrow-root.
Mufa,
—
— Banana, plantain-tree.
Thalia.
Thefe plants are all natives of very warm countries; and,
notwithflanding their great height, are only perennial by
their roots.
The plants of this order which have only one filament, or
male organ, (as ginger, coflus, Indian flowering-reed, al-
pinia, and Indian arrow-root) have, in all their parts, an
aromatic odour, and an acrid, or poignant tafle ; qualities,
however, poflefled in a much greater degree by the roots,
which are hot, and refinous. The fruit of the different
fpecies of plantain-tree ( muja ) is acid.
The contested roots of molt of the aromatics of this order
are greatly in ul'e; and their leaves, particularly thofe of
wild ginger, and of a fpecies of turmeric called vanhom by
theJapanefe, furnilh excellent pot-herbs. The internal ufe
of thefe plants removes obftru&ions, refills poifon, and is
of confldera'ble efficacy in gouty and aflhmatic complaints.
The flalks of cofus chewed are ufeful in flight ftages of the
venereal difeafe. Their leaves, applied externally, give eafe
in violent colics ; they likewife flrengthen the eyes.
The fruit of the banana-tree is of the fize and fhape of a
middling cucumber, and of a high, grateful flavour. The
leaves are two yards long, and a foot broad in the middle ;
they
S C I
they join f.o the top of the body of the tree, and frequently
contain in their cavities a great quantity of water, which
runs out, upon a fmall incifiom being made into the tree
at thejunftio n of the leaves. Bananas grow in greal
bunches, that weigh a dozen pounds and upwards. The
body of the tree is fo porous, as not to merit the name of
wood. The tree is only perennial by its roots, and dies down
to the ground every autumn,
, When the natives of the Weft-Indies, fays Labat, under-
take a voyage, they make provifion of a pafte of banana,
which, in cafe of need, ferves them for nourilhment and
drink. For this purpofe, they take ripe bananas, and having
fqueezed them through a fine fieve, form the folid fruit into
fmall leaves, which are dried in the fun, or in hot allies,
after being previoufly wrapped up in the leaves of Indian
flowering-reed. When they would make ufe of this pafle,
they diffolve it in water, which is very eafily done, and
the liquor, thereby rendered thick, has an agreeable acid
talle imparted to it, which makes it both refrelhing and
nouri fhing.
The banana is greatly efieemed and even venerated by the
natives of Madeira, who term it the forbidden fruit, and
reckon it a crime almoft inexpiable to cut it with a knife;
becaufe, after difleffion, it exhibits, as they pretend, a firai-
litude of our Saviour’s crucifixion ; and to cut the fruit
open with a knife, is, in their apprehenfion, to wound his
facred image.
Some authors have imagined, that the banana-tree was
that of the leaves of which our firft parents made themfelves
aprons in Paradife. The facred text, indeed, calls the
leaves employed for that purpofe, fig-leaves; and Milton,
in a molt beautiful, but erroneous defeription, fuppofes the
Malabar, or Decan fig, to have been the tree alluded to.
But, befides that the fruit of the banana is often, by the
niofl ancient authors, called a fig, its leaves, by reafon of
their great fize and folidity, were much better adapted for a
covering, than thofe of the fig-tree juft mentioned, which
are feldom above fix or eight inches long, and three broad.
On
S E M
On the other hand, the banana leaves being three, four and
live feet long, and proportionably broad, could not fail to
be pitched upon, in preference to all others; efpecially as
they might be eafily conne&ed, by means of the numerous
ftringy filaments that may be peeled with the utmofl facility
from the body of this tree.
Indian arrow-root is the only remedy yet known againft
wounds made by arrows poifoned with the milky juice of the
manchineel-tree. The natives of the Caribbee Illands,
where it naturally grows, call it toulola. It refembles Indian
flowering-reed, except in its height, which feldom exceeds
four feet. The flower is white, and fucceeded by a fruit
with three hides like a prifm, of a pale red, and very fleek,
containing a final!, wrinkled, or furrowed feed. The root
is a long, white, jointed, watery, and mealy bulb, from
which hang a great number of long dry fibres. The leaves
are ftrong, almoft as firm as parchment, of a light green,
curl themfelves as foon as gathered, and are attached to the
trunk by a long furrowed ftalk ; they are round below, four
times longer than broad, and end in a point, like the extre-
mity of a fpear or halberd. The root is pounded, infufed
in water, and made into ptifan, which is drunk by thofe
who have been wounded with poifoned arrows. It has the
virtue of diflipating the virus, and of preventing it from
reaching the noble parts. The fame root bruifed, and made
into a cataplafm, is applied externally to the wound, and
with great efficacy, if quickly ufed ; but if delayed, though
for a very fhort time, the poifon gains ground, corrupts the
parts adjoining to the wound, and having communicated its
virulence to the larger veffels, proves mortal. Of the root
of this plant is likewife made an exceeding fine ftarch, far
furpaffing that made with wheat.
SECTIO. Vide Or do.
SEMEN, the feed.; the effence of the fruit of every vege-
table ; defined by Linnaeus to be a deciduous part of the
plant, containing the rudiments of a new vegetable, and
fertilized by the fprinklingof the male duff. The parts of a
feed
SEM
feed properly fo called enumerated by Linnaens, are as
follows :
I. Corculum, the punSium v it oreflenceof the feed.
II. Cotjledones, the lobes.
III. Hilum, a mark or fear in the feed.
IV. Arillus, Lin. the proper covering: calyptra of
Tournefort.
V. CoRONULA,
Pappus,
}
the crown of the feed.
VI. Ala, the wing of the feed.
Each of thefe terms is particularly explained under its
proper head.
Befides the feed properly fo called, two other terms are
referred by Linnaeus to the general article of Semen :
thefe are.
VII. Nux, a nut, or feed covered with a hard bony fkin.
VIII. Prop ago, the feed oP the m in g^eral, be faid of the argument
chawn from the coincidence in point of time, of the anthers
311 Ji,gma: t,10uSh’ in foine particular inftances, as fpi_.
nac , muciiry, hemp, maize, and juniper, the /lamina
commonly (bed them dud before the fiignata or foppofetl
iemale organs have attained maturity.
“ 1 ?h™S which have the Jamina and feeds on diftinft
t oots, the flowers, fays Linnaeus, generally come out before
the leaves, left the latter fhould cover the female organ, and
prevent the accefs of the fertilizing duft.” Willow and
poplar are adduced as examples. In thefe inftances, the
fad is certainly as reprefented by the learned author ; and
the reafon afligned for it, however imaginary, is ingenious.
r. Alfton finds great fault with Linnaeus for qualifying his
a legations with a generally. Genera] affirmations are, in my
opinion, highly proper in dif'qui fit ions of this kind, where
the fubje&s are fo numerous, that a f'eparate examination of
each is impra&icable.
1 he argument for the fexes from caftration is attempted
to be refuted in two different ways.— 1. Suppofing its effeft
to be uniformly as reprefented by Linnaeus, and the fexualifls,
.t does not follow, fays Aillon, that the ufe of the powder of
the Jamina in fecundating the feeds is clearly demonftrated :
as wounds in a neceffary part of the plant, together with the
lofs of juice i filling from them, may well account for the
consequent barrennefs and abortion of the feeds. Malpighi
ufliims, that he produced a fomewhat fimilar effeft on the
feeds, of tulip, by plucking off the petals before their ex-
panfion. But, 2, fays Alfton, there is reafon to deny the
fift. In Geoffroy’s Experiment on Maize, fome of the
ears ripened a few feeds, although the Jamina were entirely
cut out before the opening of the anthers. An experi-
ment of the fame kind performed by Dr. Alfton himfelf,
defer ves attention. “ Obferving,” fays he, “ one year, two
y “ flrong
SEX
•** ftrong tulips growing together, in an inclofnre furrounded
with a tall and thick quickfet hawthorn-hedge, I cut
** down two or three more tulips, which flood at fome dif-
“ tance from them, fo as to leave none without that inclo-
“ fure, fave the two I mentioned ; out of thefe, gently
“ opening the petals, I plucked all the Jlamina with their
“ apices flill entire. Thd confequence of this too rude caf-
“ tration was a confulerable extravafation of the juices in
“ the bottom of the flower, and a fudden decay of the
“ ovarium or fruit, which never increafed, but turned yellow',
M fhrunk and withered. In order to difcover whether this
“ abortion was owing to the wounds, or to the want of the
" dull of the apices , I buffered tliefe two tulips to remain in
“ the place where they were; and next feafon, having ob-
“ ferved the fame precaution that no other tulip fhould flower
“ within the inclofure, I opened the petals, and took out
“ carefully, not the ftamina, but only all the apices, which
o prevented any fenfible bleeding ot the parts. This more
“ gentle caflration, they bore perfeflly well ; the ovarium
“ fufFered nothing in either of them, but increafed and came
“ to maturity, quite full of feeds.”
Thefe experiments, fo far from refuting the doftrme of
the fexcs, feem, in my opinion, to confirm it. For though
both Geoffrey and Alflon affirm that the fruit ripened and
was filled with feeds, yet it does not appear that thefe feeds
were ripe or capable of vegetation. The fame thing pof-
fibly happened to thefe plants, as to the date-tree of Father
Labat, which bore ripe dates, the Hones ot which, however,
never rofe. Be this as it may, the experiment juft recited
is impcrfefl and inconclufive becaufe totally fileiit on that
head.
The next fet of arguments againft the fexes is derived
from experiments on plants which have the pretended male
and female organs of generation placed apart on diftinft
roots. Camcrarius relates that, in the courfe of his expe-
riments, he obferved the female plants of fpinach, mercury,
and hemp, which had been pLced without the reach of the
male, produce ripe and perfefl feeds ; acircumftance which,
as
SEX -
os V alenlini obferves, made Camerarius exp refs himfelf
with doubt ot the doctrine of the faxes, of which he had
been a ftrenuous advocate. The following experiments of
Dr. Aliion upon the fame plants, if faithfully narrated, bid
faiici to be decifive on this fubjeft, than half the refined
and ingenious arguments of his opponent.
In fpi'ing, 17S7, ’ fays the doctor, “ I tranfplanted three
fets of the common fpinach, long before it could be
known whethei they were flowering or feed-bearing plants,
fiom a little oed on which they were raifed, into a place
of the garden, full eighty yards diftant, and almoft direft-
“ ly foutllJ there being two hawthorn and three holly
hedges, all pietty thick and tall, between them and their
feed-bed, and no other fpinach in the garden; all the three
proved fertile plants, and ripened plenty of feeds. I
“ fowed lhem> they grew, and profpered as well as any
“ fpinach-feed poffibly could do.
The fame >ear, a few plants of the common hemp*
“ which 1 had raifed for a fpecimen from the feed, being
“ accidentally deftroyed when very young ; and finding
afterwaids, about the end of June, a pretty ffrong, but
late plant of hemp, growing by nfelf, I caufed great care
to be taken of it, there not being that year any hemp raifed
“ within a mile of it that I could find. This plant grew
luxuriantly ; and, though bad weather in the autumn made
me pluck it up a little too foon, yet I got about thirty good
feeds from it, which, the fucceeding fpring, produced as
“ thriving male and female plants, as if the mother hemp
had flood furrounded with males.”
It is, I confefs, a matter ot no fmall difficulty for the
Sexuahfls to elude the force of the conclufion manifeflly
deducible from the refult of thefe experiments, and to ex-
plain in a manner that fhall be fatisfaftory to their opponents,
how, on their favourite principle, in the total abfence of
male plants, feeds fiiould be produced in great abundance ,
which not only feemingly ripened, as in the cafe of the date-
tree of Father Labat, but attained fucli perfect maturity, as
to be capable of vegetation, and actually to vegetate. By
this
SEX
his touchftone, indeed, we are to try the intrinfic value of
• every experiment which has the determination of the prefent
problem for its objefl : and it is only in confequence of a
feries of experiments of the fame kind, undertaken without
prejudice, accurately conduced, well authenticated, and
tried by the tell juft mentioned, that the doftrine of the fex
of plants mull ultimately ftand or fall. It is not enough,
however, (and the caution cannot be too often repeated)
that plants feem only to ripen feeds without the affif-
tance of the pulvis antherarum ; thofe feeds, to be perfect,
and to render the argument conclufive, mull contain the
embryo of a new plant, which, upon being lodged in the
foil, will unfold itfelf, and produce an individual in every
refpeft fimilar to its parent vegetable. For want of this
neceffiary teft, nothing can be concluded from M. Tourne-
fort’s affiertion of a female hop which produced ripe fruit
every year, in the king’s garden at Paris, although no
male of that fpecies was to be found within many miles of
it. For, without enquiring with Wahlbom, whether the
■cones of the hop be a calyx or a feed-veffiel, which, I think,
has nothing to do with the prefent queftion, I affirm that
‘there is no evidence whatever, from Tournefort’s Narration,
(hat the feeds which he pretends were produced by this plant,
made any efforts towards vegetation, or, indeed, that any
trials were made for that purpofe. The author is quite
filent on this head ; and hence the argument that has been
erefted upon his affiertion is totally inconclufive.
The argument for the fexes from the culture of palm-
trees has never received a fatisfaftory anfwer. Father La-
bat’s teftimony, which Alfton oppofes to the clear and
pointed evidences of other authors, makes, as we have feen,
directly again ft him.
As to Herodotus’s affiertion that the date-trees, in the neigh-
bourhood of Babylon, were fecundated by means of gnats,
which, lodging in the fruit of -the male palm, iffiued from it,
and entered into that of the female, it is direftly contradi&ed
by the authority of every author, both ancient and modern,
who has treated of the culture of palm-trees : and, it true,
would but reduce that culture to the head of caprification,
R r which
SEX
which is, in my opinion, one of the llrongell arguments for
the fexes that can poffibly be advanced.
The differences among the authors who treat of the fecun-
dation of date-trees, with refpe£l to the manner in which
the fertilizing dull is conveyed to the female, and the con-
fequences of their flerility, are much infilled upon by Alfton.
But tliefe differences prove nothing ; fince the authors in
queltion all agree in this, that the dates, to be fecundated,
mull have the affiftance of the pulvis antherarum of the
flowering palm.
The lalt argument I flrall mention is drawn from a com-
parative view of the nature of feeds and buds. The fmall-
ell fenfible particle of every plant, fays Allton, after
Malpighi, is organized in the fame manner as the whole.
TIence, if planted in the ground, each piece would proba-
bly, in progrefs of vegetation, become a plant in every
refpeft limilar to the parent vegetable. Hence, likewife,
many plants are better and more eafily propagated by cuttings,
layers, off-fets, germs or buds, than by feeds. Hence,
garlick, onions, leeks, tulips, and lilies, frequently carry
germs or cloves on the tops of the Italics, as well as at their
roots under ground. A bud is the compendium or rudi-
ment of a plant which only wants the power of extending-
or unfolding its parts. But feeds contain, likewife, the
primordia plantarum ; buds, therefore, contain the moll effen-
tial parts ol feeds, and differ from them only in the fame
manner as the living feetus differs from the egg. In this view,
buds are nothing elfe than feeds in a more pcrfedl Hate, or
in a higher llage of vegetation. Now fince buds are co-
pioufly produced by numBerlefs plants, and often break out
ot the fmoother part of the bark, efpecially of pruned trees;
and, fince the fmallefl part of a plant may be made to grow,
and emit gems, whether it be naturally fertile or barren,
male, female or hermaphrodite ; — why, continues the Doflor,
may not feeds, which are only a more imperfedl kind of
buds, be produced, without the afiillance of the pulvis an*
therarum , or the intervention of any mode of generation
whatever ?
This
S I L
This argument is plaufible, but cannot overturn the direfl
evidence in favour of the fexes that has been already fiated.
I am far, however, from wifhing to obtrude my opinion
upon the reader, or improperly influence his belief. The
principal faffs on both fides of this curious and important
queftion lie before him ; it belongs to him to eflimate their
credibility and weight, and to determine accordingly.
Opinions, if founded in truth, as they cannot be overturned
by fophifms, fo neither can they fuffer from the minutefl ex-
amination. On the contrary* if eflablifhcd in error, an exaft
and impartial fcrutiny is the moft probable means of remov-
ing the deception, by detefling their falfhood.
SILIQUA, a fpecies of pod, in which the feeds are alter-
nately fixed to either future or joining of the valves ; in
this it differs from the legumen, which has its feeds attached
to one future only. This kind of feed-veffel, which is
found in all the crofs-fhaped flowers of Tournefort, or tetra-
dynamia of Linnaeus, is diftinguifhed, by the laft author,
after Ray, from its form, mto fliqua properly fo called, and
Jilicula, or little ftliqua. The former is much longer than
broad, as- in muflard, radifb, rocket, wall-flower, lady's
fmock, and water-crefs. The latter is almofl round, the
longitudinal and tranfverfe diameters being nearly equal ; as
in honefty, mad-wort, fhepherd’s-purle, feurvy-grafs, candy-
tuft, and fome other crofs-fhaped flowers. This difference
in the form of the fruit is the foundation of the two orders
in Linnaeus’s clafs tetradynamiu, which correfponds to the
cruciformes of Tournefort, and filiquofce of Ray.
The feeds within both ftliqua and Jilicula are attached, as
to a placenta, to the futures or joining of the valves, by
means of a fmall thread or foot-flalk, which performs the
office of the umbilical rope.
SILIQUOS/E (ftliqua , a pod) the name of a clafs in
Morifon, Hermannus, Ray, and Royen’s Methods, con-
fifling of plants which have a ftliqua for their feed-
vefTel. Of rhis kind are the crofs-fhaped flowers of Tourne-
fort, and tetradynamia or plants having flowers with four
long and two fhort flamina of Linnaeus.
R r 2
SiLiauos.x
S I L
Siliquos^E is, likewife, the name of the thirty-ninth
order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method, con-
fining of plants which have the general character juft men-
tioned.
Lift of Genera contained in this Natural Order ►
SECTION I.
Crofs -Jleapcd Flowers ivith long Pods, (fill qua).
Linnaean Genera.
v
Englijh Names-.
A rails.
—
— -
Ballard tower-mullard.
BraJJica,
—
—
Cabbage, turnip, rape.
Bunias.
-
•
Cardamine,
- —
Ladies-fmock.
Cheiranthus,
—
—
Stock, wall -flower.
Cratnbe,
—
—
Sea cabbage.
Dentaria,
—
— .
Tooth- wort.
Eryftmum,
Heliophila.
— •
—
Hedge-muflard.
Hefperis ,
/
— —
—
Rocket, queen’s July-flower,
or dame’s violet.
ijatis.
—
—
Woad.
Raphanus,
Ricotia.
* /
Radifli.
Sinapis ,
—
—
Muftard.
Sifymbrium,
—
—
Water- crefs.
Turritis ,
—
—
Tower-muflarcf.
V
SECT
I O N II.
Crofs-Jhaped Flowers ivith Jhort round Pods (filicides:)-.
Alyjfum,
. —
—
Mad- wort.
Anajlatica,
—
—
Rofe of Jericho.
Bifcutclla,
—
—
Buckler-mullard.
Clypeola,
—
—
Treacle-muftard.
Cochlearia,
—
—
Scurvy-grafs, or fpoon-tvortl-
Drab a.
—
—
Whitlow-grafs.
Ibcris,
— ■
—
Candy-tuft, or fciatica-crcfs.
Lcpidiurn,
i
3
Dittander, or pepper-wort.
Lunaria,
I
S I L
Linnaean Genera.
Englijh Names.
Lnnaria,
— S.atan-flower, honefly, or
moon-wort.
Myagrum,
Peltaria.
—
— Gold of pleafure.
Subularia,
—
— Rough-leaved alyffon.
Thlafpi,
—
— - Mithridate - muflard, fhep-
herd’s purfe.
Vella,
—
— Spanifh-crefs.
Halit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
This order chiefly furnifhes biennial and perennial herbs
..of an irregular figure; braffica, fea-cabbage, Spanifh-crefs,
and fome fpecies of flock and thlafpi, form ever-green fhrubs
of a round and beautiful figure.
The Roots are long, branched, crooked, and fibrous.
Thofe of turnip and radifh are fucculent and flefhy. In
tooth-wort, they appear jointed.
The Stems and young branches are cylindric.
The Leaves, which differ in point of form, being fome-
iimes fimple, fometimes winged, are generally placed alter-
nate. In a fpecies ot thlafpi with a red flower, and a peren-
nial fpecies of moon- wort, the leaves at the bottom of the
flalk and branches are oppofite.
From the arm-pits of the leaves of a fpecies of treacle-
muflard, iflues a large, ereft thorn. The plant is generally
known by the name ot fhrubby prickly alyffon.
The Flowers are hermaphrodite, and in the greater
number, difpofed in a fpike at the extremity of the branches.
They are eafily rendered double by culture.
The Flower-cup is compofcd of four leaves, which
are oblong, hollow, blunt, bunched at the bafe, and fall
with the flower. Thefe leaves are fometimes crefl, as in
Spanifh-crefs, radifh, hedge-muflard, flock, cabbage, rocket,
and tooth-wort • fometimes fpread horizontally, as in muf-
tard, water-crefs, woad, and lady's-fmock.
The Petals, which are four in number, fpread at topt
and are difpofed like a crofs ; whence the name of crofs-
B. r 3 Ik aped
S I JL
fliaped flowers, by which Tourneforthas deflgned this natural
order; a chara&eriftical mark which, becaufe more obvi-
ous, is, in my opinion, preferable to that derived from the
inequality of the ftamina.
The claws, or lower part of the petals, are ereft, flat, awl-
fhaped, and fomewbat longer than the calyx. The upper
part widens outwards. In candy-tuft, the petals are unequal,
the two outermoft being much larger than the other two.
A fpecies of lady s-fmock, the cardamlne impatiens of Lin-
naeus, as likewife the lepidium ruderale of the fame author,
want the petals.
.The Stamina are fix in number, two of which are of
the length of the calyx, and the remaining four fomewhat
longei , but fhorter than the petals. Upon the circumftarice
of the inequality of the ftamina, combined with their num-
ber, is founded the clafs tetradymmia of the Sexual Method,
which contains all the crofs-fhaped flowers.
The Anthers are of an oblong figure,, pointed, thicker
at the bafe, and ere&. In a fpecies of Spanifh-crefs, the
vella pJev,do~cytlJus of Linnaeus, the four longer filaments are
caftrated, or want tops. Some fpecies of dittander have
only two ftamina; a Virginian fpecies of the fame genus
has three. The two leffer filaments in rpad-wort are indent-
ed at the bafe ; in which circumftance confifts the eflential
eharabler of the genus. In a fpecies of lady ’s-fmock, the
cardamine hirjuta of Linnaeus, the two leffer ftamina are
generally wanting. In fea-cabbage, each of the longer
filaments is divided at top into two parts; the anthers being
placed upon the outermoft branch.
Betwixt the Jlamina in plants of this order, are generally
lodged one, two, or four round greenifh knots, which in
fome genera are fo fmall as to chide the fight. Thefe knots,
called by Linnaeus Glandule Nectarifer.c, andufed
by that author as an eflential character in dificriminating the
genera, feem to be prominences of the receptacle of the
flower, occafioncd by the ftamina being deeply lodged in its
fubftance. This opinion feems more probable, as in treacle-
imiftard, rough-leaved alpflon, gold-of-pleafure, and fome;
Others,
S I L
others, which have the ftamina flightly attached to the fur-
face of the receptacle, no knots or glands are obferved.
In ba/lard tower-muftard, the knots in queftion are placed
betwixt the leaves of the calyx, to which they feem appen-
dages or ears. In the greater number they are feated be-
tween, or dole to, the ftamina, particularly the two fhorter
ones, to the bafe of which they are faflened.
The Seed-bud is (ingle, and Hands upon the receptacle
of the flower. The Jlyle, which is either cylindric, or flat
like a fcale, is of the length of the four longer ftamina in
the plants of the fecond order ; in thofe of the firft, it is
very fliort, or even wanting. It accompanies the feed-bud
to its maturity. The Jiigtna or fummit ot the ftyle is blunt ;
and fometimes, as in flock and rocket, deeply divided into
two parts.
The Seed-vessel is a long pod in plants of the firfl.
feftion ; a fhort and round one, in thofe of the fecond.
Either fort has two valves or external openings, and in a
great many genera, the fame number of internal cavities,
the partition of which projects at the top beyond the valves.
In a fpecies of gold-of-pleafure, the myagrum monofper-
mum latifoliuin ot Cafpar Bauhin, there are three cells, two
of which, being thofe next the top of the pod, prove
abortive ; the remaining cell at the bafe contains a Angle
feed. In radifh, the pods are jointed ; in hedge muflard,
fquare.
The Seeds are roundifh, fmall, and attached alternately
by a flender thread to both futures or joinings of the valves.
Thefe plants have a watery, fharp, lixivial tafte, and are
charged with a Axed alkaline fait, which is drawn from them
by burning, and being diflilled, without any addition, pro-
' duces a volatile alkali.
Moft of the plants in queflion have a {linking fmell.
Eryftmum alliaria , and a fpecies ot thlafpi, fnrell flrongly of
garlick.
With refped to their virtues, they are attenuating, de-
terAve, diuretic, and antifcorbutic. Thefe qualities, how-
ever, are moll eminently polfefled by the live plants; when
R r 4 dried,
1
S P A
dried, they either entirely difappear, or are greatly dimi-
nilhed.
Applied externally, thefe plants are ufeful in difeafes of
the {kin, as itch and leprofy.
SOLUM plantarum. The natural foil of plants. Each
fpecies ot plant affe&s a particular foil in preference to every
, other. In the culture of plants, therefore, it is of very
great importance to have a diffinft knowledge of their foil
and loca natalia, that the nature of the foil and earth in
which they are cultivated may be made to approach,
as neai as poffible, to that in which they fpontaneoufly
grow.
1 his fubjeft then, as is evident, pertains more properly
to gardening than botany. To the former, indeed, it ferves
as a proper and folid foundation ; in the latter it is merely a
curious fpeculation, which, however, cannot fail, if pro-
perly handled, of affording inftruftion as well as amufe-
ment.
The reader is referred, for ingenious conjeftures on this
fubjeft, to the head Adumbration es in Linmeus’s Philo ~
fophia Botanica.
SPADICEUS flos, (from fpadix) ; an aggregate flower, in
> which the receptacle is inclofed within a fpatha or {heath
that is common to many florets. This term, ufed by the
ancients only of palms, is extended by Linnaeus to all
flowers which, like narciffus, calla, dracontium, pothos,
arum, and zoftera, are protruded from that fpecies of com-
mon cajyx called a fpatha or fheath.
SPADIX, anciently fignified the receptacle of the palms.
It is now ufed to exprefs every flower-ftalk that is protruded
out of a fpatha or fheath.
The fpadix of the palms is branched ; that of all other
plants, fimple. This laft cafe admits of fome variety. In
calla, dracontium and pothos, the florets cover it on all Tides ;
in arum, they are difpofed on the lower part only ; and in
zoltera, on one fide.
SPA I HA, a fheath; a fpecies of calyx which burlls
lengthways, and protrudes a Italic fupporting one or more
flowers,
S P I
flowers, which commonly have no perianthium or proper
flower-cup.
The fpatha opens on one fide, from bottom to top, and
confifts either of one piece, as in narciffus, fnow-drop, and
the greater number of fpathaceous plants ; of two, as in
marfh-aloe ; or of a number of fcales laid over one another
like tiles, as in plantain-tree.
SPATHACEAL (from fpatha , a fheath) the name of the
ninth order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method,
confifting of plants whofe flowers are protruded from a
fpatha or fheath.
7
Lif of the Genera contained, in this Natural Order.
Linniean
Genera.
Englifh Names.
Allium,
—
— Garlick, onion, &c=
Amaryllis,
—
— Lily-daffodil.
Bulbocodium.
i
Colchicum,
_
— Meadow-faffron.
Crinum ,
—
— Afphodel-lily.
Galanthus,
—
— Snow-drop,
Gethyllis.
\
Hcemanthus,
—
— Blood-flower.
Leucoium,
—
— Greater fnow-dropr-
Narcifjps,
—
■ — Daffodil. '
Pancratium,
— •
— Sea daffodil.
Thefe plants are nearly allied in habit and ftruflure to the
liliaceous plants, from which they are chiefly diftinguifhed
by the fpatha or fheath out of which their flowers are
protruded. Vide Coron ARI A.
SP1CA, properly an ear of corn, a fpike ; a mode of
flowering, in which the flowers are ranged alternately upon
both fides of a Ample common flower-flalk. The term is
exemplified in arum, American night-fhade, pepper, and
fcveral of the graffes. The flowers in a fpike are fcated
immediately upon the ftalk, without any partial foot-flalk,
in which it differs from the racemus or clufter. A fpike is
* 11 - . w
S T A
faid to be fingle-rowed (JpUaJecunda) when the flowers are
are all turned towards one fide, as in daayli, cymfunidrs -
double-rowed (Jp.ca diflicha) when they look to both fides'
or itand two ways. *
SPINA, a thorn; a fpccies of armature or offenfive wea-
pon, protruded from the wood of the plant, and, therefore
^: h?ngei-and -arder natUre than Prickles> which are’
detached portions of the bark.
- Th0rnS, arC ekher fimPIe> as in raoft plants; double as
“ h°rned acacia 5 or tnPle’ as in another fpecies of acacia
hence termed triple-thorned. ’
Spines are protruded either from the Hem and branches
foot-fl Iks of the leaves, as in falfe acaeia; from the leaves
em elves, as m aloe, American aloe, Adam's needle
holly, manchineel, carline-lhillle, artichoke, bear's-breeeb
jumpet, tmlk-wort, butcher's-broom, and fea.pink ; frod
he ribs of the leaves, as m fevcral of the night-fhades •
tom the calyx, as in duffle, centaury, and mad-apple; or’
am mo / °r lruit' « » caltrops^pinach,'
agrimony, and thorn-apple.
Some plants lofe their fpines, as the branches of pear
citron, orange, lemon, medlar, hawthorn, and goofeberry
bufli, by culture ; the leaves of holly, by age.
M. Duhamel compares thorns, which are an expanfion of
e lignous body to the horns of animals, which adhere to
he bones of the fcull, and are protruded from them.
STAMINA, threads or chives. The {lender threads
which in molt flowers are plated round the feed-bud. They
are defined by Linnaeus to be entrails of the plant, deftined
for preparing the pollen or fine powder which the Sexualifts
affirm to be the main agent in the generation of plants.
The form of each Jtamen is generally that of a {lender
thread, furmounted by a fmall prominence or button con,
taming a powder. Hence its divifion into,
Filamcntum the Pender thread-fhaped part refembling a
ioot-ilalk, which fupports the
Anthera ,
S T E
Anthera, or fumxnit, a fmall fack or capfule wit-h one or tw*
cavities, attached differently to the filament.
Pollen, the fecundating duff contained within the anthers,
which difcharge it when ripe.
Each of thefe terms is particularly explained under its
refpeflive head.
STEEL ATvE fjlella, a liar) the name of a clafs in Her-
mannus, Boerhaave, and Ray’s Methods, confifting of
plants with two naked feeds, and leaves difpofed round the
item in the form of a radiant Ear. The term is exemplified
in madder, lady’s bed-ftraw, crofs-wort, and woodroof.
Stellate is, likewife, the name of the forty-feventh
order in Linnaeus's Fragments of a Natural Method, confifl.-
ingof plants which poffefs the general charafters juft men-
tioned.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnaean Genera. Englifh Names.
i '
Anthofpermum
»
- —
Amber-tree.
Afperula^
—
—
W oodroof.
Crucianella,
Diodia.
— —
— -
Petty madder.
Galium ,
Hedyotis.
Knoxia.
Lippia.
Ladies bedflraw, or cheefc-
rennet.
Phyllis ,
Richardia.
— —
■ 1 ■
Baftard hare’s-ear.
Rubia,
—
—
Madder.
Sherardia,
—
—
Little field-madder.
Spermacoce ,
—
— V,
Button-weed.
Valantia ,
Ilouflonia.
Oldenlandia.
Ophiorrhiza.
Crofs-wort. .
/
Spigelia,
—
7-
Worra-grafs.
7 Coffift
S T I
Linnasan Genera. Englijh Names.
— • Coffee-tree.
■ Dogwood, or cornelian
cherry.
This order, which, in its prefent form, is far from Na-
tural, contains herbs, fhrubs, and trees. The herbs, which
are moJI numerous, are chiefly annual, and creep along
the furface of the ground. The fhrubs and trees are chiefly
evergreens, which rife erect, and are of an agreeable conic
form.
Thefe plants are of an opening nature ; their feeds, par-
ticularly thofe of coffee, are bitter and cordial. Galium verum
pofleffes the property of curdling milk. The roots of mad-
der are greatly efteemed by dyers for the beautiful-red colour
which is procured from them. A fpecies of hedyotis pof-
feffes the fame quality. An infufion of arapabaca or Jpigelia
is fpecific againft worms ; whence the Englifh title of worra-
grafs by which this genus of plants has been defigned. The
roots of ophiorrhiza, as the name imports, preferve froin
the dangerous confequences of the venomous bites of fer-
pents.
STIGMA, (properly a mark or brand, a gti'(u, pungo,}
the fummit of the ftyle, accounted by the fexualifts the
female organ of generation in plants, which receives the
fecundating dull of the tops of the ftamina, and tranfmits its
vapour or effluvia through the flyle into the heart of the
feed-bud, for the purpofe of impregnating the feeds.
Moll plants have a fingle ftigma. Lilac has two of thefe
organs ; bell-flower three ; in French willow, herb, and
grafs-of-Parnaflus, they are four in number • in winter-
green, five. W ith refpefl to figure, the ftigma is either
round, as in primrofe ; oval, as in genipa ; crofs-fhaped,
as in penaea ; fhaped like a target, as in water-lily, poppy,
and
7 Caffe a,
Camus ,
Jxora.
Pavetta.
PJychotria.
S T I
and fide-faddle flower ; in the form of a crown, as in winter-
green ; hooked, as in violet and American viburnum ; ribbed
or furrowed, as in meadow-faffron ; fhaped like a head (ca-
pitatum) as in periwinkle, caltrops, fcarlet-convolvulus, and
clufia; angular, as in muntingia ; of the nature of a leaf,
as in iris ; or covered with down, as in cucubalus, rhubarb,
tamarilk, the grades, and mod of the pea-bloom flowers.
The divifions of the ftigma are {lender like hairs, as in
dock ; twilled into feveral convolutions, as in crocus ;
turned backwards, as in campanula, pink, and the compound
flowers ; or bent to the left as in vifeous campion. Thefe
divifions are generally two in number ; in afarabacca, the
ftigma is deeply cut into fix parts, and in turnera, more
{lightly into a greater number.
The number of fly les is to be reckoned from their imme-
diate infertion into the feed-bud. Whatever divifions are
above that infertion, are only fegments of the ftyle or
ftigma. Without attending to this diflinflion, we might fre-
quently be apt to refer certain genera of plants, from a fuper-
ficiai view' of the number of their ftyles, to an improper
■order in Linnaeus’s Method, the fccondary divifions of w'hicli
are derived from the number of ftyles, reckoned, as w-e have
faid, from their infertion into the feed-bud.
Iu flowers which have no ftyle, the ftigma adheres to the
feed-bud ; and its number, like that of the ftyles, ferves as
a foundation to the orders in the Linnaean Method of ar-
rangement. Thus poppy, prickly poppy, celandine, may-
apple, herb-chriftopher, caper, and water-lily, which have
a Angle ftigma, are referred to an order of plants having
one ftyle, although the ftyle in thefe plants be totally-
wanting.
With refpefl to duration, the ftigma generally withers
without falling off ; in poppy, water-lily, and fide-faddle-
flower, it is permanent.
The furface of the ftigma is covered with a clammy moif-
ture, which ferves to diffolvc the particles of the fertilizing’
duft of the anthers, and thereby more ealily tranlmit its
effluvia and effence, which Linnaeus calls the aura feminalis r
S T I
to the feeds below. The experiments of Juffieu, Vai'llant,
and Needham, have left no room for doubt on this matter. *
The fhgma, when hngle, generally terminates the Ityle.
When there are feveral fligmata , as in cotton, and molt of
the liliaceous plants, they are difpofed with admirable fym -
metry along its hdes. In American viburnum, petrea , and
uppw, the Jligma, which is Angle, is placed upon the fide
ot the Ityle, or rather obliquely on its extremity.
Si I MU LI, flings ; a fpecies of armature or oflenfive
weapon, with which fome plants, as nettle, caffada, acalypha ,
and Iragia are furnilhed. Their ufe, fays Linnams, is, by
their venomous punftures, to keep off nailed animals that
would approach to hurt them.
STI PES properly fignifies the trunk of a tree. By Lin-
naeus it is uled to denote the trunk of the mulhrooms," the
bafe of the footflalk in the fern and palm tribes, as likewifc
the (lender thread, which, in many of the compound flowers,
elevates the feathery or hairy crown f pappus) with which
the leeds are furnilhed, and connefts it with the feed. The
appearance in queftion is confpicuous in gum-fuccory, dan,
dehon, baftard hawk-weed, Jeriola , hypochoeris , colt’s-foot,
and fome fpecies of wild lettuce.
STIPULA, (flraw, bubble) ; one of the fulcra or fup-
port$ ol plants, defined by Linnaeus to be a fcale or flnall
leaf, flationed on each fide the bafe of the foot-flalks of the
flower and leaves at their firft appearance, for the purpofe
of fupport. Elmgren reftrifts it to the foot-flalks of the
leaves only
Malpighi was the firfl who made obfervations on the
number, figure and fituation ol this auxiliary part of the
plant. Linnaeus has improved upon Malpighi’s obfervations,
and called in the Jlipula as elfential charaflers in difcriminat-
ing the fpecies.
The appearance in queftion is confpicuous in tamarind,
caffia, tofe, honey-flower, tulip-tree, apricot, peach, bird-
cherry, and the pea-bloom flowers.
Stipules exhibit the fame variety in form and ftrufture as
the leaves, at whofc inflation they are frequently placed.
The
S T R
The greater number of plants have two JllpuJes , one on eacli
fide of the foot-ftalk : in the African fpecies of honey-
flower and butcher’s broom, there is only a fingle fcale of
this kind, which, in the former, is placed on the infide, in
the latter, on the outfide of the flalk.
With refpeft to duration, fome fHpula: fall before the
leaves, as in cherry, bird-cherry, almond, popkr, lime,
elm, oak, beech, horn-beam, hazel-nut, birch, alder, Eg,
and mulberry' : others are permanent, or continue till the
fall of the leaves, as in rofe, rafpberry, flrawberry, cin-
quefoil, tormentil, avens, and the pea-bloom flowers.
In mod plants the Jlipula are detached from the flalk :
in rofe, cinquefoil, comarum, rafpberry, and honey-flower,
they grow clofe to the plant.
In fig and mulberry-trees, the JlipuJa are produced on
the infide of the leaves : in birch, lime, and the pea-bloom
flowers, on the outfide ; in platanus, they form a fort of
ruff, which furrounds the branches.
Lafllyr, in the lipped, and crofs-fhaped flowers of Tourne-
fort, the rough-leaved and ftarry plants of Ray* the natural
order orchidea: , the liliaceous plants, and feveral of the com-
pound flowers, the Jiipula or fcales in queftion are want-
ing.
The JlipuLx frequently afford excellent marks of diftinc-
tion in difcriminating the fpecies. Thus, the African and
Ethiopian fpecies of honey -flower are effentially diftinguifhed
from one another by' the number and fituation of the Jiipula ;
which, in the former, are fingle, and grow clofe to the flalk :
in the latter, double, and detached from it. In like manner^
the kidney-fhaped, and bearded or hairy flipula of cajjia
auriculata diftinguifh that fpecies from all its congeners.
STROBILUS, (properly a pine-apple, as likewife an
artichoke, which in figure refembles it) ; — in the modern
botanical nomenclature^ a cone; a fpecies of feed-veflcl
compofed of woody fcales, which are placed againft one
another, and fplit only at top, being fixed below to an
axis which occupies the centre of the cone. The term is
exemplified in pine, fir, cyprefs, and the other cone-bear-
S ing
S T R
ing plants, whofe habit and ftru&ure are particularly defcrib-
fed under the article Conifers, which fee.
STRUCTURA vcgetabilis. The ftru&ure or interna!
organifation of plants.
The organifation and internal ftrufture of the different
jparts of vegetables, Rich as the items and branches, the
leaves, the calyx, the petals, and feeds, is not exaftly the
fame , in fome they are formed of two or three, in others
of all the fimple organical parts contained in the bark and
wood of the Hem, in which the organifation is molt appa-
rent.
The baik of the trunk is compofcd of four fimilar parts,
viz. I. the epidermis, cuticle or fcarf-fkin, which infolds
the beds of the bark. II. Veffels containing the fap. III.
Veffels containing the blood or proper juice of the plant.
IV. The cellular web or tiffue-.
I. The epidermis is a very fine membranous fubffance
fpread over the bark, and is always tranfparent and elaftic,
without colour or any fenfible organifation, fome very
fmall pores excepted, which are fometimes difcovered in its
fubftance, and probably ferve the double purpofe of throw-
ing off the luperfluous nourifhment, and imbibing nevV.
II. The fap-veffels are woody longitudinal fibres, which
are hollow, and almoft inconceivably fine. They are devoid
of ramifications, and fo fituated* with refpeft to one another*
as to form a web of feveral bundles in form of a net, the
mefhes of which are longer than broad. Thefe fmall bundles
are the true vegetable mufcles, and differ in their figure
from thofe of animals, which are formed of large maffes
of fibres accumulated one above another.
III. The proper veffels, called likewife, from their ufe*
vegetable blood-veffels, are flraight longitudinal fibres, larger
than the fap-veffels, and lefs numerous; They are filled
with the proper juice* which is generally coloured, and isi
in fa£t, the blood of the plant. Of this kind is the milk
of fpurge, dog’s-bane, 2nd fig, the yellow juice of celan-
dine, the refin of fir and pine-trees, and the mucilage of
plants of the mallow tribe.
IV. The
S T R
IV. The cellular web, or ti flue, is an afiemblageof littid
bladders, without any fenfible communication, which fill
the interfaces of the net formed by the fap-veffels, and tra-
\erfe the whole fubffance of the bark and Wood* from the
pith, or medullary fubffance in the centre, of which it is
only a prolongation, to the epidermis or fkin of the bark,
where it is much flenderer than towards the centre of the
wood.
The fubffance in queliion is diflinguifhed by different
names from the ftruCfure of the parts in which it is found.
When contained in the fmall mefhes of the woody longitu-
dinal fibres or fap-veffels of the trunks and roois of trees,
it is termed, as we have faid, the cellular tiffue ; when
collected into larger voids, formed by mefhes that aid
placed more remote from each other, as in the leaves, it
takes the name of parenchyma ; when it forms a bed betwixt
the epidermis, and the beds of the bark, as happens in the
bark of herbs, and of the young branches of trees, it is
termed the cellular cover : and when colleCfed in the heart
of the plant within the wood, is known by the name of the
pith, marrow, or medullary fubffance.
In its ffateof parenchyma and cellular cover, each bladder
is of a deep green colour, herbaceous and fucculent.
The pith, as we have juft obferved, is only a modification
of the cellular tiffue. This appears from its originally affuming
the exact form, colour, and confifience of that fubffance.
••
Thus, the pith of all the new productions of trees confiffsof a
number of oval, green, and fucculent bladders, exactly like
tliofe of the bark and wood ; and it is not till the end of one
or two years, that tlicfe bladders become empty, dry up,
affume a fpherical form, and finally take the confifience
and colour of pith, which, in the greater number of plants,
is white ; in fome, as horfe-chefnut, yellow, or ruff-colour-
ed ; in others, a* walnut, brown ; and in others, red.
The principal feat of the pith in thole plants which abound
in it, is in the heart of the lignous body, where it is con-
tained as in a tube, which ferves to difFufe it into the fub-
/fance of the wood and bark. Herbs and fln ubs have, in
S i general.
STR
general, a greater quantity of pith than trees. In elm, oak,
hazel, pear and apple-trees, there is fcarce any pith ; in
guaiaeutn, ebony, iron-wood, and the roots of tobacco,
and thorn-apple, it is entirely wanting. Walnut, holly,
afh and pine, have but an inconfiderable quantity: elder-tree,
hawthorn, fig-tree, lumach, and wormwood, produce it in
great abundance.
Not with flan ding its thicknefs, the pith in the heart of trees
dilappears infenfibly ; the canal which contains it, as the
plant waxes old, contrafts itfelf by degrees, and the lofs of
pith is fupplied by the enlarged dimenfions of the fap and
blood-veffels which traverfe its fubltance, although lei's fen-
fible to obfervation in its Hate of pith. It is doubtlefs thefe
veffels, at firft infenfible, which furnilh the turpentine that
oozes trom the pith ot pine and fir trees.
The bladders ol the medullary fubfiance are larger in the
centre than towards the body of the wood ; and it is obferved
in general, that thofe herbs which have the greateft quantity
ol pith have likewife the largelt bladders. The fame does
not hold in trees. Elder-tree has a great quantity of pith,
yet very fmall bladders.
The innermoft part ol the bark, or that which is next the
wood, is termed liber , from its fine and thin plates refem-
bling the leaves of a book.
The wood, or lignous body, is compofed of the fame
conllituent parts as the bark, except the epidermis, which,
i t that body, is fupplied by the bark itfelf. It likewife
poirelfes a fourth part, or ferfes of veffels, not to be found in
the bark. Thefe are the tracheae, or vell’els which receive
and tranfinit the air neceffary lor preparing and giving motion
to the humours.
1 he trachea?, or air veffels, are tubes formed of elaftic
plates twilled fpirally in a direction contrary to the apparent
diurnal motion of the fun. Thefe tubes ate of large. diame-
ter than all the other veffels that are found in the wood, or
bark, even thole containing the proper juice or blood of the
plant, and, according to the obfervation of Malpighi, are
larger in the roots than in the trunk.
S t R
The lignous beds are, at fir ft, foft and tender, andacquird
fluidity only by degrees; They form fo many concentric
circles or rings, the outermoft of which, or thofe next the
bark, being of later produ&ion, are fofter and lefs coloured
than thofe which are lodged nearer the centre; It is thefe
innermoft beds that form the body of the wood properly fo
called : the outer beds, which are ol a much fofter texture,
and frequently of a different colour, being called alburnum*
which is only another term for tender imperfett wood, that
haS not yet acquired its ultimate degree of folidity; This
fubftance is only found in the hard woods, fuch as ebony,
pomegranate, oak, and pine-trees. In the foft woods, on
the contrary, which never acquire any great degree of foli-
dity, fuch as baobab, filk-cotton tree, lime-tree, afpen, alder,
and birch, there is no alburnum, or, perhaps, to fpeak more
properly, there is no wood ; the lignous body remaining
always in its firft ftate of alburnum, without acquiring any
further degree of folidity.
Such, in general, is the organifation of vegetables, which
in no part is fo confpicuous as in the ftem. The fame orga-
nifation, according to Grew, obtains in every part of the
plant, as the root, leaves, and each, even the minuteft, part
of fruftification. More recent experiments on this fubjeft
feem, however, to evince, that the ftru&ure of all the parts
is not exaftly the fame ; a few of the conftituent parts of the
ftem being entirely wanting in fomeof the other parts.
The external parts of plants are by fome modern naturalifts
denominated produ£lions and terminations of the internal.
The leaves, braflece, and calyx, are confidered by fuch
authors as prolongations of the coarfe outer bark ; the petals
and flamitia of the liber or fine inner bark ; the piftillum of
the pith. The wood is, in fome lort, the fkeleton or mafs
of bones which prefcrves all thefe parts in their place, and
concurs with them in performing the vital functions. Hence
in the opinion of thefe authors, the bark and pith conftitute
the effencc of the vegetable body.
Notwithftanding thefe affertions, it is certain that the or-
gantfation of the leaves is nearly the fame with that of the
ss 2 ftem.
S T V
ftsm. They are, is fa£l, a fort of flat compreffed fletns,
compofed, like the part laft mentioned, of an epidermis, a
cortical body on both Tides, and a lignous body in the centre.
They differ onlv in two particulars : 1 , That their epidermis,
or fcarf-lkin, is furnifhed with a number of cortical glands,
which, in herbaceous vegetables, are lodged on both fur-
faces ; in trees, on the under furface only. 2, That the
cellular tiffue or parenchymatous fubflance is found in much
greater abundance in the leaves than ftems of plants, and is
always green and fucculent, never paffing into the ffate of
pith.
The calyx, or external cover of the flowers, which is
generally green, does not differ fenfibly in its organifation
from the leaves, unlefs that it frequently wants the. lignous
body.
The petals feem almoft entirely compofed of trachea, or
air-veffels. They waht the cortical glands in their epider-
mis, which are found on the furface ot the leaves and flower-
cups.
For further obfervations on the anatomy of plants, the
reader is referred to the works of Grew, Malpighi, and
Duhamel, who have handled this curious fubjetl with the
utmoft accuracy and minutenefs.
STYLUS, the flyle ; the llender part of the piJliUum or
female organ, refembling a pillar, and correfponding to the
vagina in animals, which Hands upon the feed-bud, and
elevates the Jiigma.
The number of itylcs, generally fpeaking, is equal to
that of the feed-buds, each feed-bud being furnifhed with its
own particular flyle. The compound flowers, cone-bearing
plants, rofe, ranunculus, tulip-tree, and many other plants,
evince this to be their natural if rubture.
There are, however, plants which have more than onq
flyle for a fingle feed-bud, as the umbelliferous plants ; and
tiieic are others, which, on the contrary, have a fingle flyle
common to manv feed-buds, as the rough-leaved plants and
inpll of the lipped-flowers. In a third let of plants which feem
to form a medium betwixt the two former, the flyle is fingle
at
/
/
at its origin, but foon branches out into as many ramifications
as there are ceils in the cavity of the feed-bud. Of this kind
are the plants of the geranium and mallow tribes, which
have their ftyles divided above into five branches, cone-,
fponding to the five divifions of the feed-bud or capfule.
The divifions or branches juft mentioned are either two
in number, as in perficaria, cornutia, and febeften, in which
left the ftyle is forked, each of the two branches being fub-
divided into two ; three, as in clethra and Irankenia ; four,
as in buckthorn and alaternus ; pr five,"' as in Syrian mallow.
The number of ftyles, and in their abfence, of Jiigmata ,
ferves as a foundation to raoft oil the orders or fecondary
divifions in the fexual method.
With refpefcl, to figure, the ftyle is either cylindrical and
hollow like a tube, as in. moft plants ; angular, as in Indian
flowering-reed and fome liliaceous plants ; awl-fhaped, as in
geranium ; {lender like a hair, as in cercitocarpus ; or club-
fhaped above, as in greater fnow-drop.
In point of proportion and dimenfions, the ftyle is
either of the length of the Jlamlna , as in tobacco, and moft
plants ; very long, as in tamarind, cafiia, campanula, viper’s-
grafs, Turkey-wheat, and the nodding or drooping flowers,
as fnow-drop and fritillaria ; very fhort, as in dog’s bane,
red jafmine, and moft of the other plants of the natural
order, \ontort(C ; thicker than the Jiamina , as in greater fnow-
drop ; of equal thicknefs, as in dead-nettle ; or flenderer,
as in ceratocarpus.
In the greater number of plants, the ftyle is feated upon
the fummit of the feed-bud ; in rofe, rafpberry, ftrawberry,
cinque-foil, tormentil, avens, dryas, and marlh-cinque-
foil, the ftyles, which are numerous, iflue from within the
fide of their refpedive feed-buds. In furiana, hirtclla,
ladies-mantle, percepier, and cocoa-plum, they are fre-
quently produced at the bafe of the feed-bud : and in caper
and burning-. thorny -plant they Hand both above and below
it.
With refpeft to duration, the ftyle either falls with the
other parts ol the flower, as in moft plants ; or accompanies
5 s a the
sue
\
the Fruit to its maturity, as in the crofs-fhaped flowers, the
tttradynamia of the fexual method.
SUCCULENTS ( J'uccus , juice) the name of the thir-
teenth order in Linnaeus’s fragments of a natural method,
' confiding of flat, flelhy, fucgulent plants, moll of which
are evergreen.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linntean Genera,
oc Aizoon.
Cadlus, — •
Galenia.
MeJ emhryanthemum, — -
Neu rad a.
Reaumuria.
Tamarix, — —
Tetragonia.
$ Cotyledon , — — -
Crajj'ula, — —
Penthorum ,
Rhodiola, — —
Sedum, — - —
Sempervivum, — , —
Sept as.
Suriana.
Pi 11 a: a, tt-
y Claytonia..
Naina.
Porta laca , — • —
Sefuvium.
Trianthema, - — — •
3 A-doxa, — —
Cbryfofpleniiim , —
Hydrangea.
pill tel la, — —
Saxifraga, — —
Tiarellify
Englijh Names.
Melon-thiftle, torch-thiflle,
Indianrfig.
Fig-marigol^,
Tamarifk,
Navel-wort,
Lefler orpine,
Rofe-root.
Lefler houfe-leek, flone-crop,
Houfe-leek,
Small annual houfe-leek.
Furflain,
Horfe-purflain,
Tuberous mofchatpl* or hoL
low-root,
Golden faxifrage.
Baflard American fanicle,
Saxifrage,
I decline
V
sue
I decline entering into the charafters of this numerous
order, as I cannot regard it in any other light than as an
affemblacre of two or three natural orders, the charafters of
which ought, therefore, to be preferved diftinft. — The fuc-
eulent plants are refreshing, aftringent, and of very whole-
fome ufe.
The leaves of purflain are ufed in fallads, as are likewife
the berries of the opuntias [Caftus).
The fruit of tamarifk is aftringent, and ufed in haemorr-
hages.
The juice of the leaves of houfe-leek is an excellent
cofmetic.
Galenia has a warm, poignant, and fomewhat aromatic
tafte refembling pepper, which, however exceeds it in
llrength.
Externally, the leaves of purflain are fuccefsfully employ-
ed in St. Anthony’s fire, and other inflammations of the
fkin. The Americans apply the cereus’s or torch-thiftles,
to promote the union of trattured bones.
From the anacampj eras purpurea of Bauhin, the fedum foliis
planiufculis of Linnaeus, is procured by maceration, a water,
which is reckoned by the Siberians an excellent vulnerary,
and in fuch eftimation, fays Gmelin, that they fcruple not
to believe it endued with the lingular virtue of raifing the
dead to life.
Indian-fig, the caftus ficus Indica of Linnaeus, has no
Hem. The leaves, which are flefhy, thick, and oval, grow
out of one another as by joints. At the fummit of the leaf
i flues the flower. The plant does not rile high, and in fome
fort creeps. The brifily fpines or prickles, with which the
leaves arc armed, harden as the plant increafes in age. In-
dian-fig is refrelhing, and ilains the urine of fucli as ufe it
internally of a red colour.
The cochineal Ihrub is the cadlus cochiniUifcr of Linnaeus
The leaves are two fingers thick, ol a beautiful green, and
.very prickly. The flowefs are of a pale rofc-colour, a id
fucceeded by a fig-like fruit, which, when ripe, is full of a
deep purple pulp, containing a number of very Email flat
ss 4 rough
i
sue
jough feeds that are as red as blood -within. Upon this
plant, which is a native of Mexico and the Weft-Indfi*
Hands, is found the infeft or bug called cochineal, which
is u fed by the dyers as their principal bafis for the fcarlet
colour. It is a fix- legged viviparous infefl, the female of
which is only ufed. This is produced from the egg in its
perfea form, and undergoes no transformation afterwards.
It has no wings, noi, indeed^ has it ufe for any, thegreateft
part of its life being fpent on the vegetable wherepn it feeds.
Father Plunder was the fir ft who correaed the miftaken
notion, which had long univerfally prevailed, of its being-a
vegetable produaion ; M. de Reaumur 'firft explored with
accuracy its natural hiftory and origin.
SL CCUS. The juices of plants.
The vegetable juices or fluids are generally reduced to
tviO ; the lymph or fap ; and the blood or proper juice. It
appears, however, that plants contain many other fluids ;
for in a fingle fruit, fuch as a pine-apple, orange or ftraw.
berry, we can diftinguifh.by the tafteand fraell three or four
other liquors, of which we can difcovcr but very feeble
veftiges in the other parts of thefe plants.
"1 he fap 01 lymph, is a fhnple fluid, without colour or
fmcll, and little different fiom water. It may be compared
to the chyle in the animal oeconomy, as may the roots which
abforb and prepare it to the lafteals. It is purified, as the
blood of animals, by perfpiratipn.
That the fap or lymph afeends from the root to the Hem,
branches, leaves, and even the minuteft parts of the fru&i-
fi cation, is paft a doubt. But whether the fap fo diffufed to
the extremities of the plant ever returns, and there is in
plants, a circulation of fap, analogous to that of the blood
tn animals, is a queftion which will probably never receive
a fatisfaflory anfwer, as the data required for its folution are
exceedingly numerous, and almoft without our reach, and
conjefture almoft the only evidence of which the fubjeft is
fufceptible. The two hypothefes, however, of the circu-
lation of the fap, and the perfpiration of plants, are very far
fiom being oppofite in their nature and refult, as is generally
imagined j
sue
imagined ; but, on the contrary, are perfe&ly compatible
with each other.
By the accurate experiments of M. Bonnet, it appears
that the fap afeends, not by the bark, but by the fibres of
the wood : and the curious obfervations of Grew, Duha-
mel, and other naturalifls, render it highly probable that the
fluid which afeends by the fibres of the wood, defeends to
the roots by the cortical fibres that are mod contiguous to the
wood/ In fupport of this conclufion, it has been obferved,
that upon a tranfverfe incifion being made into the trunk of
a tree, the juice, which is expended, or flows from the
wound, proceeds in greater quantities from the upper lip,
where the fwelling likewife is much larger than below. It
appears, however, that when two fimilar incifions are made,
one at the top of the tree, and another near the root, the
latter expends much more fi.p than the former. The return
of the fap from the extremity of the branches to the roots
being, by the refult of fiich experiments, rendered fome-
what more than probable, it remains that we eflablifh the
mode of its return, and afeertain its analogy, or want of
analogy, to the circulation of the blood in animals. It is
here that certainty fails us, and vague conjefture muff fupply
its place. Before any thing fatisfaftory can be expedited on
this head, we inuft previoufly determine, whether the
liquor which defeends from the branches by the bark, be the
fame as that which afeends from the root by the wood ; and
next difeover the anaflomoles or joinings of both feries of
vefiels, in other words, the communication betwixt the
cortical and lignous fibres : — a defideratum which, if we may
reafon by analogy, " ill not be obtained without the utmoll
difficulty, fincc, with the afliflance of injections, we have
not yet been able to difeover but obfeurely the anaflamofes
of the veins and arteries in the animal fyftem.
In fpring, the fap is found in greatefl abundance, and
then tfie bark is eafily detached from the wood. On the
contrary, when the fap-feafon is part, the bark is found
clofelv applied, and, as it were, glued to the wood. The
leaves contribute greatly both to the abundance and motion
of
sue
tof the fap. If a tree, when high in fap, is diverted of its
leaves, the bark, in a few days, will adhere as clofely to the
wood as in winter.
The other fort of fluid contained in plants is denominated
the proper juice, and is analogous to the blood in animals.
It is a compound liquor, and is eafily dillinguifhed by its
colour, fmell, or fubflance from the lymph or fap.
This fluid is either green, as in periwinkle ; white, as in
fpurge, fig-tree, and dog s-bane ; yellow, as in celandine ;
red, as in log-wood, and dragon s-blood ; mucilaginous or
gummy, as in the jujube and mallow-tribes; or refinous, as
in the cone-bearing plants. It is from this variety in colour
and fubflance, that the liquor in qucflion is called the pro-
per juice; each fpecies of plant being fuppofed to contain
a fluid which is proper and peculiar to it.
_ In this bl°od or proper juice refide the fmell, tafle, and
virtue of the plants. In faft, thofe plants poffcfs little vir-
tue, in which there is either a fuperabundance of fap, or a -
poverty of blood. It is the juice which flows from the poppy
that is narcotick ; the corrofive quality of celandine and
fpurge refides in the fame fluid ; the purgative virtue of jalap
in its refin. Barks poffefs more virtue than woods, becaufe
the blood-veffels of the former are thicker and larger than
thofe of the latter.
The blood or proper juice is contained in tubes which are*
larger than the lymphatic or fap-veffels, and although diffufed
through the whole fubflance of the plant, are colle&ed in
greater abundance in the bark. In fir-trees, the turpentine,
which is the proper juice, is amaffed in the parenchymatous
fubflance, immediately under the epidermis or fkin of the
bark : in juniper, the fandarac is collefted betwixt the bark
and the wood: in the larch-tree, the turpentine which ii
produces is accumulated in the body of the wood : in pine,
it exfudes from the bark, from betwixt the wood and bark,
from the wood itfelf, and from the pith.
lor further particulars on this intcrcfling phyfiological
fubjett, the reader is referred to M. Duhamel’s Traite des
Arbres,
S YN
Arbres, Dr. Grew’s Anatomy of Plants, and the works of
the ingenious lVI. Bonnet of Geneva.
SYNGENESIA [csuv, together, and yevEtns, generation)
the name of the nineteenth clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual Me- ‘
thod, confifting of plants in which the anthers or male organs
of generation are united into a cylinder, the filaments on
which they are fupported being feparate and diftinCt.
This clafs contains the numerous tribe of compound
flowers, whofe general characters were enumerated under
the article Compositus fios.
The orders or fecondary divifions of the clafs Syngenefia
arife from the different modes of intercommunication of the
florets or leffer partial flowers contained within the common
calyx. This intercommunication, which Linnaeus, from a
love to analogies, terms the Polygamy of Flowers,
admits of the four following cafes.
I. The florets all hermaphrodite.
II. Hermaphrodites and females.
III. Hermaphrodites and florets of no fex or neuter.
IV. Males and females.
When the florets are all hermaphrodite, as in the firft cafe,
the polygamy is faid to be equal, and the compound flowers
fo characterized are referred to the order Polygamia sEqualis ,
exprefiive of that circumftance. This order contains the
femiflofcular, and many of the flofcular, compound flowers
of Tournefort, Among the former are dandelion, fow-
thiftle, lettuce, fuccory, goat’s beard, nipple-wort, and
fiawk-wecd ; among the latter, burdock, faw-wort, thiftle,
artichoke, hemp-agrimony, goldylocks, and Lavender-cotton..
This order contains no radiated flowers.
In thp fecond cafe, the florets in the centre or difk are
hermaphrodite ; thofc of the circumference, margin, or
radius, female, that is, want the Jlamina or male organs.
This fort of intercommunication Linnaeus terms polygamia
fuperflua , ufelefs or fuperfluous polygamy, becaufe the im-
pregnation of the female florets in the circumference is un-
necelfary, the fructification being perfected in thofe of the
centre. Tbc flowers which are referred to this order are
* either
S Y N
cither flofcular, that is, compofed entirely of hollow florets;
or radiated. Among the former are tanfy, wormwood,
cud-weed, and flower-everlafting ; among the latter, colts-
foot, ground fel, after, golden-rod, elecampane, daily,
feverfew, milfoil, and African marigold.
In the third cafe, the hollow florets in the centre are her-
maphrodite ; the flat ones in the circumference, neuter, that
is, want both male and female organs. This kind of poly-
gamy is termed properly enough ineffectual (polygamia fru-
Jlranea ) as the florets in the circumference being of no fex
are totally ineffeClual to the fructification. The older in
queftion contains only fix genera : viz. fun-flower, dwarf-
fun-flower, tickfeeded fun-flower, gorier la, of mites, and
centaury.
In the laft cafe, the florets of the centre or difk are
male, and thofe of the circumference, female. This fort
of polygamy is termed, neccffary (polygamia nectffaria) be-
caufe none of the florets being hermaphrodite, the prefence
of male and female florets is abfolutely neceffary for per-
fecting the fructification. Marigold, arCtotis, African rag-
wort, hard-feeded chryfanthemum, cotton-weed, (filago )
... and baftard cud-weed, turnifh examples. The flowers of
this order are moftly radiated.
Befides the four orders juft mentioned, the clafs fyngenefia
contains two others. Thefe are polygamia fegregata , and
monogatnia .
The firft derives its name from the florets being feparatcd
from one another by means of partial flower-cups, which
fupport one or more florets, and are placed within the com-
mon calyx. This order furnifhes no diftinCt cafe of poly-
gamy, and is, in iaft, only a modification of the firft cafe ;
the florets fo feparated being all hermaphrodite, except in the
genus Jpharanthus, which having hermaphrodite florets in
the centre, and female florets in the margin, is referred to
that particular fpecies of polygamy which we denominated
J'uperjluous.
The genera in this order are five in number ; viz, ele-
phant’s-loot, globe-flower, globe-thillle, gunclelia, and baftard
Ethiopian,
SYN
Ethiopian elicliryfum. The firft has four florets in each par-
tial flower-cup ; the fecond has an indefinite number; the
three laft only one.
The order monogatnia contains Ample flowers. The term
fignifies a Tingle marriage, and is placed in direft oppofilion
to the polygamy or intercommunication of florets, which
To confpicuoully characterizes the other orders. In tad,
balfam, violet, cardinal flower, and the other plants of this
order, agree with the compound flowers in fcarce a Tingle
circumftance, fave the claffical charader, the union of the
anthers or tops of the Jlamina : — a circumftance which,
whillt it undeniably confutes Linnaeus’s afiertion, that, in
that union confifts the offence ot a compound flower, ferves
likewife to demonftrate the imperfeCtion of his artificial
charaCter. Former botanifts had fought lor the eflential
cbaraCler of this numerous tribe of plants in the common
calyx and common receptacle. Both thefe Linnaeus rejeCts
as inadequate, and in their place fubftitutes the union of the
anthers and fituation of the feeds. That union, we have
Teen, is not peculiar to compound flowers ; it is to be
found in violet, balfam, cardinal-flower, fheep-fcabious,
and fomc other flowers, confefledly Ample. To this it will
be anfwered, that Linnaeus’s affection is different from what
I have reprefented it : that the author in queftion, fo far
from affirming that the union of the anthers conftitutes, of
itfelf, the offence ot compound flowers, has combined that
circumftance with the fituation of the feeds, and declared
that the eflence of a compound flower confifts in having the
anthers united into a cylinder, and a Tingle Teed placed under
each floret. This argument is plaufible, but not folid, for
unluckily three of the genera of the order mcnogamia, viz.
Strumpfia, feriphiurn, and corymbium, bolides the united an-
thers, have likewife a Tingle feed placed underthe reccptacleof
the flower, and yet the order monogamiu contains Ample flowers
only. The faCt is, that compound flowers are fo remark-
ably different in their port and external appearance from
thofe termed Ample, that it is unneceflary to feek for an
elfcntial character where there is no danger of confufion.
Aggregate
s V N
*
Aggregate and compound flowers have indeed a greater con.
formity in point of habit ; yet a fuperficial attention only is
requifite to difcover very material differences in their
uructure.
As the excellence of the artificial charafler is conftituted
by its approximation to the natural, it is evident that a cha-
ra ter, which arranges together things that are abfolutely
heterogeneous, and poffefs no natural relations, is imperfea
and erroneous. Compound flowers arc confeffedly a natural
tube of plants. Simple flowers poffefs no relations in com
mon with them, that can juflify a junflion. A charafter,
therefore, which, like that of Linnaeus, blends Ample and
compound flowers promifcuoufly together, offers a manifeft
violence to Nature, by forcibly tearing many genera of
plants from their proper place, and incorporating them with
others which are of a different and even oppofite nature.
In fa&, in all the numerous fyftems in botany, there is not
a fingle charader, which wounds Naure fo cruelly as that
of Linnaeus, in the inftance juft given.
By an ingenious writer, Dr. Barton of Philadelphia, who
,has lately publifhed an Elementary Treatife on Botany,
the author of the prefent work, which the learned Pro-
feffor has honoured with repeated marks of peculiar no-
tice and diftin&ion, is, notwithftanding, under the article
before us, charged with an in confident departure from his
ufual tenets, for afferting, that “ the genus Kuhn! a, al-
though very nearly allied to hemp-agrimony, and indeed,
‘‘ ln eve,y other refpea, like a compound flower, is very
propttly lefened by Linnaeus to a clafs containing fimple
flowers, (pentandna ) becaufe the anthers are feparate and
“ diftma. ” Vide Compositus fios. As there is no im-
putation which, in matters of Icience, it becomes a man
more feduoufly to avoid, than that of inconfiftency, fo
neither is there any which, when charged without due con-
fidcration, lie ought with greater folicitude to ropcl. Dr.
. Barton’s
S Y N
v
Barton's mifconception in the inftance juft mentioned, (for
a mifconception, I truft, I fhall evidently prove it) may
have probably arifen from his overlooking a d;ftin£tion
which, in appreciating the merits of any particular fyftem,
that of Linnreus for example, it is ever neceflary to make
between the precife portion of approbation which may be
juftly claimed by its founder, on account of the degree of
ftritlnefs in his adherence to the principles of his Method,
be thofe principles what they may, and that which belongs
to him from tire comparative excellence of the artificial
character, which is always in the direft ratio of its nearer
approach to the order of nature. — In this view, as is mani-
feft, the fame writer may, in one refpett, be the objeft of
merited cenfurc, and in another, that of equally merited
applaufe. To the honour indeed of a rigidly uniform adhe-
rence to the principles of his fyftem, (an honour almoft
’ exclufively due to Rivinus) Linnaeus, it is true, has but
llender pretenfions : and fome very remarkable deviations
from the fimplicity of his plan have been occafionally enu-
merated in the courfe of this work. In general, however,
lie has the praife of uniformity : and, as he profeffes not in
his Sexual Method to inveftigate the Order of Nature, it
can be no reproach, that, in order to conduct the learner
with greater facility to the knowledge of plants, which is the
principal bufinefs ol an artificial character, he has, with the
exceptions juft mentioned, commonly adhered to the princi-
ples of his method, facrificing to utility eveu nature itfelf,
by declining to arrange certain genera under claftes to
which, however connected with their congeners by external
habit, and other natural affinities, the mere novice in botany,
for whofe ufe every artificial fyftem is intended, could not,
for want of the clalfical character, be ever led to refer them,
I conceive myfelf, therelore, perfectly juftified, and ftriftly
confident with the general tenor ot the do&rines of the
Botanical Diftionary, and my other works refpefting the
comparative excellence of the artificial character of Linnaeus,
as explained above, (doctrines which I have ever maintained,
and yet fee no reafon to retract) when I afi'ert that Linnaeus
T K T
has with the utmofl propriety referred the genus Kuhnia,
which, in a Natural Method would, no doubt, without any
eflort, trom its general appearance, have arranged itfelf with
the compound flowers, to the clafs pentundria of his artificial
method, containing^/* flowers, in which it with equal
facility aflumes its place, bearing as it does five flamina or
male organs ot fecundation, feparate both in their anthers
and filaments, the fpecial diflin&ive charafler of the clafs.
Forthe fame reafon, Linnaeus is not to be blamed, but de-
fended, for placing violet, balfam, and other limple flowers,
with the compound, in the clafs fyngenefia confidercd as part
of an artificial method, becaufe they as undoubtedly poffefs
the claflical charafter, the union ot their five flamina by the
anthers, as the compound flowers with which, however un-
naturally, they are thus made to incorporate. — In fhort, tiie
genus Kuhnia could not, but with impropriety, have been
transferred to the compound flowers in Linnteus’s fyflem,
conflituted as the clafs fyngenefia which contains them now
is ; nor could the celebrated Swedifh Naturahfl, without an
entire alteration of the principles of Ins method, have re-
moved violet and its congeners from the place which they
now occupy therein. Still, however, much as we commend
his general adherence to the artificial chara£ler which he
has chofen, we deny its excellence, nay, regret that, in the
formation of his fyflem, he fhould have adopted it at all — a
character which, by the fuperflructure of which it is the
bafis, he himfelf has demon ft rated, could not be carried to its
utmofl extent, without, in a thoufand inflances, producing
junctions and reparations, which, doing violence to nature,
mufl, ior that reafon, greatly diminilh the value of the prin-
ciple from which they proceed.
T.
r J^ETR ADYNAMIA (tcoox^es , four, and Swa/sus, power)
-** l°Llr powers; the name of the fifteenth clafs in Lin-
naeus s Sexual Syltem, con filling of plants with hermaphro-
dite!
T E T
dkc flowers having fix {lamina, four of which are longer
than the reft. It correfponcls to the ftliquofoe of Ray, and
cruciformes of Tournefort, and, abating a fingle genus,
cleome, is a true natural family, the particular charafters of
which are enumerated under the article Jiliquofce, by which
name Linnaeus, after Ray, has diftinguifhed thefe plants in
his Fragments of a Natural Method. Vide SiliquoSjE.
The orders in the clafs tetradynamia, which are two in num-
ber, are likewife borrowed from the fame author. Such as
have a long pod, as ftock, rocket, and ladies fmock, being
termed Jiliquofrt ; thofe which have a fhort round one, as
fcurvv-grafs, candy-tuft, and fatin-flower ,Jili'culoJa. I have
obferved the fame diftintfion in fubdividingthe natural order
filiquofa.
In moft fpecies of baftard-muftard (cleome) the ftamina
are attached to a long pillar-lhaped foot-ftalk refembling a
ftyle, which fupports the feed-bud ; a circumftance which
ought to have determined that genus to the clafs gynandria in
the Sexual Method, upon the fame principle, by which
paffion -flower and feveral other genera, are made to arrange
themfelves under that clafs. The genus cleome indeed, what-
ever may be its pietenfions to a place in the clafs alluded to,
has certainly no rigut to that which it at piefent holds in the
clafs tetradynamia of the fame method ; as, befides its wanting
the claflical aitiricial chara&er, the inequality of the ftamina,
thefe male organs of generation are frequently more than fix,
the number to which plants of this clafs are reftrifted. In
fa£l, cleo?ne is among the moft linking inltances oi Linnaeus’s
deviation from his own principles ; fince fcarce a circum-
ftance, except the prefence of what he calls ne&arilerous
glands, which, by the way, are very feldom to be difcovered
even with glafles, can poflibly connett it with the plants
among which ie has arranged it.
TET RAGYNIA (TacratcgBe, four; and yvjv, a woman,)
the name of an order or fecondary divifion in the
4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 13th clafTes in the Sexual Syflem ;
confiftirig of plants, which, to the claflic character, what-
ever it is, add the ciicumllance of having four ftyles or
T t female
TOM
female organs. Herb-paris and grafs-of-Parnaflus, furnifh
examples.
- TETRANDRIA (revazgEs-, four ; and aVTjg, a man or
hufband) the name of the fourth clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual
Syftem, confifting of plants with hermaphrodite flowers,
which have four ftainina or male organs that are of equal
length. In this laft circumftance confills the main difference,
' according to Linnaeus, between the plants of the clafs in
quellionand thofe of the 14th clafs, didynamia, in which the
four ftamina are of unequal length, two of them being
longer than the other two.
The orders in this numerous clafs are three, founded upon
the number of ftyles or female organs.
Scabious, teafel, barren-wort, the ftarry plants of Ray,
and the greater number of genera in this clafs, have one
ftyle.
Dodder, and hypecoum, have two flyles.
Holly, and a few others, have four.
TETRANGIAi, (rEtrazges, four; and dJyor, a velTel)
the name of the eighteenth clafs in Boerhaave’s Method, con-
filling of herbaceous plants having two feed-leaves, with a
{ingle capfule that is divided internally into four cells. It is
exemplified in rue and thorn-apple.
THALAMUS, a bride- chamber ; Variant’s name for
the receptaculum of Pontedera and Linnaeus; the Jedes of
Ray ; and placenta of Boerhaave.
Linnaeus terms the calyx the thalamus of the flower.
THYRSUS, (properly a fpear wrapped about with ivy or
bay-leaves, carried by the votaries of Bacchus at his feafts).
In the modern nomenclature of botany, a mode of flowering
rcfembling the cone of a pine. It is; fays Linnaeus, a pa-
nicle contra&ed into an oval or egg-lhaped form. The
lower foot-ftalks, which are longer, extend horizontally,
whilft the upper ones are fhortcr and mount vertically. Lilac
and butter-burr furnilh examples.
TOMENTUM, fhort wool; a fpecies of hoary, or
downy pubefcence, which covers thcfurface of many plants,
'-*-*-*1 - particularly
I
T R I
particularly thofe in the neighbourhood of the fea, and
fuch as, in their native foil, are expofed to the ravages of
bleak and violent winds. The fubftance in queftion confifts
of a number of fmall hairs, that are fo clofely interwoven as
fcarcely to be diftinguifhed by the naked eye ; the white ap-
pearance arifing from their aggregation and compaft texture.
Cerajiium lomentofum, medicago, and a fpecies of marjoram
and fpeedwell, furnifh examples.
TRACHEdE, air-veffels of plants. Vide Structura
V EGETAB I LIS.
TRIANDRIA, (rg«r, three; and avri§, a man or huf-
band) the name of the third clafs in Linnaeus’s Sexual
Syftem, confifting of plants with hermaphrodite flowers,
which have three ltamina or male organs.
The orders in this clafs are three, derived from the number
of flyles or female organs.
Valerian, tamarind, and many others, have one ftyle.
The grafles, which conftitute the fecond order, have two
flyles.
Eriocaulon, montia, and fome others, have three.
TRIANGIdE three ; and dyfoe, a velfel) the
name of the feventeenth clafs in Boerhaave’s Method, con-
fifting of herbaceous plants having two feed-leaves, with a
Angle capfule that is divided internally into three cells. It
is exemplified in St. John’s wort, violet, campanula, palma-
chrifti, mercury, fpurge, and cardinal -flower.
Tulip, narciflus, iris, and feveral other plants which have
their feed-veffel divided into three cells, do not arrange them-
felves under the clafs triungicc, becaufe the leeds rife with a
fingle leaf. Such plants conftitute the twenty-eighth claiik,
braBeatez, of the fame author.
TRICOCCAL, (t§«j, three; and xoxkoj, a grain) the
name of the thirty-eighth order in Linmeus’s Fragments of
a Natural Method, confifting of plants with a fingle three-
cornered capfule, having three cells or internal divifions,
each containing a fingle feed. The fingle feed-veflel ofthefe
plants is of a Angular form, and refembles three capfules,
T t 2 which
T R I
which adhere to one common foot-flalk as to a centre, but
are divided externally into three pretty deep partitions.
i •
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnasan Genera. Englijh Names.
Acalypha.
Adelia.
Andrachne,
—
—
Ballard-orpine.
Buxus ,
—
—
Box-tree.
Cambogia.
Carica,
Clijfortia.
Clutia.
*■
\ .
Papaw,
Cneorum ,
—
—
Widow-wail.
Croton ,
Cupania.
Dalechampia.
Baftard-ricinus, Tallow-tree,
Euphorbia ,
Ex co e curia.
Guettarda.
Burning thorny plant, fpurge.
1 ♦
Hernandia,
—
—
3ack-in-a-box.
Iiippomane,
—
Manchineel-tree.
Hura,
' —
—
Sand-box-tree.
Jatropha ,
—
—
CafTava, manihot.
Mercurialis,
—
—
Mercury.
Phyllanthus,
Plukenetia.
—
• —
Sea-fide laurel.
Ricinus,
ijiolandra.
Sterculia.
Tragia.
Thryaliis.
Palma-Chrifli.
This family not being completely natural docs not fall
to be particularly defcribed in this place. The charafter
exprefled in the title is indeed a ftriking one, and though
the
TR1
the plants which poffefs it are not conne&ed together
by fuch numerous relations as to form a true natural
affemblage, yet are they by that circumftance diftinguifhed
from all other plants, with as great, perhaps greater facility
than by any artificial character yet known. It is, however,
to be obferved, that all the genera of this order have not the
finking chara&er juft mentioned.
From the euphorbias, and feveral other genera of this order,
flows by incifion a corrofive liquor, which is white like
■milk.
The fruit of the manchineel tree is one of the moft
powerful cauftics, and, if taken internally, never fails to
prove mortal, if large quantities of oil are not immediately
fwallowed, to excite vomiting and (heath the vifcera, before
the cauftic juice has operated. The tree bears a great refem-
blance to the pear-tree. The bark is fomewhat thicker, and
filled with a vifcous corrofive milk. The wood under
the alburnum is greyilh, and beautifully marked with eyes
of different tints or, colours. The cauftic and poifonous
quality is not peculiar to the fruit , being to be found alfo in
the leaves, in the wood, in the milk of the bark, and even
in its fhade, by fleeping under it. — The tree, which is com-
monly large, grows in the Weft-Indies, on the bank of
rivers, or on the fea-fhore, being rarely found at a diftance
from water. When it rains, one muft be cautious of going
under the tree for (belter, as the rain falling from its leaves
on the hands, and other parts of the body, excites blifters
on the flefh, as if boiling oil had fallen upon it, together
with a very painful itching, which continues fora long time.
If it falls into the eyes, it will endanger the eye-fight ; or
if by chance one fhould rub them with his hand moifteried
with this water, a confiderable Iwelling is occafioned, which
from being red, becomes livid and full of pus. — The wood is
no lefs dangerous to work, unlefs perfeftly dry, and even its
dull or fawings are poifonous. Before it is touched, the
workmen amafs dry wood around its feet, fet fire to it, and
keep at a diftance for fear of any bad confequences from
the imoke. When they think the fire has totally confurned
T t 3 its
T R I
its humidity, they apply the hatchet, taking care to have their
face and arms covered with a towel or napkin, left the duft
flying out of it, or the milky humidity which may have re-
mained unevaporated, fhould aflaij their face, mouth, eyes,
or hands. The fawyers ufe the fame precautions, as well as
i.he turners who work it into tables, cabinets, and all forts
of houfehold furniture, which are greatly elleemed for the
uncommon beauty of the \vood.^ — The Indians ufe the milk
of the manchineelrtree to poifon their arrows. For this pur?
pofe they make a cleft in the bark and infert the end of their
arrows, winch imbibes the liquor flowing out of the wound,
that is white as milk, but thicker and more gluey. The
arrows fo envenomed are buffered to dry ; and where they
make a wound, poifon at the fame time.— Thofe who fleep
under tile manchineel-tree find themfelves, on awaking,
prod igioufly- fwelled, with a very violent megrim and a dan-
gerous lever. By force of citron -juice and cordials, the
yenom is often, but with difficulty, extirpated.
A fpecies of euphorbia termed ejula , if applied to any
part of the body, produces a violent inflammation, which is
loon lucceeded by a confiderable fv/elling, that degenerates
into a gangrene and proves mortal.
Sterculia ( ftercus , dung) derives its name from the foetid
fimeli of the wood, which is faid to refemble that of human,
excrements ; whence the name of dirt-wood, by which it is
known in the hot countries, whpge it is native.
The root of caffada, caftava, or manihot being diverted of
its poifonous juices, ferves for bread to moft of the inhabitants
pf the Weft India iflands, whether black, white or red ; that
is, Negroes, Europeans, or Natives. The fhrub, fome-
times called manioc, rifes feven or eight feet high, with a
thin bark, that is grey, red, or violet, according to the dif-
ferent colours of the wood which it covers. The trunk and
branches are filled with fmall prominences exhibiting
the vejtigia of the fallen leaves : for as the tree increafes in
height, the leaves relinquifh the bottom of the branches, and
are only to be found near the top. The wood is foft and
brittle. The plant is better propagated by layers than from
, , . " ' feed j
T R I
feed ; at lead, little of the root proper for eating is to be ob-
tained by the latter method. The principal root produces
fuckers, in number from four to feven, and which differ in
length and thicknefs, according to the age of the tree and
goodnefs of the foil. The bark of the roots is like that of
the trunk, grey, when the wood is grey ; red, when the wood
is red ; white, when it is white ; but the infide or heart is al-
ways white, and of the confidence of turnip. The roots of
white manioc are ripe in eight months ; thofe of the other kinds
require fourteen or eighteen months to attain their full fize
and maturity. When ripe they are plucked out of the earth
by the tearing up of the whole tree, which never fails to be
accompanied by the root ; and if, in that operation, any of
the off-fets fhould be feparated from the main root, which is
eafily obferved, they take them up with a hoe. It requires
no great force to pluck up thefe fhrubs ; for, befides that the
foil is of a foft nature, the roots do not penetrate very deep-
ly into it. When plucked up, the Negroes deflined for this
work grate or rafp the bark with a blunt knife, as is done to
turnips, and throw the roots into a tub full of water ; they
are then reduced to a powder or meal refembling the coarfe
fawings of wood. This is effected by rubbing the root very
forcibly againft a copper file or grater, about fifteen or
eighteen inches long, and ten or twelve broad, that is faften-
ed by fmall nails upon a plank of timber, three feet and a
half long, and one broad. The Negroe who files, puts one
end of the plank into a wooden trough or tub, and holds the
other againff his ftomach. At his fide is a bafket, containing
roots that are rafped, walhed, and fit for being filed ; one of
thefe he takes in each hand, and paffes it violently upon the
file or grater till it is reduced to a rough powder. — All the
roots being grated in this manner, they take the powder
and put it into a prefs, with a view to fqueeze out the juice,
which is regarded as a very ltrong poilon, not only for men,
but lor beads alfo who drink of it, or chance to eat of
thefe roots before the juice is exprefl'cd. It is remarkable,
that animals which die in confequence of having fwallowed
any quantity of this iubflance, have their breads prodigioufly
t t 4 dwelled,
T R I
fwelled, without any vifible alteration on the noble parts.
Some have hence argued that the juice in queftion is not
eflentially apoifon, but that poffeffing a fuperfluity of nou-
rifhment, it proves an over-match to the digeftive faculties,
and thus proves mortal. — Befides this fuperabundance of
nourifhment, fays Father Labat, a part of its malignity con-
fids in its coldnefs, which flops the circulation, benumbs
the animal fpirits, and at length caufes death. Hence the
heft antidote againft this poifon is heat and violent motion.
The patient, after fwallowing large quantities of oil, to ex-
cite a naufea and vomiting, is made to run as quick as he
can, and drink plentifully of the ftrongeft fpirits ; in fine,
every method is ufed to excite violent heat, to roufe the
fpirits, and put the blood in motion.
Animals which have accuftomed themfelves infenfibly to
the juice of manioc, feel no inconvience from the root of
it, but rather the contrary. It is in this manner that the
Turks, by a gradual and conftant ufe, have rendered opium
a harmlefs and even exhilarating medicine.
The juice of manioc lofes its malignity when heated. The
natives of the Weft-Indies, who ufe it in all their fauces,
feel no fort of inconvenience from it, becaufe they never
ufe it till after being boiled. Of the fame juice they make
ftarch, by drying it in the fun, where it becomes as white as
fnow, and is frequently made into cakes, which are as deli-
cate as if made with the fineft wheat-flour.
When the manioc is fufficiently preffed, they either make
it into bread, called caffada, or into flour for preferving.
For the firft-mentioned purpofe, they have a plate of iron,
two feet broad, and half an inch thick ; this they place upon
a tripod, or on ftones, and kindle a fire below ft. When
fufficiently heated, fo as not to admit of the touch, they
lay on the whole iurface about the thicknefs of three fingers
of manioc, which has been previoufly preffed and fil ted.
The heap falls down in proportion as it roafts ; and the parts
join and incorporate. This compreffion and incorporation
is aided by the perfon who roafts (lightly paffing a piece of
wood over the plate. When the fide of the cake next the
T R I
plate is fufficiently clone, that is, adheres, and the colour,,
formerly very white, becomes red, it is turned, and the
other fide allowed to roaft till the fame fymptoms
appear. When roafied, it is laid in the fun for two or three
hours, with a view to diffipate any poifonous humidity,
which may ftill lurk in the root under this new form.
The infide of cafTada is as white as fnow, the fides of a
pale gold colour. The fubftance, which is very nourifh-
ing, and of eafy digeftion, may be preferved feven or eight
months, or more, provided it is kept dry, and fometimes
expofed to the fun. When dipped in water, or put in foup,
cafTada fwells up to a great height, which feems to prove its
great abundance in fubftance.
The other mode of preparation, however, is moll com-
mon, as being more convenient for preferving, diftributing
to the Negroes, and tranfporting from place to place. The
manioc, in this cafe, is put into a pan or ftove that is but
flightly heated, where it is continually turned, like coffee-
beans, with a fmall wooden inftrument contrived for
that purpofe. This motion prevents it from flicking to
the pan ; fo that, when dried and roafted, it has the ap-
pearance of thick red grains of fait. This mode of pre-
paration is much more expeditious than the former.
When dried, it is put into granaries, where it may be pre-
ferved whole years, if kept dry, or put into a ftove every
fix months.
This fubftance may be eaten quite dry, as crumbled
bread, or as the Turks eat roafted rice. When moiftengd,
it fwells prodigioufly.
This latter method of preparing manioc is never pradlifed
by the natives, who ufe only calfada, which they prepare
once every day or oitener, as occafion requires ; for they
eat it quite hot, as being then more delicate and agreeable
to the tafte. Before their intercourfe with the Europeans
had procured them iron plates, they made their cafTada upon
large flat ftones, whole thicknefs they adjufted to that pur-
pofe. In default of copper files or graters, they made ufe
of
T R I
€)f a plank of wood, in which were fixed very fmall fharp,
hits of pebbles.
One fpecies of manioc is faid to be exempt from the
poifonous quality pofleiTed by the juice of the others. It
is called camanioc, that is, chief of maniocs; in fa£l, its
wood, leaves, and roots are larger and thicker than the
Oieeis, and it is eaten without danger, or any precaution:
hut as it requires a longer time to attain maturity, and the
roots yield much lefs meal, becaufe lighter and more fpungy,
it is generally negle&ed.
The final] bits of manioc, which have efcaped the grater,
and the clods which have not palled the fieve, are not ufelefs.
They are oned in the Hove, after the flour is roafted, and
then pounded in a mortar to a fine white powder, wdth which
they make foup. It is likewife ufed for making a kind of
thiCK coai fe callada, which is roafted till almoft burnt ; of
this, fermented with melafles and Weft-India potatoes, they
prepare a much efteemed beverage, called ouyeou. This
liquor, the favourite drink of the natives, -is fometimes
made extremely ffrong, efpecially on any great occafion,
as a feall ; with this they get intoxicated, and, remembering
their old quarrels, wound and murder one another. Such
of the inhabitants and workmen as have not wine, drink
ouyeou. It is of a red colour, ffrong, nourifhing, refrefh-
mg, and eafily inebriates the inhabitants, who foon accuf-
tom themfelves to it as eafily as beer.
The leaves of manioc are ufed in both Indies as thofe of
fpinach are with us.
Box-wood being extremely hard is ufed for feveral pur-
pofes, and may properly enough be fubffituted in default of
ebony, the yellow alburnum of which it perfe£lly refembles.
Employed in medicine, box-wood is fudorific.
I lie Negioes of Senegal ufe from three to five entire
feeds o 1 lutyopha curcas for purging the intefliues ; ufed in
greater quantity, thefe feeds would prove mortal. It appears
too that the purgative virtue refides only in the radicle or
pit nfl iwi viUe of the feeds ; lor the Negroes eat with equal
impunity
T R I
impunity and avidity large quantities of thefe feeds, after
the radicle has been extrafted.
Papaw, or popo-tree, the carlca papaya of Linnaeus, is
male and female upon different roots : the flowers of the
former being white, of the latter yellowifh. The tender
buds of thefe laft are prefervcd into fweet-meats ; and the
long mango popo, which is faid to be little inferior to an
paft-India mango, into pickles. When nearly ripe the
fruits are likewife boiled and eaten with any kind of flefh-
meat, care being taken previoufly to cleanfe them of the
milky corrofive juice contained in them, which is of fo pene-
trating a nature, fays Hughes #, that, if the unripe fruit,
when unpeeled, is boiled with the tougheft old fait meat, it
will foon make it foft and tender ; and, if hogs are for any
confiderable time fed with the raw fruit, it wears off all the
jnucous flimy matter which covers the infide of the guts,
and would, in time, if not prevented by a change of food,
entirely lacerate them. This juice, continues the fame
author, is fometimes made ufe of to cure ring-worms and
fuch cutaneous eruptions.
The kernels of fand-box tree are faid to be purgative, and
fometimes emetic, The ufe to which the capfule, generally
cut into fifteen or fixteen divifions, is applied, fuggefled the
name given to this curious and beautiful exotic.
The leaves and tender buds of phyfic-nut tree, a fpecies
of croton , emit a milky juice, which is laid to be applied to
green wounds with fuccefs. The nut, when ripe, yields a
confiderable quantity of oil, a fpoonful of which fwallowed
when frefh is of a purgative quality, and deemed proper for
abating fwellings in dropfical diforders.
The bark of cafcarilla, another fpecies of the fame genus,
is ufed fuccefsfully by the natives of Senegal in tertian fevers
that are accompanied with a diarrhoea.
From the berries of the ricinus, or palma-chrijii , is ex-
trafled an oil which the natives of the Well Indies ufe in
theif
* .Natural Ilillory of Barbadoes,
TRI
their foups. This oil is generally known in thofe countries
by the name of caflor oil.
The Negroes of Senegal ufe externally with fuccefs the
leaves of palma chrijli in megrims and inflammations of the
eyes.
The wind blowing into the cavities of the capfules of
hernandia Jonora makes a very fonorous whiffling noife ;
whence the name of jack-in-a-box, by which this plant is
generally known.
Croton tinttorium yields by expreffion a green ifh juice,
which, by means of the volatile alkali of urine, dyes fluffs
of a blue colour.
TRIHILAT./E, ( tres , three, and hilurn, an external mark
on the feed) ; the name of the twenty-third claf3 in Linnaeus’s
Fragments of a Natural Method, confifling of plants with
three feeds, which are marked diflin£lly with an external
cicatrix or fear where they were faftened within the
per tear pium.
• iiiii cii c.wa | ,
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnaean Genera.
a. Melia , —
Trichilia.
j3 Acer, —
JEf cuius, —
Banijleria.
Maipighia, —
Triop ter is.
y Cardiofpermum ,
Paullinia.
Sapindus , —
Staphyla-a, —
Tropaolum, —
Englifj Names «
— Bead-tree.
\
— Maple.
— Horfe-chefnut.
— Barbadoes- cherry.
— Heart-feed, or heart-pea*
\
— Soap-berry.
— Bladder-nut.
— Indian crefs-
TRIPETALGIDEAl, (ires, three; andpe/alum, a petal)
the
T R U
the name of the fifth clafs in Linnaeus’s Fragments of at
.Natural Method, confiding of plants with three petals,
- ^ t v *
Lift of the Genera contained in this Order.
Linnaean Genera.
Englijh Names .
Alifrna, —
Aphyllanthes .
<— Water-plantain.
Butomus , —
— Flowering-rufh, or
1
Calamus.
Flagel/aria.
gladiolus.
Juncus, —
— Rulh.
Sagittaria, —
— Arrow-head.
Scheuchzeriat —
■ — Leffer flowering-rufh.
TriAochin, —
O f
— Arrow-headed grafs.
waters
Thefe plants have no very ftriking charaflers, and are
nearly allied to the grafTes. All the genera have not the cir-
cumftance expreffed in the title.
TRUNCUS, the trunk; that part of the herb which
arifes immediately from the root, and is terminated by the
fructification ; the leaves, buds, and auxiliary parts of the
herb, not entering into its defeription.
The different fpecies of trunks enumerated by Linnaeus
are as follows :
Caulis.
C U LMUS.
SCAPUS.
Frons.
Each of thefe terms is particularly explained in its proper
place.
To this article, as the moll fuitable for that purpofe, I
formerly referred the reader for fome general remarks on the
mutual relations which fubfift betwixt roots and Items.
Thefe principal parts of the plant are unfolded, branch,
and fubdivide almolt in the fame manner : the extent and
force
9
TUB
force of the one being always too in proportion to the fame
qualities in the other. A (hrub which puts out fm all branches,
has univerfally (lender roots. The fame tree planted in an
efpaher, wheie its growth is cramped, or it is pruned very
clofe, produces roots that are lefs numerous, lefs ftrong, and
lefs extenfive, than if cultivated as a (tandard in full air.
Hence the impracticability of extending the roots of a tree
by lopping its branches. A fruit-tree, by fuchan operation,
will produce more fruit, becaufe mod of the nourifhment
(•which went to thefe lopped branches, is now concentrated
in the fruit ; but its growth will be retarded, and its life
rendered fhorter.
Further, (terns as well as roots are lengthened by their
extremities, which ceafe to grow upon being cut. Both, in
confequence, form new productions : the (terns put forth
lateral branches ; the roots, lateral roots ; whence it follows,
that to cut the extremities of the ftem and branches, is the
proper way to form the heads of trees ; and, in like manner,
to cut the extremity of long perpendicular roots, is an ex-
cellent method to form beautiful and vigorous trees ; for the
perpendicular root being cut, the lateral ramifications, or
fide-roots, multiply ; and thefe being placed nearer the
furface of the earth, find a greater fupply of nouriftiing
juices in their progrefs.
Again, the ftem is provided with feveral buds of branches,
and the root with feveral fuckers, or buds of roots. They
may likewife be compared in their organization or internal
(irufture, which, in both, is nearly the fame, unlefs that
the epidermis or fcarf-fkin of the root is thicker, and the
colours, internally, ftronger and more lively.
In (hort, except in their direction, which is univerfally
oppofite, (terns and roots feem to bear a remarkable analogy
to one another, fo that, as Linnaeus obferves, items may be
confidered as ro'ots above ground.
TUBA, a trumpet. Vaillant’s name for the Jiylus of
Boerhaaveand Linnaeus ; the pijiillum of Tournefort. Vide
Stylus.
TUBULOSUS Jlos, a Tpecies of compound flower fo
termed
V-AR
termed by Linnaeus, all the florets or partial flowers of which
are funnel-lhaped, and nearly equal.
Of this kind are thiftle, burdock, artichoke, hemp-agri-
mony, tanfy, cud-weed, and bidens.
The flowers in queftion correfpond to the fiojcuhji of
Toumefort and Pontedcra, the compoftti regulares of Rivi-
nus, the' compofiti uniformes of Ghriftian Knaut, and the
capitata of Boerhaave and Ray.
TUBUS, the tube, or lower hollow part of a flower
with one petal ; oppofedto unguis, the claw of a polypetalous
flower.
V.
VAGAL Under this name Linnaeus arranges a number
of genera, which remain vague and undetermined, as,
for want of uniform relations, they cannot conftitute of
themfelves a true natural aflemblage, nor confequently be
referred to any of his Natural Orders.
In the Fragments of his Natural Method, they form an
Appendix to the Scheme, by the name of Dubii etiamnum
Ordinis.
VALVULA, a little valve, or opening; the external
divifions of a dry feed-veffel, as a capfule, or pod, which
fplit when the feeds are ripe for the purpofe of diflemi-
nation.
Tlje openings in queftion are either two in number, as in
celandine, cabbage, and the pea-bloom flcfwers ; three, as
in violet, and Greek valerian ; four, as in tree-primrofe,
and French-willow herb: or five, as in flax, lime-tree, and
Syrian mallow’.
VARIETAS, a variety ; a plant changed by fome acci-
dental caufc, which being removed, the variety or mutation
difappears, and the fpecies is reftored. As many plants of
different form and appearance as are produced from feed of
the fame fpecics, are to be regarded as genuine varieties, and
in
VAR
in all cafes to be diftinguiflied with great accuracy from the
fpecies.
In the form and difpofition of the parts of each individual
of the fame fpecies, there exifls, in general, a conftant uni-
formity. Different caufes, however, as culture, climate,
expofure, age, difeafes, luxuriance or poverty of nourifh-
ment, contufions, and other circumftances, produce mon-
Itrous appearances and accidental varieties in the parts of
plants.
In treating of luxuriance in flowers, we obferved that a
fuperab-undance of nourifhment gives rife to the numerous
trib<^ of double and prolific flowers. The fame caufe gives
to ^11 the parts of the plant a thicknefs and extent, by no
mcajis natural to them. Hence, likewife, the prodigious
multiplication of the leaves of fome plants, which increafe
to fuch a degree, as frequently to injure the flower and
fruit. ,
The leaves of young trees and of new fhoots are much
larger, and lefs cut and ramified than thofe of a grown tree
of the fame fpecies. In holly, the leaves lofe their prickles
when the tree waxes old.
The low^er leaves of aquatic plants, as crow-foot and
water-drop-wort, are frequently finely cut like hairs, whilff:
thofe above are of a different form. Plants of the fame
fpecies that grow in another foil, have no diverfity in the
form of their upper and under leaves. Again, in moun-
tainous plants, the lower leaves are generally more entire ;
the upper ones more divided. Burnet faxifrage, anife and
coriander, furnifh examples.
The feeds or grains of many grafles, particularly of rye,
are fometimes prolonged into a horny appearance ol a fun-
gous fubftance, that is pretty hard, and, as it were, carti-
laginous. Some of thefe monftrous produ&ions are more
than two inches long. Rye difeafed in this manner is fre-
quently attended with fatal confequences to luch as eat of
the bread prepared from it. The fame appearance has been
obferved in gramen aquaticum JJui/am, and carex. This
difeafe.
VAR
difeafe, termed by Linnasus clavus, is common in moift
years and rainy feafons, and feems to be principally owing
toadefedf ot perfpiration.
The flowers and feeds of many of the efculent grades,
and of fome other plants, are frequently reduced into a black
powder. This appearance has been particularly obferved in
wheat, rye, barley, oats, perficaria, marfh fcorzonera,
goat’s-beard, foap-wort, and fome of the lychnis, pink,
and chick-weed tribe. In the greater number, the difeafe,
when it attacks the flower, begins by the receptacle under
the form of fmall black points, which infenfibly reach the
other parts of the flower, as the flower-cup, petals, and
ftamina, without attacking the piflil, or lemale organ, which,
however, commonly proves abortive.
The difeafe termed ujlllago, or burning, differs from that
juft mentioned, in that it is contagious and hereditary; the
feeds being the only parts that are affefted by it. It has been
difcovered in the fame fpecies ot grades as the former, but
more abundantly on Indian millet. M. Aymen, a French
academician, attributes both thefe difeafes to an internal fault
in the fap.
The upper furface of the leaves of fome plants, particu-
larly of hop, melon, dead-nettle, hedge-nettle, maple, and
gromwell, is fubjeft to be covered wdth a white appearance,
which makes the leaves feem thicker, more weighty, and
more opaque. Plants which are attacked by this difeafe,
termed by botanifts eryfiphe, rarely produce any fruit ; or,
if they do, it is badly formed, and has a crude difagreeable
tafte.
On the under furface of the leaves of ladies mantle, and
a fpecies of euphorbia with cyprefs leaves, is occafionally
difperfed a yellowiih dull, which, from its refemblance to
rufty iron, has occafioned the name of rublgo, or ruff, to be
given to this particular difeafe, which, like clavus , and
fome others, appears to proceed from a defeft of perfpiration.
White fpots are frequently obferved on fome leaves,
which thence appear empty, and, as it were, tran (parent.
It is occafioned by the inlluence of a burning fun aiding
U u upon
VAR
upon them when very much moiftencd, either in confe-
quence of continued rain, or a flrong dew. When all the
leaves are attacked with this difeafe, which has obtained the
name of candor, that is, the whites, the plant commonly
peri flies a few days afters
Certain plants of warm climates are fubjefl to lofe their
petals, when cultivated in cold countries, and that, even
when the fruit arrives at maturity. For particulars on this
fubjefl, the reader is referred to the article Mutilus flos.
Plants which grow in the fliade, or in places that are de-
prived of a proper current of air, are apt to become meagre,
and, without taking the confiflence which is fuitable, to
perifh before they have produced any fruit. Experiments
demonflrate, that the feeblenefs of fuch plants proceeds
lef’s from a defeft of heat than from a privation of light.
Other caufes alter the colour of leaves, and occafionally
produce the beautifully variegated leaves fo much in requeft
among gardeners. Some leaves are fubjeft to affume a deep
red ; this is particularly the cafe with herb Robert, a fpecies
of crane’s-bill.
The branches of afhand willow are frequently flattened in
feveral irregular ways. This is fuppofed to be in confe-
quence of two buds being naturally grafted in each other,
before the unfolding of the branch. Two leaves, or two
fruits engrafted in this manner, produce other monftrous
appearances. By means of artificial grafting, we may, in
like manner, vary the form of leaves, flems, flowers and
fruit.
Laftly, certain infefts depofiting their eggs under the bark
of the leaves and flems of feveral plants, occafion an extra-
vafation of the fap, and hence give birth to certain Angular
productions, which in different bodies refemble ei her nuts,
mufhrooms, or fpunges, aild are either round or long, hard
or foft, covered with leaves, or guarded with bnflly threads.
Such are the galls of oak which enter into the compofition
of ink; thole of lime, ciflus, ground-ivy, a fpecies of
bawk-wced, the afpen-tree, and feveral fpecies of willow.
Thofe of a fpecies of fage called falvia baccilgra, are fold in
-i " the
V E R
the markets of the Levant by the name of fage-apples.
Toiirnefort relates that they are round, nine or ten lines in
diameter, of the colour of alhes, cottony, with a. white
pulp that is fomewhat tranfparent, fweet, and of a very
agreeable tafte. Thofe of the fcarlet oak are two lines in
diameter. The fubftance is very red, and being dried, is
the kermes, or fcarlet-paftel, fo well known by the dyers.
Of thd fame nature with the galls juft mentioned are thofe
{Iran ge bodies covered with green, red, or yellow fibres,
termed bedeguar, which a fly of the fame kind produces upon
the wild-rofe. Such are likewife the fmall bladders on the
furface of elm-leaves, which are filled with gnats, and with
an aftringent balmy liquor that is an excellent vulnerary.
Such are the principal accidents to which the parts of
plants are fubjeft, and which give rife to the numerous tribe
of varieties in the vegetable kingdom.
VEPRECUL^L, (diminutive from vepres , a briar, or
bramble;) the name of the thirty-firft order in Linnaeus’s
Fragments of a Natural Method, confiding of the following
genera, which do not conftitute a true natural aflemblage.
Linnaean Genera.
Englijh Names.
Dais.
Daphnet
— Mezereon, or fpurge-laurel.
Dirca,
—
— Leather- wood.
Gnidia.
Lachnaa.
Pajferina ,
— Sparrow-wort.
Quifqualis.
S tell era,
_
— German ground fel, or Tra»
Theftum.
gus’s fparrow-wort.
VERNATIO (a renewing, or growing again, from wr,
the fpring ; — foliation or leafing). By this general term,
inflead of foliatio , which he had employed in his earlier
works, Linnaeus has e*prefied in the later editions thecuri-
V U 2 OU1
V E R
ous manner in which the leaves are folded or wrapped up m
their buds. — In this refpeft, leaves are
CondupUcata, doubled together, as in oak,' afh, beech, rofe,
bramble, and molt of the plants of the clafs Diadelphia
of Linnaeus.
Convoluta, rolled together like a fcroll, as in after, golden-
rod, comfrey, and moft of thegraffes.
Equitantia, riding on one another, as in iris, acorus, carex,
poa, and fome other grades.
Involutd, rolled fpirally inwards on both fides, as in pear,
apple, honey-fuckle, violet, hop, and nettle.
Revoliita , rolled backwards on both fides, as in fox-glove,
dock, pellitory, groundfel, and colt’s foot.
Obvoluta, rolled up againft one another, as in valerian, tea-
fel, fcabious, pink and fage.
Imbricata, laid over one another like tiles, as in privet, St.
John’s wort, and Greek valerian.
Circinalia, rolled fpirally downwards, as in the ferns, and
fome palms.
Phca/a, plaited, as in mallow, vine, paflion-flower, and
alder-tree, or
Recliuata, folded back towards the footflalk, as in anemone
and monk’s hood.
By aftually diffetling the buds of thefe plants, which are
familiar to mofl, and likewife eafily to be found, for which
reafon I have preferred them as examples, the learner in
botany will acquire a far more accurate knowledge of the
full force and meaning of the above-mentioned terms of
foliation, than by any definition or defeription, however
exaft and elaborate.
VERTICILLAT AL, (from verticillus ; vide infra) the
name of a clafs in Ray’s and Boerhaave’s Methods, confifL
ing of herbaceous vegetables having four naked feeds, and the
flowers placed in whorls round the flalk. The term is fyno-
nymous to the labiaii , or lipped-flowers of Tournefort, and
is exemplified in mint, thyme, and favory.
V ERTIGILL is alfo the name of the forty-fecond
order *
I
V E R A
order in Linnaeus's Fragments of: a Natural Method, con-
futing of plants which aafwer the above defcription.
Lift of the Genera contained in this Natural Order.
i
Linnasan Genera. Englljh Names.
Ajuga, — —
Amethyftea.
Ballot a, — - —
Betonica, — « —
(fteonia.
Clinopodium, — —
Cunila.
Dracocephalum, — —
Galeopfts, — —
Glechoma, - — —
Horminum, — —
HyJJ'opus , — —
Latniutn, — —
Lavandula , — —
Leonurus, — —
Lycopus, — —
Marrubium, — —
Melijfa, — —
Melittis, — —
Mentha, — ■ —
Moluccella, — —
Monarda.
Nepeta, — —
Ocymum, — —
Origanum, — —
Orvala.
Phlomis, — —
Prajium, — —
Prunella, — —
Rofmarinus, — —
Salvia, — • —
V
Bugle.
Black hore-bound.
Betony.
Field-bafil.
Dragon’s head.
Hedge-nettle.
Ground-ivy.
Pyrenaean clary.
Hylfop.
Dead nettle.
Lavender.
Lion’s-tail.
Water hore-hound.
Hore-hound.
Balm.
Ballard balm.
Mint.
Molucca balm.
1
Cat-mint, or nep.
Bafil.
Marjoram.
Sage-tree, or Jerufalem-fage,
Shrubby hedge-nettle.
Self-heal.
Rolemary.
Sage.
i 3 Satureia,
V E R
t
Linnsean Genera. Englijh Names ,
Satureia, —
—
Savory.
Scutellaria , — -
■ —
Skull-cap.
Sideritis, — «
—
Iron-wort.
Stachys, —
—
Bafe hore-hound.
Teucrium, —
—
Germander.
Thymhra, —
—
Mountain-hyffop,
Thymus, — •
—
Thyme.
Trichofema,
Ziziphora, —
Syrian field bafil.
Halit and Structure of the Plants of this Order.
This order, termed by Tomnetonlabiati, or lipped-flowers,
from the unequal and irregular divifions 'of the petal, which
commonly refemble the two lips of an animal, contains an-
nual and perennial herbs, and Ihrubby plants, fome of which
retain their green leaves during the winter.
The Roots are branched and fibrous.
The Stems are round when old, fquare, when young;
as are likewife the young branches which ffand oppofite.
The Leaves are oppofite, and in the greater number
covered with tranfparent points. Thofe which are placed
next the flower generally differ from the ftem-leaves.
In the greater number of plants of this order, the leaves
are fupported upon a long cylindrical foot-ftalk that is fur-
rowed above. Some, however, as dead-nettle and bugle,
have the leaves attached immediately to the branches without
any foot-ftalk.
The Flowers are univerfally hermaphrodite, except in
a fpecies of thyme mentioned by Adanfon, which appears
to have male or barren flowers on one root, and female or
fertile flowers on another.
They are difpofed round the ftem, as the title imports, in
whorls, or fmall heads, with fliort foot-ftalks.
The Flower-cup is of one piece, that is generally cuf
into five unequal divifions, whofe difpofition fometimes re-
Pfefents );wo lip, the uppermoft of which has commonly a
fef*
V E R
lefs number of divifions. It accompanies the feeds, which
it nourilhes in its bofom, to their maturity.
The Petal is of the gaping or lip kind, and, in the diffe-
rent genera, is more or lefs irregular or unequal, either in
its tube, or in the divifions of the upper part, the number of
which varies from two to five. Tliefe divifions frequently
form two lips, of which the uppermofl, termed the creft
and the helmet, is fometimes entire, fometimes more or lefs
deeply cut into two ; the lowermoft, termed the beard,
generally into three. In germander and bugle the upper
lip is very fhort, and over-topped by the ftamina.
The Stamin Aare two, orfour in number. Inthe greater
part, there are four ftamina of unequal length, two of them
being longer than the others ; a charafter which determines
fuch plants to the clafs didynamia of the Sexual Method.
As to fage, rofemary, and the other genera with two ftamina,
they are approximated to the other plants of this order, n Ihfu if .1. i / /<>V V //.• l/o , /r> t/f fr*/., /;i // /t . »• f/t>/r,/.r l',i/rr nr// ‘r fti>n
*
Drawn l/y , fydJZtbmrds
Engraved F Jani'M*
DubUfJnuf .!/'» //if< V \ H J)Svtnrh'llos\.
/jruvrt },y . l\,} ft, l war, h .
kt fSan/rrr,
TulU/hsJ ITovljaa*. .u/J„ Art A, r,;V.r hv H.D SvmrnM f.,Urmjb-r]i..»
\
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES,
v
PLATE V.— Leaves*
COMPOUND LEAVES continued.
fig. '
1 6. Folium bitematum , a re-compounded leaf that is doubly-
ternate, that is, has the common footftalk divided
into three parts, each of which has three leaflets.
17. triternatum, a leaf that is triply- ternate, that is, has
the common footftalk divided into three parts,
each of which is doubly-ternate.
18. - bipinnatum , a doubly-pinnate leaf.
19. tripinnatum fine impart, a triply-pinnate leaf, each
pinna of which terminates abruptly.
20. tripinnatum cum impari , a triply-pinnate leaf, with
an odd leaflet at the apex of each pinna or wing.
*#* For further illuftrations on the fubjeft of Compound Leaves,
the reader is referted to the Seftion which bears that name in
the Di&ionary, under the article Fol,ivm.
x x 2
£ XF l. AN AT ION OF TH 5 F LATIS.
PLATE VI. — Leaves continued.
DETERMINATION or DISPOSITION of LEAVES.
r‘.g'
1. Folium irfexum , a leaf bent inwards, or towards the ftalk.
2. ereiium , an ere ft leaf, or that is nearly perpendicular.
3- patens, a leaf bent outwards, or declining from the
ftalk at an acute angle ; a fpreading leaf.
4- horizontctle , an horizontal leaf, which is placed at
right angles with the ftalk.
- — reclinatum, a leaf that is bent downwards.
6- revolutum, a leaf whofe fummits are rolled inwards.
7- — feminale, a feed- leaf.
8. — caulinum , a ftem- leaf.
9- rameurn, a branch-leaf.
IO- * floruit, a leaf that is Rationed near the flower.
it- decurrevs , a decurrent or running leaf ; a leaf which
extends itfelf downwards along the ftalk beyond
its proper bafts.
12. — petiolaturn, a leaf fupported on a petiolus or footftalk.
13. peltatum , a target-fhaped leaf.
*4- a leaf that is feated immediately on the ftem
or branch, without any manifeft footftalk ; oppofed
to petiolaturn.
15‘ amplexicaule , a leaf which tranfverfely embraces the
ftem by its bafe.
*6* perftliatum , a perforated leaf. This leaf differs
from the preceding chiefly in the perforation,
which is likewife tranfverfe, taking place at a
greater diftance from the margin.
*7- connatum , a leaf formed by the union of two leaves
at the bafe.
18. vagi nans, a leaf the bafe of which longitudinally
furrounds the ftem like a fheath. By the cir-
cumftance of its longitudinal perforation, this
fpecics of leaf may* be eafily diftinguifhed from
thofe deferibed at No, 15. and 1 6.
V
Drawn hr M EJrrarJa hnan^/J hr F Wi*
L'ubhjhs.l J/ffY nf tJtt-A •/• dtracbt }ry. HD.Sym^nM P,iltr noibr f&'w
Bo
Puhli/IuJ M'Y LM>4 astheActdirr/ti In mauls Voter n.-fber H,>\\
1
•> ,
EXPL AHAI-tON OF THB PLATES.
PLATE VIE— Leaves.
DETERMINATION of LEAVES continued.
19. Folium articulatum , a jointed leaf, a fpecies of compound
leaf, in which the leaflets are produced each from
the fummit of that immediately under it, as in
Caftus opuntia. This Angular appearance
Berkenhout very properly compares to the links
of a chain.
20. Folia Jlellata, leaves furrounding the ftcm in the form of a
radiant ftar ; fynonymous to •verticillata.
21. quaterna , leaves growing by fours ; a modification of
the two former terms.
22. oppojita, leaves growing in pairs.
23. alterna, leaves ranged fingly in fucceflion on both fide*
of the ftalk ; the reverie of the preceding term.
24. imbricata, leaves laid over one another like tiles,
(imbrex, a gutter tile) as in the gznus faxifraga,
23. ccers/a, chaffy leaves ; leaves that are flender and of
ecjual breadth throughout, fomewhat hard, ever-
green, pointed like pins, and furrounded at
the bafe by chaffy fealcs. The term is exempli-
fied in fir, pine, yew, and juniper.
■36. fafciculata , leaves which proceed in bundles ffafciculi)
from the fame point, as in the larch-tree, and
fome pines.
27. * From, a compofition of a leaf and branch. The trunk of
the palms and ferns is fo termed by Linmeus.
Vide Frons.
28. Folium fpatloulatum, a leaf fiiaped like a fpatula, as in cijlut
incanut , and phlomis purpurea.
290 parabolicum , a leaf which, in figure, fomewhat re-
fembles the geometrical curve termed a parabola.
* From ferves a* a connecting link betwixt leaves and trunks, (the fubjeCt
of the next plate). tw0 following term* belong ty the divilioa containing
firnple leaves.
EXPLANATION OF THJE PLATE*.
- PLATE VIII.
TRUNKS. ( Vide Truncvs.)
Fig-
1 . Culmus Jquamqfm, a fcaly culm, ftraw, or haulm ; a fpecics
of that trunk or Item which is peculiar to the
grafles. Vide Culmus.
2. Caulis repens & fcandens, a creeping and climbing Item, ex-
emplified in bignonia and ivy.
3. < Scapus, a fpecies of trunk which elevates the fructification,
but not the leaves 5 a naked flower-ftalk, exem-
plified in auricula, and many of the liliaceous
plants. Vide Scapus.
4. Culmus articulatus, a culm or ftraw that has knots or joints
at certain intervals.
5. Caulis 'volulilis, a twining Item, exemplified in convolvulus,
black bryony, and hop.
6. dichotomus, in two parts, and npiia, to cut) a
forked Item ; a compound Item, the divifions of
which are always by pairs ; as in cerajlium dicho -
tomtim , and •Valeriana iocujla.
7. brachiatus, ( brachium, the arm) a fimple Item, whofe
branches grow by pairs, refembling arms ; as in
mercurialis annua.
8. Stipes , the trunk of a fungus. The term is likewife ufed
for the bafts or ftalk of that peculiar fpecies of
. trunk called a front. See Plate VII. fig. 27.
' V.
. X
i
x
• ^
>s
.
«
V
-»
fiwritu'i/ F • I, trt/twi
Dr at in
I'lihll/hsd NwJIAH ,u tfw Art Jiro lt f>\ IU).SynumtU hitrr m jhr 2fW
Drawn In EJ*
' a-tfom
PublljhtdTfov LISPJ ,U the Act Jirrrtr by .H.PSvnn'nds Pattr tufhrlir*
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES,
PLATE IX.
SUPPORTS and ARMATURE of PLANTS.
( Vide Fulcra.)
fig-
i . Stipula, C a ftipule; a fcale or fcales at the infertion of the
footftalks of the leaves and flowers.
Cirrus, 4 a clafper or tendril.
2. Aculeus Jimp lex, that fpeeies of vegetable armature called
prickles, (aculei) in which the weapons in queftion
proceed Angly from the Item or branch. ( Vide
Aculeus.)
3. triplex, prickles which grow by threes; a three.
pronged prickle,
4. Spina /implex, a Ample or Angle thorn. Vide Spina.
5. triplex, a triple thorn.
6. Stimuli, flings, as in the nettle, acalypha and tragia.
7. B radices, floral leaves ; leaves which differ in colour and lhape
from the other leaves of the plant. In fome
fpeeies of fage, lavender, and crown- imperial,
they affume the appearance of a tuft of hair at
the end of the flower-ftem, and hence have ob-
tained the name of coma . Vide Bractea and
Coma.
x x 4
JXriANATJON or THE J* L ATJSs
PLATE X.
SUPPORTS AND ARMATURE of PLANTS continued.
Fig.
8. Glandule concave, concave glandular appearances, feated
on the footftalk of the leaves.
9* ' pedicellate, glands placed on (hort footftalks, and
which kkewife have their feat on the petiolus.
* Glands originally ranked by Linnaeus among the
fulcra of plants, were afterwards abforbed in
the general term pubes. Wildenow, in his
late edition of the Philofophia Botanica, has
reftored them to their former fituation, with
what propriety the reader is left to determine.
io. Bill, hairs; a fpecies of pubefcence. Vide Pubes,
i i . A thorny leaf and branch.
12. The prickly capfule of the beech,
*3* Bedunculus, a flower-ftalk. ihis, in the Delineatio plante,
and Termini Boianici of Elmgren, ranks with the
fulcra, 'out is excluded, and with reafon, in tfie
Philofophia Botanica.
1 4. The thorny fruit of the horfe-chefnut.
15. The prickly fruit of the chefnut.
\
1
V
• /
.4
\
- t
s
•*«■'/"» ty \ifti Lt.irJ
>ufr,tv,,
P ubliftisJ jyi'vl !.9t\4 ,ts fhr 4 -// T't U A, K.l).Sy tf>. nit 1 ii{/r tit'/h’ Hi'#
4
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE XI.
ROOTS. {Vide Radix and Bulbus.)
Radix fujiformis , a fpindle-fhaped root, as in carrot.
jtib rotunda , a roundifh loot, as in turnip.
fihrofa, a fibrous or ttringy root, as in fenecio vulgarit.
granulata , a granulated root — a root confiiting of a
number of little knobs refembling grain, which are
fattened to one another by fmall fibres or firings,
as in faxijraga granulata,
prcsmor/a , a root which ends abruptly, having the
appearance as if bitten off. The term is exempli-
fied in plantain, and Jcabtofa fuccifa.
tuberofa pendula, a tuberous and pendulous root ; as
in Jpircea filipendula , or drop- wort.
EXPLANATION OP THE PLATES.
PLATE XII.
ROOTS continued .
%•
7. Radix fafcictdar 'is, a fpecies of tuberous root, in which the
knobby parts grow in bundles. This is fometimes
termed a grumous root, and is exemplified in ranun,
cuius and peony.
9„ Bulbus fquamofus, a fcaly bulb, as in the white lily.
<9. folidus , a folid bulb, as in tulip.
3.0. a tranfverfe fedion of a folid bulb.
II. tunic at us, a coated bulb, as in onion.
j 2. a tranfverfe fed ion of a coated bulb.
13. The roots, or pattes, as they are termed, of anemone.
14. Radix teJUculata, a twin. root, as in orchis.
15. The root of bird's neft, a fpecies of ophrys. This is evi-
dently a modification of the fafcicularor bundled root.
/
* b b‘l En.imr. J lnFSan n,
Vuhhjhf'J 'Vr v lJtffM ,ir ihs Art />••< /< by H tXSypfU'nM I'M*/ o. y >/• R< >/
1.22.
SXFLAN ATlON OF THI T LATEJ.
PLATE XIV.
PARTS op FRUCTIFICATION.
(Vide Fructtfitatio,)
« Calyx.
Tig.
1. Ferianthium, the flower-cup properly To called.
2. Amentum , a catkin. Vide Amentum.
3. Spatha, a fheath ; as in narcijfus .
f CVr/yx an increafed calyx ; a perianth, which has a
row of leaves diftinft from the flower-cup furrounding
' * £ the bafe, as in dianthus.
6. Inuiolucrum univerfale , the univerfal ca/rx or cover of an
umbelliferous flower, which is placed under the
larger or general umbel. Vide Invo lucrum.
7* parti ale, the "partial calyx or cover of an umbel-
liferous flower, which is placed under the
fmaller or partial umbel.
8. Calyptra, the calyx of the mofles.
9. Volw
t JilL
kVflMiSn
ill
iVvV
klvf
uV Aiilll
SXPXANATIOS OF THE PLATBS.
PLATE XVII.
PARTS ok FRUCTIFICATION.
Corolla continued. ( Compound Flowers.)
9. Corolla compojita jlofcidh ligulatis, a compound flower with
flat, tongue, or ftrap-lhaped florets; the femi-flofcular
flower of Tournefort. ,
o. Flofculus ligulatus , a fiat or tongue-fhaped hermaphrodite
floret ; the femi-floret of Tournefort.
11. Corolla compojita radiata, a compound radiated flower, having
femi-florets in the radius or circumference, and florets in
the difk or centre.
2. The ligulated floret of a radiated flower, which wants both
the fexual organs.
3. Corolla compojita Jlofculis tubulojis, a compound flower with tubu-
lar or hollow florets ; the flofcular flower of Tournefort.
4. Flojculus txbulojus, a tubular or hollow floret ; the floret
properly fo called.
For further particulars refpe&ing compound flowers, the
reader is referred to the articles Compositus Flos and Svn-
cenbsia in the Dictionary.
BXF LAN ATXON OF THE PLATES.
P L A T E XVIII.
i i
PARTS ok FRUCTIFICATION.
Corolla cont mut’d.
fig.
14. Corolla, campanulata, a bell-fhaped flower.
16 :} Different modifications of the fame.
17- Corolla in fund :b rt l form's, a funnel-fhaped flower.
15. — — — hjpocrattriformis , a falver-fhaped flower :
a, the limb, (limbus) or upper fpreading part of •
* • the petal ;
b, the tube, ( tubus ) or lower hollow part.
*9 — cruciformis, a crofs-fhaped flower.
20. The petal of a crofs-fhaped flower, the upper fpreading part
of which, as of the petals of all polypctalous flowers, is
termed lamina, the plate or border ; the lower tapering
part, unguis , or the claw.
21. Corolla rot ala , the back or under fide of a wheel-fhaped
flower.
22. The front or upper furface of a flower of the fame deferip- ,
tion.
rau/n by KyJ F. fourth
Vubitihsd Ni'y L l /•
i* SyJ
fuHtfhe.l Foy L1SM vlhsAadwt, h KU^nu^ Putrr^rjl
.
r
h, Ay iy.! K.i*ar.h XlyfWA <''■ W*
TubUflicd .tfov. USO-t- as tht Act ilireAt by JI.D Jymcn.lr Tatcr nc/bcr Rev
I
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE XXI.
MODES of FLOWERING. ( Vide Inflorescenti a.)
Fig.
1. Verticillus, a whirl or whorl.
2. Fasciculus, a bundle or bunch.
3. Spica, a mode of clofe inflorefcence refembling a fpike or
■ear of wheat, rye, or barley.
4. Racemus, a duller ; as of currants, grapes, &c.
5. Panicul a, apanicle ; a mode ofloofe inflorefcence refembling
that of oats, and fome other grafles.
r y 2
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE XXII.
MODES or FLOWERING continued.
Kg-
6. Thyrsus, a p&nicle contracted into an oval form.
f Cyma, a cyme ; a mode of inflorefcence which differs from
k>' j an umbel, in having the partial footftalks placed without
’ [ any regular order.
9. Corymbus, a mode of flowering, which, like the preceding,
refembles an umbel in its general appearance, but may
eafily be diftinguifhed by the unequal length of the foot-
ftalks, which do not, as in the umbel, proceed from the
fame centre, but are produced from different parts on
both fides of the ftalk.
10. Capitulum, a little head.
* Thefe terms, expreffive of the various modes of flowering,
with their different combinations, are fully explained in the
Dictionary.
*-
%
Pubhlhs.t N>v IhfCd tulju /{•/ Air f> ffjj , \ » rtU'nJ.t P<: *,■/ n, '0. r N, •>
w
-«#
Ov-o 4* oj
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES,
*
PLATE XXIII.
PARTS of FRUCTIFICATION refumed,
t Pericarpium, or Seed-vessel.
Fig.
1. A Capfule, with an undivided cavity or {ingle cell, fide
Capsula and Loculamenta.
2. with two cells.
with three cells.
■with four cells,
with fix cells,
with many cells.
7. That fpecies of pod termed legumen , in which the feeds are
fattened along one future only. Fide Legumen.
8. Folliculus , a fpecies of dry feed-veflel, which opens longi-
tudinally on one fide from bottom to top, and has the
feeds loofe within it. Vide Folliculus and Coticepiaculum.
9. Reprefents that pulpy kind of pericarpium termed pomum,
with its inclofed capfule having five cells, in which are
contained the feeds. Vide Pomum.
10. Drupa, a pulpy feed-veflel of the cherry kind, containing a
nutorftone. Vide Drupa.
1 1 . The feftion of a drupa, exhibiting the pulpy part, and the
ftone.
12. A nut, or feed covered with a {hell. Vide Nux.
13. Strobilus, a cone. Vide Strobilus.
14. Bacca , a pulpy pericarp without valves, inclofing naked
feeds. Vide Bacca.
15. The tranfverfe feftion of a bacca, to exhibit the difpofition
of the feeds within the pulp.
i ^ f That fpecies of pod termed filiqua, in which the feeds are
< fattened to both futures or joinings of the valves al-
l7* [ ternately. Vide Siliqua.
3
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE XXIV.
The CLASSES or PRIMARY DIVISIONS of the
SEXUAL SYSTEM.
* The reader is referred to the Analylis or general Scheme of
this celebrated Method prefixed to the prefent work, as like-
wife to the explanation of each clafs in the Di&ionary, under
its refpeftive title.
Ug.
i.
Monandria.
Fig.
13. Polyandria.
2.
Diatidria .
1 4. Didynamia.
3-
Triandria.
1 3 . Tetr adynamia.
4*
Tetrandria.
16. Monadelphia.
5*
Pcntandria,
I 7 . Diadelphia.
6.
Hexandria.
18. Polyadelphia.
7-
Heptandria,
19. Syngenejia,
8.
Octandria.
20. Gynandria .
9*
Enneandria.
21. Monacia.
IO.
Decandria.
22. Dieecia.
1 1.
Dodecandria.
23. Polygamia,
12.
Icofandria „
24. Cryptogamia.
t
U4t/n by t ->J Rjwanf, R n.;r,n, J /-»
TuhlilhtJ V7 v LLS04- ua the Act dir Mia by HD SvmoruU fitter tv/i'/fi.**
Ur am'* JT. I»y JZ ,/wnnZr
Hthhfhed 11404 us thr Ait bee rapiltonaceee.
rigeon-pea. ) *
Pimento, or all-fpice. See Hefperidoee,
Pine (cultivated). See Conferee.
Pine-apple. See Coronariae.
| See Con ferae.
See Hederaceee.
| See Dumofae.
See Filices.
Pineafter.
Pitch-tree.
Poet’s ivy.
Poifon-afh.
Poifon-tree.
Polypody
Popo-tree. See Tricoccee.
Prickly anonis. See Papilionaceee.
Pumpkin. See Cucurbitacece.
R.
Red jafmine. See Contortae.
Reeds. See Gramina.
Rhamnus alaternus. 7 c ,, -
r , > bee Dumo et.
frangula. ) J
Rhubarb. See Holeracees.
Rice. See Gramina .
Ricinus, or palma-chrifti. See Tricoccee .
Royal Ofmund. See Filices.
4
s.
Saffron. See Enfatae.
Sago- tree. See Palmae.
Sapota. See Dumofae.
* Saflafras*
ALPHABETICAL LIST
Screw-tree. See Calumniferae.
Sea bind-weed. See Campanace*.
Senna.
Senega rattle-fnake root. >See Lomentace *.
Senfitive plant. J
Shrubby medick. See Papilionace*.
Silk cotton-tree. See Column ferae.
Soap-wort (officinal). See Carjopbj/llei.
Solatium (fpecies of). See Lurid. *.
Sour-fop. See Coadunat*.
South-fea.tea.. See Dumof*.
Spanifh potatoe. See Campanace*.
Spindle-tree. See Dumof*.
Spruce firs of North America. See Coniferaei.
Spurious varnilh-tree. See Dumof*.
Squafh. See Cucnrbitace*.
Squills. See Coronariae.
Storax-tree. See Bicornes.
Succotxine aloes. See Coronariae.
Sugar-cane. See Gramina.
Swallow-wort (common). See Contort*.
Sweet-rulh. See Piperitae.
Syrian dog’s-bane. See Contort*.
Tea-fhrub. See Columniferae.
Thapfia. See Campanaceae.
Tooth-ach tree. See Hederacc*.
Traveller’s joy. See Multifil'qu*.
Tree- vervain-mallow of J ava. See Column fer*.
Tulip-tree. See Coadttnat *.
Turbeth, or turbith. See Camp mince*.
' V.
Vanelloes. See Orchidc*.
Varnilh-tree. See Dumof*.
Venicc-fumach. See Dumof*.
Venus’s fly-trap. See Lometitace*.
Vetch (bitter). See Papilionace*.-
Vinegar-tree. 1 See Dumof* 4
Virginian fumach. j
Saflafras-tree. See Holerace*.
Scammony. See Campanace*.
Scorpion-fenna. See Papilionace*.
T.
Water
OF PLANTS.
Wartrd-gourd.
Water-melons,
Water-fold ier.
White bryony.
White hellebore
White mullein.
W.
See Cucurbitace* ?.
or citruls. See Cucurbitace ef.
See Palmes.
See Cucurbitaceee ,
See Coronaries,
See Lurides .
Vaifts.
See Sarmentacees.
Yo
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