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Show The Hiflory of P L A N T S. from each root. Each plant confifl:s of a fingle leaf, the petiole of which rifes naked for five or fix inches; it then fends off a number ofbranches, and each of thefe is furnifhed with a double ferie!s of oblong leaves, or foliola, between every two of which there runs a (mall, harrow membrane. The fialk toward the top has a long and deep furrow rul1ni ng all the way up it ; the upper part of it is very thickly befet with feed-veifels. The folioles are all of them narrow, but moft of all thofe which have feed-veifels on them, the edges of all thefe turning inwards. This is a native of many parts of Europe and America, but not of England. It throve very well in the late Lord Petre's garden. Ray calls it, Lonchites Norwegica major, App. 68. C. Bauhine, Filix palufl:ris altera fufco pulvere hirfuta, Pin. 3 58. Ammon, Filicaflrum feptentrionale et palufi:re, Rut. 17 5· Thalius, StriCl:heopteris, Here. 1 19, and Muntingius, Strietifera, Phyl. 29 I. It is frequent in Norway and Denmark, and in the northern parts of Ruffia. 3· Ofmunda fcapo caulino unicrJ Jronde pinnata folitaria. tn_P. ll The Jinglejlalked Ojinund, with a Jingle, pinnated leaf. . "" oon lO~t. This is a very fingular and very beautiful plant. It grows to fix or eight inches high. The root is fibrous and perpendicular, black on the outfide, and yellow within; from this rifes a fingle pedicle, which grows up naked to three or four inches, and is ~ound, and moderately thick: at about this height grows a fingle pinnated leaf, of an mch and half long; it is com poled of four or five pairs of folioles, with the end terminated by an odd one; each of the folioles is narrower at the bafe, and from thence extends into a kind of femicircular figure, fo as to reprefent a half-moon. Thefe leaves are thick, fucculent, and flelhy, with no vifible fibres. From the ala or infertion of t?is le.af grows a fialk of an in.ch and half, or more; in length. From the fides of this anfe peduncles covered with feed -ve£fels, and making a very elegant appearance. This fpecies is a native of England, but it is not common. I have found it on Lincoln-heat~, and in fame other places. C. Bauhine calls it, Lunaria racemofa minor et vulgans. Tournefort, Ofmunda foliis lunatis. Aut?ors have de~cribed n.o lefs than five fpecies of this plant, under the name of Lunana. C. Baubtne defcnbes one under the name of Lunaria minor rutaceo folio Pin. 3 55. Breynius, another under the name of Lunaria racemofa minor matricari~ folio, CenL 184; and Morifon, a third under the name of Filicula five adian tum foliis in~eri~ribus coriandri, creteris rutre murarire ~ve fumarire, Hill. 3. p. 58 S ; and, finally, Bteynms, another under the name of Lunan~ ~acemofa minor adianti folio; Cent. 1. 93• . All the~e, however, are no more than vanet,Ies ~f t.he common kind, as appears both f10m fpec1mens of them, . a~d even fi·om the defcr1pttons of the authors themfelves. If we could reduce the vaneues. to their proper fpecies, through the whole hifi:ory of plants, as eafily and as certamly as m~y be done in cafe of this fpecies, how much would the vaft number of fuppofed fpectes, at prefent defcribed by authors be reduced? From more than feventeen thoufand, 'tis a quefiion, whether there would remain ten thoufand? The other. fpecies of Ofmund really difiina are, 1. The hairy, fpleenwo rtleav~ d, Amencan Ofmunda. 2. The great; fern-leaved, American Ofmund. 3. The h~rt s tongue~leaved C?fmund. 4· The crenated-leaved Ofmund. 5· The deeply lacin. Iated and hghtly-ha1ry Ofmund. 6. The afphodel-rooted Ofmund. 7. The verticillate Ofmund ; a?d, 8 .. ~be lanceolated and lightly ferrated Ofmund. Almoft all thefe are of Amencan ongm, and are defcribed by Plumier. r Thhe ~ammon Ofmund has the credit of being an excellent vulnerary and a cure 10r t e nckets. ' P T E R I S. P T f. R I~ is a g~nus of plants, in which the fruB:ifications are difpofed in fotm of a me> urroundmg the edges of the lower fide of the leaves. Tbe Hiflory of P L A N T S. 1 • Pteris Jronde fupradetompojita, folio/is pinnatis, pinnis Janceolatis, inftmis pinnatifidis,Juperioribus minoribus. 137 Decompound, pinnate, fmall·leaved Pteris. The length of this fpecific name, incapable of being {bortened by Linnreus, and acquiefced in by Van Royen, and all that have followed ~im, may. fe.rve ~o !hew how very intricate a clafs of plants the ferns are, and how difficultly d1ftmgm!hable from one another. The root of this fpecies creeps under the furface to a vaft difiance. The plant arifes to four or five feet high. The f\:alk is naked to three feet, or thereabout; it is hollow, tender, and green : at this height it fends out a number of branches., which divide themfelves into others, and thofe yet again into others. The foliola, which inveft thefe, are fmall, and even at the edges, obtufely pointed, and arranged in the pinna ted manner, a fingle or odd leaf clofing the end of the pinna. The foliola are green on the upper fide, and greyi!h underneath. This fpecies is too common both in England, and every other part of Europe ; our common people call it Brakes; and the botanical writers, Female fern. C, Bauhine calls it, Filix ramofa major pin-nulis obtufis, non dentatis. 2. Pteris fronde pinnatifida {anceolata laciniis parallelis integerrimis. ll\ougb .§i>pteen::: The pinnatifid, lanceolated Pteris, with parallellacinice. lbo~t. This is a very elegant plaht, and extreamly different from the former fpecies in it's general form, though perfeB:ly like it in it's generical charaCter. It's root is compofed of a vaft number of fibres, colleCl:ed into a tuft ; they are black on the outfide., and whitiili within; from this arife a vail: number of leaves, fifty or more in a clufter~ Each of thefe is an entire plant, it grows to .a foot in height; the fialk·is black at the bottom, and green higher up: the leaf pegins to expand at about four inches from the bafe, and is one Gngle pinnated one, broadeft near the middle, and terminating ih a point. The fegments or lobes ftand horizontally, and are very different from one another in fhape. Thofe on the lower part of the leaf are broad, and obtufe, like thofe of the common afplenium; the others, up to the top df the leaf, refemble thofe of polypody, but are longer, narrower, and pointed at the ends. The longeft of thefc fegments is fcarce an inch in length, and they are all entire and undivided at the edges. The leaves which produce the feeds ufually rife in the midft of a clufier of thefe; and their fegments appear longer and narrower than thofe of the others; but this is merely owing to the fruCtification. This fpecies is a native of England; and in France, and almoft every other part of Europe, it is very common. It has generally been efteemed a fpecies of polypody or lonchitis, but erroneoufly. C. Bauhine calls it1 Lonchitis minor, Pin. 359· Camerarius, Lonchitis afpera minor, Epit. 669. Haller, Struthiopteris. Tournefort call~ it, Polypodium angu!l:ifolium, folio vario, 540. The common female fern is efl:eemed an excellent medicine in cafes of worms ; and the latter fpecies is not lefs celebrated, as a vulnerary: but at prefent they are neither of them ufed in the ihops. . L 0 N CHIT IS. L 0 N CHI T l S is a genus of plants, the fruCtifications of which are arranged into lunulated feries, and difpofed feparately under the finus's of the leaves. 1. Lonchitis petiolo flrigojiore JPinofo. . The Lonchitis; with a jlender, prickly .ftalk. "the root is black, fibrous, and tough: the fialks are numerous, flender, rotinded, but with a_furrow in the front, and furrounded with weak prickles of a gloffy black. 1"he plant grows to a foot and half high: the alre, which arife from the main fl:alk, are ufually fimple ; fometimes they fend off others near their bafes 3 they are each N n formed |