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Show The Hi.flory - of P L A N T S. by more than one author, under the name of a Fungus non lamellatus. Micheli was the firt1: who gave an account of it in it's more ~erfett an? mature il:ate. . It rifes fi.dl: from the fubfiance it grows 01: with a p~~tcle, as fine as a hatr, of ~bout a fixth of an inch in height, and termmated at tt s top by a round globule ; m this fiate I have known it continue two months, fo that they are fom:wh~t excufable who took this for its ultimate one. After it has continued it's due period m this form, the globule opens gradually at the head, and f01:ms a valva or cafe like the cup ?f ~n acorn, in miniature but of a fomewhat more come form. In the bottom of this IS feen a granule of ~ rough furface; this by degrees ex.pands and fills the cup, and in a lit tle time after ftands as much above it's furface as IS the whole length of the plant befide-. This head when full grown is of an ellip~ic form, thicker than the cup it proceeds from in i;'s middle part, and growing fomewhat fmaller t?ward the fummit, as we.ll as toward the bafc. It is not hollow, but is throughout of a reticulated texture. The ramifications which form the reticulation, are very fmall, and variou.Oy interwoven; on thefe ftand the antherre four on each common filament, and within the cells are the feeds. The whole pla~t, in it's utmoft growth, does not exceed. ~alf ~n in~h i~ height, and it's head, in the thickeft part, is not more than a fifth of Its ~et&ht 111 dta.meter; the head is of a dufky purple colour, the pedicle bro:wni{h. I.t IS frequent m Charlton fore£1: in Suffl::x, growing to the furface of rotten ibcks that he on the ground. I luve not met with it elfewhere, but doubt not but it is frequent enough, only overlooked fi·om it's fmallnefs. Micheli, who firft difcovered it, calls it Clathroides purpureuin pe-diculo donatum. 2. Arcyria Je.J!ilis volva longiore. The je.J!ile Arcyria, with a longer volva. This is a fiill fmaller plant than the former, fcarce ever exceeding a quarter of an inch in height, in it's utmo£1: perfeClion. It's firft appearance is in form of a [mall, purpli{h tuberofity, of an oval figure, adhering by it's fmaller end to the fub£l:ance it grows on. After it has been in this fi-ate fome time, the upper part of it opens, and it by degrees expands into a cup or volva of an oblong conic figure, fiill adhering by it's lower part, and not raifed on a pedicle, as the volva of t)1e former fpecies. F rom the cavity of this valve there ari(es a protuberance, which in ~time becomes a bead of an oblong elliptic figure, and of the fame reticulated ftruClure, and the fame fruCtifications, wi th the former. The whole plant is of a purplilh colour, with a tinge of fcarlet, and makes, when clofely examined, a very pretty appearance. It is common on dead fticks in Charlton foreft in Suffex. I once al(o found a great deal of it in one of the woods in Kenfington gardens. Micheli calls it, Clathroides purpureum pediculo carens. 3. Arcyria pediculo ad apicem ·capitis produEio. The long, pedic!eri Arcyria, with the Jlalk penetrating the head. This is the largeft known fpecies of this genus. It grows to an inch or a little more in height, but what it has in height over the former fpecies, it wants in colour, they being both of a beautiful purple, this of a duik.y brown. It ri(es with a very fiender p~dicle naked, and of more than a third of an inch high; at the top of this ftands a little glo~ul~r tubercle, fcarce larger than the head of a pin, which foon opens, and? as foon as 1t IS open, falls off from the fialk, and leaves no mark of any thing havmg been there. In the place of this membrane there is feen a little oblong body of a granulated furface, which by degrees grows into an head of an oblong form , like thofe of ~he former, and of the fame reticulated texture, but with the pedicle continued. firatt up all the way through the center of it to the very fummit, and vifible all the way m form of a fiend~r black filament,_ like a horfe-hair, only vafily fmaller. The fubfhnce of the head IS of the fame rettculated matter with thofe of the others, and th~ fructifications are the fame in it. The fiamina arranged along the ramifications fuf~ am each four anther~, and the interfticial cavities have the feeds arranged four by four 111 them. I found, la~ year, mar~ than a thou(and plants of this in a clufter, in a crack of an old water-ptpe, near lfimgton. I have alfo feen it in Charlton foreft and in Cane wood near Hampfiead. ' The other fpecies o~ Arc~ria will ea~ly be diftinguiilied by their names: they are, 1. The yellow Arcyna, w1thout pedtcles. 2. The black, very fmall Arcyria, with iliort pedtcles. 3. 'I he deep, brown Arcyria, with iliorter heads. F UN G I. TI.Je Hi.ftory of P L A N T s~ 49 .r FUN G L · Clafs th~ Seco11d. Genus the Third. ' L Y C 0 P E R D b N. L y C 0 P .E R D 0 N is a genus of F un gi, confi,lling of a glolwlar or oval bodyt fometimes feffile) fometimes elevated on a thick pedicle, and covered with a volva in form of an extern al Jkin, which ufu ally remains entire, till the plant is full grown; and producing feparate male and female flowers, both contained in the cells of a fungous fubfiance. The male flowers confifi: of oblong, anther<r, very minute clufters of which are affixed to the fame filament, which adheres to the fides of the cells. The female flowers are pl' ced in the cavities of a reticulated placenta, which :fills up the greater part of each cdl, in the fp ungy matter of the plan t : we can diftinguifh no part of them, b ut the feeds which are very minute and round. There is no genus of F nngi which requires fo much attt:ntion as thi , in order to the difcovering it's f ru Cl:ificat10ns ; in fome of the fpccics they are fo fi11all, as fcarce to be dill:inguil'hable at all ; in l)thers t tey are more viilble; DLlt, in the vc.ry eafiell: of obfervation, a ihort period only is allowtd for the examination. The fpungeous fu bfiance, which filt the plant, rt:mains a long time confufcd, and the frutlifications not formed; and when they :ue formed , and the cells difi. intl', it ,is but a very D1ort time before the very matter of he cells breaks to powder, anu the feeds fall out of the cavities of the placent::e, which Lhemfelves .tlto .Loon after difim ite into the fi ne {hon filaments they were compofed o£: . nd the ·whole matter, powder, feeds, and fi laments together, are difcharged in orm of a fine duft, through the apertu re defiined for that purpofe in the head of the F ungus. The accounts we meet with of perfeCt Fungus's of the fame k ind, difcovcred in the particles of the powder within thefe Ji\mgi, is erroneous. What the[e ob[ervers have taken for little fungus's, has been the placen tulre of the cells not yet difuni ted : in thi~ cafe they are a. kind of rough oval bodies, which may be mifiaken for compleat Fungi of the .f.:1me kmd, by people who do not know th at th e plant arifes regularly fi·om .a ro~ndifh feed, and does not appear itfelf in it's perfeCl: form , tilllopg after the :firfi D1ootmg of that feed . Micheli) w~o has gone fo far toward the rl.ifcovering the :£; uCli fica tion of this genus of plants, as to d1fcover the placentuhr, which he calls glebulre, with their fc eds, in fame of the fpecics, divides tbis genus in to four, according to the common error of laking fpecific ~ifiinClions for generical ones. He calls thefe by the names of L ycoperdon, Lycoperdoides, Lycoperdailrum, .and GeaO:er. T he lafi of thefe has been received alfo by many others as a difiinCl genus, but without funicient foundat ion : the radia t d matter at the bottom of the body, which diftinguiilies th is genus, as it is called, i:; no other than. a valva thus divided ; and all the Lycoperdons have vo l v~, which in the fc veral fpectes approach more or lefs to that form, in fame approaching fo near it as to difpute the title with the allowed gea£l:ers. ' r. Lycoperdon volva glabra evanida pedicu/o crafli./Jimo; The tht'ckjlalked Lycoperdon, with _ a perijhing volva. This is the fpecies of Lycoperdon in which, more than in all others the fruCt ification is difiingui{hable. It is one of the largeft of the pediculated kinds, gr~w ing to eight or t~n. inch~s high, and it's pedi~le an ' nch and half in diameter. I t's root is very large, and d1y1ded mto feveral fibres, tbtck, ihort, and pointed at the ends: from this th ere fi rft anfes a large, tuberous body, covered with a fmooth and very th in valva, in form of an ou~~r m e.mbran~: t.h,is bu~·ll:s , as t.he plant _fh o~ts .up, and f?o~ dif.1ppears. The plant then u[es er eCt, With It s thtck pedicle, whtch IS fpungy wtthm, but not hollow : at the top it di~en ds i~to a .head, of the bignefs of a large apple, which has a pe rforation at t?e fum1111t, thro wh1cb the feeds, and other contents, are difcharged, when ripe. Thts head cut open, while too young, is fou nd to con tain only a fpungy matter, white, and of no regular ftruCl:ure; but, if carefully watched, and opened, juft when the feeds · 0 are |
