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Show 6 2 'fhe Hijlory of p L A N T S. · Th whole plant grows to about four inches hairs, and in an innumerable. quanttty. th:n three inches in diameter ; the branches in height, and the tufted top ts often. ~ore The whole is of a fl.e{hy, foft texture, and all run up .round to the. very 0~~t~~~~t;;~·in e af red in it : about ·the extremities the re of a whtt~ili colol,lr, '?th J: d the fee~s are difpofed as in the other fpecies, among fi~nd a ~~:t ~~~b~~~e:~r ~:~~~·erpely minute, that a ;ery powerful magnifier is net ern : , y h' {i J... f h m I have not met with this fpecies in any more than one ceifar~ toEgetlt ed lg•tht _o h t e s .near Mendip-hills. Tournefm•t has defcribed it under place m ng an , ~ tc .wa . the name of Corallmdes dilute ptarpurafcens. . h Th other fpecies of Merifmre will eafily be diO:ingui~hed by theu nam~s : t e.r are, The· bite large flat-branched Merifma. 2. The great, ramofe, whtte Me11.fma; :l;is is cofthc form a~d fize of a colly-flower. 3· The little, d~iky-yellow Me~·tfma. Th ery fmall yellow Merifina, found on the barks of trees. 5· The gluti?ous, 4· 11 eMv ·r. '6 The filverv white fine Merifma. 7· The lhort, horned, vwlet- "'e ow eruma. . < , , d v· · · M · r ' 1 d M '{j 8 The ihort flat and broad-branche , ugmtan er11ma. 9,. co oure en rna. · , ' · r. Th b k' The orcupine Merifma of Boccone. 1 o. The fetac,eous Mewma.. I J • • e uc . s-h PM ' [J 12 The red buck's-horn Merifma. 13. The httle, captllary, vio-orn en rna. · 'ft d r. M let Merifma. 14. The blue, _gelatin.o~s Merifma. I 5· The en ate , verruco1e. e- . · r. 6 Tl1e white Menfina wtth purple tops. I7· The fiery-red Menfma, twllimtha ..f hoIr t •r amificatiors. 18. The' broad-br~nche_d, fle{h-co 1o ured M en·t ·m a. Th I 9· . e yellow Merifma, with iliort, expanded ramtficattons. And, 2 0. T he grey, cormcu-lated Merifma. FUN G L Clafs the Third. Genus the Tenth. XYLAR I A. X y L A R I A is a genus of Fungus, confifting of branches, or il:alks, of a woody fi:ruClure, tough, firm, and hard, and of an uneven fu r-face. Thefe Fungi produce feparate male and female flowers. T~e male flowers confift only of antherre of an oblong figure, fupported on very lhort ftamma, and are placed on the upper parts only of the plant. The female flowers are lodged .in caviti~s, or cells, in the lower parts of the pl<\nt, and confifr of placentre, of a round101 figure and gelatinous fubfiance; to which are affixed great numbers of rouodilh feeds. Dillenius confounds the plants of this genus wi~h thofe of the former, and of feveral others, under the name of Fungoides. Micheli calls the genus Lichen agaricus. We have given it the name Xylaria, from the Greek ~uf...o~, wood, thefe being the only F ungi that are truly of a woody texture. The fruCtification of one of the fpecies of this genus is defcribed very accurately in the Memoirs of the Paris Academy, and Micheli has defcribed all the parts of it, as we have fe~n them ; but he mifiakes the £1rina for the feed, and vice v erf a, and has figur ed numbers of the feeds, adhering to one another, in form of a necklace, by means of the glutinous matter of the placenta, under the name of a peculiar configuration of the farina. The cells, in which the plac~;nta with it's feeds are placed, are, in fome fpecics, round, in others cylindric; in fome they are buried wholly in the f~.;~bfiance of the plant, and have only an aperture correfponding with it; in others they protuberate from within, a little way out beyond the furface, and, in fome others, they are tubercles affixed to the plant, and not penetrating at all into it's furface : fome of the fpecies are fimple, fame divaricated, and fame branched. I. Xylaria comprej[a extremitatibus divaricatis. The flatted Xylaria, with divaricated extremities. This is on_e qf th.ofe Fungi which, in their different frates, put on. very diffl"!rcnt forms; and 1t has, hke fame others, been, for that reafon , defcribed under di fferent ~1a~es , as feveral different fpecics. It grows to two inches, or more, in height, and 1 '. m the broadef\: part, fometimes a third of an inch, or more, in diameter. It rifes Wtth a fi n gl~ fiem, of a compreffed D1ape and rough furface; this fometimes run3 np fingle, taperwg all the ';ay, till it terminate in a point; fometimes alii) it is roundtOJ, or Y:he Rijiory of P L A N T s. br very ~rttle flatted; more ufna1ly, however, it divides towards the top into two or more Jbta·nches, which, as they extend themfelves in length, increafe alfo in breadth and, after they have thns expanded themfelves in to a fort of palmated form, terminate in two, t hree, or more divifions, re'femb1ing 'fingers. This is the moft ufual fiate of the plan t, but it occafidnalty aiJumes many other fonns, and frequently, in a clufl:er 0 · twenty or thirt~ plants, fome will be fo very unlike the others, that, if they did not grow together, It would not be eafy to know them for the fame plant from their Jhape. ~hatever be the form of the pla~t, however, it's colour and texture are permanent; It 1s tough and hard as wood, and ts black all the Way up to the extremities, which are white and dufiy ; the reft of the furface is Qftcn, in many parts, covered with roundi(h tubercles. The dufl:y matt-er '()fl the white tops 0f this plant, when examined by a mi-· crofcope, proves to be no other than a vaft number of antherre, of an oblong figure ftanding fingly, and adhering to lhort filaments; the tubercles on the other parts of th~ plant are of a roundiil1 figure: they have each a fmall aperture in the center, and an hollow forming the cells in which the placenta with the feeds lie. The placent;e are fmall, roundiih, and of a glutinous firueture, and the feeds either fimply cover the furf~ ce of them, ot adhere to one anothe~·, by means -of this glutinous matter, in long fenes, . propagated from the feveral parts of the placerHa . T his fpecies is very fi·equent with us on old wood, and the frumps of decaying trees. R~y calls it Fungus ramofus, comprelfus, niger, apicibus albidis; and Tournefort, Coral- 101des ramofum, nigrum, comprelfum, apicibus albidis. . 2. Xylaria teres, pediculata, cijpitofa, jimplex. 'lbe cylindric, jimple, pediculated, cifpitofe Xylaria. Thi~ fingular plant rifes to about an inch, or little more, in height. It ufually grows m clu.O:ers, twenty or more of the plants near one another; but each is difl:inet to the bafe, and evid~ntly fp rings from it's own feparate root. It confifl:s of a pedicle: round, and of the thtcknefs . of a fmall packthread, and about a quarter of an inch in !ength; on the rumrnit of this fiands an ob!ong, cylindric body, three quai ters of an mch, or more, 111 length, of the fifth of an mch, or thereabout, in diameter, and obtufe ~t the e1_1d. It is not all t~e way t>f_the fame uniform thicknefs, but appears tumified. 111 certam places at fmall dtfi:ances, m the manner of a pod, with large feeds in it, which mark the places where they are, by fwelling up that part of the pod. All over the furfuce of this body there fiand little protuberances, with perforations in them. Thefe open into round cavities, in which are the feeds of the plant, affixed to a roundilh or oval, gelati?ons placenta; the antherre a:re lefs difl:inet than in the former fpedes; th~y form a kmd ?~ bt·own powder about the top of the plant, and, when exarr.ined With a large magmtier, are found to be oblong bodies, affixed to the furface of the plant by {hart fiamina. In the fpecimen I examined, I found many of thefe on the lower, as well ~s upper part of the plant; but thefe latter were all loofe, fo that it is not ce_rtain 'Yhe.cher they original!y grew there, or were fallen from the top. Thts fpec1es IS not common wtth us : I found it once on a fiump of a tree in Charlton- f?reft, and o?ce. on a~ o~d gate:poft nea~ ~oughb?rough in Leicefi:erfhire. Ray calls 1t Fungus ptpen .!Ethwptco fimths five dtgttatus mger, and fuppofes it to be the Hypoxylum five excrementum ligni putridi fungofum of Mentzelius, but erroneoufly. 3. Xylaria teres ramofa. The cylz'ndric, ramofi XylaJ'ia. The root of this fpecies is extremely long ; it creeps under the furface of the ground to two feet, or more, in length, and is tough, firm, black in colour, fomewhat comprefl'ed, and of the thicknefs of a large packthread : from this, at ce rtain diflances, there r~fe planrs, which gr.ow. to near tw.o ~nches in height. The fiem is ufually fingle, a1_1d thicker than the root 1t n fes from; 1t ts round and rough on the fur face. This diVtdes, at the heig~t of half an inch, into feveral branches, which again divide into others, and are ufually bifid at the ends : they are round all the way up, as at the ba[e, and are black from the bafe to near the extremities, where they are of a pale reddifu colour. 'Thefe tops are dufty, and, when examined, this dufi is found to be compofed of antherre, of an oblong figm'e, each affixed to it's own filament. The little protu berances of the refi of the fi<~lk are the coverings of [a many cells, which contain each iL's roundi£h placenta, |