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Show !.. 78 The Hi)lory of p LA N T S. b h tu 11 tl e way up there grow little tufts bf the fame £.laments, al;lout a fira~c ~sa~ i~c~ lonl and pedeetly like thofe which terminate the fialks; fo that the ~xbtoleo lant, feen in ~he water, looks like a tuft of an extreamly fine filamentofe ma~ter, 1 b P h b · 11 h"d by thefe fine pencils. The colour of the whole plant IS a t le ranc es emf af: I "t's furface when dry looks gloffy, and is lefs tender dheep but notfunhp ea ahnt gcreoennfcer;v~ . it gro~s only in frelh waters. The trout-rivers t an many o t e ot er - • · h · 1 •c: 11 · R. k near 1c man1r.w ort h af fio r d a great deal of it · I have alfo m·uet W· it It p· endt.1 1hU" y1i m W .l {1 · M" h 1· fc nd 1"t 1"n rome rivers in Italy · and D1 emus recetve ts pe- t t Jtre. tc e 1 ou J• '. • • • H ci· men of 1· t fir om the late Mr Brecon ' who found 1t m Munnow nver m ere-forMdlh ire. f h b t ·cal writers have defcn.b ed 1· t. P 1u k enet ca 11 s I•t , C ora 11m· a gem·- 1 any oll" t ~ teornaondtu·s brevioribus . and Micheli Corallina fluviatilis, nodofa, capilla-cu ata, mo IS, m ' . . ' . · d h f c cea, v1 r1 " d"I S, mm· i·m a, 1r1. ert"ci m• odo lu•c ens. Dillemus• defcnbes r.1 t un• er t e• name oh on-ferva fluviatilis, fericea, tenUis, but tmperfet.lly, ha.vmg neyer 1een It.growmg, as e con-it ffes. but having formed his defcription on a dned fpectmen, which could conv~y but ae very imperfeCt idea of the plant. Barrelier has an elegant fi~ure o~ a plant, which he calls Corallina crillata minima, which in all refpe0s agrees wtth t?Is; but the author tells us, that it is white, or pale red, or purplifh m colour: ours lS always green, and does not lofe that colour, even in drying. 3. Cmiferva nodofa, ramofa, cequalis. The branched, even, knotty Conferva. This fingular and elegant Conferva rifes ufually fingle from it's bafe, ';here it is ~ffixed to fome pebble, or other folid body, at the bottolll; ~f t~e wat~r. Its fialk begms almoft immediately from the bafe, however, to dtvide 1tfelf mto a. number of branches, and thefe, as they afcend, ramify and branch themfelves out fhll farth.er, fo that it forms, in the whole, an extreamly divaricated plant, of about three mches high fometimes, but rarely, more. If it grow in clear water, wher~ there a~e no other plants, it fpreads out in a very beautiful manner a f:ngle fialk of 1t, n?t t~1cker than a [mall twine, branching into an extent of three m.c?es every way m dta~~ter every part of which is well covered with the extremmes of the filaments: 1f It happen to grow where there are other water plants, it ufual.ly entangl~s it~elf ab?ut them, and lofes .much of it's beauty, while in t~e water. It IS ~ngular m. ~his fpectes, that the branches continue equal in thicknefs, till very near their extremities. They are of a very beautiful llruCture, feeming compofed of a multitude of globular bodies, all of the fame fize, and arranged as clofely and evenly in feries as poffible. It's colour is a fine bluilh purple: it is tender, and eafily dellroyed, and is of a glo!fy furface, and fomewhat gelatinous to the touch. . . It is an inhabitant of the freih waters, and principally of the cold clear ones wh1ch form the lakes on our mountains. I met with it two or three times in Y orkiliire; and it is alfo found in Wales, but we do not find that it has been met with any where out of the Britiili dominions, though fo very elegant a fpecies, that, if it occurred in other places, it is fcarce to be fufpet.led that it would be overlooked. Dillenius defcribes it under the name of Conferva Alpina, lubrica, filamentis nodofis creruleis. Of the other fpecies of Conferva, fame are of the geniculated, fame of the nodofe kind ; they are fame of them found in our frelh waters, but the largefl: part of them are inhabitants of the fea. Of the firfi kind or geniculated Confervre there are, 1. A green kind, branched, but with lhort ramifications. 2. A kind, with remarkably long joints. 3· One with branched extremities, called tlie river Beard. 4· A branched, marine kind, known by the name of the Sea-beard. 5· A more diffufed one, called the Spreading Sea-beard. 6. A very ramofe, frelh-water one, growing in round tufts. 7· A fine-branched, or woolly fea-kind. 8. A filky, trichoide kind. 9· The pal-· mated fea- kind. . 1 o. The large, gelatinous fea- kind. 1 r. The fine- branched, gelatinous fea-kind. 12. A very-much branched, fmall fea-kind. 13. The hollow, SeaConferva. Of the nodofe kinds there are, r. A lubricous, pearly, Sea-Conferva. 2 . A Dip .. pery, coralloide Sea-Conferva. 3· The large frog-fpawn Conferva. 4· The fmaller frog-fpawn Conferva. 5· The tender, green, frog-fpawn Conferva. 6. The black, lubricous Conferva. 7· The horfe-tail, river Conferva. 8. The fea horfe- tail Con~ ferva. The 17Je Jiij}ory of P LAN T S. 79 The ancients t-ecommehd the Confervre, in general, as vulneraries, exterhaliy applied ; and Pliny tells us fome romantic fiories of the ufe df them in cafes of fraCtured bones.. At p~efent we do not bring them i~to ufe at all ; and i~ is moft probable, that, m the Urnes of the authors who mention them as vulnerartes, they were ufed by the chirurg.ical people rather as bandages; than from an opinion of any peculiar virtue they po!fefTed againft wouhds or fraCtures ; feveral of the fpecies, wheh lightly twiil:ed together, make a very foft, and fuffi.ciently firong, fubftance for fuch purpofes as we fuppofe them to have been ufed for. Clqfs the Second. Such as cottjifl of a mere foliaceous or gelatin1Jus ?hatter. Genus the Firfl. PHYLL ON A. P ii Y L L 0 N A is a genus of Moffes, con filling only of a thiri membranaceous matter,refembling in fome meafure a leaf; of an uniform and even ftrutture, pel.;. lucid and moderately firm. No part of fruCtification has yet been difcovered in any fpecies of this genus. The botanical writers, in general, have confounded three different genera of Moifes, of which the Phyllona is one under the fame comtnon name ; fame of them have called them Ulvre, others tremellre. The firil: of thefe gehera confills of a fimple, foliaceous matter; the fecond, of tubular, cylindric bodies, formed of the fame kind of matter; and the third; of a merely gelatinous fubllance. we have, to prevent future confufion, feparated the firfi and lafi of thefe under new generical names ; the fecond we have retained the term ulva as a generical name for, to avoid a third new one, in a cafe where Linnreus had already appropriated a word to the .G1me idea. The firfr of thefe genera takes in the foliaceous ulvre and tremellre of Dillenius, &c. The fecond, the tubular tremellre of thefe authors, and all the fimple or equable confervre ; and the third, fome vegetables all evidently of the fame kind, though dillinguilhed by authors under the various names of Fuci, Corallinre, and Algre. There are properly no more than fix fpecies of the Phyllona known at this time. A defcription of one of them will be fufficient : the refi will eafily be dillinguilhed by their names. r. P hyllona umbilicata. Umbilicated Phyllona. This is much more regular in it's growth and general form than the others of this fpecies: it grows to a fione or lhell, or any other folid matter, at the bottom of the fea, by a fmall roundilh bafe, fcarce a quarter of an inch in diameter in the rnofl: elegant fpecimens, in fame much larger. From this bafe or umbilicus it expands every way, till it has formed a fort of bafon or roundiih hollow body: The bafe ferves as the umbilicus to this general figure, and is the lowefl: part of it. The whole confills of a fingle continuous fubllance, undulated or irregularly finuated at the edges, very thin, and refembling, more than any thing elfe, a very fine parchment. It's colour is a duiky brown, with fome tinge of purpli(h in it; it's fubfiance much refembles that of the common oiller-green, but that it is firmer; and it's furface is fmooth and gloffy. It grows to four or five inches in diameter, }jut is feldom met with perfeCt, the fand and other bodies walhed againfi it tearing it to pieces. It is not uncommon about our own lhores, particularly thofe of Kent and Sll1fex, and, when entire, makes a very beautiful ,figure. " Mofl: of the botanir:al writers have defcribed this fpecies; but, as they have taken more notice of it's colour, than of it's form and texture, they give but very imperfeCt accounts of it. Lobel calls it, Lichen marinus rubefcens et flavefcens; and John Bauhine and Chabrceus give it under the fame name; but the figures, as well as defcriptions of thefe authors, lhew that they had only met with fmall or broken fpecimens. Ray |
