OCR Text |
Show '!be Hi.ftory of P L A N T S. from each root. Each plant confifl:s of a lingle leaf, the petiole of which rifes naked for five or fix inches· it then fends off a number ofbranches, and each of thefe is furnifh ed with a doubl; feri<!s of oblong leaves, or foliola, between every two of which there r·uns a fmall, harrow memb:ane. The fialk towa~d. the top ~as a long and deep furrow ruhni ng all the way up It; the upper part of It IS very thicldy befet with feed-veffels. The folioles are all of them narrow, but moft of all thofe which have feed-veffels 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 N orwegica major, App. 68. C. Bauhine, Filix palullris altera fufco pulvere hirfuta, Pin. 3 58. Ammon, Filicallrum feptentrionale et palufire, Rut. 17 5· Thalius, StriCl:heopteris, Here. I 19, and Muntingius, StriCtifera, Phyl. 291. It is frequent in Norway and Denmark, and in the northern parts of Ruffia. 3· Ofmunda fcapo cau/ino unico Jtonde pinnata folitaria. The jingle-.ftalked Ofmund, with a jingle, pinnated leaf ll\eOOUUlO}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 tltree or four inches, and is round, and moderately thick: at about this height grows a fin gle pinnated leaf, of an inch and half long; it is compofed 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. T hefe leaves are thick, fucculent, and flefhy, with no vifible fibres. From the ala or infertion of this leaf grows a ftalk of an inch and half, or more, in length. From the fides of this arife peduncles covered with feed -ve!fels, and making a very elegant appearance. This fpecies is a native of England, but it is rtot common. 1 have found it on Lincoln-heath, and in fome other places. C. Bauhine calls it, Lunaria racemofa mi· nor et vulgaris. Tournefort, Ofmunda foliis lunatis. Aut?ors have de~cribed n_o lefs than five fpecies of this plant, under the name of Lunana. C. Bauhtne defcnbes one under the name of Lunaria minor rutaceo folio Pit~. 3 55. Breynius, another under the name of Lunaria racemofa minor matricari~ foho, Cent. I 84; and Morifon, a third under the name of Filicula five adiantum foliis inferi~ribus coriandri, creteris rutre murarire ~ve fumarire, Hift. 3· p. 58 S; and, finally, Breymus, another under the name of Lunan~ ~acemofa minor adianti folio, Cent. I. 93• All the~e, however, are no more than vanet,Ies ~f t.he common kind, as appears both from fpec1mens of them, . a~d even fr?m the defcrtptlons of the authors themfelves. If we could reduce the vaneues. to their proper fpecies, through the whole hifl:ory of plants, as eafily and ~s certamly as may be done in cafe of this fpecies, how much would the vaft number of fuppofed fpe~i.es, at prefent defcribed by authors, be reduced? From more than feventeen thoufand, us a quefl:ion, whether there would remain ten thoufand ? The other. fpecies of Ofmund really difl:intt: are, 1• The hairy, fpleenwortleav~ d, Amencan Ofmunda. 2. The great; fern-leaved, American Ofmund. 3. The h~rt s tongue~leaved ~fmund. 4· The crenated-leaved Ofmund. 5· The deeply lacin. Iated and lightly-hairy Ofmund. 6. The afphodel-rooted Ofmund. 7· The vertic~ late Ofmund ; a?d, 8 .. ~he lanceolated and lightly ferrated Ofmund. Almoft all t efe are of Amencan ongm, and are defcribed by Plumier. c Thhe ~okmmon Ofmund has the credit of being an excellent vulnerary and a cure .10r t e nc ets. ' P T E R I S. P T T R I~ is a g~nus of plants, in which the fruCtifications are difpofed in form of a me) urroundmg the edges of the lower fide of the leaves. Tbe Hi.flory of P L A N T s. 137 ' 1 • Pteris Jronde fupradetompojita, folio/is pinnatis, pinnis lanceolatis, inftmis.pinnatijidis,fuperioribus minoribus. Decompound, pinnate, fmaff ... feaved Pteris. The length of this fpecific name, incapable of being lbortened by Linnreus, and acquiefced in by Van Royen, and all that have followed him, may ferve to !hew how very intricate a clafs of plants the ferns are, and how. difficultly difi:inguiibable from one another. The root of this fpecies creeps under the furface to a vaft difiance. T he plant arifes to four or five feet'high1 The ftalk 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 lingle or odd leaf clofing the end of the pinna. The foliola are green on the upper fide, and greyiib 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 pinnatijida ?anceolata laciniis parallelis integerrimis. The pinnatijid, lanceolated Pteris, with parallellacinice. ll\oug{) .§i>pteen::: lllo~t. This is a very elegant plaht, and extreamly different from the former fpecies in it's general form, though perfeCtly like it in it's generical charatl:er. I t's root is compofed of a vaft number of fibres, collett:ed into a tuft; tpey are black on the outfide, and whitiih within; from this arife a vafl: number of leaves, fifty or more in a clufl:er~ Each of thefe is an entire plant, it grows to ,a foot in height; the fl:alk·is black at the bottom, and green higher up: the leaf pegins to expand at about four inches from the bafe, and is one fingle pinnated one, b'roadeft near the middle, and terminating ih a point. The fegments or lobes fiand 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 fegmen ts 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 clufl:er of thefe; and their fegments appear longer and narrower than thofe of the others; but this is merely owing to the fructification. , This f~e~ies is a native of England ; and in France, and almofi: every other part of Euro~~, It IS very common. It has generally . been efteemed a fpecies of polypody or lon.chltiS, but. ~rroneoufly. C. Bauhine calls it, Lonchitis minor, Pin. 359· Came~ anus, Lon~hitls afper~ J?inor, ~pit. 669. Haller, Struthiopteris. Tournefort call~; 1t, Polypodmm angufiifohum, foho vario, 540. The common female fern is efi:eemed an excellent medicine in cafes of worms · and the latter fpecies is not lefs celebrated, as a vulnerary: but at prefent they are n:ither of them ufed in the ihops. . . LONCH.ITIS. L ~ N CHIT 1 S i~ a genus .of plants, the fruCtifications of whkh are arranged mto lunulated fenes, and dtfpofed feparately under the finus's of the leaves. 1. Lonchitis petiolo .ftrigojiore JPinofo. . The Lonchitis; with a jlmder, prickly .ftalk. Th~ root is blacl~, fibrous, and tough : the fl:alks are numerous, flendt::r, rounded, but With a_furrow m 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 ftalk are ufually fimple ; fometimes they fend off others near thei1· bafes ; they are each N n formed |