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Show . . . . .. . . .. ~ The Hijlory of P L A N T S. Clafs the Ninth. Order the Second. ENNEANDRIA TRIGYNIA. P /ants which have in each flower nine }lamina and tbree .ftyles. S P 0 N D I AS. T HE calyx is a permanent perianthium, formed of a fingle leaf, divided into five fegments at the edge: the corolla confifis of five oval, plane, patent petals : the ftamina are nine filaments; five of them fiand in a circular order, the refi are equal in length to them and to the cup : the anthercc are fimple; the germen is oval ; there is fcarce any fiyle; the fiigmata are three, obtufe, and permanent: the fruit is a berry, of an oval figure ; the feeds are four in every cell of the berry. It is an American, defcribed by Plumier under the name of Monbin. R H E U M. T HE R E is no calyx ; there are, indeed, a few partial, vague fpathre, but they are not to be called by that name : the corolla confill:s of a fingle petal, which is narrow at the bafe, and impervious : the limb is divided into fix obtufe fegments, alternately fmaller : the fi:amina are nine capillary filaments, inferted into the corolla, and of the fame length with it: the anthera~ are didymous, oblong, and obtufe: the germen is fhort and triquetrous; the ftyles are fcarce vifible; the fiigmata are reflex and plumofe ; there is no pericarpium : the feed is fingle, large, triquetrous, acute, and furrounded with membranaceous rims. This genus approaches nearly to the docks, or rumices, in many refpeCl:s, but is extremely different in others. Of this genus there is only one known fpecies. R H E u M. 1tbt 3alJapontic ~lant. The root is large and brachiated ; the radical leaves are of a roundilh figure, a foot in diameter, of a !hong green colour, marked with large longitudinal ribs, and placed on long pedicles. The ftalk is large, thick, firiated, hollow, and two feet high; the leaves fiand alternately on it, at confiderable difi:ances, and are large and roundilh, but fomewhat pointed. The flowers are fmall and white, and are placed in vail: clufters together. It is a native of Thrace and Scythia; we have it in fame gardens. Profper Alpinus calls it, Rhaponticum; Morifon and others have made it a fpecies of Dock, but erroneoufly: Tournefort firfi: declared it to be a difi:inct genus, and Linnreus has followed him. It's root is the Rhapontic of the !hops, the true Rha, or Rheum, of Diofcorides, and the rell: of the antients, for they were not acquainted with our rhubarb. This root purges more gently than rhubarb, but is a more powerful afi:ringent: it ought to be more known in the !hops than it is at prefent. sN Clafs |