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Show ( 40 J As daih the waves on India's breezy fl:rand, Her B.uih'd cheek prefs'd upon her lily hand, VALLISNER fits, up-turns her tearful eyes, Calls her lofi lover, and upbraids the ikies ; For him fhe breathes the filent :Ggh, forlorn, Each fetting day; for him each rifing nlorn.- " Bright orbs, that light yon high etherial plain, 395 " Or bathe your radiant treffes in the main; 400 " Pale moon, that :lilver'fl: o'er night's fable brow;- " For ye were witnefs to his parting vow! " Ye fuelving rocks, dark waves, and founding fhore,'' Ye echoed fweet the tender words he fwore !- Vallijneria. 1. 395· This extraordinary plant is of the clafs Two Houfes. It is found in the Eafi Indies, in Norway, and various parts of Italy. Lin. ~pee. Plant. They have their roots at the bottom of the Rhone ; the flowers of the ~male plant float on the furface of the water, and are furnilhed with an elafiic fpiral fialk, which extends or contraCls as the water rifes and falls; this rife or fall, from the nipid defccnt of the river, and the mountain torrents which flow into it, often amounts to many feet in a few hours. The flowers of the male pbnt are produced umler water, and as foon as their farina, or dufi, is mature, they detach themfelves from the pbnt, and rife to the furface, continue to flourifh, and are wafted by the air, or borne by the currents to the female flowers. In this refembling thofe tribes of infeCls, where the males at certain feafons acquire wings, but not the females, as ants, Coccus, Lampyris, Phalxna, Brumata, Lichanella. Thefe male flowers are in fuch numbers, though very minute, as frequently to cover the furface of the river to confiderable extent. See Families of Plants, tranilated from Linneus, p. 677. |
