Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition - Volume I, A-B.pdf/764

This page needs to be proofread.
XXX (642) XXX

B O To thefe examples we fliall add a complete defcription Terms relating to Floats. of a plant reduced to its clafs, order, genus, and Ipecies, Fig. with figures of all the parts neceffary for that purpofe. (t.*jjtdbus fquamofus, when the root is compo-fed of. imbricated or tiled fcales or plates, as in the lilyroot. Rheum Palmatum, or True Rhubarb. See 162. Bulbus fotidus, confiding of a folid fubftance. Plate LVIII. 163.. Bulbus tunicatus, confiding of coats lying above one another, as in the onion. 164. 7uberofa radix, a root confiding of a great jnany The flower of this plant has no Calix. little knots, as in the filipendula. The Corolla dd, confifts of one petal, narrower at 16j. Fuftformis radix, like a fpindle, i. e. oblong, the bafe, not perforated, and divided in the margin thick, and tapering to a point below, as in the into fix obtufe fegments, one left and one larger alroot of the carrot. ternately; the petal is mafcefcent, /. e. decays, but 166. Raviefa radix, having many lateral branches. does not fall off till the feeds be ripe. The Stamina e e, confifl: of nine capillary filaments in167. Repens radix, a root which creeps horizontally, and fends off every where fmaller roots at dif- ferted into the corolla, and about the fame length with ferent didances. it. The antherte are didymous, (/. e. appear to be oblong, and obtufe. These are the principal terms neceffary for under- Thedouble), has a (hort three-fided germen. It ftanding Linnaeus’s defcription of the fpecific charaflers canPistillum/', hardly be faid to have any ftyli; but has three reof plants.—To make the reader acquainted with the fle&ed, plumofe (Hgmata. manner in which thefe terms are ufed, we diall give a The Pericarpium is wanting. few examples. Each flower contains but one large, three-fided, acute feed g, with a membranaceous edge. ClafsTI. DTANDRIA. Order, MONOGYNIA. The numbw of ftamina determines this plant to belong Genus, Veronica, or Speedwell. the Enneandria cl aft; and the number of StigSpecies, Veronica arvsnjh, has folitary flowers, tomata its order to be Trigynia. The other cut, feflile (130), and cordated (46)' parts offixes the above defcription clearly demonftrate the leaves. to be the Rheum or Rubarb, and fufficiently diVeronica agrejlis, has folitary flowers, cut, genus it from the Laurus, Tinus, Caffyta, and Bucordated (46),, and petiolated (129) ffinguilh tomus, the only other genera belonging to this claft. leaves. The Specific mark is taken from the leaves, which are palmated (58), and iharp and tapering at the Clafs XVI. MONODELPHIA. points. There are but five fpecies of Rheum, none of Order, P O L Y G Y N I A. whofe leaves are palmated, except the fpecies now deGenus, Malva, or Mallow. fcribed. Species, Malva fpicata, has tomentofe (84), cre- But though the above, defcription be fufficient for afmated (74). and cordated (46) leaves, certaining the genus and fpecies of this valuable plant, and oblong hairy fpicae (34). Malva fylvsjlris, has an eredt (119) her- there are other reafons for giving a complete botanical baceous caulis (148), with acute (74), defcription of the whole parts of it. The true rhubarb, feven-lobed (50) leaves, and hairy pe- though of the moft extenfive ufe in medicine, was never known in this country till the year 1762, when Dr dunculi and.petioli (129). Mounfey brought fome feeds from Ruflia, and gave them to Dr Hope profeffor of medicine and botany in EdinClafs XIX. S Y N G E N E S I A. Dr Hope fowed them in the botanical garden, Order, POLYGAMIA JEQJJ ALI S. burgh. arid colletSed about 30 feeds from one of the plants, Genus, Carduus, or Thistle. rofe to eight feet in height. This plant is now Species, Carduus helenioides, or melancholy thi- which JUe, has lanceolated (42), teethed. propagating jn the botanic garden, in the garden of Sir (66), amplexicaule (132) leaves, with Alexander Dick, and many other gardens in Scotland. unequal ciliated (86) fmallfpines( 158). The root is found, by repeated trials, to be equally powerful in its operation as the beft foreign rhubarb; and we have the greateft reafon to hope, that in a fiiort Clafs XXIV. CRYPTO GAMI A. time this plant will be fo univerfally cultivated as to preOrder, F I L 1 C E S. vent the future importation of it. The firft botanic deGenus, Asplenium, or Maidenhair. fcription we have of the true rhubarb was publiflied by Species, Afplenium trichomanes, has a pinnated (104) frons (144); the pinme (104) Dr Hope in the philofophical tranfattions for the year are roundifli (38) and crenated (74). 1765 * ; which we lhall tranflate into Englifh.

Vid. Phil. Tranf. for the year 1765. The 642