G 



N 





4 ' 



the niurltious juice, in pu 



filing 



forth tendrils or 



creeping roots, which fo weaken the plants, as not to 

 be ablelo bring the fruit to perfection ; but there is 

 no fruit or feed to be feen, unlefs a flower has been 

 fent as a inelTcnger before it, to give notice of its 

 approach ; though it is not always upon the lame 

 plant yet it is ftill upon fome other plant of the fame 

 fnecics y fo^ ^h^ flowers are to be feen upon diftinft 

 plants, diff^erent branches, or different parts of the 

 branch from the fruit, in the Abies, Corylus, Nux 

 Tuglans, &c. the Mercurialis, Spinachia, &c. 

 But the fruit never appears, or never begins to in- 

 creafe upon thefe plants, till the flower is fpent and 

 gone ; therefore they niuft ferve for another ufe, than 

 to be merely ornamental ; for if that were their pi-in- 

 cipal ufe, they would be always confpicuous, which 

 they are not for the moft part in apetalQUs flowers ^ 

 and they would always be to be feen, and never be 

 hid ; which is not fo in the Afarum, Hydrocotyle, 

 &c. where, though the flower is large enough in pro- 

 portion to the fruit, yet it is not to be ki^n, unlefs 

 the leaf be turned up, and both flower and fruit be 



narrowly fearched for. 



The Frumenta and Gramina have their ftamineous 

 flowers; yet in fome of them the flower is feldom to 

 be feen, unlefs the fpike be Ihaken; and then the 



apices will appear. 



The Polypodium, and other capillary plants, have 

 regular flowers, which precede the minute capful^ or 

 feed-vefl^els, but neither of them are confpicuous with- 

 out a microfcope. 



From thefe inftances it appears, that the flowers are 

 not conftantly a guard to preferve the tender em- 



GEN 



or male parts in tlie flower, they either produced 

 no feed at all, or if rhc7 did, they became abortive, 

 'dried up, or dwindled away • or though the feeds did 

 come to perfection, they were barren, or did not 

 produce. 



Experim.ent i. Mr. Geoff"roy having cut off all the 

 ftamineous tufts of male flowers from the top of the 

 ft:alk in the Maiz or Turky-wheat, as foon as they ap- 

 peared, and before the Ipike loaded v/ith the em- 

 bryos of the lemen had put forth from the ate of the 

 leaves, feveral of thefe embryos decayed and dried 

 up after tliey were pretty big; but fome grains upon 

 their pedicles all along the fpike fvvellcd confiderably, 

 and feemed to be full of the bud, and were confe- 

 quently fertile, while all the others mifcarried, and 

 there was not one fpike v/here the v/hole feeds did not 

 ripen to the full. 



This experiment is a fuflicient proof of the ufe of 

 t:he male flowers of this plant •, for whatfoever that is 

 which flows from the racemi of thefe flowers, it feems 

 it mufl: be conducive not only for the impregnation of 

 the feed, but alfo for the grov/th and impregnation of 

 the fruit, 



■ n 



At prefcnt we fliall fnew, that what nouriftm;ent is 

 ufually furniflied by the pedicle to the embryos, does 

 not appear to be capable to dilate or expand itfelf, or 

 contribute to the continual fupply of nutritious par- 

 ticles, unlefs the embryos were animated or enlivened 

 by the Ipirit wliich ihould have flowed from the male 

 .floy/ers ; fo that they were fo debilitated and weaken-* 

 ed, in afcending from the body of the plant towards 

 the embryos, before ihey could arrive at them, that 

 they which oth'erwife might have ferved for the aug- 



bryos from the injuries of the air, for then the flowers I mentation and increafe of all tKe embryos upon the 

 muft always have been upon the fame pedicle with fpike, could not now do any thing more thaft con- 



^ the fruit. 



r Therefore, fmce the appearance of the flower is the 



\ fiifl: ftep towards the produftion of the feed, whether 



x* both be upon the fame pedicle or not, it neceflarily 

 follows, that the one muft: contribute towards the 



' bringing of the other to perfedion. / 

 The antients taking notice, that feveral plants did 

 produce flowers and had no feeds, and that other 



- plants of the farne fpecies, and fown from the fame 

 feed, did produce the feed without a previous flower, 

 they were ready to call the one male, and the other 

 female, without any notion that the one was aflifting 



^ to the other ; for they looked upon fuch flowers to 

 be only barren •, and therefore they called thofe which 

 had flowers female, and thofe that produced the 

 fruits, male plants. Thus Mercurialis is called Spi- 

 cata Foemina, and Tefticulata Mas. That which 

 produces the fruit muft needs be the female, as the 

 f#male animal brings forth the foetus ;' therefore the 

 tefticulata muft needs be the female, and the fpicata 

 the male. -* ■ ' ' 



Wherever the plants are annual, thefe with the 



tribute to the ripening of a iew. And although Mr 

 GeofFroy might have imagined, that thefe fewf^eds 

 which came to perfection were fertile alfo, becaufe 

 they were full of germs, yet he could not be fure of 

 that, unlefs he had fown the fame feeds next feafon, 

 and tried whether they would chit or not. 

 Qardeners who buy Onion and Leek -feed brought 

 from Strafburgh, commonly try ihe following expe- 

 riment : they put a few of the feeds into a pot of wa- 

 ter mixed with earth, and if they find they begin to 

 .ipring, or fend forth the feminal leaf or fibre of the 

 root, after a few days, they'judge of the product of 

 it ; and notwithftanding all the feeds' without this 

 trial may feem to be produflive, being .equally firm, 

 hard, and folid, perhaps not more .than one xhird of" 

 .them will prove fertile. 



And this barrennefs may proceed, either^becai^fe they 

 had never been impregnated by the male parts of the 

 flower, or'that'they had been too much expofed to 

 the aif ; being fome time or other too rnuch mbift- 

 * .ened, and not afterwards been carefully dried, or Have 





which 



ilowers, and fuch as have the feed, are always near to I fpirit or life* 



t 



> 



** 



each other ^ but where the root is perennial, and where 

 the plant is more frequently propagated by' the root 

 than the feed, the cafe alters ; for there being,no need 

 ofthefeedto propagate the plant, there is the lefs 

 need of the flower to be nearer to the plant which 

 produces the feed. 



So the Spinachia and the Lupulus are frequently feen 

 to grow, to produce the feed, and the other the fqua- 

 mous fruit; when the plants which produce the male 

 flowers of the one or the other, are at fome diftance. 

 And this is fo far from being an objcdtion againft the 

 neceflity of two fexes in plants as well as in animals, 

 that it is an argument to. confirm it; for it fliews the 

 ■wonderful contrivances in order to preferve the fpe- 

 cies, when the ordinary means of propagating it by 

 the feed cannot be fo conveniently attained. 

 Ihefe, and more that might be produced, being 

 evident proofs of two fexes in plants, as well as in ani- 

 mals, we fhall in the next place, give fome experi- 

 ments to confirm this in a negative way, as have been 

 already done in a pofitive.^ 



When plaats have been deprived of their male flowers, 



Now, if the fulnefs, folidity and firmnefs of a feed is . 

 not a fure fign of its fertility, then Mr. Geoffroy 

 might have been miilakeh in his opinion of the ferti- 

 lity of thefe feeds in the Maiz, fmce he did not make 

 any trial of it, "by" committing it to the ground. 



..In like manner, as to his fecond experiment of the 

 Mercurialis Diofcqridis, where he raifed fome plants 

 which had the fruit, and others which had the ft-a- 



. mineous flowers, and removed the fioriferous plants 

 before the flowers were blown, every one of the feeds 

 upon the fructiferous plants^ except five or fix, mif- 

 carried ; v^hich feeds were fo full, that he was per- 

 fuaded they were capable of producing new plants; 

 and the like was found by Came'rarius in the Cannabis. 

 Yet inafmuch as neither of them tried the experi- 

 ment, by fowing the fame feed the fecond year, they 

 could not be fure but that they might have failed in 

 their expeftation. 



Mr, Bobart,'overfeer of the phyfic-garden at Oxford, 

 many years fince, which was betore the do^rine of 

 the different fexes of plants was well underfl:o6d, being 

 herbarizing, found^a phmi of the Lychnis fylvqitris 



** 



•i 





