33 



Crrfer J. 

 Three Pistilla. 



Of this genus there is but one species ; but the 

 varieties of rice, as of other cultivated grain, are in- 

 numerable. 



There is no English plant of this Order. 



MEADOW SAFFRON is produced in great 

 plenty at Abberly, in Worcestershire, and various parts 

 ot England. It exhibits a mode of fructification scarce- 

 ly to be paralleled among British plants. The flowers 

 appear very late in the autumn ; the germen after- 

 wards remains latent underground, quite close to its 

 bulbous root, till the following spring, when the seed- 

 vessels rise above the surface, with several long up- 

 right leaves, and the seeds are ripened about June ; 

 so that at first sight the seed would seem to be ripen- 

 ed before the flower was produced ; but on more ac- 

 curate investigation, it is found to conform, in common 

 with other plants, to the established laws of nature, 

 though in a manner unexpected, and almost peculiar 

 to itself. The juice of the root is so acrid, as to pro- 

 duce violent effects on the human constitution ; this 

 quality also prevents it from being eaten by subterra- 

 nean insects j and thus the seed vessel is guarded 

 during the winter. 



Linnaeus observes, that the defoliation of deciduous 

 trees is announced by the flowering of the Meadow- 

 Saffron; of these, the Ash is the last that puts forth its 

 leaves, and the first that loses them. 



PETIVERIA. It is a shrubby plant, common in Order a. 

 the low lands in Jamaica, and in most of the islands F ° ar ? *^' 



