OR APPENDAGES OF PLANTS. 227 



vious, having each a bag of poison at its 

 base, like the fang of a serpent ; as well 

 as in numerous plants whose hairy coats 

 exude a viscid moisture. But the hairs 

 which clothe many plants are merely 

 a protection against cold, heat, or insects. 

 Sometimes they are hooked, sometimes 

 branched and entangled, as in Mullein, 

 Verbascum, t. 549, &c. InCroton, Solanum, 

 and Lavatera they have often a starry 

 figure. Very generally they are found, 

 under a microscope, to be curiously jointed. 

 Some Be<ro?ii<z bear on their leaves flat 

 little straps called by authors r amenta, 

 shaving's- instead of Cylindrical hairs ; 

 but I know not that they at all differ 

 in nature from the usual pubescence, nor 

 do they merit to be particularly distin- 

 guished. Some of the natural order of 

 asperifolicF, as Echium, t. 181, and Ly- 

 copsis, t. 938, especially some exotic spe- 

 cies of this order, are clothed with curious 

 white hard tubercles from which their 

 bristles proceed. Echiwnt pyrenaicum, 

 Desfont. Atlant. v. 1. 164, is an instance 

 of this. 



q 2 



