OU APPENDAGES OF PtANTS. 927 



pel'vious, having each a bag of poison at its 

 base, hke 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, 

 Verhascum^ t. 549, &c. In Crofon, Solanum^ 

 and Lavafera, they have often a starry 

 Hgure. Very generally they are found, 

 under a microscope, to be curiously jointed. 

 Some Begonice bear on their leaves flat 

 little straps called by authors r anient a, 

 shavings, instead of cylindrical hairs ; 

 but I know not that they at all differ 

 ni nature from the usual pubescence, nor 

 do they merit to be particularly distin- 

 guished. Some of the natural order of 

 asperifolicE, as Echiurn, L 181, and Lt/- 

 ^psis, t. 938, especially some exotic spe- 

 cies of this order, are clothed with curious 

 white hard tubercles from which their 

 bristles proceed. Echium jyrcnaicum, 

 " Desfont. Atlant. v, 1. 16'4, is an instance 

 Qf this,/. 125. 



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