CRYPTOGAMIA. 353 
leaf. The Globules supported on foot- 
stalks are the Stamens, the oblong spots 
the membrane covering the pistils. 
Fig. 15. Two of the Stamens taken out, 
16. A particle of the receptacle of the female 
florets. (a) the receptacle. (@) the skin 
of the leafit, with its air ducts, 
Tue Uses of the Frrices are but little known: few 
of them are esculent, They have a disagreeable heavy 
smell. In large doses they destroy worms, and some of 
them are purgative. The ashes produced by a slow inci- 
neration of the green plants, contain a considerable por- 
tion of vegetable alkaly, and in this kingdom are very 
Sega sold under the name of Ash-balls, to make lye 
or scouring linen, : 
‘* In the hot-house they become evergreens, and their 
*¢ heauty is greatly improved in colour and delicacy. The 
*¢ Jeaves, if cut down when fully grown, and properly 
¢ dried, make a thatch more durable than that Dany 
“kind of straw. : 
** In most of the Genera of the second puPeavecn, 
s¢ the seedling plants require a succession of seasons before 
‘* they produce their fructifications. The first year a single 
*¢ Jeaf is produced, which seldom attains to more than an 
<< inch in height, is thin, semi-transparent, and most com- 
“¢ monly entire. The second year two or three are pro- 
«¢ duced, one larger than the other. The third year, four 
*¢ or five are orogssed, and the fourth year, more in num- 
“ber proportionable to the richness of the soil and the 
“ suitableness of the situation. In moist fertile soils, 
“¢ shaded situations, mossy dripping rocks, or near currents 
“ or rills of spring water, the leaves are thin, light and 
« semi-transparent ; larger and more numerous, and apt 
© to become monstrous in shape or size. On dry rocks, 
‘© and in barren soils exposed to air and sun, the leaves © 
are few, short, firm and opaque, producing seeds in | 
“€ fewer years from the first springing up, and they gene- 
~ * rally retain their own proper figure.” Bort. 
AA? 
