VIVIPAROUS PLANTS. 3o7 
ously flourishing, and in all the different stages 
of their growth. The botanical expression for 
this strange method of reproduction is, that 
the plants are Viviparous; that is, that they 
bring forth their young not in the state of 
seed, but as young plants: which is a very 
different thing from what was mentioned of the 
mangrove. In that case, the seeds were first 
produced and ripened, and grew on the tree, 
instead of in the soil: in this, the young plant 
never was a seed; or at least, if perhaps in the 
fern we might suppose that the spore ripened 
as in the mangrove, many other instances exist 
where no such thing as a seed or a spore 
preceded the birth of the plant. 
The following is a very remarkable and beau- 
tifui experiment. If a leaf of the plant called 
Bryophyllum Calycinum, a relative of the house- 
leek family, is placed upon a little bed of moist 
soil and carefully watched, it will not fade and 
die as most leaves do in a similar position, but 
will continue fresh and green, and manifestly 
alive and well; by-and-by its edges begin to 
swell, and in a little time, to the amazement 
of the beholder, he finds a number of minute 
