PHYSICAL AND LITERARY. 235 



. 4. DioscoRiDEs, who lived under 

 Nero, has a male and female mandragora, 

 obrotanum, mercurialu, anagallis, ariliolo' 

 chia, ciftus, filtXy poeonia, polygonum, tlthy^ 

 tn^lus verbafcum^ and an arundo famnay 

 But, without any regard to analogy or 

 to their fertility or barrennefs, does he 

 call them fo ;* for his mercunalis-mas car- 

 ries the feed, and the fccmina is barren ; 

 and the male of all the reft, equally fer* 

 tile with the female. The fame may be 

 faid of Galen and the fucceeding Greeks ; 

 none of them, fo far as I have oblerved, 

 mentioning the fexes of the palm-tree. 



5, Pliny, who flourilhed under Ve- 

 fpafian, fays indeed, '* Arboribus, imopo- 

 " tius omnibus quae terra gignet, herbif- 

 " que etiam, utrumque fexum efle, dili^ 

 " gentiilimi naturae tradunt : NuUis ta' 

 *' men arboribus (palma) manifeftius. 

 " Mas in palmite floret, foemina citra 

 *' florem germinat tantum, fpicae modo *." 

 But, when he comes to mention par- 

 ticular plants, excepting what he has 



• L, 13. c. 4. 



" from 



