2^2 ESSAYS AND OBSERVATIONS 



tranfcribed both by Morifon and Ray in 

 their hiftori^s of plants, though Vaillant 

 mentions none of them : And, fecondly, 

 that this feems to afford a ftrong argu- 

 ment againft the impregnating virtue of 

 the dull of the apices. For, according to 

 Linnaeus himfelf, " parietariae herma- 

 " phroditi, flores duo eontinentur involu- 

 " cro piano hexaphyllo. Calyx mono- 

 " phyllus, magnitudine involucri dimi- 

 " diati. Stamina filamcnta quatuor, 

 " calyce longiora, illumque expandentia. 

 " Foemineus flos unus, inter hermaphro- 

 " ditos ambos intra involucrum; cumca- 

 " lyce ut hermaphroditi *." Now, fince 

 the ftamina of the hermaphrodite flowers, 

 as well as the germen of the female flower 

 betwixt them, are contained in one com- 

 mon involucrum, and the apices do not 

 ejedl their duft until, by the ftraitning, 

 or fti etching out of the formerly crooked 

 ftauiina, the common involucrum is 

 burit open, and the apices raifed in the 

 air ; fince no fooner do they find them- 



felves 



• Gen, pi, p 494, 



