Medical Botany. 49 
more nearly to that of the Fungi, than to any other class of 
vegetables. 
Tenth. The Clavus is said to be so like S. compactum 
and S. stereorarium, that its ratens 2 can hardly be denied, 
by any, who have seen them together. 
Eleventh. The Abbe Fone i is said to have planted in 
his garden, a number of grains of wheat and rye, and nay 
the top of each to have placed several grains of Clavus 
The result was a crop, in which both the wheat and rye, 
were infested with Clavus. This has been considered an 
evidence of the contagious nature of Clavus ; but does it 
not rather prove propagation by seeds; for Decandolle in- 
forms us, that, contrary to the opinions of Tode and Per- 
soon, Selerotium webnee be ea ee Ella and 
to which it has been approximated. Indeed the oti 
of Sclerotium and Clavaria, are said to rs: so slight, “as t 
occasion difficulty in characterizing ther 
The Clavus, as it commonly racine is Pec e! of a 
violet colour, and internally white. Its form is cylindrical, 
tapering at the two extremities, sienaneaite straight, but 
vex and concave side, though sometimes destitute of it on 
one, or even both sides. Its dimensions are from four to 
twelve lines in length, and from two to three in diameter. 
{ts flavour is, at first, imperceptible, but after some time, it 
is disagreeable, nauseous, and sub-acrid. If chewed for a 
considerable while, it produces a sense of fullness in the 
A grain of it cut transversely and viewed through a micro- 
scope, is Said to present an assemblage of small and brilliant 
grains like starch. The external and coloured pellicle, seen 
under similar circumstances, appears as a mass of a violet 
bat ~ aa ek ith small whitish spots. 
a grain is inflamed, by contact with a lighted can- 
dle, it beds with a white flame, distilling some drops of an oily 
liquid, emitting a dense black smoke, and smelling like burnt 
read. 
Willdenow speaks of two varieties of Clavus, the first of 
which a sie es simple, eae describes as of a pale 
OL. [1...,. o. 
