of a Prol'ife foils Onion. 121 



ed to me somewhat extraordinary, that a phint should 

 produce bulbs (sui generis) together with seeds, at 

 the same time, by which it would have appeared, ihat 

 Nature was profusely generous in the means of propa- 

 gating this plant. 



In most, if not all, the annual and deciduous vegeta- 

 bles, it has hitherto appeared, that after the perfection 

 of the seed. Nature has so ordered it, that they fall to 

 the ground, where, after a due length of time, they 

 germmate, and continue their different species. But in 

 the plant of which I have given some account, nature 

 seems to have taken another method: for althouo-h 

 upon viewing it, one would readily and naturally con- 

 clude, that the bulbs were produced immediately from 

 the stem of the plant, yet, by examination, it appear^, 

 that they are produced from seed, somewhat as other 

 plants, though after a different manner ; and that a re 

 gular and proper seed-vessel, containing seed (nearly 

 similar to those of the common onion) is previously 

 formed, which, contrary to the common course of na- 

 ture, and as if too delicate to receive the principle or 

 .impulse of germination, in the universal matrix in- 

 stead of falling off, adhere firmly to the stem of the 

 plant; and there, in the order of Providence, without 

 the immediate aid of the earth, as the common medi- 

 um or vehicle, but by means of the atmosphere and 

 natural succulence of the mother plant, germinate 

 and produce a bulb, similar to that from which it 

 sprang. 



vol. II. PAUT I. q 



