( 39 ) 



excrefcence, which is fometimes found on a 

 leading branch, called a wreathed faf da. The 

 fafciated branch is twifted, and curled in a 

 very beautiful form; which form it probably 

 takes, as Dr. Plot fuppofes, from too quick 

 an afcent of the fap* : or as other naturalifts 

 imagine, from the pun&ure of fome infect in 

 the tender twig, which diverts the fap from 

 it's ufual channel, and makes the branch 

 monftrous. The wreathed fafcia is fometimes 

 found in other wood, in the willow parti- 

 cularly, and in the holly ; but moft commonly 

 it is an excrefcence of the am. I have a 

 fafciated branch of am, found in the woods 

 of Beaulieu in new-foreft, which is moft 

 elegantly twifted in the form of a crozier. 

 I have feen a holly alfo twifted like a ram's 

 horn. We have this appearance fometimes in 

 afparagus. 



It is not uncommon for the feeds of 

 trees, and particularly of the am, to feize 

 on fome faulty part of a neighbouring trunk, 

 and there ftrike root. Dr. Plot-j- fpeaks of 



* See Nat. hift. Oxf. ch. vi. fee. 82. 

 t See Nat. hift. Oxf. ch. vi. fee. 79. 



D 4 apiece 



