VOL. XXVIII.J PHILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTIONS. 5Q 



was white and a little rugged and uneven, as the roots of other plants generally 

 are. bcd represent the length and thickness of the stalk ; which is smooth 

 and pretty round, of a deepish red colour, except near its beginning at b, 

 where it is whiter, by its nearness to the' ground, d is a sort of knot or joint, 

 made by the shooting out of 4 branches, which all rise from the same centre, 

 and divide from one another at equal distances, and at the same height from the 

 ground. The underside of the branch is green, mixed with white ; the upper 

 part is much like the stalk, of a deep red, inclining to the colour of a mul- 

 berry. These two colours gradually decrease, and unite together on the sides, 

 in a natural mixture. Each branch has 5 leaves, as represented in the figure. 

 It is remarkable, that these branches separate from each other at equal distances, 

 as well in respect of themselves as of the horizon, and make with their leaves 

 a circular figure nearly parallel to the surface of the ground. I do not know 

 that ever I saw leaves so large as these, that were so thin and fine : their fibres 

 are very distinguishable ; and on the upper side they have some small whitish 

 hairs. The skin between the fibres rises a little in the middle above the level 

 of the fibres. The colour of the leaf is a dark green above, and a shining 

 whitish green underneath. All the leaves are serrated, or very finely indented 

 on the edges. 



From D, the centre of the branches, rises a second stalk de, which is very 

 straight and smooth, and whitish from bottom to top, bearing a bunch of round 

 fruit of a beautiful red colour. This bunch was composed of 24 berries, two 

 of which I have here drawn, marked gg. The red skin of the berry is very 

 thin and smooth : it contains within it a white softish pulp. As these berries 

 were double (for they are sometimes found single) each of them had two rough 

 stones, separated from each other, of the size and figure of our common 

 lentils, excepting that the stones have not a thin edge like lentils, but are 

 almost every where of an equal thickness. Each berry was supported by a 

 smooth, even, and very fine sprig, of the colour of those of our small red 

 cherries. All these sprigs rose from the same centre, and spreading exactly 

 like the rays of a sphere, they make the bunch of berries of a circular form. 

 This fruit is not good to eat. The stone is like the stones of other common 

 fruit; it is hard, and incloses a kernel. It is always placed on the same plane or 

 level with the sprig that bears the berry. From whence it is that the berry is 

 not round, but a little flat on each side. l{ it be double, there is a kind of 

 depression, or hollow place in the middle, where the two parts unite. It has 

 also a small beard at top, diametrically opposite to the sprig on which it hangs. 

 When the berry is dry, there remains only a shrivelled skin adhering close to 

 the stones, and is then of a dark red, or almost black colour. 



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