T R A 



T R A 



Jwickly. — Native of the Eaft Indies. Commerfon gathered 

 it in the Mauritius. The J}em is fhrabby or perhaps arbo- 

 reous, with angular branches, finely downy when young. 

 Leaves ilalked, two or three inches long ; their midrib and 

 margin ftained with a vinous red, as are fometimes the fine 

 tranfverfe veins. Stipulas rounded. Flowers all axillary ; 

 the males in denfe fpiral fpikes, fometimes compound, half 

 the length of the leaves ; females folitary, feffile, feparate 

 from the males, though fometimes on the fame branch. 

 Capfule befet with ftout fpines. 



1 6. T. margmata. Pale-bordered Tragia. Lamarck 

 n. 10. — Leaves ovato-lanceolate, acute, toothed; finely 

 downy on both fides. Stem ereft. Male flowers in axil- 

 lary cylindrical fpikes. Capfule hairy Gathered by Com- 

 merfon in the ifle of Bourbon. The young branches are 

 £nely downy, as well as thg footjlalhs, fpikes, and foliage. 

 Leaves three or four inches long, fometimes more, dif- 

 tingui(hed by a pale marginal difcoloration, more or lefs 

 dilated or limited. Male fpihs fomewhat ftalked, two 

 inches in length. The female jlonuers we have not feen. 

 The capfule is faid to be hairy ; its calyx deciduous. 



17. 11. reticulata. Reticulated Tragia. Lamarck n. 11. 

 —Leaves ovate, obtufe, fmooth ; reticulated with fine veins 

 beneath. Stem ereft. Male flowers in lax, (lightly downy 

 clutters. — Gathered in the ifle of Bourbon, by Commerfon, 

 whofe fpecimen is before us, agreeing in every point with 

 the defcription of M. Poiret in Lamarck, except that the 

 leaves arc not crenate, but quite entire. They are an inch 

 or two long, thin, not coriaceous, obtufe at the bafe, pale 

 and (hining at the back. The branches are woody, much 

 divided, round, fmooth, fcarred with pale warts. M?le 

 clujlers about the ends of fmall lateral flioots, fomewhal 

 ftalked, an inch and half long. Fhwers on fliort, dillar.t, 

 partial ftalks, with a little bra&ea at the bafe of each. We 

 know nothing of the female ^/fowcrj, or the capfuhs- 



18. T. virgata. Wand-hke Tragia Lamarck n. i ■;•. 

 lUuftr. t. 754. f. 2 — Leaves on (hort ftalks, ovato-lancec - 

 late, acute, ferrated, fmooth. Stem ereft Male fpikes 

 axillary, as long as the leaves. — The native country of this 

 fpecies has not been afcertained. We know it only from 

 the materials above cited. The leaves are delineated about 

 an inch long, ftrongly ferrated. If the plate be exaft, the 



female Jlowers compofe a long lax terminal fpike, and the 

 fegnients of their calyx are finely pinnatifid. But of this 

 nothing is faid in the defcription. The male fpihs are like 

 thofe of feveral preceding fpecies in the prefent feftion, 

 axillary, folitary, flightly ftalked. 



19. T. Jiliformis. Thread-ftiaped Tragia. Lamarck 

 n. 16. — Leaves ovato-lanceolate, pointed, fmooth, diftantly 

 toothed. Stem ereft. Spikes thread-ftiaped. Brafteas of 

 the female flowers rounded, very large. — Defcribed by 

 Poiret from Lamarck's herbarium. We have feen no fpe- 

 cimen. The Jlein is ftirubby, with fmooth, cylindrical, 

 ftriated branches. Leaves thin, an inch or two long, pale 

 green, blunt with a point, fmooth on both fides, on almoll 

 capillary fmooth footjlalhs, half an inch long, accompanied 

 by fetaceous bra&eas. Floivers in very flender axillary 

 fpikes ; the males minute, greenifti, feflile ; females in the 

 3ower part of the fame fpike, accompanied by very large, 

 roundifh, fmooth, fomewhat crenate bralteas, wliich give 

 this plant the afpeft of an Acalypha. Poiret. 



We are pon"effed of feveral incomplete and undetermined 

 fpecimens, which by their habit fhould feem probably to 

 belong to this laft feftion, but there being no pofitive cer- 

 tainty of their genus, we muft leave them undefcribed. 



TRAGIC Dance. See Emmelia. 



TRAGI-COMEDY, a kind of dramatic piece, repre- 

 fenting feme aftion paficd among eminent perfons, the 



event of which is not unhappy or bloody, and in which is 

 fometimes admitted a mixture of lefs ferious charafters. 



The ancients, M. Dacier obferves, knew nothing of fuch 

 compofitions, in which the ferious and comic are blended ; 

 nor does the epithet M. CorneiUe gives them, of heroic 

 comedies, excufe their irregularity. 



Their foundation is certainly bad ; for, endeavouring 

 both to make us laugh and cry in their turns, they endea- 

 vour at contrary' emotions, which the heart can never 

 undergo ; every thing that difpofes for the one, indifpofing 

 for the other. 



The tragi-comedy was formerly very common on the 

 Englifti ftage ; there was fcarcely fuch a thing in the feven- 

 teenth century as a pure tragedy, without a fpice of comedy 

 or farce to make the people laugh. Now that the ftage 

 and our tafte are brought nearer to the model of nature 

 and the ancients, the tragi-comedy is difufed. 



Tragi-comedy is the only cafe wherein comedy is allowed 

 to introduce kings and heroes. 



TRAGICUS, in Anatomy, a mufcle of the external ear. 

 See Ear. 



TRAGILUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Thrace, 

 between the Cherfonefus and Macedonia. Steph. Byz. 



TRAGIUM, in Botany, a new umbelliferous genus of 

 Sprengel's, feparated by him from Pimpinella ; fee that 

 article. The name is borrowed from Diofcorides, whofe 

 T^a.7»o» appears to belong to our Pimpinella, and to have been 

 fo denominated from t^cc>o-, a goat ; becaufe when the wild 

 goats fed upon it, the arrows with which they were 

 wounded would drop out ; as jElian relates of the Cretan 

 Dittany. — Sprengel Prodr. Umbellif. 26 — Clafs and order, 

 Pentandria Digynia. Nat. Ord. Umbellate, Linn. Seft 5. 

 f> uclu armato, Sprengel. 



The learned author whom we have juft quoted, in his new 

 mode of arranging the Umbellifer«, of which, as well as 

 of other attempts of the fame kind, we propofe to treat here- 

 after in its proper place, lays confiderable flrefs on the hairy 

 or briftly clothing of the feeds in fome fpecies. Such are 

 all feparated by him from thofe with fmooth feeds, and dif- 

 pofed in different genera, compofing by themfelves a par- 

 ticular feftion charafterized "fruBus armati." Among 

 them is Tragium, dlftinguifhed from Pimpinella chiefly by 

 the circumftance juft mentioned, and the almuft total ab- 

 fence of ribs to the feeds. 



E(f. Ch. Fruit ovate-oblong, downy, with fcarcely any 

 ribs. Seam flattifli. Skin rather loofe. No general or 

 partial involncrum. 



Obf The feam, commijfura, is the line by which the two 

 feeds touch each other. 



The fpecies enumerated by profeftbr Sprengel are 



1 . T. Columnie. ( Pimpinella Tragium of Villars. See 

 our Pi,MPiNELL.\, fp. 4, where notice is taken of the im- 

 portance of the downinefs of the feeds, as ^.fpecijic diftinc- 

 tion ; and where for Columba read Columna. ) 



2. T. peregrinum. (P. peregrina ; Linn. Sp. PL 378. 

 Marfch. a Bieberft. Taur.-Caucaf. v. I. 241 ; feefp. 7.) 



3. T. aromaticum. (P. aromatica ; Marfch. a Bieberft. 

 Taur.-Caucaf. v. i. 241.) — " Hoary with down. Leaves 

 pinnate ; leaflets all wedge-ftiaped, lineated ; with deep fer- 

 ratures at the extremity." — Native of the borders of woods, 

 and banks of ton-ents, on the eaft fide of mount Caucafus, 

 flowering in July. Root biennial. Akin to Pimpinella 

 Anifum, with which it exaftly agrees in the tafte and fmell 

 of \\.% feeds. But the prefent plant has all the leaves pinnate 

 and glaucous, more (lightly ftriated, or ribbed, and ^z feeds 

 are downy. 



4. T.villofum. (KmpiDeila villofa of Schoufboe ; un- 

 known to us.) 



5. T. 



