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marriage, alluding to the pubefcence enveloping both organs 

 of impregnation. — Browne Jam. 218. — We have feen no 

 fpacimen of this plant. It is faid to grow clofe to the 

 beach at Bull-bay, in Jamaica. The Jlem is (hrubby, ftiff, 

 fimple, three or four feet in height, and as many lines in 

 diameter. Leaves round, fmooth, alternate. Flowers fmall 

 and whitifh. Outer calyx (rather iraSeas) two fmall deci- 

 duous leaves ; inner cup-ftiaped, oi one leaf, divided half 

 way down into five ovate fegments. Corolla o{ live oblong, 

 abrupt, fomewhat fpreading petals, or of one petal divided 

 to the bafe. Filaments ten, downy, ereft, (horter than the 

 corolla. Anthers roundifh. Germen minute, in the bottom 

 of the calyx. Style downy, the length of the ftamens, 

 with a hlunuih Jligma. Driipa the fize and appearance of a 

 gall-nut, but light and hollow, globofe, woody, thin, with 

 a thin coat, of one cell, inflated, rather uneven in its fur- 

 face. Nuts two, oblong-ovate, two-lobed ; one of them 

 ufually abortive ; the other fixed to the bottom of the 

 drupa, but not half occupying its cavity. 



Juflieu, Gen. PL 260, fufpeftsthis to be the fame genus 

 with Chalcas or Murraya (fee thofe articles) ; and Lin- 

 naeus has written Chalcas againft Browne's defcription. We 

 prefume it is the fame individual fpecies, which, though of 

 Eaft Indian origin, had accidentally been conveyed to the 

 fhores of Jamaica. If this be correft, Browne miilook 

 the leaflets for fimple leaves, and perhaps did not meet with 

 the fruit in its natural more juicy ftate. 



TRICHOMA, in Surgery, the difeafe more commonly 

 called plica Polonica. 



TRICHOMANES, in Botany, an ancient Greek name 

 for fome fmall dehcate kind of fern, fuppofed, from the 

 defcription of Diofcorides, book 4. chap. 137, to be Af- 

 plenium Trichomanes of Linnaeus, which very well anfwers 

 to that defcription. The name, from -5|/i?, ^pip^oi-, a hair, 

 (whatever may be the origin of the reft of the word,' about 

 which etymologifts difagree,) alludes to the flender fhining 

 ftalks, common to moft of the fern tribe, which procured 

 tliem the appellation of Capillary herbs, and the reputation 

 of improving the growth of the human hair. Linnxus 

 felefted this name for a dehcate, pellucid, capillary -ftalked 

 genus, to which it is very fuitable ; more efpecially if we 

 take into confideration, as he probably did, the peculiar 

 charafter of a prominent hair or briftlc, originating from 

 the receptacle of the feed-veflels. — Linn. Gen. 560. Schrcb. 

 758. Willd. Sp. PI. V. 5. 498. Mart. Mill. Dift. V. 4. 

 Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 5. 529. Sm. Mem. de I'Acad. de 

 Turin, V. 5. 417. Trafts 255. Swartz Fil. 141. Ind. 

 Occ. 1724. Brown Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. i. 159. Spren- 

 gel Crypt. Engl. ed. 164. t. 5. f. 35. Juff. 16. La- 

 marck lUuftr. t. 871. — Clafs and order, Cryptogamia Filices. 

 Nat. Ord. Filices. 



Gen. Ch. FruBiJicatians inferted into the margin of the 

 frond, terminal, diftindl, tubular. Involucrum of one leaf, 

 urn-ftiaped, of the texture of the frond, opening outward. 

 Capfules of two valves, bound by an elalHc ring, numerous, 

 feffile on the lower part of a cylindrical common receptacle, 

 or column, whofe capillary naked point projefls beyond the 

 • involucrum. 



EfT. Ch. Frudlifications placed at the edge of the frond.. 

 Involucrum urn-(haped, of one leaf, opening outwardly. 

 Common receptacle prominent, briftle-fhaped. 



Obf. Hymenophyllum (fee that article) was firft 

 feparated by the writer of this, from Trichomanes, with 

 which it had, on account of their fimilar membranous pel- 

 lucid habits, been always confounded. The bivalve involu- 

 crum, enclofiDg the common receptacle, clearly diftinguilhes it 



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from the genus before us, whofe involucrum has a Ipreading' 

 undivided border. 



The fecond edition of Species Plantarum contains eleven, 

 and the fourteenth edition of Syjlema Vegetabilium thirteen, 

 fpecies of Trichomanes, as Linnxus underftood the genus. 

 But though from thefe are dedufted what are now referred 

 to Hymenophyllum and Davallia, Willdenow enu- 

 merates thirty-four fpecies of genuine Trichomanes. Thefe 

 are diftributed into four feftions, according to the fub- 

 divifion of their fronds. We (hall feleft examples. 



Seft. I. Frond fimple. Twelve fpecies in Willdenow. 



T. reniforme. Kidney-fhaped Briftle-fern. Forll. Prodr. 

 84. Willd. n. 1. Swartz Fil. 369. " Schkuhr Crypt, 

 130. t. 134." R. A. Hedw. Fil. fafc. 3. — Fronds kidney- 

 ftiaped, undivided, on bordered ftalks. — Gathered by For- 

 iter, as well as by Mr. A. Menzies, in New Zeeland. An 

 elegant very fingular fern, with long, creeping, thread- 

 fhaped, perennial roots, attached by rigid downy fibres, 

 and throwing up fcattered ereft fronds, various in fize, 

 each on a fimple {mooth Jlalh, from one to fix inches high, 

 bordered, or (lightly winged, efpecially in the upper part. 

 The leaf itfelf is vertical, kidney-lhaped, from one and a 

 half to three inches wide, of a dull olive-green, membranous, 

 femi-peUucid, fmooth, full of numerous, radiating, re- 

 peatedly forked veins ; the margin entire, (lightly wavy ; 

 in the larger or older fpecimens befet with a row of cup- 

 (haped immerfed involucntms, each terminating a vein, and 

 each protruding a thick rough column, twice its own length, 

 bearing a number of pale (hining annulated capfules. 



T. membranaceum. Membranous Briftle-fern. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1560. Willd. n. 5. Swartz Ind. Occ. 1724. 

 (Darea americana lichenoides ; Petiv. Muf. n. 763. Adian- 

 tum mufcofum, lichenis petraei facie ; Plum. Fil. 83. t. loi. 

 f. a. Amer. 34. t. 50. f. a ; inaccurately copied in Pluk. 

 Phyt. t. 285. f. 3 ; and again in Petiv. Fil. t. 13. f. 5.) 

 — Fronds lefTile, dilated upwards, obtufe, undivided, or 

 torn ; the margin befet with peltate fcales. — Found on wet, 

 often inundated, ftones and rocks about the banks of rivers, 

 in Hifpaniola. This has the colour and membranous tex- 

 ture of the foregoing, but with a filky glofs. Its black, 

 Ihaggy, creeping roots bear fcattered fronds, deftitute of 

 ftalks, fometimes roundilh, but moftly wedge-(haped, from 

 one to three inches high, varioufly fplit, dilated, and jagged, 

 befet with innumerable crowded radiating veins, and much 

 refembling the texture of a bat's wing. The margin, as 

 well as the tip of each fegment, bears brown peltate fcales, 

 whofe ufe is unknown, but which, as Dr. Swartz remarks, 

 might eafily caufe this fern to be taken for an Adiantum, 

 were there not found on the fame individual, though far 

 more fparingly, the proper fruftification of a Trichomanes, 

 conlifting of deeply immerfed, (lender, tubular involucrums, 

 dilated, orbicular, and roughifti at the mouth, each with a 

 prominent (not as Swartz fays a concealed) column. 



T. mufcoides. Mofty Briftle-fern. Swartz Ind. Occ. 

 1726. Willd. n. 6. (T. hymenoides ; R. A. Hedw. Fil. 

 t. 3. f. 3. PhylUtis fcandens minima, mufci facie, foliis 

 membranaceis fubrotundis ; Sloane Jam. v. i. 74. t. 27. 

 f. I.) — Fronds roundifh-oblong, irregularly finuated, wavy, 

 obtufe, on (hort hairy ftalks. Involucrum prominent, cy- 

 lindrical ; bivalve at the mouth. — Found creeping over the 

 trunks of trees, in low wet places, in Jamaica. The root 

 is black, thick, and woolly, fpreading to the extent of feve- 

 ral inches. Fronds light green, lying over each other, 

 fcarcely more than half an inch wide, with ftrong, branch- 

 ing, but not parallel or crowded veins ; the fegments rounded 

 and wavy. Involucrums at length ftripped as it were, and 

 projefting entirely beyond the leaf on winged ftalks ; their 

 4 margin 



