The quantity of impregnating duft contained in the male fpike is exceedingly great; though proportioned 

 indeed to the aftonifhing number of feeds in the female fpike below; if thefe feeds are endowed with a vege- 

 tative power, (and that they are not I cannot affert from experiment) Nature will appear to have been unu- 

 fually folicitous in the prefervation of this Plant ; but it often happens, as elfewhere has been obferved, that 

 many of thofe plants which encreafe very much by their roots feldom produce perfect feed> as in the Money- 

 wort, Butterbur, Water Violet, &c. here indeed the feed appears to come to its greateft perfection ; they are, 

 It is true, exceedingly minute, but this is no argument againft their growth, as the feeds of the Ferns, which 

 are infinitely fmaller, are known to vegetate, and fo are thofe of the Mofles, which are yet fmaller ; for, what- 

 ever fome Botanifts may aflert to the contrary* the fine powder Contained in their capfules, is as much feed as 

 that contained in the capfules of the Ferns. 



To afcertain the fad relative to the Typha* and to learn whether it encreafes in any confiderable degree from 

 the feed, I propofe flicking round fome pond where it is not known to grow, feveral fpikes with the feeds juft 

 beginning to blow off, and fhall relate the effeds of this experiment Under the Sparganium, or Burreed. 



The parts of fructification in this plant being very minute* are with difficulty inveiiigated, Linnaeus* who 

 examined and defcribed them without the affiftance of a magnifier, is therefore excufable* if he has not been fo 

 minutely accurate in his defcription of them, as he is in moft others. 



The Calyx which he defcribes does not appear to be the Calyx, but rather fome of the hairs proceeding from 

 the receptacle* and which indeed appear more evidently to be fo, from the hairy appearance of the receptacle 

 when the ftamina are dropt off; on one Filament are fupported one* two, three, or four Antherse, and that indif- 

 criminately, fo that there does not appear to be any great propriety in placing it in the order Triandria, it would 

 be much lefs puzzling, and perhaps more agreeable to the fyftem* to place it in the order Polyandria* there be- 

 ing many ftamina, and all of them united to one receptacle* 



The ufes to which this plant are applied are but few. 



The Roots are faid to be eaten as a fallad. Haller. hift. ex> audi, GlediL 



The downy feeds ferve for fluffing pillows* Haller. hift. 



Coopers ufe the leaves to faften the hoops round their cafks. Lin. ex au5l. Ruppii. 



According to Haller, cattle eat the leaves which are fufpeded to be poifonous by ScMrebER. ^ 



It grows ill ponds, ditches) and by the fides of rivers in many places about London* and flowers in July» 



T 



YPHA MINOR. SMALLER V^iATSTAIL. 



TYPHA Linnm Gen. PL Monoecia tSuanDriA. 



Masc\ Amentum cylindricumo Cal. obfoletus, 3 

 jpbyllus Cor. b. Fem. Amentum cylindricum, infra 

 mafculos. Cal. capillo villofo. Cor. o. Sem. 1. infi- 

 dens pappo capillaxi. 



Rail Sfm MfiRRiE GRAMNIIFOLIiE NON CULMIFER^ FLORE IMPERFECTO SEU STAMINEO. 



TVPHA anguftifolia foliis femicylindricis, fpica mafcula femineacjiie remotis. Lin. Syft. vegetal* p, 702, 

 Sp. pi. 1377. 



TYPHA clava mafcula a feminina remota. Haller. hift. 1306. 



TYPHA anguftifolia. Stopoli. Fl Carniol. p. p. 214. 



TYPHA paluftris minor* Bauhin pin. p. 20. 



TYPHA minor Parkinfon, 1204. Raii Syn. 436, 



Uudfon. Ft. Jngl ed. 2. p. 400. 



THE Typha Minor is a much fcarcer plant about London than the Major, from which it differs fpecifi- 

 cally in having much narrower leaves and flenderer fpikes, the male fpike being alfo diftant from the female about 

 an inch ; in the ftructure of its parts and its general ceeonomy it refembles the other. 



I have obferved it growing near Baterfea* where it is now deftroyed ; alfo on the middle of Woolwich Comman, 

 where the Botanift #iay probably find it a hundred years hence. ' It flowers at the fame time as the Major, 



