DOCTRINE OF THE SEXES OF PLANTS. 



47 



5. Polygamous*, such as either on the same, or on differ- 

 ent roots, bear bisexual flowers, and flowers of either or of both 

 sexes, as in the class Polygamia\. 



Of plants that are polygamous on the same root, there are 

 three cases: 1st. Male bisexual and Female bisexual flowers; 

 which is a very rare case ; but is observed in Musa. 2. Bisexu- 

 al and male flowers, as in Veratrum, Celtis, .ZEgilops, and 

 Valantia. 3. Bisexual and female flowers, as in Parietaria and 

 Atriplex. 



Of such as are polygamous on two distinct roots, the cases 

 are four ; 1. Bisexual flowers and male, as in Panax, Nyssa, and 

 Diospyros. 2. Bisexual flowers and female, as in Fraxinus. 3. 

 Bisexual flowers and both male and female, as in GleditsiaI. 

 4. Androgynous\\ and male, as in Arctopus. Of plants that are 

 polygamous on three distinct roots, there is but one case, viz. 

 Androgynous, male, and female, as in Ficus§. 



* See the signification of this term explained in the account of the title of the 

 class Polygamia, in Part II. Chap. XXVI. 

 f See Part II. Chap. XXVI. 



X In the Gleditsia, which is the only known instance of this case, the male flow- 

 ers and the bisexual are produced upon the same plant, and the females on a distinct 

 one. 



|| This case and the next, having no bisexual flowers, seem to be exceptions to 

 the definition of polygamous plants. 



§ The instance of this case given in the Philosophic Botanica is the Empetrum ; 

 but that genus is removed to the class Dicecia, in the last edition of the Genera. 

 Plantarum ; where a note informs us, that the bisexual flowers, which the author 

 had once seen on a plant of this genus, could not afterwards be ever found again. 

 We have therefore changed this instance for the Finis, the only other insiance left 

 of this singular case. Some have asserted, that the Fiats is only male and female; 

 and this age hath refuted the opinion of Camerarius, who maintained, that the seeds 

 of figs produce never any plants. Linnaeus asserts that trees have been raised in 

 Holland from the seed of fruit imported from Italy. But if the fruit be produced in 

 France, England, Germany, or Sweden, where there are no wild figs, the seeds 

 produce nothing ; on the other hand, if those seeds are sown, which grew in Italy or 

 the Greek islands, where the male fig abounds, the plants spring up with ease, put- 

 ting forth leaves which at first are like those of the Mallow. 



