( 35 ) 
doles them, before they are ripe. If the dift 
ference in the fize of the cocoa-nut feed, and 
that of the poppy, be confidered, it will be 
obvious, that the fizes muft be very various- 
between thefe two extremes. The appendage 
which nature has given to feeds for the pur- 
pofe of their difiemination, frequently is a 
great addition to the beauty of their appear- 
ance. The feed of common chickweed is a 
beautiful microfcopic object, the furface re- 
fembling the Murex fliell ; and a knowledge 
of a great variety of feeds may be agreeably 
acquired from the elegant coloured engravings 
of many different fpecies in Mr. Curtis's 
London Flora. 
Linneus has named thofe parts of plants, 
the chief ufe of which is to ftrengthen and 
fupport them, Fulcra, or Props ; fupports is 
the term given them in the translation of 
the fyftem of vegetables : they are defined to 
be, affiftances for the more commodious fup- 
port of the plant. There are feven kinds of 
Fulcra, or Supports : Petiole, Peduncle, Sti- 
pule, Tendril, Pubefcence, Arms, Bract. 
Petiole is the foot-ftalk of a leaf, which it 
•fupports without any flower. Peduncle is the 
foot-ftalk of the flower. Petiole is defined to 
D 2, be 
