33 
DjCSCIA LlNKJtl. 
SPIRAL VALLISNERIA. 
VALLISNERIA SPIRALIS. 
T Had occafion to mention, in the laft page, thofe vegetables which have the male and 
i female Flower, not only diftina in thcmfclves, but placed upon feparate Plants. This 
Vallifneria is an inftance ; nor is it poffiblc for nature to produce one more wonderful 
The Flowers of the tsvo fexes are not only didinct, but they arc unlike to one another ; 
nor is any thing fo flrange as the method purfu’d by nature to bring tlie parts together* 
for the propagation of the Plant : the male Flowers growing under water at a great depth* 
and upon Ihort lootftalks ; the female- having very long and wonderful ones, and floating 
on the furfacc. ° 
The whole account, as given by accurate writers, feems yet fcarcc credible ; and Lin- 
N.EUS laments that he has not feen the Flowers. I obtain'd'thc fpccimcn from which this 
drawing is made from It.aly, by the favour of Mr. Bp.omfield, the Princefl'es fur^con ■ 
whofe intereft there procur’d me the perfed Plant and all its parts. ° ’ 
It takes root always at the bottoms of ditches of three or four feet deep ; and whether 
the flioot be male or female cannot be known till the time of flowering : the Root and 
Leaves being perfeflly alike in both. The Root is fibrous, and the Leaved are very long and 
narrow : their colour is a frelh green, and they play about varioufly with the courfe of the 
VV’ater. 
At the flowering feafon, the male and female flioot up their Stalks together. The male 
Stem is moft inconfiderable, ’tis very Ihort, and has a Spike of little Flowers, whitifli and 
cut into three parts, and in the centre of each of thefe are two fliort Filaments, crown’d 
with Buttons. 
The female Plant fends up its Stalk even to the Surface of the water : and by a pecu- 
liar mcchanifinj always la^s the Flower which terminates it, flat upon that furface j open 
to the air. The mechanifm is this : the Stalk is twilled in a fpiral form ; and while the 
Flower is but in Bud, the Icvcral convolutions are apply d clofc together j fo tliat it is very 
fhort. When the Flower is ready to open, the fpiral Coil unwinds itfelf, and the burfling 
Bud is laid upon the furface : there the fun warms it, and the Flow'er is open’d pcrfeaiy. 
If the water be within the influence of tides, or by any other accident is at times deeper 
and fhallow'er, the fpiral form of the Stalk winds oi unw'inds itfelf juft as much as is ne- 
ceffary to keep the Flower upon the level top of the water. This is needful for the im- 
pregnation of the Seeds ; which is indeed perform’d in a manner altogether amazing. 
When the male Flowers are ready to burft, they feparate thcmfelvcs from the Stalk ; 
and being light they rife to the furface of the water ; there they float loole ; and there the 
female Flower lies upon the fame level ready to receive the duft from their Buttons. As 
the winds, or current throw the male Flowers about, fome of them get at the female, and 
thus the Sced-veficl which follows that Flower is impregnated. 
Nothing in nature is more ftrange than this produdlion of two kinds of Plants, fo far 
as the Flowers are concern'd, from the fame Seed : for the male Vallifneria rifes from the 
Seed of the female Plant as well as the female ; and fo it is throughout this clafs. 
Vallifneria L.inn. 
Vallifneria ti VaJliincrioidcs Michcli. 
