B O T 
blown upon the ftigma. 6 . Palmlcolce .—That the cultiva, 
tors of palm-trees were in ul'e to pull oft'the fpadices from 
the males, and fufpend them over the fpathrc of the fe¬ 
males, is attefted by Theophraftus, Pliny, Profper A 1 pi - 
nus, Kempfer, and many others. If this operation hap¬ 
pened to be neglected, the dates were abortive, and defti- 
tute of nuts. Kempfer adds this fingular circumftance, 
that the male fpadix, after being thoroughly dried and 
kept till next feafon, (Till retained its impregnating virtue. 
7. Flores nutantes .— As-the pollen is fpecifically heavier than 
air, fuch flowers as have their piftillum longer than the 
(lamina, hang down, or incline to one fide, as in the crown 
imperial, bell-flower, &c. An eafy admiftion of the pollen 
to the (ligma is the final caufe of this appearance. 8. Svb- 
merji .—Many plants that grow below water emerge when 
their flowers begin to blow, and fwim upon the furface 
.till they receive their impregnation, and then fink down. 
9. Omnium Jlorum genuina conjideratio .—Here a number of 
■ particulars are recited. We (hall confine ourl'elves to thofe 
that are mod ftriking and applicable to the fubjedl. 
When the flowers of the male hemp are pulled off before 
thofe of the female are fully expanded, the females do not 
produce fertile feeds. But as a male flower is fometimes 
found upon a female plant, this may be the reafon why 
fertile feeds are fometimes produced even after this pre¬ 
caution has been obferved. The tulip al(o affords another 
experiment of the fame kind. Cut off all the antherte of 
a red tulip before the pollen is emitted ; then take the ripe 
anthera: of a white tulip, and throw the pollen of the white 
upon the ftigma of the red; the feeds of the red tulip, 
being thus impregnated by one of a different complexion, 
will next feafon produce (ome red, fome white, but mod 
variegated, flowers. 
Linnaeus likewife publifhed a defeription of a new ge¬ 
nus, which he called pdoria, on the fuppofition of its being 
a hybrid or mule plant, i. e. a plant produced by an unna¬ 
tural commixture of two different genera. The root, leaves, 
caulis, &c. of this plant are exceedingly fimilar to thofe of 
the antirrhinum linaria, a fpecies of (nap-dragon ; but the 
flower and ether parts of the trudlification are totally dif¬ 
ferent. On account of its fimilarity to the linaria in every 
part of the flow er, Linnaeus imagined it to have been pro¬ 
duced by a fortuitous commixture of the linaria with (ome 
other plant, although he was never able to point out the 
father. In the third volume of the Amasnitatcs Academicce, 
there is a complete diflertation, intitled Planta: Hybridm, 
wherein the dodtrine of vegetable mules is much extended. 
This diflertation contains a lift of forty-(even mules, with 
their fuppofed fathers and mothers. For example, 
The Veronica fpuria, a fpecies of fpeedwell, is faid to 
be a mule plant begot by the Verbena officinalis, a fpecies of 
vervain, upon the Veronica maritima, another fpecies of 
fpeedwell. 
The Delphinium hvbridum, a fpecies of larkfpur, is a 
mule begot by the Aconitum napellus, a fpecies of wolf’s- 
bane, upon the Delphinium elatum, another fpecies of 
larkfpur. 
The Ardlotis calendula, a mule begot by the Calendula 
pluvialis, a fpecies of marigold, upon the ArcTotis tfiftis. 
The Afclepias nigra, a fpecies of (wallow-wort, is a 
mule begot by the Cynanchum acutum, a fpecies of d-og’s- 
bane, upon the Afclepias vincetoxicum, another fpecies of 
fwallow-wort. 
From the examples given in this diflertation, Linnaeus 
draws this conchifion, T hat only two fpecies of each genus 
exifted ab origine'-, and that all the variety of fpecies which 
now appear, have been produced by unnatural embraces 
betwixt fpecies of different genera. 
Under this head, Linnaeus likewife quotes from Ray the 
(lory of Richard Baal, gardener at Brentford. This Baal 
fold a large quantity of the feeds of the bralfica florida to 
feveral gardeners in the fuburbs of I.ondon. Thefe gar¬ 
deners, after fowing their feeds in the ufual manner, were 
iurprifed to find them turn out to be plants of a different 
ANY. 2 ? ; 
fpecies from that which Baal made them believe they had 
purchafed ; for, infteadofthe bralfica florida, the plants 
turned out to be the braflica longifolia. The gardeners, 
upon making the difcovery, commenced a proiecution of 
fraud again!! Baal, in Weftniinfter-hall. The court found 
Baal guilty of fraud, and decerned him not only to reftore 
the price of the feeds, but likewife to pay the gardeners 
for their loft time, and the tile of their ground. “ Mad 
thefe judges (fays Linnaeus) been acquainted with the 
fexual hypothefis, they would not have found Baal guilty 
of any crime, but would have aferibed the accident to the 
fortuitous impregnation of the bralfica florida by the pollen 
of the bralfica longifolia.” He next proceeds to celebrate 
the utility of infedts, becaufe they convey the pollen of 
the male to the ftigma of the female. “ In this way (fays 
he) it is reafonable to think that many plants are impreg¬ 
nated ; for, by their fluttering and treading in the corolla, 
they are conftantly fcattering the pollen about the ftigma. 
From this circumftance, gardeners w ho rail'e early cucum¬ 
bers derived the idea of putting the anthera of the male 
bloftbm into the female corolla ; otherwife the fruit gene¬ 
rally falls off, and proves abortive, there being no infedts 
in February and March to perform this office. Other 
gardeners, on a funny day, will procure bees from the 
hive, and fhut them into their frames, for the purpofe of 
conveying the pollen to the female flower, w Inch is gene¬ 
rally found to lucceed in producing good and early fruit. 
Upon the whole, (concludes Linnams,) the coitus of vege¬ 
tables is evident to a demonftration. This coitus is nothing 
more than the conveyance of rhe pollen to the ftigma, to 
which it adheres till it burfts, and difeharges a fubtile 
elaftic fluid. This fluid or aura is abforbed by the vef- 
fels of the ftylus, and carried directly to the ovarium or 
germen, where the myfterious work of impregnation is 
fully completed.” 
After thus infilling on the fexual conformation of flow¬ 
ers, Linnaeus proceeds to diftinguifh plants by thefe organs 
into male, female, hermaphrodite, androgynous, and po¬ 
lygamous. Male plants, are fuch as upon the fame root 
bear male flowers only ; that is, fuch as have the anthera, 
but not the piftillum, as in the palm or date tree above re¬ 
ferred to. Female , are fuch as in like manner bear female 
flowers only on the fame root, having the piftillum, but 
not the anthera, as in the female date-tree. Hermaphro¬ 
dite plants, are fuch as upon the fame root bear only her¬ 
maphrodite flowers ; that is, fuch as have both anthera 
and piftillum incorporated in one hloffom, which is the cafe 
with the generality of vegetables. Hermaphrodites are 
alfo fometimes diftinguifhable into male hermaphrodite, 
and female hermaphrodite ,; this happens w hen, although 
the flower contains the parts proper to each fex, one of 
them proves abortive or ineffedtual; if the defetit be in 
the (lamina, it is -a female hermaphrodite ; if in the piftil- 
lum, a male one. Androgynous plants, are all fuch as have 
upon the fame root both male and female flowers; that is, 
fome of the blolfoms containing the anthera only, and fome 
the piftillum only ; as in tripfaeum, and triple-headed pond- 
weed. Polygamous plants, are Inch as either on the fame, 
or on different roots, bear hermaphrodite flowers, and alio 
flowers of either, or of both, the (exes. Of plants that 
are polygamous on the fame root, there are three cafes; 
firft, male hermaphrodite, and female hermaphrodite flow¬ 
ers; which is a very rare cafe, but is obferved in the plan¬ 
tain-tree. Second, hermaphrodite and male flowers, as in 
white hellebore, lote or nettle-tree, hard grafs, and crofs- 
wort. Third, hermaphrodite and female flowers, as in pel- 
litory, and the fea-pur(lane-tree, Of fuch as are polyga¬ 
mous on two dijlind roots, the cafes are four ; firft, herma¬ 
phrodite flowers and male , as in ginfeng, tupelo-tree, and 
the Indian date plum. Second, hermaphrodite flow ers and 
female , as in the afti-tree. Third, hermaphrodite flowers and 
both male and female , as in three-thorned arafia. Fourth, 
androgynous and male, as in ardtopus. Of plants that are 
polygamous on three diftindt roots, there is but one cafe, 
viz. hermaphrodite, male , and female, as in the fig-tree. The 
tnftance 
