B O T 
-to fhe clafs Oclandria. Gouania, clfaw-ftick; and Solan- 
dra ; now placed in the clafs Pentandria. Terminalia, 
benzoin ; removed to the clafs Decandria. Clufia, bal- 
fam-tree ; removed to the clafs Polyandria. 3. By herma¬ 
phrodites and females; of which there is one genus, viz. 
Mimofa, fenfitive-plant; now in the clafs Polyandria. 
Order 2. Dioecia, comprehending fuch plants as have 
the polygamy on two diftinCf plants. This order contains 
ten genera, diftinguiflied into, 1. Such as are polygamous 
by hermaphrodites and females ; of which there are two, 
viz. Fraxinus, afh-tree ; now in the clafs Diandria : and 
Gleditfchia, three-thorned acacia ; now in the clafs Hex- 
andria. 2. By hermaphrodites and males; of which there 
are three, viz. Diofpyrus, Indian date plum ; now placed 
in the clafs OCtandria ; NyflTa, tupelo-tree ; and Pifonia, 
fingrido ; both removed to the clafs Pentandria. 3. By 
androgynes and males ; of which there are five, viz. An- 
thofpermum, amber-tree; and Stilbe; both now placed in 
the clafs Tetrandria. Arclopus ; and Panax, ginfeng; 
both removed to the clafs Pentandria; and Chryfitrix; 
now in the clafs Polyandria. 
Order 3. Trioecia, comprehending fuch genera as have 
the polygamy on three diflinEl plants. This order contains 
two genera, viz. Ficus, the fig-tree ; now removed into 
the clafs Triandria : and Ceratonia, the carob-tree, or 
St. John’s bread ; now in the clafs Pentandria. 
Example for Investigation. 
That the learner may at once acquire a competent 
idea of the lingular ftrufture of the fructification in the 
Ficus, or fig, we have chofen that plant for the illuf- 
tration of the genera in the third order of this clafs. 
The fruit of the ficus is not a pericarpium, but a recep¬ 
tacle, the interior fides of.which fupport the flowers, 
which by this means are inclofed within it. Thefe flow¬ 
ers in the cultivated fig-trees are female only; but there is 
a fpecies, known by the name of Caprificus, that has 
male flowers ; and another again, called Erinofyce, which 
is androgynous, having both male and female flowers dif- 
tinCt, though lodged within the fame receptacle. There 
is alfo an inllance given by M. de la Hire, of a receptacle 
containing hermaphrodites only ; and another by Mr. John 
Miller, with hermaphrodite and female flowers in the 
fame receptacle ; the delineation of which we fhall give 
in this place from the latter author. The parts are as 
follow: Calyx, fig. 13. common, very large, obovate, 
flefhy, concave, fhut up with many fquamse or fcales, femi- 
lanceolate, acute, ferrated, inflex. A bunch of thefe 
fcales is Ihewn magnified, at fig. 14. The inner furface 
is covered with flofcules or florets, of which the upper- 
moft approaching the calycine margin, are hermaphrodites, 
marked H, in the longitudinal feCtion of the calyx, fig. 15, 
cut open to expofe the interior arrangement of the florets. 
The hermaphrodite flowers, at H, are but few, and occupy 
only the upper part; thofe underneath, quite down to F, 
are female, and very numerous. One of the hermaphrodite 
flowers, fitting on its peduncle or foot-ftalk, taken out of 
the calyx, and very ftrongly magnified, is (hewn at fig. 16, 
with a floret of the natural fize by its fide. Calyx of 
the hermaphrodite flower, marked a, fig. 17; a perian- 
thium proper, tripartite, ereCt ; the fegments lanceolate, 
ereCt, equal. Corolla, b\ tetrapetalous, having four 
etals, oblong-ovate, concave, incumbent, fixed at the 
afe of the ftamens. Stamina, s; fliewn at fig. 17, 18, 
19; filaments four, fubulate ; antherae two, ovate, tefta- 
ceous, placed in the middle of each filament. Necta- 
rium : formed of four filaments, marked n, fig. 17 and 
19; fubulate, nearly as long as the ftamens, Handing be- 
itween every two antherae, of a white tranfparent colour. 
Pistillum, p; gerrnen, g, fig. 16 and 17 ; the germen 
oval; ftyle intort; ftigma emarginate. Pericarpium, 
fig. 20; none but the calyx of the floret, oblique, contain¬ 
ing the feed in the middle. Seeds : one to each floret, 
jubrotund, comprefled, marked c. 
Female flower. —Calyx, fig. 21, marked d\ a perian-' 
ANY. 279 
thium proper, quirtqueparfite, feg'ments lanceolate, nar¬ 
row at both ends, ftraigln, fomewhat unequal. Corol¬ 
la: none. PistilLItm, p ; the germen, g , oval; ftyle 
fubulate, inflex ; ftigmas two, acuminate, reflexed, one 
fhorter than the other. Fig. 22, fhews the female flower 
fitting on its peduncle, greatly magnified, and one of the 
natural fize by its fide. Pericarpium, fig. 23 ; none 
but the calyx, as in the hermaphrodite flower. Seeds, 
marked e, one to each female floret; fame as in the her¬ 
maphrodites. Fig. 24, the ripe fruit; being a receptacle, 
the interior fides of which fupport the flowers and fructifi¬ 
cation, as (hewn in fig. 15. This fruit contains all the pe- 
ricarpia, with their ripe feeds, which fall out at the apex. 
The beft time to examine the fructification, is a little be¬ 
fore the maturity of the fruit.—For the numerous fpecies 
and cultivation of the fig, fee the article Ficus. 
CLASS XXIV. CRYPTOGAM I A. 
The Cryptogamia daft may be confidered as containing 
a number of vegetables whofe flowers and fructification 
are but imperfectly known, and whofe ftamina and piftil- 
lum are too minute eafily to admit of that mode of invefti- 
gation which prevails throughout the preceding claffes. 
The ftruCture, too, of thefe vegetables differs conlidera- 
bly from that of other plants ; from which caule it is 
probable that the attention of Linnaeus was much lefs be¬ 
llowed upon the plants of this clafs, than upon thofe with 
more obvious fructifications. It was his glory, (fays Dr. 
Withering,) to have eftabLifhed a fyftem upon the organs 
of generation, of all others the mod eflential parts of a 
plant; and this fyftem he has wrought up to fuch a ftate 
of perfection, that little, compared to what he himfelf has 
done, remains for his fucceflors to do; except the additions 
it may receive from more extended refearches in countries 
imperfectly or not at all explored before. Of the plants 
of the Cryptogamia clafs, he feems chiefly to have impro¬ 
ved our knowledge of the Filices. The Mufci and the 
Algae had been fo fuccefsfully explored and fo excellently 
figured by Micheli and Dillenius ; and Gmelin having 
done much on the fubjeCt of the Fitei ; there remained, 
in thefe extenfive tribes, but little more for Linnaeus to 
do, than to diftribute and charaCterife them according to 
his own ideas. The Fungi, at one time, attracted his at¬ 
tention ; but the difficulty of preferving them in a ftate fit 
for comparing together, and the impracticability of tran- 
fporting his books along with himfelf in his various jour¬ 
neys, feem to have checked his purfuits ; neither could 
he benefit, as we now do, by the almoft innumerable fi¬ 
gures which have been publiflied fince the formation of 
his fyftem. From thefe caufes he has done but little iti¬ 
the Fungi, and that little has been ill underftood. Our 
countryman, the excellent Ray, paid great attention to 
thefe fubjects: but for want of figures, or more extended 
defcriptions, it is often difficult, fometimes impoliible, to 
determine his fpecies.— Great improvements, however, in 
the Cryptogamia clafs, have been made, fince the time of 
Micheli, Dillenius, and Linnaeus, by the united labours. 
of Jacqttin, Hoffman, Wiegel, Batlch, Pollick, Weis, 
Ehrhart, Schmidel, Schreber; Dickfon, Withering,. 
Stackhoufe, Velley, and efpecially Hedwig, who firft' 
communicated the refult of his obfervations to the Acade¬ 
my of Sciences at Peterlburgh in 1783. Thefe improve¬ 
ments will be fully ftated under the titles of the refpeCtive- 
genera in the body of this work ; fuffice it here to give 
an illuftration of the orders of this clafs as framed by Lin- 
naeus, which are four, viz. Filices, Mufci, Algez, and Fungi-. 
Order I. FILICES, or FERNS. 
. The plants that pafs under this general denomination* 
have the fructification eflentially different from that of ail 
others, at leaft in point of fituation ; being generally dif- 
pofed either in fpots or lines on the under furface of the 
fronds or leaves; and, as the parts are too minute to be 
obferved without the afliftance of very ftrong magnifiers, 
the genera are chiefly diltinguLlhed, by the difpofition of 
