FLA 
FLA 
of the AugPjufg confeflion ; but they were foon after¬ 
wards difperfed by the perfecution under the duke of 
Alva, when he removed to Strafburg, and afterwards to 
Frankfort on the Maine-, where he died in 1575, in the 
fifty-fifth year of his age. He was the author of numerous 
works, of which the mod important are, 1. Clavis Sacra 
Scrip tune, feu de Sermone Sacrarum Litcrarum, &c. two 
vols. folio, 1567. 2. Centuries Ecclefaficre Iliforice Magde- 
burgenfeSy &c. three vols. folio, which Molheim pro¬ 
nounces to be an immortal work, entitling Flacius, for 
the lhare which lie had in writing it, to be confidered as 
the parent of ecclefiaftical hiftory. 3. Catalogus Tefium 
Veritatis, qui ante nqftram atatern Pontifici Romano , ejufque 
Erroribus rcclamarunt, 1562, folio. 4. De Travfatione Im¬ 
perii Remani ad Gcrmanos, de Eledione Epijcoporum quod ecque 
ad Plebem pertinent, 1566, 8vo. He was alfo the author of 
a multitude of controverfial treatifes; and the, editor of 
an ancient Miflal, which, from the fcarcity of the copies, 
is highly prized by collectors. It is entitled MiJJ'a 
Latina, qua olini ante, Romanam, circa annum Domini fexagin- 
tejimum in ufu fv.it, bona fide ex vetifo authcnticoque Codice de- 
ficripta, &c. 1.557. 
F LACOUR'I'IA, fi. [In memory of Stephen de Fla- 
court, of Orange, who firft: (ketched out, in 1661, a Natu¬ 
ral Hiftory of Madagafcar.] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs dioecia, order polyandria, natural order of tiliaceae, 
(JuJfi.) The generic characters are—Male. Calyx : 
perianthium one-leafed, five-parted ; parts roundifii, ob- 
tufe, almofi; equal, fromfpreading ereCt. Corolla: none. 
Stamina : filaments numerous, (fifty to one hundred,) 
longer than the calyx, and fattened to its thickened bot¬ 
tom, fpreading, capillary ; antherae, roundifii. Piftilium: 
the rudiment of a germ and fiigma at mod.—Female. 
Calyx : perianthium five-leaved ; leaflets roundifii, eredt, 
lying over each other at the edge, blunt. Corolla: none, 
Piftilium: germ fuperior, ovate, large; ftyle, none ; 
fiigma flat, ftellate, with rays from five to nine. Peri- 
carpium : berry globular, flefliy, umbilicate with the 
fiigma, ntany-celled. Seeds : in pairs, obovate, com- 
prefled, obfcurely grooved.— Efential charader. Male. 
Calyx, five-parted ; corolla, none ; germ, fuperior; ftyles, 
five to nine ; berry, many-celled. 
Species. 1. Flacourtia ramontchi: it is a fnyill tree, or 
rather fiirub, very bulliy, thorny, and growing to the 
height of eight or ten feet. The fruit is the fize and 
Inape of a fmall plum, green when young, of a beautiful 
red when ripe, and finally of a dark violet colour ; the 
fkin is very thin, and the flelh tranfparent red, of the 
fame confidence with our common plums: in the middle 
are a dozen or fourteen fmall kernels, the fize of thofe in 
the apple, and nearly of the fame (hape ; they are bit- 
terifli, like our apricot kernels, and covered with a ten¬ 
der fiiell. The natives eat the fruit, which is fweet, but 
leaves a flight fiiarpnefs in the mouth. An ifland on the 
coafi of Madagafcar is covered with thefe trees ; and be- 
caufe they refemble the European plum-tree, the French 
failors named the ifland ijle aux Prunes, or Plum-tree 
ifland. This tree was fil'd obferved by M. Poivre and 
M. Cominerfon, on the ifland of Madagafcar. Both 
male and female trees have flowered in the Paris garden, 
but have been hitherto barren : they have not, however, 
yet been obferved to flower at the fame time. 
2. Flacourtia fepiaria, the canrew of the Telingas. 
Stem very irregular ; bark dark ruft-colour, lYnooth ; 
branches numerous, draggling,; thorns axillary, very nu¬ 
merous ; leaves on the young (hoots alternate, on the 
older branches fafcicled, fmooth, three quarters of an inch 
long, half.an inch broad ; flowers fmall, male and female ; 
feeds four to eight. This is a very common thorny 
flirubby plant, found in molt woody uncultivated parts of 
the coaft of Coromandel, both on mountains and low 
lands. It flowers about the beginning of the hot feafon, 
and the berries are ripe in July and Auguft. This bufti 
anfvvers well tor fences ; its thorns being exceeding ftrong 
and numerous. The berries, when ripe, are eaten by the 
natives, being fold in the markets. 
Vol. VII. No. 439. 
437 
3. Flacourtia fapida, the pedda caanrcw of the Telingas. 
This grows to the fize of a fmall tree ; thorns fewer* 
fometimes wanting; leaves one te'two inches long, and 
near an inch broad ; berry larger than the former ; feed fix 
to twelve ; this tree is a native of the mountainous parts 
only, and flowers mod part of the year. The berries of 
this are alfo eaten, and are very palatable. Roxb. vol. i. 
No. 3. Plate 68, 69. 
FLADAHU'NA, a fmall ifland near the north-weft 
coaft of Scotland, feven miles north from the ille of Skye. 
Lat. 57. 51. N. Ion. 3. 12. W. Edinburgh. 
FLAD'DA, a fmall ifland of Scotland, near the north- 
eaft coaft of the ifland of Skye. 
FLAD'DA, a fmall ifland of Scotland, one of the 
Frefhannifh iflands, weft of the ifland of Mull. 
FLAD'DA ISLES, three fmall iflands among the 
weftern iflands of Scotland, about a mile w eft from the 
ifland of Sandera. 
FLAD'STRAND, a feaport town of Denmark, in 
North Jutland, and diocefe of Aalborg, on the eaft coaft, 
with a harbour defended by three forts ; rot fheltered 
from every wind. Fifhing is the chief employment of 
the inhabitants: thirty miles north-north eaft of Aalborg. 
Lat. 57. 33. N. Ion. «o. 19. E. Greenwich. 
FLADUN'GEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Franconia, and bifliopric of Wurzburg : forty miles north 
of Wurzburg, and forty-four north-weft of Bamberg. 
Lat. 50. 22. N. Ion. 27. 50. E. Ferro. 
To FLAG, v. n. \_fiaggeren, Dut. pleogan, Sax. to fly.] 
To hang loofe without ftiffnefs or tenlion.—It keeps thofe 
(lender aerial bodies feparated and ftretched out, which 
otherwife, by reafon of their fiexiblenefs and weight, 
would flag or curl. Boyle. 
Like a fiery meteor funk the fun, 
The promife of a ftorm ; the fhifting gales 
Forfake by fits, and fill the fagging fails. Dryden. 
To grow fpiritlefs or dejefted : 
My fagging foul flies under her own pitch, 
Like fowl in air too damp, and lags along . 
As if (he were a body in a body. Dryden. 
To grow feeble ; to lofe vigour.—Fame, when it is once 
at a (land, naturally fags and languifiies. Addifim. 
If on fublimer wings of love and praife, 
My love above the (tarry vault I raife, 
Lur’d by fome vain conceit of pride or luft, 
I fag, I drop, and.flutter in the duft. Arbuthnol. 
To FLAG, v.a. To let fall into feeblenefs; to buffer 
to droop : 
The fchoufand loves, that arm thy potent eye, 
Muft drop their quivers, fag their wings, and die. Prior. 
[From fag, a fpecies of (tone.] To lay with broad (tone. 
—The (ides and floor were all fagged with excellent 
marble. Sandys. —A w'hite (lone u fed for fagging floors. 
Woodward. 
FLAG, f. A water plant with a bladed leaf and yellow 
flower, fo called from its motion in the wind. See the 
articles, Iris, Gladiolus, and Acorus. —She took an 
ark of bulruflies, and laid it in the fags by the river’s 
brink. Ex. ii. 3. 
Can bulrulhes but by the river grow ? 
Can fags there flourifli where no waters flow ? Sandys. 
The colours or enfign of a (hip or land-forces, by which 
regiments are diftinguiflied in the field or fignals made at 
fea.—He hangs.out as many fags as he deferyetn veftels ; 
fquare, if (hips; if gallies, pendants. Sandys.- 
In the Britilh navy, flags are either red, white, or 
blue ; and are difplayed from the top of the main-maft, 
fore-maft, or mizen-maft, according to the rank of the 
admiral. When a flag is difplayed from the flag-ftaff on 
the main-maft, the officer diftinguifhed thereby is known 
to be an admiral; when from the fore-maft, a vice-admiral; 
and when from the mizen-maft, a rear-admiral. The firft 
5 T flag 
r 
