M A R 
of hi? pupils, he reduced the alphabetical catalogue of 
Cambridge Plants, printed by that great man, into a fyf- 
tematic f6rm, according to the principles of its author. 
In 1728 he published the firft Decade of a furnptuous work, 
entitled Hijtoria Pihntant/n Rariorum, in imperial folio; in 
which his merit in the- defcriptive line is ccnfpicuous. 
Tile plates were drawn by that great artift Van Huyfum, 
engraved in mezzotinto by Kirkall, and printed in co¬ 
lours. Four more Decades of this work appeared in the 
courfe of nine years, after which it ceafed, on account of 
thegreSt expenfe of the undertaking. 
On the 26th of May, 1730, Mr. Martyn was admitted 
of Emanuel College, Cambridge, with'an intention of 
taking his degrees in phyfic ; but, after keeping five terms, 
his fnarriage, and the neceftary'attendance to his profef- 
fion, caufed him to relinquifii this defign. At the clofe 
of the year 1732, the Profefiorniip of Botany at Cam¬ 
bridge became vacant, by the death of Mr. Bradley. All 
eyes were directed towards Mr. Martyn as the propereft 
perfon for this fituation ; and his unanimous election took 
place on the 8th of February, 1733. It is remarkable 
that, in two or three years after obtaining the appoint¬ 
ment, he finally ceafed to lecture. This is attributed to 
the want of encouragement, and efpecially of a botanic 
garden, at Cambridge. Neverthelefs, our indefatigable 
botanift and (cholar was not idle. The work on which 
his literary fame chiefly and firmly refts is his fplendid 
quarto edition of Virgil’s Georgies, which appeared in 
1741, dedicated to Dr. Mead. The text was accompanied 
by an Englifli tranflation, and ample notes in the fame 
language. In thefe the editor was enabled, by his pecu¬ 
liar line of Itudy, to throw more light upon the natural 
hiltory of his author than any one before him had done; 
nor is it eafy to improve upon his performance. He was 
aflifted- in the aftronomical part by his friend the cele¬ 
brated Halley, to wliofe worth he has given a juft and 
feeling tribute in the preface. In 1749 he publifhed the 
Bucolics on the fame plan, and intended to have gone 
through the whole of the Roman poet; but growing in¬ 
firmities prevented him. The labours of his profeftion, 
too, were becoming burthenfome. In the fpring of the 
year 1752 he retired from pra&ice, and devoted himfelf 
to that rural feclufion which his acquirements were fo 
well calculated to render both profitable and delightful. 
He took a farm in a moft beautiful fituation at Streat- 
ham ; and, hut for occafional attacks of the gout, enjoyed 
feveral years of learned leifure, united with fcientific ex¬ 
perience, in attention to the bufinefs of his farm, and the 
care of his family. 
On the 30th of January, 1761, he refigned his profeftor- 
fhip of botany in favour of his fon the Rev. Thomas Mar¬ 
tyn, who was defied in his ftead, and who has ever fince 
filled that ftation with honour to himfelf and to his pa¬ 
rent. In gratitude for this eleflion, fo confonant to his 
own willies, Mr. Martyn, fome time afterwards, gave his 
botanical library, of above 200 volumes, with his draw¬ 
ings, herbarium, and colleflions of feeds and materia 
medica, to the univerfity ; for which the thanks of that 
body were very handfomely returned him in 1765. This 
Worthy man died at Chelfea, to which place his increaf- 
ing infirmities had induced him, about a year previous, 
to return, on the 29th of January, 1768, in the fixty- 
ninth year of his age; and was interred in the burying- 
ground there, near his firft wife; where alfo the relics of 
Miller, Ehret, and, if we miltake not, of feveral other 
botanifts, repofe. It is proper to add, that the prefent 
Profeflbr Martyn is known by feveral ingenious works, 
efpecially by his greatly-enlarged edition of Miller’s 
Gardener’s Diftionary, to which we have occafion, in 
the botanical part of our labours, perpetually to refer. 
MARTYN'IA, f. [fo named by Houftoun, in honour 
of the fubjefl of the preceding article.] In botany, a ge¬ 
nus of the clafs didynamia, order angiofpermia, natural 
order of perfo.nalEe, (bignoniae, JuJ/l) Generic characters. 
“Calyx : perianth five-cleft, unequal, flirivelling. Cc~ 
Vol. XIV. No. 986. 
M 
419 
rolla': one-petalled, bell-draped ; tube foreading, v'entri- 
cofe, gibbons below at the bafe, melliferous; border five- 
deft, oblufe, fpreading: fegme-nts almoft equal; the lower 
ftraight, the lowed more ereft, concave, crenate. Sta¬ 
mina : filaments four, fiiiform, curved inwards; the ru¬ 
diment of a fifth filament within the upper pair of fta- 
niens, fliort; like a cu(p ; anthers connected-converging. 
Piftillum : germ oblong; ftyle fhort, fimple, the length 
of thefttarnens; ftigma two-lobed. Pericarpium : caplule 
woody, oblong gibbous, quadrangular, two-furrowed on 
each fide, acuminate, with the tip bent back, opening two 
ways, four or five celled, inclofing the feeds as in a fouri- 
celled nucleus. Seeds feveral*. oblong berried .—Ejfcntial 
CharaElcr. Calyx five-cleft; corolla ringent; capfules 
woody, corticate, with a hooked beak, four-celled, two- 
valved. 
1. Martynia perennis, or perennial martynia. As this 
is found to have an inferior germed, and very different 
fruit, it is now made a.diftiutt genus. See Gloxinia, 
vol. viii. p. 627. and Botany Plate IV. fig. 17. 
2. Martynia longiflora, or long-flowered martynia: ftem 
fimple, leaves roundiih, repand ; tube of the corolla gib¬ 
bous at tlie bafe and flatted. Stem upright, fomewhat 
rugged, two feet high. Flowers axillary, folitary, on 
thort peduncles ; inftead of ftipules ar the bafe of each 
peduncle, a gland or little cup with a ball in it, having 
as it were a Ihort ftyle and ftigma. Seeds fmall. Native 
of the Cape of Good Hope. 
3. Martynia diandra, or two-ftamened martynia : 
branches dichotomous, leaves cordate-orbicular, toothed; 
flowers two-ftamened. This is a handfome large plant, 
two feet high, ftraight, with large leaves, vilcid from 
fmall flender fimple white villofe hairs, each of which has 
a pellucid clammy globule at the* top. Stem fingle, 
round, reddilh green; branches feyeral, brachiate, dicho¬ 
tomous. Root-leaves none; ftem-leaves oppoiite, angu¬ 
lar,. with teeth remote by a long finus, flaccid, green, 
white from the clofenefs of the villofe hairs, veined, the 
largelt fix inches long; petioles on the ftem horizontal, 
on the branches fpreading, the fame length with the leaf. 
Flowers feveral, on ftiort peduncles, hanging down fo 
that the throat is turned towards the ground, difpofed in 
a tityrfe in the forks of the branches, two inches and a 
half long. Corolla inferior, five times the length of the 
calyx ; tube white tinged with purple, and fpotted red 
and yellow; border pale red, with a fiiining purple fpot 
on each fegment, twolipped; upper lip reflex, bifid; 
lower ftraight, triad, the middle fegment longer, wider, 
with a yellow' fpot at the bafe, refembling a bifid ftigma 
fupported on a ftyle. Filaments ftraight, inferted into 
the anterior part of the corolla, and applied to it, thick- 
ifli, the length of the tube'; two larger at the fides, fer¬ 
tile; two fmaller in the middle without anthers; and be¬ 
tween thefe the rudiment of a fifth. Anthers oblong, 
two-celled. Germ fuperior, contracted in the middle. 
Style thickifti, flat, (horter than the ftamer.s. Stigma 
two-plated ; plates flat, placed one againft the other, gra¬ 
dually becoming more and more remote ; after fecunda¬ 
tion it flirivels and gapes. Under a green thell, (hining 
with clamminefs, coriaceous, juicelefs, acuminate at both 
ends, is concealed the caplule, an inch long, black, 
woody, very hard, ovate, comprefted, four grooved. 
Seeds four, one in each cell, oblong, comprefted, black, 
with a white pith or pulp. Miller fays, that the corolla 
is ftiaped like that of the fox-glove, but of a paler purple 
colour ; that the capfule is thick, tough, and clammy, 
when ripe, dividing info two parts, and leaving a large 
hard nut hanging on the plant, about the fize, and much 
of the fame form, as the flag-beetle, with two Itrong 
crooked horns at the end ; it has two deep longitudinal 
furrows on the fides, and feveral fmaller crofting each 
other in the middle ; it it; fo hard, that it is with difficulty 
cut open without injuring the feeds; within it are four 
oblong cells, two of which have generally a fingle oblong 
feed in each, but the other two are abortive. The flow- 
5 Y era 
